Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Digital Humanities and Archaeology
Presentation to Digital Humanities class at Pratt Institute, covering the history of computing in the field of archaeology and current digital humanities projects.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Folksonomies in Museums
Kathleen Dowling, Dana Hart and I presented on Folksonomies in Museums, our final project for our Knowledge Organization class. Below are the presentation slides and poster.
Friday, November 30, 2012
Archiving Digital Maps
An excerpt and presentation from an academic paper on archiving digital maps:
I have been a member of the Geographic Information System (“GIS”) community in New York City, since the early 1990s when I was a real estate researcher at Price Waterhouse. In those days, except for certain Federal departments, like the US Census, geographic data was largely held by the institutions that created it. Datasets were static, finite and, until the advent of DVDs and the World Wide Web, difficult to share, due to their often massive file size and the slow speed of internet file transfer. The sharing that did happen was informal, occasional, and often blocked, inadvertently or deliberately, by agency policy or licensing terms that restrict third party distribution. Census data and commercial products, such as demographics tables from Sales & Marketing Magazine, were available at the New York Public Library on tape, microfilm and later on DVD, but more proprietary data sources were often obtained through expensive licensing agreements or barter and a network of “who you know.” The GIS user group, GISMO, formed in 1990, was one place where such sharing occurred.
GISMO was originally created as a software user network where GIS professionals shared information on GIS tools and applications and presented projects at informal bi-monthly meetings. At the time that GISMO was formed, NYC agency geographers were frustrated with the lack of centrality of geographic data at the City level. There was no common base map of New York City on which to overlay geospatial data and no City library where geospatial resources were archived and available for extensive employee use. To address this problem, GISMO offered the following data advocacy statement:
In this paper, I will take a look at the access issues that led a group of geographers to work toward developing a centralized data repository for New York City and how these efforts were mirrored and extended at the national level. While I learned a lot about GIS metadata and software, I will focus more on policy issues around the management of geographic data collections and then discuss archiving management issues more generally. I will avoid delving deeply into political themes around data access and control, though they do have a role in the history of geographic data and how public release and archival decisions are made. I will present information on early data clearinghouses and website archives which provided examples for more robust archival programs at local and national institutions, including NYPL, the Library of Congress, Data.Gov and the NYC Open Data initiative. I will also look at the cost of data, economic limitations on access and the promise of open data.
Full paper (.DOC 145.9kb)
I have been a member of the Geographic Information System (“GIS”) community in New York City, since the early 1990s when I was a real estate researcher at Price Waterhouse. In those days, except for certain Federal departments, like the US Census, geographic data was largely held by the institutions that created it. Datasets were static, finite and, until the advent of DVDs and the World Wide Web, difficult to share, due to their often massive file size and the slow speed of internet file transfer. The sharing that did happen was informal, occasional, and often blocked, inadvertently or deliberately, by agency policy or licensing terms that restrict third party distribution. Census data and commercial products, such as demographics tables from Sales & Marketing Magazine, were available at the New York Public Library on tape, microfilm and later on DVD, but more proprietary data sources were often obtained through expensive licensing agreements or barter and a network of “who you know.” The GIS user group, GISMO, formed in 1990, was one place where such sharing occurred.
GISMO was originally created as a software user network where GIS professionals shared information on GIS tools and applications and presented projects at informal bi-monthly meetings. At the time that GISMO was formed, NYC agency geographers were frustrated with the lack of centrality of geographic data at the City level. There was no common base map of New York City on which to overlay geospatial data and no City library where geospatial resources were archived and available for extensive employee use. To address this problem, GISMO offered the following data advocacy statement:
GISMO supports freer access to data through interaction between NYC area GIS users as well as the following long range initiatives:
|
In this paper, I will take a look at the access issues that led a group of geographers to work toward developing a centralized data repository for New York City and how these efforts were mirrored and extended at the national level. While I learned a lot about GIS metadata and software, I will focus more on policy issues around the management of geographic data collections and then discuss archiving management issues more generally. I will avoid delving deeply into political themes around data access and control, though they do have a role in the history of geographic data and how public release and archival decisions are made. I will present information on early data clearinghouses and website archives which provided examples for more robust archival programs at local and national institutions, including NYPL, the Library of Congress, Data.Gov and the NYC Open Data initiative. I will also look at the cost of data, economic limitations on access and the promise of open data.
Full paper (.DOC 145.9kb)
Monday, September 10, 2012
Presidential Libraries
My presentation on Presidential Libraries, featuring the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library.
Monday, July 23, 2012
GeoSprocket Live Survey on GIS Tools
The first round of results of a recent GIS user poll from GeoSprocket, asking about GIS tool used and frequency of use, are available:
Bill Morris surveyed GIS users via several feeds including a Vermont GIS listserv, ESRI and O'Reilly conference hashtags and the author's social media accounts. An interesting survey, but difficult to get a good read on who the sample represents. Not knowing how many people follow a specific Twitter hashtag, it is difficult to measure how many of the respondents might have found the survey via the ESRI versus the O'Reilly hashtag.
With those caveats, let's look at the numbers.
In the first release, 55% of the respondents are primary ESRI users, 24% use open source GIS tools, 16% are Google Map users and 8% use some other tool, including FME, MicroStation, ENVI/IDL, GIS Cloud, AutoDesk, Maptitude, Idrisi, Mapserver, Geocortex and others. Bill noted surprise at how many Google users there are. Frankly, I would have thought there would be more, but perhaps Bill's social network skews toward ESRI or that more people follow the ESRI hashtag than the O'Reilly one.
Overlap in product use is what I find most interesting about this survey. It seems a larger proportion of people who use non-ESRI tools like Google Maps or open source products also use ESRI tools (80% versus 40%). However, 75% of ESRI users also use Google Maps. This indicates that there is value for a lot of people in using a mixed approach.
The second round of Bill's survey remains open and live results indicate that there are indeed more Google users than the first round suggested. As of today, ESRI users remain the majority with 48% of users versus 30% Google Maps. The other categories are relatively the same.
It will be interesting to see how these numbers change as more people enter the survey.
It would also be more interesting and indeed useful to see why certain tools are used over others as opposed to simply which tools were used. Clearly with up to 80% overlap of use there must be reasons why certain tools are chosen for certain tasks. Hopefully, Bill will add that question in a subsequent survey.
Friday, July 13, 2012
Information Architecture of Emergency Response (for Designers)
My IxDA July 12 presentation on Information Architecture of Emergency Response (for Designers) is now available at: http://www.slideshare.net/nwhysel/information-architecture-of-emergency-response-for-designers. Thanks to IxDA and Pivotal Labs for hosting, Peter March for MCing and Jennifer Kilian at Hot Studio for bringing the pizza.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
The Information Architecture of Emergency Response
Now that I have been accepted into the Pratt Institute Masters of Library and Information Science program, I have started a journey to document the convergence between two of my favorite disciplines, Geographic Information Systems and Information Architecture. In the past few months, I've noticed an explosion of conferences and meetups addressing the geolocational aspects of digital applications for the web and especially mobile. I am a member of 16 different Meetup groups, eight of which address some aspect of the User Experience umbrella, four of which specialize in mapping and/or GIS, two somewhat general technology groups and two more that approach these disciplines from the fascinating perspectives of digital semiotics and data visualization and infographics. Each have hosted topics on user experience and location based design at some point. Many maddeningly scheduled for the same evening.
