[topicmapmail] Are Topic Maps dead?

[Are Gulbrandsen]

Hi

I think I have to make the respons much shorter than I'm tempted to.  
Otherwise this email would never finish.
- Maybe more later.  :)

On 26. juni. 2008, at 18.40, Stefan Lischke wrote:
> I want to provoke a little bit by asking the "Community" if the  
> Topic Map technology is dead!
> Please don't flame me, i just want to shake up in a positive way.
>
> so here are my main points why i think tm is dead:
>
> 1. The traffic on this list is near zero. All i read is some CFP or  
> some announcement of something.
> I'm subsribed to many very small OpenSource project ML's where the  
> is a lot of more traffic. There
> aren't any new names posting on the list asking simple questions.

A few explanations:

- Hype cycle:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hype_cycle

- People are busy and some of the novelity has worn off
   (There are more people than ever in Norway working on solutions  
where TM is an important part)
   => You feel you have to do something more before you talk about it

- Much of the conversation has moved into the blogosphere. I use  
Planet Topic Maps as my aggregator:
   http://topicmaps.bouvet.no/planet/

> 4. There is still no killer-application based on topic-maps.

We discussed this during the closing plenary session of Topic Maps  
2008, and I have been wanting to write a blog-article about this for  
some time.

It would be an interesting topic to discuss on this list.

I think I have seen several killer apps, but it depends on what you  
mean.

- Do you mean something for everyone (for the average user)? In that  
case, - why should the average end user care which technology that is  
used to build an app?

- Something for developers to play with (so that they maybe can make a  
killer app for users)?

- Something that really shows the potential of the paradigm?

I think a few of the presentations at Topic Maps 2008 managed to show  
the potential. Three favorites:

NZETC
''''''
A much needed revolution in the library and cultural heritage sector.  
Winner of The Topic Maps Application of the year award at the Topic  
Maps 2008 conference.

It may not look that interesting to many people used to flashy web 2.0  
sites, but to anybody who have been looking at library systems it's a  
paradigm shift.

http://tinyurl.com/4cuksa

The TM2008 library-track was in general fantastic, - if I may say so  
myself  :)

RAMline
''''''''
The Royal Academy of Music rewriting musical history.

http://cd.tp/RAMline.html
http://www.hyperorg.com/blogger/2008/04/04/topicmaps-ramline-a-musical-timeline/


MIPS attempt to explain the complexity of life with Topic Maps
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
MIPS / Institute for Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, Helmholtz  
Zentrum München – German Research Center for Environmental Health.

Volker Stümpflen is into the new research field of Systems Biology.  
His system is aggregating roughly 5 PetaBytes of information, using  
NLP and Topic Maps to attempt to explain the complexity of life itself.

- This stuff really blows my mind...   :)

http://tinyurl.com/4lpp7a
http://www.informatik.uni-leipzig.de/~tmra/2007/ta.html#T7C2



Open source Developer tools more people should play with:
---------------------------------------------------------

Ruby Topic Maps (RTM):
''''''''''''''''''''''
http://rtm.rubyforge.org/

Ruby seems to fit the Topic Maps paradigm like a glove.


Wandora (Java, GNU GPL license):
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
http://www.wandora.org/

The guys behind Wandora is continually pumping out interesting new  
metadata extractors and nifty tools that you can use with Wandora (or  
use as a tool to build Topic Maps from different sources):

- YouTube, Del.icio.us, Digg, Last.fm and Flickr extractors
- IMDB extractor
- MP3 ID3v1 and ID3v2 extractor and JPG binary metadata extractor
- PDF extractor, Email extractor, File system extractor, HTML link  
extractor
- RDF(s) import
- Convert RSS 2.0 feeds to Topic Maps
- Database extractor (Generic SQL database import)
- Topic map conversion of WordNet and Gene Ontology


Killer app for the people?
--------------------------
Steve Pepper talked about the use of Topic Maps at the desktop or in  
the OS in his closing keynote at TM2008. (Microsoft, - do you want  
something that could give Apple a challenge?)

Roy, - I'm really looking forward to Fuzzzy 3. We really need a topic  
map host. Maybe this can be a missing link.
http://www.fuzzzy.com/


> There is only one enthusiast (Lars Heuer) who is producing input to  
> the overall progress, yelling
> for comments or just one response.....
>
> Come on (lets) help him and save topic maps. If not, lets vote for  
> deprecating topic maps.

It seems like much of your frustration boils down to the standards  
process. Being an outsider, who has been on the SC34-lists for quite a  
while, I think there is an explanation for this.

There has been some conflicts lately. There were no lack of discussion  
on the lists a few moths ago... The problem for an outsider is  
deciding when and how to help. Design by committee is often not what  
you want, but the editors need feedback.

A standardization process is frustrating, difficult, and often a  
nightmare. Everybody who is considering standards work should read  
Patrick Durusau's anecdote, from the celebration of Jim Mason as the  
Convenor of SC34 for 20 years (including work on SGML, HyTime and  
Topic Maps):

"I have always found Jim to be a source of inspiration to continue the  
sometimes dogged process of standards formulation. As we all know,  
standards mavens are vain, contentious, opinionated —all things Jim is  
not — which can make for quite stressful meetings.

After one particular episode, which was resolved by the parties  
finally understanding they were in fact in vehement agreement  
(eventually), I was complaining to Jim about the non-productive stress  
level of the meeting.

I don’t recall if he mentioned any names, but he did point out in his  
history as chair, he had attended a meeting where one person was  
lecturing, while in the same room people were screaming at each other,  
while at least one other was in the corner crying. And yet, the result  
of (or perhaps in spite of) that process, was a successful  
international standard."

Source: http://www1.y12.doe.gov/capabilities/sgml/sc34/document/0688.pdf


Best Regards,
Are D. Gulbrandsen
The XML-group,
Center for Information Technology Services
University of Oslo