Enterprise Search Pressured by Cyber Methods
January 29, 2015
I read “Automated Systems Replacing Traditional Search.” The write up asserts:
Stephen E. Arnold, search industry expert and author of the “Enterprise Search Report” and “The New Landscape of Search,” has announced the publication of “CyberOSINT: Next-Generation Information Access.” The 178-page report explores the tools and methods used to collect and analyze content posted in public channels such as social media sites. The new technology can identify signals that provide intelligence and law enforcement analysts early warning of threats, cyber attacks or illegal activities.
According to Robert Steele, co-founder of USMC Intelligence Activity:
NGIA systems are integrated solutions that blend software and hardware to address very specific needs. Our intelligence, law enforcement, and security professionals need more than brute force keyword search.
According to Dr. Jerry Lucas, president of Telestrategies, which operates law enforcement and training conferences in the US and elsewhere:
This is the first discussion of the innovative software that makes sense of the flood of open source digital information. Law enforcement, security, and intelligence professionals will find this an invaluable resource to identify ways to deal with Big Data.
The report complements the Telestrategies ISS seminar on CyberOSINT. Orders for the monograph, which costs $499, may be placed at www.xenky.com/cyberosint. Information about the February 19, 2015, seminar held in the DC area is at this link.
The software and methods described in the study has immediate and direct applications to commercial entities. Direct orders may be placed at http://gum.co/cyberosint.
Don Anderson, January 29, 2015
Enterprise Search Problems: Why NGIA Systems Push Beyond Traditional Information Access Methods
January 29, 2015
Enterprise search has been useful. However, the online access methods have changed. Unfortunately, most enterprise search systems and the enterprise applications based on keyword and category access have lagged behind user needs.
The information highway is littered with the wrecks of enterprise search vendors who promised a solution to findability challenges and failed to deliver. Some of the vendors have been forgotten by today’s keyword and category access vendors. Do you know about the business problems that disappointed licensees and cost investors millions of dollars? Are you familiar with Convera, Delphes, Entopia, Fulcrum Technologies, Hakia, Siderean Software, and many other companies.
A handful of enterprise search vendors dodged implosion by selling out. Artificial Linguistics, Autonomy, Brainware, Endeca, Exalead, Fast Search, InQuira, iPhrase, ISYS Search Software, and Triple Hop were sold. Thus, their investors received their money back and in some cases received a premium. The $11 billion paid for Autonomy dwarfed the billion dollar purchase prices of Endeca and Fast Search and Transfer. But most of the companies able to sell their information retrieval systems sold for much less. IBM acquired Vivisimo for about $20 million and promptly justified the deal by describing Vivisimo’s metasearch system as a Big Data solution. Okay.
Today a number of enterprise search vendors walk a knife edge. A loss of a major account or a misstep that spooks investors can push a company over the financial edge in the blink of an eye. Recently I noticed that Dieselpoint has not updated its Web site for a while. Antidot seems to have faded from the US market. Funnelback has turned down the volume. Hakia went offline.
A few firms generate considerable public relations noise. Attivio, BA Insight, Coveo, and IBM Watson appear to be competing to become the leaders in today’s enterprise search sector. But today’s market is very different from the world of 2003-2004 when I wrote the first of three editions of the 400 page Enterprise Search Report. Each of these companies is asserting that their system provides business intelligence, customer support, and traditional enterprise search. Will any of these companies be able to match Autonomy’s 2008 revenues of $600 million. I doubt it.
The reason is not the availability of open source search. Elasticsearch, in fact, is arguably better than any of the for fee keyword and concept centric information retrieval systems. The problems of the enterprise search sector are deeper.
The Method to the Oracle Commerce Solution for Retail Executives
January 29, 2015
The blog entry on CREDO Technology Solutions titled Oracle Commerce Leverages ATG and Endeca discusses the method to Oracle’s commerce solution. In order to make smart decisions that impact customer experience and engagement, Oracle brought together search, business intelligence, and ecommerce through the acquisitions of ATG Web Commerce and Endeca. The article explains,
“The Oracle Commerce Solution…[enables] the online and digital channels across mobile, web devices and even kiosks. Oracle Commerce leverages ATG for creating sites, data and content that drive the customer experience. Once the data and content is defined, the solution leverages Endeca for placement and optimization of the cross-channel customer experiences. The joint offering provides extensive capabilities in personalization and merchandising, enabling customers to have their online interactions be guided, fully personalized and applicable to their specific objectives.”
