Bruce Schneier, expert on all things secure, offers an insightful entry in his blog about how and why humans react to security threats. It explains a lot. Since information is often structured in response to security threats (real or perceived), this is worth a read. http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2006/11/perceived_risk_1.html
After nearly a year of blogging elsewhere, I'm making a return to TypePad and Worth Noting. Seeing a 12 month old post on TypePad's second anniversary is a sobering reminder of just how long it's been. Meanwhile, Happy Third Anniversary (as of October 10, 2006) to TypePad.
Some industries (aviation and engineering, for example) make great use of failure analysis. It's far more rare in other environs where it is politic to declare every project a glowing success, no matter what. We all know better, but it isn't often you get thoughtful reflection on what went wrong and why. For an informative look at "not getting it right" I can recommend Ari Paparo's post: http://www.aripaparo.com/archive/001456.html
Blogging live from the Clarendon Apple Store in Arlington, VA. It's a gorgeous day, so we decided to stop by the Apple Store on the way home from DC. We were fortunate to arrive just as the staff finished loading some video on one of the new video iPods. They have a shipment, but nothing out yet for official display or sale. It's a sweet device. Small, feels good in your hand, GREAT resolution. I could definitely get used to watching one on the Metro. Stop by an Apple Store and see for yourself.
Happy Birthday to TypePad, which turns two years old this month. Speaking of youngsters, I hope to get a chance to see one of Apple's new video iPods later this week. As a dedicated Metro rider, I wouldn't mind being able to watch something engaging on the ride home, especially if I'm not fortunate enough to get a seat. As a visual learner, first and foremost, I'm always interested in new ways to visualize.
From visualize to vision. If you've been wondering what Web 2.0 is all about and how it meshes with other emerging trends, I highly recommend Tim O'Reilly's article on www.oreilly.com entitled, What Is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software (9/30/2005.) Tim's piece takes a thorough look at Web 2.0 and there's an engaging response section. Check it out.
I spend a lot of time analyzing the emergence of trends in info management, info technology, library science, etc. and two recent forces are beginning to dominate the newsfront: Mobile Technologies and Visualization. I've worked with and talked to clients about both, but every day the technology news, and more and more, the popular news, confirms the importance of this duo in how all of us go about our daily activities. The latest domain designation of .mobi is certainly one indicator that mobile technologies are coming into their own. It's a huge market and growing fast. Visualization has always been touted as a critical factor in creating understanding of complex ideas, but the promise has often been bigger than the delivery. Only in movies and television have problem-solvers had visual solutions readily at hand. Recently though, visualization of complex data, specifically the use of GIS systems, has married the notion of spatial data with other types of data sets, such as detailed demographics, satellite maps, etc. Google Maps alone has done wonders to marry the concepts of "ground truth" with various kinds of statistical realities. Matched with accurate search parameters, these web-based capabilities are very useful when it comes to things like deciding where to locate your business, where to find supporters who share a value-system, how to route emergency services, where to locate warehouses to shorten mileage and speed up deliveries, etc. The fact that mobile technologies and visualization are joining forces to help new car buyers avoid traffic snarls and/or never get lost again indicates they're probably more than a fad. Such devices are probably not what most future information managers or future librarians contemplate when they think of their careers, but there's no reason it couldn't be either. Both technologies depend on accurate, well-designed data sets, control mechanisms and aggregation points, all things librarians and other kinds of info managers are used to working with. Very soon, maybe drivers won't be the only ones using such emerging trends to find their way?
It's not like Microsoft is ever out of the news, but recent announcements about the software giant's support for technologies like RSS and XML have been a big help to us in our work. It's not all that often I'm thrilled about how the gang in Redmond goes about their business, but I'm very grateful for the confirmation of importance implicit in their announcements about both RSS and XML. Often, clients insist neither technology is relevant to their information services, projects or organization, but when a major player like Microsoft recognizes the importance of an information management tool, it's a big step toward moving that tool from Emerging Trend to Fact of Life.
Now ... if I could just get similiar recognition for my abilities as an amateur gardener ...
May 2005 is turning out to be a great month for folks interested in more user-friendly tools for creating, publishing and transforming documents into XML-structured content. Many know how important it is to utilize XML, but tools for the non-programming professional in business, higher education, communications, information management, etc. are still sadly lacking. The Gilbane Report for this month has featured some encouraging product announcements from a range of vendors. For an example, see http://gilbane.com/news.pl/7/news.html#3742.
Yesterday, I was part of a discussion about middleware. If you're not familiar with middleware (for starters, be grateful) think of it as the software version of a go-between, one that allows two disparate systems or applications to work together. Traditional middleware and its related tools are very sophisticated, very expensive and work very well for the precise jobs for which they were created. The problem is, they're very brittle. They work great until something changes, then they break. And let's face it, something ALWAYS changes. Once it does, it takes significant resources and expertise to put the middleware right.
XML middleware is not nearly as advanced as traditional middleware and its tools can be primitive. In fact, that was the focus point of yesterday's discussion: Software Tools - how aggravating they are when they're immature. But that said, XML middleware offers some very important features.
