Inc Magazine Explains Search. Really.
May 26, 2016
I read “How the World of Search Looks Like. Really.” [sic]
Now that is fine syntax. Perhaps the savvy Inc editor is confused about the Strunk & White comments about the use of “what”? Really.
The write up is even more orthogonal than the headline’s word choice.
An expert in search, who works at Gravity Media, has focused his attention on information access. Now information access is a nebulous concept. Search is a bit less difficult to define if you are, like me, pushing 72 years in age. Log on to an online system. Enter a keyword. Review the matches the system generates via brute force look up. See, easy, really.
I learned in the write up that my Abe Lincoln learnings are hopelessly out of whack.
I noted this passage:
While young Snapchatters who grew up in the midst of the evolving Web may prefer to Google search, the later-adopting Baby Boomers may very well be using Yahoo search.
Okay. Snapchatters. How does one “find” information via Snapchat?
I noted this statement:
Globally, quite a few other competitors are making good old Google sweat a bit. Tell me, are you feeling lucky? (My poor attempt at a Google joke…) Internationally, people are Yandexing, Baiduing, Yahooing, and the list goes on and on.
Ha. Ha. Really.
Then a statement which blindsided me. People in different countries search for information in ways different from those used in the US:
As the globe continues to shrink in the wake of the World Wide Web, these cultural nuances are something international brands should consider when trying to capture global audiences. Up until now there has been little attention paid to this increasing trend of the “other” search networks.
Right. Little attention. I assume those ads on Baidu for products not from China are outliers?
I circled:
Chinese-Americans’ searches will likely use a combination of Chinese and English search terms depending on what their level of comfort is with translation. This same fact is the reason a first generation Chinese millennial living in the U.S. would choose to utilize both Baidu and Google, depending on what they are searching.
My approach is to search for Chinese information in Chinese. I don’t read or speak Chinese, but I have team members who do. If one of these people sends me a link to a document in a language other than English, I use various online translation systems to get the main idea. Then I pick up the phone and talk with the native speaker about the information.
I completed the article with a big blue exclamation point:
In conclusion, the truth is that there is very little data on the Internet related to global search trends and user preferences. If the Internet has taught us one thing it is that being more visible on the Web is always to the benefit of the marketer. So if your brand has not been running search campaigns across more networks than just Google, now is the time to start. The insights that can be derived from a test campaign alone can reveal hugely important details related to the search habits of your target audience. Even if the outcome of a Yahoo paid search campaign reaffirms that a strictly Google campaign is the way to reach your brand’s target audience, there is only one way to find out – test it.
It seems, gentle reader, that the article is less about the search thing and more about the marketing services thing. That’s okay. Little wonder that niche search engines are poking their noses into the big, uncertain world. One can now search for gifs at GifMe or Giphy for this reason.
Back to Inc. What the heck is the editorial policy at Inc. Wonky word choice and an article about search which does not address the topic of what the world of search looks like. Looks like content marketing at best and editorial shortcutting from my vantage point in rural Kentucky. Really.
Stephen E Arnold, May 26, 2016
The Internet Archive: How It Works
May 26, 2016
I have noted that the interface for the Internet Archive is interesting. For me, the system is almost unusable.
I read “The Technology Behind the World’s Worst DVR.” I think the write up does a good job of explaining some of the challenges the system presents to the developers and to the users. I learned that the political ad archive works like this:
Okay, WordPress. I am a bit fuzzy about the other icons, however.
The good news appears in this statement:
Over the coming months we are working to make the system more accurate, and exploring ways to get it so that it can automagically identify newly released political ads without any need for manual entry.
Worth monitoring.
Stephen E Arnold, May 26, 2016
Erdogan Government Cracks down on Turkish Media
May 26, 2016
The Turkish government has been forcibly seizing and intimidating the nation’s media, we learn from “Erdogan’s Latest Media Takeover is About More than Just One Newspaper” at Mashable. Is this the future of publishing?
