Drone Roads: Surveillance and Taxation Opportunities?
November 23, 2020
I learned about a Canadian company called AirMatrix. The firm’s tagline is:
The drones are coming. With AirMatrix, we can see clear skies ahead.
The company seeks to define drone highways. Why? AirMatrix states:
Many drone operators create routes on GPS maps that are errored up to 6 meters. In tight urban spaces, a 6-meter error can be a collision or even injury. This means they can’t go beyond visual line of sight without compromising safety. It also makes it difficult to scale any autonomous flights in shared airspace. AirMatrix solves this problem by building our maps to millimeter-level precision, based on proprietary datasets of real time traffic, geospatial data, and weather.
The company points out that:
Our drone roads help pave the way for government, civil, commercial, and public service drones to share airspace safely and efficiently. Drone operators can pilot multiple autonomous drones simultaneously, confident that the airspace is under control – even as more and more drones take flight. With every use, local governments will benefit from toll collection, providing a new revenue stream for the city. Not only will you make back your investment, but your drone road system can generate income without adding long-term cost to your constituents. Cities will also gain the ability to govern this new transportation infrastructure, with full transparency and control of its users.
The company’s FAQ provides additional information.
Interesting concept. Fascinating use cases: Surveillance, use taxes, take off and destination data, and drones which “drop off” the system, among others.
Stephen E Arnold, November 23, 2020
AI Tech Used to Index and Search Joint Pathology Center Archive
November 23, 2020
The US’s Joint Pathology Center is the proud collector of the world’s largest group of preserved human tissue samples. Now, with help from University of Waterloo’s KIMIA Lab in Ontario, Canada, the facility will soon be using AI to index and search its digital archive of samples. ComputerUser announces the development in, “Artificial Intelligence Search Technology Will Be Used to Help Modernize US Federal Pathology Facility.”
As happy as we are to see the emergence of effective search solutions, we are also ticked by the names KIMIA used—the image search engine is commercialized under the name Lagotto, and the image retrieval tech is dubbed Yottixel. The write-up tells us:
“Yottixel will be used to enhance biomedical research for infectious diseases and cancer, enabling easier data sharing to facilitate collaboration and medical advances. The JPC is the leading pathology reference centre for the US federal government and part of the US Defense Health Agency. In the last century, it has collected more than 55 million glass slides and 35 million tissue block samples. Its data spans every major epidemic and pandemic, and was used to sequence the Spanish flu virus of 1918. It is expected that the modernization also helps to better understand and fight the COVID-19 pandemic. … Researchers at Waterloo have obtained promising diagnostic results using their AI search technology to match digital images of tissue samples in suspected cancer cases with known cases in a database. In a paper published earlier this year, a validation project led by Kimia Lab achieved accurate diagnoses for 32 kinds of cancer in 25 organs and body parts.”
Short for the Laboratory for Knowledge Inference in Medical Image Analysis, KIMIA Lab focuses on mass image data in medical archives using machine learning schemes. Established in 2013 and hosted by the University of Waterloo’s Faculty of Engineering, the program trains students and hosts international visiting scholars.
Cynthia Murrell, November 23, 2020
Another Summarizer of Research Articles
November 23, 2020
Years ago I tested something called IslandInText. An earlier write up about this software is here. The idea was that the software would process the text of a document and generate an essay. I thought I saved the software in the wonky orange and blue box but I couldn’t find it this morning. I thought of IslandInText when I read “TL;DR: This AI Summarizes Research Papers So You Don’t Have To.” The idea behind a summarizer is that just the good stuff, the nuggets, are presented to a reader. With research results which cannot be replicated, I suppose this is a plus. Just believe the high-level assertions in the report and move on. This is the thumb typing generation. The smart software identifies the title, the abstract, introductory paragraphs, and conclusion in the source document. The smart software spits out a summary. If you want to find out if this service is for you, read the source article and then give Semantic Scholar a whirl. I have long been a fan of abstracts, and I have some strong opinions about what’s required to produce summaries which are useful. Let me share one: An informed editorial selection process and subject matter experts. What a silly idea today.
Stephen E Arnold, November 23, 2020
Innovation Shift: Not Just in China and Singapore
November 23, 2020
How much innovation will $700 million buy? I think I will find out in the next six to 12 months. “COVID Hit Startups Badly – but Something Surprising Is Happening” contains an interesting factoid, if the datum is accurate. Here’s the passage I noted:
Research from MAGNiTT, a startup data platform, revealed that $704m was invested across 564 different startups across the region in 2019. “To put it into perspective, 2009 saw $15m of funding in five venture deals,” the company noted.
The article emphasizes Covid. My thought is that other factors are contributing to this old-school Silicon Valley type surge. Regardless of the reason, some of these “deals” were ones which just a few years ago would have involved lots of Philz Coffee conversations. Not now it seems.
Stephen E Arnold, November 23, 2020
Enterprise Search: Still Crazy after All These Years
November 20, 2020
This is not old wine in new bottles. This is wine in those weird clay jars with the nifty moniker “amphora” filled with Oak Leaf Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc White Wine. Cough, cough.
