On 7/26/12 11:23 AM, Kingsley Idehen wrote:
Q: What does Linked Data offer in this context?
A: Powerful mechanism for data virtualization that turns a collection
of disparate and heterogeneous data sources into a coherent,
persistent, and change sensitive mesh of entities and their
relationships. For a number of years, this has been achievable via:
1. Linked Data Views over RDBMS data sources
2. Linked Data Views over other data sources.
What do enterprises buy?
1. Data Virtualization Middleware
2. Database Management Systems
3. Identity Management Systems
4. Collaboration Systems
5. Professional Services -- training, consulting, and custom development.
My $0.02 .
I agree with all of these, Kingsley, but in the real world there are
serious organizational obstacles that need to be transcended for an
enterprise to appreciate the benefits you outline.
I was once tasked with the design of a shared, interoperable content
repository for over 20 discrete publishing companies in one media
corporation (Times Mirror), and many of these individual publishers had
smaller business units with separately managed repositories. It turned
out that the individual IT executives saw little local benefit for the
extra work labeling their content with consistent and extra metadata for
benefits in other organizations, and completely resisted, so the project
floundered and ultimately failed.
In order to achieve the benefits you list, the most senior executives
have to be deeply sold, and willing to assert their authority over local
data fiefdoms.
fwiw.
Mike Liebhold
Senior Researcher
Institute for the Future
