France: Getting Open-Sourcey, Mais Oui
December 2, 2011
The H announces, “French government tenders for open source support.” This is an interesting shift; there are very high quality commercial software companies in France. We learned from the write up:
“The authorities are looking for a three-year support contract, worth two million euros and covering two-thirds of the country’s twenty-two ministries as well as the Court of Audit. According to Le Monde Informatique, this will include departments ranging from the Office of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Justice and Freedom to the Ministry of Sports and Ministry of Culture and Communication.”
The list of software to be supported is extensive, including infrastructure, operating systems, desktop applications, and development environments. The ones that peaked our interest are the enterprise applications like Lucene, Alfresco and Nuxeo and databases such as PostgreSQL and MySQL.
It will be interesting to see who the French government selects to cover all these open source bases.
Cynthia Murrell, December 2, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
The State of the Library Debated
December 1, 2011
Joho the Blog recently reported on a meeting regarding the history and future of libraries in the November 22 post “Physical Libraries in a Digital World” by using the Harvard Library as a case study.
According to the article, As more and more books accumulated at Harvard there became a need to find other places to store them. One, initially unpopular, option became to store unused books in an off site repository known as the Harvard Depository (HD).
The article states:
“Now more than 40% of the physical collections are at HD. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences started out hostile to the idea, but soon became converted. The notion faculty had of browsing the shelves was based on a fantasy: Harvard had never had all the books on a subject on a shelf in a single facility… Shelf browsing is a waste of time if you’re trying to do thorough research. It’s a little better in the smaller libraries, but the future is not in shelf browsing. Open and closed stacks isn’t the question any more. It’s just not possible any longer to do shelf browsing, unless we develop tools for browsing in a non-physical fashion.”
The task force predicted that within 40 years over 70% of physical books would be off site. Several of the people in the meeting suggested moving the majority of the physical books to be accessed digitally as a way to save money.
As unfortunate as it may be to lose the books that have been salvaged for up to 500 years, we also need to come to terms with the fact that libraries are no longer being used the way they have in the past so why take the extra time and money to salvage them?
Jasmine Ashton December 1, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
China: Quite a Market Despite a Softening Economy
November 29, 2011
My recollection is that Facebook and Microsoft are working to find a way to tap into the China market. Other outfits—for example, Google—tried to change China’s policies. I wonder how well that is working out. Why the interest in China. The Economist reported that the country’s ecommerce sector seems to be chugging along. I read the dead tree version of the story “The Great Leap Online”, The Economist, November 26, 2011, page 78. The authoritative sounding super capitalistic machine shop asserted:
In a new report, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) calculates that every year for the foreseeable future another 30 million Chinese will go online to shop for the first time. By 2015, they each will be spending $1,000 a year—about what Americans spend now. BCG calculates that ecommerce could rise from 3.3 percent of China’s retail sales today to 7.4 percent by 2015—a jump that took a decade in America.
You may be able to find a free digital version of the information at either www.bcg.com or www.economist.com. Finding a way to work with the political realities of China may be of more utility in the economics sense than trying to get the koala to knock off the nocturnal leaf munching. I can see a zoo keeper lecturing a koala, but the koala may be disinterested.
Stephen E Arnold, November 29, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Books Evolve. Publishers? Maybe Not.
October 30, 2011
The publishing industry is one of the main fields that has changed drastically in recent years. With mobility leading the way in technology sales, this will only change more. Publishing Perspectives notes this trend in their article, “What Publishers Look For When They Buy a Company.”
This article chronicles the history of the industry. Acquisitions have been a profitable component of publishing businesses since the 1960s because they offered the ability to diversify and combine functions.
Since 2007, when the first iPhone was released in addition to the Kindle later that same year, the characteristics that publishers seek in a company have changed with the times.
The article shares the following inside information:
First and foremost, they are looking for another seat at the table. Every one of the top 20 companies has a strong technology component and are active buyers of independent companies with creative technology programs. Hundreds of smaller publishers use Constellation, a service offered by Perseus, to make use of electronic readers, digital book search, print on demand, and other digital formats.
Apparently some smaller companies looking to merge are holding out for the publisher who sees their long histories of profit in their specific niche. The current trajectory does not bode well for them in our opinion.
What it comes down to, historical context aside, is that publishers need companies that stand a chance in rivaling the big dogs like Google and Amazon who essentially may monopolize the current market. Disintermediation, anyone?
Megan Feil, October 30, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Online Literacy Makes Information Warfare Easier
October 21, 2011
If you are a fan of information warfare, disinformation, and weaponized data—you will find that opportunities for “shaping” content are going to become more plentiful.
Common Dreams reported on a thought-provoking study about just the opposite of that. The article entitled, “Study: Many College Students Not Learning to Think Critically,” provides an overview of research that once again says U.S. education isn’t making the grade.
New York University Sociologist Richard Arum conducted a study which followed 2,322 traditional-age students from the fall of 2005 to the spring on 2009 from 24 different colleges and universities–all ranging in selectivity. He took into account their testing data and survey responses.
