KNOWLEDGEWISE - Fall 2005

Content, Publishing and Knowledge Management Trends in Context

Welcome to the second issue of KNOWLEDGEWISE, as we continue our mission to provide our perspective on the latest trends in Content, Knowledge and Publishing. In this issue, we’re focusing on the emergence of information delivery channels – Wikis, Weblogs and Podcasts – that are changing the way many Internet users view and and interact with content. We also have an interview with Jill O’Neill from the National Federation of Abstracting and Information Services (NFAIS), who offers her insights on how organizations in the information community are responding to this challenge. And we cover the latest developments in the ongoing race to create more powerful and targeted search engines to help users adapt to and overcome the challenge of information overload. As always, we welcome your feedback and suggestions on how we can make KNOWLEDGEWISE even better. Enjoy.

The Editors, KNOWLEDGE WISE

Wikis and Podcasts and Blogs... The emergence of “grass-roots” content delivery

Publishers and media companies worldwide are rapidly devising plans to capitalize on a grass-roots revolution in the way content is delivered via the Internet.

This revolution is being driven by individuals, who are emerging not only as content creators, but even more importantly, as key influencers on the media-buying decisions of a vast and growing audience. In fact, many of these sites are attracting more traffic daily than the on-line readers of the New York Times and USA Today combined.

As this revolution develops, publishers and media companies need to adapt their web marketing strategy to embrace or to at least be aware of these new information gatekeepers. In particular, three new information delivery venues have seen dramatic growth in popularity in 2005: “wikis”, “podcasts”, and “blogs.” KNOWLEDGE WISE offers a quick primer on these new technologies and how they might impact future information delivery strategies.

Wikipedia

Founded by software developer Ward Cunningham, the wikipedia literally grows with each visit and contribution by its users. The www.wikipedia.org Web site allows visitors to add and revise content to an international encyclopedia. Now the site – with hundreds of thousands of images and articles, and translated to all major languages of the world – is among the top 50 most visited sites on the Internet.

Despite the traffic, the wikipedia continues to resist commercializing the site with advertisements, except for an appeal for donations, and subsists on the strength of an army of volunteer contributors. Yet as Wiki-Mania, the first gathering of wikians, drew to a close in August in Frankfurt, Germany, many wondered if the goals of the community could be furthered by making some money. One potential solution may be sorting the marketing data left behind by a world of on-line contributors and readers.

Podcasts

Podcasts, the ham radio of the Internet, are attracting increasing interest by major media companies. Audio files that can be uploaded from the Internet for listening on an Apple iPod or any MP3 player, podcasts are created and distributed through Really Simple Syndication software. Available free of charge, RSS allows any computer user with a microphone to create programs similar to radio shows and upload them to established podcast Web sites.

Although in their infancy, podcast sites already have thousands of shows available on every imaginable topic. Some sites collect membership fees or charge a fee for downloading specific podcasts. Although much of the material is available for free, podcast sites are also becoming canvases for advertisements, which can be displayed according to the visitors’ preferences in downloads or cookies.

A shift to industry players and away from amateurs began earlier this year, when Warner Brothers sponsored podcasts to promote its artists through interviews. Radio stations are increasingly using them to bring their interviews, talk shows and new unsigned bands to audiences well beyond their broadcast ranges. McGraw-Hill’s Medical Publishing unit introduced a weekly podcast of renowned physicians at AccessMedicine.com, and New York City has the first police department in the nation to use the medium to offer public service announcements. In addition, XML tags are used to sort the dizzying amount of content already surging through RSS.

Blogs

Short for Web logs, blogs also use RSS to exchange and update ideas of individual computer users and, increasingly, mainstream corporations and their customers. Yahoo has added click-throughs to blog discussions of its entries on its news and leisure topic pages, and Google recently launched a new service for searching blogs. Some 50 million U.S. Internet users have visited blog sites, making them popular as places to post pop-up ads. Since XML tagging allows visitors to read through extended discussions by topic, they are becoming a growing resource for researchers.

While this decentralized, grass-roots forum for generating and sharing content marks a radical departure from traditional methods of reaching audiences, it may actually expand the horizons of content providers.