Among the most important is XML middleware's ability to act as a kind of data diplomat. It goes out and talks to a wide range of data sources (databases, servers, etc.) on behalf of the client. It speaks the native language of the data sources and respects their customs and ways. Then, it translates everything back to the client in a way the client can easily understand and use. It's like the dream of many of us when we travel abroad. We (North Americans) want access to global treasures, sights, resources, etc., but we want everything to come back to us in English. As a group, our size carries weight and one could argue English has become one of the international languages of business. My point is, when we can partake of global resources, while retaining our standard mode of communication, we're more likely to participate and to help stimulate the economy as a result.
XML middleware is a lot like that. It does the hard work of speaking and working with the data sources in their native languages. The client software only needs to understand XML, it doesn't need to be customized. It only needs to be able to parse XML. Cool and cost effective. This data diplomacy allows many more clients (like tourists) to participate and get in on the action.
This is an example of how XML facilitates data integration.
We urge Deans, Directors, and other executive library leaders to take the initiative in involving librarians in enterprise-wide content management project work, even if no such projects currently exist on your campus. Librarians have skills directly applicable to content management work, things like master metadata vocabularies will eventually be required, and being proactive in bringing this to the attention of university executives offers some advantages:
1. It gives the library leader momentum. It provides a way to ride atop a new technology wave rather than getting steamrolled by it.
2. It affords a definitive role for librarians at the enterprise level in the content management discussion.
3. It shows that librarians are problem-solvers and solution creators, not to mention well aware of the latest capabilities in information management.
4. It shows an awareness of the growing cost of managing information and offers a way to leverage both the cost of managing information, but also the deep knowledge required.
At Northern Lights, Inc. we spend a lot of time talking to executives, deans, directors, vice presidents, provosts, etc. about information services. Specifically, we talk about how to create information services that are more relevant, more tailored, more value-added. We talk about how to accomplish this within the range of tight budgets, limited personnel and with maximum return on the institution's investment. Managing information is expensive. Not managing it can be even more expensive. Dollars are hard to come by and how they're spent, especially when it comes to technology, is important to many people who must produce results.
Our discussions center around how to plan and design cost effective, value-added versions of information services as well as the mechanisms for accomplishing their creation and implementation. Most recently, much of our work has emphasized approaches like web services, software solutions like content management systems, and notations like XML (for a common language of integration and data exchange.)
I want to mention a point about XML that has emerged as critical in all these discussions. In fact, I believe it may be critical to the future of information management services in general and to the education of all information managers in particular.
XML is important to current technology trends for many reasons. Whole websites and entire shelves of bookstores are devoted to it. In the context of our work, we're always looking for ways to discuss with our clients (and their constituents) how to add value to information services. XML is certainly one of the ways value can be added. One of the most basic is also, I believe, the most important.
Whenever information is managed, whether it's a single document or an entire body of content, it is modeled. In a content management context, for example, that modeling is handled by analyzing the body of content within a given content management system's domain and creating a content model, based on that analysis. I'm making something very simple that isn't, but what you're basically doing is creating an abstract version of the information. This abstract version is often very complex and sophisticated, especially if it's prepared by experienced information managers in concert with experienced users.
To be useful in a machine-processable environment - in other words, as part of some kind of information management system - that abstract model must be formalized and created in a way that allows it to interact with software. To use a content management example again, you'd formally notate the various content types in your content model, using XML notation. Each one of these content types would contain elements, subelements and attributes that would describe it. Of course, a set of files filled with XML versions of content types don't begin to capture the richness of the abstract content model.
To go further toward capturing more facets of the content model, you'd also have to add in XML versions of access structures. Access structures are the formal way the content is made discoverable and include a wide range of things like indexes, cross-references, associations, hierarchies, etc. Metadata can be created to add all kinds of value to the content. It can describe what elements should be used depending on what form of output the content takes. It can describe the level of user sophistication best suited to a given set of elements, like novice, intermediate or advanced. There are also a series of rules that describe how metadata is to be created and applied. All of these mechanisms and approaches combine to try and realize the fullness of the abstract content model.
What this means is that one of the good things XML facilitates is the transformation of a rich, sophisticated abstract model into a formal set of structures that make the abstract model live as a fully machine-processable entity. This is very important since it's the ability to machine-process that directly affects the per unit cost of information management services and that leverages the results of those services as far as a given system can be distributed. If we're talking about distributing a set of information services over a campus intranet or over the Internet, we're talking about a very wide range indeed.
It seems to me the future of information management as well as the future training of its practioners may well be directly related to continually enriching the ability to translate the inherent richness of abstract models of information into machine-processable ones.
In our client work, whether it involves a physical construction project or creating master metadata vocabularies, we're seeing the penetration of components into a wide variety of areas.
Components have been a staple in things like manufacturing and electronics for years. Now, we're seeing their presence as a design principle in areas like publishing and information management. This goes along with many of the overarching information management trends, including "software as a service" and the "Internet as a transaction space and application platform."
