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ASIST in the Big Easy
The ASIST meeting was held in the delightful city of New Orleans this fall. The format, as well as the dates for the meeting was quite different this year and I found it refreshing. This is usually a heavily academic meeting and I go to keep my ears open to the research and trends that the Information Science and Library Schools are talking about. Every now and then there is a nugget I can use to enhance our products and services.
Read MoreSemantic Risks
In a recent issue focusing on risk one article in Bloomberg Businessweek made the statement, “Such semantics may feel like distinctions without a difference. For underwriters in the specialty market of political-violence insurance, though, they’re crucial.” The semantic distinctions had to do with the labeling of political “protests” in Egypt and elsewhere in the Arab world. I put “protests” in quotes to draw attention to the issue of semantics and its impact on insurance and risk assessment.
Read MoreThe Impact of Apple
The passing of Steve Jobs gives us a chance to reflect on the business in general and, of course, how it affects us. The many incredible things he did and his inventions are very well covered in other more appropriate venues. The world changed significantly on his watch and he drove others to make amazing strides. We always admired the Apple systems and in fact were the first commercial installation of Apple IIe’s in (at least in New Mexico) 1980. We bought 22 of the 48K main memory machines with single sided floppy 5.25 inch drives holding 512 K of data at one time. We had one machine with two floppy drives where we would copy the data for safe back up before transferring it to 9 track 1600 bpi tape on the Wang system for eventual conversion and delivery to the clients.
Read MoreNaïveté? Hardly.
Is it really naïve to think two complimentary domains can be described by taxonomies and then mapped? Authors Robert L. Glass and Iris Vessey, in a recent Viewpoints column in IEEE Software published by the IEEE Computer Society, titled, “Naïveté Squared: In Search of Two Taxonomies and a Mapping Between Them” concluded they were naïve. The authors have long thought, there needs to be “a taxonomy of application domains; a taxonomy of solution approaches; and a mapping between the two.” They feel they were naïve because, despite promoting the need for several decades, it hasn’t happened. Or so they think.
Read MoreOpen Net – What a site!
I was doing some poking around to find out about OpenNet (which the Department of State uses), and I came across a DOE implementation of it (they apparently helped invent it.) Clicking the author link works really well! The site is clean and crisp. Very professional looking.
Read MoreNatural Language Processing Only Goes So Far
The sirens call of natural language processing has been issued again. In this study, the researchers compared the use for free text searches to administrative codes to see which would give better indication of safety based on 20 indicators. The authors rightly suggest that instead of relying only on the notoriously poor check boxes used with discharge orders that the hand written notes form the discharge nurse or physician might be much more instructive.
Read MoreLarge Data Sets and Ever Changing Terminology
Indexing enables accurate, consistent retrieval to the full depth and breadth of the collection. This does not mean that the statistics-based systems the government loves so much, will go away but, they are learning to embrace the addition of taxonomy terms as indexing.
Read MoreFont Awareness
Shelf Awareness is a Web-based resource for readers and those in the book trade. It was brought my attention by Marilyn Dahl, Shelf Awareness’s book review editor. (Full disclosure, Marilyn is my cousin.) I bring this wonderful resource to your attention for a variety of reasons not the least of which is their free email newsletter service for readers and one for professionals in the book trade. Twice a week I get an email containing reviews of a wide variety of new, recent, and sometimes classic, fiction and nonfiction works.
Read MoreThe Information Age-less
In a blog post last week, I discussed Robert Darnton’s recently published article in the Chronicle of Higher Education’s “The Chronicle Review”, where Mr. Darnton identified and debunked, “5 Myths About the Information Age.” The first myth he debunked was the notion that the book is dead. Not only is the book not dead, it is thriving. I commented on the relationship between the printed page and how it can be supported by digital content and vice versa. One can drive greater usage of the other, if the digital content is effectively designed.
Read MoreFrom Paper To Digital
Reading anything on digital devices has many physical, behavioral, and psychological limitations as well as advantages. At the very least, eye fatigue sets in even before the battery warning light starts scolding you. A digital summer read at the beach becomes fraught with hazards as sand starts creeping into your iPad and the glare has given you a crushing headache. Will your pursuit of a great vacation read drive you indoors? Under the porch? Into the deep woods? Will you become a pasty white, reclusive figure forever lurking in the darker recesses of society in search of shadowy environs so you can catch, glare free, that illusive, perfectly crafted phrase? Digital readers are getting better at handling varied lighting conditions, but there are still challenges.
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