CMS Wire gets it correct when it declares, “Scanning and Selecting Enterprise Search Results: Not as Easy as it Looks.” The article doesn’t even approach the formation of a query—finding the right wording then tweaking filters and facets to produce a manageable list. Here we are only looking at the next step. Though the task seems simple on its surface—scan a list of results and select the most relevant ones—writer Martin White explains why it is not so straightforward.
First is scanning results. Users’ perceptual speed differs, so for some folks (like those who are dyslexic, for example) the process can be so tedious as to make searching pointless. White tells us that inconvenient fact is often overlooked in the discussion of search functionality. Also under-considered is the issue of snippet length. A bit of research has been performed, but it involved web pages, which are themselves more easily scanned and assessed than content found in enterprise databases. Those documents are often several hundred pages long, so ranking algorithms often have trouble picking out a helpful snippet. Some platforms serve up a text sequence that contains the query term, others create computer-generated summaries of documents, and others reproduce the first few lines of each document. Each of these approaches is imperfect. Still others produce a thumbnail of a whole page that contains the search term, and that probably helps many users. However, there are accessibility problems with that method.
White concludes:
“We know from recent research that people may make different decisions from the information they perceive initially as relevant based on their expertise. Equally, most search metrics are based around the notional relevance of the results being presented in response to a query. If the true value of relevance cannot be well judged from the snippet, that calls any metrics associated with query performance (especially precision) into question.
“There are no easy solutions to the issues raised in this column. In the quest for achieving an acceptable user experience the points to consider are:
*Are the techniques used by the search application to create snippets appropriate to the types of content being searched?
*Can the format of snippets be customized by the user?
*How easy is it to scan and assess results from a federated search?
“In the final analysis, it doesn’t matter how sophisticated the search technology is (in terms of semantic analysis, etc.). What matters is if the user can make an informed judgment of which piece of content in the results serves their information requirement, reinforces their trust in the application and maintains the highest possible level of overall search satisfaction.”
Sigh. It seems the more developers work on enterprise search, the more complicated it is to effectively operate. The field has been at it for 50 years, and is still trying to deliver something useful. Still crazy after all these years too.
PS. Our esteemed check writer (Stephen E Arnold) wrote a book about enterprise search with the author of the source document. No wonder this essay seemed weirdly familiar. I had to proofread what turned out to be prose that made the Oak Leaf stuff welcome at the end of an editing day. Cough, cough, eeep.
Cynthia Murrell, November 20, 2020
Survey Says Data Governance Is Important. But What Is Data Governance?
November 20, 2020
Here’s what the Google says governance means: The action or manner of governing. Okay, but what exactly is governing. Google says: Having authority to conduct the policy, actions, and affairs of a state, organization, or people.
Okay, now let’s add the magic word “data,” which is a plural, not a single thing. (That’s what datum means, right?)
Google says: Facts and statistics collected together for reference or analysis.
Let’s put the information together, shall we?
An organization uses authority to conduct policy, actions and affairs to deal with facts and statistics for reference or analysis.
Why care? The answer is found in “Businesses Positive about Data Governance but Still Struggle with Privacy Concerns.”
Okay, now we have linked dealing with information and privacy. This is getting interesting or is it? I go with the “not interesting,” but let’s plod forward in the write up.
A vendor of search and retrieval software sponsored a research project conducted by Standard & Poor 451 Research. Note: That report is titled “Pathfinder Report Market Intelligence: Information Driven Compliance and Insight. Two Sides of the Same Coin.” I am not sure about the “coin” metaphor, compliance, insight, and pathfinding. But no one ever accused me of understanding mid-tier consulting firms, sponsored research, and 18 year old vendors of proprietary search and retrieval software.
The 451 outfit tapped its pool of “survey responders” and discovered:
72 percent of enterprises believe data governance is an enabler of business value rather than a cost center.
Okay, that’s a lot of enterprises, assuming the sample was statistically valid, the questions not shaped, and the data analysis of the survey responses was performed on the up and up. But sponsored research is different from the often wonky academic research churned out by professors and work-from-home students. That’s better, right?
I learned:
- One in four organizations have more than 50 distinct data silos
- 37 per cent of respondents say having relevant information automatically displayed, when the team needs it, would benefit them the most in the pursuit of automation.
- Budget, privacy issues, and expertise are barriers.
How does one deal with data silos, which I assume is “governance”? How does one deal with security? Privacy? How does an enterprise search company cope with the assorted sixes and sevens of data in an organization; for example, tweets, encrypted messages, images, geospatial data, videos, and information which must be kept isolated from the grubby “let’s federate information” crowd? (Why must some data be isolated? Find an attorney. Ask her what happens if information in a legal matter is out of her span of control.)
What’s the net net of the mid-tier consulting outfit’s report? Here it is:
Success requires alignment of business objectives by looking for common-denominator requirements across business units.
Let me be clear: Enterprise search is not the solution to problems with an “authority to conduct policy, actions and affairs to deal with facts and statistics for reference or analysis.”
