I would make this article the “preface” to the ANTS Technology book for beginners.
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@dyamanaka, what’s the technical level of the person we’re looking to explain this to with this term?
Technical level is 0. The acronym is a play on the the word ANT or ANTS so a person can quickly grasp the basic idea of how the technology works.
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If I were to say we use Autonomous Network Trust System, most people would say, huh?
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If I were to say it works like ANTS, then they would say oh!
Both require explanation in detail but the latter conveys the mental image of a network of individuals, working together in a colony. From that point we can drill down into more detail about node ranking, persona, specific roles, etc…
We can also use diagrams and pictures for people who cannot see the mental picture.
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I’ve showed this to a few non-technical people, and their reaction was: “I don’t know what ANT stands for.” They didn’t even make the parallel to the insect. I think because its all in caps, it appears to be an acronym (which it is), but that loses the parallel. Maybe either go grammatical with Ants Technology / Ant Technology, or throw another word in there.
I really like the idea behind it, though. Everyone knows ants work as a community for a higher goal, and work independently. I also really like the acronym meaning “Autonomous Network Transfer” instead of “Autonomous Network Trust.”
And I’m surprised nobody has drawn this parallel yet: Ant Farm, anyone?
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It could be.
Presentation is key to getting the idea across clearly. This is why not everyone is good at public speaking.
Project SAFE uses ANT tech. (a little ambiguous)
Project SAFE functions like an ant colony. We call it ANT tech. (is this more clear?)
It should spark curiosity, interest, and conversation. Each person will present it in their own way.
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I’d say drop the caps, so its just Ant Technology. Making it clear that it’s an acronym might be superfluous.
Or, draw focus to the acronym but couple it with a different word. Like, ANT Farm. Or ANT Colony. In that case, you immediately get the parallel, but also understand its an acronym.
Once the discussion starts, all of this becomes irrelevant because you can just explain it. These are just my thoughts on how to quickly translate the idea (and therefore interest) without the explanation.
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Agreed.
I’ll make the changes now.
Autonomous Network Transfer Farm 
I like it!
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Added ANT Farm to the OP.
I run an ANT Farm on the SAFE Network!
I feel like the farm bit is distracting and confusing since an ant farm is a real thing. It would be good to have a term that is useful for telling both low and high technology folks. I would definitely take preference to using Ant Technology if I were to be talking about the Safe network…
I like this but just change it so it’s not capitalized.
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I actually like ANT Farm, not Ant Farm.
When I present the farming aspect to new people, I would literally tell them to run an ANT Farm (Autonomous Network Transfer Farm). It translates to what their vault actually does with data on the SAFE Network. All PUT and GET requests are Autonomous Network Transfers of data to and from their vault/farm. And sometimes, their farm functions as a relay connection to other farms.
I also like Ant Technology instead of the ANT in caps to parallel the concept to the insect ant colony.
I think people should use what they are most comfortable with and describe it however they best understand it.
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Yeah, that’s what I liked it about it. It a real-world analogue that actually makes sense, and it fits surprisingly well into the paradigm (w/ farming). I actually really like that it’s being compared to a real thing. And the term is easier to say than Ant Technology (anT-Technology), and has a lot less syllables.
Wouldn’t the farm be the entire network, not just one farmer/vault?
The system is all about the relationship between the vaults while farming is just one small aspect that creates incentive.
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Actually, that is not exactly how I see it.
Based on previous discussions…
I always pictured (in my head) that my farm land is my actual hard drive. And the Network is a group of farmers linking to each others land, using the protocol rules. That protocol is the MaidSafe program they agree to run on their computer.
As a farmer, it is my responsibility to look after my portion of the land (my hard drive + internet connection) and make sure it stays connected to the Network, and remains functional in looking after the encrypted data. The Network (my group of close nodes) agree to pay me Safecoin for taking on that responsibility. Should I falter on my responsibilities, I would lose my revenue potential as well as be removed from the Network, eventually.
I would say, the SAFE Network is an ant colony of nodes.
We could get more complex and start talking about client nodes (non vault nodes) which are part of the Network. But those to me are really just nodes with rank 0. Meaning they are not trusted to store any data. I have to check with @dirvine about the persona of each vault in relation to their ranks.
EDIT: changed analogy to ant colony rather than ANT farm to avoid confusion.
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That doesn’t make sense to me. An ant farm is the same thing as an ant colony in nature, right? If we’re going to be using the metaphor to ant colonies, we need to understand what the metaphor is.
To me, each vault is an ant and there are several roles (read: personas) that a vault can assume as with ants in a colony. Their interaction with each other is what drives the self regulation in the network.
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So in that analogy you’d either be part of the ANT farm, or the ANT colony.
I think the ANT farm works as a cute term that ties ideas together. ANT colony is probably more accurate, and still gets the idea across.
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Would ANT vault be more accurate?
Autonomous Network Transfer Vault.
The docs and whitepaper reference vaults and farming regularly. So telling a person to run an ANT vault on the SAFE Network sounds closer to what you’re describing.
Wow its tricky getting this terminology sorted.
I’m with Paige on two points:
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this is not about ants, so we need to downplay that or it will not hit the spot (people will see this as biology)
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it actually is an acronym, and if its a bad acronym we need to change that, not sidle away from it into something it is not (something to do with ants).
What are the key messages we’re trying for here? Maybe… Project Safe:
- is new decentralised technology using simple rules to make lots of computers work together - a bit like a colony of ants
- creates a world-wide network for private communications and data storage, free for everyone
- does everything the current internet does without trading privacy and attention for profit or control
Ok, I’m not the pithy copywriter :-). Is this close? If not then what is better? How can we convey this with ANTS etc.
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Get in…that’s the one