Commiserating with some of my colleagues with whom I helped create the NYC GeoSymposium 2001-2011-2021 back in November, we have found that in each of our practices, cartographers, GIS specialists and those working with visualizing location based information are finding a great need for design assistance. This seems natural, if somewhat belated and perhaps even surprising. Think of some of the most beautifully designed images and one must of course reflect on the maps of National Geographic magazine, those gorgeous squares of folded paper that come in every issue. Certainly, there is a longstanding sensibility around the design of useful and pleasing maps. Increasingly, these maps are in our hands on tablets and smart phones, so optimizing the display of information that used to be represented in enormous, rolled or folded pieces of paper is a challenge for our community.
I reprised the presentation, modified somewhat for an emergency responder audience for the Office of Emergency Management's annual Women's History Month Breakfast, where I had the pleasure of sharing the stage with Dr. Irene Osborne of Mount Sinai Hospital, who treated patients' internal injuries during the Haiti earthquake, and IA Institute founder and Development Manager, Bev Corwin, who presented on language translation in crisis situations, in particular a handheld Creole language translation device that she developed with colleagues at Carnegie Mellon University.
It may also be interesting for my UX friends to hear (as I've heard through the grapevine) that ESRI, leader in GIS software, is developing an internal UX practice and should be hiring soon.
Slide decks of my IA of Emergency Response talks are now available at Slideshare:
March 23:
March 28:
Commiserating with some of my colleagues with whom I helped create the NYC GeoSymposium 2001-2011-2021 back in November, we have found that in each of our practices, cartographers, GIS specialists and those working with visualizing location based information are finding a great need for design assistance. This seems natural, if somewhat belated and perhaps even surprising. Think of some of the most beautifully designed images and one must of course reflect on the maps of National Geographic magazine, those gorgeous squares of folded paper that come in every issue. Certainly, there is a longstanding sensibility around the design of useful and pleasing maps. Increasingly, these maps are in our hands on tablets and smart phones, so optimizing the display of information that used to be represented in enormous, rolled or folded pieces of paper is a challenge for our community.
Let's Talk About Maps
So I am doing my part in continuing this discussion of the place for design in online mapping. In March, I presented a talk in New Orleans at the 2012 IA Summit on The Information Architecture of Emergency Response. The presentation explored the evolution of technology in emergency response, with a special focus on advances in geographic systems, incident management, social media and policy in New York City since September 11, 2001. In it, I cover questions like:
- What technologies do emergency responders in NYC use?
- How have events like 9/11 and other incidents influenced technology advances?
- What effect, if any, has the change from a Law Enforcement Mayor to a Media Mayor had on data policy?
- What are the challenges and opportunities of open government data?
- How is social media being used in NYC and elsewhere to engage the public in emergency preparedness and response?
- And, finally, are app contests and hackathons an effective way to improve public services in difficult economic times?
I reprised the presentation, modified somewhat for an emergency responder audience for the Office of Emergency Management's annual Women's History Month Breakfast, where I had the pleasure of sharing the stage with Dr. Irene Osborne of Mount Sinai Hospital, who treated patients' internal injuries during the Haiti earthquake, and IA Institute founder and Development Manager, Bev Corwin, who presented on language translation in crisis situations, in particular a handheld Creole language translation device that she developed with colleagues at Carnegie Mellon University.
Continuing the Discussion
I have been asked to present another redux of Information Architecture of Emergency Response at the IxDA NYC's July meetup. I hope to conclude the IxDA with a Town Hall discussion of how the IA community can support emergency response efforts throughout each of our own neighborhoods. I ran out of time in New Orleans and would like to get a good conversation going with the UX community on issues and ideas for further exploration. My daughter's 6th grade graduation is June 7, so I will be missing the IxDA meeting that focuses on the Social Lives of Maps, with UX designer Ray Cha and Green Map's Thomas Turnbull. But I understand the GIS community will have someone there. If you attend, please introduce yourself to Jack Eichenbaum, who founded GISMO, a 20+ year old, NYC-based GIS user group. In the meantime, stay tuned for RSVP information for the July event.It may also be interesting for my UX friends to hear (as I've heard through the grapevine) that ESRI, leader in GIS software, is developing an internal UX practice and should be hiring soon.
Slide decks of my IA of Emergency Response talks are now available at Slideshare:
March 23:
March 28:
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Towards a 9/11 GeoArchive
Imagine if the most graphic and expressive artifacts from one of the most historic events in New York City lay rolled in tubes in a dusty corner. What if millions of bytes of geographic data, produced through an unprecedented, community collaboration, were dispersed, disconnected and hidden from public view? If you had the opportunity to preserve them, how would you do it?
During the September 11, 2001 rescue and recovery operations, I volunteered to help recruit geographers through a NYC-based GIS user group, called GISMO. The need was critical and overwhelming. The Mayor's Office of Emergency Management had been evacuated and no longer had access to maps and data necessary for the rescue effort, and if that wasn’t bad enough, they lacked the number of skilled hands to produce the hundreds of maps per day required by the unprecedented event. At this point, GISMO had been working for years to advocate for data sharing and cooperation among city, state, non-profit and private entities, and developed into a 400 strong social network. Hundreds of volunteers, many from GISMO, stepped forward. This effort served as a highly regarded, if anomalous, model for unified response in years to come. But the artifacts from this effort have not been preserved in any curatorial sense. I'd like to change that.
I recently participated in the NYC GeoSymposium 2001-2011-2021, which took a look at the advances and challenges of Geographic Information Systems in emergency response since 2001. Around this time I had been thinking very hard about my career goals and ways to combine my past experience in research and design with the grassroots efforts of the geographic community. I had been working with colleagues at GISMO for many years to draw attention to the important role geographers played in the 9/11 rescue and recovery. The GeoSymposium was a great experience, because it intended not just to honor those who participated in these efforts, but also to highlight the need to preserve the thousands of maps that tell the story.
My own contribution to the GeoSymposium was to explore the legacy of these efforts by examining the technological improvements at the Office of Emergency Management in the context of emergency events that had occurred since 2001. I was looking for a way to present time-based information in a map format and also to start a conversation with attendees about the history of emergency response technology and the importance of the preservation of geographic artifacts. My project contained a map of New York City with events plotted and color-coded by discrete periods, characterized by a common group of new technologies. An online version of the map is available at ArgGIS Explorer Online.
Map Detail Slides
The map highlights how the events surrounding 9/11 prompted improvements in incident management technology. Attendees, including the keynote presenter and eminent information designer, Edward Tufte, gathered around to discuss their experience with the events I had mapped and to offer advice on ways to enrich its design. (Some of Mr. Tufte’s comments led to further improvements which you can see via the links above.)
