Picons Archive

Steve Kinzler <steve@kinzler.com>

"picons" is short for "personal icons". They're small, constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net, organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picons databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are in either or both monochrome XBM and color XPM formats, plus a GIF format.

These databases have been compiled in hopes of helping make cyberspace a more personable place. With them, software and services can be developed to identify persons on the net by face (or, at least, by institution logo) instead of by a cryptic e-mail address. Although this software is still more potential than actual, much already exists (see below). The picons databases themselves, of course, are only a first step toward this goal.

Random Sample Picons
Click on a picon for a different random one, or on the arrow links beneath to navigate your
random sequence. [JavaScript]
users usenix misc domains unknown news
<< < > >> << < > >> << < > >> << < > >> << < > >> << < > >>

Search the picons databases

This archive contains

FAQ
The Picons Frequently Asked Questions document.
db/
The picons databases. See the README file in here for version and content information.
demo/
Sample window dumps of some picons applications.
incoming/
The directory for pending picons submissions. Subdirectories in here are for e-mail submissions. After being processed, submissions are deleted here and will appear in the archived databases within the next 24 hours.
src/
Sources for picons application scripts (apps) and icon utilities (bits). Note that these supersede older versions in the regular faces source distribution (in the scripts and filters subdirectories, respectively).

See also

Faces Archive
Sources for various applications that can use picons and/or X-Face mail header entries, and archives for the faces/picons mailing list.
Picons Card Game
A card game in JavaScript using picons, and fully configurable for players, size, and pictures.
Picons Sonification
A Java applet to compute and play auditory representations of images, including picons.
WWW-Finger Gateway with Faces
A finger service that displays picons for users and domains fingered.
Debian GNU/Linux, ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/distributions/debian/
Versions of the picons databases as Debian packages, though not as current.
Anthony's Icon Library
Another large, diverse set of icon collections, including some picons, such as the country flag domains and the Olympic event logos.
Gravatar
A related service for 80x80 globally recognized avatar images.
Personnel Directory for IU Computer Science
A directory of information about users indexed with their picons.
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