Still baffled by the popularity of his blog, Stephen Arnold, who will give the closing keynote speech at the Online Information 2008 show, has little enthusiasm for blogosphere backslapping and puts his efforts into content critique instead.
Q: Where is your blog?
A: arnoldit.com/wordpress
Q: Describe your blog and the categories you have on it
A: I'm an adult goose who comments on search and content processing.
Q How long have you been blogging?
A: Since January 2008.
Q: What started you off blogging?
A: To protect my term "beyond search". My attorney told me that to protect those two words I would have to do something with the term. It's an intellectual property matter. Now I'm stuck with it.
Q: Do you comment on other blogs and what is the value of commenting?
A: I comment on anything that interests me that is related to content processing: traditional media, upstart companies and anything in between. I'm highly critical; I make no attempt to be fair.
Q: Which bloggers do you watch, link to and why?
A: Not many. The list is on the site. I'm not interested in links; I provide opinion.
Q: How does your organisation benefit from your presence in the blogosphere?
A: Again, I was told that I needed to blog if I wanted to own the "beyond search" term.
Q: What are the blogs in your sector that you trust?
A: No clue; I pay no attention. I do primary research for organisations. Most weblogs are written by people who aren't experts. Most of the ones I've seen are baloney.
Q: What do you personally get out of it for your career?
A: I'm at the end of my career; I get nothing. I own the term "beyond search" on the strength of the content on my weblog. I put no new stuff on my weblog and I make that clear. I'm the antithesis of the 25-year-old who works in search.
Q: What good things have happened to you that could only have happened because of blogging?
A: Nothing good, other than owning the term. I had no idea that the weblog would become popular. Its baloney compared with the studies I have done. I'm baffled by the fascination with my weblog. I have no interest in being popular. I have a readership in the tens of thousands and I'm baffled. I'm the opposite to IWR. My weblog is about what's important. When someone criticises me, I think that's good, and say "keep thinking". That's what it's about.
Q: Setting work aside, which blogs do you read just for fun?
A: None, I work.
Selection box: Beyond Search's blogroll
What search sounds like: altsearchengines.com
Content management big boys' scrap: bmoc.wordpress.com
Advice from Down Under: steptwo.com.au/columntwo/archives/cat_search_tools.html
A pair of Google goggles: blog.adheresolutions.com and blogoscoped.com
Natural language processing: lingpipe-blog.com
Search engine marketing/optimisation: pandia.com/index.html
Thursday, 9 October 2008
Tuesday, 7 October 2008
A web of information relationships
This week I wanted to highlight a few examples I have recently come across that display and contextualising complex data in innovative ways.
The first up is a basic but clever little Java applet that displays the structure of any given website. You pop in the URL of your choice and the applet gets busy making a conceptual diagram of your site.
Links (blue), tables (red), images (violet), forms (yellow) and HTML tags (amongst others) are allocated a particular colour and placed accordingly in a spider chart. That is then laid out on the basis of how the various elements of the site relate to each other and on their frequency.
Although simple it's interesting to compare the structure one site to the next. Have a look how the IWR blog compares to the IWR home page.
IWR Blog
IWR Website
The outcome is a unique and pretty graphic, but the question is how useful is it?
In its current form maybe not so much for the average information pro, but what if rather than search through the amount of DIV tags and HTML links on a site, it could search a number of key words and how they relate? Fortunately the source code has been made available so if anyone is interested have a look.
As a start it illustrates how people are being inspired to show the things they find fascinating in unique and innovative ways.
Next up is Breathing Earth a 'real-time' map of the world that shows very clearly the co2 emissions of any given country while a series of either sun or shadow icons flash up whenever someone is either born or died in the world.
The simulation takes its data from sources ranging from the United Nations to the World Factbook (published by the CIA) and works out the averages. Apart from the world map itself, a table in the corner of the page shows the amount of co2 generated and how many births and deaths their have been since you opened up the page.
It's a clever way of hammering home the momentum of civilisation from the energy it takes to maintain the lifestyles of richer nations to poignant flickering of a multitude of sun and shadow icons in the developing regions on the planet. By making the point so well it rather impressed me.
Finally, I also came across a rather handy vendor generated tool while conducting a review of their recently revamped website.