Simply talking about how to improve the map was an exercise in exploring history and memory: how people understand what happened, how events are related to one another, how what you choose to include and what not to include can influence a person’s understanding of the events, how the description of one event can bring to mind another similar one, etc. It was thrilling to observe the spontaneous conversation that started all because of a three by four foot piece of foamboard.
And that’s just one artifact. In the aftermath of 9/11, hundreds of maps were produced – Every Day – for months. The 9/11 geographic effort represented a level of cooperation not seen before or since, but whose legacy, coupled with improvements in technology platforms themselves, informs the open data initiatives we are now seeing throughout the U.S.
Of course, the artifacts of the 9/11 response have historical value by themselves. And that is where the images of dusty, neglected rolls of paper come in (even though most of the maps are on disks and hard drives). Several of my GISMO colleagues and I are exploring a plan to create a 9/11 Geographic Archive, featuring the maps that were produced during the rescue and recovery effort. I plan to present an outline of the 9/11 Geographic Archive and my map of emergency response technologies at the ASIS&T Information Architecture Summit in March 2012. Such an archive would be an important contribution to the history of emergency response in this country.
I have always loved presenting information in meaningful and digestible ways, whether through maps, market research reports, drawings, websites or online resource libraries and intranets. From very early in my career, I have been driven to present information in a coherent way and to seek out tools and processes that make coming to understanding easier. I am thrilled by the convergence that today's state of technology allows between geographic tools and the digital storytelling of the user experience discipline. What is really great about this project is that I will be able to combine aspects of two fields that I love into an end product that would have meaning for many now and in years to come.
So, if you had the opportunity to preserve artifacts from an important event in New York City history, how would you do it? Some of the groundwork has already begun. I have been working with a mentor to explore relationships with organizations that support technology projects in the digital humanities, and with museums and libraries that share an interest in geographic artifacts and 9/11. I am building on my relationships with the City’s amazing geographic community through GISMO, the thirty Geosymposium presenters who told the 9/11 story and senior staff at the Office of Emergency Management and other consultants who have expressed interest in an archive. (I have even applied to an information science program where I hope to explore this project further). Finally and perhaps most importantly, I have the support of members of the GISMO Steering Committee to pursue further resources and trainings to develop the framework for an archive entity. With that grounding, I can turn the question "How would you do it?" into "When can I start?"
During the September 11, 2001 rescue and recovery operations, I volunteered to help recruit geographers through a NYC-based GIS user group, called GISMO. The need was critical and overwhelming. The Mayor's Office of Emergency Management had been evacuated and no longer had access to maps and data necessary for the rescue effort, and if that wasn’t bad enough, they lacked the number of skilled hands to produce the hundreds of maps per day required by the unprecedented event. At this point, GISMO had been working for years to advocate for data sharing and cooperation among city, state, non-profit and private entities, and developed into a 400 strong social network. Hundreds of volunteers, many from GISMO, stepped forward. This effort served as a highly regarded, if anomalous, model for unified response in years to come. But the artifacts from this effort have not been preserved in any curatorial sense. I'd like to change that.
I recently participated in the NYC GeoSymposium 2001-2011-2021, which took a look at the advances and challenges of Geographic Information Systems in emergency response since 2001. Around this time I had been thinking very hard about my career goals and ways to combine my past experience in research and design with the grassroots efforts of the geographic community. I had been working with colleagues at GISMO for many years to draw attention to the important role geographers played in the 9/11 rescue and recovery. The GeoSymposium was a great experience, because it intended not just to honor those who participated in these efforts, but also to highlight the need to preserve the thousands of maps that tell the story.
My own contribution to the GeoSymposium was to explore the legacy of these efforts by examining the technological improvements at the Office of Emergency Management in the context of emergency events that had occurred since 2001. I was looking for a way to present time-based information in a map format and also to start a conversation with attendees about the history of emergency response technology and the importance of the preservation of geographic artifacts. My project contained a map of New York City with events plotted and color-coded by discrete periods, characterized by a common group of new technologies. An online version of the map is available at ArgGIS Explorer Online.
Map Detail Slides
The map highlights how the events surrounding 9/11 prompted improvements in incident management technology. Attendees, including the keynote presenter and eminent information designer, Edward Tufte, gathered around to discuss their experience with the events I had mapped and to offer advice on ways to enrich its design. (Some of Mr. Tufte’s comments led to further improvements which you can see via the links above.)
Simply talking about how to improve the map was an exercise in exploring history and memory: how people understand what happened, how events are related to one another, how what you choose to include and what not to include can influence a person’s understanding of the events, how the description of one event can bring to mind another similar one, etc. It was thrilling to observe the spontaneous conversation that started all because of a three by four foot piece of foamboard.
And that’s just one artifact. In the aftermath of 9/11, hundreds of maps were produced – Every Day – for months. The 9/11 geographic effort represented a level of cooperation not seen before or since, but whose legacy, coupled with improvements in technology platforms themselves, informs the open data initiatives we are now seeing throughout the U.S.
Of course, the artifacts of the 9/11 response have historical value by themselves. And that is where the images of dusty, neglected rolls of paper come in (even though most of the maps are on disks and hard drives). Several of my GISMO colleagues and I are exploring a plan to create a 9/11 Geographic Archive, featuring the maps that were produced during the rescue and recovery effort. I plan to present an outline of the 9/11 Geographic Archive and my map of emergency response technologies at the ASIS&T Information Architecture Summit in March 2012. Such an archive would be an important contribution to the history of emergency response in this country.
I have always loved presenting information in meaningful and digestible ways, whether through maps, market research reports, drawings, websites or online resource libraries and intranets. From very early in my career, I have been driven to present information in a coherent way and to seek out tools and processes that make coming to understanding easier. I am thrilled by the convergence that today's state of technology allows between geographic tools and the digital storytelling of the user experience discipline. What is really great about this project is that I will be able to combine aspects of two fields that I love into an end product that would have meaning for many now and in years to come.
So, if you had the opportunity to preserve artifacts from an important event in New York City history, how would you do it? Some of the groundwork has already begun. I have been working with a mentor to explore relationships with organizations that support technology projects in the digital humanities, and with museums and libraries that share an interest in geographic artifacts and 9/11. I am building on my relationships with the City’s amazing geographic community through GISMO, the thirty Geosymposium presenters who told the 9/11 story and senior staff at the Office of Emergency Management and other consultants who have expressed interest in an archive. (I have even applied to an information science program where I hope to explore this project further). Finally and perhaps most importantly, I have the support of members of the GISMO Steering Committee to pursue further resources and trainings to develop the framework for an archive entity. With that grounding, I can turn the question "How would you do it?" into "When can I start?"
