Access Insights – Page 53

Knowledge – From Plato to Python

By Melody Smith | February 11, 2011

As I sit here in the last day of the DHUG, I am completed fascinated as I listen to Margie Hlava, President of Access Innovations, speak about The Theory of Knowledge. Touching on philosophy from Plato to St. Augustine to Occam, Descartes and so on, this listener is hooked. With a quick observation of those in the room – leaning forward to hear more points, scribbling notes, nodding of heads and the occasional chuckle to referencing such great philosophers as Monty Python – I am not alone.

Data Harmony 3.8 Beta Released at Users Group Meeting

By Melody Smith | February 9, 2011

This week I am attending the Data Harmony Users Group Meeting in Albuquerque. Though the weather has been disappointing (snow in the desert?), the amount and quality of information has not been in the least. This meeting is serving as the launch of Data Harmony 3.8 Beta and there are many updated features to share.

A New Page in Warfare

By Melody Smith | February 7, 2011

When tanks first rolled onto the field of battle, the soldiers watched and knew that war would never be the same. When planes and submarines began to fly far above or lurk deep in the sea, people knew that the old ways were about to change. These paradigm shifts on the landscape of war trumpeted their arrival and everyone knew that another dog of war had entered the fight. But then, a new front appeared out of the blue.

Setting Up the Store: Taxonomies in E-Commerce

By Melody Smith | February 7, 2011 |

HowHow can a business set up an e-commerce platform that effectively utilizes taxonomies to contribute to its bottom line? In the third of a four-part webinar series co-hosted by Access and the American Society of Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T ), Jay Ven Eman will use a case-study approach to guide participants on how to effectively utilize taxonomies for web delivery, web search and even store layout.

How Useful Are Taxonomies in Search?

By Melody Smith | February 1, 2011 |

Recall, precision and relevance are factors that figure heavily in search, yet they are often missing from taxonomies. In the second of a four-part webinar series co-hosted by Access Innovations and the American Society of Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T) Margie Hlava will explore how search can potentially be improved by applying subject metadata and how taxonomies can be used on the front-end or attached to records at the time they are created and loaded.

Using Subject Matter Experts

By Melody Smith | January 31, 2011

There are many approaches to the building of a thesaurus and taxonomy. No absolutely right or absolutely wrong methods exist but there are some that are not as efficient as others. Some which lead to bias in the resulting work. Some which will not work with the data the client actually wants to surface on a website or data mine or tag. There are some very expensive approaches and some very practical approaches to doing the work.

Taxonomy Webinar Series

By Melody Smith | January 26, 2011

ASIS&T and Access Innovations are hosting a webinar series comprised of four sessions, spaced a week apart – beginning Thursday, January 27, 2011. They will examine ways that taxonomies are used to enhance search, involve users, and increase the value of information assets Semantic integration. The sessions are free to ASIS&T Members and for non-members, the cost will be $49 per session. Sign up for all 4 and receive a 20% discount, or become a member today and register at no cost.

Are we ready for semantic integration?

By Melody Smith | January 24, 2011 |

As a user, wouldn’t it be fabulous to start typing in a search box and have the topic you’re looking for appear in a list of suggestions? Actually, we’ve already seen that enhancement and it’s pretty great – well at least when what you’re looking for is there. Avoids the dreaded typo or misspelling. What if those suggestions not only returned a comprehensive and relevant set of articles, but also offered other tools to assist in your research?

Using Taxonomies to Create Business Opportunities

By Melody Smith | January 17, 2011

The economics of the Web have reversed the original business model for online information upon which businesses like LexisNexis and Dialog were built. Through those services, users paid up to $4 for individual articles from daily newspapers that originally cost 25 cents on the newsstand. That model is obviously dead today, where the cost of an individual article – even articles from leading trade magazines and scholarly journals – is effectively zero. Does that mean that publishers, aggregators, and other content owners should police the Web to insure their content is not freely distributed? Not at all – one needs only look at the recent case of Wikileaks to see that it will be impossible to keep any content from showing up freely on the Web. As they say, the Genie is already out of the bottle, so the only logical step is figuring out how to make money in the current environment. This is where taxonomies can add value – by enabling the creation of new information products that connect disparate pieces of content with high-value applications and new markets.

A Well-Constructed Thesaurus

By Melody Smith | January 10, 2011

A thesaurus is a special type of controlled vocabulary, which is itself a list of specifically selected terms to represent a set of concepts – concepts described in an electronic collection of documents, podcasts, captioned photos, emails, or other types of content.