(2003-02-07) Udell Data Emergence

Jon Udell comments on a Sam Ruby thread about a [message](http://nagoya.apache.org/eyebrowse/Read Msg?listName=community@apache.org&msgNo=1439) by Stefano Mazzocchi from a [thread](http://nagoya.apache.org/eyebrowse/Browse List?listName=community@apache.org&from=318361&to=318361&count=23&by=thread&paged=false) he [started](http://nagoya.apache.org/eyebrowse/Read Msg?listName=community@apache.org&msgNo=1387) about his Apache Agora project to visualize the Apache community relations based on participation in the EMail lists. All these folks are dubious about the Semantic Web ever arising from individual behavior, because nobody ever wants to add Meta Data (similar to the Knowledge Management challenge). Jon prefers a Data Emergence model of taking what you can get and doing the best you can. Either way, the point is that in this case, selfish routine use of a tool permits data emergence. Markup of one kind or another enables that emergence, but it's completely hidden by the tool used to interact with the database. That's a best case scenario... The reality today is more like scenario two. Protocols are available - "Use this tag in your email Subject: header" or "Send the updated schedule to this list" - but they're awkward and crufty. There are two ways to help data to emerge. We can scour the available sources and put them to better use. And we can improve the quality of the available sources. Both strategies need to be pursued in parallel. Both require smarter tools. I think Wiki does a lot to help with the first approach, and some tools added to it (to find similar node names, find pages including strings, easily rename nodes, to view relations with Touch Graph, etc.) help with the 2nd.