Tips for Creating a Unique Web Site Experience for Visitors
October 22, 2012
Sticky sites are considered engaging and well-designed so that visitors find it hard to leave the site. In “Making Your Site Sticky for Both Search & Social Users,” Jordan Kasteler discusses the differences between search and social users and how to design a site with both in mind. He points out that search users are keyword based whereas social users begin with a click on a social network. Kasteler shares this tip on creating a unique experience for the user:
Personalized. We’ve come a long way since the days of sales-brochure websites. Your website shouldn’t look like every other site out there; rather, your audience should be able to instantly get a sense of what makes you different from your competitors.
He goes on to add this about in-site search capabilities:
Easy-To-Navigate, Easy-To-Use. For the search crowd, this means having an easy-to-navigate site with prominent menu options and an effective in-site search function. The social crowd should be attracted to these key features on your site: sales, promotions, popular blog posts, etc.
When you’re weighing options for Web site search solutions, consider Mindbreeze InSite to add a powerful and customized search experience for your Web site visitors. InSite is powered by semantic search and is customizable so you can give your site the most intuitive features and add some ‘stickiness’ to your site.
Philip West, October 22, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
YouTube Changes Search Rankings Algorithm
October 22, 2012
Slashgear.com recently published an article implying that page rank may be ineffective for some media types and that Google is becoming more like a traditonal TV network. According to “YouTube Search Rankings No Longer Based on Clicks” YouTube will base its search rank algorithm on the amount of time spent on each video instead of on the number of clicks to the video.
While this seems like a pretty accurate way of making sure that high quality content rises to the top of search rankings, it also has a lot of added financial benefits for YouTube.
The article states:
“Keeping people on the site longer means more advertising revenue for YouTube, so it’s a win-win situation, so long as you’re among the content creators who are putting out engaging videos. YouTube has even added a “Time Watched” report to analytics pages, so you can see which of your videos keep people watching and which ones are making people look elsewhere. YouTube says on the Creators Blog that it has “started” to adjust search engine results in this way, so it sounds like this feature will see a gradual roll out over the coming days.”
While this seems like a great idea initially, video creators are bound to find another way around this search algorithm. Perhaps they will start posting shorter videos in order to make sure that people will watch them to completion.
Jasmine Ashton, October 22, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Fraud Accounts for Majority of Scientific Study Retractions
October 22, 2012
A recent study regarding fraud in information released from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences is puzzling. The study analyzed retracted papers from 1977 onward and the reasons for those retractions. The findings? Fraud, plagiarism, and duplication were the most common reasons for retractions.
The article “Fraud, Not Error, Accounts for Most Scientific Retractions” on The Curious Wavefunction blog tells us that about 67% of the 2047 retracted papers could be traced to misconduct.
The study informs us of the possible solutions to the troubling results:
“But sadly this culture is here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future. What can we do to curb its worst excesses? The paper points to encouraging solutions like the Office of Research Integrity and regular courses on ethics and data presentation. There are few counterparts to these measures in developing countries and this needs to be taken seriously by their governments. More importantly, researchers, journal editors and referees need to be taught both the value and the methodology of honest research from day one of their careers.”
We wonder how much of an impact ethics courses would have on researchers that are competing for grants, publicity, funding, and resources. Perhaps the answer is in search systems. Are “smart” systems able to detect willful manipulation of information? We think this could potentially be an area ripe for research and innovation.
Andrea Hayden, October 22, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Google Brain Technology Addresses Artificial Intelligence
October 20, 2012
Another facet of Google’s technical capability is discussed in the article, “Google Puts Its Virtual Brain Technology to Work” on Technology Review. Google is making big strides with new approaches to artificial intelligence which will be used in new Google products, such as self-driving cars and speech recognition technology.
The company is approaching artificial intelligence with learning software that is based on neural networks, or groups of connected brain cells that communicate with each other. This technology is essentially making Google products smarter.
The article continues:
“Google’s work on making neural networks brings us a small step closer to one of the ultimate goals of AI—creating software that can match animal or perhaps even human intelligence, says Yoshua Bengio, a professor at the University of Montreal who works on similar machine-learning techniques. ‘This is the route toward making more general artificial intelligence—there’s no way you will get an intelligent machine if it can’t take in a large volume of knowledge about the world,’ he says.”
