Semantic web gets mapped by the feet on the street

If you've not got into www.foursquare.com and given it some thought I suggest you do.

Think about all the mash ups going on, think about all the mobile phones out there, think about how great all the mapping sites and api's are improving everything from the search experience to the bog standard website map. Add all that to the emergent world of "linked data" and the roadmap to the semantic web where the web knows its own "content and context" and its "users" and then it enables the whole push and pull experience to work seemlessly. Exciting yes?

We'll www.foursquare.com have used some real smart thinking to get the community to map the real world of where "people meet locations" and businesses and in the process are mapping out the real world so that the semantic web can come one step closer. This is a real win:win which has to create the next virtuous cycle in my book.

Getting to 1M users faster than twitter doesnt surprise me, especially as everyone knows about and uses twitter and facebook now, so that induction leads to the mobile in the pocket and while sms txt and mobile browsing gets us going, but add that to GPS and human interventions and it all ping the light bulb on!

Making public data Public

Following on from earlier posts about "Linked Data" and examples like data.gov.uk this article and video really does show where this is all starting to kick off and what it can lead to.

Lots of good references within this one for anyone interested in working examples around" linked data"

Nodalities

CERN LHC alive and kicking now!!

Historic coverage from 12:00 GMT 30/03/2010 as it kicks off proper. Boy if they find that Higgs Boson it will be monumental in terms of global development:
LHC First Physics Webcast

Bill Gates: to change the world now : Creativity Blogs

Bill has moved on from microsoft but he's still very much into bugs. He talks about just TWO big things, bugs in world health and bugs in education. Enjoy!
Bill Gates: to change the world now : Creativity Blogs

Tim Berners-Lee: The year open data went worldwide | Video on TED.com

One year on from my other post on "linked data" and TBLee brings it to life at another level now:

Tim Berners-Lee: The year open data went worldwide Video on TED.com

Just a 6 minute video

Always have a plan B and a plan C

FT.com / Management - Always have a plan B and a plan C

The problem with sticking to an initial plan, no matter how good it is on paper, is that harsh realities are too often likely to derail it, Mullins says.

“There are things that you know you don’t know but there are also things you don’t know that you don’t know – the unknown unknowns.”

Mullins argues that successful entrepreneurs are not those who push their original ideas at all costs but those who work out which of their original assumptions are wrong and stop pursuing them.

“Your key job is to learn quickly which parts of your business plan are not right and change them without wasting a lot of your money and those of your investors,” says Mullins.

Pivot on the content and linked data

I remember with my early involvement with the web, early 90's, talking about how early computers (60-80s) used to almost exclusively present and store numbers,(99% of stuff on computers was numbers/data) over time it merged in text and eventually imagery (90's), especially exploding with content as the web and the browser arrived, (99% of whats on computers isnt data) then sound and then video then live life (0's ie the said naughtees)

However, still today most computer search and analysis is with numbers and text, only the output being with graphs and images. Well have a look at TED and PIVOTS. Exploring the world of navigating the "linked data" the semantic web and all its artistic design content as well, "searching all content":

http://www.ted.com/talks/gary_flake_is_pivot_a_turning_point_for_web_exploration.htm

ITS ONLY A SHORT VIDEO BUT IT MAKES YOU THINK LONG!

Here's more on seadragon to get the bigger picture:

http://www.ted.com/talks/blaise_aguera_y_arcas_demos_photosynth.html

A good gut feeling is a secret weapon

As so often he does, Luke Johnson hits the nail on the head:

"

My observations of successful company owners lead me to believe that a highly analytical attitude can be a drawback. At critical junctures in commercial life, risk-taking is more an act of faith than a carefully balanced choice. Frequently, such moments require decisiveness and absolute conviction above all else. There is simply no time to wait for all the facts, or room for doubt. A computer program cannot tell you how to invent and launch a new product. That journey involves too many unknowns, too much luck – and too much sheer intuition, rather than the infallible logic that machines deliver so well. As Chekhov said: “An artist’s flair is sometimes worth a scientist’s brains” – entrepreneurs need right-brain thinking

"

FT.com / Columnists / Luke Johnson - A good gut feeling is a secret weapon

"Intuition is at its most powerful when combined with confidence. If you possess this mighty duo of talents, you can carry others with you, even though you cannot necessarily provide concrete evidence that you are right. If you are to launch projects before others, invent new products or seize opportunities ahead of the pack, you must be willing to act – at least in part – on a hunch. "

As Billy Wilder, the Hollywood director, said: “Trust your own instinct. Your mistakes might as well be your own, instead of someone else’s.”