Getting Fierce about Search
November 9, 2011
Well, semi-fierce may be a better way to approach this write up, Search Is the Key to Everything. We agree that considerable effort has been applied to finding information. Maybe we could get an NSF grant to quantify how big search is. McKinsey & Co. came up with a big number, but a government funded study would be much more satisfying than free information from a blue chip consulting company whose executives wear orange jump suits on occasion.
According to Fierce Content Management editor, Ron Miller, the world’s problems lead back to search. Well, okay, maybe not every problem, but definitely quite a few. Mr. Miller likens the problem of search to his Internet TV. When he wants to find a movie he must negotiate several different programs’ (Hulu, Netflix, and Crackle) search functions instead of being able to search all the applications from one central search. Enterprise search is basically the same thing. According to Miller,
In the case of the enterprise, we may know that the content is out there somewhere across the vast stores of information, but finding that one document you need may be not be that easy. Sometimes this is a known document and sometimes it’s one that you are hoping is there.
While the article does admit individual search engines can be quite efficient, the lack of organization within enterprises is the chief gripe. We cannot disagree with the premise that search would be much easier if all the information were available in one simple search. But we do disagree that search is the key to everything.
At Fierce does the firm’s search engine search employee employment and compensation data, employee health information, contracts between Fierce and its suppliers and customers, the confidential notes made by a reporter, and similar juicy information?
We don’t think so. We think that search is a complicated beastie, a work in progress, and not understood particularly well by licensees, pundits, former webmasters, home economics majors, and unemployed oboe players. That is why it is so darned satisfying to redefine “search” as XML, facets, metatags, semantic analyses, and other buzz words like content management that make the uninformed person’s adrenaline gush like a Pennsylvania brine well in 1815.
Catherine Lamsfuss, November 3, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Vivisimo: Repetition Is Good but…
November 9, 2011
Remember Ground Hog Day? The movie showed a protagonist repeating actions again and again. A Jean Paul Sartre mixed with Samuel Beckett moment. Yikes.
In the early 2000s several competitors went head to head in an effort to win the love and devotion of search users the world around. Smart companies realized quickly that Google was in the lead and dropped out of the race with their dignity intact. Vivisimo was one such competitor and as the Pittsburgh Tribune writes in the article, Vivisimo Matures, Shifts Focus from Web to Internal Searches, remarketed itself as enterprise search.
The original buddies who started Vivisimo are still in leadership positions and President, Kevin Calderwood, claims Vivisimo was ready to fill in the gaps Google missed – secured data from internal sources within businesses and government entities. Of their technique of search, the article explains,
The original “clustering” search technology Pesenti, Palmer and Valdes-Perez pioneered is still at the heart of Vivisimo’s evolving products. Earlier this year, Vivisimo was awarded a patent for “remix clustering,” a technology that groups together search results into clusters of information and allows searchers to remix the cluster categories that are offered to mine results more deeply.
While true that an interesting business methods patent was awarded to the company, it does not change that they are basically doing what they have always done–search. We will give them a round of applause for reading the writing on the wall and veering away from the Google giant before things got embarrassing for Clusty, a metasearch engine. Now I want more than the fuzzy “information optimization.” Vivisimo was one of six companies profiled in Stephen E Arnold’s The New Landscape of Enterprise Search. Now I want the earth tilled and a new crop of functions.
Catherine Lamsfuss, November 9, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
SQL 2012 SharePoint Enhancements
November 9, 2011
The recent SharePoint Conference gives users a lot to look forward to (see: enhancements formerly known as “Denali.”) There are some big things worth noting and paying attention to.
One of my favorite bloggers gave a list of what’s coming and people should be excited. A great recap of SQL 2012 is discussed by SharePoint Joel in his post, “Top 10 SQL 2012 ‘Denali” Enhancements for SharePoint.” He covers big points, such as SQL Reporting Services, cross farm reporting, and security improvements. However, the big focus is on disaster recovery. We learned:
Disaster Recovery and Resiliency Improvements – Always On – this was the big one. At the SharePoint Conference they showed an automatic failover of a 14 TB database in less than one minute. There’s a ton in here. Improvements to combining the best of log shipping and mirroring into one. Such as automatic failover for groups of databases with automatic or manual failover or failover an entire instance of SQL. Don’t forget the ability to do failover multi site across subnets with encryption and compression built in and with multiple secondaries.
