Tracking New Public Domain Content
January 14, 2012
We found a Web site that takes the public domain very seriously. PublicDomainDay.org lists works as their copyrights are up and they enter the public domain. In the US and the European Union, copyright terms expire 70 years after the author does, while other countries like Canada and New Zealand wait 50 years.
The site’s about page seeks to emphasize the importance of public domain works. It quotes Professor James Boyle’s 2008 book, “The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind:”
Our markets, our democracy, our science, our traditions of free speech, and our art all depend more heavily on a Public Domain of freely available material than they do on the informational material that is covered by property rights. The Public Domain is not some gummy residue left behind when all the good stuff has been covered by property law. The Public Domain is the place we quarry the building blocks of our culture. It is, in fact, the majority of our culture.
And that’s my problem with the current state of patent laws. But that’s another story. The site is maintained by the European Union’s association COMMUNIA and the Center for the Study of the Public Domain at Duke Law in Durham, NC.
Cynthia Murrell, January 14, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Search Engine White Papers
December 20, 2011
Anyone looking for guidance in advance of starting a new search engine project, might want to take a look at these search engine white papers which I came across by chance the other day. Search Technologies is probably the most experienced company out there when it comes to implementing search engines, and these white papers, collectively, provide a pragmatic perspective on the search engine world. Titles include the provocative “Glass Box Approach to Enterprise Search” and “Making the Most of Search Navigators.” Worth a read if you’re into search engines. Recommended resource at this link.
Stephen E Arnold, December 21, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Protected: FAST Search Research Round-Up
December 9, 2011
D&B Rolls Out D&B Direct
October 19, 2011
After promising last August to help Salesforce build Data.com, a relational database management system, into a service that fills the gaps created by crowdsourcing, Dun & Bradstreet announced, on October 4, that they are building in a new direction, launching a Web Services API called D&B Direct.
D&B Direct is a new application programming interface which makes it possible to access D&B’s business information from any application or platform. The goal is to allow clients to use their own applications to utilize live, professionally researched data on the world’s businesses.
According to the ReadWrite Hack article, Dun & Bradstreet on the Value of Researched vs. Crowdsourced Data Mike Sabin, vice president of sales and marketing solutions for D&B said:
D&B has built out this infrastructure that allows us to identify companies, track them over time, link pieces of data to those companies, and put them in the broader context of their corporate hierarchies, so that you can see the entire picture. I think being able to use those things as ‘coat hangers,’ if you will, on which you can hang additional pieces of information, becomes very important with the coming explosion of data that everybody’s seeing down the pike.
Having applications that can make high value content available for decision makers is a pied piper offering. We still think this technology needs expert human analysts and information professionals to use those promising platforms.
Jasmine Ashton, October 19, 2011
Keyword Research – An Interesting Approach
October 15, 2011
Search Engine Watch offers a non-traditional examination of search engine ranking in, “Keyword Research: Dealing With Uncertainty.” The author lays out a plan for researching which keywords will return the highest ROI for search engine ranking.
The method is explained:
When selecting the keywords you would like to rank for, you must take several factors into account. Preferably you’re able to calculate its potential ROI by finding out what effort is required for a return in profit. There are, however, various uncertainties that you can choose to minimize.
Quite frankly the article is quite lengthy and the illustrations are somewhat incomprehensible. Perhaps we are not smart enough to understand the point here. But for those who live and die by SEO, the innovative approach might be worth a second look.
Emily Rae Aldridge, October 15, 2011
Bing Offers Airport Map Services: Search Engines Compete Over New Niche
October 9, 2011
For those who travel in today’s lousy economic climate, no need to look beyond your friendly neighborhood search engine; Bing comes to your rescue. Microsoft’s search service Bing has announced the launch of airport maps for 42 major airports across the U.S. with plans for expansion and additions.
We learn more about the feature, which allows users to “see” inside airports to located terminals, baggage claim areas, restrooms and more, in Tech Crunch’s article, “Bing Launches Airport Maps For 42 US Cities.”
The addition comes shortly after Google’s release of its new Google Flight Search feature, made possible through its acquisition of flight data company ITA – a move that Microsoft and others had fought. Flight and travel-related search had been one of Bing’s advantages, thanks to earlier integrations from travel price finder Farecast, acquired back in 2008.
Google already offers a form of airport maps as well as Street View shots inside businesses, but isn’t this a map niche? I find the competition over airports between the two search engines rather odd and surprising. It seems the new norm is to attempt to tackle every possible online niche and abandon the seemingly simple “seek and find” method of search. Search is broken.
Andrea Hayden, October 09, 2011
Arnold Columns for July 2011
June 22, 2011
The summer of 2011 is proving to be exciting. Google announced a shift from Web search to mobile search. A shortage of Lucene Solr developers filled my in box with pleas for people who could tame some open source wild ponies. AOL announced that it was going to plunge into the local deal pool. Microsoft announced that it intended to use one user interface across different devices.
