Pull: The Power of the Semantic Web to Transform Your Business [Hardcover]

David Siegel (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

According to Siegel (Futurize Your Enterprise), the semantic web, a more standardized version of today's Web where our data will be so precisely parsed as to make logical conclusions possible, will enable our online information to be stored in a personal online locker from birth, keeping all vital information such as addresses automatically updated and vastly streamlining how we do business. He posits that the semantic web will morph our current push oriented strategy, in which providers push products and services, to an individually customized pull economy. Using bowling as an example, Siegel explains that in the past, a bowler scored every game by hand; in the mid-1980s, many bowling alleys moved to pin-setting machines tied to computers that automatically calculated and displayed scores (pushing); in the future, he predicts, a bowler will enter any venue, bowl (possibly against players in other venues worldwide) and all the data will be collected and housed in a personal online locker along with statistics of past games (pulling). This thought-provoking read is sure to spark ideas about what it will take to succeed in tomorrow's marketplace. (Dec.)
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From Booklist

Siegel was an early proponent of the Internet and started blogging in 1994, before the term was invented. He built some of the first Web sites and has been writing and lecturing about the Web since 1997. Always ahead of the curve, Siegel envisions the future of “smart computing” which will unfold over the next 10 years, where your data “follows you around” and is accessible from anywhere through the Web, predicting that hardware and operating systems will become obsolete as the Web itself becomes the computer. We’re already seeing a move in this direction with cell-phone data and the introduction of the Netbook; “smart chips” embedded in products now allow for more efficient tracking from manufacturing to distribution and retail. Next, these smart chips will be able to relay data to customers and repair facilities about part numbers, manufacturing date of the product, and much more. Some of the trends Siegel portends have a bit of a “future shock” quality to them, but he seems to want to shrug off the anxieties and focus instead on the possibilities. --David Siegfried

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover; 1 edition (December 31, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591842778
• ISBN-13: 978-1591842774
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #31,912 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

  #55 in	Books > Business & Investing > Industries & Professions > E-commerce
  #88 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Home Computing > Internet
  #36 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Business & Culture > Web Marketing

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Semantic-Web is Coming, January 4, 2010

By	Holger Buerger (San Francisco) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Pull: The Power of the Semantic Web to Transform Your Business (Hardcover)

The book is full of great information on how the Semantic Web will shape the next generation of the web in which we will stop pushing information but rather pull the information from the various product or service provider.

I was looking for something that explains the Semantic Web more from a strategic rather then a technical perspective. This book really helped me to understand how the Semantic Web can be applied. There are numerous real-live examples. From shipping products to health-care, tax, real estate, financial data (XBRL), search & security - everywhere you will find examples of businesses that already use or transition to the Semantic-Web.

This book was a great read and I highly recommend it for everyone interested in this topic.

Thanks,

HB

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Heads Up for Entrepreneurs!, December 31, 2009

By	David Wineberg "David Wineberg" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Pull: The Power of the Semantic Web to Transform Your Business (Hardcover)

What I really like about Pull is that not only does Siegel explain the Next Big Thing, but he shows us exactly how it will benefit us in dozens of different domains. So unlike some other books, this is not pie-in-the-sky stuff. It is all very real, under development, test and deployment right now, and very accessible. (I just read about Cisco now using its entire 45,000 staff as an alpha for its healthcare systems - systems straight out of Pull!) It's a fun read if you want a glimpse of how you are in fact going to live in the not too distant future.

It never occurred to your grandparents that they would ever own two cars. It never occurred to your parents that they would carry mobile phones everywhere. It never occurred to us that nearly every room would have a computer in it. Now Pull shows you an engaging and enormously useful set of tools for the future. For entrepreneurs, it's a heads-up. For the rest of us, it's a well written, worthwhile book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Important, challenging book, May 8, 2010

By	Philip Simon "Images and Words" (Caldwell, NJ) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Pull: The Power of the Semantic Web to Transform Your Business (Hardcover)

This book isn't easy to read because it challenges so many assumptions and current practices. That's not to say that it's not important. On the contrary, the industries and examples covered in Siegel's book run the gamut. Relatively recent ones such as search will be transformed, as will more established ones such as the law. Via the semantic web, future work required by lawyers will involve actual legal interpretation and analysis, not administrative activities for which I'm being grossly overcharged.

Sound far-fetched? Perhaps. But it's coming and it's going to change the web as we know it, not to mention how we work and live.

Another example Siegel also cites is the failure of many "knowledge management" systems. Most were, at best, ultimately incomplete for one simple reason: they depended upon typically overworked people entering updates and information into them. That's hardly a recipe for success.

The solution is the concept of an ontology, something enabled by the semantic web. At a high level, an ontology automates the learning process for systems, allowing for a comprehensive and commonly understood set of assumptions, facts, and descriptions. This obviates the need for anyone to manually update projects and repositories of information. Using ontologies takes care of that for us.

I had to put this book down often because of the consequences of what Siegel was writing. That doesn't happen often with me. This is my favorite book of the last five years.