Autonomy Jumps Into Media Analytics
April 27, 2012
HP property Autonomy has released a couple of products that build on its IDOL server, CMS Wire reports in “Autonomy Offers Media Analytics with NewsSocial Release #NABShow.” Writer David Roe is intrigued by the move into the Digital Asset Management space, which has not traditionally been in HP’s purview. Well. . . expand or perish, right?
The first product mentioned in the write up is NewSocial 24×7. It could become a must-have for those in news rooms or anyone else who relies on real-time info. The article tells us:
“Powered by IDOL, the new solution provides in-depth, real-time media monitoring and analytics for all text, rich media voice and voice sources including print, online, blogs, social media and broadcast news. . . . NewSocial 24×7 offers real-time conceptual understanding of customer commentary on social media channels, allowing campaigns to be adjusted quickly.”
The second release, Virage MediaBin8, is designed to help users identify the most appropriate information for use in enterprise, Web, social media, or online advertising. Advanced features, like facial, logo, and other pattern recognition, are provided through the HP Digital Library. We learned:
“With Virage MediaBin, organizations can tag and classify rich media assets, regardless of format or language. It then applies this information to deliver advanced analytics, categorization, summarization, concept clouds, dynamic content associations, content hyper-linking and automation of business processes and workflow.”
Autonomy, originally founded in 1996, is a leader in meaning-based information technology. They take pride in building tools that efficiently extract meaning from unwieldy tangles of unstructured data. HP bought Autonomy in 2011.
Cynthia Murrell, April 27, 2012
Sponsored by Ikanow
Connotate Pursues Big Data for Marketing
April 25, 2012
Connotate’s Web site announces, “Connotate Automates Altitude Digital Partners’ Ad Exchange Data Collection Processes.” Altitude Digital Partners is a supply-side platform for monetizing online content. The company has chosen Connotate to automate its Web data collection and monitoring. The move should free up Altitude’s employees for other tasks. Lots of other tasks.
The write up quotes Kelly Darnall, Director of Ad Operations for Altitude Digital Partners:
“Connotate’s solution is the perfect fit for our business needs as it allows us to monitor and collect the information our clients require from the Web – even if the source is password-protected. We expected to experience immediate operational benefits but were surprised at just how dramatic the results were. . . The quality of the results improved, we expanded the number of ad networks and exchanges that are available to our customers and improved client service.”
Connotate credits Altitude’s customer service improvements to its reworked SSP interface.
Connotate, named a KMWorld “Trend-Setting Product” for the past six years, was founded in 2000. The company aims to help clients increase the value they glean from their data with an easy-to-use solution. Connotate asserts that it is the only vendor in its field “with a broad, uncontested patent portfolio.” That is a definite advantage.
Altitude Digital Partners works with hundreds of online publishers to provide services in yield optimization for display and online video advertising. The company claims to, on average, generate a threefold revenue increase for its clients.
Cynthia Murrell, April 25, 2012
Sponsored by PolySpot
The Heat in SharePoint Semantics April 13 to April 19
April 24, 2012
This week SharePoint Semantics highlighted several upcoming conferences and webinars that would be worthwhile for SharePoint end users, who are looking to get the most out of their product, to attend.
In the post “Register Now for Free Smartlogic Webinar on Creating Successful Web Site” Ken Toth introduces readers to an informative webinar that is being put on by Smartlogic, a leader in taxonomy management, on Wednesday April 25.
The post states:
“In this exciting webinar, Joe Mihalik of Flatirons, Joe Tong of Alfresco, and Toby Conrad of Smartlogic will describe how Flatirons Solutions has united Smartlogic’s Semaphore Content Intelligence Platform with Alfresco’s Open Source CMS along with Apache/Soir Search to provide a compelling web experience for customers in a fully-integrated common interface.”
For those readers who happen to be experts on SharePoint, there is an opportunity for you to share that knowledge with an international audience. According to the post “Call For Speakers for the 2013 European SharePoint Conference Announced” this conference will be held in Copenhagen from February 4th through 7th. It will have 100 to 150 detailed sessions in five to eight technical and business tracks.
The conference is looking for:
“Submissions to speak on SharePoint as a platform or environment in areas such as collaboration; document – content and/or knowledge management; search; business intelligence; social networking; composite applications; web development; cloud; governance and or any other SharePoint related topic you feel that your colleagues in the European SharePoint Community would or should be interested in.”
