Statement of Purpose

The Placeware Association serves providers and users of online buildings by creating and maintaining standards – building codes – for the construction and use of online buildings. The standards are based upon the following assumptions:

• 1. Ease of Use

  An online building should emulate a physical building’s ease of use. A workplace should allow free navigation among offices, cubicles, meeting rooms, break areas and other spaces that are familiar to users of physical office facilities. A residence should support useful separation of function between spaces for entertaining guests and spaces for household members.

• 2. Access Controls

  An online building should include strong access controls and privilege controls, based upon the availability of identity certificate based credentials for all occupants and their guests.

• 3. Types of Online Space

  An online community should provide three general types of spaces: outdoor spaces, InDoor spaces, and public accommodations. An outdoor space is visible on the World Wide Web, and use of such outdoor space may or may not be access controlled. An InDoor space implements access controls based upon identity credentials that are based on reliable identity certificates that provide a measure of their own reliability to any relying party, including the facility’s access controls; as well as access controls that are managed by access control lists. Public accommodations include building reception areas (lobbies), retail facilities, cafés and other casual gathering spaces, and covered common areas among buildings. Public accommodations do not have access controls beyond those implemented by the online community of which they are a part.

• 4. Economics

  The economics of online communities should emulate the economics of physical communities.

  The Placeware Association cooperates with the City of Osmio Buildings Department in developing building codes that are based upon Osmio’s Quiet Enjoyment Infrastructure.