CNN posted a story about the worlds oldest database being put online. The Domesday Book is one of Britans oldest public records and is a detailed survey of more than 13,000 places owned by Harold II, as well as details of the people and countryside. Interestingly, the survey was undertaken so that the king could borrow money to pay for mercenaries (to defend the realm from invaders).

Apart from the history, it is interesting that the database is now online and searchable to anyone for a fee of about $7 (US) per page. While I wonder about the wisdom of charging such a high fee for access, it is still very interesting to see antiquity interact with information architecture.

Tim O’Rielly wrote an excellent piece about the newfound interest in well-run operations for Microsoft and other companies hoping to be a part of the Web 2.0 revolution. I think this is a rich reward for systems administrators and operators, two professions of vital importance that seemed very underappreciated (some might say marginalized) as of late.

One of the more interesting parts of the article discussed the value of integration:

Internet-scale applications are pushing the envelope on operational competence, but enterprise-class applications will follow. And here, Microsoft has a key advantage over open source, because the Windows Live team and the Windows Server and tools team work far more closely together than open source projects work with companies like Yahoo!, Amazon, or Google.

If this vision is true then I don’t think it bodes well for companies that have outsourced almost all of their technical operations.

Yesterday, Informatica and Salesforce.com announced an interesting deal that will allow the two tools to interact. After looking at a general overview of the technology, it looks like something that will be relatively useful for users of these products, and help to cement sales for both companies. I wouldn’t call this quite as appealing as the combination of Nike+iPod, but then again I am both a distance runner and an iPod owner.

I think that this is solid recognition that using data as a service in the enterprise is not only possible, but probable. Also, a nice move by Informatica to keep its products fresh and leaning towards the leading edge. At the same time, I wonder if we are trying to teach an old dog new tricks. After all, Cast Iron Systems sells EAI appliances that are also integrated with Salesforce.com. Probably not, as the really profitable customers of ETL tool vendors are probably not the same ones looking at appliances.

At least, not yet …

technorati tags:mashup, Informatica, ETL EAI,information architecture

This site (more accurately related comments) got a nice mention on Jerri Ledford’s Weblog over at Computerworld.  Her post was talking about the proliferation of Business Intelligence in the enterprise, and the growing awareness of its operational need at the CIO level.  I think this is great news, but that a more pertinent observation is that in a few years the need for information quality tools will be even more acute.  Once any BI system is operational is when most organizations discover how bad their data really is.
I have a lot of respect for Jerri and her blog is easy to read, meaty, and concise.  The fact that I have gotten most of my outside references linked from her doesn’t hurt my opinion of her either …

I found this article in the LA Times a few days back that talks about a recently published paper that looks at internet users and compares their actual skills with their perceived skills. Not surprisingly, men were over confident (not a single one rated themselves as a beginner), while women were under confident (none called themselves an expert). Interestingly, internet use and skill remained the same for both genders over a five year period, as did the perceptions. The researchers worried that the under confident women were limiting themselves and their future based on a false lack of confidence.

This reminds me that in information architecture we have to make sure that we know our audience, sometimes even better than they know themselves. The better part of design is understanding what people need, not what they are asking for. Think iPod, not Creative Zen. The Zen came out first and had all the features that the early adopters were asking for: FM Radio; PC Compatible; longer battery life; bigger hard drive. Then, the iPod came out and gave people what they actually needed: beauty; ease of use; access to online music. When you compare the two on features the Zen wins, hands down. When you compare the two on sales, the iPod blows everything else away. Apple gave people a product they desired and developed an entirely new market, including many peopl who would never have considered anything other than CD’s for all their music needs.

So, the next time you are reviewing requirements, consider what is actually needed, not just what is being required. What is needed should always be your bearing point, your true north. It is a harder to do things this way and there will always be critics (check out the initial opinions of the iPod). However, if you can pull it off you will be much more successful and your customers will be much more satisfied.

technorati tags:information architecture, ipod, zen