The article argues that customer engagement has never been more important to make a company stand out from the crowd. The ability to personalize a customer’s online experience and ensure that customers are able to easily navigate can make or prevent a sale, and the article specifically calls on retail executives to focus their efforts on ecommerce usability. The article stresses consistency and engagement above all else, and offers a sales pitch for interested parties.
Chelsea Kerwin, January 29, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Perceptive Software Builds Offices with Emphasis on Group Spaces
January 29, 2015
The article titled Johnson County’s Coolest Offices Are Places Where People Want to Work on The Kansas City Star praises Perceptive Software for its interest in architecture and search. Their new office building boasts wide-open spaces and flexible work areas. There are still cubicles, but the group spaces are more thoughtfully planned to be inviting and inspiring. The article states,
“We wanted the building to be a visual depiction of our fun, collaborative culture,” said Megan McClendon, spokeswoman for Perceptive Software, as she began a tour of the new 238,000-square-foot building in its central atrium. “We have flexible work options for employees to work at home or wherever, but employees are coming in to work more often. They don’t have to be here, but they do.”
Small touches can make a big difference in environment. Items like the V-shaped table for videoconferencing are the round table of corporate equality, enabling everyone to see and be seen. Having a dry cleaners in the building and a gym make errands and personal time more accessible and convenient, improving morale and even allowing for employees to spend more time at work. 700 people work in the new offices, and perhaps the most revolutionary aspect of their construction is the attempt to dismantle the “corner office with a view.” Instead, it is the group spaces that get the windows, while the private officers are in the middle. Clearly, this sort of innovation is exciting in the value it sets on employee spaces.
Chelsea Kerwin, January 29, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Meeting the Challenge of SharePoint Customization
January 29, 2015
SharePoint customization has been a rollercoaster of ups and downs. To customize or not to customize, that is the question. With its initial rise, customization was key, but in recent years, experts and Microsoft itself have shunned the practice. CMS Wire covers the issue in their recent article, “Don’t Be Afraid of SharePoint Customization.”
The article highlights the transition from the customization craze to the recommendation to cease customization:
“With the release of SharePoint 2013, we suddenly had Redmond telling everyone to stop customizing SharePoint. A lot of companies are now embarrassed and ashamed to admit that they have customized their SharePoint sites. In less than three years it went from de rigeur to risky and questionable . . . Then SharePoint 2013 came out. And Microsoft made the following statement in its blog post about the launch: ‘Use SharePoint as an out-of-box application whenever possible.’’
And through the ups and downs, it still comes down to doing what is best for you individual organization. Although Office 365 has taken the most ardent stand on not customizing, CMS Wire says not to be afraid of tweaking areas that need to be tweaked. Stephen E. Arnold follows similar news on his Web service, ArnoldIT.com. His career is devoted to search and his SharePoint feed highlights the latest tips, tricks, and news when it comes to the volatility of the platform.
Emily Rae Aldridge, January 29, 2015
Yahoo Acronym Mania: MaVeNS
January 28, 2015
Short honk: I read “Marissa Mayer Pretends “MaVeNS” Isn’t A Silly Acronym, Says It Represents Yahoo’s Future.” The odd ball acronym is getting less coverage than Yahoo’s Alibaba tax play. I am not sure if MaVeNS will be sticky. According to the write up the acronym is supposed to denote for me mobile, video, native advertising, and social.
My question is, “What happened to search?” I thought Yahoo was going to create a better search system. I would have accepted the bone of the “S” representing search. Oh, well. Xooglers are a breed apart. But the US government does a much better job with acronyms and code names than Yahoo I believe. Oh, Yahoo does a better job with tax surfing than some other companies.
Stephen E Arnold, January 28, 2015
AI Everywhere: Inevitable, Ubiquitous Just Like the Internet
January 28, 2015
I enjoy Sillycon Valley conflation. We have the wonderful world of artificial intelligence. Wired magazine’s “From Science Fiction to Reality: The Evolution of Artificial Intelligence.”
