GGG meets VRM ?

Having had a weekend to digest the GGG (Giant Global Graph), which is effectively the Semantic Web meets the Social Network.

I just can't use the term Graph dammit

We think our initial analysis is on track - ie by reducing the solution set for the Semantic Web to just those of the data fields in a social network, it allows the rest of the Semantic web benefits to potentially apply to the reduced case. Now whether SW technologies like OWL etc are still necessary in this reduced case vs good old XML et al is unclear to me. (In fact, if one could apply a Reduced Set of the Semantic web, using today's stack it would be very helpful for getting it up and running)

The other benefit from the GGG is if the m2m functionality can be applied - if XML transaction messages can be operated by automated functions, for example - then the power of the system could be hugely magnified and the economics improved.

For example, imagine if the function of aggregating the demand for something from collation through to ordering could be automated in a m2m world. My systems work out what I need (repeat purchases like groceries to choose a mundane but interesting example), aggregate demand with many others and then negotiate with the agents front ending say Amazon.

However, it pretty much needs to apply in an open world to maximise its impact. Some argue that Google could implement this, and they are right - but they will play Wintel to the GGG's "Linux" concept of being an open system.

Is this the desired state? We avoid Facebook's AOL play to succumb to a Wintel play - where is the Mosaic play, the Linux play here? The big, big lesson of Web 1.0 is that Open liberates people, thus grows fast

The question thus becomes - given such huge hegemonies in this space, how do we ensure the GGG stays Open?

One way is to help with all the concerns emerging around privacy. Berners Lee notes that:

"It is about letting it be connected to data from peer sites," he writes. "It is about letting it be joined to data from other applications. It is about getting excited about connections, rather than nervous."

To get excited, first I want trust, then I want some guarantees to stop me being nervous about my identity, about privacy and about security.

(An off the wall thought...the more I look at the GGG, the more I think an open social net designed under these principles would be quite similar to a VRM system)