The Met Collection Online
June 23, 2014
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is regarded as one of the top museums in the world. With the advent of online collections gaining in popularity, the Met decided it would place its own collection online. What is marvelous about this collection is the 394,253 records one can browse as if they were in the real museum.
The museum’s main collection page has the current popular graphic format of having a bunch of stuff organized in tiles. One can thank mobile phones for that design. Clicking on any of the tiles takes the user to a page that lists all results associated with subject. The same happens when a key word is entered into a search box. The results include a picture, brief item and cataloging description, and where the item can be found in the physical location. The results include items that are not currently on display as well.
Other ways to browse the collection include searching by department, era, geographic locations, artists, culture, and methods or materials. Within search results the user can further narrow results by the same options. The range of the Met’s collection is sure to keep history buffs glued to their screens for days. It may save a person a trip to New York to help with their research, but it doesn’t take the place of the real thing.
Whitney Grace, June 23, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Connotate Shows Growth And Webdata Browser
June 20, 2014
In February 2014, NJTC TechWire wrote an article on “Connotate Announces 25% YOY Growth In Total Contract Value For 2013.” Connotate has made a name for itself by being a leading provider of Webdata extraction and monitoring solutions. The company’s revenue grew 25% in 2013 and among other positives for Connotate were the release of Connotate 4.0, a new Web site, and new multi-year deal renewals. On top of the record growth, BIIA reports that “Connotate Launches Connotate4,” a Web browser that simplified and streamlines Webdata extraction. Connotate4 will do more than provide users with a custom browser:
? “Inline data transformations within the Agent development process is a powerful new capability that will ease data integration and customization.
? Enhanced change detection with highlighting can be requested during the Agent development process via a simple point-and-click checkbox, enabling highlighted change detection that is easily illustrated at the character, word or phrase level.
? Parallel extraction tasks makes it faster to complete tasks, allowing even more scalability for even larger extractions.
? Build and expand capabilities turn the act of re-using a single Agent for related extraction tasks a one-click event, allowing for faster Agent creation.
? A simplified user interface enabling simplified and faster Agent development.”
Connotate brags that the new browser will give user access to around 95% of Webdata and is adaptable as new technologies are made. Connotate aims to place itself in the next wave of indispensable enterprise tools.
Whitney Grace, June 20, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Trying To Make A Search More Relevant
June 20, 2014
Here is a thought that does not make much sense when taken in the bigger picture scope. PRLog explains the conundrum in “BA Insight To Discuss How To Make Enterprise Search Relevant Through Unified Information Access.” BA Insight’s CTO Jeff Fried and David Schubmehl, a research director at IDC, will host a webinar that shares the same name as the above article. The webinar will discuss how enterprise search technology is lagging:
“Due to the vast explosion of structured and unstructured data, users are experiencing increasing challenges locating and accessing the critical information and expertise needed to excel in their roles. Even the enterprise search technology that has been implemented to resolve these issues is failing to locate relevant information while providing a sub-par user experience. This can have negative consequences, such as the inability to effectively respond to customer queries, widespread duplication of effort, and decreased employee productivity.”
Fried and Schubmehl will focus on how enterprise search is changing, how organizations are driving demand, and how to make enterprise search a killer application. The bigger question is if BA Insight is using this to make their own products more relevant? Has enterprise search really lost its relevancy or is it one observation? The “unified information access” tag is one used by other companies like Sinequa and Attivio. These companies appear to be cut from the same cloth when touting their talents.
Whitney Grace, June 20, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Attivio Exhibits At Informatica World 2014
June 19, 2014
Informatica World’s theme for 2014 is “The Power of Data” and what better person to be there than Attivio? According to Virtual Strategy: “Attivio Showcases Active Intelligence Engine At Informatica World 2014.” Attivio is known for the industry’s leading big content platform Active Intelligence Engine (AIE).
AIE was designed to give its users in short time spurts so they can unlock the data’s greatest potential.
” ‘We’re changing the way enterprises think about their information sources and how they integrate Big Content,” said Sid Probstein, Attivio’s CTO. “The majority of information produced today is human-created such as emails, documents, CRM case notes and social media. Our patented technology delivers rich analytic insight from unifying these sources rather than analyzing structured data and unstructured content separately.’ “
Targeting structured and unstructured data from the cloud and onsite servers is one of Attivio’s key components. It also makes an ideal way to complement for the Informatica Intelligent Data Platform. The ones who really make out from the two software are big content users. It empowers companies to use their data to the fullest capabilities and make better business decisions. Attivio is positioning itself to do something more than being a basic big data provider. The new buzzword is big content. What’s next?