I learned:
There is so much potential for AI development that it’s getting harder to imagine a future without it. We’re already seeing an increase in workplace productivity thanks to AI advancements. By the end of the decade, AI will become commonplace in everyday life, whether it’s self-driving cars, more accurate weather predictions, or space exploration. We will even see machine-learning algorithms used to prevent cyber terrorism and payment fraud, albeit with increasing public debate over privacy implications. AI will also have a strong impact in healthcare advancements due to its ability to analyze massive amounts of genomic data, leading to more accurate prevention and treatment of medical conditions on a personalized level.
Yep, technology potential. When I worked at Halliburton Nuclear Utility Services in the early 1970s, that nuclear power thing had potential and still does. Think thorium today. Online information access had potential when SDC Orbit and Dialog made it easy to find citations to journal articles. Ah, potential. Think about a Bing and Google query and how much value the results list delivers.
I am okay with search results that generate ad revenue based on filtered and mostly subjective methods for determining relevance. I am okay with smart phones, smart anything really.
What is interesting to me is the assertion by Google that the Internet will just be part of the environment and invisible. If you can’t see it, and you can use information informed by smart software, life will be wonderful.
The thought I have is, “Are the Sillycon Valley wizards conflating smart software and ubiquity without explaining the implications of this happy union?”
My hunch is that what is obvious to them is that control defaults to the “owner” of the ubiquitous systems chewing through routines informed by smart software. The user may be at a disadvantage.
Just run a query and let me know if you can identify what’s missing, what’s incorrect, and what’s an ad? Do you care? I do.
Stephen E Arnold, January 28, 2015
Predictive Coding Slowly Making Waves in Discovery Processes
January 28, 2015
The article on Above the Law titled Predictive Coding Slowly Becoming a Game Changer discusses the ramifications of the Da Silva Moore vs. Publicis Groupe ruling whereby attorneys were enabled to use predictive coding to aid in the process of reviewing documents for relevance. It is possible that predictive coding could save a huge amount of the cost of discovery by severely reducing the need for manual review. But the benefits don’t end there,
“Some contend that predictive coding—when used appropriately—is also more accurate than manual document review. Earlier this year, Judge Denise Cote of the Southern District of New York recognized the reliability of predictive coding:
I think there’s every reason to believe that, if [predictive coding is] done correctly, it may be more reliable — not just as reliable but more reliable than manual review, and certainly more cost effective — cost effective for the plaintiff and the defendants.”
Clearly, predictive coding is about more than cost savings. Remember the
clients? Computers aren’t subject to fatigue or inconsistent judgment, making predictive coding a far more reliable method than manual review. New York, Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia and Delaware have all approved predicted coding in court, and the article suggests that the main issue with predictive coding becoming more widespread is that many attorneys are not familiar with the technology.
Chelsea Kerwin, January 28, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Solcara Founder Speaks to the Benefits of Open Systems
January 28, 2015
The article titled How to Force Giants to “Stop & Listen”- The Legal Tech Entrepeneur Prising Open “Closed Systems” on The Legal Review examines the rewards available for those firms and entrepreneurs willing to take risks. The story of Solcara, the “federated search” technology company that started up just after the .com bubble burst in 2001. The article explains,
“Using Solcara, firms would be able to search legal content buried deep within the likes of “Lexis Nexis, Westlaw UK and Practical Law from Thomson Reuters…using a single search interface. Unsurprisingly, legal publishers who were used to a “closed system”, where they could print and sell entire libraries of bound books to clients, were initially uncomfortable with Solcara’s cherry-picking innovation. ..”The only way Solcara was able to successfully achieve [federated search] was working directly with the law firms… such as Norton Rose.”
Eventually Thomson Reuters acquired Solcara as well as Practical Law, leading Solcara’s co-founder Rob Martin to suggest that something similar needs to happen soon in law firms or clients will force a change on their own. Martin firmly believes that taking risks on innovation and being prepared to change direction is the only way to thrive in a market that fluctuates so easily.
Chelsea Kerwin, January 28, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Want to Get More Info about Deep Learning
January 27, 2015
Short honk: I read “Update with 408 Recent Papers to Deep Learning University.” The collection of articles includes new papers from late 204 to early 2015. Beat the traditional search engine vendor download rush, get the documents now.
Stephen E Arnold, January 27, 2015
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