tRendezvous Twitterformat Proposal
Syntax
@user /rsvp URL [yes|no|cancel]
- URL: URL to a page that contains an hCalendar entry
- [yes|no|cancel]: (Optional) Whether or not you can attend the meeting referenced in the URL. The "cancel" value is used to cancel an existing RSVP.
Summary
The tRendezvous Twitterformat (e.g., @aral /rsvp http://bit.ly/yogaclassbrighton) is used to arrange meetings. The preceding example asks Aral if he wants to attend Jenny's Yoga class on December 14, 2009 from 7:30pm-8:30pm at the Brighton Media Center. The meeting information is contained in the target URL in hCalendar format. Aral can then respond with either @yogajenny1 /rsvp http://bit.ly/yogaclassbrighton yes or @yogajenny1 /rsvp http://bit.ly/yogaclassbrighton no depending on whether or not he can make it. A Twitter client that implements tRendezvous can, for example, create an entry in the user's iCal when they confirm attendance at a meeting. User may cancel existing RSVPs by passing "cancel" as the second argument (e.g., @yogajenny1 /rsvp http://bit.ly/yogaclassbrighton cancel).
Raison d'être
Tweets lack semantics. Twitter doesn't know or care whether I am asking someone to see a movie with me or telling them that I just won the lottery. The tRendezvous Twitterformat adds semantics to Twitter by defining the format of a meeting request. It also uses the web by requiring a URL to a web page that contains the meeting details in the hCalendar microformat.
Manual usage
The tRendezvous Twitterformat is simple enough to be used manually by users. e.g.,
@aral /rsvp http://bit.ly/yogaclassbrighton
i.e., Aral, would you like to attend my Yoga class on December 14, 2009 from 7:30pm-8:30pm at the Brighton Media Center?
@yogajenny1 /rsvp http://bit.ly/yogaclassbrighton yes
i.e., Sure!
Implementation guide for Twitter client authors
A. Authoring
No special implementation is necessary (or practical). The user can type the tRendezvous tweet herself.
B. Presenting
Presenting the question
- Parse the hCalendar entry at the URL
- Display the meeting details along with Yes and No buttons for the user to respond
- When the user responds, create a tRendezvous tweet with "yes" or "no" at the end, depending on the user's response.
- Create an iCal entry in the user's calendar application to save the meeting.
Handling the response
- If the response is "no", simply display it to the user in a manner that links it to their original tRendezvous tweet
- If the reponse is "cancel", cancel the existing meeting calendar entry and alert the user.
- If the response is "yes", parse the hCalendar entry at the URL and create an iCal entry in the user's calendar application to save the meeting.
License
This Twitterformat Proposal is released under a Creative Commons Attribution License.