Posts tagged as: boston

Exploring the tacit knowledge between RSS and the Semantic Web

I started reading about the Semantic Web again last week, and my immediate reaction was the same as the first time I tried a few months ago. This is such a perfectly specified, intellectually rigorous collection of standards and practices that it seems almost impossible to find an entry point. If it is so hard to get started, then how does anyone work with it? The answer is that the people who understand it now are the same people who helped to build it. Each of the many sub-standards and protocols were introduced in reaction to a specific problem discovered during the creation of some other portion of this edifice. An analogy is trying to understand how an immense cathedral could possibly have been built by walking around the finished building. Once the scaffolding and the masses of workers are long gone, it seems like every part fits seamlessly into every other, and the thousands of decisions that were made during its construction are erased.

I decided to pull back a step and look at the areas of namespaces in RSS and the many competing standards for structured microcontent on the Web. This is much messier and clearly a work in progress, but once again as with the Semantic Web, the same individuals keep popping up in these many projects. The problem with the social nature of the construction of microformats, structured blogging, RSS, Atom, etc., is the unspoken, or at least underdocumented, aspects of the decision process. Why are there two competing sets of blog microcontent formats? Why are there apparently dozens of overlapping collections of RSS namespaces? The answers are lost in the maze of blog posts and standards announcements made over the last few years. Why isn't everyone involved with this area terminally confused? Because they lived through the process and understand the political, social, commercial aspects of each of these multiple body collisions.

What we now have is a continuum from the ultra-simplistic, under specified formats of RSS and OPML to the ultra-rigid, crystalline perfection of the Semantic Web. In between is a rabbit warren of partially completed, interconnected attempts to add more structure and functionality to RSS and HTML.

So what is the solution? I'm not conceited enough to believe that I can unravel the current mess lying between RSS and the Semantic Web, and I'm also not smart enough to try to storm the castle of the Semantic Web by brute intellectual force. What my past history has shown me is that I am capable of helping people build tools and writing documentation that can help bridge this gap. The process I'm going to follow is to start studying and coding with the RSS namespaces and microcontent formats until they gradually make sense, and then try to get tools built by others that will provide a more accessible conceptual model. In other words, I'm going to live there until I grok the neighborhood.

I went through the same process when I moved to Boston. The classic line when trying to explain how to navigate witihin Boston is "I can't tell you how to get there, but I can take you once and show you." This is a perfect example of tacit knowledge. It is something you and your community knows, but which can't be explained in words. It may be an urban legend, but there are many stories of truck drivers paying taxis to lead them through Boston's streets to a specific location. The only way to deal with Boston's streets is to carry a map for the first few weeks until your brain somehow builds the tacit knowledge you need to feel comfortable.

Web Innovators Meeting on May 8th

The next Boston Web Innovators Group meeting will be on May 8th, at the Hotel @ MIT. The last one went very well. There was a good crowd and some interesting demos. I typically get a group of people together for dinner afterwards, so be sure find me if you want to join us.

There's something happening here

David Beisel is right, there is definitely something happening in Boston. Last night's RSS Alley Geek Dinner was a big step up in energy from last month. There were about 30 to 40 people, and the energy level was awesomely high. I can't remember the last time I saw such an animated set of conversations. It wasn't the "we're all going to be rich" vibe of the Dotcom, it was more like a group of people who are really into what they are doing. On the money side, there were several people announcing that they were hiring, and one guy said he just got funded and was looking to hire 10 people right away. The funniest thing was that this announcement actually was viewed as a negative sign of a bubble by some people. I'm afraid that there is an entire generation for whom the Dotcom crash was their Great Depression. They will never be able to get over it. I just don't see what is happening now as the same thing as the Nineties, but I can safely predict that by this fall there will be a hiring boom for Web people in the Boston area.

Boston Web industry showing signs of maturity

Monday night's Web Innovator's Group meeting had a different vibe from the meeting in January. January's meeting seemed to be about "I can't believe there are actually Web people coming out in public and identifying themselves as such," while this week's was more "Yeah, we're Web guys and this is what we do." People seemed more comfortable and more about getting down to the business of networking. There were more people this time, but the room was much larger, which may have cut the intensity of the crowd. I actually preferred Monday's session, because everyone seemed to be ready to get to work, rather than just being amazed they were awake again. Of course, this may all be projection on my part.

There were three poducts demoed on Monday, the best of which was certainly LocaModa. I'll have more to say about this in a later post. As for the other presentations, the best comment I heard from one of the hecklers in the room during the demo of Blue Trim was "I guess he believes in tell, don't show." In the case of Nextcode, it was hard to tell which was the product as opposed to an application of the product. In general presentations of new technology should start with a clear demo of the product being sold, then a discussion of applications of that product, and finally a brief explanation of the technology used. LocaModa did this to superb effect.

When we got to the question and answer portion of the demos I realised that Boston may be ready for an Under the Radar type event. I didn't attend this when it was held in Silicon Valley a few weeks ago, but it sure got plenty of blog coverage. There were 32 companies making presentations, which must have been pretty intense, but to me the important part of the format was the presence of a panel of industry experts asking questions. I think having people who can ask pointed questions, and who get a chance to do some follow-up is key for really extracting the best information from a presenter. It is uncertain if Boston could deliver 32 Web start-ups, but if this was held once every 6 months, we could pull companies in from New York and maybe DC. Those are fairly big cities. Together we might be able to compete with Silicon Valley.

Next Web Innovators Group meeting

January's Web Innovators meeting was a big success, and the next one is now scheduled for March 20th. I hope their new venue is bigger. The last one was a little claustrophobic. I guess an overcrowded room of eager Webheads is a good problem compared to my last post.

