Open Access Puts Publishers Out Of Work
January 29, 2013
The Internet is a wonderful resource, offering researchers the ability to information that they would never have had access to before. It also makes it easier to access databases (if you have subscription), but one problem that has come up concerns the publishers. Nature has the news on, “Mathematicians Aim To Take Publishers Out of Publishing.” The Episciences Project is run by a group of mathematicians with the goal to launch free open access journals that will electronically publish their peer-reviewed articles. The goal is that researchers will be able to get their work reviewed and published at a very low cost. The main goal is to offer mathematicians access to a bigger research community without having to rely on commercial journals.
“Many mathematicians — and researchers in other fields — claim that they already do most of the work involved in publishing their research. At no cost, they type up and format their own papers, post them to online servers, join journal editorial boards and review the work of their peers. By creating journals that publish links to peer-reviewed work on servers such as arXiv, Demailly says, the community could run its own publishing system. The extra expense involved would be the cost of maintaining websites and computer equipment…”
The Episciences Project is starting small, but the more prominent mathematicians join the more recognition it will gain in the academic community. The good news is that it makes it easier and cheaper to write a research paper, but the bad news is that trusted journals will fall out of favor.
Whitney Grace, January 29, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Elsevier Moves More Quickly than Its Competitors
January 24, 2013
Well, quite a surprise for a giant, traditional, print-centric outfit. Elsevier may be gearing up to put a head lock on ProQuest (high dollar databases) and Ebsco (databases with stunning names). Both of these competitors, along with outfits like Ovid are trying to adapt to a world in which libraries have to decide between paying the electric bills and licensing six and seven figure online databases. Can these companies continue to grow and generate profits.
Some say, “Yes.” Others say, “Not a chance.”
I am indifferent to the plight of this market sector. Isn’t everything a modern person requires available on a free Web system? If not, do today’s researchers care? With made up results and marketing taking the place of thinking, I am okay with the Google type system. The students whom I know are even more fond of Google than I am.
However, Elsevier may be hip to the new direction in revenue direction. I read “Elsevier Acquires Knovel, Provider of Web-based Productivity Application for the Engineering Community.” Knovel had funding from what I think of as venture sherpas. The K2 task was to develop a different type of electronic information which served specific market needs and warranted real dough. Think thousands for a “content object,” not $0.50 an abstract.
Elsevier, modestly described as “a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services,” acquired Knovel. No misspelling. Just some cute word play which may be lost on some recent college graduates.
Knovel is an electronic publisher which recycles high value content and adds value. Here’s how Knovel describes its “live PDF” innovation:
Knovel is the leading online technical reference resource for 3 reasons. First, Knovel locates more potentially relevant answers in a collection. Second, Knovel is better at quickly narrowing the potential answers to those most relevant to your search. Third, Knovel has interactive tables and graphs to help engineers use and export relevant data, making Knovel so much more than just e-books. (See http://why.knovel.com/company/about-knovel.html)
The key point is number three. The PDF instance allows the reader to plug in data and get an output. Think a baby version of Mathematica for civil engineers and others of their ilk. The idea is that an engineering text can be interacted with.
Elsevier has fired blanks in the electronic publishing sector for years. I won’t wander through the history of Elsevier, but I would like to give the company a happy quack for what looks like a reasonably good move.
How will Elsevier’s competitors respond? Raising prices is one option. Talking about doing bold actions may be another. At some point, fresh thinking and reaching for new opportunities will be necessary. Otherwise, there will be one or two commercial database outfits, one or two database aggregators, and one or two sources of professional content. Once that consolidation takes place, the revenues will be under severe pressure from folks who get advertisers to foot the bill for online information.
In short, nice move Elsevier. Time for the ProQuests and the Ebsco to do something which pumps up the top line in a meaningful and returns a healthy profit to the companies’ stakeholders. Even rich people want a return.
Stephen E Arnold, January 24, 2013
Datamatics Picks Up Important Technology from TEMIS in Strategic Partnership
January 3, 2013
Another partnership in the IT and knowledge management realm has been announced. Datamatics Global Services has decided to create a strategic alliance with TEMIS, a provider of semantic content enrichment solutions. We learned more about this alliance in the article from Semantic Web called “Datamatics Partners with TEMIS.”
As for existing clients, the Digital Publishing Solutions division at Datamatics offers next generation digital solutions to several top publishing houses around the world. The semantically enriched content solutions from TEMIS will enable users to intelligently work with and share increasing volumes of information.
Michael Thuleweit, Managing Director of Datamatics in Europe commented in the article:
“Semantically enriching content enhances the ability to discover, navigate and analyze the most relevant content. Today, this is an essential part of the modern digital publishing workflows. Through our partnership with TEMIS for semantic content enrichment, we will be able to help our customers attract new visitors, differentiate their products and also engage with them with a personalized experience.”
Semantic enrichment is an important aspect to a suite of technology tools that claims to be next-generation. It seems like the folks at Datamatics know what they are doing to strike up a partnership with such a company.
