The Data Industry’s Semantic Layer. The history of the Semantic Layer dates back to the 1990's and Business Objects. How did we arrive at today's Semantic Layer?
the Business Objects patent history is fascinating context that most "semantic layer" discussions completely skip. everyone in the modern data stack acts like dbt invented the concept when the underlying idea — and the legal battles over it — go back to the early 90s. the gap between what vendors mean by "semantic" and what the CS field means has been causing confusion for 30 years and AI is about to make it worse
Q: BI maps transactions, not concepts, right? Lineage defines meaning in the BI world; the relationships are simpler than RDF / OWL. Simpler, but without standards. It makes me wonder why that never happened in the SQL world?
The first part of your article shows you have a thorough knowledge of BI and databases that I hadn’t guessed. Many strings to your bow, which always hits the mark !
When SAP bought Business Objects, I was one of the few in France – without expressing it publicly – to consider that this purchase was a lifeline for BO, which could not resist the technological advances of the major publishers, whereas the dominant and systematic discourse consisted of regretting that France «was losing one of its rare digital nuggets», although BO was listed on the NASDAQ :).
Moreover, it foreshadowed a wave of acquisitions, mergers, disappearances... , of small BI editors, before the emergence of new cloud editors.
Your analysis is very insightful as usual. A small remark however. If AI probably plays a role in the semantic hype, one could also notice for several years the rise of 'data catalogs' within the frameworks of governance, 'master data management'..., the rise in power of 'data officers'... , and it is also this evolution that the 'OSI initiative' consecrates, according to another logic than that of the 'semantic web', as you explain.
France has another technology ground breaker in Hugging Face!
Yes, I agree. And catalogs are derived from library science and catalogs which can be its own article.
Watching the OSI closely as it is positioning the promise of the the W3C and the Semantic Web—interoperability —in new packaging with less far less semantic weight.
I forgot to mention in my previous post that I made discoveries about BO thanks to your article.
By mentioning Hugging face, you reveal an evolution of the behavior of French entrepreneurs in the digital world, consisting in establishing more quickly, if not immediately, their headquarters in the United States, as Snowflake for example.
In France, in the field of artificial intelligence, Mistral, although its capital is « mixed », and Yann Le Cun's new company are mainly highlighted.
But only a few months ago, a legend pretended that a majority of the « top 200 AI researchers in the world » were French :):):)
Last December I presented at Forward Data Conference in Paris and was impressed by the range of innovation, across domains and products. France has no doubt make its mark and continues to do so :)
As I continue to dip toe in the turbid chumchurn froth of "AI semantic ontology knowledge" conversations- GOFAI critiques among them - I've found your writing refreshingly clear eyed. This article is helpful in mapping how the term "semantics" has migrated in usage within various tech communities.
Besides the appealing meta-humor of the "semantics of semantics " theme I appreciate this informed ethnographic grounding, which echoes a central theme in my own prior "pre-ontologies" work on domain modeling - that domain models are themselves social constructs emerging from very specific kinds of taxonomic conversations and tensions.
In other words, the real work of modeling begins with the disruption of a discovered terminological anomaly: e.g., a same word used differently in different contexts or communities, or different words used for the same semantic referents. For example, my friend Jon Weisberger's quip: "The first recorded use of the term bluegrass was in the statement: 'That ain't no part of bluegrass.'"
You scooped me, but great piece. Two nits... You wrote a whole article on semantic layers and didn't even mention Coginiti :( Makes me sad. Why not just treat semantic layers for structured data as just on more entity on the semantic spectrum?
Excellent article! I used to work at Business Objects. +1 on the great BOBJ UI screenshot. This really demystifies the terms better than anything I've read to date.
I bet … and boy oh boy does it look like something out of the arc as a UI / UX compared to now … but it worked and was a very successful business - bought by one of my alumni companies, SAP - but that’s a whole new story 😂 … thanks for sharing the history and agree the “semantic” discussion is well and truly in reboot - or was it actually never not there - just not as visible but still as an essential enabler
the Business Objects patent history is fascinating context that most "semantic layer" discussions completely skip. everyone in the modern data stack acts like dbt invented the concept when the underlying idea — and the legal battles over it — go back to the early 90s. the gap between what vendors mean by "semantic" and what the CS field means has been causing confusion for 30 years and AI is about to make it worse
That explains a lot. Add "semantics" to a long list of technology terms that seem to be purposefully clouded in ambiguity.
Excellent article!
