Inteltrax: Top Stories, July 11 to July 15
July 18, 2011
Inteltrax, the data fusion and business intelligence information service, captured three key stories germane to search this week, particularly the explosion of social media-oriented business intelligence.
Our week jumped off with a lengthy feature article, “Facebook Becoming Data Mining Powerhouse,” draws a surprising correlation between the recent Supreme Court data mining ruling and how Facebook’s advertising arm might use this to tighten its impressive lead on the rest of the advertising world.
Facebook’s bite-sized rival, Twitter, also got a lot of column space this week. First, in the article “Twitter Joins the Analytic Race,” which explored the micro-blog sites recent purchase of analytic house, BlackType and asked, “Why?”.
Like an entertaining Twitter feed, the company popped up frequently over the week, next in the article, “Mining Twitter Mountain.” This story focused on the numerous analytic apps and programs designed to pluck sentiment and cohesive data from millions of 140-character chunks of info.
It’s no secret that social media is producing more savory data for advertisers, investors and trend-spotters than ever thought possible. We were excited to see the social media companies themselves taking a role, but also intrigued about the analytic companies springing up around them, not unlike mining camps around an Old West gold strike. We’ll be watching these claims and others, rest assured.
Follow the Inteltrax news stream by visiting www.inteltrax.com
Patrick Roland, Editor, Inteltrax.
Sponsored by Pandia.com, publishers of Stephen E Arnold’s new monograph, The New Landscape of Enterprise Search
Infinite on a Web Page. Yep, Infinite Annoyance
July 18, 2011
Have you noticed that “innovations” in search get in the way of finding relevant information quickly.
Quick example. I am at my desk at 0900 on July 16, a Saturday in Nowhere, Kentucky. Our houseguests were on the way to the Louisville Zoo to see the polar bear. (I thought these poor creatures had been eliminated in the global warming that some folks in Harrod’s Creek don’t think is real. Guess I was wrong.)
Now I get a call. Bzzz.
My wife wants to know the phone number of the tire story on Goose Creek Road (no joke, it’s really Goose Creek) and Westport Road. I think the tire store is a BF Goodrich affiliate. I key in to Bing, then Google the following “BF Goodrich Goose Creek Road Louisville Kentucky”. Guess what! No tire store. I could not locate the tire store which I saw last night on the way home from the gym.
How did I find the tire store? I looked in an old copy of the Yellow Pages.
So much for the personalization, the fancy mash up functions, and the other baloney generated in pursuit of clicks and ad revenue.
Now I learn that I may not see tidy result pages with a reasonable number of hits. I like these fixed length pages because I have some weird ability to remember where I was in a fixed space like a Web page or a giant spreadsheet. When the fixed page is infinite, I have no clue where I was “located.”
Google Experimenting with Infinite Scrolling on Search Result Pages! reminded me of the infinite pictures display on Bing. The latency of that “feature” was enough to relegate Bing.com to the last seat on the goose’s softball team. Bing often never gets in the game. Google imitated the function which I had seen demonstrated a long time ago by an outfit in Israel, whose name I lost when I looked for it a moment ago in Google. Sigh.
My view is that if someone thinks “infinite”, the thought is addled. If you have to do these silly user experience features, rethink where the search box is. Who wants to scroll up an infinite – x vector to reframe a query. Oh, I forgot. Google will predict what I want so who needs to reframe a query.
Wow. Wow. Wow. The real world exhibits latency. I guess in Google Land, latency is trivial, maybe irrelevant. Wow. Wow. Wow.
Stephen E Arnold, July 18, 2011
Freebie just like ad supported search engines. But at what “cost”?
Protected: Microsoft: Project Crescent, a Business Intelligence Tool
July 18, 2011
Belgium and Google: A Messy Waffle
July 18, 2011
I saw this headline: “Belgian Newspapers Claim Retaliation By Google After Copyright Victory” and I was nervous clicking on the link. SEO news services make me nervous. The idea of any “retaliation” story makes me think of long lists of words on a watch list somewhere.
I clicked on the link, and the story seemed okay, just a bit thin on substantive details. Quoting the Associated Press is in and of itself is reason for concern.
Here’s the main idea:
Publishers in Belgium did not want their content indexed by Google. (That strikes me as less than informed, but forget the knowledge value angle.) So publishers get the fluid legal system to notify the Google. Shortly thereafter, some Belgium publishers note that their content is tough to find at the top of a Google results list. Bottomline line: Some folks believe Google is jiggling the results to make some Belgian content familiar with the tedium of clicking through lots of pages to find the desired hit.
My view is that accusations are definitely good for “real” news outfits like the publisher of the retaliation story. I also think that considerable care must be taken before yip yapping about why a particular results list does not show what one wants, expects, believes, or hopes will appear.
Google has lots of people working on the search system. I once believed that these teams were coordinated and working like a well oiled robot arm assembling nuclear fuel rods. Now I know that the method is more like “get it working”. Good enough is going to earn a search wizard an A from the Google system.
