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# Activity streams: not just for the cloud
- URL: https://werd.io/activity-streams-not-just-for-the-cloud/
- Published: 2012-04-25T06:29:38.000Z
- Updated: 2025-06-12T11:00:41.000Z
- Author: Ben Werdmuller
- Tags: Data control, #ben-684a32da145d7d001be71dae, Web, activity streams, cloud, google drive, sharing, #Migrated-1749693130536, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2025-06-11 21:52

At the end of last year, I was asked to contribute my wishlist for Linux on the desktop for [an issue of Linux Format magazine](http://www.linuxformat.com/archives?issue=153). Here's what I submitted:

> [activity stream](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activity%5Fstream)

> Then, I want to be able to program against the activity stream, and the activity streams I can see on my network, using a simple API. This would allow me to sync files, status updates and other things, while not being bound to any one application or utility. It also could provide an interesting underlying basis for social web applications running on Linux servers.

This is a little convoluted, so let me explain: **I want my activity on my computer, my activity across my enterprise network, and my activity on the web to be saved to a single activity stream that I control.** I want to be able to conditionally share and have access to the entire activity stream - and then do stuff with it, using tools like the excellent [ifttt](http://ifttt.com/).

Consider the following unified stream:

- **Ben Werdmuller** saved **Technical white paper** to **Work out tray** 3 seconds ago
- **Ben's mom** sent you an email: **A little family news** to ben@benwerd.com 15 minutes ago
- **Ben's cousin** sent you a message: **I'm engaged!** on **Facebook** 1 hour ago
- Your task: **Finish technical white paper** is due 3 hours ago
- You were tagged in a photo: **ElggCamp San Francisco 2012** on **Flickr** 4 hours ago

In the example above, the act of saving something to the folder *Work out tray* could automatically cause it to be uploaded to Basecamp, or emailed to a few people for review. Similarly, my being tagged in a photo on Flickr could cause it to be automatically downloaded into my local Photos folder.

Why should my activity stream just contain stuff that happened on the web? Now that we have apps like Google Drive, these separations are arbitrary at this point. What matters is *that I did something*, not where I did it.