Thursday, December 22, 2011
9/11 Geosymposium at Technology in Government 2011, New York
The NYC GeoSymposium: 2001-2011-2021 held on November 16, 2011 marked the tenth anniversary of the September 11th attacks by examining the response of the NYC GIS community regarding mobilization of geospatial resources after the event, evolution of procedures, data and technologies since the event, and exploring unmet needs for improved emergency planning and response, as well as future challenges posed by emerging social media and enterprise-wide deployment of software and hardware advances that underpin geospatial application development. I worked with several of my colleagues at GISMO to produce this event, which was co-located with NYC GovTech 2011. We will be launching a GIS design challenge in Spring or Summer 2012. Stay tuned.
Monday, December 12, 2011
World IA Day Announces 14 Locations
World IA Day has just announced 14 locations for February 11, 2012
1 DAY. 14 CITIES.
World IA Day 2012 is about bringing the Information Architecture community together. We’re fostering links within local communities and on a global scale. We’re sharing information, ideas and research. And we’re doing it through unconventional, exciting and engaging IA events this February.
The first ever World IA Day focuses on Designing Structures for Understanding. On February 11, 2012, we’re hosting WIAD events in 14 cities across all corners of the globe. Learn from world-class IA minds, network, showcase new ideas and attend events tailored specifically to your community. We hope you’ll join us at an event near you this February!
Local Connections. Global Impact. World IA Day 2012
WIAD2012 Locations:
Bogota, Colombia
Vancouver, Canada
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Ghent, Belgium
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Italy (Milan, Rome, Sardegna)
Panama City, Panama
Bucharest, Romania
Paris, France
Sydney, Australia
Malmo, Sweden
Johannesburg, South Africa
Tokyo, Japan
Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Visit http://worldiaday.org/ for details.
1 DAY. 14 CITIES.
World IA Day 2012 is about bringing the Information Architecture community together. We’re fostering links within local communities and on a global scale. We’re sharing information, ideas and research. And we’re doing it through unconventional, exciting and engaging IA events this February.
The first ever World IA Day focuses on Designing Structures for Understanding. On February 11, 2012, we’re hosting WIAD events in 14 cities across all corners of the globe. Learn from world-class IA minds, network, showcase new ideas and attend events tailored specifically to your community. We hope you’ll join us at an event near you this February!
Local Connections. Global Impact. World IA Day 2012
WIAD2012 Locations:
Bogota, Colombia
Vancouver, Canada
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Ghent, Belgium
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Italy (Milan, Rome, Sardegna)
Panama City, Panama
Bucharest, Romania
Paris, France
Sydney, Australia
Malmo, Sweden
Johannesburg, South Africa
Tokyo, Japan
Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Visit http://worldiaday.org/ for details.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Disaster Planning at Woodstock 1969
This past weekend, while Irene was threatening the East Coast, my husband and I were in the Catskills for visiting day at our daughters' summer camp. We decided to extend our stay through Monday to avoid the surge and inevitable traffic delays following the storm's projected landfall in New York City on Sunday. Rather than avoid trouble, we found ourselves in the middle of it, as the Catskills experienced some of the worst storm-surge damage in the country: downed trees, road blocks, raging forest streams. If fact, a large white pine at the inn where we were staying fell inches from our unit's porch, bringing several smaller trees down with it.
When it was safe to venture out, a trip to the Bethel Woods Museum at Bethel Woods Performing Arts Center, site of the 1969 Woodstock festival, interestingly, provided some perspective on disaster planning in the area.
The Woodstock Music & Art Fair was held from August 15-18, 1969 at Max Yasgur's dairy farm in the hamlet of White Lake, Town of Bethel, Sullivan County, NY. We passed Yasgur's farm several times while exploring the area's restaurants and outdoor recreation facilities. The area is marked by rolling pastures and clear lakes reflecting big white clouds in deep blue skies. Aside from a very visible lawn signs either declaring "No Fracking!" or "Friends of Natural Gas," it seems little has changed in forty some years.
Artifacts on the planning of the Woodstock festival showcased the local debate regarding the chosen site of the concert. With over 200,000 tickets presold, planning for traffic and security was a huge concern, as was local opinion on exactly what the festival was to be. The festival organizers had mere days to move from Wallkill, NY where local opposition succeeded in preventing it from being held there to White Lake, where the Bethel Town Supervisor approved the plan despite some local protest. Newspaper articles and advertisements documented the debate. Also on view were documents from the local Sherriff's department outlining traffic and security plans and telegrams to other county departments requesting additional coverage. Handwritten notes and official telegrams from Allegheny County and other Sherriff departments indicated a shortage of officers. All stated that they could not spare any men.
Traffic was beginning to be backed up days before the concert started so that it became impossible to get close to the festival site. People were leaving their cars on the highway and walking the rest of the way to the concert. Performers were flown in and out again by helicopter. An estimated 400,000 people were in attendance at the concert's peak.
Then there came the rain. Though not hurricane force, the rains that fell on the Woodstock festival and in the week leading into it created saturated conditions, muddy roads and an already difficult traffic situation. Officials had called in 150 state troopers, and deputies from adjacent counties ultimately did pitch in to direct traffic away from the area. The Evening News of Newburgh, NY reported that by the last day of the festival, mainly due to a lack of food and unsanitary conditions, the crowd had dispersed to only 10,000 and no traffic jams were reported.
This weekend's storm called for similar measures, but on a much smaller scale. As we left, we noted state troopers and national guardsmen directing traffic near the interchanges of Route 17, I-87 and Route 6. Southbound traffic on I-87 was closed above the Tappan Zee Bridge and it was an hour drive between Route 17 and our usual favorite route, the Palisades Parkway. At the Route 6 traffic circle near Bear Mountain, the Sloatsburg exit was entirely washed away.
Could the traffic situation have been prevented? In 1969, the Sullivan County Sherriff's Department was working with an estimate of 50,000 concertgoers, a figure provided by the promoters that was 150,000 short of presales figures. From what I've seen from this weekend's rains, emergency services would already have been taxed from heavy rains and flooding in the region. Had they known that attendance would approach half a million people, it is likely that the concert would have been called off. That said, I doubt it would have stopped the hundreds of thousands of people from coming.
When it was safe to venture out, a trip to the Bethel Woods Museum at Bethel Woods Performing Arts Center, site of the 1969 Woodstock festival, interestingly, provided some perspective on disaster planning in the area.
The Woodstock Music & Art Fair was held from August 15-18, 1969 at Max Yasgur's dairy farm in the hamlet of White Lake, Town of Bethel, Sullivan County, NY. We passed Yasgur's farm several times while exploring the area's restaurants and outdoor recreation facilities. The area is marked by rolling pastures and clear lakes reflecting big white clouds in deep blue skies. Aside from a very visible lawn signs either declaring "No Fracking!" or "Friends of Natural Gas," it seems little has changed in forty some years.
Artifacts on the planning of the Woodstock festival showcased the local debate regarding the chosen site of the concert. With over 200,000 tickets presold, planning for traffic and security was a huge concern, as was local opinion on exactly what the festival was to be. The festival organizers had mere days to move from Wallkill, NY where local opposition succeeded in preventing it from being held there to White Lake, where the Bethel Town Supervisor approved the plan despite some local protest. Newspaper articles and advertisements documented the debate. Also on view were documents from the local Sherriff's department outlining traffic and security plans and telegrams to other county departments requesting additional coverage. Handwritten notes and official telegrams from Allegheny County and other Sherriff departments indicated a shortage of officers. All stated that they could not spare any men.