Fort-five percent did not have any significant improvement in critical thinking, reasoning, or writing skills after the initial two years. Even after four years the percentage held strong at thirty-six percent remaining stagnant.
These depressing results are not because the curriculum has stayed the same in changing times: a common misconception. In fact much of education theory centers around collaborative learning. However, Arum’s study shows that independent students make more gains.
The article states:
I’m not surprised at the results,” said Stephen G. Emerson, the president of Haverford College in Pennsylvania. “Our very best students don’t study in groups. They might work in groups in lab projects. But when they study, they study by themselves.
The fact that this is the first study that has followed a cohort of undergraduates to determine if they are learning specific skills is meaningful in and of itself. We as a society don’t feel the need to analyze and research what we perceive to be successful. Everyone from teachers, taxpayers, politicians, to students are spending too much time criticizing and analyzing our education system instead of investing in it–emotionally and financially.
Interesting and somewhat disconcerting. But since we don’t do news and are owned by an addled goose, the Beyond Search staff wouldn’t know good information if it fell in the goose pond. That’s okay for us in rural Kentucky. For others, hmmmm.
Megan Feil, October 21, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Baidu Gains International Ground
October 16, 2011
Baidu, the leader in Chinese search, is launching itself into the international market. Quietly but surely, the Asian giant is gaining international ground. “Baidu Launches International Marketing Efforts,” explains more.
The article provides details:
Last month the company branched out to Egypt and Thailand, in addition to their presence in China and Japan. Now it appears they are reaching further abroad, looking to get advertisers to buy paid search and “Brand Zone” advertising.
Brand Zone is their partner product, aimed at allowing brands the opportunity to advertise in China with Baidu. Online advertising is clearly an emerging market in China. With both internet access and personal income growing exponentially, China is expected to be an investors playground in the coming years. Baidu and its newest venture could be worth a look for investors interesting in tapping China’s potential.
Emily Rae Aldridge, October 16, 2011
Can the Sum of Digital Media be Classified?
October 13, 2011
The ALRC Discussion Paper released today contains 44 proposals relating to a proposed new National Classification Scheme. It suggests that at its heart will sit a new Classification of Media Content Act. It will identify what content needs to be classified, who should do it, and who has responsibility for breaches of the guidelines.
How Do You Separate the Information From the Disinformation?
October 13, 2011
A healthy dose of skepticism is always beneficial. From Scienceblogs.com comes a post by Orac entitled, “The architects of a ‘disinformation campaign’ against homeopathy are revealed.”
In this entry, Orac critiques a recently published Huffington Post article, “Dana Ullman: Disinformation on Homeopathy.” His main problem lies in the author’s reliance on ad hominem fallacies to take the place of a logical argument.
Orac goes back and forth quoting Ullman’s article and throwing jabs at it in addition to homeopathy:
[S]cientific experiments are designed primarily to falsify, not to prove, hypotheses. That’s where Ullman gets it wrong. He wants an experiment to “prove” homeopathy…If homeopathy can stand up to such hypothesis testing, then that’s an indication that the hypotheses that represent the central concepts of homeopathy might have some validity. They didn’t.
Our position is to remain cynical of anything without empirical evidence. A disinformation campaign seems like it would fall under the category of things I’d question.
The problem with searching for definitive answers on topics such as this, especially in the arena of science, is that non-biased research and reports are hard to come by.
Megan Feil, October 13, 2011
Google Predicts Video Games’ Successes
October 11, 2011
An increase in searches for game titles on Google and YouTube signal an awareness of the titles and the desire to acquire them, providing insight into sales. Google analyzed search activity for title terms of the top 15 games of 2010 and 2009, such as “Call of Duty,” “Black Ops,” and “COD Black Ops,” on Google and YouTube. The average search activity per title in 2010 rose 24% on Google and 28% on YouTube, jumping 25% in overall search activity.
About.com Staff Lay Off: Slow Ad Sales Lead to Changes
October 10, 2011
Google’s search algorithm changes are hurting more than just the average search user.
About.com posted weak revenues in the most recent quarter and attributed the lag to changes in Google search and slow ad sales. The site’s revenues dropped 10.2 percent in the last quarter. In hopes for some stability, The New York Times’-owned company recently laid off 15 editorial staffers and will be hiring 10 replacements as they reconstruct the site’s mission.
Yahoo News’ article, “About.com lays off staffers; hires replacements” shares more about the changes.
[Kristin Mason, a spokeswoman for the internet company, said] 10 new full-time positions will be created, with outgoing staff members to be given “first-priority” to apply for the new posts. She said many are expected to be rehired. The organization will be broken into four groups: uide Operations & Recruitment, About Editorial & Quality Review, Site Review and Community Tools. This is intended to improve the site’s focus and quality.”
Even with promises of “first-priority” for outgoing staff members, there will still be five positions completely cut from the company. To me, this doesn’t look like simple reconstruction with hopes for stability. This looks like brute force cost reduction in its purest form.
Andrea Hayden, October 10, 2011
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