SharePoint, Training Not Required?
February 24, 2012
Lorette S. J. Weldon, a librarian, offers a unique approach to conquering SharePoint in her piece, “SharePoint, Training Not Required.” Weldon argues that many of the skills and tools used by information professionals transfer well to the SharePoint environment, therefore, intense training is not required if some analogies are made.
Weldon observes:
Through my study last year, I found out that librarians were using SharePoint in the corporate, government, and non-profit sectors . . . Microsoft embedded social media tools within the SharePoint platform. World-wide librarians have been customizing SharePoint by using their social networking skills from MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. It is a ‘plug and play’ social media tool for the office. It has helped to embed the researching skills of the librarians within the normal business flow of their sectors.
Weldon makes a unique observation about the connection between librarians’ skills and their ability to navigate SharePoint. However, a chorus of opinion does exist amongst those who are not trained information professionals and cannot successfully navigate SharePoint. For those individuals who are muddling through, a smart third party solution like Fabasoft Mindbreeze may be worth a second look.
Read more about their quality, usability, and style:
The Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise user interface is based on Web 2.0 technology and combines simplicity with elegance. The operation is self-explanatory. Work just as you are used to. Access your data from anywhere. Also on smartphones and tablets. Elegant design, easy operation. With you wherever you are. Find and access your enterprise and cloud information straight away.
Until we are all trained information professionals, work with Fabasoft Mindbreeze to improve the quality of your SharePoint experience.
Emily Rae Aldridge, February 24, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Lost in Dataspace? CA Erwin Can Help
February 24, 2012
Intuitive graphics and a search that looks like Google. That’s what CA Technologies proscribes for the non-techies who are being plunged into the cloud, ReadWriteWeb reveals in “Data Visualization for People Who Don’t Visualize Data: CA ERwin 8.2.” ERwin is a database visualization tool which has been evolving since 1998.
Writer Scott M. Fulton, III maintains that the moving of data from SQL databases to cloud storage has many organizations reexamining their data structure. ERWin’s Web portal can help business users better understand what they are looking at. The article relates:
[CA Technologies’ Donna] Burbank agrees that data modeling may never be appealing to 100% of the ‘sponsor’ audience [of database administrators]. But making it appeal to a somewhat greater audience through more intuitive graphics, along with Google-like search, could go a long way toward enabling those tasked with new responsibilities to be able to better understand what they are, and carry them out with a greater sense of confidence.
But will that confidence be misplaced? More consumerization is all well and good, but what happens if the underlying data do not meet standard tests for validity?
CA Technologies has been building IT management software for over 30 years. They pride themselves on providing agile solutions to business and government organizations in nearly every nation.
Cynthia Murrell, February 24, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Qumu Partners with Nexidia on Speech Search
February 24, 2012
The ability to search for spoken words in media files is getting a boost, as revealed in Business Wire’s “Qumu Integrates Nexidia Dialogue Search Into Video Control Center.” Qumu sees speech as the most underutilized (though most useful) search perimeter and aims to change that with their software. Their Video Control Center allows for the capture, management, and distribution of video content. The write up reveals what Nexidia brings to the table:
Nexidia’s patented Dialogue Search now gives employees a richer, more precise way to find and view valuable content by pinpointing where any word or phrase is spoken in their company’s webcasts, training videos and employee-generated content. Nexidia’s patented technology searches across an organization’s different media silos and geographies simultaneously, and supports multiple languages.
So, in this way, voice-to-text becomes an add-in. Companies who have long been in this space like Autonomy and Exalead may find that upstarts will snag some juicy accounts.
Qumu bills itself as the leader in the young video platform market, having won some of the largest Global 1000 companies as clients. Nexidia has spent years developing its phonetic search technologies, opening up audio and video sources to search functionality.
Cynthia Murrell, February 24, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Exogenous Complexity 3: Being Clever
February 24, 2012
I just submitted my March 2012 column to Enterprise Technology Management, published in London by IMI Publishing. In that column I explored the impact of Google’s privacy stance on the firm’s enterprise software business. I am not letting any tiny cat out of a big bag when I suggested that the blow back might be a thorn in Googzilla’s extra large foot.
In this essay, I want to consider exogenous complexity in the context of the consumerization of information technology and, by extension, on information access in an organization. The spark for my thinking was the write up “Google, Safari and Our Final Privacy Wake-Up Call.”
Here’s a clever action. MIT students put a red truck on top of the dome. For more see http://radioboston.wbur.org/2011/04/06/mit-hacks.
If you do not have an iPad or an iPhone or an Android device, you will want to stop reading. Consumerization of information technology boils down to employees and contract workers who show up with mobile devices (yes, including laptops) at work. In the brave new world, the nanny instincts of traditional information technology managers are little more than annoying nags from a corporate mom.
