Open Access Threatened by Elsevier Backed Legislation
January 3, 2012
Academic publishing, specifically in the fields of science and math, is a big money industry. The whole system hinges on containing the flow of information, a task that grows increasingly difficult with the demand for free access to information. Free access is fueled by the internet and social media, with these influences creating a new generation of young people who assume and demand that information be free. Arxiv.org is an open access archive for academic literature devoted to math and science. It and other open access portals are being threatened by potential legislation. (Open access is a term referring to quality information sources that are not protected by a subscription.) The Quantum Pontiff tells us more in, “Could Elsevier Shut Down Arxiv.org?”
The blogger reports:
They (Elsevier) haven’t yet, but they are supporting SOPA, a bill that attempts to roll back Web 2.0 by making it easy to shut down entire sites like Wikipedia and Craigslist if they contain any user-submitted infringing material.
Splash page of arxiv.org shows the seal of Cornell University and the phrase “We gratefully acknowledge supporting institutions. See http://arxiv.org/
Social media and copyright are inherently opposing concepts. User-submitted material, as it is referred to above, will almost always infringe upon copyright. In fact, very few submissions aside from the users own thoughts and words will not infringe upon copyright. If the legislators supporting SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) make good on all their promises, eventual showdowns with social media heavy hitters like Facebook or YouTube could occur.
American copyright was established by the founding fathers in our constitution to balance the protection of intellectual property with the ability to foster creativity and innovation. However, copyright has evolved in the modern era into a blanket protection policy, primarily serving corporations. Libraries and other institutions of learning champion the cause of open access, but even these civic organizations are threatened by corporate lobbyists in their constant quest to have copyright protection extended tighter and longer.
Common Pain in SharePoint
January 3, 2012
SharePoint brings just as much pain as it does joy in many circumstances. But one does not have to look too hard to realize how common certain SharePoint pain points are in the enterprise realm. The solutions to these SharePoint issues can be just as painful as the issues themselves. Consultants and third-party firms do not always live up to their promises. A SharePoint blogger gives us his take in, “SharePoint – To the Pain!”
As he points out:
One of the pains many of us have experienced is the sting of inexperienced SharePoint ‘experts.’ These people are giving bad advice in their blogs. These people are in ‘expert’ SharePoint firms charging us an arm and a leg and doing bad work. It’s rampant, and I’ve experienced it as a full time employee working for a large corporation paying a HUGE amount for SharePoint ‘experts’ who were breaking things and had NO CLUE what they were doing.
We want to emphasize that not all SharePoint experts and consulting firms are bad. The opinion above is merely that of the blogger. However, a bit of caution is a good rule of thumb when choosing an outside party to assist in SharePoint solutions. SharePoint is not an out-of-the-box enterprise solution. In order to be effective and efficient, third party solutions should be added onto an existing SharePoint framework.
This is where we think an option like Fabasoft Mindbreeze is smart. Offering an entire suite of solutions, Mindbreeze is neither excessive in cost nor disappointing in performance. Their Connectors offerings allow Mindbreeze to work alongside SharePoint, Exchange, and a variety of other applications. The Mindbreeze enterprise solution can stand alone or improve an already existing enterprise infrastructure.
As the optimum search and information access solution, Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise facilitates the comprehensive incorporation of all electronic data repositories. Data sources and storage systems are connected to Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise via Fabasoft Mindbreeze Connectors.
While a bit of caution is necessary, there are good third party SharePoint solutions out there. Find one that works for you and enjoy the ease and efficiency that it can offer.
Emily Rae Aldridge, January 3, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
CAD is Back on the Map
January 3, 2012
It looks like CAD is about to go through a growth spurt. Design News reports in “CAD Resurgence Fueled by Technology” that 2012 could be a stellar year for CAD “thanks to the rise of technologies like cloud computing, mobile apps and tablets.”
The CAD resurgence is lead by the younger generation of engineers. Kathleen Maher, an analyst for Jon Peddie Research says that this generation is looking for efficiencies and:
“[t]hey’re looking for better ways to create data and more ways to use the data. Most important, CAD customers are visual people and they want to interact with visual data, including 3D, simulations, and point cloud data.”
