Richard Wallis

Our conversation is also an excuse for an experiment. I have been producing audio-only podcasts here and elsewhere for a number of years, but have always tended to avoid producing video. It’s more effort, it requires more bandwidth at both ends of the conversation, and I’ve never really been convinced that it adds very much to a conversation between two people. Anecdotal evidence would also suggest that my current podcasts are consumed in environments where video would not work; washing dishes, walking dogs, and sitting on buses.

However, rather than just continue to presume that my biases are correct, I’ve decided to give video a try. Richard kindly agreed to participate, and the result is available on YouTube and embedded here.

An audio-only version is also available for download if you prefer. The introductory remarks in this version are slightly different to those on the video, as they come straight from the original conversation.

It’s perhaps unfair to draw too many conclusions from this first attempt, but a few things are immediately apparent. The whole process takes an awful lot longer. The files are larger, so processing and uploading times increase 2-3 fold. Uploading a separate audio file also takes a bit of time. Simply dumping the Skype recording into iMovie worked just fine… but I’ve (so far) not managed to find any way to balance the audio levels. Garageband lets me do this with my audio-only podcasts, but iMovie doesn’t seem to, so Richard’s side of the conversation comes across as quite a bit louder than mine.

Having done one, I’m still not convinced that the video adds anything to the conversation. But what do you think? If you’ve listened to any of my podcasts, please take a moment to complete the short survey over at SurveyMonkey. Your responses will help me to decide where to go next.

Many thanks.

Image via Wikipedia

It was all going so well. The first three podcasts in the Data Market Chat series got scheduled painlessly, recorded without technical hiccups, and published on time. Several others were also scheduled, and more were in negotiation. Everything appeared to be proceeding far more smoothly than similar projects have in the past.

Then I got ahead of myself. I got over-confident. I trailed the guest and release date for podcast number four… before it was actually recorded. I should have known better. Suddenly, and oh-so-predictably, the wheels fell off. First, one guest got a migraine. Then another lost power in a series of snow storms. Then a third had his travel plans upended, putting him on a plane when he was meant to be talking to me. And so it continued. These bumps hit every activity, and we’ve all learned to expect them and to work around them. But to go from no problems at all to nothing but problems was unexpected.

So, podcast 4 was not published earlier this week as I said it would be. Some of you, I know, noticed.

But… Flip Kromer of InfoChimps was successfully recorded this evening, and will go online next Tuesday.

And it looks as if the others are falling back into line again.

With any luck, things should now be back to normal. But I’ve learned my lesson. I’m not going to announce a guest and publication date for a podcast until the audio file is safely on my computer… and safely backed up.

Related articles

• Data Market Chat: the podcasts are a-coming… (cloudofdata.com)

Image via CrunchBase

With Iceland’s DataMarket.com, Founder Hjálmar Gíslason is on his fourth startup, and ready to expand overseas. Focused upon becoming “Google for datanumbers,” DataMarket concerns itself with collecting and providing access to quantitative data; numbers from governments, international agencies, and commercial providers around the world.

Alongside the business of collecting data and making it available for download, DataMarket has invested in providing tools with which users can visualize data (typically in the form of a graph) and even compare results from diverse sources. Hjálmar sees these tools as part of a strategy to ensure that it is

“more desirable to use data on DataMarket than at the source.”

Hjálmar also discusses his view that four characteristics of data make it profitably sellable; proprietariness, timeliness, analysis, and curation.

Have a listen to learn more about DataMarket, and to hear Hjálmar’s thoughts on an industry segment that his company has done much to shape. And check back on Tuesday for the next podcast in the series; Ian Davis of Kasabi.

Following up on a blog post that I wrote at the start of 2012, this is the third in a series of podcasts with key stakeholders in the emerging category of Data Markets. Other conversations, all of which will be published here, have been scheduled with AggData, BuzzData, Factual, Infochimps, Kasabi, and Microsoft. I am still adding conversations to the series, and intend to talk with more companies and with analysts and investors with insight to share. 

