The document discusses the implications of emergent interoperability based on a roadmap by FInES. It makes three key points: 1. Interoperating systems are complex systems that self-organize, but the direction of this organization is uncertain. 2. Interoperability, like well-regulated systems, is an emergent property where prediction may become imprecise but still informative, requiring approximate predictions and tolerant regulation. 3. Interoperability creates diverse new types of interactions beyond simple competition/monopoly models, requiring consideration of consequences rather than just forms of interaction through stakeholder engagement.

1. Emergent interoperability
a friendly critique of the FInES
roadmap
Jonathan Cave
FInES Cluster meeting
12 October 2012

2. What is regulation?
• 19th century definition of a well-regulated
system: one in proper working order
• This presupposes intent, design or common
understanding, but…
• It does not suppose or imply a regulator

3. Regulatory implications of
interoperability
• Positive – internalise externalities and
coordination problems
• Negative – exclude ‘market discipline’ and the
variation part of evolution
• Ambiguous - benifits in one domain (e.g.
security) can be used to justify distortions in
another (profit, innovation)
• Example – data repositories in the supply
chain

4. Where is this in FInES?
• Knowledge spaces:
– socioeconomic – from commerce back to
economy, evolved meaning of citizenship and
shared individual identity
– Networked enterprise (the X enterprise)
– Enterprise systems
• Commonality – the emergence of new
‘animals’ in new ecosystems.

5. So what?
• Enterprise is a characteristic of human
interaction, not a noun.
• Don’t let the framework define the
phenomenology
• Regulation is not just context – it comes from
somewhere and changes at the same rate as
regulated behaviour
• This leads us to complexity

6. Three specific implications
• Interoperating systems are complex systems – they self-
organise, but in what direction?
• Interoperability, like well-regulatedness, is an emergent
property
– Emergence speaks of the amount of specific information (e.g. about the past) needed to
predict (or influence) the future. The more you need to know, the stronger the
emergence
– Prediction may become imprecise, but without becoming less informative. Approximate
predictions should be used for tolerant forms of regulation
• Competition and monopoly (utility regulation) itself are
extremes;
– Interoperability creates many more types of interaction
– Some are good, some not – need to look beyond the form to the consequences
– This means (stakeholder) engagement or free movement
• Commercial pitch – regulatory issues in the cloud