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Mr. Google Goes to Washington

On Monday, December 14, 2009, I will be delivering a 10 minute talk about Google and its impact on the US government. Now I can’t cover too much in 10 minutes, but I want to hit three of the points I will be making. If you are in DC and want to hit the conference, you can get more information at http://government25.com/.

As an introduction, I want to point out that since Mr. Brin made his famous trip in sneakers and a black T shirt several years ago, the Google has leveled up. The Google’s presence sports quite a few folks who can get the Google story across. The top brass at Google also snag those nifty White House luggage tags and cuff links. So, Mr. Google has gone to Washington, and the Googlers are learning to play the Beltway game.

Three points:

First, most people—including Googlers like my pal Cyrus—don’t have a good sense of what Google’s reality is. The problem is like the one a fish has in a fish bowl. The larger world is mostly a blur. Details are tough to discern. The result is that Google can position itself as a Web search company for the masses or as a vital tool for defense mapping. It is quite difficult to locate a person who can express the “is-ness” of Google. The reason? Google’s top 200 wizards want to manage perception. Anyway, detailed explanations require a person to have a Googler’s intellect. Most of the people with that brainpower already work at Google. Therefore, why try to teach the average mobile device user the “is-ness” of Google?

Second, since 2006, the Google has been accelerating its push into various business sectors. You know about telecommunications. You know about content, mostly because the global publishing community has been asleep at the switch, allowing the Google shinkansen to blast on through without stopping. There are five or six other sectors largely unaware that Googzilla is on its way to their fertile fields. This means 2010 will witness more Google disruptions. So, fasten your seatbelt. If you work in one of the somnambulant sectors, get your résumé in order. Wal*Mart may be hiring.

Third, Google’s Lego approach to products and services means that Google can out-innovate most companies. Sure, there are a couple of outfits that have an edge on the Google. Example: Facebook. But in general, Google can move quickly which means that both competitors, customers, and partners are almost always off balance. The lack of balance means that the Google can do pretty much whatever it wants. Once folks react, the Google has moved forward. The opportunities just keep on coming while competitors waste time, resources, and energy trying to deal with where Google has been.

Bottomline: Google is going to have a major impact on the US government starting with the fiscal year beginning on October 1, 2010. In a word: unstoppable.

Stephen E. Arnold, December 14, 2009

I wish to disclose to the USGS that Google is like the San Andreas fault. The Google runs through seven business sectors, not California. Oh, I was not paid by the sponsor of this conference to give a talk. We did a horse trade or a goose trade. I suppose this means I was compensated to think up this analysis, give a talk, and write this self-serving, tongue-in-cheek article. So be it. I am a shameless shill for myself.

Government 2.5: Traditional Information Technology Evolves

I have just returned from my endnote at the International Online Conference in London. On December 14, 2009, I will be taking one of the 10 trends for 2010 from my London UK talk and expanding on the idea of dataspaces, not databases. Most governmental entities are anchored in traditional database technology. Although state of the art in the 1970s, the RDBMS framework is ill suited for the rigors of Government 2.5 information.

I will be attending the CoolBlue Government 2.5 conference in Washington, DC, on December 14 and 15, 2009. You can get full details about the conference from the program’s Web site.

You can get a glimpse of what’s in my talk. Just search this Web log for the term “dataspace”, and you will get some background information. The dataspace technology is one of Google’s crown jewels, and it a core capability little known outside of a small circle of wizards. You can see a tiny fragment of the dataspace technology in action if you navigate to the Google Wave information page and do some exploration.

My remarks created quite a stir in London on Thursday, December 3, 2009, and I anticipate a similar reaction in Washington on December 14, 2009. Googlers are largely unaware of the dataspace technology, how it embraces the Google programmable search engine, and the company’s push to become the Semantic Web.

I will be linking these technologies to likely government use cases. If you want to talk after the event, just write me at seaky2000 at yahoo dot com. I will make time to visit with Government 2.5 attendees.

Stephen Arnold, December 7, 2009

Oyez, oyez, I want to alert the mayor of Washington, DC, that I was not paid to write this blatant self promotion or mention the CoolBlue conference. I think the conference’s PR manager will buy me a Diet Pepsi. I have my Web feet crossed.

London Online: The Missing Trends

The endnote at the International Online Conference succeeded in getting insightful comments from the panelists and eliciting probing questions from the audience. The downside was that the 90 minute session covered four of the 10 trends advertised in the program. The four trends discussed in the endnote were rising Google pressure, more use of XML, a surge in rich media for core information exchange, and more security safety nets with increased user surveillance likely.