Watch for CAD to “evolve with lightweight, more easy-to-use, less expensive tools.”
As CAD expands and advances this year, so will the likes of Inforbix. Their apps, which find, re-use and share product data, are compatible with most CAD programs. Inforbix is efficient, innovative and exactly what the younger generation is looking for. We suspect 2012 is going to be a good year.
Jennifer Wensink, January 3, 2012
Protected: Continuous Integration May Solve Your SharePoint Team Project Problems
January 3, 2012
A Harbinger for 2012: Facebook on Top?
January 3, 2012
Experian Hitwise, a subset of Experian Marketing Services, reported on a recent analysis of the top 1,000 search terms for 2011 in article “Facebook was the Top Search Term for Third Straight Year.”
According to the article, Facebook was the top search term and the most visited website in the U.S and accounted for 3.10 percent of all searches, a 46 percent increase from 2010. Social networking-related terms dominated the results, accounting for 4.18 percent of the top 50 searches. This is an increase of 12 percent compared with 2010.
Simon Bradstock, general manager of Experian Hitwise, said:
Marketers need to be particularly brand-savvy when managing their search optimization campaigns because of this behavior, which is a result of predictive search functionality across major search engines. Other top 2011 searches reflect ongoing fascination with celebrities online, and many of the top fast-moving searches centered on natural disasters or notable personalities passing away.
It seems that social media is here to stay and business leaders ought to stay abreast of these trends and utilize them to their advantage.
Jasmine Ashton, January 3, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Googlers Want More Local News
January 3, 2012
AOL Patch must be rolling its eyes toward heaven. Patch, the local news vision, may be in a pickle. The rise of the Internet has lead to the decline of the newspaper industry. With blogs, television, and other non-traditional news sources available, no one seems to be interested in local news anymore, or so we thought.
According to the recent The Next Web article “2011 Google Data Reveals Searchers in the U.S Want More Local News,” this year’s Google Zeitgeist, a list of trending topics based on Google search results, found that in almost every U.S. city it looked at, the top ten local search terms showed that people were trying to find local news.
The article states:
It makes sense that larger markets like New York City and Houston wouldn’t be interested in local news stations, since a lot of happenings in those cities make it to the mainstream U.S. news on its own. The findings show that even though the Internet is vast, people still want to know what’s going on around them, and they look to their local news stations as a major source.
It looks like AOL had the right idea with Patch, but unfortunately fumbled the ball. Now the me-too champ is on the case.
Jasmine Ashton, January 3, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Is the Union of Oracle and Endeca Merit the Hype?
January 3, 2012
The question of what to do with unstructured and semi-structured data rises to the surface again and again. Oracles’ answer to the almost mystical question is to add Endeca MDEX into the soup pot. The article, Oracle: Endeca Inside?, on Ovum’s website gives a lengthy explanation of how the new combo of Oracle and Endeca MDEX will take the world by storm – well, the unstructured and semi-structured world at least.
While the assertions in the article are quite impressive we’d like to see some proof of their existence. Much is said about how Oracle really doesn’t need Endeca but will benefit from it nonetheless. The article justifies the addition of Endeca MDEX by saying,
MDEX adds an important capability to Oracle’s analytic portfolio. It allows Oracle to target business users and provide data exploration and lightweight analysis on semi-structured data. However, it also goes against Oracle’s overarching strategy of maintaining one database for almost all kinds of analytic workloads. Over the medium term, Ovum therefore welcomes MDEX being absorbed into core Oracle technologies and offered as a piece of its larger ‘engineered systems’ strategy.
Although reluctant we do agree with the overall concept that Ovum introduces about how MDEX’s absorption into the Oracle machine is probably not a bad idea, we still wrestle with the bigger question: Is performance an issue which can be resolved with Oracle hardware?
Our view is that Ovum may have only part of the puzzle in hand. Oracle and Endeca may not be a two dimensional set up.
Catherine Lamsfuss, January 3, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Search Engines May Take Action Against Pirate Web Sites
January 3, 2012
From the Sooner or Later Department:
Google has been in the news a lot lately for being biased when it comes to search result ranking. According to a the recent Telegraph article “Google May Give Pirate Sites Lower Ranking,” that bias may be leading to positive results. A new code will force Search engines to automatically rank pirate websites lower than official ones and give priority to those that were certified under a recognized scheme.
