The european project "digital.me" opens its code

A new paradigm for social media

The EU’s “digital.me” project brings Fraunhofer IAO together with seven
research and industry partners to develop a system for user-controlled
social networks and services that can serve as a central hub for managing a
user’s various digital identities. The project has now released the source
code from its software development work as an open-source project.

The use of personal information for private and business life is a trend in
our increasingly information-driven society. With the rise of social media,
individuals are revealing more personal data online than ever before. This
data disclosure provides value to users, such as enhancing social contacts
or obtaining personalized services and products. However, the existing
social internet makes it difficult for using personal information in a
controlled way while retaining privacy where required.


In 2010, a group of European research organizations and industrial
companies started to investigate technology that would enable users to
share their personal data in a controlled, trustworthy and intelligent way.
Their collaborative project, digital.me (funded by the European Union
Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007- 2013), grant agreement n° 257787),
is aimed at researching social technology that incorporates user control
deep within its design. The project’s approach is to develop a technical
platform with “di.me userware” as its central component. di.me userware is
a personal tool that can run under the user’s control and offers social
networking functionality, e.g. messaging.

Central to the research is that the system should be thoroughly based on
semantic technology to realize intelligent system recommendations and
advice. The semantic model is also used to integrate external services.
di.me allows connections with external information, e.g. from social
networking platforms. This means profiles from other systems can be
synchronized and integrated into the di.me semantic store. As a result,
information can be compared across different sources and overviews of
different data sources can be shown. The project consortium has developed
the di.me platform incorporating new paradigms of social networking and
service development:

Decentralization: di.me realizes a decentralized social network that offers
each person their own system holding their own personal data. A user can
communicate via peer-to-peer technology with other users, without needing
to trust an external server. di.me can operate in two different modes: as a
group server hosting multiple user accounts, or as a single-user server
that may run on a user’s computer.

Multiple Identity Management: The di.me platform is designed to support
many user identities within one system. By switching between unique
profiles, a single user can assume names or aliases, and show different
information to people. This means roles for several life spheres can be
managed in a single system. The semantic core of di.me allows analysis of
information revealed and generates warnings for the user, e.g. if
disclosure might allow the identities to be linked.

Trust Management and Recommendations: In di.me, users can tag data privacy
or decide which of their contacts are trustworthy. This information enables
the di.me system to become smart: A trust engine component analyzes user
actions and presents warnings, e.g. when users are about to send critical
data to untrusted contacts or share data in the wrong social context.
 To involve users in the development, the di.me consortium has set up a
prototype aimed at proving that this new paradigm is feasible. This trial
allows participating users to give feedback for scientific evaluation.

The di.me consortium is now honored to announce the open-source publication
of the di.me code. di.me is extensible and the publication of its code
enables developers to use it as a basis for further initiatives. As trends
change, further data sources can be connected, and this will permit the
integration of more information from additional personal devices, gadgets,
services, and social networks. The functionality currently covered in the
demonstrator can be extended e.g. to specialized social services.

The basis for all work undertaken at the Fraunhofer IAO is a deep
conviction that business success in a globalised arena is contingent on an
ability to profitably leverage new high-tech potentials. In order to
optimally exploit these opportunities, companies must be capable of
developing and implementing customer and employee-oriented technologies
faster than their competitors. Work organisation concepts must be
simultaneously innovative and anthropocentric. A systematic design, in
other words, is the outcome of pooled management and technical expertise.
This holistic perspective when it comes to project processing ensures that
equal consideration is given to commercial success, employees' interests
and social consequences.

Through its close cooperation with the Institute for Human Factors and
Technology Management (IAT) of the University of Stuttgart, Fraunhofer IAO
unites basic university research with applied science and business practice.

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