Supporting the Information-Driven Enterprise

Semantic Interoperability –The State of the (European) UnionTopic Maps 2008, Oslo

Peter F BrownFounder & Managing Director

Pensive S.A.

www.pensive.eu/uid/0208

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Who am I?Peter F BrownAuthor of “Information Architecture with XML” (Wiley)until 2004 : Head of Information Resources Management, European Parliamentuntil 2006 : Senior Policy Advisor on eGovernment Strategy, Austrian Governmentuntil 2008 : Chair, eGovernment Focus Group, CENFounder of PensiveDirector of OASIS

www.pensive.eu

eGovernment

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Semantic Interoperability►When people interact with government they want to do so on

their own terms (in their own words). ►They do not want to understand how government is organised,

or to know which department or agency does what, or whether a function is exercised by central or local government .

►Requires technical policies and specifications for achieving interoperability and information systems coherence across the public sector.

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What is missing?►eGov standards are rarely mandatory or backed by

legal mechanisms (except nationally in some cases)►Growing demand for cross-border services without

corresponding pan-European authority (risk of a “free for all”)►Need to know who is doing what, particularly at EU-level►Need a mechanism to “resolve” possible overlapping and redundant initiatives►Need to accept that there is no centre “in charge”...

“Build a Portal!”, they cried...►“Mistakes are the portal of discovery”

James Joyce

►“The discovery of portals was a mistake”

?

Yes, Topic Maps...►Standardize the way information about your assets is

captured;►Use, enforce and maintain PSIs►Public authorities are just that: authorities – can legitimately make claims about identity and definitions

►Make that information available (“the map is not the territory”);

►Share fragments where useful (Atom feeds);►Federate as much as possible

See my closing keynote at TMRA 2007, www.pensive.eu/uid/0178

A reflex of collaborationPolitical:►a recognition of the need for and role of cross-border and pan-European services;Organisational:►“collaborative by design”: ensuring that services and systems are able to interoperate from the outset, at design stage – TM offers a powerful design paradigmCultural:►building a collaborative mentality into the organising principles of eService project management

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Reasons to be cheerful►CEN/ISSS eGovernment Focus Group►Recommendations on the role of standards in public administration►Practical demonstration of use of Topic Maps to collect and share this information (3 demonstrators)►Follow-up activity, eGov-Share

►Microsoft Germany►eGovernment Resources Sharing Platform►Using SharePoint, NetworkedPlanet’s TMCore suite and Pensive information modelling

Challenges►eProcurement►Need for cross-border solutions►Common approaches and terminology►Cross-border access to markets

►EU Services Directive►Need for “single point of contact” of information about services offered in every EU country (please, no portals...)

eGovernment

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Semantic InteroperabilityTopic Maps 2008, Oslo

peter@pensive.euhttp://public.xdi.org/=Peter.Brownwww.pensive.eu/uid/0208www.pensive.eu/uid/0

Supporting the Information-Driven Enterprise