Whitney Grace, June 19, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Repositioning Autonomy
June 19, 2014
HP says that it has been spending the past year rebuilding Autonomy into a flagship, foundational technology for HP IDOL 10. HP discusses the new changes in “Analytics For Human Information: HP IDOL 10.6 Just Released A Story Of Something Bigger.” Autonomy had problems in the past when its capabilities of organizing and analyzing unstructured information were called into question after HP purchased it. HP claims that under its guidance HP IDOL 10 is drastically different from its previous incarnations:
“HP IDOL 10, released under HP’s stewardship, reflects in many ways the transformation that has occurred under HP. IDOL 10 is fundamentally different from Autonomy IDOL 7 in the same way that HP Autonomy as a company differs pre- and post- acquisition. They may share the name IDOL, but the differences are so vast from both strategic and technology points-of-view that we consider IDOL 10 a wholly new product from IDOL 7, and not just a version update. HP sees IDOL as a strategic pillar of HAVEn – HP’s comprehensive big data platform – and isn’t shy to use its vast R&D resources to invest heavily into the technology.”
Some of the changes include automatic time zone conversion, removal of sensitive or offensive material, and better site administration. All clients who currently have an IDOL support contract will be able to download the upgrade free of charge.
HP really wants to be in the headlines for some positive news, instead of lawsuits. They are still ringing from the Autonomy purchase flub and now they are working on damage control. How long will they be doing that? Something a bit more impressive than a filter and time zone conversion is called for to sound the trumpets.
Whitney Grace, June 19, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Halting SharePoint Information Bleed
June 19, 2014
A lot of time and attention is spent on how to get information into SharePoint effectively, and subsequently store and organize it well. However, more attention needs to be paid to information loss in SharePoint, or how information sometimes seeps out backdoors and cracks in the information architecture. This topic is handled well in the CMS Wire article, “Stop SharePoint Information Bleed Before It Starts.”
After stating all the obvious benefits to SharePoint, the article then addresses the challenges of information loss:
“But all these [helpful] functions go for naught if the information leaves SharePoint as soon as it arrives. Just telling people they can’t leave isn’t enough. Most people don’t have an exit plan for SharePoint — they upload documents expecting to keep them in perpetuity. Zombie SharePoint sites drive a lot of information out the back door. Perhaps more perniciously, empty or sparsely populated SharePoint sites suggest to users this may not be the best place for them to keep storing documents. If the last home page update was 18 months ago, users won’t have much confidence.”
Stephen E. Arnold has made his life’s work about search and has devoted a lot of time and attention to SharePoint over the years, including reporting on his information service, ArnoldIT.com. He finds that SharePoint is the most widely adopted enterprise solution, but because of its breadth and depth, is perhaps the hardest and most arduous to customize. Keeping on top of issues like information loss can feel exhausting to the SharePoint administrator, but keeping an eye on useful resources like Arnold’s SharePoint feed can really help.
Emily Rae Aldridge, June 19, 2014
Editors Walk Out at Le Monde
June 18, 2014
Struggles continue in the ever-shrinking world of real journalism. The Columbia Journalism Review reports that the “Majority of Top Editors Quit Le Monde.” The walkout is the latest in a series of problems for the influential paper. Writer Edirin Oputu tells us:
“Seven of the 11 senior editors at Le Monde, one of France’s newspapers of record, resigned en masse on Tuesday over a conflict with management, according to reports. A center-left daily founded in 1944, Le Monde was one of the leading papers in the coverage of Edward Snowden’s revelations.
“‘A lack of confidence in and communication with editorial management prevents us from fulfilling our roles as chief editors,’ the editors wrote in a letter to management.
“’We have realized that we are no longer able to assume the tasks entrusted to us, and that’s why we are resigning from our respective posts,’ the editors wrote. They also said that they would continue working to keep the paper running smoothly until a new team was appointed but would then take up other positions.”
Staff members were also unhappy in February when management melded the print and Web departments without consulting them, leaving many concerned for their jobs. And that was before the new managing editor, who is described as “difficult to talk to,” was elected in March. The article also notes concerns about Le Monde’s seemingly unfocused digital strategy; management sidelined plans for a mobile-friendly evening edition without explanation. Is the paper in trouble? Perhaps no more than the rest of the newspaper industry.
