Financial Fraud Regulations Around the Corner for Searchers
June 6, 2013
Interesting thoughts occurred regarding identity recently. Specifically, how is search used for negative purposes? We were wondering because of the frightening news about Bloomberg recently, according to a CNBC story, “Bloomberg Users’ Messages Leaked Online.”
According to the story:
More than 10,000 private messages sent between users of Bloomberg’s financial terminals have leaked online, undermining the company’s attempts to restore faith in its ability to keep client data confidential as it scrambles to allay clients’ privacy concerns.
Two long lists showing confidential Bloomberg messages between traders at dozens of the world’s largest banks and their clients have been online for several years, the Financial Times has learned.
Undoubtedly a scary prospect for customers and a boon for criminals. It looks like maybe we will see some financial fraud defined the way we have seen health care fraud defined in the past. Thankfully, there are already regulators on the job spotting market fraud. The question remains, though, how can you avoid fraud when companies like Bloomberg can’t keep their own info under wraps? This is a tough situation that is going to require heightened security and, we suspect, government intervention to assure no more flubs like this happen.
Patrick Roland, June 06, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Amazon Defies Rules of Search and Office Meetings
June 6, 2013
Amazon has long been touted for its innovative workplace. However, their latest office move is a real shocker. But, will it help with search? We learned more in a recent Moving People to Action piece, “Amazon Staff Meetings: No PowerPoint.”
According to the story:
“The traditional kind of corporate meeting starts with a presentation. Somebody gets up in front of the room and presents with a PowerPoint presentation, some type of slide show. In our view you get very little information, you get bullet points. This is easy for the presenter, but difficult for the audience. And so instead, all of our meetings are structured around a 6 page narrative memo.”
Could the digital giant be gaining more ground by going back to the old fashioned memo? We think so. If anyone has done the analytic research on how to keep people’s attention, it’s Amazon. Others seem to agree, as news recently filtered out that Infor was partnering with the book giant to delve deeper into their cloud based search solutions. While the PowerPoint rule seems a little odd, we have faith in Amazon. This company carefully calculates all its moves and it tends to be right. Just ask Infor.
Patrick Roland, June 06, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
On Keeping Libraries Relevant
June 6, 2013
An information management firm specializing in library transformation, Soutron Global, recently hosted the webinar, “Transforming Libraries: What’s Required?” (PDF) The slideshow lays out four keys to successfully bringing an organization’s library into the 21st century. The introduction outlines the webinar:
“1. What is the governance ‘picture’ for sharing knowledge in your organization? Who owns the content?
2. Does your system allow for integrating this knowledge into the organizational workflow?
3. Can you and your team—with the tools you have—operate the specialized library as the company’s knowledge nexus?”
The presentation does share some good information; for example, it suggests beginning with a review of what is already in place before going forward. See the PDF for more. What caught our attention, though, is the telling factoid on slide 11. The presenters polled their audience, and tallied the results during the webinar:
“In your opinion, is your library prepared for meeting your company’s research demands for 2018 (five years from now)?
Poll Results (during the presentation):
Yes 18 percent
No 38 percent
Don’t Know 44 percent”
This means that 82 percent of those polled either don’t know about meeting the research demands in five years or don’t think their libraries can meet those future research demands. Wow. It seems those looking to move forward here have their work cut out for them.
Cynthia Murrell, June 06, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Open Source Security Responsibility Remains Undefined
June 6, 2013
Open source is enjoying increasing adoption in the enterprise, a realm where security has always been a top priority. However, it seems that when it comes to open source components, the enterprise has yet to determine a clear plan of action for ensuring and maintaining security. Network World explores the topic in the article, “Control and Security of Corporate Open-source Projects Proves Difficult.”
The article begins:
“Open source has become a staple for software development in the enterprise, but keeping track of it and maintaining security for it remains an elusive goal, according to a survey of more than 3,500 data architects and developers published today by Sonatype, which provides component lifecycle management products and also operates the Central Repository for downloading open-source software.”
An infographic goes on to show that responsibility for open source security falls across a wide variety of departments and job titles. But for organizations that are interested in implementing the best of open source without taking on the security risk, opting for a value-added solution instead of components is a better option. For instance, LucidWorks has made a name for themselves by offering a fully supported solution based on Apache Lucene and Solr. Best of all, LucidWorks is so trusted that others are incorporating the power of LucidWorks into their own offerings, in an attempt to ensure enterprise security standards.
