August 2004 Archives

Someone must have made a rule that no one tool is allowed to have EVERYTHING that you need and want. When it comes to web conferencing, the major players, such as Webex and Live Meeting, offer relatively mature products, so it's hard to accept their limitations. Consequently, I've become very fickle, trying new products soon after their introduction. Then disappointment sets in when I learn that the new kid on the block is missing some critical feature.

I have modest web conferencing needs. I typically use these products for training sessions rather than collaboration, so desktop and application sharing are my bread and butter. Not a problem, just about any web conferencing product offers those features. So what are my complaints?

I use the Windows XP Live Update service regularly to keep my home computer current with all the updates and security fixes that are continually pushed out by Microsoft. For the last week, the Live Update icon has been sitting in my system tray to let me know it's time to download again. Yet I hesitate. Why, you might ask, am I reluctant to update? In three words, Service Pack 2. While it's main purpose it to make your PC more secure, vigilant security comes with a price.

I'm not the only one who is concerned. Business customers are also hoping for more time to test applications for potential problems, so Microsoft provided them a workaround to delay the inevitable.

These days I think long and hard before spending money on new software. There's so many different utilities that promise to make your computing experience a better one, a person could go broke buying them all! But I DID spring for the professional version of Roboform. And rarely does a day go by when I don't use it.

Roboform is an Internet Explorer add-on that watches for web sites that require you to log in. When you enter your user name and password, RoboForm records the information, and the next time it automatically logs you in without any effort on your part.

If I can search the vast resources of the web in seconds, why can't I find an email or file on my own computer? Microsoft is promising more advanced searching capability in the new version of Windows code-named Longhorn, but it isn't expected to ship until 2006. There are rumors that Google is planning a desktop search utility, but mum's the word until after the IPO. So what to do until then? In his most recent column, Steve Bass discusses the IdeaLab's X1, which "indexes the data on your hard drive and searches in four categories: files, e-mail, e-mail attachments, and Outlook contacts." In Econtent, Onfolio, a utility for downloading, organizing and publishing web content is reviewed, as is the Lycos HotBot Desktop, a search bar that allows searching of the web AND your hard drive. I guess there's just no excuse for disorganization anymore.

I've had a white paper from Isys, called "Selecting an Intranet Search Engine" sitting on my desk for some time. It's time to tidy up, and I certainly don't want to lose track of it because there's some good stuff here, including an "Intranet Search Engine Requirements & Evaluation Checklist." So, what else, I figured I'd better blog it.

At the AALL exhibit hall, I picked up at some information about CISTI's document delivery service and their new Secure Desktop Delivery. In order to receive your orders electronically, you register with CISTI, download the SDD plugin, and you're good to go; they can then send your documents to you electronically as PDF files. But these aren't just any PDF files. Due to copyright concerns, CISTI delivers secure PDFs which limit the number of times you can print and view the document. It's fairly draconian...you're allowed to view and/or print the document once and only once.

The recent article, "Debunking Intranet Myths" (Intranets July/August 2004), is a reality check for Intranet managers. Jim Howard identifies what he considers the most popular myths, ones that he believes rose during the Internet boom days but still survive to this day.

Most of us researcher-types agree that RSS feeds that display the results of a keyword search are the most useful application of RSS technology. Tara Calishain's ResearchBuzz, points to another source for such feeds, Allheadlinenews.com.

For those NPR fans out there, NPR has expanded their RSS offerings to include segments such as All Things Considered, Morning Edition, Fresh Air and more.

Spotted on therssweblog.

PC Magazine tests the latest version of five spam blockers including Choicemail One, iHateSpam, MailFrontier Desktop, SpamBully and Spam Shredder, giving their Editor's Choice to MailFrontier Desktop 4.0.

When a new Internet technology is discussed in the Wall Street Journal, (A Wiki May Alter How Employees Work Together, July 29, 2004) it's a good hint that the tool is on the move from the public Internet, to the business enterprise.

KM as a discipline is a very recent development, and knowledge managers are having a difficult time establishing their identity and justifying KM as a separate function and profession, especially when some are questioning whether whether KM is even all all that good of an idea.

Lisa Kellar, in the July issue of Practice Innovations, cites a variety of opinions on the subject, ranging from a general dismissal of KM, to a suggestion to rename KM altogether.

Brenton B. Miller, director of knowledge management at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, talks about their choice of the Recommind in response to lawyer's pleas to give them their "own Google." ("The Search Engine that Could", California LegalPro, Summer 2004.)

As described by Walt Crawford in Losing What Counts: The Swamping Phenomenon, swamping happens when "the stuff that counts" disappears "under a flood of other vaguely similar stuff", such as what happened when Amazon introduced "Search in the Book". Though passages in books suddenly became findable, simply finding a book when you knew the title was problematic. Swamping can arise with any search engine when the amount of full-text content grows dramatically, especially when full-text resources are mixed with bibliographic ones. Luckily, Amazon was able to tweak their relevancy ranking to overcome the swamping phenomena.