This repository contains the code for the OpenCola application and toolkit. To understand the overall vision of OpenCola, which puts this code in a larger context please visit our homepage.
The OpenCola application is a collaboration tool that looks a lot like a social media application, but puts you in control of your personal data as well as the flow of information around you. This means that, unless you decide otherwise, there is no 3rd party interference (ads, algorithms, trolls, scammers, etc.). You also control where your data lives, which is by default on your local device, shared with only peers of your choice. The image below shows what the application looks like, which, on the surface, is similar to other social media applications:
The OpenCola toolkit provides is a flexible data model, and a set of simple interfaces:
| Interface | Description |
|---|---|
EntityStore |
Storage for metadata about "things" (domain entities) |
ContentAddressedFileStore |
Storage for arbitrary files (or data blobs) |
NetworkProvider |
Communication with other peers for a given protocol. |
SearchIndex |
Searching for entities |
The toolkit also contains supporting libraries, as well as a relay server that allows peer nodes to communicate in a trustworthy way. The toolkit is very general, and could be used to build many applications across arbitrary domains.
The toolkit can be used for a wide range of application, but here are some other applications we have thought about:
- Healthcare: Healthcare consumers have to rely on proprietary software to manage transport of healthcare records. This software is controlled by companies who have an incentive to lock in lucrative contracts in order to maximize profit, which raises healthcare costs. Imagine instead having direct control of your healthcare records that you can connect with your various healthcare providers. Get test results directly from labs that, under your control, automatically synchronize with your doctors. When you switch doctors, just disconnect your old doctor and connect your new doctor. You would get greater flexibility, offered at lower cost, because it uses an open, general platform.
- Education: With some simple modifications (e.g. limiting connections to classmates), the OpenCola collaboration tool could be useful in a classroom setting.
- Journalism: News outlets have been hurt by social media platforms siphoning away audience and ad revenue. OpenCola could allow these organizations to interact directly with their audience, restoring hard earned value to the organizations.
- User Centric Recommendations: Since OpenCola allows you to collect activity from any site, there’s a lot more information that could be used to help you find things of interest. Imagine being able to choose a YouTube recommendation algorithm, built outside of YouTube, optimized for you that could get you out of filter bubbles or an Amazon product recommendation system that can’t be manipulated by Amazon to maximize profit, that can make use of your network’s product ratings instead of those from unknown people on Amazon that are gamed by bots.
- Creative Markets (Music, Books, YouTubers, etc.): Creators spend great time and effort to build loyal audiences but are at the mercy of corporate intermediaries (Amazon, Record Labels, YouTube, etc.) for their success. OpenCola could support direct interactions (including sales) between creators and their communities, so creators have more control over their livelihood.
- Open Banking: Your financial information is generally locked in numerous proprietary silos, making it hard to get a single picture of your financial state. Some products allow you to merge the data from all your financial institutions, but they require that you let them see all of this private information. OpenCola could be used to model financial transactions and allow for applications that let you see your financial data the way you want to see it, without having to expose this data to anyone else.
There are many applications / platforms out there that attempt to solve important problems. Some are low level, more technical solutions (e.g. Solid), while others are high level solutions (e.g. Mastadon). Low level solutions are often light on product vision or are too complicated for everyday people to use. High level solutions often have a very specific product vision, and so are of limited use.
OpenCola was designed to be able to model any application domain, and make use of any technologies that can be wrapped by the small set of interfaces, so it is not one specific application, nor is it one specific network. It allows for arbitrary domains to be modeled and interconnected with arbitrary networks. Things like Solid and Mastadon could easily be integrated into OpenCola applications.
Because of its design, OpenCola is agnostic to network toplogy and has the flexibility to operate on any scale from pure peer-to-peer (to maximize privacy) all the way to fully centralized (to maximize convenience).
If you would like to understand the code bottom up, start in the model. If you would like to start top down, start in Application.kt
The important parts of the code are:
| Directory | Description |
|---|---|
opencola-server |
Backend code (oc, relay) (Kotlin) |
web-ui |
The frontend for the application (Clojurescript) |
extension |
The chrome browser extension (HTML, JS, CSS) |
install |
Scripts building and generating installers for the collaboration tool (Bash) |
You can also navigate the code through the filesystem and explore the README.md files found in most relevant directories.
While the application and toolkit provide a solid foundation, there are a number of improvements we're thinking about:
- Mobile Application: Work in progress
- Multi-device support: Allow for the same user to run and synchronize their data across devices.
- Private Messaging: Allow peers to send private messages to each other.
- Invitations: Allow users to "invite" connections within the network, so that people can get connected without having to exchange tokens outside the network.
We'd love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to file an issue or start a discussion.