For example, companies launching new web marketing strategies may want to explore sponsoring blogs, as well as look for ways to generate coverage on those sites. In addition, companies need to continue tagging content to ensure that relevant information is indexed by these sites, so that material will gain increased exposure. For example, they could also sponsor blogs or podcasts to bring together new audiences that allow them to track user and marketing data for future campaigns.

NFAIS Describes Role in Adapting to New Communication Forums

KNOWLEDGE WISE recently spoke to Jill O’Neill, director of Planning and Communications for NFAIS (National Federation of Abstracting and Information Services), to ask her about the role her organization fulfills and how its member organizations are adapting to new communication forums like blogs, wikis and Web 2.0.

Can you describe the NFAIS mission and the role it fills for member organizations?

• "We help organizations that aggregate, organize and facilitate access to information. While our members are primarily organizations that create content or provide technology that supports content delivery, the common focus is on providing information tools and services. Organizations with that function – publishers, libraries, museums, government agencies, professional and research not-for-profit organizations – share common ground. Our primary mission is to provide a common meeting ground, beyond their immediate community, in which they can share best practices and learn new ways to meet their goal of connecting users with the right information resource.”

What keeps your members up at night?

• "While all our member organizations face common challenges of technology, sustainability, and ease of use, their main focus centers on one consideration – how best to provide high quality content and information services for user communities with very specific needs. All the other issues are subordinate to this goal. Content providers may appear to be conservative in adopting new technologies, but frequently that time lag is used to gain a better understanding of user needs and settle on the best implementation of new technology so that user needs are satisfied. The intent is to ensure a positive impact on the user’s workflow, whatever that may be. It isn’t in the best interest of the user to launch a service with bells and whistles that doesn’t add value in the long run. Instead, these organizations focus on delivering information services that meet rigorous standards of quality.”

Do you believe the information industry has developed an effective strategy for responding to the emergence of blogs, wikis and other new communication forums?

• “Many organizations are still experimenting with these technologies, and while they have not yet developed formal strategies, they are taking the first steps at integrating them into their business models. For example, one NFAIS member organization is experimenting with an internal enterprise blog; another member organization has staff members publishing individual blogs. I know of one major publishing house where a staff member’s blog details publishing processes throughout the organization, from the process for submitting manuscripts to the role marketing plays in publishing a book. The blog highlights business considerations that an average customer or reader might never have encountered and illustrates the value-add of the publishing process. It will take time for content providers to figure out where new technologies, such as wikis, fit in and where those technologies add value.”

You devoted a large part of a recent issue of NFAIS Notes to Web 2.0. Will the reality of this next generation of the Internet ever match the hype?

• “Right now, no one is really sure what Web 2.0 will be. But we are moving toward an information environment in which people will expect to be able to rapidly find and access the content they need. Some of the possibilities are fascinating. I’m participating in the beta test for My Web 2.0 on Yahoo, and I have to say that it's useful to me in ways I’d not anticipated. Whether My Web becomes the model for the next generation or not, we are clearly moving toward an Internet in which people increasingly customize the information they are receiving to their immediate needs. In this environment, the challenge facing all information providers will be on how to best create information tools and services that meet the critical needs of their key audiences.”

What are some of the major events and activities that NFAIS is sponsoring over the next year?

• "Our national conference is scheduled for February 2006 in Philadelphia with the theme of “Content Unleashed… Delivering the New Information Experience.” This is the focus of all of our member organizations – creating cool information products and services. We also are planning several one-day events throughout the year, including our fourth annual Humanities Roundtable in October. The NFAIS web site offers links to details. I would also encourage members and non-members to watch our News page, as that is updated daily and spotlights the latest developments and trends that impact everyone in the information community.” To learn more about NFAIS, visit their Web site at www.nfais.org.

Search Engines Seek New Ways To Increase Relevance in Quest for Digital Domination

Search engines are becoming the primary battleground for dominance of the digital world, as Yahoo, Google and an increasing number of niche players extend their services beyond computers to cell phones and personal digital assistants, and index new lines of data from Web logs, podcasts and RSS and XML feeds. More traffic typically translates to higher advertising revenue, of course. But the real goal of the game is to build the Web-based “virtual operating system” that becomes the platform for all electronic gadgets.