Q: BI maps transactions, not concepts, right? Lineage defines meaning in the BI world; the relationships are simpler than RDF / OWL. Simpler, but without standards. It makes me wonder why that never happened in the SQL world?
ZH
Thanks, Zane!
BI maps transactions to concepts also responsible to the visuals. So for what it’s worth…;)
you're right, there's a connection. I remember Bill Inmon addressed this in his T2G book. Thanks!
ZH
The first part of your article shows you have a thorough knowledge of BI and databases that I hadn’t guessed. Many strings to your bow, which always hits the mark !
When SAP bought Business Objects, I was one of the few in France – without expressing it publicly – to consider that this purchase was a lifeline for BO, which could not resist the technological advances of the major publishers, whereas the dominant and systematic discourse consisted of regretting that France «was losing one of its rare digital nuggets», although BO was listed on the NASDAQ :).
Moreover, it foreshadowed a wave of acquisitions, mergers, disappearances... , of small BI editors, before the emergence of new cloud editors.
Your analysis is very insightful as usual. A small remark however. If AI probably plays a role in the semantic hype, one could also notice for several years the rise of 'data catalogs' within the frameworks of governance, 'master data management'..., the rise in power of 'data officers'... , and it is also this evolution that the 'OSI initiative' consecrates, according to another logic than that of the 'semantic web', as you explain.
You are definitely « the queen of semantics » :)
France has another technology ground breaker in Hugging Face!
Yes, I agree. And catalogs are derived from library science and catalogs which can be its own article.
Watching the OSI closely as it is positioning the promise of the the W3C and the Semantic Web—interoperability —in new packaging with less far less semantic weight.
Thank you, Marc :)
I forgot to mention in my previous post that I made discoveries about BO thanks to your article.
By mentioning Hugging face, you reveal an evolution of the behavior of French entrepreneurs in the digital world, consisting in establishing more quickly, if not immediately, their headquarters in the United States, as Snowflake for example.
In France, in the field of artificial intelligence, Mistral, although its capital is « mixed », and Yann Le Cun's new company are mainly highlighted.
But only a few months ago, a legend pretended that a majority of the « top 200 AI researchers in the world » were French :):):)
Last December I presented at Forward Data Conference in Paris and was impressed by the range of innovation, across domains and products. France has no doubt make its mark and continues to do so :)
Indeed there are many initiatives in the digital field. Besides, I have never heard of this conference !
https://www.forward-data-conference.com/en
There was a lot of focus on AI products more than systems. The venue was gorgeous
It's the campus in the Paris area which looks the most like one in the USA :) Will you come again in November ?
As I continue to dip toe in the turbid chumchurn froth of "AI semantic ontology knowledge" conversations- GOFAI critiques among them - I've found your writing refreshingly clear eyed. This article is helpful in mapping how the term "semantics" has migrated in usage within various tech communities.
Besides the appealing meta-humor of the "semantics of semantics " theme I appreciate this informed ethnographic grounding, which echoes a central theme in my own prior "pre-ontologies" work on domain modeling - that domain models are themselves social constructs emerging from very specific kinds of taxonomic conversations and tensions.
In other words, the real work of modeling begins with the disruption of a discovered terminological anomaly: e.g., a same word used differently in different contexts or communities, or different words used for the same semantic referents. For example, my friend Jon Weisberger's quip: "The first recorded use of the term bluegrass was in the statement: 'That ain't no part of bluegrass.'"
Hope to engage further.
Thank you for your insights and for the bluegrass reference ;)
You scooped me, but great piece. Two nits... You wrote a whole article on semantic layers and didn't even mention Coginiti :( Makes me sad. Why not just treat semantic layers for structured data as just on more entity on the semantic spectrum?
Totally fair and that begs another article on the semantic spectrum to rectify ;)
Excellent article! I used to work at Business Objects. +1 on the great BOBJ UI screenshot. This really demystifies the terms better than anything I've read to date.
Haha 😛 love those BOBJ screens … blast 💥 from the past Jessica 😅
Was hard to find the old UI 😊.
I bet … and boy oh boy does it look like something out of the arc as a UI / UX compared to now … but it worked and was a very successful business - bought by one of my alumni companies, SAP - but that’s a whole new story 😂 … thanks for sharing the history and agree the “semantic” discussion is well and truly in reboot - or was it actually never not there - just not as visible but still as an essential enabler
I’m sure it will be rebranded as something else … then surge again Jessica 😆
old skool 😂. maybe we will arrive (eventually) at actual semantics?