Knowledge Management: Dazed and Confused?
October 16, 2016
I read an interview posted by TallyFox. If you are not familiar with the company, TallyFox provides a collaboration and content management system. The idea is that a company’s real and off site workers can share information. The company states on its LinkedIn page:
TallyFox’s intelligence platform, makes knowledge sharing fun and dynamic. With our proprietary algorithm SmartMatchPro, access to expertise is facilitated, collective knowledge becomes accessible, and you can benefit from it right now, anywhere in the world.
The TallyFox interview with Dr. Nancy Dixon (Common Knowledge, a non profit and a book) is interesting. I noted these factoids and assertions:
- almost 50% of workers are virtual, or “distributed”
- people who are communicating only virtually tend to lose the sense of purpose of what the organization is about.
- A challenge is “to motivate our experts to share tacit knowledge to make the knowledge from inside of a project available to the team of another project.”
- “Collective Sensemaking is a piece of the process which will show us how to take advantage of the virtual and still stay connected in a human way. We are doing it by crowdsourcing, by Innovation Jams, by Working Out Loud, and all of those ways are bringing back the Human Side into the Virtual.”
- “People don’t offer their knowledge because they don’t know what the other person needs…”
Sounds good.It strikes me that Facebook’s Workplace may be encroaching on the collaboration segment. Does Facebook embrace knowledge management?
Stepping back: Knowledge management leaves me dazed and confused about what, how, where, and why? Perhaps knowledge management should become knowledge “Kumbaya” with people online and posting to Facebook while sitting around a Mac with a fireplace screensaver.
Stephen E Arnold, October 16, 2016
Palantir Technologies: Pushing Back at Labor
October 15, 2016
Goodness gracious. Palantir Technologies is becoming a public outfit despite its penchant for secrecy. The company was featured in a Fortune Magazine write up called “Palantir Responds to Labor Department’s Discrimination Lawsuit.” Too bad Fortune’s online site did not include a link to the Palantirians’ response. The main point is that the US Department of Labor did not reflect reality. The main point of the Fortune write up struck me as this statement:
Palantir’s aim? To clear its name and move on.
Yeah. My hunch is that the “aim” is to continue to get US government contracts and not lose the work already underway. The notion that Palantir’s reputation is fueling the hassle with Labor is interesting. My view from rural Kentucky is that Palantir sued the US Army and the wheels of government often turn in eccentric ways. I am surprised that the IRS and SEC have not raised questions. In the current political climate, fooling around with government bureaucracy can be interesting.
Stephen E Arnold, October 15, 2016
Online and without Ooomph: Social Content
October 15, 2016
I am surprised when Scientific American Magazine runs a story somewhat related to online information access. Navigate to read “The Bright Side of Internet Shaming.” The main point is that shaming has “become so common that it might soon begin to lose its impact.” Careful wording, of course. It is Scientific American, and the write up has few facts of the scientific ilk.
I highlighted this passage:
…these days public shaming are increasingly frequent. They’ve become a new kind of grisly entertainment, like a national reality show.
Yep, another opinion from Scientific American.
I then circled in Hawthorne Scarlet A red:
there’s a certain kind of hope in the increasing regularity of shamings. As they become commonplace, maybe they’ll lose their ability to shock. The same kinds of ugly tweets have been repeated so many times, they’re starting to become boilerplate.
I don’t pay much attention to social media unless the data are part of a project. I have a tough time distinguishing misinformation, disinformation, and run of the mill information.
What’s the relationship to search? Locating “shaming” type messages is difficult. Social media search engines don’t work particularly well. The half hearted attempts at indexing are not consistent. No surprise in that because user generated input is often uninformed input, particularly when it comes to indexing.
My thought is that Scientific American reflects shaming. The write up is not scientific. I would have found the article more interesting if:
- Data based on tweet or Facebook post analyses based on negative or “shaming” words
- Facts about the increase or decrease in “shaming” language for some “boilerplate” words
- A Palantir-type link analysis illustrating the centroids for one solid shaming example.
Scientific American has redefined science it seems. Thus, a search for science might return a false drop for the magazine. I will skip the logic of the write up because the argument strikes me as subjective American thought.
Stephen E Arnold, October 15, 2016
Google Mobile Search: The Future
October 14, 2016
Google may be poised to upgrade its mobile search service. In theory, desktop search is king. The king, however, may be on life support. Read “Google: Fragmentation and the False Universal Search.”
Kenny Toth, October 14, 2016
Google: Fragmentation and the False Universal Search
October 14, 2016
I read “Within Months, Google to Divide Its Index, Giving Mobile Users Better & Fresher Content.” Let’s agree to assume that this write up is spot on. I learned that Google plans “on releasing a separate mobile search index, which will become the primary one.”
The write up states:
The most substantial change will likely be that by having a mobile index, Google can run its ranking algorithm in a different fashion across “pure” mobile content rather than the current system that extracts data from desktop content to determine mobile rankings.
