Change Is Hard, Especially in the User Interface
March 22, 2016
One of the most annoying things in life is when you go to the grocery store and notice they have rearranged the entire place since your last visit. I always ask myself the question, “Why grocery store people did you do this to me?” Part of the reason is to improve the shopping experience and product exposure, while the other half is to screw with customers (I cannot confirm the latter). According to the Fuzzy Notepad with its Pokémon Evee mascot the post titled “We Have Always Been At War With UI” explains that programmers and users have always been at war with each other when it comes to the user interface.
Face it, Web sites (and other areas of life) need to change to maintain their relevancy. The biggest problem related to UI changes is the roll out of said changes. The post points out that users get confused and spend hours trying to understand the change. Sometimes the change is announced, other times it is only applied to a certain number of users.
The post lists several changes to UI and how they were handled, describing how they were handled and also the programming. One constant thread runs through the post is that users simply hate change, but the inevitable question of, “Why?” pops up.
“Ah, but why? I think too many developers trot this line out as an excuse to ignore all criticism of a change, which is very unhealthy. Complaints will always taper off over time, but that doesn’t mean people are happy, just that they’ve gone hoarse. Or, worse, they’ve quietly left, and your graphs won’t tell you why. People aren’t like computers and may not react instantly to change; they may stew for a while and drift away, or they may join a mass exodus when a suitable replacement comes along.”
Big data can measure anything and everything, but the data can be interpreted for or against the changes. Even worse is that the analysts may not know what exactly they need to measure. What can be done to avoid total confusion about changes is to have a plan, let users know in advance, and even create tutorial about how to use the changes. Worse comes to worse, it can be changed back and then we move on.
Whitney Grace, March 22, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Infonomics and the Big Data Market Publishers Need to Consider
March 22, 2016
The article on Beyond the Book titled Data Not Content Is Now Publishers’ Product floats a new buzzword in its discussion of the future of information: infonomics, or the study of creation and consumption of information. The article compares information to petroleum as the resource that will cause quite a stir in this century. Grace Hong, Vice-President of Strategic Markets & Development for Wolters Kluwer’s Tax & Accounting, weighs in,
“When it comes to big data – and especially when we think about organizations like traditional publishing organizations – data in and of itself is not valuable. It’s really about the insights and the problems that you’re able to solve,” Hong tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally. “From a product standpoint and from a customer standpoint, it’s about asking the right questions and then really deeply understanding how this information can provide value to the customer, not only just mining the data that currently exists.”
Hong points out that the data itself is useless unless it has been produced correctly. That means asking the right questions and using the best technology available to find meaning in the massive collections of information possible to collect. Hong suggests that it is time for publishers to seize on the market created by Big Data.
Chelsea Kerwin, March 22, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Cost Common Sense: Why Your Search System Just Keeps Getting More and More Expensive
March 21, 2016
I read “4 Unseen Expenses with In-House IT Departments.” The information in the write up is helpful. Too bad more specialists keep the lid on cost data. In the write up, there are four “unseen expenses” which almost guarantee that enterprise search systems will, like the Entergizer bunny, keep going and going. What are the costs? Here are the four from the write up:
- Staffing costs
- Downtime costs
- Ineffective IT support costs
- Cost of replacement.
I would mention several others, but I don’t want to exhaust my list of the costs associated with an enterprise search system. (Mine are split into planning or pre acquisition costs, procurement costs, initial installation costs, first year costs, and subsequent year costs. Four, as you may conclude, gentle reader, only spot the iceberg of money that looms through the fog of disbelief.
The Energizer bunny of cost overruns, enterprise search.
My additions:
- The costs of operating legacy systems. As I have pointed out in previous books and articles, Fortune 1000 firms have a minimum of five or more enterprise search systems in operation
- The costs of legal fees related to adjudications with the vendor or vendors for services related to the enterprise search system
- The costs of infrastructure surprises; for example, why is this system so slow to add new and changed content? Answer: We need more hardware, bandwidth, storage, memory, etc.
Enterprise search, after 50 years, is a chief financial officer’s bane in many organizations.
Stephen E Arnold, March 21, 2015
Need a Classification Algorithm or 17?
March 21, 2016
I gave a lecture a couple of years ago about the similarity among major content processing systems. In that talk, I focused on 10 numerical recipes which our research identified in the commercial products from a number of well known intelligence platform vendors. The point of the lecture was to underscore the baked in weaknesses of platforms which use procedures taught in many universities. Outputs often vary because of the goofy decisions humans make or because the underlying data pumped into the numerical recipes is flawed.
I want to call your attention to “Implementation of 17 Classification Algorithms in R.” If you want to see the differences classification algorithms output, just fire up your system, implement these 17 methods, and check out the results. Our research reiterated to my goslings that one can select a classification algorithm to produce the type of output desired by the system engineer. Yep, put your hands on the steering wheel and drive that output pretty much where you want it to go. Do users of content processing systems know about these baked in pre-loaded destinations? Nah.
Stephen E Arnold, March 21, 2016
Google in Russia: First No Space Ship Ride, Now No Anti Monopoly Win
March 21, 2016
In 2008, I learned that Sergey Brin would take a ride on the first private Soyuz flight to the International Space Station. The cost? $5 million, according to “Google Co-Founder Slated as Next Space Tourist.” The dream was still alive in 2014 according to “After Sarah Brightman, Will Sergey Brin Fly to the International Space Station?” The ride seems to be moving at a snail’s pace even though Russia seems to be dragging its feet. In 12009, NBC News reported “Russia: No More Space Tourists after 2009.”