Search Technologies is working closely with Microsoft and is on top of these innovations. The team maintains deep expertise in these leading search products and no matter what changes or challenges come, Search Technologies has the people, processes, and technologies to deliver results. www.searchtechnologies.com
Iain Fletcher, November 9, 2011
Search Technologies
Mindbreeze: A View from the Top
November 9, 2011
Fabasoft Mindbreeze managing director, Daniel Fallman, gives his insight to KM World in, “Mindbreeze, Managing Director, Daniel Fallmann: View from the Top.”
Using open standards, Mindbreeze offers high-performance enterprise search and digital cognition for all kinds of enterprises. We have developed context-enriching indexing services, which are available without time-consuming set up procedures. Information access without ironclad security is not a solution. Fabasoft Mindbreeze ensures that only authorized users can access the information. Our product was designed from the beginning to be installed quickly in minutes, thus obviating expensive installation processes. The Fabasoft Mindbreeze Appliance can be up and running for your users in just a matter of hours.
Fallmann, the Fabasoft Mindbreeze founder, talks about his Austrian start-up on this brief video. He is able to succinctly explain how the Mindbreeze solution assists users with internal and external search.
Saving the user from lengthy installation and clunky customization, Mindbreeze seamlessly integrates onto an existing platform. Semantic recognition enhances search results, providing not only quick but relevant search results. Third-party application data is available to mobile devices through Fabasoft Mindbreeze Mobile. Standard installations such as Microsoft SharePoint can lack versatility and customization becomes lengthy and difficult.
Evaluate your enterprise needs and see if Fabasoft Mindbreeze and its highly efficient solutions might be the right choice for your organization. In Fallmann’s words, “Make informed decisions.”
Emily Rae Aldridge, November 9, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Top SharePoint Tweeters
November 9, 2011
We love lists at Beyond Search about anything relating to information and search technology. Our current favorite “tops” list is from TopSharePoint.com called “50 Must-Follow Tweeters for SharePoint Enthusiasts.” Twitter is used as an instant form of communication to tweet the most random topic to vital pieces of information, such as SharePoint news.
With Twitter gaining loads of newcomers on a daily basis, following the right tweeters will help you discover fresh and priceless information on the topic of SharePoint. You will also connect with fellow SharePoint devotees in a way that will benefit your SharePoint skills for months to come.
The tweeters are not ranked from 1-50, but they earned their spot on the list based off the number of followers subscribed to their feed. Michael Gannotti, SharePoint Technology Specialist for the Microsoft Corporation as well as author of the blog SocialMedia Talk, has over 60,000 followers. It’s no mean feat, considering his background and experience. Check out the list and see if there’s one that suits your needs. We personally suggest that if you follow Twitter to keep up with SharePoint to add Beyond Search to your feeds list to follow the useful tips with have and news on SurfRay.
Whitney Grace, November 9, 2011
SurfRay
Apple and Google: Too Big to Flail?
November 9, 2011
The game is in its final seconds, a key player gets the ball and flails helplessly as the ball is fumbled. Game over. Football, however, is not life.
That is a plus for both Apple and Google. At lunch today (November 4, 2011),one of the goslings mentioned the appear and and disappearance of the Google Gmail app for the iPhone. I don’t use an iPhone. I don’t use Gmail but I do have an account. I don’t need an app. A phone is for talking. I have another gizmo for email, thank you. With lousy eyes, I can’t see the tiny screens which are made for 12 year olds, not 67 year old geese.
According to CBS News, “Google Flubs Its First iPhone Gmail App.” I suppose when regular TV reports a fumble, I should care. I don’t, but I think there is a lesson in the general release of software with a “bug”. I liked the alleged comment by the pre-eminent Google: “Sorry. We messed up.”
Okay. Flail. Not football.
Then someone mentioned that her nifty iPhone 4S was really annoying. I asked, “Does it make calls?” The answer: “Yes.”
