I've been thinking a lot about comparisons these days and I've long hoped to write something interesting about the following concepts and technologies, but I've never carved out the time.
- OAI-PMH and RSS
- Semantic Web and Microformats
- Shibboleth and OpenID
- Cyberinfrastructure and Web 2.0
I've given up any aspirations of writing something meaningful before the start of 2008, but I thought some observations might be interesting to jot down and share with the community. I guess I'll start with Cyberinfrastructure and Web 2.0
I think the two share many similar properties. In each case, the terms were coined by influential players in the field, but the definitions seem to shrink or expand based on who you talk to. In both cases, the introduction of the terms have served as a catalyst of sorts that seemed to have sharpened interest and discussion in a range of activities. In both cases, the underlying technologies supporting the phenomena existed before the terms were coined.