Traffic was beginning to be backed up days before the concert started so that it became impossible to get close to the festival site. People were leaving their cars on the highway and walking the rest of the way to the concert. Performers were flown in and out again by helicopter. An estimated 400,000 people were in attendance at the concert's peak.
Then there came the rain. Though not hurricane force, the rains that fell on the Woodstock festival and in the week leading into it created saturated conditions, muddy roads and an already difficult traffic situation. Officials had called in 150 state troopers, and deputies from adjacent counties ultimately did pitch in to direct traffic away from the area. The Evening News of Newburgh, NY reported that by the last day of the festival, mainly due to a lack of food and unsanitary conditions, the crowd had dispersed to only 10,000 and no traffic jams were reported.
This weekend's storm called for similar measures, but on a much smaller scale. As we left, we noted state troopers and national guardsmen directing traffic near the interchanges of Route 17, I-87 and Route 6. Southbound traffic on I-87 was closed above the Tappan Zee Bridge and it was an hour drive between Route 17 and our usual favorite route, the Palisades Parkway. At the Route 6 traffic circle near Bear Mountain, the Sloatsburg exit was entirely washed away.
Could the traffic situation have been prevented? In 1969, the Sullivan County Sherriff's Department was working with an estimate of 50,000 concertgoers, a figure provided by the promoters that was 150,000 short of presales figures. From what I've seen from this weekend's rains, emergency services would already have been taxed from heavy rains and flooding in the region. Had they known that attendance would approach half a million people, it is likely that the concert would have been called off. That said, I doubt it would have stopped the hundreds of thousands of people from coming.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
This Roadmap Could Use a GPS
I just finished reading Roadmap for the Digital City: Achieving New York City's Digital Future (PDF 2.17MB). A glaring economic concern struck me, which the report acknowledges but does not address adequately, despite devoting several pages to it, and that is the issue of access by underserved populations.
Solutions offered by the plan include noble goals. Free wireless access in parks, training and services in public libraries, senior centers and public housing facilities, a pilot project to bring computing into the homes and schools of 18,000 sixth grade students. These programs directly address the cost of access and a disparity of technology learning in our community. I don't want to discount these efforts, but do wish point out that the issue of access of the disadvantaged goes well beyond free wireless access.
It is disheartening to learn in the NY Times today that "free" Wi-Fi means, "The Wi-Fi in the parks would be free to all users for up to three 10-minute periods per month. Beyond that, users would pay 99 cents for each 24-hour period in which they log on." The Times reports that, "It would be free to all subscribers to the broadband services of Cablevision or Time Warner," which may include public housing where these services are available. In fact, the free Wi-Fi deal was a condition for renewing the cable franchise with the City. I would be interested in learning how many public housing residents are broadband subscribers with these services.
Here is another example: I have been providing computer training to an acquaintance who is a senior citizen and retired bookkeeper. She lives alone, is seeking employment, has worked with computers extensively in the past, but is about 15 years behind on the latest accounting technologies. She has a netbook with internet access but no mobile phone. For her, an iPhone app is useless and Twitter is bewildering (though she does like Facebook). Nothing really works the way she expects it to, including NYC.gov.
A large part of the Digital Roadmap involves community engagement through initiatives like PlaNYC’s Change By Us and the NYC Big Apps contest. Change By Us is a map-based website to collect thoughts from citizens about how to make New York City more livable. The NYC Big Apps Contest, an application development contest, sponsored by BMW, that invites developers to utilize open data collections from the City to address citizen needs, has indeed been a highly successful and exciting initiative raising awareness of engineering talent in NYC among the VC community and the technology industry at large. Keep in mind however, that it required an internet access to submit ideas to Change By Us and the Big Apps contest. So the citizenry making the requests are already connected.
The Digital Roadmap report notes challenges including staffing constraints and complicated legacy systems, and plans to a large degree to let its open government platform allow the developer community to create apps to address citizen needs, which they hope would be more cost effective than creating the services themselves. This crowdsourcing is indeed an effective way to get rapid development of products that the population actually wants and I am a big fan of the NYC Big Apps Contest. But while the Roadmap notes concern that the economically disadvantaged may not have access to the iPhones and Android technology that most of the Big Apps winners develop for, it's the flashier apps that have the most appeal among those that are tuned into the contest.
There are competing needs at stake here. On one hand are the VC funders who want to earn money on apps that serve a deep pocketed consumer market and the developers who want to wow potential funders and employers with their mastery of the latest programs for the coolest toys. On the other are the City's poor, senior citizens and those with developmental needs for which these toys may not be affordable, accessible or easy to use. The city is counting on corporate contract terms and good-hearted hackers to address citizen needs.
I understand that the City is forced to look to outside developers to serve these needs because tax revenue is so low. The strategy to open data and let developers come up with apps is a great way to provide services on a large scale, but not the best way to serve the needs of the underserved. And cutting inadequate deals with providers is more a way to say "We did it," than to say "We did it right." There needs to be an incentive for building apps for economically disadvantaged groups.
This all sounds very dreary. I should note that I am excited to see the level of engagement and openness in city government. After participating for 20 years in grass roots efforts to create an open discussion and sharing of public data, via my involvement with GISMO and the Municipal Arts Society's Community Information Technology Initiative, it's a step in the right direction.
But we can do more. And I’m working on an idea for involving my own develper community (IA, UX, GIS, etc) in coming up with a plan. If you are interested, please let me know.
Solutions offered by the plan include noble goals. Free wireless access in parks, training and services in public libraries, senior centers and public housing facilities, a pilot project to bring computing into the homes and schools of 18,000 sixth grade students. These programs directly address the cost of access and a disparity of technology learning in our community. I don't want to discount these efforts, but do wish point out that the issue of access of the disadvantaged goes well beyond free wireless access.
It is disheartening to learn in the NY Times today that "free" Wi-Fi means, "The Wi-Fi in the parks would be free to all users for up to three 10-minute periods per month. Beyond that, users would pay 99 cents for each 24-hour period in which they log on." The Times reports that, "It would be free to all subscribers to the broadband services of Cablevision or Time Warner," which may include public housing where these services are available. In fact, the free Wi-Fi deal was a condition for renewing the cable franchise with the City. I would be interested in learning how many public housing residents are broadband subscribers with these services.
Here is another example: I have been providing computer training to an acquaintance who is a senior citizen and retired bookkeeper. She lives alone, is seeking employment, has worked with computers extensively in the past, but is about 15 years behind on the latest accounting technologies. She has a netbook with internet access but no mobile phone. For her, an iPhone app is useless and Twitter is bewildering (though she does like Facebook). Nothing really works the way she expects it to, including NYC.gov.