Credo Reference (or Xrefer as you may remember them) has recently relaunched their web services platform, and tucked away in there is a reworked Concept Map. This self animated spider diagram is another excellent way of showing the researcher what the relationships are to different but related search results. Results can be manipulated so easily, even the ability to display the depth of your results is available. You can probably tell that I rather liked it. But more of that in the review to come.
In the meantime any of the more technical minded of you out there think you could apply these to your work, do let us know what results you had.
The first up is a basic but clever little Java applet that displays the structure of any given website. You pop in the URL of your choice and the applet gets busy making a conceptual diagram of your site.
Links (blue), tables (red), images (violet), forms (yellow) and HTML tags (amongst others) are allocated a particular colour and placed accordingly in a spider chart. That is then laid out on the basis of how the various elements of the site relate to each other and on their frequency.
Although simple it's interesting to compare the structure one site to the next. Have a look how the IWR blog compares to the IWR home page.
IWR Blog
IWR Website
The outcome is a unique and pretty graphic, but the question is how useful is it?
In its current form maybe not so much for the average information pro, but what if rather than search through the amount of DIV tags and HTML links on a site, it could search a number of key words and how they relate? Fortunately the source code has been made available so if anyone is interested have a look.
As a start it illustrates how people are being inspired to show the things they find fascinating in unique and innovative ways.
Next up is Breathing Earth a 'real-time' map of the world that shows very clearly the co2 emissions of any given country while a series of either sun or shadow icons flash up whenever someone is either born or died in the world.
The simulation takes its data from sources ranging from the United Nations to the World Factbook (published by the CIA) and works out the averages. Apart from the world map itself, a table in the corner of the page shows the amount of co2 generated and how many births and deaths their have been since you opened up the page.
It's a clever way of hammering home the momentum of civilisation from the energy it takes to maintain the lifestyles of richer nations to poignant flickering of a multitude of sun and shadow icons in the developing regions on the planet. By making the point so well it rather impressed me.
Finally, I also came across a rather handy vendor generated tool while conducting a review of their recently revamped website.
Credo Reference (or Xrefer as you may remember them) has recently relaunched their web services platform, and tucked away in there is a reworked Concept Map. This self animated spider diagram is another excellent way of showing the researcher what the relationships are to different but related search results. Results can be manipulated so easily, even the ability to display the depth of your results is available. You can probably tell that I rather liked it. But more of that in the review to come.
In the meantime any of the more technical minded of you out there think you could apply these to your work, do let us know what results you had.
Monday, 6 October 2008
Innovations in search or just vendor hype?
By Phil Muncaster
So another week another enterprise search announcement. This time Exalead, one of the mid-tier vendors sharing the space with Vivissimo, Sinequa and others, has launched a new product line - CloudView. The problem I'm discovering digging deeper and deeper into this area, is that every single vendor is claiming to have a differentiator, a unique selling point and the best search engine in the world ... ever. Unfortunately, speak to the analyst community and they'll probably tell you that the enterprise search market is seriously crowded, and that most of the options you'll have out there pretty much boil down to not that much differentiation at all.
CloudView promises an OEM edition, a Search Edition and a 360 Edition all built on a service oriented architecture platform. Part of the message UK managing director Raymond Bentinck is trying to push out is of Exalead technology giving improved usability and relevancy. The other is being able to search structured and unstructured information in the enterprise and beyond, and complete the loop if you like, by going further than BI tools can by telling you not just the what but the why.
According to Ovum's Mike Davis, the only way to really differentiate in this space is by concentrating on a specific sector, and serving the needs of those customers. Which is very much what Recommind does, with the legal market pretty much in its back pocket. If search is being commoditised to this extent, it's probably not a bad thing for the IT buyer, or the information professionals who have to use the products - competition usually benefits the customer eventually. Search is fast becoming, as Davis says, the new portal - the place where you want to go to find all your information in a single view, and the vendors that can provide this in a most comprehensive and user friendly way as possible will triumph.