Emily Rae Aldridge, June 6, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
LinkedIn is Not Linked In to the Changing Times
June 5, 2013
Benedict Evans talks social network for professional connections service, LinkedIn in a recent posting on LinkedIn. The service recently bought an iPad news aggregator. You can use it as a publishing platform and it also makes money by selling resumes to recruiters.
However, this post discusses what the author finds challenging and disappointing about using LinkedIn. There are no network preferences that would enable privacy features a la Google+ Circles and furthermore there is no list available of contacts that have changed jobs recently.
The article continues:
“Now, I entirely understand that the LinkedIn business model is to sell my CV to recruiters, not give me useful tools to manage my network. I also understand that all the mediocre me-too news-aggregation is a way to try to get me to spend more time on the site, rather than visiting every month or two. But really, it needs to get the basics right. It needs to give me useful tools. Right now it’s a not-very-good CV database with an interface that would be second-rate a decade ago, that I have no reason to stick with if something remotely, you know, useful came along.”
LinkedIn is most commonly used as a marketing and job hunting service. Functionality and user-friendly features might not be something to expect from such a service.
Megan Feil, June 05, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Looking Beyond Current Google Search
June 5, 2013
Everyone has a perspective on the future of Google search. These kind of hypotheses seem inevitable about a company has been making headlines for their futurist technologies for years now. Time Magazine takes a stab with their recent article, “Where Google Search Is Going.” While Google’s layout and basic features have not aesthetically changed much at all, the way in which we interact with Google search and the underlying features in their improved technologies have evolved quite a bit.
The author discussed the future of Google with Amit Singhal, their senior vice president in charge of search with 22 years of experience in the field.
The article tells us:
“As Singhal stresses, all Google is doing is continuing a journey it’s already on. ‘Over the 12 years I’ve been here, we have changed Google every two to four years,’ he says. ‘There have been four or five huge milestones … Google’s beauty is what hides behind that simple interface: incredibly complex mathematics.’ For search research, Singhal says, “these are supremely interesting times.” But when he describes his ideal version of Google, it doesn’t sound all that much like Google as we’ve known it. What he describes is the omniscient fictional computing device from an old TV program.”
For those wondering where all their advertising dough is going: it appears that research and development is the lucky recipient. Whether it is lucky for simply the company or the entire scope of users remains to be seen.
Megan Feil, June 05, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Furthering Free and Online Education
June 5, 2013
The Washington Post reports on a hot topic in education these days: online education. No, this recent article does not simply feature a rundown of online education courses, it delves into the next step: free online text books. The headline reads: “Coursera to Offer Students Free Online Textbooks, with Conditions.”
Coursera, of course, is one of the online providers offering free educational courses online. Textbooks are a logical next step. The have struck a partnership with several publishers to enable students to use certain textbooks for free while they take the courses. Publishers include Cengage Learning, Macmillan Higher Education, Oxford University Press, SAGE and Wiley will be available through e-readers provided by Chegg.
The article states:
“Koller said the agreement will help instructors who felt restricted in what they could require students to read. She also said it will help publishers market full versions of their books to those interested in buying them. Coursera, based in Mountain View, Calif., launched in April 2012, and the company has more than 3 million registered users. Along with edX and Udacity, it is one of the most prominent MOOC providers in a fast-emerging market. Cynthia L. Selfe, an English professor at Ohio State University, said the textbook agreement will benefit thousands who are taking a MOOC on Coursera that she teaches with a group of faculty.”
Does this article suggest that there are more challenges for traditional publishers or is this an opportunity for companies trying to grow and running out of options? The jump from $500 million to $1 billion is a big job.
Megan Feil, June 05, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Open Source is a Mindset
June 5, 2013
Open source is almost single-handedly powering the Big Data movement. And to that end, open source is getting a lot of credit and a lot of coverage. Many open source solutions are popping up in the trends’ wake. Among them is Appcelerator. The Appcelerator CEO, Jeff Haynie, weighs in on the power of open source in the current market in the Silicon Angle article, “Open Source is a Mindset, says Appcelerator CEO.”
