Lost and Found

By Melody Smith | January 30, 2015

Yet again, another report about data security breaches at retailers and banks. America’s largest bank, JPMorgan Chase, is one of the latest high-profile victims, and it is still reeling from this summer’s cyber attack that compromised 76 million household accounts. Law firms are not immune from this type of disaster. Recently a study reported that 15% of U.S. law firms experienced a security breach in 2012, either through hackers, a break-in, a web site exploit, or a lost or stolen computer or smartphone.

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Too Many Options

By Melody Smith | January 29, 2015

The variety and volume of information can be overwhelming. Because of that, it is becoming increasingly difficult to figure out where to find the information we want, and need.

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Digital Books’ Impact on Libraries

By Melody Smith | January 28, 2015

Ebooks have changed the publishing world as we know, but it is easy to overlook the impact digital publishing has had on the library system. Two library systems alone —Toronto Public Library and King County Library System in Washington— have seen more than 2 million checkouts from OverDrive, the digital distributor for most libraries.

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Internships Available

By Melody Smith | January 28, 2015

As we strive to be as helpful as possible to those in the fields of taxonomy, indexing, ontology, etc., we are excited to share career opportunities that we find with our readers. Even if you aren’t in the market for a career move, it is always good to stay on top of what is available and how the fields are evolving.

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Webinar for Information Services

By Melody Smith | January 27, 2015

There is always time to learn. Especially when it is as convenient as a webinar. A special National Federation of Advanced Information Services (NFAIS) learning opportunity is scheduled for Friday, February 13, 2015 at 11:00 a.m. (EST). Bryan Alexander, Consultant and Editor of Future Trends in Technology and Education, and Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe, Professor/Coordinator for Strategic Planning/Coordinator for Information Literacy Services and Instruction, University Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will be discussing trends and challenges facing information professionals these days.

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Opening the Doors

By Melody Smith | January 27, 2015

Facebook has announced that it will open source deep learning modules for the Torch artificial intelligence project. This could speed up technology and make it more accessible to developers and ultimately companies.

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Super Fans

By Melody Smith | January 26, 2015

For full disclosure, I am not a sports person. That may not be too surprising as I am of the gender least likely to be interested. Before my female friends and colleagues who enjoy the games get offended, know that I am not saying this with any amount of pride nor disdain for those who do not fall in the statistical profile. In fact, female viewership of the National Football League (NFL) alone is up 26%. Some are even saying that the increase in female fans might be significant to saving their future.

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Defining Ontologies

By Melody Smith | January 23, 2015

Developing a taxonomy or classification system organized into conceptually similar categories can help users gain a better understanding of the taxonomy subject area. Likewise, an ontology can provide insights into relationships that go beyond grouping of similar concepts. In the case of the recent Time magazine thesaurus showing the relationships of various famous people for 2014, it really is more of an ontology identifying the relationships and correlations. To create a useful ontology, there needs to be a way to evaluate the quality of knowledge model.

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