
‘Why Linked Data?’ presentation at Defrag Conference
The presentation I just delivered here at Defrag is now on slideshare, in case you want a look. Why Linked Data? View more documents from Paul Miller. (Cross-posted @ Cloud of Data)

Andy Kessler and the Rise of Feudalism 2.0
I wasn’t going to liveblog the defrag conference – I figured I’d partake more. The opening session this morning kind of changed my view of that. Andy Kessler gave the opening keynote that he entitled “Be Solyent, Eat People” Eric Norlin, the organizer of defrag made a smart choice with Kessler – he’s brash, opinionated […]

Behind the Scenes of Defrag
Sometimes the stuff that happens “behind the scenes” of Defrag is really worth sharing. What follows is the email that Paul Kedrosky sent to his panel participants today (posted with permission). Enjoy: Folks – Good to e-meet you all. For our session we’re going to have some fun next week by having a sprightly discussion […]
The Exclusion that is a Community
A caveat on this post: I hesitated to write this – mostly because I think it’s very easy for the author (me) to cross a line of being provocative for provocative-ness’ sake, and for readers/commenters (you) to misinterpret my meaning here. Please be gentle. There were a few tweets flying around at JiveWorld last week […]

Woke up this morning…
When I woke up this morning, I found my brain thinking (without me, apparently) about way back in the 90s. Do you remember when web pages really were static? When it was all html? Do you remember the debates about whether or not companies like General Motors even *needed* a website? (For all of you […]

19 Days to Getting Ahead of the Curve – Free Tix Here
Defrag is now officially less than three weeks away, and I’m starting to feel like a kid on Christmas eve. But not so much the kid that I miss interesting developments – like this piece from the Gartner Symposium about IT falling “behind the curve.” Gartner argues that there’s a “fundamental mismatch” between what IT […]
The “Rise of the iPhone” Analogy
Recently, I’ve been writing about the new innovation cycle that I think we’re in/entering, and pointing to articlesthat outline issues/metaphors we’ve been chatting up at Defrag for a couple of years now. But I’ve left off a piece of things in this new cycle because I haven’t had a good way to talk about it. […]

Is the “Email Era” Over?
The Wall Street Journal has a piece this morning titled, “The End of the Email Era.” The piece isn’t anything new for Defrag attendees, though I do think it’s another important “marker” in where we are on the overlay. The questions it raises, however, are spot on for what we’re all about at Defrag. To […]

Stating the Obvious: Gaming the Cycle
Yesterday, I began to blog a bit about IT cycles. I wanted to expound on that a bit more today. To recap: I believe we are at the early stages of a new cycle in IT innovation (specifically, enterprise IT). The new cycle can be called a “productivity boom,” and it is being amplified by […]

Understanding the Human IT Cycle
I’m a big believer in cycles – including ones in the world of technology, and especially when it comes to IT in the enterprise. It seems to me that the last enterprise IT cycle– which I’d peg as running from roughly 2001 through 2008 — has a pretty clear story arc: automation. Spurred on largely […]

When “as a Service” Makes Nouns Into Verbs
Image by The Value Web Photo Gallery via Flickr There has been a lot of discussion (both here and elsewhere) lately about the chasm/connection/convergence/divergence of “social media” and “enterprise 2.0.” Let’s set aside for a moment that both terms are atrocious, and focus in on something that is relevant and caught my eye this morning. […]

First Principles
This morning brought thoughts of Defrag’s impetus, and what got us from there to here. Defrag was spawned from two of Brad’s blog posts – on a “major software innovation wave” and “intelligence amplification.” When I added those two posts together something inside of me said – “yep, that’s a conference” – and Brad and […]

It’s All About the People, Right?
Recent un-related news events caused me to start pondering one of my favorite topics: human nature. Or more specifically, the assumptions we make about human nature. Human nature is, of course, a subject of debate. From original sin to the blank slate to the noble savage to more modern notions, there’s certainly no dearth of […]

The Blending of Marketing and IT
There are a couple of posts out today about Jive and Radian6 partnering around a solution that begins to bridge the chasm of social media and enterprise 2.0 that I’ve written about here in the past. I’m glad to see companies like Jive (who should be a defrag sponsor, but isn’t – yet – AHEM!), […]

The Liminal State
A few days ago, I posted about the chasm between “social media” and “enterprise 2.0″ – about the different messaging, models and modes of thinking, but all with what I think is common ground. Over the past few days, I’ve found myself in interesting conversations around “social CRM,” the collision of tools like twitter and […]