Attention.XML and Your Profile on the Web

I have been catching up on my ITConvesations podcasts. I am back to a normal routine after I having spent most of my time listening to Hurricane coverage on traditional radio. While I appraciated the "live" or at least current information, I was also reminded of what I don't like about traditional radio....no control.

The Gilmore Gang discussed Attenion.XML. The concept, as they presented it, is kind of diverse. One idea is that it is your transaction history on the web, while another thought is that it is a log of what you are workinng on, or what groups you are a part of. Their discussion was thought provoking and interesting. They tried to consider the ramifications of being to got your transaction history out of Amazon or your reputation out of eBay, then being able to reinsert it into another online retailer or sale it to another organization based upon it's value.

I immediately thought about the learning aspect of the attention.xml. I have been looking at adaptive learning models and how they can improve learning. Two key considerations are prior experience and on-task performance. If one could log or maintain a history of these things and convey that back to a web based system that could provide costumized learning objects or resources, this might be quite powerful.

In my research in the early 90s we looked at prior experience and the role it played in hypermedia learning environments. I think this is renewed interest in this area, or at least there will be, no that we have a model of a true hypermedia learning environment. That of course is the read/write web.

It will be interesting to watch and see how this plays out. I am guessing that a web service will be developed that allows an individual to monitor and log all their web-based activities.