Kingsley,
Your characterization of "problems" is spot on:
On 8/18/2011 9:01 AM, Kingsley Idehen wrote:
<snip>
Linked Data addresses many real world problems. The trouble is that
problems are subjective. If you have experienced a problem it doesn't
exist. If you don't understand a problem it doesn't exist. If you
don't know a problem exists then again it doesn't exist in you context.
But you left out: The recognized "problem" must *cost more* than the
cost of addressing it.
A favorable cost/benefit ratio has to be recognized by the people being
called upon to make the investment in solutions.
That is recognition of a favorable cost/benefit ratio by the W3C and
company is insufficient.
Yes?
For the umpteenth time here are three real world problems addressed
effectively by Linked Data courtesy of AWWW (Architecture of the World
Wide Web):
1. Verifiable Identifiers -- as delivered via WebID (leveraging Trust
Logic and FOAF)
2. Access Control Lists -- an application of WebID and Web Access
Control Ontology
3. Heterogeneous Data Access and Integration -- basically taking use
beyond the limits of ODBC, JDBC etc..
Let's apply the items above to some contemporary solutions that
illuminate the costs of not addressing the above:
1. G+ -- the "real name" debacle is WebID 101 re. pseudonyms,
synonyms, and anonymity
2. Facebook -- all the privacy shortcomings boil down to not
understanding the power of InterWeb scale verifiable identifiers and
access control lists
3. Twitter -- inability to turn Tweets into structured annotations
that are basically nano-memes
4. Email, Comment, Pingback SPAM -- a result of not being able to
verify identifiers
5. Precision Find -- going beyond the imprecision of Search Engines
whereby subject attribute and properties are used to contextually
discover relevant things (explicitly or serendipitously).
The problem isn't really a shortage of solutions, far from it.
For the sake of argument only, conceding these are viable solutions, the
question is:
Do they provide more benefit than they cost?
If that can't be answered favorably, in hard currency (or some other
continuum of value that appeals to particular investors), no one is
going to make the investment.
Economics 101.
That isn't specific to SemWeb but any solution to a problem. The
solution has to provide a favorable cost/benefit ratio or it won't be
adopted. Or at least not widely.
Hope you are having a great day!
Patrick
--
Patrick Durusau
[email protected]
Chair, V1 - US TAG to JTC 1/SC 34
Convener, JTC 1/SC 34/WG 3 (Topic Maps)
Editor, OpenDocument Format TC (OASIS), Project Editor ISO/IEC 26300
Co-Editor, ISO/IEC 13250-1, 13250-5 (Topic Maps)
Another Word For It (blog): http://tm.durusau.net
Homepage: http://www.durusau.net
Twitter: patrickDurusau
