The document discusses the challenges of managing presence information at work, specifically addressing the common queries about an individual's location and availability. It highlights existing technologies like Microsoft Communicator and Yahoo's efforts, but emphasizes the need for a unified management system for presence data that includes availability, location, activities, and contact preferences. The author expresses a wish for an open standard system that allows for customizable rules and scenarios while speculating on which tech company might lead this initiative.

1. An Improvement on Presence

2. The two questions I
hear most at work:
1. Where are you?
(Or: Are you in xxx?)
2. Can I give you a call?

3. The technological answer?
(at my job)
Microsoft Communicator

5. Communicator is not bad!
The status integrates
relatively well with Outlook

6. It is also possible to get a
status change alert for
a particular person

7. There is one problem: we
keep our status everywhere...

13. All of these are
independent of each other

16. Location is now in the mix too

24. Together these technologies
automatically answer the two
questions we started with!

25. However, there is no central
(one-stop) management of my
presence information

26. Yahoo has started
a single service that
deals with location

31. There have been
standardisation efforts
for the status part
of presence too

37. So, here is my wishlist:

38. One place to manage my
presence information
consisting of:

39. 1. Availability/Status

40. 2. Location

41. 3. What am I doing

42. 4. Contact preferences/Rules

43. Based on an open and
complete standard

44. Possibility to define
rules and scenarios
(at the interface level):
e.g. update availability
on the basis of location

45. Multi-dimensional:
I can be available
for my family
and unavailable for
work-related matters

46. Actionable: e.g. Call x as soon
as he is in Amsterdam and he
is available for a phone call

47. Or: Give me a ping when x
reaches the office

48. Federated
(think Laconica not Twitter)

49. So who will make this
or push for this?
Google? Yahoo? Microsoft?

50. I have a feeling it
might be Facebook
(except for the federation)

52. Consider that a
descriptive prediction
not a prescriptive one!

53. Comments? Questions?
Twitter: @hansdezwart