Turkish police fought protesters and manhandled journalists as the government wrested control of Zaman, Turkey’s most popular newspaper and, as journalist Suna Vidinli puts it, the country’s “last remaining effective voice of criticism in the press.” She continues:
“President Erdogan had long planned to take over Zaman as the paper was affiliated with Gulen Group, his main remaining adversary in his quest for absolute power. Earlier in the week, the Turkish Supreme Court — in a surprising and rare move — had released two top editors of Cumhuriyet, Can Dundar and Erdem Gul, from prison. They were imprisoned for writing about the illegal trafficking of weapons to radicals in Syria.
“Erdogan saw their release as a direct move against his authority and wowed to show who was boss. He signaled that the two journalists would be put back in prison soon and declared ‘things can get shaky in the following days.’ Hence, the takeover of Zaman was carefully planned as the most brutal confiscation of media to date in Turkish history.
“The confiscation of Zaman media group highlights some critical developments in Turkey. The government immediately took the media group offline, and a special tech team was brought in to completely wipe out the news archive and web content of the newspaper.”
The Chihan News Agency was also included in the seizure, a group we learn was the only non-governmental organization to monitor Turkish exit polls to ensure fair elections. The article notes that the remaining independent media in Turkey seem to have been effectively cowed, since none of them reported on the violent takeover. Governments, media groups, and human rights organizations around the world condemned the seizure; the U.S. State Department called Turkey’s pattern of media suppression “troubling.” We couldn’t agree more.
Cynthia Murrell, May 26, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Google Changes Its Algorithm Again
May 26, 2016
As soon as we think we have figured out how to get our content to the top of Google’s search rankings, the search engine goes and changes its algorithms. The Digital Journal offers some insight into “Op-Ed: How Will The Google 2016 Algorithm Change Affect Our Content?”
In early 2016, Google announced they were going to update their Truth Algorithm and it carries on many of the aspects they have been trying to push. Quality content over quantity is still very important. Keyword heavy content is negated in favor of pushing Web sites that offer relevant, in-depth content and that better answer a user’s intent.
SEO changes took a dramatic turn with a Penguin uploaded and changes in the core algorithm. The biggest game changer is with mobile technologies:
“The rapid advancement of mobile technologies is deeply affecting the entire web scenario. Software developers are shifting towards the development of new apps and mobile websites, which clearly represent the future of information technology. Even the content for mobile websites and apps is now different, and Google had to account for that with the new ranking system changes. The average mobile user is very task oriented and checks his phones just to quickly accomplish a specific task, like finding a nearby café or cinema. Mobile-oriented content must be much shorter and concise than web-oriented one. The average web surfer wants to know, learn and explore things in a much more relaxed setting.”
Google wants to clear its search results of what is known as unviable information and offer users a better quality search experience for both their mobile devices and standard desk computers. Good to know that someone wants to deliver a decent product.
Whitney Grace, May 26, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
JavaScript Code Search
May 25, 2016
The general purpose Web search systems are not particularly useful for narrow queries. As a result, developers who want to locate JavaScript code to perform a specific task have had to bang away at Bing, forums, Google, and odd duck discussions on open source code sites. I learned in “Find JavaScript Code Snippets by Functionality with Cocycles” that there is a niche search engine available. Navigate to Cocycles and run your query. According to the service’s Web site, additional languages will be added to the system in the near future. Worth a look.
Stephen E Arnold, May 25, 2016
MarkLogic Tells a Good Story
May 25, 2016
I lost track of MarkLogic when the company hit about $51 million in revenue and changed CEOs in 2006. In 2012, another CEO changed took place Since Gary Bloom, a former Oracle executive took over, the company, according to “Gary Bloom Interview: Big Data Driving Sales Boom at MarkLogic,” the company is now “topping” $100 million in annual revenue.