In response to several emails from attendees, here are the missing six trends:

Trend 5: Libraries will be under increasing budget pressure. As a result, interest in lower-cost, cloud-based solutions will rise sharply in 2010. One consequence will more financial woes for library vendors, including commercial database producers.

Trend 6: More demands for timely data. Although not real-time indexing and content delivery, the newer services will strive to reduce latency (staleness) of information available to users in an organization.

Trend 7: Mobile search will become more important. The impact on the length of certain types of textual information will be significant. Those without fast network connections will be unable to access the rich media that will become a larger percentage of the information on offer.

Trend 8: Even if the economic climate improves in 2010, there will be increasing financial pressure on information, search, and content processing companies. Content management and enterprise search vendors will be particularly vulnerable. Neither CMS nor search can “explain” precisely their benefits so marketing, not technical excellence will mean the difference between survival and a buy out or extinction.

Trend 9: Open source will gain traction. Traditional vendors will have to deal with the financial and technical payoffs open source offers. In some organizations, open source will become an acceptable alternative to certain software systems. At the same time, open source vendors will monetize their services. Confusion and contention will increase.

Trend 10: Regulation will become more oppressive. In 2010, the Wild West of the Internet will be brought under the control of the authorities.

Have a trend to add? Use the comments feature of this Web log.

Stephen Arnold, December 6, 2009

Yep, I was paid to be at the Incisive show by Incisive. Nope, I was not paid to write my view of the trends in 2010. Deal with it.

MarkLogic and Its XML Briefing Draw Crowds at London Online

Usually I ignore the exhibit areas at trade shows. I don’t know anyone any longer, and the average age of most of the people in the booths is about one third of my 65 years. I did make a sweep through the Incisive International Online Show but I had my progress impeded yesterday. The reason was that the MarkLogic briefings given every hour or so created a mini-traffic jam.

Overflow crowds participated in the MarkLogic technical briefings at the International Online Show, December 1 to 3, 2009, in London, UK.

The briefings drew crowds that overflowed the space allocated for attendees. I asked one of the XML wizards, “What’s with the big crowd?” The MarkLogic wizard replied, “Our MarkLogic server briefing is selling like cold drinks at a football match.” MarkLogic knows its XML and its metaphors. The interest in XML MarkLogic style makes clear that where there is technical magnetism, there is a crowd.

Stephen Arnold, December 4, 2009

I want to disclose to the Food & Drug Administration that I was not paid by MarkLogic to write this article. I was not able to get a booth giveaway when I stopped to ask about the reason for the interest in the XML server lectures. I have to find a way to get some cash for my photographic expertise.

Louisville Meet Up Lights Up Ali Center

ArnoldIT.com’s TheSeed2020 meet up for women- and minority-owned businesses was a hit. The event, held at the Muhammad Ali Center in downtown Louisville, Kentucky – attracted more than 80 people. The purpose of the event was to explore the effectiveness of social media marketing. The ArnoldIT.com team – Stuart Adams, Esq., Don Anderson, Constance Ard, Shaun Livingston, Keisha Mabry, Rob Redmon, Tony Safina, and Stuart Schram – used Facebook.com, Twitter.com, and email to announce the event.  The event’s Web site was produced using the SquareSpace.com service. You can look at the information about the events and peruse each of the presentations at http://www.theseed2020.com. A short video about the event will be made available in the next two weeks and posted on the ArnoldIT.com Web site.

Dr. Emeka Akaezuwa and Tess (ArnoldIT.com’s SharePoint expert) argue about the technical nuances of SQL Server 10.

I noted a number of presentations that were outstanding. I want to highlight Dr. Emeka Akaezuwa’s talk about the principles that have guided him through his operation of the successful Gaviri Technologies software company and his role in the Global Literacy Project. The crowd listened with rapt attention as Dr. Akaezuwa described his journey from Nigeria to his PhD in computer science from Rutgers University to his running a software company, raising a family, and working one month each year in Africa to make it possible for children to learn to read. More information about Dr. Akaezuwa’s company Gaviri is here. Information about the GLP foundation is here. Among many wonderful talks, his set a benchmark at TheSeed2020. I was disappointed that local Louisville business reporters did not avail themselves of the opportunity to speak with Dr. Akaezuwa and other presenters at this event. Their loss in my opinion.

