Re: Enquire - WWW - Semantic Desktop/PersonalDataWiki? do you agree?

Leo,

On Mon, Nov 22, 2010 at 4:43 AM, Leo Sauermann <leo.sauermann@gnowsis.com>wrote:

>  Hi Melvin, Juan, SWIG
>
> (I took timbl now out of cc as he didn't react... will ping him somehow on
> #swig about it)
>
> Juan:
> my pitch starts with "Hello, my name is Leo Sauermann and I can't remember
> anything... (dramatic pause for people to feel - ahhh.mee to)... thats why I
> write down things on my computer. But then I don't find them when I need
> them.."
> This evolved over 8 years of pitching, it quite works ;-)
>

A computer is so... 2000s.

I write things on my phone.

Does your pitch (and product) still work?


> but yes - I only mention "semantic" once in my pitch. We learned that too.
> The salespeople from ontoprise.de (one of the oldest companies in our
> sector) also use "searching" more than "semantics".
>
> Melvin: ha, frivolity is welcome, you answered in the right tone. Life
> isn't as serious as they think ;-)
>
> Where did you find that one?
> http://www.w3.org/2007/09/map/main.jpg
> On the map - I fear that mountain where Ted Nelson sits at the end of
> Xanadu....read the last words of that article:
> http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.06/xanadu.html
> But again, Enquire misses on the map.
>
> Thanks for the Warren Buffet comparison, I can use that.
>
> URIs: right, they are the second important part
> I didn't really understand how to identify concepts until Richard and I
> co-edited that one:
> http://www.w3.org/TR/cooluris/
> What was missing was URIs for Microsoft Outlook Entries and other things in
> daily life, we added that within Gnowsis/Cluug.
>
> Jung/Journeys/...
> Probably its easier to talk about this once a million people use it. I just
> wondered if it would work *before* we release it based on historic clues
> leading towards a semantic personal information management system. Our task
> here at Gnowsis is to reach these customers... lets see...
>
> best
> Leo
>
>
> It was Melvin Carvalho who said at the right time 18.11.2010 17:31 the
> following words:
>
> On 18 November 2010 08:27, Leo Sauermann <leo.sauermann@gnowsis.com> <leo.sauermann@gnowsis.com> wrote:
>
>  Dear Tim,
> SWIG
>
>
> My Current Task is somehow tricky:
>
> I am pitching our company Gnowsis to investors. It makes an Enquire-Like
> Semantic Desktop, a personal semantic web. It seems investors
> only understand anything on the level of "we do twitter for dogs" or "it
> sells crowdsourced clothes via mobile phones".
>
>  You are at a disadvantage.  Most investors cannot see further than a
> two year horizon.  In fact, in many cases it is forbidden.
>
> The attractive thing about The Web is that it will likely achieve
> double digit growth for decades to come.  The great investors
> understand this.  Warren Buffett, the richest man in the world, and
> probably considered the best investor ever, has achieved 21% growth
> for around 40 years.  The (Semantic) Web can easily match that.
> Almost no other technology can.  That's the angle.
>
> The concept that good investors understand, is the network effect, or
> a better term the Web Effect.  This is the synergies created by
> connecting a growing number of people using Web Standards, of which,
> facebook is a microcosm.  Looking at Mark Z's latest talk he is
> starting to get it.  A graph of People, a Graph of Things:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Czw-dtTP6oU&feature=player_embedded
>
> Your business advantage is of 'first mover'.  This is a double edged
> sword, on the one hand you start off further down the learning curve,
> but on the other new entrants can use newer technologies.  However,
> first mover has worked for google (web scale), and for amazon, ebay
> etc.   I think those are the angles to pitch, it helps if you have
> some good long term value investors in your network.  There are some
> in Vienna.
>
>
>  So Tim, as Elder of the Web, I turn to you for an expert opinion to
> reassure we do a useful thing.
>
>
> Here are the Statements I patch together from "weaving the web" etc.:
>
> Enquire - linking everything bidirectionally is an
> entire new way of writing.
> I guess you also realized that the system changes the way you look at
> things and your
> thinking.
>
> WWW - give everyone a tool (read/write) web that everyone
> can publish information. The links are first unidirectional and untyped
> and will be typed
> "later", once the RDF riddle was solved in 1999.
>
> SemanticDesktop/PersonalDataWikis/PersonalSemanticWeb - we finally give
> the peoples the
> Enquire that Tim already used in the distant and mysterious past.
> The first distributable results are NEPOMUK-KDE, PesonalDataWikis,
> Personal Data Lockers, and services around this idea of personal
> semantic web services for personal information management.
>
>  I think these will all be killer apps that will grow with the
> ecosystem, and gaining from the law of 'unintended consequences' that
> drove the Web of Documents.