A large part of the Digital Roadmap involves community engagement through initiatives like PlaNYC’s Change By Us and the NYC Big Apps contest. Change By Us is a map-based website to collect thoughts from citizens about how to make New York City more livable. The NYC Big Apps Contest, an application development contest, sponsored by BMW, that invites developers to utilize open data collections from the City to address citizen needs, has indeed been a highly successful and exciting initiative raising awareness of engineering talent in NYC among the VC community and the technology industry at large. Keep in mind however, that it required an internet access to submit ideas to Change By Us and the Big Apps contest. So the citizenry making the requests are already connected.
The Digital Roadmap report notes challenges including staffing constraints and complicated legacy systems, and plans to a large degree to let its open government platform allow the developer community to create apps to address citizen needs, which they hope would be more cost effective than creating the services themselves. This crowdsourcing is indeed an effective way to get rapid development of products that the population actually wants and I am a big fan of the NYC Big Apps Contest. But while the Roadmap notes concern that the economically disadvantaged may not have access to the iPhones and Android technology that most of the Big Apps winners develop for, it's the flashier apps that have the most appeal among those that are tuned into the contest.
There are competing needs at stake here. On one hand are the VC funders who want to earn money on apps that serve a deep pocketed consumer market and the developers who want to wow potential funders and employers with their mastery of the latest programs for the coolest toys. On the other are the City's poor, senior citizens and those with developmental needs for which these toys may not be affordable, accessible or easy to use. The city is counting on corporate contract terms and good-hearted hackers to address citizen needs.
I understand that the City is forced to look to outside developers to serve these needs because tax revenue is so low. The strategy to open data and let developers come up with apps is a great way to provide services on a large scale, but not the best way to serve the needs of the underserved. And cutting inadequate deals with providers is more a way to say "We did it," than to say "We did it right." There needs to be an incentive for building apps for economically disadvantaged groups.
This all sounds very dreary. I should note that I am excited to see the level of engagement and openness in city government. After participating for 20 years in grass roots efforts to create an open discussion and sharing of public data, via my involvement with GISMO and the Municipal Arts Society's Community Information Technology Initiative, it's a step in the right direction.
But we can do more. And I’m working on an idea for involving my own develper community (IA, UX, GIS, etc) in coming up with a plan. If you are interested, please let me know.
IA Institute Newsletter #6.05 Released
I am almost finished with the NYC Digital Roadmap and will have a blog post coming soon. In the meantime, there is a lot of new publications on Information Architecture. Put this on your nightstand, bring it to the beach or carry it on the metro, cause we've got reading to do:
IA Institute just released Newsletter #6.05 with Part Two of Finding IA at the Enterprise Search Summit by Shari Thurow, a follow up to my article from the previous newsletter.
http://iainstitute.org/news/001263.php
The Journal of Information Architecture released Issue 1, Volume 3 with a focus on the unique way of seeing what Jorge Arango terms "Environments for Understanding" and how they persist across channels and media.
http://journalofia.org
Also the long awaited IA issue of the ASIS%T Bulletin is out:
http://www.asis.org/bulletin.html
And if that's not enough, here's an inspiring blog post on "Information Architecture," building bridges and making maps from Peter Morville:
http://semanticstudios.com/publications/semantics/000647.php
I've got a lot of reading to do....
IA Institute just released Newsletter #6.05 with Part Two of Finding IA at the Enterprise Search Summit by Shari Thurow, a follow up to my article from the previous newsletter.
http://iainstitute.org/news/001263.php
The Journal of Information Architecture released Issue 1, Volume 3 with a focus on the unique way of seeing what Jorge Arango terms "Environments for Understanding" and how they persist across channels and media.
http://journalofia.org
Also the long awaited IA issue of the ASIS%T Bulletin is out:
http://www.asis.org/bulletin.html
And if that's not enough, here's an inspiring blog post on "Information Architecture," building bridges and making maps from Peter Morville:
http://semanticstudios.com/publications/semantics/000647.php
I've got a lot of reading to do....
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Open Government Forum at Internet Week NYC
Over the next couple of days I am going to post summaries of Internet Week sessions that I attended last month. Here is the first, a panel on open government in NYC:
In June, I attended a panel on Open Goverment in NYC, hosted by Time Warner as part of Internet Week NYC. I joined my friend, Queens Community Board 3 member, Tom Lowenhaupt, who has been advocating for a .NYC top level domain for over ten years. Given some of the road blocks he has faced in his campaign, I knew attending an Open Government forum with him would be interesting.
Presented in a panel format, the event focused on Setting the Digital Standard for open government. NYC Deputy Mayor for Operations Stephen Goldsmith introduced Jesse Hempel, a senior writer for Fortune Magazine, who moderated a panel of experts in government information technology including:
Commissioner Post opened with a brief description of the city's plans for a digital roadmap, including a range of web 2.0 tools that allows the City to to communicate and join with citizens to make a better city, break through hardened boundaries between people, neighborhoods, agencies, etc. "The fundamental responsibility of government being to allow access to information," she said.
In June, I attended a panel on Open Goverment in NYC, hosted by Time Warner as part of Internet Week NYC. I joined my friend, Queens Community Board 3 member, Tom Lowenhaupt, who has been advocating for a .NYC top level domain for over ten years. Given some of the road blocks he has faced in his campaign, I knew attending an Open Government forum with him would be interesting.
Presented in a panel format, the event focused on Setting the Digital Standard for open government. NYC Deputy Mayor for Operations Stephen Goldsmith introduced Jesse Hempel, a senior writer for Fortune Magazine, who moderated a panel of experts in government information technology including:
- Adam Sharp, CEO, Twitter
- Carol Post, Commissioner, NYC Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT)
- Rachel Sterne, Chief Digital Officer, NYC
- Seth Pinsky, President, NYC Economic Development Corporation
Commissioner Post opened with a brief description of the city's plans for a digital roadmap, including a range of web 2.0 tools that allows the City to to communicate and join with citizens to make a better city, break through hardened boundaries between people, neighborhoods, agencies, etc. "The fundamental responsibility of government being to allow access to information," she said.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Conversations with Richard Saul Wurman
I was having a nice conservation on Monday with my friend, journalist Amanda Robb, about topics that floated in interesting ways from pitching social awareness campaigns to women's magazines to the role of Twitter and other social media in reporting. The conversation got me thinking about the two different angles that we approach our respective careers in media: she with the words and stories and publications of a journalist and me with the technology platforms, codes and administration of new media operations that bring those words to the world.
So what a treat to find out about Richard Saul Wurman's newest venture, the WWW.WWW Conference, which will celebrate improvised conversation.
WWW.Wow. Where else could you find TED founder Richard Saul Wurman, Yo Yo Ma, Herbie Hancock and ESRI's Jack Dangermond all in one place? It's the WWW.WWW Conference, currently planned for September 18/20, 2012.
A unique un-conference that pairs up incredible minds for brief chats in a single venue. No presentations. No schedule. Just 100 interesting people and 50 conversations.