Some of the ArnoldIT.com team. Back row, left to right: Keisha Mabry, MBA and Constance Ard, MLS. Front row, left to right: Don Anderson, Dr. Emeka Akaezuwa, and Stuart Adams, Esq.

Key findings from the event were:

1. Social media is as labor intensive as more traditional marketing methods. With carefully tailored social media messages, it is possible to reach a larger number of potential attendees than with more traditional methods.
2. The cost of mounting a social media campaign is the time required to prepare the various messages and materials. An organization jumping into social media marketing without the skill and appropriate human resources may find that the new tools may not be an automatic home run. The ArnoldIT.com motto “Nothing worthwhile comes easy” is a message to consider.
3. The people tracking social media messages who attend the event are definitely technically aware and computer oriented. The companies represented at the event had individuals in their firm who understood and used social media. One surprise was that a number of the conversations among attendees were about information, search, and online marketing. The program was designed to represent a wide range of businesses, technology was a unifying factor among the audience.
4. Sponsors who expect a traditional trade show set up will have to learn new ways of engaging attendees. The emphasis was upon face-to-face conversations and a good social presence. Wall flowers are as forlorn in a meet as they were as at a grade school dance. Attendees were engaging. The two sponsors of the program were out of their element.
5. Attendees appreciated the opportunity to learn and network. Unlike traditional trade shows where grousing is the conference sport, the attendees at this event were enthusiastic. One person told me that the evening was “fun”; another said, “Joyful”. I learned that these comments made me happy to have had the opportunity to support the event.

One attendee—a minority, female PhD in point of fact—point out that there was a single male minority giving a speech. There were two guys. I suppose I will have to muster the strength speak to Ms Ard and Ms Mabry about their bias toward smart, high-powered, successful females.

To wrap up, ArnoldIT.com has refined its social media communications methods. If your firm wants to move forward with a well-organized, effective meet up, contact seaky2000 at yahoo dot com. The managers of the ArnoldIT.com meet up service are Keisha Mabry, MBA, and Constance Ard, MLS.

I will post a link to the video for the event when it becomes available.

Stephen Arnold, November 5, 2009

I paid myself to write this article about my own business. I even pay the people whom I thanked for their outstanding work. To whom do I report this crass marketing work? Maybe I can email the White House. In case this is not clear, this post is an advertisement, a pitch, a shameless effort to hype my colleagues, and a boastful message about a job well done. Too bad the Louisville business associations could not make this type of business program part of their agenda. Guess those outfits are too busy with more important activities than highlighting individuals who are thriving in a lousy economy. Ooops. I am supposed to disclose, not criticize the status quo. Wow, I am sorry.

The Seed 2020 Meet Up in Louisville

I try to avoid visibility in Louisville, Kentucky. Two of the ArnoldIT.com team and I attended a meet up in Louisville and noticed two things: most of the presenters looked like members of the Norwegian men’s bobsled team and there were not minorities giving talks. Arpan Patel and I then attended a meet up in Washington, DC, the following week. Same experience. This time it was the Swedish men’s hockey team giving talks. What’s wrong with this picture, we asked. The answer was that the events did not have any women-owned or minority-owned businesses and start ups on the program. That struck me and my colleagues as weirdly out of phase with the Obama administration and its efforts to promote diversity and openness.

I concluded that ArnoldIT.com should step forward and make an attempt to showcase women-owned and minority-owned businesses. I decided to fund the event and put two of my top performing geese on the job. The result is Seed2020, a free meet up focused exclusively on showcasing interesting women-owned and minority-owned businesses. The purpose of the meet up is to make contacts, learn about companies, and advance the Obama administration’s vision.

This meet up is on for November 4, 2009. Doors open at the Muhammad Ali Center at 6 pm and everyone is out of the building before 9:01 pm. The program consists of 10 presentations by owners / founders of women owned and minority owned businesses. You can get details at the Web site we set up for the event. The site went live this morning, and we will be adding content as we march toward the event.

The meet up wranglers are members of the ArnoldIT.com team. Constance Ard, a law librarian who has been working as a project manager for ArnoldIT.com for more than a year.

Constance Ard, MLS

And co wrangler is Keisha Mabry, MBA, and a recent graduate of the University of Louisville.

