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December 22, 2006
Wiki Defined
A Wiki is a web site that promotes the collaborative creation of content. Wiki pages can be edited by anyone at anytime. Informational content can be created and easily organized within the wiki environment and then reorganized as required (O’Neill, 2005). Wikis are currently in high demand in a large variety of fields, due to their simplicity and flexibility nature. Documentation, reporting, project management, online glossaries, and dictionaries, discussion groups, or general information applications are just a few a examples of where the end user can provide value (Reinhold, 2006). The major difference between a wiki and blog is that the wiki user can alter the original content while the blog user can only add information in the form of comments. While stating that anyone can alter content, some large scale wiki environments have extensive role definitions which define who can perform functions of update, restore, delete, and creation. Wikipedia, like many wiki type projects, have readers, editors, administrators, patrollers, policy makers, subject matter experts, content maintainers, software developers, and system operators (Riehle, 2006). All of which create an environment open to sharing information and knowledge to a large group of users
Posted by Todd at 4:40 PM
Weblog Defined
Weblogs or blogs have become so ubiquitous that many people use the term synonymous for “personal web site” (Blood, 2004). Unlike traditional Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) web pages, blogs offer the ability for the non-programmer to communicate on a regular basis. Traditional HTML style pages required knowledge of style, coding, and design in order to publish content that was basically read only from the consumer’s point of view. Weblogs remove much of the constraints by providing a standard user interface that does not require customization. Weblogs originally emerged as a repository for linking but soon evolved to the ability to publish content and allow readers to become content providers. The essence of a blog can be defined by the format which includes small chunks of content referred to as posts, date stamped, reverse chronological order, and content expanded to include links, text and images (Baoill, 2004). The biggest advancement made with Weblogs is the permanence of the content which has a unique Universal Resource Locator (URL). This allows the content to be posted and along with the comments to define a permanent record of information. This is critical in that having a collaborative record that can be indexed by search engines will increase the utility and spread the information to a larger audience. With the advent of software like Wordpress and Typepad, along with blog service companies like blogger.com, the weblog is fast becoming the communication medium of the new web.
One point to make is that while Weblog entries may have a low impact, the existence of an industry Weblog will have a huge impact.
Posted by Todd at 4:39 PM
December 21, 2006
Not Worthy
I am not sure I am worthy of such praise but... I like the sound of it:
R. Todd Stephens is probably the most singularly cogent proponent of the role of Metadata in the field of Business Intelligence, who possesses an innate ability to communicate in a clear metaphor summing up the BI zeitgeist scarily well...
You can read the complete post here
Posted by Todd at 11:27 PM
Business Trilogy
Have you ever sat down and thought about the different frameworks for metadata delivery? The first and most common method is that metadata fulfills a Business Need. Now, this may very well be a technology need associated with a data warehouse. In fact, I would actually refer to this a secondary or related business need but I do not want to split hairs. Fulfilling a business need is not the same thing as metadata delivering Business Value. Business value has a price tag, a cost structure, and a calculated Return on Investment. Having a Business Value is far better position than just fulfilling a Business Need. That being said, what would be the next step? What would be better than having delivered business value? The answer is turning metadata into a Business Model. A business model does not just deliver value once, but as an ongoing effort. A business model is like running a small business including profit and loss. A Business Model delivers work worth paying for, work that the business is willing to fund over an extended period of time.
Posted by Todd at 8:35 PM
December 14, 2006
Enterprise 2.0 and Expertise
In Enterprise 0.0, the competition for my job was within a specific geographic or organizational area. That is to say, in order to compete, I just needed to be better than the guy sitting next to me. Enterprise 1.0 came along and with the advent of Web 1.0 the world opened up to my skills and knowledge. Knowledge and information was freely available as the organizational walls started to crumble. I competed with the top Metadata professionals in the world and this changed the game forever. Without organizational or geographic boundaries, there is no limit to where companies can go to get help or lower costs. Assuming you grant me the courtesy of being one of the top five professionals in the world, I really only needed to compete with the top four metadata professionals. Unfortunately, that was the good news since I understood who they were and what they knew. These experts produced books, articles, and various other publications and freely shared their knowledge. Web 2.0 changes the game, once again. Instead of me competing with the top four, I now have to compete with the Cumulative knowledge of everyone else in the world. Mark Twain once commented that:
The best swordsman in the world doesn’t need to fear the second best swordsman in the world; no, the person for him to be afraid of is some ignorant antagonist who has never had a sword in his hand before; he doesn’t do the thing he ought to do, and so the expert isn’t prepared for him; he does the thing he ought not to do and often it catches the expert out and ends him on the spot
In the Web 2.0 world, being the worlds number one may very well be liability. While being recognized is nice, the fact is that when any technology opens it mind to the open source mentality, expertise is no longer needed. This is what happens when all information is free, freely available, to anyone at anytime; anywhere in the world.