So another week another enterprise search announcement. This time Exalead, one of the mid-tier vendors sharing the space with Vivissimo, Sinequa and others, has launched a new product line - CloudView. The problem I'm discovering digging deeper and deeper into this area, is that every single vendor is claiming to have a differentiator, a unique selling point and the best search engine in the world ... ever. Unfortunately, speak to the analyst community and they'll probably tell you that the enterprise search market is seriously crowded, and that most of the options you'll have out there pretty much boil down to not that much differentiation at all.
CloudView promises an OEM edition, a Search Edition and a 360 Edition all built on a service oriented architecture platform. Part of the message UK managing director Raymond Bentinck is trying to push out is of Exalead technology giving improved usability and relevancy. The other is being able to search structured and unstructured information in the enterprise and beyond, and complete the loop if you like, by going further than BI tools can by telling you not just the what but the why.
According to Ovum's Mike Davis, the only way to really differentiate in this space is by concentrating on a specific sector, and serving the needs of those customers. Which is very much what Recommind does, with the legal market pretty much in its back pocket. If search is being commoditised to this extent, it's probably not a bad thing for the IT buyer, or the information professionals who have to use the products - competition usually benefits the customer eventually. Search is fast becoming, as Davis says, the new portal - the place where you want to go to find all your information in a single view, and the vendors that can provide this in a most comprehensive and user friendly way as possible will triumph.
Tuesday, 30 September 2008
Speaker of the Week: Jenny Levine
Jenny Levine, Internet Development Specialist and Strategy Guide, American Library Association, USA is this weeks speaker. Jenny is a track keynote speaker on day one of the conference. ...
Day 1: Track 3 New Channels, New Media and New Approaches for Libraries
Q Which are the most important topics, for you personally, due to be discussed at the Online Information Conference 2008 and why?
Jenny: The most important topics for me are the integration of user-generated content, interactivity, and syndication (RSS). I believe these three things are changing user expectations and behaviour with information and media, forcing the rest of us to adapt to these changes.
Q Which tracks would you recommend to delegates attending the conference?
Jenny: As someone who works in an association and is implementing a professional networking service for our members, I'm interested in the "Risk 2.0 or Opportunity 2.0 - hype or hope?" and "User generated content - challenging professionals" tracks. I'm also intrigued by the "Perspectives from Generation Y" and "Information seeking behaviours in the new world" ones, as I think these have an impact on our profession.
Q What are you looking forward to most about participating in Online Information 2008?
Jenny: The piece I'm looking forward to the most is the networking and meeting new people who can provide me with new information and inspire me think of things in different ways. This conference certainly looks like an exciting group of people to do just that.
Q If you had to choose only one - which social network would you recommend to colleagues?
Jenny: don't think I can recommend just one social network, as I don't believe any of them meets all of someone's needs. Instead, I think each person should create their own social network using Friendfeed, although I am discouraged that the site still cannot display Facebook updates.
Q And finally, just out of interest - where are you planning to spend Christmas this year?
Jenny: I'm planning to spend the holidays at home, which will be a nice break after a fall of quite a bit of travel. :)
About Jenny Levine
I work in both the Information Technology and Publishing units at the American Library Association. As part of my job, I blog, create wikis, bug my colleagues to instant message, test podcasting and vodcasting, teach RSS, post pictures on Flickr, explore Second Life, and do similar work with emerging technologies and new tools. I am currently organizing the 2007 ALA TechSource Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium which will take place in July in Chicago. Last year, I had the pleasure of traveling around the United States and Europe to give more than 30 presentations. The "strategy guide" piece of my title is providing leadership and implementation of new technologies at ALA and in libraries in general.
Learn more about Jenny by checking out her Blog www.theshiftedlibrarian.com
For more information, or to view the conference programme in full, please visit:
www.online-information.co.uk/conference
Monday, 29 September 2008
Information assurance again
By Phil Muncaster
Information security has been all over the news ever since the HMRC scandal broke. It has forced public and private sector CIOs or their equivalents to re-examine their strategies for securing their data assets. One of the common accusations levelled at especially public sector organisations in the wake of HMRC and the following data loss incidents at Ministries of Defence, Justice, Transport and the rest, is that there is a culture of indifference to the value of data.
There's no doubt this argument has some merit. If these institutions are run from the top down by managers who pay only lip service to the numerous policies, procedures, technologies and balances that have been installed to prevent data loss, then those incidents will probably keep occurring. Cultural change of course is most difficult to effect, and will be a slow and laborious process, prompting some security experts to predict more data breaches ahead for the government in the meantime. But maybe the cultural malaise argument is a little simplistic.
