The use of the word "trust" is interesting in this context. Is it the same trust I talk about with trust metrics and the like? In one way, yes. The real question is: who do you trust? No sane, thoughtful person would trust the likes of Microsoft and VeriSign. But I think people do trust their social network, and are right to do so. We need massive research to explore how to map social networks into the digital world. I often feel quite alone in thinking about this stuff; very few people seem to understand it. Oh well. I'll just keep pushing it patiently.
For what it's worth, this work you're doing on trust metrics and applying it to the free software community (those of us present here, anyway) is why I'm here. I wanted to see how it worked, which also, of course, helps make it work. Starting a diary to chronicle my minimal involvement with and laughable development of free software wasn't necessarily high on my list of things to do, but I see some real value in this research, just as I see tremendous value in the free software 'movement.'
Far too many folks these days aren't thoughtful people and have no problems trusting whatever corporate entities they're 'supposed' to trust, but if we (er, you? hehe) can develop and demonstrate an alternative that has some basis in our subjective experiences as individuals (rather than as various corporate account numbers), there may be hope. Time may be among the largest problems facing such an effort however. I know I haven't been able to go back and state my certification reasoning and can barely keep up with a diary simply because there isn't enough time to get it all done these days...
Er, that GOVIA developer's milestone set for tomorrow, for instance, should have kept me from even writing this... ;)
Sigh, more later...
Later...
Well, how about another section in my notes -- Certification Temptations! Just a spur of the moment thought from a quick perusal of the recent entries... Someone stating they don't deserve a certification, someone a couple of days ago wondering about the value of the certifications... A trend. I figure the more insight I try to provide in how I'm looking at the trust metric, the better. Now if I could just spend more time reading...
"Trust in me..."
Only suitably imagined as sung by Siouxsie on Through the Looking Glass.