Messy waffles. Image source: http://eatbakelove-todayistheday.blogspot.com/2011/06/weekend-warrior.html
If there is a difference between publishers’ expectations and what is in a particular result list, I suggest several things:
First, get a trained and expert online searcher to run queries in a methodical manner to verify what is and what is not “findable.” Keep in mind that 99.9 percent of the people who claim to be search experts are not. If you don’t believe me, give Ulla de Stricker a buzz. You can also try Anne Mintz, former director of the Forbes Magazine information center. You can also ping Marydee Ojala, editor of online. Folks, trust me. These individuals are certifiable online search experts and can get the information needed to put some data behind the hot air. Data needed.
Patent Uncertainty: Another Step Backwards for Innovation?
July 17, 2011
I am not a legal eagle. In fact, when one circles, casting a shadow on the goose pond, I head for the leafy glade and kick back. I read the disturbing article “App Developers Withdraw from US as Patent Fears Reach ‘Tipping Point’”, 2hich appeared in the UK newspaper the Guardian on July 15, 2011. (With the UK newspaper sector in a tizzy over the News Corp. dust up, I am not sure if the information flowing from the UK is spot on. Nevertheless, I did find the story suggestive.)
The Guardian’s point is that litigation in the US related to intellectual property drops ice cubes down the jumpers of some programmers and coders. I noted this passage:
App developers are withdrawing their products for sale from the US versions of Apple‘s App Store and Google’s Android Market for fear of being sued by companies which own software patents – just as a Mumbai-based company has made a wide-ranging claim against Microsoft, Apple, Google, Yahoo and a number of other companies over Twitter-style feeds, for which it claims it has applied for a patent. Software patent owners in the US have latched onto potential revenue streams to be earned from independent developers by suing over perceived infringements of their intellectual property – which can be expensive for developers to defend even if they are successful. Now developers in Europe are retreating from the US to avoid the expense and concern such “patent trolls” are causing.
What I find interesting is that I learned in Hong Kong earlier this year, that some executives no longer travel to the US. There is no “fear”, but the hassle of getting through the security, the time required to do simple things like get from the airport to a meeting, and the frantic business climate have kept some sharp folks out of the Estados Unidos de América
My view is that a number of important business processes are succumbing to friction. I think travel and patent issues are now working like stuck brake on my ratty 1973 Pontiac Grandville. The auto can go, but it does not make the trip particularly relaxing. When business related systems fail to work, there are some interesting effects.
When I lived in Brazil many years ago, well before the present business renascence, I noted the need to “tip” for certain services. I remember watching a man jump the auto registration line because he had folded a “conto” around the form which had to be stamped. I also observed extra curricular deals from a wide range of business services. The only way to get the systems to work was to freelance. Little wonder my father suffered some headaches trying to open the Tratores do Brasil plant in Campinas, near São Paulo.
What does “snafu” mean? Image source: http://goo.gl/BAXng
If the Guardian is correct, there are some issues that appear to point to pulling the US backwards, not forwards.
So what’s this got to do with search. Three points:
First, with consolidation of certain findability functions, there is literally zero way to determine if the information displayed is shaped, or, in my lingo, weaponized. Think about. Do you know the provenance of the information displayed? I try to figure out what’s what, but I must admit that verification is getting downright difficult. Even the social revolution moves forward without users remembering the New Yorker cartoon, “On the Internet no ones knows if you are a dog.”
Second, the stultification of research or the shifting of innovation outside the US spells trouble for high technology and other sectors. Some of the most innovative approaches to content processing that I have reveiwed so far this year come from Russia, Scotland, Denmark, and other far flung points of the compass. If I were graduating from university this year at age 21 or 22, I would high tail it to Shanghai, Paris, or Moscow, where there is tech action in content processing.
Third, the dysfunctionality of certain systems is getting tough for me to ignore from my polluted pond filled with mine drainage runoff. There’s the budget thing. There’s the patent thing. There’s the carmageddon thing. (My hunch is that the patent situation is going to generate big growth for companies like ArticleOnePartners.com, which specializes in crowdsourced patent expertise.)
Net net: The Guardian is going to be writing about more than apps getting pulled from US vendors.
Stephen E Arnold, July 17, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com, Oslo, Norway, publishers of The New Landscape of Enterprise Search.
Identifying Microsoft Partners
July 17, 2011
Here’s an interesting list: WordPress has published the full “Microsoft WPC2011 Exhibitor Guide.” Though there are no links embedded in the list, it is revealing to see who is exhibiting at the 2011 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference. The Microsoft Partner Network benefits participants with software, training and support, and sanctioned use of the Microsoft logo.
According to the Conference’s site:
“The Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) is the premier event for Microsoft partners. WPC provides a forum for you to connect with other partners and with Microsoft staff, and to learn about the latest Microsoft programs, strategies, and cutting-edge technologies.”
It occurs to me: Google, maybe you want to check this out too.
Cynthia Murrell July 17, 2011
Freebie just like SharePoint search. To track SharePoint news, navigate to www.sharepointsemantics.com, our sister publication.
