bluereek

ReadWriteWeb sets out its Top 10 Semantic Web Products of 2009.

Was I excited?

On a personal level I have found a number of these products useful e.g. feedly.  And they do represent some interesting development and practical examples of various elements of the semantic toolbox.

But not that exciting.

Working with business executives looking to uderstand the relevance of semantic web to them not sure that this range of products will excite them.  In fact don’t think it will.

I am beginning to think that we should think of semantics in terms of a set of tools and standards designed to enable us to get more from the web.  Web 3.0 seems to me to suggest a new web – I don’t see that at present.

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This month’s Cutter report includes a piece by Mitchell Ummel as guest editor.  He suggests a number of areas ripe for use of semantically aware applications:

• Business intelligence (BI)
• Data mining (across structured and unstructured
  data stores
• E-discovery (across centralized and distributed
  data stores)
• Customer relationship management (CRM) systems,
  leveraging the entirety of the social networking fabric
• Dynamic business rules (inference engine)
  optimization
• Ontology-based security/trust credentialing,
  private social networks, and public referral/viral
  product marketing using FOAF (Friend of a Friend),
  POWDER (Protocol for Web Description Resource),
  and other maturing standards
• Extract, transform, load (ETL) services (RDF-izers),
  which automatically transform and publish enterprise
  data into private and/or public ontological stores
• Embedded control, telemetry, and data acquisition
  systems relating to devices, equipment, and sensors,
  including (but not limited to) enablement of smart
  grid3 energy management systems

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Read an interesting survey re traction around the semantic web.  Listed a number of barriers to adoption of semantic web:

1. organisational culture
2. the complexity of the technology
3. a general lack of experts
4. a lack of success stories
5. a lack in quality of available software and
6. the problem to quantify the benefits

I thought it would be interesting to consider each of thse in some more detail in a series of postings – designed to assist in promoting a greater understanding of semantic web and its potential use.  Would welcome any feedback/ ideas on this subject.

The referenced survey targeted a fairly technical, web savy, group, across Europe.  Am keen to engage more directly with business poeple – amongst many of whom I am not sure there is a clear understanding of, or interest in, the semantic web.

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In my recent posts re twitter I referenced part of the value of twitter being the fact that you are looking at information provided to you by someone you follow (and therefore rate to seom level).  This excellent post in ReadWriteWeb supports the argument and outlines how search is changing.

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Commented previously on the copying of books by google – to make them available online (commercials not clear).  This continues to cause great concern across the globe – who should own/ censor all of this material?  Should a company have control of all this intellect and art?  Quinn Norton writes on the subject in last Friday’s Irish Times.

This is the sort of subject of real import which gets thrown up by the internet.   Good to see ongoing coverage in Technology section of the newspaper.  However this is far too important to be left to those interested in technology.  This requires debate amongst politicians, academics – assisted by technologists as may be relevant.  Easy for major developments of this type to go relatively uncovered in the times in which we live – given the economic difficulties dominating the agenda.

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The recent Technology Forecast publication from PwC focused on semantic web and linked data.  Interesting series of articles – and I like the concept of dealing with ‘messy data’.  CEOs and other managers want to be able to merge internal ERP type data with external data.  Also reminds readers that the I in CIO is for information – and that CIOs need to take the lead on the generation and planning of relevant ontologies – given a clear understanding of their businesses and a working knowledge of ontologies.

On the same theme interesting piece by Linda Moulton – the line ‘enterprises must commit to having very smart people with enterprise expertise to build the ontology’  rings the same bell.

Linda Moulton believs that real progress in adoption of semantic web will be seen first within entertprises, later between enterprises and across the web more generally.  Seems to make a lot of sense and be the most likely scenario – however we may prefer the more holistic soltuion to emrge immediately.

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Today’s Irish Times report of cuts in Latvia – in state salaries, pensions and old age pensions for those still working paints a harrowing picture.  However we will not tax our way out of our own difficulties – no matter how much it may suit certain groups.

We’ve had significant tax increases.  We’re still waiting for the plans on cost cutting.  Media speculation is that the current government may struggle to bring in another tough budget (if they don’t and a replacement government doesn’t then the IMF will do it for us – god forbid).

Need a National Government – FF & FG – prmoting a structured plan for recovery over a three – five year time frame: pushing through radical reform on the cost side, not simply increasing taxation.

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I participate actively as an online ’social networker’.  Seems to me there are many benefits – through linkedin, facebook, twitter, blogging.

Interesting piece recently about whether we should blend the personal and the business stuff in social networking activities.  There are many reasons to do so – the technology increasingly means people are available to work at anytime from anywhere (good and bad!).  Part of being successful in business is building and developing relationships – seems to be some logic to revealing some of the personal stuff.

The web based networks facilitate a level of networking simply not possible without.  And yet seems that much of the most effective networking continues to be face to face – or, face to many face.  As someone described it to me recently there is that hour in the pub when people seem relaxed, in a heightened state of awareness and the antennae are up for networking.  Depending on how long is spent imbibing the quality of the networking may subsequently drop off.

And some people are just more comfortable networking…’the gift of the gab’ as we sometimes describe it.

So long as we see social networking as another channel, another way of networking I think we won’t go wrong.  But when people start to substitute wikis, facebook, etc for actual face to face encounters…then they risk losing the plot.

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Magnificent evening in Co. Mayo – looking across at the reek itself (Croagh Patrick), from Roscahill.   Blue skies, sunshine, temperature in the mid teens.  This is the ‘bluereek’.

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