>
> The link is only one half of the Web (of any graph).  The "URI" is the
> precious stone set in a silver sea.
>
> I'd recommend reading 1 essay a week in
> http://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/
>
> I still do on an daily basis.  I am always learning.
>
> The UDI (Universal Document Identifier) enables The Web of Documents.
> The URI will enable the Web of Resources.
>
> Remember one KEY point.  Universal does not mean Unique.  Universal
> brings things together, seeks commonalities (we mathematicians call
> them 'invariants', philosophers call them 'archetypes').  This idea
> has always been one of the foundational building block of mathematics,
> of science, of culture, and now of The Web.  More on this later.
>
> Give things Universal Identifiers and use Web Standards, and watch
> their usefulness grow and grow, relative to everything else.  As an
> initial adopter you're able to create most value than your competitors
> and hopefully receive most reward.
>
>
>  The question:
> Tim,
> Is this THE idea?
>
> Do you agree this is a sensible thing to do?
>
>
>
> If yes, then my argumentation to investors and to myself is:
> "TimBl basically inventend blogging, wikipedia, and twitter with the
> idea of a read/write WWW, which it originally always included. You can
> trust that guy to be clever. You can also be assured this was around
> before, some ideas for millenia, some since Memex.
> Now Gnowsis works to realize the proto-idea - Enquire. There must be
> something going on here. Dear Investors, look at it, spend some time
> understanding what happens here with technology and then invest."
>
>  Think about long term sustained exponential growth of your ecosystem,
> with your company defending a greater and greater share of that value.
>  People always tend to think that they are either at the beginning or
> the end of a journey.  But the Web Effect is in play and, continues
> its march exponentially.  Simply look at 2009 (gov) and 2010 (facebook
> ogp, google good relations, and so much more).  I think 2011 is going
> to be the year of the apps.  Gnowsis hopefully will make some of the
> best!
>
>
>  Sometimes I feel like Frodo and together with Bernhard "Sam" Schandl we
> go alone to Mount Doom ("Microsoft Outlook") to finally throw the Ring
> of RDF into its center, to crack it open to the web. Then I see you guys
> over at the Minas Tirith of LinkedOpenData and data.gov and the battles
> Martin Hepp fights with GoodRelations and ... there is hope :-)
>
>  Regarding email, did you take a look at rapportive?
> http://rapportive.com/
>
> A nice semantic tool that enhances email using the social graph.  I'm
> using it now, it's a cool UX.  Simple tool that makes things just a
> little bit better.  Perhaps this is the kind of demo that will inspire
> an investor.
>
> I like the Lord of the Rings analogy.  There can be no doubt that Lord
> of the Rings was influenced by the 'Universal' Story.  The idea of the
> monomyth, articulated so well by Jung and Campbell.  This is a story
> that has happened before, and it will happen again and again.  It
> happens every day.  My favorite video on the web, recorded 1987
> explains this quite well.  Universal does not mean Unique!
> http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1780052864372164593#
>
> "Man does not weave this web of life. He is merely a strand of it.
> Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself." was written in1854
> and we are talking about weaving the web today!
>
> I like your jest.  The Web may show a resemblance of Middle Earth, but
> it is not a copy.
> http://www.w3.org/2007/09/map/main.jpg
>
> Understand that The Web is about Universality.  The Web i about
> tolerance.  We are all Tolkien's characters traveling through The Web
> on a great journey.  Some are the hobbits, some are the wizards, and
> some are the Orcs created to mock the elves (I'll let you decide which
> is which :)).
>
> But the hero is the one who can make this journey decently, can make
> it in a way that is respectful and tolerant.  Someone that can first
> look to create value or those less fortunate with their work and toil.
>  And maybe just manage to make the long hard journey to cast down the
> One Ring, and allow us all to bask in the sunlight uplands of The Web
> :)
>
> Just my 2 cents (apologies in advance for the frivolity) :)
>
>
>  ok, looking for interesting answers
> best
> Leo Sauermann, Dr.
> CEO and Founder
>
> mail: leo.sauermann@gnowsis.com
> mobile: +43 6991 gnowsishttp://www.gnowsis.com
>
> helping people remember,
>
> so join our newsletterhttp://www.gnowsis.com/about/content/newsletter
> ____________________________________________________
>
>
>
>
> --
> Leo Sauermann, Dr.
> CEO and Founder
>
> mail: leo.sauermann@gnowsis.com
>
> mobile: +43 6991 gnowsis           http://www.gnowsis.com
>
> helping people remember,
>
> so join our newsletterhttp://www.gnowsis.com/about/content/newsletter
> ____________________________________________________
>
>