The news was not really news here in Harrod’s Creek. Since 2007, the utility of Google’s search system has been in decline for the type of queries the Beyond Search goslings and I typically run. On rare occasion we need to locate a pizza joint, but the bulk of our queries require old fashioned relevance ranking with results demonstration high precision and on point recall.
Time may be running out for Google Web search.
Several observations:
- With the volume of queries from mobile surpassing desktop queries, why would Google spend money to maintain two indexes? Perhaps Google will have a way to offer advertisers messaging targeted to mobile users and then sell ads for the old school desktop users? If the ad revenue does not justify the second index, well, why would an MBA continue to invest in desktop search? Kill it, right?
- What happens to the lucky Web sites which did not embrace AMP and other Google suggestions? My hunch is that traffic will drop and probably be difficult to regain. Sure, an advertiser can buy ads targeted at desktop users, but Google does not put much wood behind that which becomes a hassle, an annoyance, or a drag on the zippy outfit’s aspirations.
- What will the search engine optimization crowd do? Most of the experts will become instant and overnight experts in mobile search. There will be a windfall of business from Web sites addressed to business customers and others who use mobile but need an old fashioned boat anchor computing device. Then what? Answer: An opportunity to reinvent themselves. Data scientist seems like a natural fit for dispossessed SEO poobahs.
If the report is not accurate, so what? Here’s an idea. Relevance will continue to be eroded as Google tries to deal with the outflow of ad dollars to social outfits pushing grandchildren lovers and the folks who take snaps of everything.
The likelihood of a separate mobile index is high. Remember universal search? I do. Did it arrive? No. If I wanted news, I had to search Google News. Same separate index for scholar, maps, and other Google content. The promise of universal search was PR fluff.
Fragmentation is the name of the game in the world of Alphabet Google. And fragmented services have to earn their keep or get terminated with extreme prejudice. Just like Panoramio (I know. You are asking, “What’s Panoramio?), Google Web search could very well be on the digital glide way to the great beyond.
Stephen E Arnold, October 14, 2016
Palantir Technologies to Square Off Against Skadden, Arps
October 14, 2016
Palantir Technologies asserted that an investor in Palantir of taking information from the Shire. Armed with the treasure trove of secret Hobbit lore, the investor in Palantir filed patents using the seeing stone-type information.
Sound like a Netflix or Amazon binge watcher?
My hunch is that the legal dust up between Palantir Technologies and Marc Abramowitz may be almost as much fun as the Google-Oracle dispute or an El Chapo extradition hearing.
Mr. Abramowitz has hired Skadden, Arps, which is shorthand for Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom or SASMF. Fascinating acronym to decode if one does not know the full name of the the outfit which has been named America’s best corporate law firm for more than a decade. The 2,000 lawyers are supported by more than 2500 others. This is better than most cruise ships’ passenger to staff ratios.
How will Skadden, Arps deal with the allegations of making patents out of Hobbit labor? According to “Palantir Investor Taps Skadden in Trade Secrets Feud,” Skadden, Arp legal maestro said:
“Though artfully pled as a series of putative state-law claims, the operative complaint seeks to have plaintiff Palantir Technologies Inc. declared the sole inventor of three separate technologies that were in fact invented and developed by Mr. Abramowitz as the sole or joint inventor. Palantir’s claims necessarily raise substantial questions of federal patent law that can be resolved only by a federal court.”
Palantir seeks remediation under California law. Skadden, Arps is going to pop up a level. The Palantir legal eagles at Perkins Coie may have to tap into the Palantir seeing stone to foretell what the trajectory of a federal level patent case will be.
I don’t have a seeing stone. I am not even a Hobbit. I don’t work in the Shire. I labor in rural Kentucky. I consulted the fellow at the gasoline station and asked, “What’s the likely outcome of the Palantir-Abramowitz legal matter?”
He replied without looking up from his brown paper sack stuffed with a greenish bottle, “Expensive.” Bingo.
Stephen E Arnold, October 14, 2016
eBay and Corrigon: Heading in the Right Direction?
October 14, 2016
I find eBay fascinating. Many things for sale; for example, $3,000 Teddy bears. I wonder what those are.
I read “eBay to Acquire Corrigon Ltd.” Interesting. I learned about Corrigon, an Israel-based image search and analysis outfit, about seven years ago. The company’s technology can “look” at a digital image and recognize objects in the image. Coirrigon’s pitch, as I recall it, introduced me to the concept of “dynamic browsing.” I thought most browsing was, by definition, was dynamic, but why ask questions which marketers cannot or will not answer. The buzzwords are the intellectual food which gives me Delhi belly.
One application of Corrigon’s technology is to identify objects in a photo can create a link to a shopping site where one can purchase that object. For instance, I am looking at this image:
The Corrigon system will, in theory, point me to this type of entry on another Web site:
What if I really want the model’s shirt? Well, that may be an issue.
Corrigon has some law enforcement and intelligence applications as well. My hunch is that eBay wants to allow a person to see something, buy something.
The method adds layers and performs image parsing. The method is fine but the approach can add compute cycles. Latency when shopping is a bit of brown bread.