Google is wooing independent program developers into its realm by installing hooks in its new Google Talk instant messaging and Desktop Search products that can be used to create new application programming interfaces. These APIs can be used to build clever add-on products that generate profits through user fees or pop-up advertising. Hooks on Google Maps, for example, inspired others to create APIs to pinpoint a specific street address on a computer-generated map and to provide driving directions to get there.

Competitors such as Yahoo and Microsoft Networks also are expanding search options, allowing users to customize their access to Internet content and to share information. Yahoo supports standardized metadata to allow the exchange of personalized consumer profiles that could be mined for customer preferences and targeted ads. Beta Yahoo! provides access to 250,000 Really Simple Syndication or RSS feeds while Yahoo 360° promises to ease communication among users of Web logs (or blogs). Yahoo tracks clicks and click-throughs that can reveal user behavior.

This fall, Microsoft is rolling out MSN Keywords, a behavioral and search-based advertising interface. It too will track clicks and click-throughs, similar to Yahoo’s search engine. The new MSN Search accesses the growing number of blogs and allows users to enter an extended set of parameters to focus Web searches. As with Yahoo, marketing data are collected at every step to help companies deliver targeted ads.

While the big players dominate the headlines, niche search engines such as “Ask Jeeves” and other newer players are popping up on the Web. Some charge for searches, making the engine a profit generator from the start as they find businesses happy to pay a fee to receive targeted data without wading through 10,000 hits that miss the mark. However, many generate revenue from ads posted on the search site, and, like Yahoo, MSN and others, from capturing and selling data gleaned from visitors. Look for ad networks to simplify their campaign set-up and management processes to cater to a growing number of niche players.

But as search engines rev up to attract more customers, enterprises and publishing organizations will find that they need to revamp search techniques within their own Web sites to ensure that they help customers and potential visitors break through the clutter. General-purpose algorithms tuned to cope with billions of publicly accessible pages on the Web often do not provide good results within a corporate site that has significantly fewer pages to index. When the volume of indexed pages drops, sites must customize the generic search approach to ensure that users find the best information available.

One increasingly popular approach is to build a knowledge model based on the topic map and ontology standard. Topic maps take the search technique to a new level. Rather than searching for a few keywords, topic maps search for associations of related topics and occurrences. The result is a rich stream of information that enables readers to bypass areas that are not relevant to their search. (This graphic illustrates the more powerful search results of a topic map query.)

As knowledge management standards like XML and resource descriptive framework (or RDF) continue to evolve, topic map searches will link users to ideas beyond their initial scope of a concept. Searches will not be limited to finding word references on Web pages, but will also zero in on identifying tags on images and sounds as well.

Increasingly complex, yet directed, searches provide opportunities on many levels. Organizations are beginning to consider topic maps as a key business tool, improving their response to new threats and emerging opportunities. Setting up niche engines can generate revenue from fees and or advertising, while mining visitors for data that can be used to shape new marketing programs.

In this environment, it’s clear that tagging data properly will assume increasing importance for companies that want their products and services to stay on the top of their customers’ minds, as well as on search engine results pages.

Innodata Isogen News

Innodata Isogen Named Trend Setter by KMWorld

Innodata Isogen is among the 50 companies named by KMWorld as a trend-setter in knowledge management. The common thread for all companies named to the list is the unique value – as well as potential value – that they offer to organizations, their workers and various constituencies. KMWorld narrowed its list from more than 200 companies, whose offerings were rated according to usability, flexibility, adoption rate and cost of total ownership. Companies also were recognized for their vision toward the future or for a collection of offerings, rather than a specific product or compelling new version of an existing one.

New InfoTrends/CAP Ventures Report Features Innodata Isogen Page Composition Offering

A new batch composition service from Innodata Isogen that will revolutionize the economics of page composition is featured in a report on batch composition outsourcing by research firm InfoTrends/CAP Ventures.

In addition to delivering cost savings of up 50 percent or more, this next-generation, hosted-solution model enables publishers to generate multiple content deliverables, retain the rights to style assets and slash nearly three to four weeks from typical composition workflows.