I asked, “What’s wrong with the gizmo?” She said, “The voice recognition thing is not working.”
Okay, fumble. Apparently, the death of Steve Jobs has left Apple in a tough spot. A key feature does not work and there is no one to fire off snappy emails in the pre-dawn hours.
According to the Washington Post’s “Apple’s Siri Shows She’s Only a Beta,”
Owners of the iPhone 4S, some of whom are still dealing with the battery drain issues from iOS 5, were further disappointed Thursday when Siri, the automated personal assistant on the phone, took some unapproved personal leave. Siri seemed to be back in service by late Thursday evening.
Another flail. Not a game. Just customers. Who cares?
A tip of the managerial hat to http://jeffreykrames.com/2009/10/12/a-person-could-be-the-biggest-unforced-error-of-all/
As my wont, I see these two events without the personal annoyance that customers of Google and Apple may experience. I don’t really care about either of the two companies.
Beyond Search About Page Update
November 9, 2011
After the carpet bombing by AtomicPR, I updated my About page. I wanted to make clearer than ever my policies. You can find the About page at this link.
The main point is that I did not design Beyond Search to be a news publication. If news turns up in the blog content stream, that’s an error. We rely on open source content and use it as a spring board for our commentary.
Beyond Search exists for three reasons:
First, I capture factoids, quotes, and thoughts in a chronological manner, seven days a week, three to seven stories a day. We have more than 6,700 content objects in the archive. I use this material for my for fee columns, reports, and personal research. If someone reads a blog post and thinks I am doing news, get out of here. The blog was designed for me by me. I have two or three readers, but the only reader who counts is I.
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Test question: Which one bills for time and which one donates to better the world? Give up. Mother Theresa is on the right. The billing machine is on the left with the mustache. PR and marketing professionals, are you processing the time=money statement?
Second, if someone wants us to cover a particular technology topic, we will do it if the item is interesting to us. If we write something up, we charge for our time. We also sell ads at the top and side of the splash page content window. The reason? I pay humans to work on my research with me, and I put some, not all, just some of the information I process in the blog. I am not Mother Theresa, don’t have much interest in helping injured dogs or starving artists. Therefore, in my world my time invokes money. Don’t like it? Don’t ask me to do something for you, your client, your mom’s recent investment, or a friend of a friend.
Third, the Beyond Search content links to high value, original information like the Search Wizards Speak series. Anyone in an academic or educational role can use my content without asking. If you are a failed home economics teacher now working as a search expert or an azure chip consultant pretending you know something about content analytics, you will have to get my permission to rip off, recycle, republish, or otherwise make what’s mine yours. I have been reasonable in allowing reuse of my content. There’s one person in Slovenia who actually translates my blog content into a language with many consonants. No problem. Just ask. Don’t ask? Well, I can get frisky.
What’s Hot: SharePoint Semantics Oct 28 – Nov 4
November 8, 2011
This week, SharePoint Semantics shared articles on how to improve the functionality of SharePoint for end users and explain it’s, often complex, new and improved features. I wouldl ike to highlight several exceptionally informative posts.
In the Oct 31 post, “Products That Can Turn SharePoint into a Social Animal” http://sharepointsemantics.com/2011/10/products-that-can-turn-sharepoint-into-a-social-animal/ Ken Toth points readers to an article that looks at some third-party products that can be used to enhance SharePoint’s social features.
Toth notes:
“Making SharePoint more social may increase business productivity, but a more critical issue is whether or not your users can find the unstructured mission-critical content they need. Smartlogic offers the Semaphore Content Intelligence Platform to help your end users find, discover, and re-use their essential enterprise SharePoint content.”
“Microsoft SharePoint BCS Architecture Explained” http://sharepointsemantics.com/2011/11/microsoft-sharepoint-bcs-architecture-explained/ informs readers on what Business Connectivity Services for SharePoint 2010 is. BCS is an extension of the technology found in the SharePoint 2007 Business Data Catalog. BCS allows you to connect SharePoint to many kinds of external data sources, including other database systems, Customer Relationship Management systems, or Enterprise Resource Planning systems.
