April 2016 Summaries

Activity streams, commonly found in modern applications, are challenging to build due to scalability and design complexities, yet resources often focus on infrastructure and publishing methods. Stream, a company addressing scalability issues, highlights the importance of designing serialized data for activity streams. The development of the Activity Streams Specification began in 2008 with the Atom format and evolved to JSON Activity Streams, with the W3C eventually overseeing the 2.0 specification. Activity Streams 1.0 defines an activity as consisting of an actor, verb, object, and target, and the 2.0 version enhances this with a standard vocabulary and extended features like audience targeting, allowing for user notifications through properties such as "to" and "Mention." The W3C's ongoing efforts have enriched the specification with multi-language support and JSON-LD compatibility, aiding developers in creating efficient, machine-processable activity streams.

Global Citizen is a community-driven platform dedicated to addressing global issues such as social justice, climate change, and extreme poverty, supported by notable figures like Michelle Obama and Bill Gates, along with organizations like the United Nations. Since 2012, it has engaged audiences through the Global Citizen Music Festival, curated by Chris Martin, featuring artists like Beyoncé and Stevie Wonder. The platform focuses on audience development and is expanding into overseas markets with multilingual support, particularly targeting advocacy efforts in South Asia. Matt Webster, Global Citizen's CTO, praised Stream's technology for its ease of implementation and scalability, which has facilitated the organization's ability to deliver impactful activity streams without significant developer investment. Global Citizen's efforts have led to successful initiatives like passing the Water for the World Act and raising $100 million for polio eradication, underscoring the power of a global community working towards sustainable development and peace.