Component-level information management can be found in the form of content management. The latter offers a way to structure a body of content, while still being able to manipulate individual elements within that structure. Being able to manage information at the component-level offers significant advantages. It simplifies complex structures. It allows ready reuse or repurposing of individual elements. It facilitates the mechanics of collaboration, editing and updating, and gives a powerful degree of flexibility. It also signals a new era of information management, one where the information manager doesn't only provide access to containers, but to the structured content within those containers and does so in a proactive way, at the time of the information's creation.
Changes in information management tools, techniques and philosophies appear to revolve around a series of balancing acts, where new trends create an interesting tension with more traditional approaches. Examples include: Designing for Performance vs. Designing for Agility Tightly coupled vs. Loosely coupled Proprietary vs. Open Source Monolithic/All-of-one piece Design vs. Component Design Application-centric vs. Data-centric Dumb Data vs. Smart Data Code Portability vs. Data Portability Predetermined (negotiated & set) vs. Delayed Binding (just-in-time alliances) All Possibilities Accounted For vs. Emergent Behavior/Unanticipated Uses & Users Human Processing vs. Machine-Processing
I’ve noticed certain problems surface related to new technologies regardless of factors like the vertical markets they concern, the solutions they offer and the details of their design and implementation. You could say, regardless of the nature of new information technologies, the following issues persist: Last Mile Issues and Control Mechanism Issues
Last Mile Issues
There are always complications when it comes to delivering functionality directly to users. This is extra complicated when delivery mechanisms need to be tailored, which is one of the current trends in information delivery.
Control Mechanism Issues
Each new technology brings with it a renewed struggle for balance between Order and Chaos. With new capabilities, we must constantly redefine the levels of freedom and control that are required. The accompanying tools and legal codes always lag well behind technological developments.
We are constantly monitoring directions and trends in information management in an effort to keep our clients informed and to help them shape their current and future services and projects. One of the obvious directions I see on the info management front is the convergence of tools and technologies all pointing to a similar goal: Removing Barriers.
The removal of barriers as an information management trend, takes two distinct forms: 1. The access granted to users via Web APIs. 2. The tendency toward disintermediation in the traditional sense.Opening up software services via Web APIs gives users a chance to leverage their own knowledge and know-how to enhance services they use every day. It is a new model for creating win-win situations between services and subscribers and creates an open invitation to innovation. This option dovetails with trends toward new kinds of value-adding, most notably the ability to capture the expertise, inventiveness and creativity of users in a way that is directly reflected in the service’s interface and that directly extends the capability of the service. [SEE the entry on Network Effects.] It goes without saying, that this new model brings with it serious challenges in the areas of security and privacy, but all changes require development of equally new control mechanisms and should not be a reason to reject the migration to new ways of doing things.
While Web APIs offer new access points and new ways to innovate existing software services, there will be equivalent shifts to parties who have acted as traditional information brokers or intermediaries. Intermediary services are an integral part of Web Services, but more traditional forms of broking and intermediation should see significant changes. Profit points will change as the value-added shifts up, down and sideways in the evolving value chains related to Web Services and new models of software engineering. The nature and presentation of intermediate services are also likely to change. Users and other software services will increasing have direct access to online goods, services, tools, expertise, etc. Service requestors will expect to be able to access intermediate services without interrupting their transactions to deal separately with other agents. Intermediary services will becomes part of enriched processing, machine-based, and largely invisible to the human consumer. It will be essential that brokers are correctly positioned in a systems sense to add significant value where it has most impact and best compliments users’ info eco system.
The patterns and precise models for how these trends will emerge in specific vertical markets are not set, but it’s clear that architectures will come to reflect this philosophy of constantly incorporating user-designed innovation and bringing users in direct contact with all required services, sans barriers.
The New York Times > Technology > Circuits > What's Next: Making a Web Search Feel Like a Stroll in the Library: "But researchers are working on more flexible approaches to searching for digital information not only on the Web, but on one's own hard drive, where elusive details may be scattered through photos, e-mail and other files."
This NYT article briefly reviews efforts to facilitate conceptual searching (making relationships between concepts) by highlighting the work of Bruce Horn of (founder of Ingenuity Software) and Dr. Marci Hearst (UC Berkeley.)
eMachineShop - Online Machine Shop - with FREE CAD Software: "eMachineShop is the remarkable new way to get the custom parts you need - the first true online machine shop. Download our free software, draw your part, and click to order - it's that easy! Your part will be machined and delivered. Even better, your cost is low due to the Internet, software, and automated machines"
While eMachineShop does not yet employ the "universal client" frontend that would make it practically perfect, it remains a great example of what is possible. It makes so much sense, you have to wonder why the model isn't employed more often.
Great Hackers: "In programming, as in many fields, the hard part isn't solving problems, but deciding what problems to solve. Imagination is hard to measure, but in practice it dominates the kind of productivity that's measured in lines of code."
Paul Graham
This essay on what makes a great hacker is derived from Graham's keynote at this year's OSCON meeting (2004.) Read it if you have any plans to hire a programmer or if you want to see how gifted coders go about their business. Graham's assessment may be too blunt for some tastes, but I always enjoy and value his opinions.