Although this new technology is impressive and shows great potential for Google’s goal of a “global brain,” we believe Google could pay more mind to its current products. For example, where does objective search fit in a “global brain?”
Andrea Hayden, October 20, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Zeppelin looks to enter the Ring with Other Social Business Tools
October 19, 2012
In “Yammer, Jive, Microsoft SharePoint are ‘Blank Pieces of Paper,’ says Zeppelin,” Meghan Kelly relays comments from Zeppelin on the social business tool’s potential to connect employees in the workplace. Zeppelin co-founder Anze Vodownik voiced opinion at the DEMO Conference that Yammer, Jive, SharePoint, and the like claim to be a new Facebook or Twitter but are installed in a company and become underused. She had this to say about the Zeppelin service:
Zeppelin lets employees put quick blurbs about their day in front of coworkers. It connects with Google Analytics, Basecamp, Microsoft, and customer relationship management systems, and allows employees to upload files and photos. You can also sign up for a daily or weekly summary of what is happening on your team.
The company launched its private beta today. Right now, Zeppelin is only going after the small to medium-sized business market.
SharePoint is a ubiquitous platform that is only increasing adoption rates. When it comes to encouraging collaboration in the business environment, consider a third party application that also taps into all of your information, including social media channels. Mindbreeze facilitates the comprehensive incorporation of all electronic data repositories and connects seamlessly with SharePoint. Social business and employee collaboration fueled by efficient and comprehensive access to information is possible with Mindbreeze.
Philip West, October 19, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
The Google Search Appliance Adds Bells and Whistles
October 18, 2012
A version of this article appears on the www.citizentekk.com Web site.
The Google Search Appliance is getting along in year. A couple of weeks ago (October 2012), Google announced that Version 7.0 of the Google Search Appliance GB-7007 and the GB-9009 was available. The features of the new system are long-overdue in my opinion. Among the new features are two highly desirable enhancements: better security controls, faceted browsing. But the killer feature, in my opinion, is support of the Google Translate application programming interface.
Microsoft will have to differentiate the now aging SharePoint Search 2013 from a Google Search Appliance. Why? GSA Version 7 can be plugged into a SharePoint environment and the system will, without much or fuss, index the SharePoint content. Plug and play is not what SharePoint Search 2013 delivers. The fast deployment of a GSA remains one of its killer features. Simplicity and ease of use are important. When one adds Google magic, the GSA Version 7 can be another thrust at Microsoft’s enterprise business.
See http://www.bluepoint.net.au/google-search/gsa-product-model
Google has examined competitive search solutions and, in my opinion, made some good decisions. For example, a user may add a comment to a record displayed in a results list. The idea of allowing enterprise users add value to a record was a popular feature of Vivisimo Velocity. But since IBM acquired Vivisimo, that company has trotted down the big data trail.
Endeca has for more than 12 years offered licensees of its systems point-and-click navigation. An Endeca search solution can slash the time it takes for a user to pinpoint content related to a query. Google has made the GSA more Endeca like while retaining the simplified deployment which characterizes an appliance solution.
As I mentioned in the introduction, one of the most compelling features of the Version 7 GSAs is direct support for Google Translate. Organizations increasingly deal with mixed language documents. Product and market research will benefit from Google’s deep support of languages. At last count, Google Translate supported more than 60 languages, excluding Latin and Pig Latin. Now Google is accelerating its language support due to its scale and data sets. Coupled with Google’s smart software, the language feature may be tough for other vendors to match.
Enterprise searchers want to be able to examine a document quickly. To meet this need, Google has implemented in-line document preview. A user can click on a hit and see a rendering of the document without having to launch the native applications. A PDF in a results list appears without waiting the seconds it takes for Adobe Reader or FoxIt to fetch and display the document.
What’s not to like? The GSA GB-7007 and GB-9009 delivers most of the most-wanted features to make content searchable regardless of resource. If a proprietary file type must be indexed, Google provides developers with enough information to get the content into a form which the GSA can process. Failing that, Google partners and third-party vendors can deliver specialized connectors quickly.
