Enterprise 2.0 |The Semantic Puzzle

Issues on the Corporate Semantic Web

January 26, 2009 by Tassilo Pellegrini, Category: Conferences & Events, Corporate Semantic Web, Enterprise 2.0

Prof. Adrian Paschke, head of the Corporate Semantic Web Working Group at the Free University of Berlin, gave an extensive interview on promises and challenges of the Corporate Semantic Web addressing methodological, technological and economic aspects. He says:

Corporate Semantic Web addresses both the consumer and the produce side, where consumers and producers might be humans as well as automated services, e.g. in business processes and enterprise service networks. This also includes the adequate engineering, modelling, negotiation and controlling of the use of the (meta)data and meaning representations in a (collaborating) community of users or services in enterprise settings where the individual meanings as elements of the internal cognitive structures of the members become attuned to each others’ view in a communicative process. This allows dealing with issues like ambiguity of information and semantic choices, relevance of information, information overload, information hiding and strategic information selection, as well as positive and negative consequences of actions (e.g. in a decision making process).

But, CSW does not only address the technological aspect but also the pragmatic aspect of actually using Semantic Web technologies in enterprises, which includes learning and training aspects as well as economical considerations. Incentives need to be provided to encourage in-house adoption and integration of these new Corporate Semantic Web technologies into the existing IT infrastructures, services and business processes. Decision makers on the operation, tactical and strategic IT management level need to understand the impact of this new technological approach and its adoption costs and return on investment. Therefore, companies will have in mind the economical justifiability of the deployment of new technologies.

I think he addresses some really crucial aspects of this emerging application field. Read the full interview here.

Corporate Semantic Web will also be a major topic at this year’s I-Semantics Conference from Sept. 2 – 4, 2009 in Graz/Austria. Also check out the forthcoming Semantic Web Meetup in Berlin on March 20, 2009, which is organized by Adrian Paschke’s team and the Semantic Web Company.

corporate wiki: more than a software

January 19, 2009 by Thomas Thurner, Category: Enterprise 2.0

: Image via Wikipedia

It’s fashionable to have a corporate wiki installed at the own company. But often – to speak a word of truth – this wikis are not more than a burial ground of vague project memos. This isn’t a big surprise, because often corporate strategy on innovate wikis into company’s every day life, comes in a simple triple jump: (1) buy some software, (2) get a one-day workshop, (3) write a binding memo to employees to use that wiki. Leaving the process in such a kind, wikis are developing the way that is inherent for them: run riot (optimistic case) or run dry (normal case).

But wikis are extensive and powerful instruments in corporate life. You can plan, communicate, document and control everyday corporate processes with them – within a common environment. So wikis are less a chunk of software, they are more the potential future working environment, where employees are “living in”. So, as careful as we are furnish our offices, we should also setup our virtual working place: The corporate wiki.

Andreas Heilwagen points out some tips on innovate corporate wikis right at “Computerwoche”

clear rules and responsibilities
do not start with empty wikis
so called “champions” have to smooth the way
change your mind on information processing
be careful with vendor-specific plugins
do not outsource to professional information brokers
everybody should be able to edit (nearby) every page
get your pages connected intern and extern
always create useful information which others can reuse

Following my statement at the beginning, I would add:

get a clear definition about the fields you want to use the wiki for
identify company’s surplus in having a wiki
see which tools and services bring some very personnel benefit for the employees

It’s the preparation phase which is essential in the quaetion on how effective the work with a future corporate wiki can be. Vienna based Semantic Web Company exemplary runs through such a preparation phase this days. Getting data, using tools like storytelling, personas and usage scenarios, this may end in a “well equipped working environment of the future” – the corporate wiki.

Retated:

Oracle Fusion ECM: Enterprise Wiki Strategies

The Semantic Web becomes mainstream, again.

December 5, 2008 by Andreas Blumauer, Category: Enterprise 2.0, Literature & Publications

The roll-out of semantic web technologies seems to enter the next stage. And it will be a quiet (r)evolution like the open source movement was. Two examples: Next year´s JAX in Mainz/Germany will have its first Semantic Web track. Organisers say that “the Semantic Web is going to conquer the business market soon” – we will see if it will be that martial.

Another example: One of the biggest Open Source Magazines in Germany, t3n, has recently published its new magazine with many stories around the Semantic Web. Editor in chief, Jan Christe says: “We have constantly stumbled upon semantic web related stuff when we scanned the news, so we decided to set a focus on this topic.”

The Semantic Web is tangible now – Christe says: “Applications like OpenCalais, Zemanta or Tagaroo show the end-users what´s really in for them.” And it is also nice to see, that the semantic web won´t be reduced down to “search” anymore: t3n´s new issue has also interesting articles about Linked Data, for instance Sören Auer´s “How to develop Semantic Web Applications”.

So, as a conclusion: Paul Miller´s waiting for the “Semantic Web in Business” (a great blog post!) has an end. It won´t be found in heavy books, rather in the open source community and sometimes in light-weight magazines.

Yes, we can!

Has the Semantic Web Industry become a reality yet?

October 10, 2008 by Tassilo Pellegrini, Category: Enterprise 2.0, Literature & Publications

Well, no. Or maybe not quite. But an innocent reader might have gathered this from the title of David Provost‘s recent publication which promisingly read “On the Cusp. Global Review of the Semantic Web Industry.”

Provost’s review is a nice and readable attempt at evangelizing semantic technologies and their adoption by the industry. Its seeks to spread the news outside of the echo chambers and avoids any community jargon and cryptic acronyms irrelevant to strategic decision makers. He really derserves great credits here.

But in the end Provost’s description of a “Semantic Web Industry” is reductionist. By just analysing the commercial availability of technology provided by vendors, the bigger picture of the industry gets blurred. He misses the point when it comes to analysing the actual demands for semantic applications. But they could be easily identified e.g. enabling cost-efficient interoperability and reusability of data. So Provost gets stuck in a supply-driven view of the semantic web industry. And as we have learned from history, supply driven markets – technology markets in special – are extremely vulnerable. Hence concluding that the Semantic Web Industry is on the cusp might seem a little “misworded”.

What might be a nice addition for a follow up study is to look at the commercialization strategies of semantic web technologies and its capitalization logic as a network good. Further on, it might be worth it looking at the value chain of a semantic industry in which vendors just play one (but nontheless important) role and the regulatory aspects involved in rolling out semantic web based business models, i.e. concept advertising. Here you might be easily confronted with antitrust and competition issues very soon, taking into account recent decisions of the German High Court about the bidding on key words in Google AdSense.

Imagine what it would mean if you could bid on concepts and secure them for your private purposes?