Dean Allemang

In the early days of the Web, we were thrilled when we could find addresses and phone numbers of commercial establishments. As more sophisticated Web sites started using databases behind the scenes, we came to expect a page that included all the addresses for each branch of a chain in our city or neighborhood. When Mapquest came along, we were delighted that we could click a button and see the location for each of these shops on a map. Then came the Web 2.0 idea of the mashup; at a click of a single button, we could see all the Starbucks in a zip code all at once. These mashups are great if you're looking for one kind of thing (coffee shops, hotels, gyms) and come from one source (especially when that source is an amalgamator like Citysearch or even Google). But suppose you're moving to an unfamiliar city; you'd like to see a map with all the subway stations, gyms,... (more)

Semantic Technology

All organizations, including multinational corporations and government agencies, face a common problem of enterprise data integration. Obviously, large-scale sources of the problem stem from mergers and acquisitions. When a large company is formed from other pieces, each brings with it its own data, in its own form. But the problem isn't restricted to large conglomerates. All businesses have information trapped in a wide variety of forms, including e-mail, spreadsheets, Web pages and a variety of proprietary sources. More than ever, it's difficult for a business to know what it ... (more)