Keisha Mabry, MBA

We have confirmed some folks to give talks; for example, Emeka Akaezuwa, whom we interviewed for our Search Wizards Speak series earlier this year. Dr. Akaezuwa lives in New Jersey and we thought that his giving a talk about his search software company would be useful to the Louisville crowd. He also founded a charity that provides books and computer training to children in Africa. You can read his biography here. Also on the program is Toni Steinhauer, who runs a successful programming and software development company in Louisville. Toni is a graduate of the Speed School’s engineering program. (One of the ArnoldIT.com is an advisor to the University of Louisville’s technology programs, and we have be a strong supporter of the engineering and computer science department’s intern program for many years.)

Emeka Akaezuwa, Gaviri Technologies Inc.

The Web site makes it easy for a woman-owned or minority-owned company to contact Constance and Keisha. Navigate to the “Propose a Talk” page and provide the information we need. We will follow up with you and discuss your submission. If you are not a woman or a minority, you can submit a presentation and we will place those in the pool of speakers.

Here are the details of the free meet up:

When
November 4, 6 pm to 9 pm

Where
Muhammad Ali Center, 114 N. Sixth Street

What
Presentations by local women owned and minority owned
businesses, a guest speaker, and networking opportunity

Why
There is not enough of this type of networking activity in
our opinion.  And we want this event to be a way to
make business happen and get ideas flowing
among motivated individuals.

How
Sponsored by Stephen E. Arnold, ArnoldIT.com

Cost
None, free but registration strongly recommended

We do have a sponsor. The Louis T Roth & Co., P LLC, one of the largest regional accounting and professional services firms in the US stepped forward to support this free event. The former managing partner is usually skeptical of Stephen E. Arnold’s ideas, but he said, “This sounds like a great idea. We’re on board.” If you need accounting services in Kentucky or Indiana, ping the Roth outfit.

The organization of the program is designed to facilitate meeting people, networking, and having an opportunity to talk with the people giving six minute “elevator pitches” about their company or start up. Before the crowd is sent home, ArnoldIT.com has donated a new Zune HD which will be awarded to one of the attendees.

If this first program is a success, we want to talk with readers who may want to host a similar event in their city. For more information, navigate to TheSeed2020. Hope to see you at the event.

Stephen Arnold, October 1, 2009

Obama, Google, and Bridges

On September 23, 2009, I will be participating in a two hour program “Change 2010: Responding to Real Time Information, Open Systems and the Obama IT Vision”. The program is sponsored by Somat Engineering, a diversified technology company located in Detroit, Michigan. The purpose of the program is to explore ways the US government can tap into Google technology without disrupting Federal agencies’ existing information technology infrastructure.

“The Obama administration’s push towards transparency and more open government means that Federal information technology managers need to explore more open systems,” said Arpan Patel, Director of Somat Engineering’s Information Engineering practice.  “There is a compelling need to understand the differences and bridge the gaps between traditional methods of information management and the increasingly fast propagation of open methods.”

The first segment is “Open Systems and Existing Architectures: Engineering to Control Costs and Enabling Dataspaces.” Arpan Patel, director of Somat’s information engineering practice in DC, will discuss the basics of quantifying the costs and time required for system integration.   The presentation will feature Somat’s TechCrunch50 recognized collaboration software Ripply, which uses dataspace technology to eliminate the “where is that latest document/message/response problem” that most organizations and working groups face.  For more information about Somat, visit http://tech.somateng.com<http://tech.somateng.com/>.

Robert D. Steele, an expert in open source intelligence, will address the need for decision makers to plug into the flows of real time information that are now widely available. Mr. Steele has been active in a range of government intelligence initiatives, and he is the CEO of OSS Inc. and founder of the Marine Corps Intelligence Center, as well as creator of the global expeditionary analysis analytic model, will connect the dots between internal knowledge management, external social networking grids such as Facebook and Twitter, external offline information and non-English information, as well as the creation of Organizational Intelligence, or access to and exploitation of All Information in All Languages All the Time, the title of his third book.  Mr. Steele will map four steps to “build a bridge” between these information sources.  For more information about Mr. Steele, visit http://www.tinyurl.com/RDSTEELE.

Jim Orris, director of Adhere Solutions, the Google partner responsible for US Federal government sales, will review Google’s solutions for information integration and crafting more open solutions using Google’s platform and Web services to hook into traditional systems using Google compatible connectors and software.  More information about Adhere Solutions is available from the firm’s Web site. Adhere Solutions is one of the focal points for Google’s US government activities. Adhere Solutions provides a wide range of engineering and consulting services for the Google Search Appliance, Google applications, and Google’s cloud services.

The event is hosted by Ram Ramanujam, President of Somat Engineering, an award winning, 8(a) technical services firm, headquartered in Detroit, MI, with offices in the US and abroad.