Posted by Todd at 1:14 PM
Business Model versus Business Value
Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to address the DAMA San Francisco user group and discuss various ideas around the Web 2.0 and applying business models to enterprise metadata. One idea that occurred to me was that there is a big difference between delivering business value and establishing a business model. You can create business value by satisfying a need or fulfilling a demand. Some consideration for ROI but generally very little time is focused here. On the other hand, a business model looks at the long term profit and loss and makes decisions based on the viability of sustainable value. This is an important distinction between value vs. model. Many data warehouse environments implement metadata because thats what we always have done or thats what the business placed in the requirements. But, what was stated about the long term growth in data assets and the growth in usage of this metadata which would drive a business model? Would you open up a drink stand just because one person wanted a Diet Coke or would you try to understand the complete picture of supply and demand?
Posted by Todd at 12:33 PM
December 12, 2006
DAMA Day San Francisco
This week was my first trip out west to visit the San Francisco DAMA group. They made both myself and my family feel welcome. The guest speakers included Graeme Simsion and Danette McGilvray, both of which are excellent speakers. As usual, Graeme was as funny as he was delivering valuable messages on both hard and soft skills of data management. Danette delivered a wonderful message on data governance which is lacking in most major organizations. My two sessions focused on the business strategies of implementing enterprise metadata and integrating web 2.0 technologies. Both messages seemed to be well received and hopefully several people will alter their career planning in the near future.
As far as San Francisco goes, we had great food and despite the weather and Packer fans, the trip was perfect. Actually, both the San Francisco and Green Bay fans were cordial. Unlike I would have been if Dallas was in town and the Cowboys held Football 101 classes.
Posted by Todd at 11:27 PM
December 7, 2006
Great Line
How can you expect innovation and creativity from an organization that demands Return On Investment (ROI) analysis from $30.00 expenditure? This was an interesting comment from Seth Godin on a Padcast on Net Concepts Weblog. Not sure if I totally agree with the statement but he has a point. The greatest barrier between corporate stagnation and politics is fear. Fear of getting fired, fear of standing out, fear of being different and being judged for that. I tend to think of my children in pre-school where someone steps out of line; the quick response in order to ensure command and control is to say Get Back in Line. I am always drawn to the story by Gordon MacKenzie
How many artists are there in the room? Would you please raise your hands. FIRST GRADE: En mass the children leapt from their seats, arms waving. Every child was an artist. SECOND GRADE: About half the kids raised their hands, shoulder high, no higher. The hands were still. THIRD GRADE: At best, 10 kids out of 30 would raise a hand, tentatively, self-consciously. By the time I reached SIXTH GRADE, no more than one or two kids raised their hands, and then ever so slightly, betraying a fear of being identified by the group as a ‘closet artist.
Posted by Todd at 2:10 PM
December 6, 2006
Valuation of Knowledge
There was a day where the valuation of knowledge was based upon the scarcity of it. IN fact, we built hierarchal structures within organization to ensure command and control of knowledge where those that know are located at the top and those that do are located at the bottom. Even today, the Coca-Cola secret formlaue is only known by a few people located at the very top of the organization.
But something changed in the past 20 plus years where the value of knowledge was flipped on its head and thus based upon the number of people who shared the information. Towering command and control organizations were humbled by their flat and knowledgeable competition. The Internet opened the door where knowledge is not only shared it is free and free to everyone with a connection. Companies are sharing their intellectual property, their insight and trade secrets (see GoldCorp, Staples, P&G).
Now, the Web 2.0 environment opens some new doors and flips the model once again. Today, the knowledge does not create value from sharing but becomes the product itself. The barriers between producer and consumer have eroded and the friction removed. Hence, the consumer now becomes the product and generates value for the producer. Think about Amazon and Netflix; with you as the consumer generating millions of reviews and ratings have fundamentally altered the business model. Your as the knowledge consumer have become the knowledge producer and created value.
Posted by Todd at 1:26 PM
December 2, 2006
Metadata 2.0
Have you read or seen much on the next evolution of the Web called Web 2.0? Web 2.0 is a collection of technologies and frameworks that enables collaboration from a social perspective. We can see this transformation from Web 1.0 to the more collaborative Web 2.0 all around us. The success of Wikipedia, Folksonomies, RSS and Weblogs are undeniably changing every aspect of our lives. The Internet and associated technologies are constantly evolving. Within the world of metadata, we have seen three such transformations. After studying the Web 2.0 environment, I believe the next transformation is clear.
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Posted by Todd at 1:42 AM