BA Insight Flexes Its Muscle in the SharePoint Sector
July 17, 2011
“BA Insight Offers Instant Search Result Preview as a Service to Hosted SharePoint Providers,” declares the press release at Government Newswire. BA Insight encourages SharePoint hosting companies to offer this new tool to their customers. The write-up describes the product’s advantages:
“BA Insight’s new subscription-based service provides hosted SharePoint users with instant, fully formatted previews of all search result content, regardless of file type. Because the new offering enables SharePoint users to view search result content without the need to download the file, and automatically directs users to the most relevant page of their search content, Longitude Preview for Hosted SharePoint makes finding enterprise information more rapid, precise, and resource-efficient.”
Ken Toth at the SharePoint Semantics blog has also taken note of this development.
The highlight of this product, of course, is the ability to peruse a document without spending the time and bandwidth to download the entire file. Another advantage is the rigorous security, courtesy of the underlying Microsoft Azure infrastructure.
BA Insight works with their customers to get the most out of their Microsoft SharePoint and FAST applications. They serve over 300 clients, including a number of Fortune 500 companies and major government agencies.
Cynthia Murrell July 14, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com, publishers of The New Landscape of Enterprise Search
Google Caves: Schmidt to Testify in DC
July 16, 2011
Apparently in an effort to avoid a subpoena, Google has agreed to send Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt to talk to the feds, reveals The Register in “Google gives in: Schmidt to face US antitrust grilling.” At first, Google didn’t want to commit its top executives. Writer Gavin Clarke states,
“Google had resisted a request to send either Schmidt or CEO Larry Page. Instead, the search giant offered its senior vice president for corporate development and legal affairs Dave Drummond.”
Schmidt is now expected to testify before the Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights this fall. At issue is whether Google’s search rankings treat some web enterprises unfairly. The committee also wants to examine the company’s acquisitions, of which there have been many.
Keep a close eye on this one. The decision, whichever way it goes, will have a large impact on the future of the Web. Oh, Google is not yet a nation state; otherwise, Google would summon the feds to the Googleplex.
Stephen E Arnold, July 16, 2011
India Based Call Centers: The Worker Perspective
July 16, 2011
ReadWrite Enterprise asks, “What’s It Like to Work in an Indian Call Center?” For an answer, writer Klint Finley turns to a Mother Jones article by an American writer, Andrew Marantz, who sampled Indian Call Center training.
With regard to overseas call centers, ReadWrite generally focuses on is whether businesses should invest them now or wait until working conditions and customer service quality improve. That question remains unanswered here, but this piece does call attention to the workers’ perspective.
Finley summarizes:
“Much of the article revolves around the cultural impact that the business process outsourcing industry has brought to India, both good (more economic opportunities for women) and bad (the potential stifling of Indian culture as call center workers attempt to conceal their identities). Here are a few interesting points:
Other key points we noted:
- There are almost as many women as men working in the call centers.
- Many of these workers are college educated, but are doing very basic work.
- Some workers are encouraged to eat American fast food and listen to American music, even on the weekends.”
Treatment of Indian workers by their employers eager to westernize them is a tangled thicket.
How does this relate to search? Three points of contact.
First, search vendors talk about improving customer service. What seems to be more accurate is reducing the costs of support for the company offering help to its customers.
Second, it is not clear in my mind that brute force indexing or even more sophisticated systems do much to address the disconnect between what a customer needs and what is available to answer the question. If the answer is not in the processed content, who is kidding whom?
Third, the notion of improving a customer interface sounds great in a meeting. But the actual implementation is usually more about preventing the customer from contacting the company saying it is “customer facing” and “committed to excellence in customer support.”
Enterprise search vendors know how to address these issues. Right?
Cynthia Murrell July 16, 2011
INTEGRITYOne Partners and SharePoint Team Up to Aid the FBI
July 16, 2011
I try to keep at least one tired eye on the competition within the US Federal government between Google and Microsoft. This PR Newswire lead caught our eye here at Beyond Search: “INTEGRITYOne Partners Win $40 Million FBI SharePoint Contract.”
INTEGRITYOne is a management and IT consulting firm that specialized in inspirational and creative ideas/solutions for high-performing clients. They announced a partnership with Applied Information Sciences (AIS) to win a five-year Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract to provide SharePoint services for the FBI. (IDIQ contracts are definitely good. Yep.)
INTEGRITYOne has provided SharePoint services for other law enforcement and national security organizations in the past, proving to have a strong track record. Their experience has made them familiar with the law enforcement mission and will be a boon to their new contract. We learned:
“The role the FBI plays in ensuring the safety of American citizens cannot be overstated,” said INTEGRITYOne Partners Managing Partner Michael Waddell. “We are honored to support their mission under this contract.”
After reading this brief, we asked ourselves will other law agencies dump Google and head to Microsoft SharePoint? SharePoint is easier to self-contain and secure. Google is just about anyone’s game. The FBI should may want to ask an appropriate vendor to check out SurfRay’s technology to make their SharePoint search all the more easier.
Torben Ellert, July 16, 2011
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