To learn more, register now for our upcoming Webinar series
A Great Leap Forward in Page Composition
Wednesday, October 12, 2005, 12:00PM EST, 9:00AM PST, 1700 UK, 1800 Western Europe

In the News

Update on Google print: Publishers Take Google to Court

Google and publishing industry representatives are working to find common ground that would allow it to continue with its ambitious 10-year Google Print project to digitize and post as many as 15 million books.

Associations representing publishers and university presses have threatened to take Google to court on copyright issues if the search engine giant indexed and made available to the public the contents of libraries at the University of Michigan, Stanford University, New York Public, Harvard and Oxford. In fact, on Sept. 21, the first set of plaintiffs (including the Authors Guild) filed a lawsuit against Google, contending “massive copyright infringement.”

Google's Susan Wojcicki, VP Product Management, responded to the lawsuit via the Google blog, writing that Google Print will benefit authors, not harm them. Ms. Wojcicki claims Google Print does not violate copyright law, and its practices comply with generally accepted "fair use" doctrines. Google Print will be one big electronic card catalog: "This ability to introduce millions of users to millions of titles can only expand the market for authors' books, which is precisely what copyright law is intended to foster," she posted.

Not all publishers are opposed to Google Print. Many have expressed willingness to submit books to Google so that they can be scanned and searched, feeling that the industry could gain from users that see the information on line and then go on to buy the books from links to the publishers or third party sellers.

Partner Corner

Innodata Isogen recently signed new partner contracts with TEMIS and FAST Search and Transfer. Read on to learn more about our new partners.

TEMIS

TEMIS is a software company that designs, develops and distributes Corporate Text Mining solutions. The company is the European leader for this technology in size, international presence and revenue. TEMIS is the first company to have packaged its products according both to business needs (Competitive Intelligence, Customer Relationship Management, and Human Resources) and vertical needs (Life Sciences, Publishing, Automotive, and Homeland Security).

TEMIS was founded in 2000 by a team of IBM managers, researchers and consultants to develop and market innovative Text Mining Solutions. The founding team had earlier developed and distributed IBM Text Mining solutions worldwide, including such offerings as Text Knowledge Miner and IBM Technology Watch.

After signing an initial licensing agreement with Xerox for XeLDAR, TEMIS management later acquired Xerox linguistics operations. With this acquisition, TEMIS complemented its development team with linguistic experts and its own product lines with the Xerox best-sellers, XeLDAR and eXtraction Terminology SuiteT.

Currently, TEMIS employs more than 50 people and operates subsidiaries in France, Germany, Italy, the UK and the USA. TEMIS products are distributed in the rest of Europe through its partner network.

FAST Search & Transfer

Fast Search & Transfer creates the real-time search and filter technology solutions that are behind the scenes at the world's best known companies with the most demanding search problems. FAST's flexible and scalable integrated technology platform elevates the search capabilities of enterprise customers and connects people to the relevant information they seek, regardless of medium. This drives revenues and reduces total cost of ownership by effectively leveraging IT infrastructure.

FAST's powerful enterprise search technology solutions are used by a wide range of global customers and partners, including America Online (AOL), AT&T, Cardinal Health, CareerBuilder.com, Chordiant, CIGNA, CNET, Dell, Factiva, Fidelity Investments, Findexa, FirstGov.gov (GSA), IBM, Knight Ridder, LexisNexis, Overture, Rakuten, Reed Elsevier, Reuters, Sensis, Stellent, Tenet Healthcare, Thomas Industrial Networks, T-Online, US Army, Virgilio (Telecom Italia), Vodafone and Wanadoo.

FAST operates globally in Norway, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, Brazil, Japan, Singapore, Australia and the Middle East. The company is publicly traded under the ticker symbol FAST on the Oslo Stock Exchange.

Innodata Isogen and Blast Radius to co-sponsor the DITA Wiki

In collaboration with Blast Radius, Innodata Isogen will sponsor the DITA Wiki (www.dita-xml.org), a collaborative portal that will enable users to share practical information, best-practices, and recommendations for using and implementing the Darwin Information Typing Architecture. An industry-wide initiative, the DITA Wiki is expected to launch in mid-October.