In 2017, an organization known as The Semantic Arts published their “datacentric manifesto” leading with this paragraph.
> “We have uncovered a root cause of the messy state of Information Architecture in large institutions and on the web today. It is the prevailing applicationcentric mindset that gives applications priority over data. The remedy is to flip this on its head. Data is the center of the universe; applications are ephemeral.”
While the vision and ideas of this manifesto are compelling, implementation details are scarce leaving the potential out of reach of many busy developers and architects.
Datacentric is a major departure from the current applicationcentric approach to systems development and management. Migration to the datacentric approach will not happen by itself.
This session is full of practical and actionable examples, insights, and approaches to this new paradigm. If you’re ready to consider the possibility that systems could be more than an order of magnitude cheaper and more flexible, then check out this session to see firsthand a new way to think about software and information systems.
Michael Carducci spent years learning to see things as they actually are; first as a magician, then as a software architect, now as both simultaneously. And somehow that’s not even the whole story.
He’s the author of Mastering Software Architecture (Apress, 2025) and is currently writing The Semantic Layer. He has spent over 25 years following interesting problems; through roles from individual contributor to CTO and back again, across industries and continents.
As a speaker, he applies the same toolkit he uses in close-up magic: attention, misdirection, timing, storytelling, and the instinct to take the long way around when that’s where the truth lives. Audiences at hundreds of conferences across four continents have described his talks as the kind that change how you think about a problem rather than just what you know about it.
He also makes YouTube videos about technology and curiosity with his wife Kate, because some ideas are too important (or too interesting!) to leave only in conference rooms.
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