Despite the slow down for Mr. Brin’s ride, the Russia courts are zipping right along. I learned that “Google Loses Anti Monopoly Appeal in Russia over Obligatory Pre Installation of Android Apps.” According to the article:
The Moscow Arbitration court has upheld a previous ruling from the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) that found Google had abused its dominant market position and broken anti-competition legislation. The crux of the complaint was that Google hindered the ability to create competing services on Android by forcing manufacturers to bundle some Google apps, including Gmail, Google Search, and Google Play, on the phones.
Google appears to be encountering friction in a number of nation states. Some officials are not reacting in a positive manner to Google’s business initiatives. Space ride slow, court decisions fast. An interesting inversion.
Stephen E Arnold, March 21, 2016
For Sale: Your Bank Information
March 21, 2016
One of the common commodities for sale on the Dark Web is bank, credit card, social security numbers, and other personal information. This information can sell for a few bucks to hundreds of dollars depending on the quality and quantity of the information. In order to buy personal information, usually the interested parties must journey to the Dark Web, but the International Business Times tells us that “Confidential Bank Details Available For Sale On Easily Found Web Site” is for sale on the general Web and the information is being sold for as little as a couple pounds (or dollars for the US folks). The Web site had a pretty simple set up, interested parties register, and then they have access to the stolen information for sale.
Keith Vaz, chairman of the home affairs select committee, wants the National Crime Agency (NCA) to use its power and fulfill its purpose to shut the Web site down.
“A statement from the NCA said: “We do not routinely confirm or deny investigations nor comment on individual sites. The NCA, alongside UK and international law enforcement partners and the private sector, are working to identify and as appropriate disrupt websites selling compromised card data. We will work closely with partners of the newly established Home Office Joint Fraud Task Force to strengthen the response.”
Online scams are getting worse and more powerful in stealing people’s information. Overall, British citizens lost a total of 670 million pounds (or $972 million). The government, however, believes the total losses are more in the range of 27 billion pounds (or $39.17 billion).
Scams are getting worse, because the criminals behind them are getting smarter and know how to get around security defenses. Users need to wise up and learn about the Dark Web, take better steps to protect their information, and educate themselves on how to recognize scams.
Whitney Grace, March 21, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
ISIS Exploits User-Friendly Encryption Apps to Plan and Recruit
March 21, 2016
The article on Discovery News titled ISIS Taps Dark Web, Encryption Apps to Coordinate discusses the news that ISIS orchestrated the Paris terrorist attacks using encrypted messaging apps. The big social media companies like Google and Facebook enable an encryption method they call “perfect forward secrecy,” which lacks any sort of master key or backdoor. The article explains other systems,
“Extremist groups are even using messaging services found on Play Station 4 gaming consoles, a favorite of young male jihadis who particularly like “Call of Duty,” according to Steven Stalinsky, executive director of the Middle Eastern Media Research Institute, a group that monitors social media by extremist groups…Of particular concern is Telegram, a relatively new instant messaging app designed in Russia that has recently been upgraded to allow more secure communications by groups.”
The article points out that most of these techniques are intuitive, designed for regular people. Their exploitation by ISIS is due to their user-friendliness and the difficulty of interception. Rather than trying to crack the codes, some analysts believe that reverting to good old-fashioned methods like spies and informants may be the best answer to ISIS’s use of Western technology.
Chelsea Kerwin, March 21, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
US Control of Internet Over
March 20, 2016
Short honk: I read “Quietly, Symbolically, US Control of the Internet Was Just Ended.” The write up explains that at a meeting in Morocco, people who run the “Internet’s naming and numbering system” have a plan
to end direct US government oversight control of administering the internet and commit permanently to a slightly mysterious model of global “multi-stakeholderism”.
What’s multi stakeholderism? I noted the reference to Snowden but multi stakeholderism?
Stephen E Arnold, March 20, 2016
Lexmark and Search
March 20, 2016
Short honk. Last year, Forrester, the mid tier consulting firm, released a magic square for enterprise search. I noted this morning that Lexmark was relying on TechRepublic to push this old wine in a somewhat new bottle. You can see the pitch at this link. What’s remarkable about this particular magic square thing is that Lexmark is flagged as a leader in enterprise search. Lexmark as you may know acquired the ISYS Search Software system and Brainware a couple of years ago. ISYS is interesting because its technology was crafted in the 1980s. Lexmark’s financial challenges are similar to those faced by other print centric companies trying to make the transition to the digital ecosystem. But a leader in a sector which has largely embraced open source search technology? Interesting.
Stephen E Arnold, March 20, 2016
Elasticsearch Case Example: Scrunch
March 19, 2016
If you are using or considering the use of Elasticsearch, you will want to read “Lessons Learned From A Year Of Elasticsearch In Production.” The write up contains five excellent tips.
I highlighted this statement as one which Elasticsearch users will want to keep in mind:
If you can afford SSDs, then buy them. Elasticsearch does a lot of reading from disk and fast disks equal fast queries.
Elasticsearch is one reason proprietary search vendors are gasping for air.
Stephen E Arnold, March 19, 2016
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