The article states:
“Haynie also talked about how Appcelerator leverages with open-source while also giving back to its investors. For him, open-source does not necessarily mean free. It’s more like a mindset that enables a company to build technology through the benefit of a community that help each other innovate by expanding the innovation curve to prevent them from getting locked in to one proprietary system. ‘If you’re a platform company, you have to be open-source at some degree,’ Haynies added.”
Innovation and community are definitely two linchpins of open source. LucidWorks knows this and has done its best to capitalize on both. Their LucidWorks Search and LucidWorks Big Data platforms are built on the power of Apache Lucene and Solr, capitalizing on one of the strongest and longstanding open source communities.
Emily Rae Aldridge, June 5, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
What Hath SEO Wrought? The Google Responds
June 4, 2013
What caught my attention this morning was “Negative SEO: Looking for Answers from Google.” Since the early days of The Point, which we sold to Lycos decades ago, my partners and teams have produced content one way. We follow the format of traditional commercial databases; that is, we track important articles like this one about negative SEO and provide a quote and a comment. Traffic is not high on my list of what I think about because I use the content in this blog Beyond Search as a way to keep track of major developments in search, online, content processing, and, more recently, analytics.
The SEO thing has always been a threat to objectivity. Now the article, if it is accurate, suggests that it is possible to use online content as a weapon; that is, weaponized information. I have given some lectures about “weaponized information” to specialist groups in various government agencies. The substance of much of my work in the last couple of years has been to document how specific mathematical methods can be manipulated by flows of specially prepared content.
This “Negative SEO” article struck a nerve. Here’s the comment which caught my attention:
At the end of the day it is the unsuspecting that need protection. I’ve written before about the relations of SEOs and Google. Those in the know that stray toward the boundaries, they do so at their own risk. I don’t play the ‘hat’ game. It’s all degrees of tactics. If you get burned while knowing the risk, then fair play. I worry more about those who aren’t aware and what ramifications it can have on them. I know plenty of great people that have been stomped over the last while and often they have seemingly done little to incur it. Or were mislead as to what “safe” really was. Some type of simpler system would help benefit webmasters and Google as well the way I see it. If you have some ideas on how this could be dealt with by working with Google, fire it off in the comments. A positive discussion is far more likely to get Google working with us than whining about the evil…
Interesting.
My View of SEO
I gave some talks at search engine optimization meetings. I was horrified with several aspects of these local, regional, and national events.
First, the attendees wanted traffic in order to keep their jobs. I was fascinated with the self preservation bubbling beneath the surface of the casual conversations, the get togethers, and the questions asked of the speakers. Maybe the events have changed, which is probably a step forward. However, my recollection is one of finding some way to prove that a Web site or other online marketing activity would deliver the brass ring — a number one listing for a query.
Second, the presentations were an odd blend of “wow, we discovered this” and “you may want to try that” but “we are good guys wearing white hats.” It took me a while to figure out that a “white hat” reported ways to trip up traditional methods of delivering relevant results. A “black hat” used tricks and methods which would result in a penalty from whichever search engine was spoofed. I watched in fascination as a very large industry grew up to undermine precision and recall.
Implications of Perturbation Model on Human Behavior
June 4, 2013
There are many micro and macro level studies related to human mobility where micro-oriented studies focus on individuals’ daily commutes and macro-oriented studies concentrate on topics such as air-travel patterns to track epidemics over time. The article “People Organize Daily Travel Efficiently: Population-Level Study Discovers Small Scale Details About Individuals’ Choices” bridges the gap between these two types.
The study is published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface and shows that people in Chicago and Paris make trips in addition to their primary commutes in a “consistent and expeditious” manner. What does this information look like in terms of quantifiable data? These people are using only 17 of more than 1 million possible trip sequences for up to five secondary locations.
According to the article:
“The most important aspect of the study, González says, is that because the 17 trip configurations hold true across the board, they represent “motifs” in network theory. Motifs are patterns that occur with such frequency that the statistical probability of their random occurrence is negligible. The motifs indicate that the study has uncovered a simple, basic principle that can be applied broadly in more complex models.”
The first author on this study calls the model the perturbation model and it appears that this suggests significant implications for predictions about human behavior. In some situations there are not so many choices it seems.
Megan Feil, June 04, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
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