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Re:Containers have been more important for globalisation tha... by jedc on Friday May 17, 2013 @01:20PM (#5725577)
I highly recommend the book "The Box" which goes deep into the history of the shipping container. http://www.amazon.com/The-Box-Shipping-Container-Smaller/dp/...

In a nutshell, it was messy. It's not easy in the physical/infrastructure world to create a standard and then impose it world-wide. (ie, competing standards, etc.)

Then the container literally created and destroyed neighborhoods & cities, but as the article notes revolutionized world trade. I can HIGHLY recommend the book.

Re:Containers have been more important for globalisation tha... by jashmenn on Friday May 17, 2013 @01:30PM (#5725661)
If I may piggy-back on this thread, the idea of "containerization" is one of our inspirations at IFTTT. Information is currently being transported in "break-bulk" [1] - everyone has a different way of shuffling it around.

What we hope to do at IFTTT is develop a containerization of information; a common interface for moving data from point a to point b. Now, I realize we run the risk of creating the 15th competing standard [2], but we have some big ideas on the horizon of how we can make this work in a really general (and beautiful) way.

BTW, if these types of problems interest you, we're hiring :)

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Break_bulk_cargo

[2] http://xkcd.com/927/

Re:Containers have been more important for globalisation tha... by eli_gottlieb on Friday May 17, 2013 @02:03PM (#5725839)
We have a containerized standard for moving data around. It's called TCP/IP.

What you're developing is a containerized standard for moving understanding around, manipulating data in a relatively standard way while still maintaining its context.

Re:Containers have been more important for globalisation tha... by lsb on Friday May 17, 2013 @10:50PM (#5727722)
Understanding, or just information. Data is "things that have been given [to you]", from the Latin, whereas information is something that informs you [about the world].
Re:Containers have been more important for globalisation tha... by mcantelon on Friday May 17, 2013 @01:44PM (#5725747)