People argue that you can have all the technological measures in the world in place to prevent breaches but they won't be successful unless the people and process issues support them. Now this is true, but it could be argued that the IT system is actually more important than this. It's certainly the view of Nigel Jones, director of government-backed body the Cyber Security Knowledge Transfer Network, that training and education of end users is not going to solve the problem on its own.
It all comes down to system design. They need to be architected in such a way as to have security requirements written in from the start, and systems need to be designed with the end user in mind at all times, he told me. The Cyber Security KTN has actually done some important work in this area in the form of its special interest groups (SIGs). Its privacy engineering SIG produced guidelines for firms on how to design privacy into all stages of a project, how to dispose of data safely and other issues. The secure software development SIG, meanwhile, looked to make available best practices in designing security into software products from the ground up.
There's no easy solution to the problem of data security. But going back to the basic system design and looking more closely at the technology that underpins it may help us get there a little quicker.
Information security has been all over the news ever since the HMRC scandal broke. It has forced public and private sector CIOs or their equivalents to re-examine their strategies for securing their data assets. One of the common accusations levelled at especially public sector organisations in the wake of HMRC and the following data loss incidents at Ministries of Defence, Justice, Transport and the rest, is that there is a culture of indifference to the value of data.
There's no doubt this argument has some merit. If these institutions are run from the top down by managers who pay only lip service to the numerous policies, procedures, technologies and balances that have been installed to prevent data loss, then those incidents will probably keep occurring. Cultural change of course is most difficult to effect, and will be a slow and laborious process, prompting some security experts to predict more data breaches ahead for the government in the meantime. But maybe the cultural malaise argument is a little simplistic.
People argue that you can have all the technological measures in the world in place to prevent breaches but they won't be successful unless the people and process issues support them. Now this is true, but it could be argued that the IT system is actually more important than this. It's certainly the view of Nigel Jones, director of government-backed body the Cyber Security Knowledge Transfer Network, that training and education of end users is not going to solve the problem on its own.
It all comes down to system design. They need to be architected in such a way as to have security requirements written in from the start, and systems need to be designed with the end user in mind at all times, he told me. The Cyber Security KTN has actually done some important work in this area in the form of its special interest groups (SIGs). Its privacy engineering SIG produced guidelines for firms on how to design privacy into all stages of a project, how to dispose of data safely and other issues. The secure software development SIG, meanwhile, looked to make available best practices in designing security into software products from the ground up.
There's no easy solution to the problem of data security. But going back to the basic system design and looking more closely at the technology that underpins it may help us get there a little quicker.
Friday, 26 September 2008
Reading the way ahead
So where do you stand on the great e-book debate? Is the digitisation of books as inevitable as the digitisation of every other as aspect of life in the western world in the 21st century? Or is an e-book ruining the experience of reading a book where there is as much physical pleasure as mental? Many find it hard to divide the love of reading from the love of books with careful readers finding the physical properties of the paper and the dust jacket as pleasurable as the mental devouring of the written word. It seems impossible that such experiences will be lost. However research suggests that those who are used to online are ready to embrace the e-book in a way that seemed unlikely just a few years ago. One reason why e-books may be on the cusp of being a serious proposition is that the technology has caught up with the initial hype and promise. Carrying around a thick book may have its disadvantages but that is still a better bet than being in possession of an e-book reader which doesn't quite have the right screen size, battery lifespan, lighting or weight.
Research commissioned by Nielsen Book showed that 3% of regular internet users were "extremely likely" to buy a dedicated e-book reader in the next three months with a further 4% very likely to make a purchase. The online survey generated 6,500 respondents and illustrated a widespread awareness of the device. The intent to purchase e-books was also measured with 9% of respondents extremely or very likely to buy an e-book within the same timeframe.
Whether you may have expected a higher response among such a digitally aware audience is a matter of dispute. Of course given the economic gloom and the lack of consumer confidence maybe this is not the best time to be selling a new concept to a fragile feeling buying and reading public. But perhaps what is most interesting is that Nielsen is taking e-books seriously enough to be developing a way of measuring the sales of e-books alongside the method it has for counting physical book sales. Comparing sales of e-books with their real life counterparts should be a good measure of how many of us are truly embracing the digital world.