Related articles

• Nurturing the market for Data Markets (cloudofdata.com)
• Data Market Chat: the podcasts are a-coming… (cloudofdata.com)
• Data Market Chat: Tyler Bell discusses Factual (cloudofdata.com)
• Data Market Chat: Chris Hathaway discusses AggData (cloudofdata.com)

Focussed — for now — upon aggregating location data, Factual provides access by API or download to a pool of over 55 million places in the US and other territories. A key differentiator for the company is their investment in cleaning and harmonising information drawn from multiple sources. API-based services such as Crosswalk and Resolve enable developers to cope with the very different ways in which third party services like Yelp, Foursquare and Gowalla reference a single restaurant or coffee shop.

Tyler suggests, though, that location data may just be the start;

“Factual doesn’t necessarily want to be a location-only company. Really what we’re doing is we’re cutting our teeth on location now, and places… It’s just a wonderful way to learn how to refine your business and of course how to refine your technology stack… But for the immediate future, you’ll see us focus primarily on places.”

Have a listen to learn more about Factual, and to hear some of Tyler’s perspectives on the utility of good, comprehensive data. And check back on Tuesday for the next podcast in the series; Chris Hathaway of AggData.

Following up on a blog post that I wrote at the start of 2012, this is the first in a series of podcasts with key stakeholders in the emerging category of Data Markets. Future conversations, all of which will be published here, have been scheduled with AggData, BuzzData, Datamarket.com, Infochimps, Kasabi, and Microsoft. I am still adding conversations to the series, and intend to talk with more companies and with analysts and investors with insight to share. 

Related articles

• Nurturing the market for Data Markets (cloudofdata.com)
• Data Market Chat: the podcasts are a-coming… (cloudofdata.com)
• With Factual, 1 API now unlocks data for 55 million places (gigaom.com)
• New Factual Resolve API Will Help Clean Up, Complete Location Databases (techcrunch.com)
• SimpleGeo APIs Closed, But Places Data is Open (programmableweb.com)
• Quick Walk Through the World of Location & Places APIs (apievangelist.wordpress.com)
• Mobile Crunch: Urban Airship To Shutter SimpleGeo Services In March, With Factual Picking Up The Slack (techcrunch.com)

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To follow up on my Data Markets post earlier this week, I’m now scheduling a series of podcasts in which the conversation can — and will — delve an awful lot deeper.

I’ve contacted representatives from most of the obvious data markets, some startups working in closely related areas, and several of the key analysts watching the space. So far, the response has been great. Three — Factual, DataMarket and AggData — are definitely scheduled for recording next week, and I’m waiting for firm dates from most of the others.

Through these conversations, I hope to hear more about the different ways in which the various stakeholders view this emerging market. How big is it? How valuable is it? What is their role within it? What do today’s customers look like? How do they reach and attract tomorrow’s customers? What is the mix between free and commercial data? Where are the sustainable business opportunities? What are the barriers to adoption? What is the mix between providing data, providing tools, and providing insight?

If there are other questions that you would like answered, or interesting companies you’re worried I’ve missed, either let me know in the comments or get in touch directly.

The first podcast will be published next week, and I currently aim to release one a week after that until they’re all out. I’m looking forward to these conversations, and hope that you’ll find them useful.

Related articles

• Nurturing the market for Data Markets (cloudofdata.com)

Image via CrunchBase

I am in Madrid this week, as a guest of Hewlett Packard. The company’s European roadshow, Technology@Work, is in town for two days, showing existing and prospective customers some of the ways in which HP’s Converged Infrastructure can help them meet the growing challenge of continuing to grow IT capacity as data centres fill, power grids reach capacity, and budgets fall.

A few of us took the opportunity to sit down with Iain Stephen (VP Enterprise Storage and Servers, UK & Ireland) and Martin Riley (Programme Manager for Technology@Work) from HP yesterday evening, and the result is now available as a podcast. Also participating in the conversation were HP’s Becca Taylor,  Martin Macleod, Massimiliano Galeazzi, Patrick Husband, and Hans Vredevoort.

