The Future of Everything
I know it’s been a while but events often overtake accounts and we’d rather wait until there’s something useful to add to the cacophony of voices on the web all trying to be heard all at once, rather than just blog for blog’s sake.
The Future of Everything in Manchester, Not the North but the Centre of Britain
Events that have overtaken accounts include the city-wide Manchester Futureverything conferences and installations that underlined the optimism of the Linked Data movement and the Semantic Web. It was a Woodstock of Semantics, with star appearances, incredible speaking performances and spectacles of knowledge. (Along with the requisite mud, broken loos and brown acid).
Linked Data in Practical Application
Iris Cursor Control
The image to the left is from the installation featuring technical innovations such as a laser that responds to eye movements connected to the cursor on a computer screen. The image on the right is an example of how Local Authorities are utilising Linked Data and semantically enhanced data to better access and cross reference stats.
The optimism and enthusiasm on display for the Semantic Web and it’s sub category (and jargon refinement), Linked Data was infectious.
Dame Wendy Hall, TBL’s right hand on the development of html and w3, was the key note speaker and pragmatically explained how Semantically enhanced data, once more widely adopted would redefine the very notion of governance. She recounted an anecdote about how in the early days w3 stood for World-Wide-Wait given the download speed of html pages.
Professor Nigel Shadbolt, Semantic Evangelist No. 2 (TBL is No. 1; I am number 6), was cheerleading Gordon Brown’s luncheon with TBL in which he had dedicated a £30 million grant to establish the Web Science Institute in Southampton and Oxford dedicated to establishing a global standard for data publishing and best practice on the web. This was incredible news as in contrast to the US commercial (Google) model, a custodianship of the w3 as an international public utility would put Britain at the centre of web excellence; effectively creating an OED (Oxford English Dictionary) of the web. The indirect revenue benefits of utilising brand Britain as a persuasive arbitrator of standard, practice and improvement for the web were mind boggling. Not to mention that the web desperately needs a functioning consensus of architecture standards.
Of course this was before the change of government in the UK and one of the first victims of the new coalition’s (and old Thatcherite) slash and burn economic agenda was the elimination of the £30 million budget for the Web Science Institute (that would have granted internationally recognised degrees!). The English penchant for leading innovation up to the brink of success and then dropping the ball at the last minute is not only reflected in their football.
But the real shining light of the Semantic speakers was Professor Carol Grodin of Manchester University who spearheaded a semantic production team department of over 50 graduate students and developers actively enhancing data for directgov.co.uk as well as the BBC. She is literally at the forefront, on the ground and running. Her address and after lecture personal chat, reflected a world weary cynacism when it came to addressing the private sector’s reticence to pick up the Semantic gauntlet. She admitted that TBL and the academics hadn’t understood how to market the enhancement and told us that she had left the word Semantic behind (except amongst the initiated) and how just referring to “Linking Data so it can be found more easily by machines and people”. Taking on board Oxford SEO and Oxford Semantic’s trails and tribulations presenting semantic solutions, Grodin was kind enough to invite us on a tour of her department. Her parting shot was “Don’t give up, quality will prevail; just imagine what the web would be like if TBL had been Bill Gates”! After a spontaneous shudder at the thought, we bid her adieu.
Contact Theatre, Manchester University
It was rewarding to see a spectrum of professionals and academics coming together to discuss and debate the future direction and imminent consequences of what is now for public consumption referred to as Linked Data, or Open Knowledge. Unfortunately, we are still yet to see that enthusiasm reflected in the short term thinking of most digital agencies in the UK. Even Talis, the self -proclaimed Semantic developer and hosting company appears to be stuck within its own conversation with itself and apparently unwilling (or unable) to take innovations to markets beyond the library sector. We hope that this will soon change as this emerging movement needs commercial organisations with the track record and the courage to push the Linked Data agenda forwards into the market place. Talis is in a prime position to further that aim.
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