Enterprise search is information retrieval, data governance no matter how much a marketer wishes it were. Enterprise search vendors have been struggling for relevance because Lucene/Solr are good enough and users want information to address right now business issues. Library style lists of stuff to read or look up may not ring the chimes of a thumb typing user.
Want the full report? Go here. Please, keep marketing and governance separate. Statistics 101 offered some useful guidelines. Some, however, did not pay attention. You will have to register. Marketing is still marketing.
Stephen E Arnold, November 20, 2020
Clarity: A Better Name Than Pluton. Pluton?
November 20, 2020
After two years, Clarity has finally made it out of Beta, we learn from “Microsoft Clarity Debuts as Free Analytics Tool with Heat Maps” at Search & Performance Marketing Daily. The free tool uses heat maps to analyze the behavior of visitors to one’s website. Reporter Laurie Sullivan writes:
“Clarity — designed to have a low impact on page-load times and there are no caps on traffic no matter what the number of visitors to the website — helps give marketers a deeper understanding of why at website performs one way and not another. It also provides anonymized heat maps and data that show where site visitors clicked and scrolled, and enables marketers to analyze use behavior on the website exactly as it happened through a job description code. Some of the data includes the name of the browser, and whether they are using a PC, tablet or mobile phone to access the site. Heat maps provide a visual way to examine large numbers of site visitor interactions. Microsoft built two types: click maps and scroll maps. While the heat maps tell marketers which pages get the most clicks, the click maps tell marketers what website page content visitors interact with the most. Areas in the map marked in red have the highest frequency of clicks and are usually centered on focal points.”
The heat maps let marketers know whether visitors are clicking where they want them to. It also reports certain behaviors—excessive scrolling, dead clicks, and rage clicks. The last term describes users clicking several times on a spot they believe should be a hyperlink but is not—one would want to either fix an intended link or tweak the graphics on those spots. The tool also supplies a dashboard that presents metrics of the overall traffic patterns, time spent on the site, and even concurrent JavaScript errors. Microsoft pledges Clarity complies with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation.
But Pluton, Microsoft’s mystery processor? Pluton?
Cynthia Murrell, November 20, 2020
Fleeter Tweeter: Zen and the Art of Fail Whaling
November 20, 2020
I am not a big tweeter. I am not too keen on the Twitter thing although one of my team fixed up a script to notify people about a new Beyond Search story or a DarkCyber video. That’s about it. I do enjoy seeing a senior manager with a scruffy beard explain the inner workings of the fine short message broadcasting service. The idea of running two companies from Africa strikes me as particularly interesting, a bit like the old TV show in which a Kung Fu expert handled crude and clumsy bad actors with a finger flick.
Now we have a fleeter tweeter.
I read “Twitter Ends Fleets Rollout after Just One Day As New Feature Crashes App.” The write up states:
Twitter is delaying its rollout of ‘Fleets’, its Stories-like function, while it fixes “performance and stability problems”.
For a company with a new and interesting chief security officer and a summer security challenge, the Tweeter thing seems to have some technical enhancements to add; namely, beaching the digital fail whale.
Fleets of fails?
Be calm. Be very chill. Africa may be the optimal place to retire. Senator Ted Cruz might want to visit in person, not just virtually.
Stephen E Arnold, November 20, 2020
Work from Home: Manage This, Please
November 19, 2020
I read “Over Half of Remote Workers Admit to Using Rogue Tools Their IT teams Don’t Know About.” If the information in the write up is on the money, cyber security for the WFH crowd may be next to impossible. The write up reports:
According to a new report from mobile security firm NetMotion, the vast majority of remote workers (62 percent) are guilty of using Shadow IT, with some of them (25 percent) using a “significant number” of unapproved tools.
The article includes this statement:
“Sadly, our research showed that nearly a quarter of remote workers would rather suffer in silence than engage tech teams,” said Christopher Kenessey, CEO of NetMotion.
Net net: Bad actors relish the WFH revolution. The inducement of WFHers using software not vetted by their employer creates numerous opportunities for mischief. How does a firm addicted to Slack and Microsoft Teams deal with this situation:
Hey, team. I am using this nifty new app. It can speed up our production of content. You can download this software from a link I got on social media. Give it a whirl.
Manage this, please.
Stephen E Arnold, November 19, 2020
Bang: Write Like a Stable Hemmingway
November 19, 2020
Do you want to write like Ernest Hemmingway? You can. Navigate to this link. Click on edit and be guided to the promised land of a famous author. You remember Mr. Hemmingway, right? The cats? The drinking? The poster with the word “Endurance” in big type. Big like a despairing fish.
I wrote this passage using the Hemingway app:
The App Is a Fish
Coders in distress. Improve communication. Land the fish. The sun blazed across my insight. The result? Blindness. Will it swim away? Will I remain in the dark like the creatures of the sea.
I clicked the button, a clean, sharp edged button. Here’s my score:
Grade 1. Smart software is fine, like a sword thrust through a bull on a hot afternoon in Madrid. Does that hurt, Jake?
Nope.
Stephen E Arnold, November 19, 2020
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