Random Curry

Here is a really cool page regarding semantic technology, with slide shows explaining things in terms of stamp collecting…

A Decent SemWeb Explainer with a Services Angle

Of course, there are some ways that you might not think it’s really cool…

1) If you don’t like Europeans
2) If you’ve never collected stamps
3) If big numbers scare you

The thing that scares me about the big numbers relates to the recent worldwide financial meltdown – will we make the systems so complex that they become uncontrollable? Could that lead to wars with machines like in The Terminator or The Matrix?

Personally, I’d just like to see agreement between financials and HR systems in the same enterprise…go ahead, call me a dreamer…

Common Tag Brings Standards to Metadata

One of the primary steps on the transition to the Semantic Web is the tagging of content and data so it can be located in the proper context. Here is an initiative that is trying to address the chaos of using tags when everyone and their brother is making up their own. It’s enough of a paradigm shift to include tags with your content – perhaps this will make things easier.

Of course, this effort will run into the natural resistance people have to standardized structures – everyone has the best idea on how to do things, and they rarely match. I wish the Common Tag folks luck in overcoming this obstacle.

A post from Bob DuCharme’s blog exposes a fallacy in popular opinion on computing in general, and databases in particular…

Hey CNN, SPARQL isn’t so difficult

The CNN report disparages SQARQL queries on semantic information as “long (and) convoluted” and determines that the technology is doomed because of this. You know, guys, regular ol’ SQL on relational tables is just as long and just as convoluted, but most end users never actually see it in query tools. The main difference is that SQL tools have about a 20 year head start in hiding the complexity, whereas SPARQL tools are relatively immature. You can’t write off an entire technology based on the current set of tools, but the popular media seems to have no problem…sheesh…

That’s not to say that the current SQL tools are all that great – I’ve always maintained that query/reporting is one of the holy trinity of complexity in any computer installation, along with workflow and security – but just because you, Mr. reporter, can’t understand it doesn’t make it unusable…

I’m always for explaining things in the simplest way possible, so here’s a link to a great (and simple) introduction to the Semantic Web:

The Semantic Web, explained with Lolcats

Ican has cheezburger, indeed…

A great article linking to a great paper on the state of Semantic technology in the enterprise world…

New report places Semantic Web ‘On the Cusp’ of something big

I call your attention to the conclusion of the author, David Provost:

The business value of the Semantic Web has moved away from being a debate to the point where the technology is proving itself to be commercially competitive. Increasingly, innovators, entrepreneurs, and business managers are beginning to understand how to recognize, define, and pursue the market opportunities made possible by this technology.

It’s always exciting to watch a concept go from the theoretical, academic world to concrete business application – I continue to believe that Semantics is making that journey, and is worthy of everyone’s attention. Good stuff.

My latest article on CDI and MDM technology has been published by TDAN.com:

CDI and MDM Are Broken, Part 2

The synopsis of the article:

Part 2 of this article explains the application of semantic technologies to master data management applications, including customer data integration. It examines the two extremes of MDM implementation and proposes a middle ground.

How do you feel? Is your organization ready for MDM and/or semantics? Please share your experiences…

Thinkbase: Mapping the World’s Brain

I’ve really liked the “star” interface since I saw it several years ago as developed by Inxight. (Yes, I’m sorry they got swallowed by a bigger fish, but there you are.) I expect to see quite a few more applications that take advantage of it in the near future, and the inclusion of a semantic description between objects in this application just shows the promise that this interface has for changing the way we think about data.

Seriously, I really get excited when I see this kind of thing – we are truly living in amazing times…

In keeping with the “walk the walk” attitude of this blog, I’ve added some functionality to the postings here, released as part of the OpenCalais initiative by the Reuters news organization. Specifically, there will now be added tags to information postings that are automatically generated by a WordPress plug-in called Tagaroo. I look forward to seeing what it will do for me, and I’m always supportive of Semantic technology.

One thing, though…it doesn’t start searching my text for taggable words unless I have at least 64 words, so I guess I’ll have to get a little more talkative that I usually am…

The end of “spreadmarts” as we know them…not a moment too soon…

How Semantics Can Revolutionize Spreadsheets

ReadWriteWeb has an interesting post this morning:

Web 3.0 Through the Ages

Is “Web 3.0″ still just marketing hype? I think at this point they may have a point. In listening to the March 2008 podcast from “The Semantic Gang” (on ReadWriteWeb and iTunes) I heard a lot of smart people basically say that we don’t know yet how the Semantic Web will play out commercially. It’s an exciting idea, but at the moment I fear it’s just hype.

Please be sure to click though to Jonas Bolinder’s post that is the basis for this one – Jonas goes into much more detail on the trends. In fact, it’s so important that I’ll just link to it here:

Web 3.0 – The Semantic, Implicit, Mobile or Distributed Web?