S

a system could simply match people on the list according to words, but more precise serendipitous discoveries could emerge through a more structured syntax as you're suggesting.

i wonder if theres any freecycle-related software already..

do you know about craigslist? compare and contrast freecycle/craigslist and any others.. the synthesis will point toward our goal

Dante

Thanks !

as for the suggestion to contact people related to freecycle - there seems to be come kind of "centralized" approach, and they ended up implementing their own centrally controlled software and databases - but I WOULD AVOID SUCH APPROACH AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE based on my perception coming from experiences with other platforms, such as http://hospitalityclub.org , http://couchsurfing.com , and other centrally controlled databases and/or organizations. - also see : http://opencouchsurfing.org

also see :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Freecycle_Network#Controversies

I am very glad to see that many of the groups are based on yahoo groups, and that eventually it is not too difficult to extract flows of incoming data, and then match them / sort them according to certain ontologies,

which can offer a more attractive interface based on a semantic web approach, built on "open protocols", and ideally without need for a centralized approach.

From such critical mass of data and potential users, I feel it is possible to build on further,

for example through "hashtags" on twitter, identica, or even facebook, ...

and then progressively extend further... with other vectors... in an approach with no need for centralized control on data flows...

Folksonomies and Ontology via Machine Learning ?

for example in the case of the Freecycle Ontology,

I would like to "not specifically define it"...

but simply "show" a system the kind of relations I make ( folksonomically ),

and let the system learn by itself , through my usage, and that of others, or more precisely, through an accumulation of data, enable us to create ontologies based on the folksonomical data...

Machine Learning

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_learning