We are building and testing tools for research. Our (experimental) tools help us gather information and help us in incremental knowledge discovery.
Let us start with a simple experimental topic that is also a rapidly emerging trend – “Cloud Computing”. Our goal is to gain as much knowledge about Cloud Computing as possible. We will use two different approaches.
6W Framework
- What – A set of what questions. What is cloud computing? What is the difference between public, private, hybrid clouds? What is the difference between the Web and the Cloud?
- Why – A set of why questions. Why should your business care? Why now?
- Who – A set of who questions. Who is driving it? Who is adopting it?
- When – A set of when questions. When is it appropriate for your business? When is it not?
- Where – A set of where questions. Where is it being adopted? Where is it successfully being used?
- How – A set of how questions. How do you get started? How do you evaluate it? How do you find the ROI for your business?
To gain some useful knowledge, we need to look at several aspects. These include (in no particular order):
- Technologies
- Vendors
- Market Segments
- Products
- People (Experts, Influencers)
- Trends
- Topics (Vocabulary and Ontology)
- Research
- Patents
- Investors and funding
- Applications
- Adoption
- Drivers – that support the trend
- Barriers to adoption
- Intersections (with other emerging trends)
- Events
- Publications
- Communities
- Knowledge Bases
- Opportunities
We will piece together this knowledge about cloud computing step by step (over several posts).