Making Connections between Data with Semantic Search
October 18, 2012
In “Google’s Knowledge Graph: Implications for Search & SEO,” Bharati Ahuja discusses Google’s hopes for the Knowledge Graph to help deliver a more perfect search engine, or in Google’s Matt Cutts’s opinion, a knowledge engine. The Knowledge Graph aims to help users find the right thing, get the best summary, and go deeper and broader to discover more about the search to potentially answer the user’s next question before it is asked. Ahuja explains its impact on SEO:
The Knowledge Graph is also paving the way to new approaches toward SEO. Semantic search isn’t just about the web. It’s about all information, data, and applications. Data is the foundation on which such a web and search world can exist. Data in itself is meaningless, but when data gets linked because of its relationships with various data sets available on the web, it becomes useful and meaningful. So when users type in a query, these inter-connected relationships add context and the related information more powerful.
The power of semantic search in addition to relevant content is key to gaining and retaining an audience. A powerful search system that can make connections among vast amounts of data can also help deliver a better search experience for users. One solution worth taking a look at is InSite from Mindbreeze. InSite is capable of searching a wide variety of specific documents, including PDFs, Excel sheets, and Word documents, as well as searching social media sites and Web sites.
Philip West, October 18, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
PolySpot Releases New Administrative Console
October 17, 2012
PolySpot’s latest video explains the features and functions of Version 6 of its Administration Console. With this latest release, PolySpot leapfrogs of the administrative interfaces available from many other vendors. PolySpot Information At Work includes a configuration and administration console that covers the entire process, from connector management to search service creation.
The company has provided a video demonstrating the uses of this new administrative console and detailing these high-value enhancement; for example, the ability to configure views with a click, modify the document view with a single click, and autocomplete.
PolySpot, leader in information access solutions, has released a brand new administration console as part of the company’s infrastructure component, Information at Work. Information at Work is a cost-effective component that can help users develop applications to access the information they need.
The updated console provides quick and easy-to-use intermodule navigation with new navigation menus and focuses on providing guidance during the workflow of configuration. Other features of the interface include:
PolySpot Silo Breaker: Distributed data extraction framework.
PolySpot Sense Builder: Dedicated, asynchronous structuring and semantic enrichment platform.
PolySpot SearchMart: Service based on PolySpot InfoWarehouse used to publish index-linked search services. Can be accessed via a range of different applications using an XML/HTTP API.
The video can be viewed here. We think the video demonstration is useful and worth checking out.
Andrea Hayden, October 17, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
How a Sitemap Can Enhance a Web Presence
October 17, 2012
Business2Community covers the importance of Web site indexing in its piece, “How To Build Your Own Sitemap in Five Minutes, and Why You Need To.” In it, the author discusses differences processes for simply creating an effective sitemap. However, he begins with an introduction.
When you ask most business owners and beginning online marketers what a ‘Sitemap’ is, you usually get two responses. ‘What’s that?’ or ‘That’s just too complicated for us.’ Sitemaps for your website aren’t impossible to make, and they certainly aren’t a waste of time. To understand why you need to make your own Sitemap today, you need to understand what they are and how they work.
The author then goes on to recommend various tools and techniques for effectively creating a sitemap. However, there are other solutions that not only automatically generate sitemaps, but also automatically crawl and index any organization’s site in order to enable effective Web site search. One highly awarded option is Fabasoft Mindbreeze InSite. Fabasoft Mindbreeze takes the guesswork out of indexing and mapping, reaping high results with little effort. Explore how Fabasoft Mindbreeze might enhance your organization’s online presence today.
Emily Rae Aldridge, October 17, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
Microsoft Mastery Becoming Harder to Find
October 16, 2012
It is often said that the power of a solution and its ease of use are conversely proportional. If a solution is powerful, it will no doubt be very difficult to master, or vice versa. The rule holds very true for SharePoint. Even as SharePoint 2013 is unveiled, highly trained developers are being warned that additional training will be needed. The Redmond Channel Partner covers the issue in, “Office 365, SharePoint and SQL Server: Our Experts Weigh In.”
The author states:
Meanwhile, as the flagship Microsoft database and collaboration platforms become more entrenched, provisioning and managing them have become more complex. The new capabilities and use cases of Windows Server — combined with the new requirements of SQL Server and SharePoint — require organizations to offer extensive new skill sets.
So how is a small or medium size organization supposed to cope with the growing demands? Fabasoft Mindbreeze offers an entire suite of solutions for the enterprise, all designed to be intuitive and powerful, even for an end-user who is not a highly skilled developer. Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise is a small third-party solution that adds quality, usability, and style to the enterprise seamlessly. Read more to see if the solution can optimize your organization’s intranet.
Emily Rae Aldridge, October 16, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
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