"Dark data is defined as the inforamtion assets (terrabytes...even petabytes of data) organizations collect, process and store in the course of regular business activity, that accumulates but is never used.

Organizations run without fully leveraging their dark data is like a horseman riding on a dangerous mountainous road, on a dark and stormy night, blindfolded."

- Data Ninja

I believe one of the key reasons why dark data continues to proliferate in organizations is that tool has yet to be invented that allows every person in the organization with a browser and network access to work with and present this data (for good...obviously...for sake of this discussion let's assume sensitive data is protected against inappropriate use...identity theft, etc.).

The current generation of leading data access/visualization tools only allows certain qualified people in an organization to work with data.

A NEW generation of data access/visualization tools has yet to be invented that 'democratizes' access, analysis and presentation in a social, collaborative, 'sharing' platform.

As an author at codecanyon, I continue to write scripts that help develop on an idea of a NEXT GENERATION, MORE 'DEMOCARATIC' visulization tool that:

• is extensible and designed to leverage all the popular open source visaulization scripts available (highcharts, d3js, mapbox, leaflet, etc)
• is easy to access and lightweight - AS EASY AND LIGHT AS A WEBPAGE - and use by ANYONE to create sophisticated dashboards (drag and drop user interface on a web page accessible on any internet browser)
• is foundationally designed for collaboration and sharing with other people (js-fiddle style collaboration and sharing) - making data sharing and analyzing more mainstream.
  

This next version of PHP Dashboard version 4.0 is an extension of my popular HTML5 Dashboard Designer script that continues to leverage PHP and MySQL to create a multi-tenant environment for the designer that allows js-fiddle type sharing of dashboards. For users of HTML5 Dashboard Designer, you'll see the familiar interface but what's new is in the enhanced menu on the top right that allows you to save, share, email dashboards. You can invite collaborators and sign in / sign up to create your own accounts.

Let me know what you think of the enhancements. I have a multi-year roadmap for this tool so look out for more enhancements. Contact me if you have any ideas. (Also, looking for a sponsor for this tool - see 'Looking for a sponsor - menu option')

Tanoshinde ('Have fun!'), Data Ninja dataninja.at.codecanyon@gmail.com dataninja.biz