I have not written in a while (not a great thing for a blog) but hopefully that will change beginning with this quick reflection on a post that has already been quoted multiple times. Tim Berners-Lee writes in Giant Global Graph:
People running Internet systems had to let their computer be used for forwarding other people’s packets, and connecting new applications they had no control over. People making web sites sometimes tried to legally prevent others from linking into the site, as they wanted complete control of the user experience, and they would not link out as they did not want people to escape. Until after a few months they realized how the web works. And the re-use kicked in. And the payoff started blowing people’s minds.Letting your data connect to other people’s data is a bit about letting go in that sense.
It is still not about giving to people data which they don’t have a right to. It is about letting it be connected to data from peer sites. It is about letting it be joined to data from other applications.
It is about getting excited about connections, rather than nervous.
Specifically, Tim speaks of the graph above the Net and the Web as providing the level of data connection that will usher in a new level of thinking. Not about sites and destinations but about things. Meanwhile, in the Enterprise we still have companies talking about the unified BI stack. Are you kidding me? Sure, unification does allow for simplification (or so it may seem) and some BI goals require it (for now) but it is time to get excited about connections and representations above the data noise and that sweet pie chart report. This will allow for new power as data is easily linked and explored instead of constantly being re-positioned, re-organized and re-published to provide “simpler” access.
Tim goes on to say that being able to connect what a document is about instead of just connect documents themselves as a next step is “obvious, really“. Well, I am not sure the elaborate trappings of data, systems and IT are allowing the obvious to take place. Where is the open, semantic integration of corporate information that allows for open information exchange? (One might quietly whisper services at this point or indexed feeds but I don’t think that gets it done and refuse to go off on a tangent here).
What I think is obvious, is that interconnected data and how people share and relate to that interconnection will define business intelligence in the years ahead. The knowledge work that will be done in the context of relationships and visibility across department and organizational boundaries will be as simple as writing a message on a Facebook wall. In fact, the ability to speak about the graph of an organization and focus on things like views of a transaction, views of a supplier interaction, views of a customer — instead of worrying about the application, the individual process or the report — will create the right framework for increasingly flexible and powerful organizations.
Even at Zua Scene, we see the instant power of what we call a simplified semantic layer around locations and things as granting instant collaboration across user communities by linking spreadsheets by what the rows are about — not just the sheets. We see the power of creating a simple graph to represent vulnerable populations and disease outbreaks in improving global healthcare. We are starting to explore how to look at the impact of knowing about a healthcare procedure as a thing with many sides (not bound by a system) with partners and clients. So, yes, we support the Graph and hope that the BI community learns it must support the Graph sooner rather than later to provide user the real visibility they need.