The conversation was recorded on a shiny new Ivy Worldwide Blue Snowball microphone that none of us had ever used before, in a room that was a little bigger than we’d have liked. All in all, though, I’m pleasantly surprised by the result. Have a listen, and see what you think.

Disclosure: our expenses were covered by Ivy Worldwide, on behalf of HP.

Krista Thomas was responsible for marketing at Thomson Reuters‘ semantic technology success story, Open Calais, and is now VP Marketing at Los Angeles startup Ad.ly.

Scott Brinker is President & CTO at ion interactive, and writes the ChiefMarTec blog.

During the conversation, regulars and guests discuss the way in which ‘semantic technology’ solutions are being successfully marketed to potential beneficiaries.

Have a listen, and learn that pitches to non-semantic technology enthusiasts beginning “We’ll convert all your data to RDF, leverage the Semantic Web, and construct an OWL-based ontology” are probably doomed to failure.

The whole team is present once more, and we start the show discussing the implications of Drupal 7 and its newly formalised RDFa-publishing capabilities. Unlike regular semantic technology solutions, which someone has to consciously procure as a Semantic Technology solution, Drupal is first and foremost a (popular, free) Content Management System; the semantic smarts come for free, and therefore reach a massive new audience.

From there, we move into a broader discussion of the ways in which semantic projects take root within organisations.

Have a listen, and let us know what you think. As ever, suggestions for future topics or guests are always welcome.

@theSemanticLink is the show’s Twitter id, which we will use to invite questions ahead of shows on particular topics. If you’d like to ask questions, comment on shows, hear about new episodes as they’re released, etc, please do sign up to follow.

Related articles

• The Semantic Link is open (cloudofdata.com)
• Drupal 7 Released, With Improved UI and Semantic Technology (nytimes.com)
• House.gov moves to Drupal (radar.oreilly.com)
• Dries Buytaert Explains How Drupal Gardens SaaS Can Contribute to Semantic Web Momentum – semanticweb.com (semanticweb.com)
• Drupal 7 dives into machine-readable web (go.theregister.com)

We recorded the first episode earlier this week and it’s now online, along with an introduction to the series from myself.

Please do have a listen, and let me know what you think whilst I work out how to automate adding these to my sidebar on this site…

I look forward to lining up some great conversations – and guests – in the year ahead. We will record and publish regularly each month. Where we can agree a topic well ahead of the recording date, I’ll let you know via the @TheSemanticLink twitter account, and invite questions for me to throw at both regulars and guests.

If there are particular topics you’d like to see covered, particular guests you’d like us to secure, or other comments you’d like to make, please do let me know…

Related articles

• Top 10 Semantic Web Products of 2010 (readwriteweb.com)
• Looking forward to The Semantic Link podcast on SemanticWeb.com (cloudofdata.com)

Almost exactly two years ago, I announced my intention to leave Talis and strike out on my own. A year ago, the final piece of that transition concluded when we published the last episode of the Semantic Web Gang; a round table podcast that I began inside Talis and subsequently produced with their sponsorship.

Fast forward to the end of 2010, and it’s time to revisit the value that a monthly round table conversation offered to the community. Talking with friends, customers and contacts, many of them pointed to the useful role that something like the round table discussion format plays in cutting through marketing hype, community groupthink and competitor obfuscation. The old Semantic Web Gang did that, and it did it because it comprised a great group of contributors who knew their stuff.

Working with Eric Franzon at semanticweb.com we are about to recreate some of that value by launching The Semantic Link, and I am really pleased with the panel of regulars that Eric and I have signed up; a completely new group of contributors who also know their stuff.

Our first episode will be recorded in early December, and should be pushed out via semanticweb.com (and iTunes, no doubt) before Christmas. We’ll then settle down to a regular cycle, recording and publishing each month, dissecting whichever trends, stories, initiatives and companies happen to be topical. I’m also keen to get guests on the show from time to time, especially where they’re involved in something truly interesting and newsworthy.

If you have ideas for topics you would like to hear us dissect, please do let me know.