While conferences and webinars are excellent ways for end users to learn a lot about a topic in a short amount of time, some people prefer to work at their own pace and reading white papers on a topic is an excellent way to do that. “Overview of a Recently Released SharePoint Tutorial White Paper” summarizes a lengthy step-by-step guide for SharePoint 2010 branding that is now available for purchase.
Toth states:
“General concepts, the deployment processes behind site Definitions, Site Templates, Master Pages, Page Layouts, CSS and Images, and implementation steps for branding solutions are just some of the topics discussed in the 80 page PDF download.”
For those that are not the self study types, it may be more beneficial to look into a third party solution for your SharePoint conundrums. The Semaphore Content Intelligence Platform is a comprehensive and tightly integrated platform, and we recommend the support and training services in the Smartlogic Knowledge Zone built for the self-studier or community learner.
Jasmine Ashton, April 24, 2012
Inteltrax: Top Stories, April 16 to April 20
April 23, 2012
Inteltrax, the data fusion and business intelligence information service, captured three key stories germane to search this week, specifically, how three of the biggest supporters of analytics are fairing.
Surprisingly, transportation has taken a shine to analytics, as we discovered in “Transportation Analytics Grows Crucial to Success”.
Not so surprisingly, government spending is leaning heavy on analytics. “Intelligence Community Leads Public Sector Analytics” showed how spy agencies love analytics.
Unfortunately, the one-time titan of analytic love, the medical field, is falling behind, as we learned in “Healthcare Analytics Needs a Boost”.
While there are thousands of industries that utilize big data analytics, these three are probably the most visible. Their successes and failures are important elements of the analytic story and ones we’ll be monitoring daily.
Follow the Inteltrax news stream by visiting www.inteltrax.com
Patrick Roland, Editor, Inteltrax.
April 23, 2012
Google Pursues Big Data
April 20, 2012
It was only a matter of time before Google wanted a piece of the big data pie and the New York Times Bits column reports, “Google Ventures’ Big Data Bet.” Did you know that Google funds an independent venture capital entity called Google Ventures? Currently, Google Ventures is building an internal data sciences team and Hazem Adam Ghobarah is their most recent hire. Ghobarah formerly worked at Google for six years. He will spend his new career searching for investment opportunities in the data analysis business. Ghobarah will work with the companies under Google’s umbrella on how they can gather and make use of the information.
“It should not be too surprising that a Google-created entity should have this bent. Google, along with Web pioneers like Yahoo and Amazon, was crucial to the creation of the emerging Big Data industry. By tracking things like consumer clicks and the behavior of thousands of computer servers working together, they amassed large volumes of data at a time when collapsing prices for data storage made it attractive to analyze. They also captured information from nontraditional sources, like e-mail, leading them to create so-called “unstructured” database software like Hadoop and MapReduce.”
The methods Google uses to analyze web traffic and predict patterns can be applied to other fields as more data moves online. Google Ventures is one of many companies who are venturing into big data. Everyone is trying to make a buck from the next big trend. The question is will we get a lot of companies chasing the big data client, but will their products and services be top quality?
Whitney Grace, April 20, 2012
Sponsored by OpenSearchNews.com
Datameer Explains Its Services
April 20, 2012
SmartData Collective’s Bob Gourley gives his take on a fairly young company in “Datameer Provides End-User Focused BI Solutions for Big Data Analytics.” The company, founded in 2009, supplies a business intelligence platform that runs on top of the open source Hadoop engine from Apache. Gourley writes:
“Datameer provides a big data solution that focuses on perhaps the most important niche in this growing domain, the end-user. . . . I’ve met with the CEO (Stefan Groschupf) and other Datameer executives. I’ve also interacted with them in events like our Government Big Data Forum. Through these events plus demonstrations by some of their greatest engineers has led me to a few conclusions about Datameer. In general, I believe enterprise technologists should take note of this firm for several reasons.”
Those reasons include: familiar and easy-to-use interfaces; the availability of free trials; scalability; software wizards that guide non-techies through accessing and integrating data; the ability to deploy either on premises or in the cloud; and the ease with which capabilities can be expanded through plug-ins and open APIs.
These are all good features, it is true. But we still have one important question: what differentiates this outfit from such fast movers as Ikanow, Quid, and Digital Reasoning?
