History

This page is a historical perspective of the activity streams specification.

"Building on the work of others is the only way to make substantial progress in any field. The programmer working this way becomes a tool builder, and his impact extends far beyond the task he may originally have set out to solve."

P.J. Plauger's proposal (c. 1975) that software tools need to be designed in a standard way so that they can interface with and be combined in a useful way with other tools for a variety of different purposes.

Ideation

The activity streams standardized method of representing human activity within an online status update was originally formulated by Chris Messina:

• Where we’re going with Activity Streams
• Adding richness to activity streams
• The Existential DiSo Interview

Persuasive precedent

Activity streams has its roots in established work

Jyri Engeström

• Social Objects (c. 2005)

Prof. David Gelernter

• The Yale Lifestreams Project Page (est. 1996)
• Mirror Worlds: or the Day Software Puts the Universe in a Shoebox... How It Will Happen and What It Will Mean (1992)

Prof. Yrjö Engeström

• Center for Activity Theory and Developmental Work Research (est. 1994)
• Perspectives on activity theory (1999)
• Learning by expanding: an activity-theoretical approach to developmental research (1987)

Implementation

Milestones of the activity streams specification

• 2010-06-01: BBC: tweet
• 2010-02-09: Google: Google Buzz and the Social Web
• 2009-09-30: Cliqset: It’s Here! Cliqset’s Real-Time Community – Join us for a sneak peak!
• 2009-09-14: Windows Live: Windows Live adds to its list of third-party partners to bring more of your updates and contacts to your Windows Live network
• 2009-03-27: Facebook: The Facebook Open Stream API
• 2009-03-14: Myspace: New Features for MySpaceID Live!