Protected: Microsoft Debugger Download Available: DebugDiag 1.2
September 23, 2011
Hlava on Indexing, Metadata, and Findability
September 1, 2011
On August 31, 2011, I spoke with Margie Hlava, president and co-founder of Access Innovations. The idea for a podcast grew out of our lunch chatter. I then brought her back to the ArnoldIT office and we recorded a conversation about the challenges of “after the fact” indexing. One of the key points surfacing in the interview is the importance of a specific work process required for developing an indexing approach. “Fire, ready, aim!” is a method which can undermine an otherwise effective search solution. In the podcast, Ms. Hlava makes three points:
- Today’s search systems are often making it difficult for users to locate exactly the information needed. Access Innovations’ software and services can change “search to found.”
- Support for standards is important. Once a controlled term list or other value adding indexing process has been implemented, Access Innovations makes it easy for clients to repurpose and move their metadata. Ms. Hlava said, “We are standards wonks.”
- Indexing and metadata are challenging tasks. On the surface, creating a word list looks easy. Errors in logic make locating information more difficult. Informed support and the right taxonomy management system is important. The Access Innovations’ solutions are available as cloud services or as on premises installations.
The challenge is that automated content processing without controlled term lists creates a wide range of problems for users.
You can listen to the podcast by navigating to http://arnoldit.com/podcasts/. For more information about Access Innovations, point your browser to www.accessinn.com. Be sure to take a look at Access Innovations’ Web log, Taxodiary. Updated each day, the blog is at www.taxodiary.com
Stephen E Arnold, September 1, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Protected: PowerGUI: When You Must Write Scripts
August 18, 2011
Harmony Search Algorithm: a Jazz Legacy
August 6, 2011
Will you Harry Me? describes an unusual algorithm in “Neat algorithms—Harmony Search.” It’s based on principles of jazz musicians. What could be better?
The write up explains:
“The central idea is that when trying to solve some given optimization problem, you have some set of input variables that can be evaluated for their quality, and you want to know what inputs produce the best quality. Metaheuristic algorithms try to find this global optimum using some strategy which is better than brute force. For problems where it is hard to decipher why changing an input changes the quality (and thus the optimal solution isn’t very obvious), these algorithms are extremely useful. Harmony search and its siblings in this category do not guarantee that the globally optimal solution will be found, but often they do find it, and they are often much more efficient than an exhaustive brute force search of all input combinations.”
The article includes a nifty demo that illustrates the concept. It also provides Coffeescript code examples.
Writer Harry Brundage provides an example of a problem with which harmony search help: he needs to know how much time he should spend studying and how much sleeping in order to get the best grade possible. The results are shown as a heat map. If you are a tech type, you may want to click and explore.
Cynthia Murrell, August 6, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com, publishers of The New Landscape of Enterprise Search
Knovio Reinvents the Power Point Presentation
July 28, 2011
We have noticed that finding PowerPoint presentations online is becoming more of a challenge. We think that the emergence of alternative services such as Slideshare.net is having an impact. Searching remains a bit of a challenge. When we were looking for information about PowerPoint presentations online, we came across an interesting new tool now available in Beta: Knovio aims to elevate the Power Point presentation. Right now the project is incomplete, and you can participate in the Beta program through a link on the home page.
The application, created by KnowledgeVision, lets you add video to any Power Point slide show. Knovio’s About page elaborates:
Knovio™ is an innovative tool for turning PowerPoint® slides into rich video presentations with just a web browser and webcam. With Knovio, you can take static PowerPoint slides to a new level with video and audio presentations that can be accessed anytime on-demand and shared with others through email and social media.
The explanatory video on their Web site also serves as an example of their creation.
It’s a good idea: you can include your verbal and gestural input without having to schedule a meeting. Also, anything to liven up Power Point has to be progress, right?
KnowledgeVision hopes to keep a free version of Knovio available, while eventually offering a premium version through monthly subscription. The company is asking for feedback. We offered to provide some inputs. You may want to consider this step as well.
Cynthia Murrell, July 28, 2011
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, the resource for enterprise search information and current news about data fusion
AtHoc at Home in the Pentagon
June 30, 2011
AtHoc, Inc. is the leader in “net-centric” emergency mass notifications. MediaWorkstation.com is reporting they have announced that the Pentagon Force Protection Agency (PFPA) will deploy AtHoc alerts in order to meet mass notification requirements. We learned from the write up:
Responsible for the security of the Pentagon, PFPA uses the AtHoc IWSAlerts mass notification solution to rapidly send alerts through its IP network to connected computers, SMS text messages to cell phones and voice alerts to office, home and mobile phones. Alerts to computer workstations override the computer screen with an intrusive audio/visual message that describes the threat, includes instructions for taking appropriate action and provides response options via bi-directional communication between the alert recipients and operators. Phone alerts appear both as text (for cell phones) and voice, allowing recipients to respond and indicate their status.
AtHoc is IP-based and integrated within the already working structure of the Pentagon’s systems to notify personnel in case of emergency and has features to insure safety. It is another step in the Pentagon’s remodeling of their Computer Emergency Notification System (CENS) that was created after the attack on the Pentagon on Sept. 11.
Sounds like a good idea to me. AtHoc delivers in my opinion.
Stephen E Arnold, June 30, 2011
From the leader in next-generation analysis of search and content processing, Beyond Search.
Protected: DITA and SharePoint Are Now Compatible
June 29, 2011
Protected: Mavention SharePoint Site Checker Guarantees Top Quality
June 28, 2011
Protected: Focus on the User in SharePoint Implementation
June 27, 2011
The SharePoint Skeleton Exposed
May 19, 2011
Short honk: I absolutely love diagrams that explain SharePoint. First, end users do not want to look at this diagram. Second, chief financial officers must be distracted so that knowledge of this diagram does not reach their eyes. Consultants, certified SharePoint experts, and assorted SharePoint experts—You folks can wallow in this diagram all day long.
Here’s the “SharePoint 2010 Development Platform Stack.”
Elegant, clear, and inter-dependencies galore. Now what happens when you toss in Fast Search, its hundreds of configuration settings, and the bits and pieces needed to make Fast Search the lean, mean retrieval machine of your dreams? Well, you get to spend lots of time, brain cycles, and money to get everything humming right along.
Stephen E Arnold, May 18, 2011
Freebie unlike faux SharePoint expertise
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