Conundrum of Growth

At first, we built obvious campus apps

But then, we started getting niche apps

How do we organize these apps?

Taxonomy is hard

People want choice

Build on a familiar pattern

The App Store

Not every app is campus-specific

How can we provide the richest possible ecosystem?

Getting the word out

Traditionally...

Each organization contacts each affiliate

(1/2)*N*(N-1) connections

Alternatively...

Aggregator for hub-and-spoke connectedness

Homogeneous world view and centralized trust

P2P Ecosystem

Modeling the real world

World View

Peer trust relationships

Acceptance and sharing policies

Heterogenous and asymmetric

App Lifecycle

Suppose peer is sharing app...

Query AdjInPeer

Filer and transform metadata

Add to local ecosystem

Exposed to outlets

If app marked for propagation...

Filter and transform metadata

Expose to AdjOutPeers

Where are we?

Prototyped several months ago

Protocol is now under development

Specification Document

Architecture Diagram

Once complete, implementation will be pursued

Protocol Excerpt

:identity   =>  {
    :id           =>  String,
    :originator   =>  String,
    :checksum     =>  String
}

:attributes =>  {
    :name           =>  String,
    :url            =>  String,
    :share          =>  true || false || undefined,
    :propagate      =>  true || false || undefined,
    :capabilities   =>  {
        # .. (peer may regard these capabilities)
    },
    :require        =>  {
        # .. (peer must implement & process) 
    },
    :use            =>  {
        # .. (peer may implement & process) 
    }
}

:original   =>  {
    # .. (original :attributes section)
}