The reality is that when consumer devices enter the workplace, three externalality happen in my experience.
First, security is mostly ineffective. Clever folks then exploit vulnerable systems. I think this is why clever people say that the customer is to blame. So clever exploits cluelessness. Clever is exogenous for the non clever. There are some actions an employer can take; for example, confiscating personal devices before the employee enters the work area. This works in certain law enforcement, intelligence, and a handful of other environments; for example, fabrication facilities in electronics or pharmaceuticals. Mobile devices have cameras and can “do” video. “Secret” processes can become un-secret in a nonce. In the free flowing, disorganized craziness of most organizations, personal devices are ignored or overlooked. In short, in a monitored financial trading environment, a professional can send messages outside the firm and the bank’s security and monitoring systems are happily ignorant. The cost of dropping a truly secure box around a work place is expensive and beyond the core competency of most information technology professionals.
Second, employees blur information which is “for work” with information which is “for friends, lovers, or acquaintances.” The exogenous factor is political. To fix the problem, rules are framed. The more rule applied to a flawed system, the greater the likelihood is that clever people will exploit systems which ignore the rules. Clever actions, therefore, increase. In short, this is a variation of the Facebook phenomena when a posting can reach many people quickly or lie dormant until the data load explodes like long forgotten Fourth of July fire cracker. As people chase the fire, clever folks exploit the fire. Information time bombs are not thought about by most senior managers, but they are on the radar of those involved in a legal matter and in the minds of some disgruntled programmers. The half life of information is less well understood by most professionals than the difference between a uranium based reactor and a thorium based reactor. Work and life information are blended, and in my opinion, the compound is a dangerous one.
Third, vendors focusing on consumerizing information technology spur adoption of devices and practices which cannot be easily controlled. The data-Hoovering processes, therefore, can suck up information which is proprietary, of high value, and potentially damaging to the information owner. Information is not “like sand grains.” Some information is valueless; other information commands a high price. In fact, modern content processing and data analytic systems can take fragments of information and “fuse” them. To most people these amalgams are of little interest. But to someone with specialized knowledge, the fused data are not god nuggets, the fused data are a chunky rosy diamond, maybe a Pink Panther. As a result, an exogenous factor increases the flow of high value data through uncontrolled channels.
A happy quack to Gunaxin. You can see how clever, computer situations, and real life blend in this “pranking” poster. I would have described the wrapping of equipment in plastic “clever.” But I am the fume hood guy, Woodruff High School, 1958 to 1962. Image source: http://humor.gunaxin.com/five-funny-prank-fails/48387
Now, let’s think about being clever. When I was in high school, I was one of a group of 25 students who were placed in an “advanced” program. Part of the program included attending universities for additional course work. I ended up at the University of Illinois at age 15. I went back to regular high school, did some other Fancy Dan learning programs, and eventually graduated. My specialty was tricking students in “regular” chemistry into modifying their experiments to produce interesting results. One of these suggestions resulted in a fume hood catching fire. Another dispersed carbon strands through the school’s ventilation system. I thought I was clever, but eventually Mr. Shepherd, the chemistry teach, found out that I was the “clever” one. I sat in the hall for the balance of the semester. I adapted quickly, got an A, and became semi-famous. I was already sitting in the hall for writing essays filled with double entendres. Sigh. Clever has its burdens. Some clever folks just retreat into a private world. The Internet is ideal for providing an environment in which isolated clever people can find a “friend.” Once a couple of clever folks hook up, the result is lots of clever activity. Most of the clever activity is not appreciated by the non clever. There is the social angle and the understanding angle. In order to explain a clever action, one has to be somewhat clever. The non clever have no clue what has been done, why, when, or how. There is a general annoyance factor associated with any clever action. So, clever usually gets masked or shrouded in something along the lines, “Gee, I am sorry” or “Goodness gracious, I did not think you would be annoyed.” Apologies usually work because the non clever believe the person saying “I’m sorry” really means it. Nah. I never meant it. I did not pay for the fume hood or the air filter replacement. Clever, right?
What happens when folks from the type of academic experience I had go to work in big companies. Well, it is sink or swim. I have been fortunate because my “real” work experiences began at Halliburton Nuclear Services and continued at Booz, Allen & Hamilton when it was a solid blue chip firm, not the azure chip outfit it is today. The fact that I was surrounded by nuclear engineers whose idea of socializing was arguing about Monte Carlo code and nuclear fuel degradation at the local exercise club. At Booz, Allen the environment was not as erudite as the nuclear outfit, but there were lots of bright people who were actually able to conduct a normal conversation. Nevertheless, the Type As made life interesting for one another, senior managers, clients, and family. Ooops. At the Booz, Allen I knew, one’s family was one’s colleagues. Most spouses had no idea about the odd ball world of big time consulting. There were exceptions. Some folks married a secretary or colleague. That way the spouse knew what work was like. Others just married the firm, converting “quality time” into two days with the dependents at a posh resort.