With more than two months to go before summer winds down, I anticipate more surprising developments.
Here’s the line up of my for-fee columns for July 2011. Keep in mind that most of these for-fee columns are intended for print. A July 2011 column can appear two months or more after I submit the material.
Enterprise Technology Management (London, England). “Google Grinds Its Search Gears and Delivers Cold Mangos.” I discuss the implications of the Inside Search innovations on Google’s enterprise prospects and customers. Like I said, “Cold mangos.”
Information Today. “Microsoft Escalates the Multi-Device User Experience War.” Microsoft wants to deliver a common user experience across mobile, tablets, and desktop computers. I consider the challenges of this undertaking.
Online Magazine. “Is Solr Drying Up the FOSS Developer Pool?” I take a quick look at the causes and implications of a talent shortage for organizations embracing open source software.
Smart Business Network. “Can AOL Cook Up a Winner with Its Patch Local Advertising Service?” With the sector getting crowded, my hunch is that AOL will have to demonstrate that it can find room amidst some chunky folks.
The content in the for-fee columns does not appear in this marketing oriented Web log. If you want copies of these for-fee columns, please, contact the publishers directly.
Stephen E Arnold, June 22, 2011
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, the resource for enterprise search information and current news about data fusion
Library of Congress: Tweets Are for Real
June 16, 2011
Twitter tweets are headed to a very surprising new home. According to the O’Reily Radar article “How the Library of Congress is Building the Twitter Archive” Twitter plans to hand over all public tweets, since its inception in 2006, to The Library of Congress.
Researchers have been anxiously lining up for their opportunity to crack open the Twitter archive. Twitter fans create millions of tweets per day and according to the article:
“Each tweet is a JSON [JavaScript Object Notation] file, containing an immense amount of metadata in addition to the contents of the tweet itself: date and time, number of followers, account creation date, geodata, and so on. This requires a significant technological undertaking on the part of the library in order to build the infrastructure necessary to handle inquiries, and specifically to handle the sorts of inquiries that researchers are clamoring for.”
It seems that the Library of Congress has validated tweets as real information, not fodder for text analytics. Hopefully the Library will tackle some of the other content it has in its possession. I am thinking about images of which American Memory is a subset and fair copies of certain documents.
Stephen E Arnold, June 16, 2011
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, the resource for enterprise search information and current news about data fusion
Useful Search Comparison Tools
June 13, 2011
Makeuseof gives us “3 Useful Tools To See & Compare Search Results Side By Side.” It presents three tools that it deems to be the most useful of the available search comparison tools.
Each entry allows you to view results in side-by-side panels. 2lingual allows you to search in two languages, while Googawho and SearchBoth each have their own pluses.
Makeuseof‘s Anne Smarty likes Googawho’s ability to switch between engines quickly:
Just type your query, get the initial columns of results and click through search engines in the header to switch between the engines.
SearchBoth excels at switching between vertical searches, such as images or video, shopping, or news. Another nice feature:
Navigate through various local tool versions to combine and compare search engines from your country.
These tools are useful and can be interesting for test queries. See what you think. Worth bookmarking.
Cynthia Murrell June 13, 2011
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, the resource for enterprise search information and current news about data fusion
RollingResearch.com: A New Vertical Finding Service for the Automobile Industry and Consumer
June 8, 2011
New Information Service about Sources of Automobile Information
ArnoldIT.com has developed another news service blog, this one about where to find automotive information on the Internet. Each article in the Web log provides a synopsis of a source, an example of the information available from it, and critical commentary about its value.
Despite the wide availability of Web indexes on Bing.com and Google.com, these services often make it difficult to locate high-value specific information. Vertical findability services such as Rolling Research provide more focused results than those of common Web indexes:
The audience we want to reach wants to get to high value sources of information without wading through a laundry list of search results. Our researchers examine the sources and prepare compact, information-packed descriptions of a source. We think that anyone seeking objective information about the automobile industry will find Rolling Research a useful resource,” said Stephen E. Arnold, publisher and owner of ArnoldIT.com, an independent consulting and engineering firm. “Too much of the available automotive information is advertising fluff. We want to be clear and direct in stories that are crisp and brief. Who wants to spend endless hours clicking on potentially irrelevant or inaccurate sources in a quest for facts?
The blog is sponsored by TheAutoChannel.com, a premier source of information about vehicles since 1994.
Rolling Research is produced by ArnoldIT.com, publishers of Beyond Search and Inteltrax, and publishes Monday through Friday. Current and archived stories are available without charge at http://www.rollingresearch.com. An RSS feed and new-story Twitter notifications are available.
The service includes articles, features, and links to important business information resources. The editorial team takes a critical stance, providing value added commentary about sources of information related to the automobile industry, hybrid vehicles, recreational vehicles, motor sports, and allied fields. Story ideas may be submitted to rollingresearch@yahoo.com
Cynthia Murrell June 8, 2011
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, the resource for enterprise search information and current news about data fusion
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