I accepted the invitation to be the facilitator for the question and answer session following the presentations.

The formal 60 minute program will deliver actionable information for all organizations. The program begins at 9:30 am with coffee and tea.  Registration is $25.  Registrations are accepted at http://bit.ly/ObamaITVisionBriefing.

Readers of this Web log will be admitted without charge. To take advantage of this offer, write seaky2000 at yahoo dot com. Space is limited in the National Press Club facility.

Stephen Arnold, September 17, 2009

The Gilbane Lecture: Google Wave as One Environmental Factor

Author’s note: In early June 2009, I gave a talk to about 50 attendees of the Gilbane content management systems conference in San Francisco. When I tried to locate the room in which I was to speak, the sign in team could not find me on the program. After a bit of 30 something “we’re sure we’re right” outputs, the organizer of the session located me and got me to the room about five minutes late. No worries because the Microsoft speaker was revved and ready.

When my turn came, I fired through my briefing in 20 minutes and plopped down, expecting no response from the audience. Whenever I talk about the Google, I am greeted with either blank stares or gentle snores. I was surprised because I did get several questions. I may have to start arriving late and recycling more old content. Seems to be a winner formula.

This post is a summary of my comments. I will hit the highlights. If you want more information about this topic, you can get it by searching this Web log for the word “Wave”, buying the IDC report No. 213562 Sue Feldman and I did last September, or buying a copy of Google: The Digital Gutenberg. If you want to grouse about my lack of detail, spare me. This is a free Web log that serves a specific purpose for me. If you are not familiar with my editorial policy, take a moment to get up to speed. Keep in mind I am not a journalist, don’t pretend to be one, and don’t want to be included in the occupational category.

Here’s we go with my original manuscript written in UltraEdit from which I gave my talk on June 5, 2009, in San Francisco:

For the last two years, I have been concluding my Google briefings with a picture of a big wave. I showed the wave smashing a skin cancer victim, throwing surfer dude and surf board high into the air. I showed the surfer dude riding inside the “tube”. I showed pictures of waves smashing stuff. I quite like the pictures of tsunami waves crushing fancy resorts, sending people in sherbert colored shirts and beach wear running for their lives.

Yep, wave.

Now Google has made public why I use the wave images to explain one of the important capabilities Google is developing. Today, I want to review some features of what makes the wave possible. Keep in mind that the wave is a consequence of deeper geophysical forces. Google operates at this deeper level, and most people find themselves dealing with the visible manifestations of the company’s technical physics.

Source: http://www.toocharger.com/fiches/graphique/surf/38525.htm

This is important for enterprise search for three reasons. First, search is a commodity and no one, not even I, find key word queries useful. More sophisticated information retrieval methods are needed on the “surface” and in the deeper physics of the information factory. Second, Google is good at glacial movement. People see incremental actions that are separated in time and conceptual space. Then these coalesce and the competitors say, “Wow, where did that come from?” Google Wave, the present media darling, is a superficial development that combines a number of Google technologies. It is not the deep geophysical force, however. Third, Google has a Stalin-era type of planning horizon. Think in terms of five years, then you have the timeline on which to plot Google developments. Wave, in fact, is more than three years old if you start when Google bought a company called Transformics, older if you dig into the background of the Transformics technology and some other components Google snagged in the last five years. Keep that time thing in mind.

First, key word search is at a dead end. I have been one of the most vocal critics of key word search and variants of that approach. When someone says, “Key word search is what we need,” I reply, “Search is dead.” In my mind, I add, “So is your future in this organization.” I keep my parenthetical comment to myself.

Users need information access, not a puzzle to solve in order to open the information lock box. In fact, we have now entered the era of “data anticipation”, a phrase I borrowed from SAS, the statistics outfit. We have to view search in terms of social analytics because human interactions provide important metadata not otherwise obtainable by search, semantic, or linguistic technology. I will give you an example of this to make this type of metadata crystal clear.

You work at Enron. You get an email about creating a false transaction. You don’t take action but you forward the email to your boss and then ignore the issue. When Enron collapsed, the “fact” that you knew and did nothing when you first knew and subsequently is used to make a case that you abetted fraud. You say, “I sent the email to my boss.” From your prison cell, you keep telling your attorney the same thing. Doesn’t matter. The metadata about what you did to that piece of information through time put your tail feather in a cell with a biker convicted of third degree murder and a prior for aggravated assault.

Got it?

