Data wants to be free

In my presentation, Querying the Web, I'll be talking about a fundamental shift in the way that we should be thinking about data and databases.

Data is no longer locked up in corporate silos, it's all out there on the Internet just wanting to be used. I'll be talking about both the provision and the consumption of datasets that are exposed to the Internet.

To whet your appetite, I really recommend that you read this article by Google's Adam Bosworth[1] which says The Web has much to teach us about managing and modeling distributed data. It's time we began listening.... In particular, if you don't read the whole article, do read the six points on the last page about the implications for databases, IMHO he's right on the money.

[1] Incidentally, Adam Bosworth is currently VP of Google Health, which is going to be very big indeed and is worth keeping an eye on.