Richard Saul Wurman, who also founded TEDMED and the eg conferences, and coined the term "information architect" in 1976, is himself a M.Arch graduate who has been exploring the themes of design and place and livable urban environments since the sixties, so it is fitting that ESRI president and fellow mapping pioneer, Jack Dangermond should host the conference. You will recognize other great names associated with the event incuding glass artist Dale Chihuly, who will create an installation for the event and SEED Media Goup's Adam Bly as Science Curator. SEED was an original creator of what was to become my all-time favorite MOMA show, Design and the Elastic Mind.
The event will be streamed live to multiple locations and the talks will also be available via a yet-to-be-released, multi-platform tablet application.
Watch http://www.thewwwconference.com for details.
I won't want to miss the conversation, so I've already added it to my calendar.
So what a treat to find out about Richard Saul Wurman's newest venture, the WWW.WWW Conference, which will celebrate improvised conversation.
Simply pairings of amazingly interesting individuals prompted by a question, generating a conversation. For 10 minutes to 50 minutes. And so it will go – conversations interlaced with threads of improvised music. An astrophysicist & a microbiologist. An actor & a playwright. A jazz musician & a classical one. An energetic exploration of the lost art of conversing.
WWW.Wow. Where else could you find TED founder Richard Saul Wurman, Yo Yo Ma, Herbie Hancock and ESRI's Jack Dangermond all in one place? It's the WWW.WWW Conference, currently planned for September 18/20, 2012.
WWW.WWW will be a gathering of the greatest, most interesting & curious minds in the world engaged in immersive & improvised conversation. It will celebrate the 21st century while drawing attention to the new patterns & convergences effecting our health & that of our planet.
A unique un-conference that pairs up incredible minds for brief chats in a single venue. No presentations. No schedule. Just 100 interesting people and 50 conversations.
Richard Saul Wurman, who also founded TEDMED and the eg conferences, and coined the term "information architect" in 1976, is himself a M.Arch graduate who has been exploring the themes of design and place and livable urban environments since the sixties, so it is fitting that ESRI president and fellow mapping pioneer, Jack Dangermond should host the conference. You will recognize other great names associated with the event incuding glass artist Dale Chihuly, who will create an installation for the event and SEED Media Goup's Adam Bly as Science Curator. SEED was an original creator of what was to become my all-time favorite MOMA show, Design and the Elastic Mind.
The event will be streamed live to multiple locations and the talks will also be available via a yet-to-be-released, multi-platform tablet application.
Watch http://www.thewwwconference.com for details.
I won't want to miss the conversation, so I've already added it to my calendar.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Blog migration in progress
I am in the process of consolidating some of my writings into this new Blogger format. As much as I love the integration, flexibility and ownership of a self-hosted WordPress blog, I have been finding it to be increasingly a chore to update my installations. So much so that I've lost track of my words, which I promised myself I would never do, choosing instead to leave them as guest postings and collaborations on other people's blogs, websites and the ultimate sinkhole of discussion lists, Facebook and Twitter.
So here it is, the simplest, no-brained solution I could find, with no upgrade headaches, and a fun theme (that I might just tweak a bit here and there - I can't help myself).
While I'm gathering my musings and reports from the various ends of the internet (seems I was quite prolific in 2004 when I took a course on blogging), please visit some of those aforementioned websites:
http://gismonyc.blogspot.com
My blog for GISMO, a New York City meetup group for geographic information system professionals in the Tri-State area. I've been involved with this wonderful group of people for nearly 20 years in what used to be called Virtual GISMO. Many GISMO members are the unsung mapping heroes of Pier 92 during the aftermath of 9/11. We're developing a retrospective panel for an upcoming technology conference, which will probably mean more writing in my future.
http://iainstitute.org
I write the news, calendar items, Annual Reports and Salary Surveys for the IA Institute, an international community of people involved in the design and structure of information spaces, where I also serve as Operations Manager on a consulting basis and Mentoring Coordinator for the pure joy of it.
http://realestatevaluation.wordpress.com/
I occasionally collaborate on articles, research reports, GIS, and data visualizations with real estate valuation expert, Jim MacCrate of MacCrate Associates. I've worked as an editor and WordPress admin for the weblog, Real Estate Appraisal and Valuation Issues, and have served as editor and co-contributor for Straight from MacCrate, which appeared as a column on Miller Samuel's Soapbox blog.
http://www.west104garden.org
I'm the website committee chair for the West 104th Street Community Garden and write or edit most of the news, event and research pieces.
Now to go hunting for those words.
So here it is, the simplest, no-brained solution I could find, with no upgrade headaches, and a fun theme (that I might just tweak a bit here and there - I can't help myself).
While I'm gathering my musings and reports from the various ends of the internet (seems I was quite prolific in 2004 when I took a course on blogging), please visit some of those aforementioned websites:
http://gismonyc.blogspot.com
My blog for GISMO, a New York City meetup group for geographic information system professionals in the Tri-State area. I've been involved with this wonderful group of people for nearly 20 years in what used to be called Virtual GISMO. Many GISMO members are the unsung mapping heroes of Pier 92 during the aftermath of 9/11. We're developing a retrospective panel for an upcoming technology conference, which will probably mean more writing in my future.
http://iainstitute.org
I write the news, calendar items, Annual Reports and Salary Surveys for the IA Institute, an international community of people involved in the design and structure of information spaces, where I also serve as Operations Manager on a consulting basis and Mentoring Coordinator for the pure joy of it.
http://realestatevaluation.wordpress.com/
I occasionally collaborate on articles, research reports, GIS, and data visualizations with real estate valuation expert, Jim MacCrate of MacCrate Associates. I've worked as an editor and WordPress admin for the weblog, Real Estate Appraisal and Valuation Issues, and have served as editor and co-contributor for Straight from MacCrate, which appeared as a column on Miller Samuel's Soapbox blog.
http://www.west104garden.org
I'm the website committee chair for the West 104th Street Community Garden and write or edit most of the news, event and research pieces.
Now to go hunting for those words.
I Joined Google+ Today
I appear to be a late joiner to Google+, if the list of people in my contact's circles are any indication. It appears to have pulled my info from LinkedIn and has features of Facebook and a very interesting what if discussion among designers going on. I expect it will be a similar experience to LinkedIn and Facebook, perhaps with less of the silliness of Facebook but with similar features, such as Circles which lets you categorize people into groups.
Just like Facebook, only better.
I've always liked that Facebook lets you group people. It's so natural. I tend to get frustrated by LinkedIn's degrees of separation - you are either in someone's network or you have someone or a chain of people between you and the other person. In a way this is nice because you are still able to contact people in your second network while preserving how you know that person (so and so's friend). Without a grouping feature, once you accept a person to your network on LinkedIn, you lose information about how you are connected to your new contact, unless you go to their page to see shared contacts.
Circles makes Google+ more personal and organized than LinkedIn. It is also more spare, sort of like the defunct Facebook Lite, but I'm witholding judgement for now. Facebook ended up dropping its Lite feature, and I suspect Google will eventually add in Facebook-like distractions and ads, since advertising is their ballywick.
