The value of unlocking knowledge from information

While working to improve search performance on a high profile government web portal, I am reminded of the classic information science model of the knowledge pyramid. (Here is a more detailed explanation of this representation.)

Customers value the experience of unlocking golden nuggets of knowledge from pages of information or dossiers of analysis. Not only is there a commercial revenue and retention advantage to be gained by providing that level of service, it also means customers begin to realise the value of increased insight or wisdom of the environment they operate within and wish to exploit.

I learned this from time spent with a provider of open source military intelligence. In planning an amphibious assault on the coast of a destabilized nation in the early part of this decade, a NATO member force had to ascertain the potential risk factors for landing troops and equipment and engaging opposing forces. This NATO armed force was a key account customer for a comprehensive library of information collections, tools and services.

The exact landing zone for amphibious forces was not determined by using traditional sources of information such as force strength and deployed equipment assessments, national security profile reports or a reference database of existing in-country military assets. None of these obvious choices contained the vital information required: which part of the coastline would support the weight of fully laden assault helicopters.

This knowledge was gained by applying seemingly disparate and less obvious sources of information to build a bigger picture. One reference collection the NATO member force subscribed to contained information on the country’s civil rail infrastructure, including specifications for rolling stock and track. In addition, there was a map showing freight train track routes running between a mining area and the port and, importantly, along part of the coastline. Textual and geographical information showing the presence of railway track which could support the weight of heavy goods trains along part of the coast formed the vital knowledge needed to decide where to locate the landing zones.

This NATO member force went on to carry out a series of successful amphibious assault missions along the coast. These operations allowed the force to gain the military advantage quickly and without loss of troops or equipment and minimal collateral damage. The overall mission to bring peace and stability to an anarchic state was realised in the projected timeframe.

I aspire to realising that level of knowledge service for customers operating in economic and business activities who are also fraught with substantial if somewhat different potential risks. Achieving this by pushing customers upwards through the stages in our knowledge pyramid also has its risks such as technology limitations, cross-government decision-making processes and a project sponsor mindful of highly visible resource consumption. But, as many of my mentors have said, a challenge is also an opportunity.

Bill On Business provides a further example of successful capturing and recording of tacit knowledge.

True mobile freedom

I am right at this very moment enjoying the freedom and pleasure of mobile computing.

With me on this voyage of discovery are my trusty Eee pc 1000, the
Huawei E272 usb modem connecting to Vodafone 3G mobile broadband, and the
wonderful joy of ScribeFire.

Fellow commuters on the 20:40 Horsham train from London Victoria are looking on in amazement, amusement and some with downright contempt.

Oh well. At least I’m not wasting valuable battery power playing tinny mp3 tracks from a mobile phone at high volume. Speaking of which, I have to say I’m impressed with the battery life even with using the usb modem.

Lost in space

There’s a fine line between guiding the user into content and letting them dictate their own journey. I’m finding that trying to express that fine line to content owners and creators can be a tricky exercise.

I have responsibility for site navigation tools and site search functionality in my new role. I am trying to persuade stakeholders to consider the disorientating effect users may experience when drilling too far down on a pre-determined path. But I am also confronted by the limitations of the search engine platform adopted by the business.

Arguably three nodes of a hierarchical taxonomy are enough to satisfy users’ information discovery behaviour. Especially experienced users of a certain and targeted demographic. Once they get a sense of a subject area’s scope, the targeted user should have an idea of the specific information, guidance or service they are looking for.

This is especially true in the research behaviour of targeted users. They are predominantly Googlers. 80% of the targeted user base uses Google for their online researching needs. They are more likely to be increasingly familiar with the information readily available out there and likely to carry that expectation to our site.

Search log analysis and quantifiable user behaviour should inform this assumption. I shall post my findings in due course.

Connect 4

I was on the Horsham train from Victoria this evening. A strange sight caught my attention.

4 people sat opposite me. 2 on the seats to the left, 2 on the seats directly opposite me. Each was engrossed in finger activity of a different but connected type.

Spiky Hair had his 12 inch laptop out and was typing away  to the tune of some audible but tinny samba-jazz ryhthmn. Woman was cross-stitching a section of tapestry of a birds on a branch scene. Receding Hair With Frontal Tuft Man was texting destination person some kind of message with such intensity of concentration that I thought the mobile handset would predictably combust. And Undescript Man (usually the ones which escape curiosity and sometimes turn out to be serial psychopaths) was scrolling through toons on his iPod.

Different devices. Same action. Busy fingers needing an outlet. These were good. Mine are of late caressing the delicate designs of Bordeaux glasses.

Metro madness

It’s morning commuter madness. I’m using ScribeFire to post this. I think my fellow commuter can see what I’m typing even though she feigns sleepy shut-eye. No matter. Glad to be publicising WordPress and ScribeFire.

Why do Metro readers get aggressively territorial  about ‘their’ newspapers. I could almost understand if they paid upwards of 90p for the privilege of reading yesterday’s news. But when the yawn-yawn they’re reading is free, and they’re using public transport, then I feel they have no right to protest against inquisitive eyes.