These meetings are usually combined with a cash bar but no food, so dinner afterward is a good way to finish the evening. Last time I had a great time with a group of about eight attendees. If you want to join me this time, be sure to let me know during the meeting.

Boston brain drain

I had lunch yesterday with Michael Katsevman, a really bright coder who just took a leave from undergraduate studies at Brandeis to do a startup. He explained that the tech market has been so bad in Boston the last few years that his friends couldn't afford to live here after graduating. Even MIT graduates have to move out to Silicon Valley to find a job. Let's hope the tech scene is finally reviving here. Boston sells its brain power to the world, so it hurts to lose any of it. Mike is looking for consulting work to support his startup effort, so I pitched him on building an OPML product as resumeware.

OPML Camp is coming to Boston

One idea that came out of last night's Geek Dinner was to do an OPML Camp in the Boston area. I'd like to wait to announce this until there is more (some) planning done, but what the hell. This is another one of those Web 2.0 practices, announce and then plan. I've registered opmlcamp.com, and am working on setting up a venue. There should be a date, wiki, and signup page ready in about a week. Stay tuned...

(Credit goes to Brian Del Vecchio for suggesting an OPML Camp)

Geek Dinner was great

The Geek Dinner last night was a lot of fun. We had about 30 people, way too much food from Border Cafe, and lots of great conversations about incredibly geeky things. Thanks to RSS Labs and Bela Labovitch for providing the space and paying for the food and drinks. Thanks also to Pito Salas, and Mark Doerschlag for helping to organize this. Brian Del Vecchio took some great photos. We hope to repeat this once a month.

Geek Dinner Reminder

Just a reminder that we are holding a Geek Dinner in Harvard Square on Wednesday the 15th. Everyone is invited, just drop me an email to RSVP.

Location: 66 Church Street, Cambridge. (Near Fire and Ice)
Time: 6:30 to 9:00pm
Topics of discussion: Web 2.0, RSS, OPML, AJAX, Ruby, Mashups, Web Services, Startups, etc.
RSVP: dinner at darwinianweb dot com

Get your daily personal identities right here!

As long as newspapers are eager to criticize the practices of seach engines, I can't resist mentioning this story in today's Boston Globe. It appears that the credit card numbers of 240,000 subscribers to the Globe and the Worcester Telegram & Gazette were "inadvertently" revealed.

Web innovators discovered in Boston

A species that scientists had long considered extinct in the Boston area was discovered to be thriving in the bar of the Blue Room in Kendall Square, Cambridge last night. As this photo proves, over 80 developers, business development people, VCs and lawyers were seen frolicking, well, at least mingling and exchanging business cards. This second meeting of the Boston Web Innovators Group proved that Web technology is finally coming back to life here. Note the distinctive name badges (circled in the photo), which are a signal of wanting to meet others they don't already know, always a rare sighting in Boston. Astute observers will also recognize the absence of bald spots on the males (well, except for the few bald guys), a clear sign that most of those sighted were still in their twenties. The absence of older members of this species is thought to be the result of a mysterious die-off at the turn of the century. Scientists are still debating the cause of what they refer to as the ".bomb". Up until recently these gatherings of Web technologists had been largely confined to a small area south of San Francisco, but now they appear to be spreading to the less hospitable regions of New England. There is speculation in the popular press that global warming may be at least partly responsible for their sudden appearance.

Geek Dinner in Harvard Square, Feb. 15th

Pito Salas, Mark Doerschlag and I have been talking about putting together a Geek Dinner in Harvard Square on February 15th. I mentioned this to Bela Labovitch of RSS Labs, and she kindly offered the offices of TopTenSources as a venue. (You'll have to attend to discover the myriad connections between RSSLabs and TTS.) This should be a great location, because there is plenty of room to walk around and schmooze. We'll bring in food and drinks, so please RSVP (dinner at darwinianweb dot com) to give us a rough head count.

Location: 66 Church Street, Cambridge. (Near Fire and Ice)
Time: 6:30 to 9:00pm
Topics of discussion: Web 2.0, RSS, OPML, AJAX, Ruby, Mashups, Web Services, Startups, etc.
RSVP: dinner at darwinianweb dot com

Harvard Square geek dinner: Thursday the 12th at 7:00pm

I haven't tried reserving a restaurant yet, but the dinner will definitely be somewhere in the Harvard Square area at 7:00pm on Thursday the 12th. From the emails I've gotten so far there is some confusion about this being a bloggers dinner. That wasn't my original intention, so non-bloggers are certainly welcome. I'm mostly interested in talking about new Internet and software technologies, but we'll play it by ear and see who arrives and what they are interested in. If you want to join us, RSVP by email (adam*at*darwinianweb.com) so I can reserve enough spaces.

It's time to get a Boston geek scene going

I'm getting really tired of reading about all the Silicon Valley geek dinners, and parties. How come we never have these in the Boston area? MIT is here, we invented mini-computers, and we have Dan Bricklin. Boston is one of the world's centers for venture capital. So where are the geek dinners? They even have them in Sussex, England. I'm sure the Highlands in Uckfield is delightful, but it doesn't sound like a hotbed of technology innovation.

Come on guys, we can do better. How about a geek dinner in Harvard Square next Thursday night? Let me know if you are interested at adam*at*darwinianweb.com, and I'll arrange a location. I'm a huge fan of Border Cafe, but it can get awfully crowded. Upstairs at Charley's Kitchen may be easier, but greasier.

BTW, don't bother emailing me about Dave's geek dinner tonight. I've been to one of these events, and lets just say it was basically a Dave dinner. If you want to kiss Dave's ring you can meet him here.