If you are interested in learning more, let me know and I'll invite you to my Circle.
Just like Facebook, only better.
I've always liked that Facebook lets you group people. It's so natural. I tend to get frustrated by LinkedIn's degrees of separation - you are either in someone's network or you have someone or a chain of people between you and the other person. In a way this is nice because you are still able to contact people in your second network while preserving how you know that person (so and so's friend). Without a grouping feature, once you accept a person to your network on LinkedIn, you lose information about how you are connected to your new contact, unless you go to their page to see shared contacts.
Circles makes Google+ more personal and organized than LinkedIn. It is also more spare, sort of like the defunct Facebook Lite, but I'm witholding judgement for now. Facebook ended up dropping its Lite feature, and I suspect Google will eventually add in Facebook-like distractions and ads, since advertising is their ballywick.
If you are interested in learning more, let me know and I'll invite you to my Circle.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Finding IA at the Enterprise Search Summit
(this article originally appeared at iainstitute.org on June 20, 2011)
Last month in May, I had the pleasure of attending the Enterprise Search Summit East in New York City with IA Institute board member, Shari Thurow. Shari and I were on a quest to discover the role of information architecture in Enterprise Search. We didn't have to look too far, as both days were keynoted by IA Institute veterans: former IA Institute president and CEO of FatDux, Eric Reiss, on Day 1 and IA Institute founder and Principal and Senior Consultant at InfoCloud Solutions, Inc., Thomas Vander Wal, on Day 2 . Institute founder Bev Corwin was also in attendance and I quite was pleased to make a personal connection with a former coworker from PricewaterhouseCoopers, whom I hadn't seen in ten years.
In Reiss's keynote, "The Dumbing Down of Intelligent Search," he challenged search professionals to have the user, not the application, serve as the frame of reference for search. Using Google as an example, Eric showed how the algorithm may not provide the correct context. Those who build the algorithm need to ensure that contextual metadata is available in the CMS. Eric also challenged implementers to understand the business and educate the content providers of those needs. "Matching patterns is not the same as matching needs," he explained. And lest the users themselves forget their own power, Eric encourages all users to be critical and experiment, learn basic strategies and not to take for granted that the search solution is intelligent.
Thomas Vander Wal's keynote on Day 2, "The Search for Social," was a fitting bookend, showing how to deal with all the input once your Enterprise Search team has embraced the user. VanderWal described tools that go beyond searching for artifacts such as documents, emails and image/video content to searching for human resources, knowledge and expertise within the enterprise. Many presenters demonstrated social search tools for finding user profiles, activity streams and Yahoo! Answers-style knowledgebases.
Last month in May, I had the pleasure of attending the Enterprise Search Summit East in New York City with IA Institute board member, Shari Thurow. Shari and I were on a quest to discover the role of information architecture in Enterprise Search. We didn't have to look too far, as both days were keynoted by IA Institute veterans: former IA Institute president and CEO of FatDux, Eric Reiss, on Day 1 and IA Institute founder and Principal and Senior Consultant at InfoCloud Solutions, Inc., Thomas Vander Wal, on Day 2 . Institute founder Bev Corwin was also in attendance and I quite was pleased to make a personal connection with a former coworker from PricewaterhouseCoopers, whom I hadn't seen in ten years.
In Reiss's keynote, "The Dumbing Down of Intelligent Search," he challenged search professionals to have the user, not the application, serve as the frame of reference for search. Using Google as an example, Eric showed how the algorithm may not provide the correct context. Those who build the algorithm need to ensure that contextual metadata is available in the CMS. Eric also challenged implementers to understand the business and educate the content providers of those needs. "Matching patterns is not the same as matching needs," he explained. And lest the users themselves forget their own power, Eric encourages all users to be critical and experiment, learn basic strategies and not to take for granted that the search solution is intelligent.
Thomas Vander Wal's keynote on Day 2, "The Search for Social," was a fitting bookend, showing how to deal with all the input once your Enterprise Search team has embraced the user. VanderWal described tools that go beyond searching for artifacts such as documents, emails and image/video content to searching for human resources, knowledge and expertise within the enterprise. Many presenters demonstrated social search tools for finding user profiles, activity streams and Yahoo! Answers-style knowledgebases.
Monday, April 25, 2011
IA Institute - A New Framework
At the IA Institute Annual Members' Meeting held in Denver on April 2, the Board of Directors presented a new framework for characterizing the relationships that the Institute will mediate going forward. The framework came out of a board strategy meeting that I attended in Iceland back in February.
Read more in the April newsletter and see some very cool (OK, cold) Iceland pictures in my Facebook album:
IA Institute Newsletter #6.04
Reykjavic Photos
Read more in the April newsletter and see some very cool (OK, cold) Iceland pictures in my Facebook album:
IA Institute Newsletter #6.04
Reykjavic Photos
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
NY Times: Japan Interactive Earthquake Map
The New York Times' Interactive Map of the Damage from the Earthquake in Japan:
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/flash/newsgraphics/2011/0311-japan-earthquake-map/index.html?hp
I was able to locate the town where my friend Pia's brother is teaching English (center of quake zone but far from the nuclear plants, very little structural damage, no casualties) and where my daughter's camp friend's family lives (quite a bit south of Tokyo, out of quake zone).
Coincidentally enough, Brett and I were attending a New York Red Cross breakfast the morning the tsunami was announced, and while the content of the morning's presentation was focused on what the Red Cross does for New Yorkers, it certainly added some urgency to the obligatory donation appeal at the end of the breakfast. (Brett is a volunteer photographer for the Red Cross and my friend Sonia's husband, Nick Malik, sits on the NYC board).
On a cheerier note, a friend pointed me to this T-shirt on Treadless.com combining Eisenlohr's projection with an image of a radio broadcast signal. This is an entry for Oceanic Preservation Society T-shirt Challenge. Theme: Singing Planet. Really neat design.
http://atrium.threadless.com/singingplanet/submission/1009/
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/flash/newsgraphics/2011/0311-japan-earthquake-map/index.html?hp
I was able to locate the town where my friend Pia's brother is teaching English (center of quake zone but far from the nuclear plants, very little structural damage, no casualties) and where my daughter's camp friend's family lives (quite a bit south of Tokyo, out of quake zone).
Coincidentally enough, Brett and I were attending a New York Red Cross breakfast the morning the tsunami was announced, and while the content of the morning's presentation was focused on what the Red Cross does for New Yorkers, it certainly added some urgency to the obligatory donation appeal at the end of the breakfast. (Brett is a volunteer photographer for the Red Cross and my friend Sonia's husband, Nick Malik, sits on the NYC board).
On a cheerier note, a friend pointed me to this T-shirt on Treadless.com combining Eisenlohr's projection with an image of a radio broadcast signal. This is an entry for Oceanic Preservation Society T-shirt Challenge. Theme: Singing Planet. Really neat design.
http://atrium.threadless.com/singingplanet/submission/1009/
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