Buzzwords, they’re flying everywhere! In my defense, I didn’t make this one up. But I do think that microchunking gets across a specific idea with regard to digital media that is beyond resource modeling or standardized data exchange. Those are the tools; microchunking is an approach to distributing media so it can take maximal advantage of them.

With regard to apps and identity, I think the same logic applies: by breaking down previously monolithic entities, they can become more effective in a world where such tools allow widespread syndication and remixing.

Thanks for the comment!

Aren’t you just talking about Resource Modeling (i.e. identifying resources with URIs)? Uniform Resource Identifiers are just the first part of the elevator pitch for the web style. Everything follows after that, you perform operations on representations of those resource through a standard set of verbs with a few rules to enable caching and some conventions to help the back button during human interaction etc. Some handwaving economic analysis here on coordination costs. Adam Bosworth and Google are betting on Atom (see GData as a standard data transport and publishig protocol)

To the point about identity it’s an interesting problem but one that is being resolved one service integration at a time. I’m sure the conventions and best practices will come in short order, there’s every economic incentive for that.