So clever usually causes one to seek out other clever people or find a circle of friends who appreciate the heat generated by aluminum powder in an oxygen rich environment. When a company employs clever people, it is possible to generalize:
Clever people do clever things.
What’s this mean in search and information access? You probably already know that clever people often have a healthy sense of self worth. There is also arrogance, a most charming quality among other clever people. The non-clever find the arrogance “thing” less appealing.
Let’s talk about information access.
Let’s assume that a clever person wants to know where a particular group of users navigate via a mobile device or a traditional browser. Clever folks know about persistent cookies, workarounds for default privacy settings, spoofing built in browser functions, or installation of rogue code which resets certain user selected settings on a heartbeat or restart. Now those in my advanced class would get a kick out these types of actions. Clever people appreciate the work of clever people. When the work leaves the “non advanced” in a clueless state, the fun curve does the hockey stick schtick. So clever enthuses those who are clever. The unclever are, by definition, clueless and not impressed. For really nifty clever actions, the unclever get annoyed, maybe mad. I was threatened by one student when the Friday afternoon fume hood event took place. Fortunately my debate coach intervened. Hey, I was winning and a broken nose would have imperiled my chances at the tournament on Saturday.
Now more exogenous complexity. Those who are clever often ignore unintended consequences. I could have been expelled, but I figured my getting into big trouble would have created problems with far reaching implications. I won a State Championship in the year of the fume hood. I won some silly scholarship. I published a story in the St Louis Post Dispatch called “Burger Boat Drive In.” I had a poem in a national anthology. So, I concluded that a little sport in regular chemistry class would not have any significant impact. I was correct.
However, when clever people do clever things in a larger arena, then the assumptions have to be recalibrated. Clever people may not look beyond their cube or outside their computer’s display. That’s when the exogenous complexity thing kicks in.
So Google’s clever folks allegedly did some work arounds. But the work around allowed Microsoft to launch an attack on Google. Then the media picked up on the work around and the Microsoft push back. The event allowed me to raise the question, “So workers bring their own consumerized device to work. What’s being tracked? Do you know? Answer: Nope.” What’s Google do? Apologize. Hey, this worked for me with the fume hood event, but on a global stage when organizations are pretty much lost in space when it comes to control of information, effective security, and managing crazed 20 somethings—wow.
In short, the datasphere encourages and rewards exogenous behavior by clever people. Those who are unclever take actions which sets off a flood of actions which benefit the clever.
Clever. Good sometimes. Other times. Not so good. But it is better to be clever than unclever. Exogenous factors reward the clever and brutalize the unclever.
Stephen E Arnold, February 24, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Database Design Directions
February 23, 2012
We came across a quite useful checklist every database architect should keep on hand. Java Code Geeks give us “20 Database Design Best Practices.” The list covers everything from the commonsense:
“Use well defined and consistent names for tables and columns (e.g. School, StudentCourse, CourseID …).”
To the more advanced:
“Normalization must be used as required, to optimize the performance. Under-normalization will cause excessive repetition of data, over-normalization will cause excessive joins across too many tables. Both of them will get worse performance.”
With a little strong opinion mixed in:
“Lack of database documentation is evil.”
If you design (or oversee those who design) databases, do yourself a favor and check it out.
Most people think of search as providing access to unstructured information. Examples of unstructured information include email, Word documents, and Excel. Our extensive work in enterprise search has spanned structured data; that is, information in a database.
Search Technologies can handle difficult content acquisition tasks when needed information is held within Microsoft SQL Server, IBM DB2, Oracle, or a similar data management system. In addition, Search Technologies can set up automated processes to handle extraction, transformation, and loading of data or subsets of data.
For more information about our capabilities to make structured and unstructured data more findable, navigate to www.searchtechnologies.com.
Iain Fletcher, February 23, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
PolySpot Technology Makes Big Data Manageable
February 23, 2012
A recent white paper by Beyond Search’s own analyst, Stephen Arnold, “Cutting Big Data Down to Size: The PolySpot Solution,” tackles the issue of high-volume data flow by taking an in-depth look into PolySpot’s Information at Work Solution.