Cynthia Murrell, April 20, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
IBM and Its Analytics Roll Up
April 20, 2012
IBM created WebFountain. In 2004, Searchblog posted a lengthy discussion of a system which would make sense out of the World Wide Web. “WebFountain, the Long Version” was a result of information provided by IBM’s engineers at its Almaden research facility. In 2004, WebFountain was one consequence of “ten years of work at Almaden on the problem of search.” The system was able to perform a number of sophisticated processes in order to allow IBM customers to make sense of large volumes of data. Wikipedia has a brief write up in which WebFountain is described as an “Internet analytical engine implemented by IBM for the study of unstructured data.”
In “IBM Betting Big Bucks on Data Analytics Software” I learned that IBM acquired Varicent Software. Varicent is an analytics and sales performance management company, which is a vertical solution with analytics as a foundation block. The key point in that article is that IBM’s “make sense out of data” revenue is expected to hit $16 billion by 2015. With analytics emerging as a hot sector for start ups, IBM seems to be a giant.
However, IBM’s analytics shadow has not been built on IBM innovations. The company has pursued an acquisition path with milestones such as Cognos (a $4.9 billion purchase in 2007) and SPSS (a $1.2 billion purchase in 2009), and the recent Varicent deal for an undisclosed amount. In addition, IBM acquired Algorithmics, Clarity Systems, i2, and OpenPages. “IBM and Varicent: Another Piece of the Analytics Puzzle” noted “IBM’s 4Q11 acquisition of DemandTec enables companies in the retail and distribution industries to make insightful decisions around pricing, while the fourth quarter acquisition of Emptoris focuses on improving and facilitating supply chain management decisions.”
Each is an analytics vendor.
The approach was described by Zacks.com as “accretive acquisitions.” “IBM to Buy Varicent Software” said:
Since 2005, the company has invested $14.0 billion in acquiring 25 companies. The company has engaged more than 10,000 technical professionals and 7,500 consultants in its analytics operations. IBM has 8 analytics solutions centers across the world and has more than 100 analytics-based research assets.
At a recent conference, analytics vendors talked about the demand for their services. None of the firms making presentation—for example, mentioned the IBM analytics empire or it possible dominance of the industry.
Several observations about IBM’s impact on the analytics sector.
First, there is now considerable blurring of structured data and unstructured data. The term “big data” implies that there are sufficient volumes of data to require highly sophisticated “roll up” systems to make sense of available information. IBM’s portfolio of analytics companies seems to have a solution to almost any business problem. At this time, IBM’s analytics products and services are not tightly integrated. Some assembly required applies to most analytics solutions. Will IBM be able to offer the “snap in,” fast start, and point-and-click approach some organizations desire?
Second, IBM’s broad portfolio of analytics tools, vertical solutions, and components is extremely broad and deep. IBM’s Web page “Take the Lead with business Analytics” covers only a fraction of what the company offers. How will IBM solution engineers keep track of what’s available and how certain products best solve certain customer problems?
Third, IBM seems to be collecting technologies, revenues, and customers. Some of the companies IBM has acquired such as i2 Group require specialized skills and expertise. In the case of i2, the typical analytics professional would require additional vetting and training to work with the firm’s particular tools. How many other of IBM’s analytics acquisitions “look” on the surface to be general purpose but on closer inspection are actually quite narrow and deep in their application?
My view is that IBM’s investments in analytics have created a demand for analytics. How can Big Blue be wrong? On the other hand, IBM may find that buying analytics companies does not deliver the payoff IBM management and IBM customers expect. The time, cost, and actual “real world” deliverables may be different from the expectations.
IBM will have to demonstrate that it can create a portfolio of solutions which can compete with the lower cost, cloud centric approaches that are proliferating. IBM has an anchor in open source search for unstructured data and a number of specialized luxury yachts for structured data. From a distance the fleet looks formidable. Up close, the same vulnerability teenagers in a skiff exploit in commercial shipping traffic may exist.
What’s clear is that IBM’s reputation for innovation has given way to innovation via acquisition. My hypothesis is that analytics is a very fragmented and niche business. IBM may have to buy more and more analytics vendors just to have a solution for the quite individualized problems many organizations face.
Stephen E Arnold, April 20, 2012
Sponsored by OpenSearchNews.com
Attivio Beefs Up Staff
April 19, 2012
Attivio has welcomed aboard David Woroboff, as Market Watch informs us in “Attivio Appoints General Manager of Government Solutions.” A former Northrop Grumman employee, Woroboff is known for inventive answers. Attivio President & CEO Ali Riaz commented:
“For our rapidly-expanding customer base in government, intelligence, and law enforcement, the challenge of managing extreme information is even more critical due to the immensely high stakes involved. When lives are at stake, there is no margin for error of delayed response. David brings his rich experience and proven ability to understand their mission challenges and problems to the conversation — we are confident that his perspective and insight will translate to broader deployment of Attivio’s solutions across this sector.”