Megan Feil, January 03, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com developer of Augmentext
Some Factoids
December 19, 2012
For a number of years, I have exchanged emails with a person known as “yachts.” In our last exchange, Yachts sent me these factoids.
- Every minute more than 1,649,305 tweets get shared.
- Every minute more than 3,472,225 photos get added to Facebook.
- Every minute more than 2,060 brand new blogs are created.
- Every minute more than 52,488 minutes of video are added to YouTube.
- Every minute more than 31,510 new articles are created by an online newspaper.
- Every minute more than 3,645,833,340 new spam emails are delivered online.
Accurate? Who knows. Interesting? You bet.
Stephen E Arnold, December 19, 2012
At $6,000 This Search Report Is an Autonomy Scale Deal
December 8, 2012
I received a promotional link to the bargain basement enterprise search report, which is hot off the press from Research and Markets. The report “Global Enterprise Search Market” reveals:
At present, the global enterprise search market is in a state of transition on account of the massive consolidation activities in the market in 2010-12. The growing relevance of Big Data has made enterprise search highly valuable. The concept is not restricted to any one vertical as diverse end-user segments are witnessing an explosion of data, all of which has to be navigated through and used optimally for making informed business decisions. It also optimally utilizes resources that exist within the organization – if you can’t find it, you can’t use it. With customers developing a clearer understanding of their enterprise search needs, the solutions too are expected to evolve in tandem.
The contents include:
- Executive Summary
- Market Overview
- Enterprise Search Market
- External Challenges: Drivers and Restraints
- Forecasts and Trends
- Market Share and Competitive Analysis- Total Market
- Market and Technical Trends
- On-premise Segment Breakdown
- Cloud Segment Breakdown
- Hot Company Watchlist
- The Last Word
- Appendix
Hop to buying this report. We are confident that the analysis goes way Beyond Search. Even better, the report contains the last word. Is it Omega?
Stephen E Arnold, December 8, 2012
Dow Jones and MarkLogic Search
December 5, 2012
I remember learning from one of MarkLogic’s marketing professionals that MarkLogic was one of the following an enterprise search system, a big data system, and an analytics system. The person who briefed me before I cut my ties to the company asserted that MarkLogic XML Server was still part of the plumbing, but the company was moving into important new market segments. XML, I concluded, was not as hot a marketing hook as other buzzwords.
I just learned via a spam PR message that Dow Jones is going to deliver a “new generation of user experience” using MarkLogic technology. The XML server part of MarkLogic seems to be unimportant. MarkLogic, therefore, is now an experience delivering machine.
That’s okay with me. With vendors like Vivisimo morphing into “Big Data” players or search vendors like Coveo becoming customer relationship management specialists, I take a broad view.
However, the slicing-and-dicing capability of an XML data management system can boost some types of information processing services. On the other hand, the XQuery language and the verbose nature of XML adds some spice to the mix.
Companies who embrace the XML slice-and-dice thing often generate so many variants of the information that confusion results. Examples range from “auto generated textbooks” to the wild and crazy product line up from Thomson Reuters.
Dow Jones, a traditional publishing company, has reorganized. In its new fit and finish, Dow Jones wants to generate substantive revenue from its various digital products and services. Will MarkLogic trigger a flood of new revenue? This story is one I want to watch. Dow Jones has been in the online business for a long time. Last time I checked Consumer Reports’ online service was outperforming Mr. Murdoch’s property.
With new content players gaining traction, MarkLogic may be Dow Jones last heroic effort to shift from the BRS search approach that has dogged the company for many years. MarkLogic, on the other hand, has to find a way to meet its investors’ expectations for revenue growth. The target, last I heard, was north of $150 million which may be $200 million or more by now. Licensing XML tools to traditional publishing companies may not do the trick. Just my humble opinion offered from rural Kentucky where I am lucky if my hard copy of the Wall Street Journal arrives each day. The longest journey begins with a single step. Perhaps the path circles endlessly through traditional publishing?
Stephen E Arnold, December 4, 2012
Real Journalists and the Daily iPad App
December 3, 2012
Short honk: Publishing companies are good at selling ads, working distribution systems, and creating content for a known audience. I want to ad that these three capabilities work best in the world of paper, educated readers, and business processes set up around the time of Gutenberg.
Creating online success stories is a different kettle of fish. One can’t even wrap the old fish in newsprint any longer. That tells me something.
I read “News Corp. Shutters The Daily iPad App.” Launched with much fanfare a couple of years ago, another “real” journalism outfit has steered its high-tech digital speedboat into a reef. I learned from the article:
The app was initially hampered by technical problems, but the Daily’s key issue was a conceptual one. While the app boasted lots of digital bells and whistles, in the end it was very much a general interest newspaper that seemed to be geared toward people who didn’t really like newspapers. You can’t make that work no matter what kind of platform it uses. The real surprise would have been if News Corp. had found a way to keep the Daily around, since the tablet newspaper’s fate was essentially sealed this summer, when the corporate split was announced.
