In fact, there is a deeper idea behind business networks—that the language and vocabulary of technology should closely match that of the business domain, removing the need for significant translation between business concepts, and technology concepts. Business networks move away from the idea of disconnected technology by describing the underlying technology in the same language as the business. It makes it easier to reason about the world and more accurately translate ideas into a fully operational system.

Practically speaking, it means that while our initial vocabulary for business networks is simple, it is the beginning of a language that can become very rich in structure over time, so long as it describes the details and nuances of what happens in the real world. We'll come back to this idea later, but for now let's start by understanding participants.