SLA, 7/16, Session 1: Wikileaks, then Scenario Analysis and the Semantic Web
I session hopped this morning. I began in the Wikileaks presentation, but moved to Using Scenario Analysis to Predict the Future of the Semantic Web.
I headed for the Wikileaks session because of a general interest and the News Division sponsored it. I listened to the speaker outline many of the complicated and broad issues related to the laws surrounding secret information leaks and whether people who repeated leaked information are as liable as the person who shared the secret information. After a while, I realized I wasn’t in the mood for the presentation style of reading an essay of deep thought, so I switched to Using Scenario Analysis to Predict the Future of the Semantic Web with August Jackson of Verizon about halfway through.
STEEP: social, technological, economic, environmental, political
social: increased use of social media,
tech: inclusion of semantic standards in applications
economic: valuation of “big data” companies, cloud-based platforms move IT, spend from capex to opex
environmental: drive to conserve energy with smart grids and smart applications
political: public budget constraints drive push for cost-savings, regulations related to data privacy and protection, desire to increase transparency of some government operations
Availability of semantic experience, adoption of natural language processing, corporate adoption of industry standard ontologies, inclusion of semantic standards in applications, adoption of non-relational databases, availability of easy-to-use ontology editing software, valuation of “big data” companies, new revenue models and services based on data, regulations related to data privacy and protection
implications wheel can be a good way to flesh out scenario stories
“Smart content” would see changes in the substance and medium of news. What happens with the facts in articles? How much does copyright protect them? More people are going to the web to find content than a print edition of a news source. Semantics can help connect people to news content better. Many news sources are semantically modeled. “Data journalism” becomes standard, changing expectations of empirical evidence and providing interactive infographics. Publications offer APIs, leading to copyright challenges and new monetization models.