There certainly is a lot at stake in the field of government, intelligence, and law enforcement. Fortunately, Attivio boasts high-performance, cost-effective approaches to the complex data challenges faced by government agencies and their defense and aerospace colleagues. Attivio prides itself on innovatively integrating enterprise search, intelligence, and analytic capabilities to provide the best solutions.
Cynthia Murrell, April 19, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Real Journalist Ignores Future of Many Real Journalists
April 18, 2012
Years ago I worked for Bill Ziff, yep, the magazine guy. In the late 1980s and in the early years of the 1990s, magazines worked. But today magazines are no longer the slam dunk. In 1989 it took about $1 million to get a new title off the ground. If you had lots of titles, the costs were still punishing but there were economies of scale.
I read “Is a Blogger a Journalist?”, published in a property once owned by Mr. Ziff. The write up contains this passage:
Hopefully this un-American precedent will be reversed shortly. Meanwhile, the public should be outraged. Furthermore, for years, many writers have advocated for the idea that the Bill of Rights is outdated in the modern era and that journalists per se should be regulated. These people should be strongly rebuked. If we do not protect our rights, we lose them.
Sounds good. My thoughts are:
- The distinction between a “real” journalist, a run-of-the-mill journalist like those riffed from the Courier Journal a couple weeks ago, and bloggers is a fuzzy one indeed. Fuzziness leads to ambiguity, of which there are seven types.
- When “real” journals find a way to make money like the News Corp., the notion of behavior becomes somewhat plastic. Alleged criminal behavior seems to surface when some of the “real” journalists’ methods come to light. The run-of-the-mill journalists try to build a following or eek out an income doing whatever. I had one writer tell me he made more spreading mulch than producing content for my non-real information services.
- The folks who consume content do not know when a story is “real”, “shaded,” or flat out incorrect. The ability or willingness to dig in and determine facts, no matter how slippery, is eroding. The rush to “smart software” which tells a person what he or she needs to know is the next wave in information.
Bottom line: Say, hello, to murky. Do you know if the search results you get from Bing, Google, or Yandex are “accurate”? I didn’t think so. Assumptions are much easier than figuring out what is going on with “free” content no matter who produces it. I have not decided if I will post the paper I am giving at the Text Analytics Conference in San Francisco next week. The subject? Manipulating predictive systems by exploiting persistence, simplification, and sampling.
Stephen E Arnold, April 18, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Algorithms Can Deliver Skewed Results
April 18, 2012
After two days of lectures about the power of social media analytics, Stephen E Arnold raised doubts about the reliability of certain analytics outputs. He opined: “Faith in analytics may be misplaced.”
Arnold’s lecture focused on four gaps in social media analytics. He pointed out that many users were unaware of the trade offs in algorithm selection made by vendors’ programmers. Speaking at the Social Media Analytics Summit, he said:
Many companies purchase social media analytics reports without understanding that the questions answered by algorithms may not answer the customer’s actual question.
He continued:
The talk about big data leaves the impression that every item is analyzed and processed. The reality is that sampling methods, like the selection of numerical recipes can have a significant impact on what results become available.
The third gap, he added, “is that smart algorithms display persistence. With smart software, some methods predict a behavior and then look for that behavior because the brute force approach is computationally expensive and adds latency to a system.” He said:
Users assume results are near real time and comprehensive. The reality is that results are unlikely to be real time and built around mathematical methods which value efficiency and cleverness at the expense of more robust analytic methods. The characteristic is more pronounced in user friendly, click here type of systems than those which require to specify a method using SAS or SPSS syntax.”
The final gap is the distortion that affects outputs from “near term, throw forward biases.” Arnold said:
Modern systems are overly sensitive to certain short term content events. This bias is most pronounced when looking for emerging trend data. In these types of outputs the “now” data respond to spikes and users act on identified trends often without appropriate context.
The implication of these gaps is that outputs from some quite sophisticated systems can be misleading or present information as fact when that information has been shaped to a marketer’s purpose.
The Social Media Analytics conference was held in San Francisco, April 17 and 18, 2012. More information about the implications of these gaps may be found at the Augmentext.com Web site.
Donald C Anderson, April 18, 2012,
Sponsored by Pandia.com
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