The Information Commons | Magic Behind the Commons

the magic behind the commons

MAYA's VIA Repository Database

With MAYA's distributed database technology, your organization can start accessing and adding data to the Information Commons right away.

Seamless Integration with Existing Systems

Open APIs, user-friendly tools and custom services provided by third party developers and MAYA Design integrate your data with existing data in the Information Commons. Once your data is in the Commons, you can publish it to the Web or export it to other applications for further analysis or reporting. Compatible with Windows, Linux and Macintosh platforms, the VIA Repository works with a number of different operating systems and data formats.

“Future-proofed design principles and 'emergent intelligence' potential could make [the Information Commons] the Web's replacement for the 21st century” - Harbor Research, Inc.

How Does It Work?

The VIA Repository software creates a peer to peer network of machines that exchange u-forms, which utilize a highly flexible data format based on an open architecture developed by MAYA Design.

U-forms are simple data objects that consist of a bundle of attribute and value pairs associated with a universally unique identifier. You can think of a u-form as a row in a relational table, so instead of passing entire tables around the network, you only send and receive the exact data you are interested in. U-forms are replicated in multiple venues and the more popular a piece of data is, the more it is replicated.

What makes the Commons different?

While the necessity of universal data identity and data extensibility is already recognized by a variety of Semantic Web / Web Services / XML technologies, such systems generally rely on URL references to identify information, saying not what the information is, but simply where it is stored. This means that data objects can disappear when a particular server goes down in the Web Services world. In contrast, data objects in the Information Commons are not dependent upon physical location, enabling the same information to be replicated and accessed from several locations. And, once you've accessed data in the Commons, it becomes part of your local repository, making it available to you even when you are not online. This feature is ideal for organizations that work in remote, under-served or disaster-stricken areas with little or no Internet access or for users who are frequently traveling.