MarkLogic is one of the outfits laboring in the DCGX / DI2E vineyard. The company may be butting heads with outfits like Palantir Technologies as the US Army’s plan to federate its systems and data move forward.
MarkLogic opened for business in 2003 and has ingested, according to Crunchbase, $175 million in venture funding. With a timeline equivalent to Palantir Technologies’, there may be some value in comparing these two “startups” and their performance. That is an exercise better left to the feisty young MBAs who have to produce a return for the Sequoia and Wellington experts.
The interview contained two interesting statements which I found surprising:
The driver is Big Data: large corporations are convinced there is an El Dorado of untapped commercial opportunities — if only they can run their reports across all their data sources. But integrating all that data is too costly, and takes too long with relational databases. The future will be full of data in many forms, formats, and sources and how that data is used will be the differentiator in many competitive battles. If that data can’t be searched it can’t be used.
That is indeed the belief and the challenge. Based on what I have learned via open sources about the DCGS project, the reality is different from the “all” notions which fill the heads of some of the vendors delivering a comprehensive intelligence system to US government clients. In fact, the reality today seems to me to be similar to the hope for the Convera system when it was doing the “all” approach to some US government information. That, as you may recall, did not work out as some had hoped.
The second statement I highlighted is:
Although MarkLogic is tiny compared to Oracle there are some interesting parallels. “MarkLogic is at about the same size as Oracle was when I began working there. It took a long time for Oracle to get security and other enterprise features right, but when it did, that was when company really took off.”
The stakeholders hope that MarkLogic does “take off.” With more than 12 years of performance history under its belt, MarkLogic could be the next big thing. The only hitch in the git along is that normalization of information and data have to take place. Then there is the challenge of the query language. One cannot overlook the competitors which continue to bedevil those in the data management game.
With Oracle also involved in some US government work, there might be a bit of push back as the future of MarkLogic rolls forward. What happens if IBM’s data management systems group decide to acquire MarkLogic? Excitement? Perhaps.
Stephen E Arnold, May 25, 2016
China Reportedly Planning Its Own Precrime System
May 25, 2016
Some of us consider the movie Minority Report to be a cautionary tale, but apparently the Chinese government sees it as more of good suggestion. According to eTeknix, that country seems to be planning a crime-prediction unit similar to the one in the movie, except this one will use algorithms instead of psychics. We learn about the initiative from the brief write-up, “China Creating ‘Precrime’ System.” Writer Gareth Andrews informs us:
“The movie Minority Report posed an interesting question to people: if you knew that someone was going to commit a crime, would you be able to charge them for it before it even happens? If we knew you were going to pirate a video game when it goes online, does that mean we can charge you for stealing the game before you’ve even done it?
“China is looking to do just that by creating a ‘unified information environment’ where every piece of information about you would tell the authorities just what you normally do. Decide you want to something today and it could be an indication that you are about to commit or already have committed a criminal activity.
“With machine learning and artificial intelligence being at the core of the project, predicting your activities and finding something which ‘deviates from the norm’ can be difficult for even a person to figure out. When the new system goes live, being flagged up to the authorities would be as simple as making a few purchases online….”
Indeed. Today’s tech is being used to gradually erode privacy rights around the world, all in the name of security. There is a scene in that Minority Report that has stuck with me: Citizens in an apartment building are shown pausing their activities to passively accept the intrusion of spider-like spy-bots into their homes, upon their very faces even, then resuming where they left off as if such an incursion were perfectly normal. If we do not pay attention, one day it may become so.
Cynthia Murrell, May 25, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Google Is Keeping It Real
May 25, 2016
In the 1990s, we were promised that virtual reality was a sure thing. While flying toaster screen savers and Pixar’s computer animation kept us distracted, virtual reality was forgotten until recent developments in the gaming industry, such as the semi-affordable Oculus Rift, made it available for the average person. Virtual reality has become so advanced that people are already saying it will change how we live.