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Arnold at NFAIS: Google Books, Scholar, and Good Enough

Speaker’s introduction: The text that appears below is a summary of my remarks at the NFAIS Conference on June 26, 2009, in Philadelphia. I talk from notes, not a written manuscript, but it is my practice to create a narrative that summarizes my main points. I have reproduced this working text for readers of this Web log. I find that it is easier to put some of my work in a Web log than it is to create a PDF and post that version of a presentation on my main Web site, www.arnoldit.com. I have skipped the “who I am” part of the talk and jump into the core of the presentation.

Stephen Arnold, June 26, 2009

In the past, epics were a popular form of entertainment. Most of you have read the Iliad, possibly Beowulf, and some Gilgamesh. One convention is that these complex literary constructs begin in the middle or what my grade school teacher call “In media res.”

That’s how I want to begin my comments about Google’s scanning project – an epic — usually referred to as Google Books. Then I want to go back to the beginning of the story and then jump ahead to what is happening now. I will close with several observations about the future. I don’t work for Google, and my efforts to get Google to comment on topics are ignored. I am not an attorney, so my remarks have zero legal foundation. And I am not a publisher. I write studies about information retrieval. To make matters even more suspect, I do my work from rural Kentucky. From that remote location, I note the Amazon is concerned about Google Books, probably because Google seeks to enter the eBook sector. This story is good enough; that is, in a project so large, so sweeping perfection is not possible. Pages are skewed. Insects scanned. Coverage is hit and miss. But what other outfit is prepared to spend to scan books?

Let’s begin in the heat of the battle. Google is fighting a number things. Google finds itself under scrutiny from publishers and authors. These are the entities with whom Google signed a “truce” of sorts regarding the scanning of books. Increasingly libraries have begun to express concern that Google may not be doing the type of preservation job to keep the source materials in a suitable form for scholars. Regulators have taken an interest in the matter because of the publicity swirling around a number of complicated business and legal issues.

These issues threaten Google with several new challenges.

Since its founding in 1998, Google has enjoyed what I would call positive relationships with users, stakeholders, and most of its constituents. The Google Books’ matter is now creating what I would describe as “rising tension”. If the tension escalates, a series of battles can erupt in the legal arena. As you know, battle is risky when two heroes face off in a sword fight. Fighting in a legal arena is in some ways more risky and more dangerous.

Second, the friction of these battles can distract Google from other business activities. Google, as some commentators, including myself in Google: The Digital Gutenberg may be vulnerable to new types of information challenges. One example is Google’s absence from the real time indexing sector where Facebook, Twitter, Scoopler.com, and even Microsoft seem to be outpacing Google. Distractions like the Google Books matter could exclude Google from an important new opportunity.

Finally, Google’s approach to its projects is notable because the scope of the project makes it hard for most people to comprehend. Scanning books takes exabytes of storage. Converting images to ASCII, transforming the text (that is, adding structure tags), and then indexing the content takes a staggering amount of computing resources.

Inputs to outputs, an idea that was shaped between 1999 to 2001. © Stephen E. Arnold, 2009

Google has been measured and slow in its approach. The company works with large libraries, provides copies of the scanned material to its partners, and has tried to keep moving forward. Microsoft and Yahoo, database publishers, the Library of Congress, and most libraries have ceded the scanning of books work to Google.

Now Google finds itself having to juggle a large number of balls.

Now let’s go back in time.

I have noticed that most analysts peg Google Books’s project as starting right before the initial public offering in 2004. That’s not what my research has revealed. Google’s interest in scanning the contents of books reaches back to 2000.

In fact, an analysis of Google’s patent documents and technical papers for the period from 1998 to 2003 reveals that the company had explored knowledge bases, content transformation, and mashing up information from a variety of sources. In addition, the company had examined various security methods, including methods to prevent certain material from being easily copied or repurposed.

The idea, which I described in my The Google Legacy (which I wrote in 2003 and 2004 with publication in early 2005) was to gather a range of information, process that information using mathematical methods in order to produce useful outputs like search results for users and generate information about the information. The word given to describe value added indexing is metadata. I prefer the less common but more accurate term meta indexing.

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Twitter Link Indexing

Today after my talk at the Gilbane content management conference in San Francisco, a person mentioned that Twitter was indexing links in Tweets. I said that I included this information in my Twitter Web log posts. But when I looked at my posts, I found that I had not been explicit. You can get more info at http://www.domaintweeter.com.

Stephen Arnold, June 5, 2009

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  Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.
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