Research commissioned by Nielsen Book showed that 3% of regular internet users were "extremely likely" to buy a dedicated e-book reader in the next three months with a further 4% very likely to make a purchase. The online survey generated 6,500 respondents and illustrated a widespread awareness of the device. The intent to purchase e-books was also measured with 9% of respondents extremely or very likely to buy an e-book within the same timeframe.
Whether you may have expected a higher response among such a digitally aware audience is a matter of dispute. Of course given the economic gloom and the lack of consumer confidence maybe this is not the best time to be selling a new concept to a fragile feeling buying and reading public. But perhaps what is most interesting is that Nielsen is taking e-books seriously enough to be developing a way of measuring the sales of e-books alongside the method it has for counting physical book sales. Comparing sales of e-books with their real life counterparts should be a good measure of how many of us are truly embracing the digital world.
Tuesday, 23 September 2008
Speaker of the Week: Ewan McIntosh
Ewan McIntosh, who currently works as Digital Commissioner, Scotland and Northern Ireland for Channel 4 Television's Innovation for the Public Fund, is our first speaker to be featured. Ewan will be taking to the stage three times during this year's conference ...
Day 1: Ewan will be on the panel of 'Innovators under the spotlight'
Day 2: Track 1 - When communities create themselves, what's the role for the organisation?
Day 3: Track 2 - Information seeking behaviours in the new world
Q Which tracks would you recommend to delegates attending the conference?
Ewan: I'd go for the track or tracks that are most relevant to you and your role, but take at least one afternoon out in something you wouldn't normally have gone to. Ultimately, though, anything to do with social media is a must for almost every profile of person coming to this event. It affects your customers' lives, your neighbours... it affects you directly. If you don't think it does now, then you'll find out how much it's affected you when you're organisation is ignored by the very people it's trying to engage.
Q What are you looking forward to most about participating in Online Information 2008?
Ewan: I like thinking through things that I haven't had time, in my normal day, to get to grips with. The mix of disciplines at Online is the best reason to attend. It pushes your thinking out of whatever boxes you've found yourself falling into over the year. It has to be said: Clay Shirky is a great feature this year, and I'll love blogging about his stuff and, with any luck, sharing a word or two over a cheap plastic cup of coffee.
Q If you had to choose only one - which social network would you recommend to colleagues?
Ewan: I'd choose the one where their friends or colleagues were. Some people find that one, say Facebook, already contains most of these people. Others have no intention of mixing with workmates, so go with the place where your high school friends are, for example. There's not one that's better than the rest; they just appeal to different groups of people. If you're my friend, though, get on Facebook - it's where most of the people I care about can be found.
Q And finally, just out of interest - where are you planning to spend Christmas this year?
Ewan: Christmas is always spent with my family at home in Scotland. I'm not going to say where, though. You can just keep an eye on my Flickr photo feed to see
About Ewan McIntosh
Ewan McIntosh helps people understand how emerging technologies such as social media, mobile ubiquitous computers andgaming can help them learn better, work better and live better. He currently works for Channel 4 Television Corporation's Innovation for the Public Fund, as Digital Commissioner for Scotland and Northern Ireland. Previously, Ewan worked in the world of education, latterly as National Adviser on Learning and Technology Futures for Learning and Teaching Scotland, the education agency responsible for curriculum development, and a member of several advisory boards, including the Channel 4 New Media Education Advisory Board. As a teacher of French and German in the high school sector and an educational technologist working with children aged 3-18, he frequently gives talks and workshops around the world, trying to find new and better ways of using emerging technologies in education. Ewan has also consulted for Governments around the world, and organisations including the BBC, British Council, General Teaching Council of Scotland, RM and Scottish Enterprise, advising on how social media can be harnessed for to improve learning in the organisation, leadership and communication. More information and previous talks are available on his website: http://www.ewanmcintosh.com, and you can follow his take on current trends on his regularly updated blog:http://edu.blogs.com
For more information, or to view the conference programme in full, please visit:
www.online-information.co.uk/conference
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