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<div>Ok, sorry about the uninspired title. The 
<a href="http://www.talis.com/applications/news_and_events/talis_insight_programme.shtml">Talis
Insight conference</a> is drawing to a close in the uk, 
<a href="http://iandavis.com/blog/2007/11/insight">Ian</a>'s got
links to relevant write-ups, notably some thorough blogging on 
<a href="http://www.meanboyfriend.com/overdue_ideas/insight07/index.html">Overdue
Ideas</a>.
 
It's a big event, and it's a strange feeling having that going
on while I'm tapping away at home-office as usual. But the fact
that 
<a href="http://talis.com">Talis</a> is active in this way in the
library sector is one of the things that I found compelling when
they asked me to join the company. We've (
subtle change in sense/tense there) got this
well-established base of library operations supporting the
innovation going on with Semantic Web technologies.
The most immediate applications of the 
<a href="http://talis.com/platform">Talis Platform</a> are in the
library domain, so the innovation makes business sense. But the
technology isn't tied to this sector, and long term the field is
wide open. In operational terms it's great - the infrastructure can
be done properly, there isn't the insecurity of the startup,
decisions can be made based on a longer view and without the need
to get things out of the door with arbitrary compromises just to
attract stay-alive funding. It's possible to contribute through
working groups and the like, and cooperate on other projects that
look interesting (which is a big part of the motivation for the 
<a href="http://n2.talis.com">N-Squared</a> community initiative - 

 <a href="mailto:danny.ayers@gmail.com">mail me</a>
 :-)
I'd hesitate to talk about breathing space (!), but the
environment is a lot more conducive to exploring creative solutions
to problems and working with new developments in the community at
large than it would be if the goal was merely to sell out to
Google/Yahoo!/MS at the first opportunity. The bigger picture is
far more interesting than striving for a fast buck, even if (like
me much of the time) you're just hacking bits of RDF.
As 
<a href="http://iandavis.com/blog/2007/11/insight">Ian says</a>, we
haven't really got an adequate term for the next wave - the
underpinnings of which are in place with Web 1.0, 2.0, Semantic Web
technologies and so on: 
"Itâs still very early days, but there are
exciting times ahead!". Yup.@en
</div>