The article states:
According to research by the Publisher’s Association, Google searches for the 50 best-selling books in one week in March returned an average of four illegal links in the top 10 listings. The previous year that figure was closer to two.
Under the code, Google as well as other search engines would stop allowing illegal sites to advertise and would step up their efforts in delisting pirate websites as soon as they are flagged by legitimate rights holders.
While the search engines have yet to respond to the proposal, we believe that if this is policy goes into effect, there may be some unforeseen consequences. Exciting to be the one to define “pirate”.
Jasmine Ashton, January 3, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
IBM: Buy Them All?
January 3, 2012
In an effort to keep up with technology and their customer base IBM has gone on quite a shopping spree this past year. The article, IBM Acquires Emptoris Analytics, on Network Computing, spotlights the purchase of Emptoris, a leader in supply chain solutions, and highlights other major purchases the software-giant has made in the past two years.
As for the reason for all this purchasing the article explains,
Having established itself as a leader in the market for infrastructure software, IBM is now branching out into application-like products in an effort to maintain growth. Just last week, the company announced that it had reached a definitive agreement to acquire DemandTec, a San Mateo, Calif.-based developer of cloud-based applications for retailers and marketers. Under that agreement, IBM will pay $13.20 per share, or about $400 million, to purchase DemandTec outright.
As IBM rounds out its newly acquired buy-out portfolio we have to wonder if anything substantial will be shown for all the effort and money spent. They claim their focus is on developing software and platforms that put the customer in the center of business. It is obvious after examining the companies bought that IBM is moving in the cloud direction and with the addition of risk analysis companies like Algorithmics will be broadening their customer base and offering top-of-line technology through their software. IBM’s approach may be to buy them all.
Catherine Lamsfuss, January 3, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Predicting Failure: Pot Calls Kettle Black and Blue
January 2, 2012
Fascinating is traditional media’s ability to attack a hopelessly confused big corporation for a failure. The failure documented by the New York Times was Hewlett Packard’s immolation of its mobile strategy. The outfit doing the criticizing—what I call the pot calling the kettle gray lady black and blue—is the New York Times. Ah, irony.
Which is more flawed? The management of HP or the management of the New York Times. Let me try to remember. The New York Times lost its top manager and its head of digital stuff. The home delivery rate is nudging close to $700 a year. The Safari loophole makes its digital content free. The company has muffed the bunny with its indexing, its About.com property, and just about every financial knob and dial setting available.
HP, on the other hand, has engaged in improper behavior, the CEO revolving door game, the tablet fiasco, and the open sourcing of a $1.0 billion plus investment. HP bought Autonomy for $10 billion, creating a mini cash concern for some Wall Street types.
Sounds like a pretty even game of management
Now to the business at hand: “In Flop of H.P. TouchPad, an Object Lesson for the Tech Sector.” (If the link goes dead, just use Safari. Access to NYT content seems to be “free”. Nifty, eh? What is the New York Times suggesting? For me, the write up is more about the New York Times itself than about Hewlett Packard. Three points:
- HP created a flop due to various management mistakes. Okay, sounds like the NYT’s problem
- HP had a good idea but it “was ahead of its time”. Right. The NYT had a deal with LexisNexis which worked pretty well, but not well enough. So the NYT decided it could go it alone. It was, as the NYT says, “ahead of its time.” No kidding.
- HP faced a problem with newcomers who dominated a market. Check. Same with the NYT and its various digital efforts. Being good at one thing does not mean that one if good at another thing.
My take? The NYT is trying to be just like the Harvard Business Review, adding value to what is not even a news story any longer. Going down this path ignores some of the basics of creating high value business and management analysis. The information is not what makes money. It is the other revenue streams. The NYT will learn as Time and Newsweek have that trying to up one’s intellectual game does not automatically make the money flow or the analysis insightful. Business information is often a loss leader or a way to generate consulting revenue.
The write up does explain how the NYT sees the woes of other companies. That is indeed interesting. I wonder if the NYT team remembers its original online search service. I bet Jeff Pemberton does.
Stephen E Arnold, January 2, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
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