I think this is a gentle description of another real journalist goof. I am 68 and have worked at a couple of pretty good publishing outfits when paper was king. The ability to use an app and to talk about an app are different from delivering a winner. Paper is one world. Digital is another world. Different in my opinion. Dinosaurs don’t like snow but think the thaw is coming. Did not happen based on what I read.
Stephen E Arnold, December 3, 2012
Print is Dead but Journalism is Still Alive
November 20, 2012
Print media is going down, while digital media continues to grow. Big news moguls have been commenting that anyone with a computer or phone can be a reporter, but that leads into the quantity vs. quality argument. But with the digital media onslaught, new tools have entered the journalism world that makes the field better. Computer World makes note of a new tool in “Open Source Spotlight: How DocumentCloud Adds Depth to Digital Journalism.”
DocumentCloud is an open source product designed for the Internet journalist or college student. It provides bibliographic information, annotation tools, and a Cloud where it can be added a primary source document. DocumentCloud was made for journalist by journalists and it is already being used by many top news Web sites. As an open source project, DocumentCloud is powered by:
“Behind the scenes the project is driven by software including Apache’s Solr/Lucene search platform. DocumentCloud also uses the Tesseract OCR engine developed by HP and open sourced in 2005. “We, in turn, have been giving back to the open source community as well,” Pilhofer says.”
Since the open source community prides itself on sharing, DocumentCloud shares every line of code. Journalism and technology have always worked hand and hand, though print and digital fight each other. DocumentCloud closes the barrier for any reluctant technology users. The DocumentCloud team takes advantage of the Apache Lucene search, much like how LucidWorks did for its search applications. LucidWorks uses Apache Lucene to power its powerful and trusted enterprise and Big Data search products.
Whitney Grace, November 20, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Thomson Reuters: A Precarious Time
November 3, 2012
Last year a slightly off kilter outfit asked me to take a look at Thomson Reuters. At the time we did the work, Thomson Reuters was in the midst of reorganization, an on-again, off-again sale of its health and medial unit (fraud not content), and the pressure from some feisty competitors like BloombergBusinessweek. In my write up, I had used the phrase “eating Thomson Reuters’ lunch” but that was a bit too colorful for those paying the bill.
I read this morning (Saturday, November 3, 2012) the story “Thomson Reuters Battles Slow Sales.” You can find this story in the dead tree edition of the Wall Street Journal, page B4 with the interesting date, November 3-4, 2012. An online version may be available, but you can get the basics of the Thomson Reuters’ situation in this Reuters’ news story, “Thomson Reuters Operating Profit Down, Trading Pressured.” If you want the details with some management polish, check out “Thomson Reuters Management Discusses Q3 2012 Results – Earnings Call Transcript.”
The main idea is that Thomson Reuters is continuing to miss its financial targets. In our 2011 analysis, we identified a number of factors which signaled future difficulties for the company. Among these was the failure of the “synergies” asserted about the marriage of Thomson and Reuters. We also pointed out that Thomson Reuters has a number of communication challenges. Among these are explaining to customers what products and services do and how they differ from other Thomson Reuters’ products, getting messages about the company’s products and services for the financial community through to customers as outfits like BloombergBusinessweek continue to gain traction, and internally among the mind boggling number of units and divisions within the firm. I am not revealing the “good stuff” we identified, but there are some other challenges too.
My view is that with each passing month, Thomson Reuters is slipping. A year ago, drastic action was needed. Now, after one year since we finalized our report, the company’s troubles seem to be growing. What must the company do to make its stakeholders feel secure in their investment?
One answer is electronic products. The precarious situation for Thomson Reuters is that electronic products and services are not producing. Print services continue to be pressured. Now there may be no clear path to growth going forward. Westlaw’s nifty search system is not delivering the anticipated results either. Precarious indeed.
Stephen E Arnold, November 3, 2012
Arnold Google Column Moved to Citizentekk
October 29, 2012
My Google column was the idea of KMWorld, an Information Today publication. After a year and a half, Hugh McKellar suggested I shift to a broader palette of enterprise semantic topics. About a year and a half ago, I had a conversation with a manager at IMI Publishing in London. Since my heart attack, I have submitted columns and then had to endure long delays in the editorial and administrative processed. I have now moved my Google column to Beth Kindig, who has started an electronic publication http://www.citizentekk.com/. Starting in November 2012, you will find my Google column at this new Web address. I am in the process of revisiting the entire series of Google columns, updating some of the information, and adding new interpretations of Google’s enterprise activities. I am working with Ms. Kindig to make available a free copy of my monograph The New Landscape of Enterprise Search for her readers who want to receive my limited distribution newsletter Honk. Honk is explained at this link. I will run a short item about getting the free monograph from her site once I have that information.
Stephen E Arnold, October 29, 2012
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