The Human Data Forum is a cooperating network of websites which help people maintain, share, and use the data that’s important to them. This may include many different types of data, such as:
Fundamentally, the Human Data Forum can be used for any data that people care about, subject to technical and legal limitations. The current implementation is optimized for data sets with thousands of entries, not millions or billions.
For some topic areas, forum apps (or lenses) have been developed to make it easier to work with data about that topic. When there’s no app, data entry can be more work, and data analysis may require technical expertise. Lens development is open to everyone, however, and people are encouraged to create and share interesting new lenses to provide value to themselves or others.
The Human Data Forum, like email and the web, is a decentralized system formed by participants following a set of protocols for mutual benefit. It is designed to resist capture or subversion, so that it can remain a place for free and open cooperation. It works without a blockchain or cryptocurrency, like email.
The forum uses a social graph to establish trust, so to participate you need some connection with others already in the forum. Alternatively, you can make your own forum, with just you and the people you invite. That's not likely to be as interesting, but can still be useful.
Option 1. Find an existing forum user and ask them to invite you. Maybe you can ask the person who told you about the forum.
Option 2. Get a paid account, without an invitation. This will be fairly boring, unless you bring your own community. Not yet available.
Option 3. Run your own server. Not yet available.
Page reviewed May 2024. For more information contact sandro@hawke.org.