Do not forget, however, that virtual reality is still fake. It is a reflection of the real world and no matter how high in definition the graphics are, it is not real. Uber Gizmo says that Google does not want to give its users a fake experience, rather “Google’s Focus Reportedly On AR, Not On VR”.
AR stands for augmented reality and Google has already experimented in the area. The Google Glass was an augmented reality headset, although it had a limited reach and appeal. The new Google Cardboard, however, is a VR platform that provides a cheaper alternative to expensive VR goggles. Google is heading into the augmented reality arena, because:
“Apparently the reason for going with augmented reality is because Google doesn’t think that the public will invest too much in virtual reality headsets, which in their current iteration are huge and chunky devices that can’t really be worn outside. This is versus augmented reality in which your phone could offer up such features, and not to mention the more svelte design of the Google Glass.”
Virtual reality is simply the predecessor to augmented reality, similar to how motion capture techniques are replacing some live action special effects. It is another example of how we are at the start of something new, but it will take time to catch on.
Whitney Grace, May 25, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Google Quote to Note: Search and Smart Software
May 24, 2016
I saw a Quora post by Peter Norvig, one of Alphabet Google’s wizards. [You m ay have to log in to view the statement. Also, the Quora search result for you may require some fiddling. Hey, life in the fast search lane is exciting.]
Novig’s subject is search. I highlighted these statements from the most viewed writer in artificial intelligence:
“Modern” Google, as Sundar has set out the vision, is based not just on suggestions of relevant information, but on informing and assisting.
In short, Google will figure out what “you” really want. But what if I want to locate specific words and phrases? Well, too bad for me.
How about that precision and recall stuff? It seems Google has admitted the 80 percent ceiling for precision and recall. I circled:
With information retrieval, anything over 80% recall and precision is pretty good—not every suggestion has to be perfect, since the user can ignore the bad suggestions. With assistance, there is a much higher barrier.
Really? A glass ceiling which has been evident in the TREC results for what? A decade?
Does this suggest that when Google cannot solve a problem, it punts? What about that solving death thing?
Stephen E Arnold, May 24, 2016
Palantir: Information Leaks from Secret Outfit?
May 24, 2016
I read “Palantir To Buy Up To $225 Million Of Stock From Employees.” I am not too interested in a company trying to provide cash to workers who have to buy food in Sillycon Valley. The main point of the write up from my vantage point in wide open Harrod’s Creek is that the source of the information is a memo. I assume that outfits providing certain government agencies with services some are not supposed to know about or talk about are water tight.
Guess not.
Here’s the passage I highlighted in “loose lips sink ships” red:
The so-called “liquidity event” will be held at a price of $7.40 per share, Palantir said in a memo to staff that was obtained by BuzzFeed News.
Yo, dudes, passive voice. How? Some color, please. Also, who exactly is leaking or hacking what? Was this an encrypted message, a clear text message on a password protected system? Was the message sent using a special “channel”, available to some government contractors.
Several questions fluttered through my mind this fine May morning:
- What is Palantir doing which allows memos to find their way into the outside world?
- What about the security for some of the projects which Palantir pursues for certain government agencies?
- If Palantir itself is leaking information into Sillycon Valley channels, what’s up with the firm’s management?
- Is governance an issue at Palantir post i2 and post HBGary?
I have a compendium of 100 pages of Palantir information I have compiled from open sources. I cannot recall an internal document in my collection of research. I may offer this round up of Palantirist factoids and opinion in a for fee Cliff’s Notes-type of PDF. Want a copy? Write benkent2020@yahoo.com, please.
What’s changed at Palantir Technologies, home of the Hobbits, keeper of the seeing stone. Perhaps the seeing stone cannot perceive security issues as well as some assert. The situation reminds me of my comments to the Google about the flow of information about its projects which found its way into open source channels. The Googler with whom I spoke seemed indifferent to the issue. I concluded, “Hey, that stuff does not happen to Google.”
Right.
Stephen E Arnold, May 24, 2016
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