@jbernoff I like your use of the term "Splinternet", and this clarification of the earlier post as the splintering of Internet applications. It made me think about definitions of interoperability -- I relooked at http://www.sutor.com/newsite/blog-open/?p=1372 -- and see the think about the overhead that is being introduced both to consumers (who will get locked into a platform) and to software developers (who will have to go through the expense of building for multiple platforms). I agree that the Splinternet index is currently high. I'm unsure if it will remain high in two years, but would think that in 5 years, we might have revolutions through open standards. The philosophy towards open behind Google (e.g. with Android) and Ubuntu (e.g. I've noted that I should be able to access my iPod Touch under 10.4) demonstrates communities who maintain an interest in openness. Thinking historically, we might consider the evolution of PDF. While Adobe still has the mindshare around the file format, alternative paths for accessing that content have emerged.

@jletourneau This use of the term heterarchy by Karen Stephenson is different from how I've read it before. She's using heterarchy in an interpersonal sense, whereas I've been used to seeing it in an inter-organizational sense. The term hasn't been that popular of late. Heterarchy has mostly been linked to 1986 article by Gunnar Hedlund. On search, I've noticed a 2006 reflection on in the Druid Summer Conference 2006 by Ivo Zander and John A. Mathews. Similar ideas, just a slightly different context.

Thanks for opening up my vocabulary to "semantic publishing". Unfortunately, your link into the entry in Wikipedia tends to suggest that we're really early in that technology. (I've left comments on the discussion page, and presume that Wikipedia moderators will figure out whether those links should be corrected or deleted). There isn't an entry in Wikipedia for "semantic tagging", so I tried Google, without getting much enlightenment. I understand the basics of the semantic web from a technical perspective; I'm just trying to figure out if I should change my behaviour in some way to prepare for this future trend.