The complexities of SharePoint can often overwhelm end users, so in “How Microsoft SharePoint is Like Fractals” http://sharepointsemantics.com/2011/11/how-microsoft-sharepoint-is-like-fractals/ the writer uses the analogy of fractals when explaining SharePoint. He gives an image of the complete Mandelbrot Set as an iconic fractal example, saying that it’s easy to imagine this as SharePoint, with the big two-lobed middle area as the Collaboration and Content Management Features, and the slightly smaller ball to the left as social features, and smaller balls than that as things like Excel or Access Services.
Despit all of the help that Microsoft and other products provide users with, “Getting the Point about SharePoint” http://sharepointsemantics.com/2011/11/“getting-the-point”-about-sharepoint/ reiterates the fact that SharePoint is used most effectively when it is partnered with specialist applications. A recent research study found that:
“To develop the infrastructure and know-how needed to effectively make use of SharePoint and linked applications that enable full enterprise search, more general management needs to be brought on board and educated as to the benefits and uses of the software and related technologies. A full third of implementing organizations were found to have ‘no plans as to where, and where not, to use SharePoint, suggesting a lack of management direction.”
As Microsoft’s fastest selling product and the emerging industry standard for enterprise information management, SharePoint still has few nuts and bolts to be worked out. It’s important that, in addition to paying attention to the valuable information provided by the articles Shared on SharePoint Semantics, users also look into valuable products like Smarlogic’s Semaphore content intelligence platform to assist them when the going gets tough.
Jasmine Ashton, Nov 8, 2011
The UK and Open Source Love
November 8, 2011
Maybe it is the change of seasons? Maybe it is the dismal state of agency funding? Maybe it is open sourciness season?
Ever wish Open Source projects saw more cheerleaders? The H Open reports, “Open source buying toolkit published by UK Cabinet Office.” In a bid to smooth the path for public sector adoption of open source solutions, the UK Cabinet Office developed this toolkit and is distributing it through their site. The article describes,
The toolkit consists of a set of documents including an introduction to open source, an advice note on how procurement of open source should progress, ‘Options for open source’ and guidance on total cost of ownership. The options document surveys various sectors of the IT industry and notes open source alternatives to particular products in those sectors; for example, in the cloud section it lists OpenStack, Eucalyptus and OpenNebula as alternatives to Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, VMWare and Citrix, and offers resources for further investigation.
The guidelines do note that one should compare the total costs of ownership before making the choice. Where those costs are equal, though, they recommend open source for its flexibility. They also seek to debunk myths about open source on things like security and licensing..
This has got to be good news for the open source community. We think it will also inspire decidedly commercial firms to grab their open sourciness garb and hit the conference circuit. Everyone is open source, even for-profit outfits. The question is, “Can open source survive a government embrace and the hugs from commercial enterprises which want to be “open”?
Cynthia Murrell, November 8, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
A Surprise: Google Employees on Privacy
November 8, 2011
That Google lacks privacy protection should be news to no one. However, that a couple of its employees admit it is surprising. In his Slight Paranoia blog, Christopher Soghoian reports, “Two honest Google employees: our products don’t protect your privacy.” He opens,
Two senior Google employees recently acknowledged that the company’s products do not protect user privacy. This is quite a departure from the norm at Google, where statements about privacy are usually thick with propaganda, mistruths and often outright deception.
The first employee cited is Will DeVries, a privacy lobbyist for the company. In response to an article Soghoian wrote about the need for journalists to learn more about computer security, DeVries commented with wholehearted agreement. He added that journalists should take time to learn about and use free security measures. Soghoian extrapolates: if Google security were tight, wouldn’t DeVries specifically name Google products here? Perhaps, but this may be a bit of a stretch.
The next comment is more straightforward. In a conference in Kenya, Soghoian spoke on the same panel as Vint Cerf, Google’s Chief Internet Evangelist (that’s his real title.) In that discussion, Cerf agreed with Soghoian’s observation that securely encrypting user data fundamentally conflicts with the company’s ad-based business model. That is quite the admission, and confirms that Google is unlikely to put user privacy first anytime soon. Information or disinformation? We will be asking this question frequently in the run up to 2012.
Cynthia Murrell November 8, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
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