I was pleased to attend a presentation on linked data at the BCS Data Management Specialist Group on Tuesday (26th July), given by Dave Reynolds, co-founder of Epimorphics Ltd, and one of the data experts I have frequently turned to for advice when scoping the requirements for the Knowledge Hub project. (Dave is a members of the Data & Apps Advisory Group for the Knowledge Hub).
The presentation included metadata management, e-Commerce uses, inference and information extraction, text mining, syntax (various flavours – RDF/XML, Turtle, RDfa), and knowledge representation through Ontologies (e.g. Web Ontology Language, OWL).
Dave explained a fairly complex topic (well, complex for those not yet fully immersed in modelling information solutions using linked data) in a simple but engaging style, using his slides to show examples of linked data constructs. Well worth a look for anyone who wants to get a deeper understanding of the topic (if nothing else, check out the strengths/weaknesses towards the end of the presentation).
The slides are available from SlideShare: Introduction to linked data, and a copy embedded below.
The Management Innovation Exchange(MIX) is “an open innovation project aimed at reinventing management for the 21st century. The premise: while “modern” management is one of humankind’s most important inventions, it is now a mature technology that must be reinvented for a new age.”
One of the MIX initiatives is the Harvard Business Review/McKinsey M-Prize for Management Innovation. There are two types of entries: an instructive case study (a Story) or an experimental design (a Hack). The goals is to show how Web 2.0 values (including transparency, collaboration, meritocracy, openness, community and self-determination) can help overcome the design limits of Management 1.0—and help to create Management 2.0.
I have submitted a case study (story) about the Knowledge Hub, a project I initiated over 2 years ago but only now being rolled out for UK Local Government. The concept was part of a 3-year Knowledge Management Strategy I was commissioned to deliver for the Improvement and Development Agency – an organisation that has since been integrated into the Local Government Group. The underlying idea was to provide a central ‘Hub’ that would collect and aggregate data and information from many sources (including blog and Twitter feeds) and use semantic technology to link and categorise the content. The system would then match and push relevant content to users according their interest graph and their social graph.
Although the project was spec’d over 2 years ago, I’ve noticed that many of the features being rolled out in Google+ are very similar to features being delivered in the Knowledge Hub, e.g. Circles (social graph) and Sparks (interest graph). It’s just a pity I didn’t have their resources available to me when I started this project!
I hope you will take a a moment to look at the article and let me know what you think. You can comment on it and/or rate it. Your views would be appreciated.
NB: For anyone interested in the technology, the Knowledge Hub is an open system, using open standards and open source software. It is hosted on the PFIKS Intelligus platform.
Here’s a useful introduction to Google+ for anyone still uncertain about giving it a try, or for anyone who has signed-up and is struggling to make sense of the various features and facilities. Best to show the slides in full screen mode. Also to note, the reference to “Huddle” refers to the G+ app on your smartphone. This isn’t made very clear on the slides.