Cynthia Murrell, June 18, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Sindice Support Comes to an End
June 18, 2014
Another semantic system turns out the lights. SemanticWeb hosts a guest post from the founders of Sindice titled, “End of Support for the Sindice.com Search Engine: History, Lessons Learned, and Legacy.” The article delves into a wealth of technical details. It opens, however, with this modest introduction:
“Since 2007, Sindice.com has served as a specialized search engine that would do a crazy thing: throw away the text and just concentrate on the ‘markup’ of the web pages. Sindice would provide an advanced API to query RDF, RDFa, Microformats and Microdata found on web sites, together with a number of other services. Sindice turned useful, we guess, as approximately 1100 scientific works in the last few years refer to it in a way or another.”
The team decided to end support for the specialized search engine in order to focus on serving enterprise users. Besides, they say, their vision has been realized. They write:
“With the launch in 2012 of Schema.org, Google and others have effectively embraced the vision of the ‘Semantic Web.’ With the RDFa standard, and now even more with JSON-LD, richer markup is becoming more and more popular on websites. While there might not be public web data ‘search APIs,’ large collections of crawled data (pages and RDF) exist today which are made available on cloud computing platforms for easy analysis with your favorite big data paradigm.”
The account begins at the beginning, with the team’s first goal of developing a simpler API, and ends with their transition to the startup SindiceTech. In between are interesting details, like a description of their 60-machine “Webstar” operations cluster and details on how they leveraged Hadoop for their RDF analytics. We may be sad to see support for Sindice.com go, but at least the team has shared some of their wisdom on the way out.
Cynthia Murrell, June 18, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
PadMapper Crowned Most Popular Apartment Search Tool
June 17, 2014
If you foresee a new apartment in your future, you may wonder which apartment search tool you should turn to for guidance. Lifehacker is here to help with their article, “Five Best Apartment Search Tools.” The short answer—PadMapper, which uses Craigslist data, won Lifehacker’s poll hands-down with 44 percent of the votes. Writer Alan Henry tells us:
“Not only does PadMapper source data primarily from Craigslist, it packages it—and data from other services—into an attractive format. We’re bundling them together here because honestly, even though Craigslist has their own tool now, PadMapper is, and always was, just better. You can view all of the listings on Craigslist and those other services on your computer, take them with you on the go thanks to PadMapper’s mobile apps, filter to match your preferences, and save leads for later. The whole service is a top-down Google Map, and you can quickly jump between a location’s Street View, WalkScore, and photos without leaving the site. Those of you who nominated and supported PadMapper (including me) noted that the service is essential for today’s busy apartment hunters, and the fact that you can set up alerts for new listings and that the data is updated in real-time is essential to snagging something good before someone else scoops it up.”
Despite this ringing endorsement, the other contenders are worth checking out. The article notes the features that make each special. Hotpads, for example, is said to be trustworthy and easy to use. It is easy to view property and contact landlords through Lovely, and fans of Trulia like the ability to limit a search by neighborhood. WalkScore, as the name implies, is for anyone who wishes to spend less time in cars. Whatever you’re looking for in an apartment, one of these sources is sure to help.
Cynthia Murrell, June 17, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Create Your Own Image Compendium with the Met’s The Collection Online
June 17, 2014
The Metropolitan Museum of Art offers the new picture archive The Collection Online, with some 400,000 images of art searchable by artist, culture, method, material, geographic location, date or era, and even by department. From costumes to books to ceramics to the more obvious paintings and sculpture in limestone or bronze, this collection is incredible in its scope and detail. Searching, say, for a painting by Vincent Van Gogh yields a list of 124 records. Many of these were not works by Van Gogh, but there is an option to limit to the records by that painter. Click on The Potato Peeler and find not only the stats of the painting (oil on canvas from 1885, 16 x 12 1/2in.) but also where to find it in the Museum (Gallery 826) if available. Beneath the image there is some additional information available,
“This painting from February/March 1885, with its restricted palette of dark tones, coarse facture, and blocky drawing, is typical of the works Van Gogh painted in Nuenen the year before he left Holland for France. His peasant studies of 1885 culminated in his first important painting, The Potato Eaters (Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam).”
You are also informed that on the reverse of the same canvas is a Van Gogh’s Self Portrait with a Straw Hat. Users have the possibility of registering for free, which would enable them to create their own assortment by saving images to an individual collection. The Met is no stranger to successful online endeavors, having just recently won a Webby for their Instagram account through the Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences.
Chelsea Kerwin, June 17, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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