Arnold gives much credit to the France-based company for creating a revolutionary system that offers an easy-to-use solution to Big Data, making data available and thus valuable to companies. Information from ArnoldIT’s investigation is summarized on PolySpot’s website:
PolySpot has developed an innovative approach that makes it possible to deploy a robust frame-work over existing content repositories. The PolySpot technology allows licensees to access information from many different sources and deliver information that answers real-life business questions. Users access the content via applications or apps from mobile devices to desktop computers. The company delivers solutions+apps.
Our team at Beyond Search is glad to see PolySpot offering innovative enterprise search solutions that are much needed in the search enterprise search market place. This technology is necessary in ensuring that information of significant value is not lost in the petabytes of information that is growing daily.
Check out Apprapids for more insight from the ArnoldIT team or direct your browser to PolySpot to download a full-length copy of the analysis.
Andrea Hayden, February 23, 2012
Why Does Dassault Need Netvibes?
February 23, 2012
Enterprise Irregulars reports, “Cloud Wars Heating up: Oracle : Taleo, Dassault Systèmes : Netvibes.” Writer Michael Fauscette examines the potential impact of two recent acquisitions. Oracle has snapped up the cloud-based employee management vendor Taleo, while Dassault Systèmes has bought Netvibes, a dashboard specialist.
Most eyes are on the much larger Oracle-Taleo deal, and the article thoroughly explores that development. However, Fauscette is more interested in the smaller matter of Dassault and Netvibes. We are, too. The write up notes:
“I think this acquisition is an interesting tell to a strategic move by Dassault to reposition as a broader innovation platform. Today Dassault is securely positioned in the product engineering and manufacturing world, but product development is under pressure to become more social and to drive more innovation.”
We’re confused. We thought that Dassault property Exalead offered social-compatible dashboard functionality. Is there an issue with existing technology? Or is Dassault doing the IBM dance of just buying stuff and hoping revenue will follow? Perhaps Inforbix, an ArnoldIT client, is putting pressure on the old-line French firm? Instead of innovating, Dassault is doing what ageing companies do to get new ideas: Buy them. More may be needed. Inforbix’ technology is quite promising and, in my opinion, truly innovative.
Cynthia Murrell, February 23, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Protected: How to Deal With SharePoint Database Transaction Logs
February 23, 2012
Wolfram Alpha Pro Now Available
February 23, 2012
Wolfram|Alpha continues to make changes to build its user base and traffic. The computational engine’s blog is “Announcing Wolfram|Alpha Pro.” As with so many companies that offer something for nothing, you do have to pay for the full Pro version, just like the good old days of Dialog and SDC Orbit. There is, though, a trial subscription available. Stephen Wolfram writes:
We’ve been able to go a remarkably long way with the basic paradigm of ordinary Wolfram|Alpha. But now Wolfram|Alpha Pro dramatically extends this paradigm—and it’s going to be exciting to see all the new things that become conceivable. But for now, I hope that as many people as possible will use Wolfram|Alpha Pro, and will take advantage of the largest single step in the development of Wolfram|Alpha since it was first launched.
The expanded capabilities include a number of different features. For one, you can set preferences to make the engine more efficient for your needs. You can also now download the raw data behind any query. My favorite, though, is the ability to upload, or point to a URL for, an image for analysis. The same can be done with blocks of data in any format. See the write up for more details on Wolfram|Alpha’s new abilities. It is well worth checking out. A beanie with a propeller may be required for some query formulations, however.
We wonder, will Google embrace this approach, offering their products free with ads but for a fee for “value added” service?
Cynthia Murrell, February 23, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
AppRapids Conference: Sharing Insights in the Digital Field
February 23, 2012
We at Beyond Search are happy to announce that registration is now open for the first AppRapids conference March 28, 2012, in Louisville, Kentucky.
Apprapids is an enterprise information service that focuses on app-related issues and is sponsored by PolySpot. The one-day conference will focus on how apps are transforming the business and digital worlds. The conference will allow attendees and speakers to interact to share insights in the field.
The press release, “Apps are Where it’s at: Register Now for AppRapids Conference,” gives us more information on the collaborative event.
We learn:
“Apps have been integrated into every aspect of life on both personal and professional levels. However, a lack of knowledge, and consequently agency, exists among many app users and potential app creators. Apps have roots in the past, are impacting the present, and will construct the future. Conference sessions will range from planning and development to implementation and business implications. Speakers will provide details of real-life use cases, best practices and lessons learned.”
Keynote speakers include Craig James, a partner in CatStrat; Ric Manning, a technology columnist at the Louisville Courier-Journal; and Doyle Friskney, Associate Vice President of Information Technology at University of Kentucky. Conference sponsors include: Arnold IT, PolySpot, WorkShop, the Creative Workplace, and Interactive Media Lab.
To register and view the schedule and speaker information, head over to http://www.apprapids.com/
Andrea Hayden, February 23, 2012
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
