[development] social network module

[Novák Áron]

Hi,

I would like to thank to Adrian Rossouw who encouraged me after my first
SoC proposal to write another one! (the accepted one :) )

My task is a social network module (the application is available here:
http://aaron.myip.hu/summer-of-code.html). I have to choose between two
possibilities:
(1) The new module'll be a support for site admins mainly who can see
the (hidden) structure and the relationship between the visitors. (the
relationship is based on the site's statistics)
(2) The new module add to Drupal such capabilities what orkut have.
Users can decide that who knows who and they collect friends and so on.

I've created a poll here: http://2006.planet-soc.com/?q=node/190/results

Of course the two options don't make impossible each other but for me
it's important to see what is the higher priority. My humble opinion is
to do the second one first, after that do the first one.

My main ideas for (2):

 - Creating a graph according the users' interaction
 - Users can see their own network (and the entire of course) as an SVG
picture. (Will IE7 support SVG? I don't know.)
 - The module can tell that what is the shortest route between two users
 - Perhaps a circle finder solution (find N-length circles with a
specific user) (i don't know yet that this problem has an easy
algorithm)

The (1) is very similar to (2) plus:
 - The data source of the graph is the statistics of the site
 - Find the most popular things (pages or people)

Thanks for any comment or vote,

Aron Novak