And the protest I’m talking about is familiar to us all: the angry crease-eliminating double-wristed flick accompanied by the “if my stare could kill it would be an SAS-like double tap between your sorry eyes”. Polite diplomacy is lost on these free-based subscribers. The only way to deal with them is by equal measures. I now carry a 50p cigarette lighter… 

Tooled up for new adventures

I have a new job at a new organisation in a different part of London. I am tooled up with the Asus Eee PC 1000 Linux version. I’ll be upping the freshness here having downloaded ScribeFire Blog Editor from Firefox. I’ve also found out how to configure my Huawei E272 USB Modem to run on Linux which will allow me to connect to mobile broadband from Vodafone should I continue encountering the totally annoying problem of expired certificates in publicly accessible Wi-Fi hotspots. Let my new adventures commence!…

Crying e-e-e all the way home

I want the Asus eee pc. I REALLY want one. To be precise, I really really want a black eee pc 900.

Having seen the original 7-inch screen model and its beautifully simple Linux OS, I’ve utterly convinced myself that my online life would be incomplete without one.

So much so that I allow myself to be subjected to hourly updates on every aspect of development of this wonderful electronic companion from the irresistable Sergio Montini. His every-3-hours news ticker service, delivered straight to my desk at work every day keeps me fixed on the pulse of this gadget consumer phenomenon.

Sergio is doing such a great job of stirring me into a frenzy over the arrival of this little box of tricks that I had to place my pre-order as soon as Micro Anvika opened their now famous jump-the- ‘mad, violent, don’t expect any compassion my fellow human being’ queue system.

Deposit paid, I now eagerly await official announcements heralding the arrival of said bundle of glory on 1^st May….

That anticipation of digital enlightenment was sooo yesterday. Thanks again goes to Maestro Montini for advising me to hold back my froth until later in June. For the eee pc’s capability will truly be Atomic by then. Question is: can I prevent myself from going nuclear the next time the Long Haired Wonder delivers another delaying update via his back channels?

Time will tell…

A certain kind of justice

Bill on Business just skyped this unbelievably true news article from the Sydney Morning Herald about how a group of aggressive monkeys killed an Indian mayor in the city of Delhi. The article is dated now yet timely in the run-up to the 2008 elections for the next Mayor of London.

Politicians should heed the lesson in this story: beware of the electorate for it deals a certain kind of justice if perception takes a bad turn. An extreme case but most parables are. And it’s true. The monkeys are revered by most city dwellers. Whenever one is electrocuted by jumping through overhead electricity cables, witnesses perform traditional human funeral rites for those unfortunate simians.

The pic accompanying the article is rather good too, lending an air of je ne sais quoi to this esteemed citizen of Delhi. Mayoral candidates take note: promises to drive through higher education standards amongst the population will have unpredictable effects.

A dream comes true – the automated restaurant

I’ve just experienced one of those rare moments when a childhood dream is realised later in life.

The BBC has just reported of a fully automated robot restaurant in Germany. Well, almost entirely automated. Apart from food preparation and cooking in the kitchen, all other processes have been transformed into touchscreen interfaces and rollercoaster-style delivery mechanisms.

The last time I ever contemplated on such fantastical thoughts was during the musical scene You Two in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang when Dick Van Dyke’s character Caractacus Potts prepares the first meal of the day for his two children using that now famous steam-powered, breakfast-making machine.

And what a joy it is to see the dream and the reality in living, breathing, colour video. It is truly a wondrous age in which we live.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang You Two breakfast machine

Crossing the cultural divide

Living in a community of divergent cultures is quite an experience. That community is always in constant motion; changing from one perspective to another in order to find themselves or the life which suits them at that time. In recent years, I have arrived at the conclusion that there are many paths to essentially the same destination. This weekend, I realised there has been one such path right outside my house.

We have a saying in our home: “Never return something borrowed to someone empty”. I’m not sure when this belief started or which historic event triggered it or which cosmic alignment took place to give birth to it. All I know is that it has remained a convention for us for some time. And somehow observance of it has come to mean the borrower adding some small token of appreciation for the lender’s kindness. Over time the token itself has become a fundamental pillar of our existence.

This is so clearly demonstrated by my mother and her neighbour. The very first time when my mother fell ill our neighbour decided to cook her a simple dinner and delivered it in various containers and pots to our front door. After recovering from her bout of illness my mother promptly returned said vessels, all scrubbed to an industrial high polish, packed with various Indian snacks, condiments and sweet treats as a heartfelt thankyou for such neighbourly kindness. Only problem was, my mother’s return out-did our neighbour’s first gesture. And it has continued from then.

So much so that as I settled comfortably into the sofa to watch the Six Nations rugby matches on Saturday afternoon, my mother disrupted my plans with her usual sense of ‘the end of days’ immediacy to action. I was directed to return our neighbour’s rice serving bowl which was now a component part of a celebration-style hamper, complete with fresh exotic fruit, Mediterranean baklava and dates, and gourmet vegetarian delicacies from our local Waitrose, all arranged in layers with a silk sari entwining each and every ingredient. The whole food burst was wrapped in cellophane and tied with a silk bow. Shocked at another double-booking possibility for this evening, I enquired if we had been invited for one of their birthdays. “Don’t be stupid!” came the reply. “I’m just returning her bowl”. I’m bracing myself for the next delivery…

For more cross-cultural observations, check out the posts at Bonn Voyage.