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October 26, 2006

Imposed Structure and Chaos

Fellow metadata professionals keep asking me why the Web 2.0 environment is so important for us to begin to think about. Maybe it is just a feeling or a prediction, but the evidence is clear and confusing. Harvard Business School professor Andrew McAfee commented:

The opposite of an imposed structure is not chaos. With these tools, the opposite of an imposed structure is an emergent structure, one that forms over time based on the interactions of a lot of people

The opposite he is talking about is metadata, taxonomies, and hierarchal structures that have driven our organizations into the SME command and control. The world seems to be saying that with enough people, we do not need you information / metadata architects to tell me how to manage my information. More importantly, at some critical mass your traditional methods fail.

We have long held that inside the corporation, we can control the amount of content and even classify that content as Enterprise in order to place constraints around the definition and usage of our assets. Unfortunately, that model is heading south as we open up the organization and industries. Standardization, open communications, and integration will continue to break down the walls that have served us so well. Hence, why Web 2.0, Library 2.0, Enterprise 2.0 and yes, Metadata 2.0 is the future.

Posted by Todd at October 26, 2006 1:40 PM