As I pointed out in In Praise of the Silo [Listening NSA?], quoting Neil Ward-Dutton:
Every organisational feature – including silos – is an outcome of some kind of optimisation. By talking about trying to destroy silos, we’re denying the sometimes very rational reasons behind their creation.
While working on a presentation for Balisage 2015, it occurred to me to ask: Why Are Data Silos Opaque?
A popular search engine reports that sans duplicates, there were three hundred and thirty-three (333) “hits” on “data silo” that were updated in the last year. Far more reports than I want to list or that you want to read.
The common theme, of course, is the difficulty of accessing data silos.
OK, I’ll bite, why are data silos opaque?
Surely if our respective data silos are based on relational database technology, even with NoSQL, still a likely bet, don’t our programmers know about JDBC drivers? Doesn’t connecting to the data silo solve the problem?
Can we assume that data silos are not opaque due to accessibility? That is drivers exist for accessing data stores, modulo the necessity for system security. Yes?
Data silos aren’t opaque to the users who use them or the DBAs who maintain them. So opacity isn’t something inherent in the data silo itself because we know of people who successfully use what we call a data silo.
What do you think makes data silos opaque?
If we knew where the problem comes from, it might be possible to discuss solutions.