The write up informed me that:
Corrigon’s technology and expertise will contribute to eBay’s efforts with image recognition, classification and image enhancements as part of its structured data initiative. There are three parts to eBay’s structured data initiative: first, collect the data; second, process and enrich the data; and third, create product experiences.Corrigon will support the second and third parts – processing and enriching the data and creating product experiences.
Let’s think about how an eBay user accesses information in the digital flea market now. A person navigates to the site and plugs in keywords. The system then generates a bewildering array of options and some listings. A user then scans and clicks the laundry list of listing. Then the user reads individual listings. Then the user presumably buys the best listing. Heaven help the user who needs to hunt for the link to ask the seller a question. Etc. etc. etc.
eBay’s purchase of Corrigon is going to make eBay into a zippier shopping experience. Well, that’s the theory.
eBay’s challenge is my fave Craigslist and obviously the Bezos beastie. I asked myself, “Perhaps eBay should do some interface work and poke around its core search functionality?”
Stephen E Arnold, October 14, 2016
Big Data and Visualization: The Ham and Eggs of Analysis
October 14, 2016
i read “Big Data Is Useless without Visual Analytics.” (Nope, I won’t comment on the fact that “data” is a plural.) The main point of the article is that looking at a table is not as easy as looking at a graphic, preferably Hollywood style, presentation ready visualizations. If you want to see a nifty visualization, check out the Dark Trace three dimensional, real time visualizations.
The write up informed me:
Visualizations are valuable because they display a lot of data in an easy-to-understand visual format that works well for our visually-oriented minds.
Okay. A lot. Good.
I learned that “data mining is too complicated for most uses of Big Data.”
No kidding. Understanding and making justifiable decisions about data validity, math with funny symbols, and numerical recipes which make the numbers conform to the silliness taught in university statistics classes. These are difficult tasks for avid Facebook users and YouTube content consumers to deal with.
I understand. Some folks are just really busy.
The write up explains that Excel is not the proper tool for real information analysis. Never mind that Excel remains a reasonably popular chunk of software. Some Excel lovers write memos and reports in Excel. That’s software love.
So what’s the fix?
Surprisingly the write up does not provide one. But there is a link which allows me to download a report from my pals at IDC. You remember IDC, right? That is the outfit which tried to sell my content on Amazon without my permission and without having a agreement with me to publish my research. If you have forgotten what I call the “Schubmehl play”, you can get some of the details at this link.
Nice write up. Too bad it lacks useful content on the subject presented in the headline. But what else does one expect these days?
Stephen E Arnold, October 14, 2016
A Literary Magazine by a Machine?
October 14, 2016
Literary magazines are a great way to read short stories, the latest poetry, and other compelling pieces by a variety of authors. What if those authors are machines? CuratedAI is the first literary magazine written by machines for human readers. Computers are presented as sterile, uncreative items, but technology programmed with machine learning and content curation can actually write some decent pieces.
Here is the magazine’s mission statement:
“CuratedAI is a literary magazine with a twist– all stories and poems are generated by machines using the tricks of the Artificial Intelligence trade. Editing, for now, is still the domain of us humans, but we aim to keep our touch as light as possible.”
Poetry is a subjective literary form and perhaps the most expressive. It allows writers to turn words into art and stray away from standard language rules. In other words, it is the perfect form for computers. They insert adjectives wherever the algorithm states and the sentences do not always make sense.
Prose, on the other mouse, is not its best form. The stories read like a bad Internet translation from Japanese to English. It will be some time before computers are writing comprehensible novels, at least for some of them. Machine learning was used in Japan for a novel writing contest and the machine that wrote the book, actually won a prize. So machine cans write prize-winning literature.
However, no one can program imagination…not yet anyway.
Whitney Grace, October 14, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Malware with Community on the Dark Web
October 14, 2016
While Mac malware is perhaps less common than attacks designed for PC, it is not entirely absent. The Register covers this in a recent article, EasyDoc malware adds Tor backdoor to Macs for botnet control. The malware is disguised as a software application called EasyDoc Converter which is supposed to be a file converter but does not actually perform that function. Instead, it allows hackers to control the hacked mac via Tor. The details of the software are explained as follows,
The malware, dubbed Backdoor.MAC.Eleanor, sets up a hidden Tor service and PHP-capable web server on the infected computer, generating a .onion domain that the attacker can use to connect to the Mac and control it. Once installed, the malware grants full access to the file system and can run scripts given to it by its masters. Eleanor’s controllers also uses the open-source tool wacaw to take control of the infected computer’s camera. That would allow them to not only spy on the victim but also take photographs of them, opening up the possibility of blackmail.
A Computer World article on EasyDoc expands on an additional aspect of this enabled by the Dark Web. Namely, there is a Pastebin agent which takes the infected system’s .onion URL, encrypts it with an RSA public key and posts it on Pastebin where attackers can find it and use it. This certainly seems to point to the strengthening of hacking culture and community, as counterintuitive of a form of community, it may be to those on the outside.
Megan Feil, October 14, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
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