Digitization project: "Rescuing the Earth's Weather History"

The "Green" blog (of the New York Times) has an entry this week about a few different efforts to digitize archival weather observations so that they can be pulled into computers for anaylsis and perhaps some new resulting ideas about climate.

Read the entry at:

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/04/rescuing-the-earths-weather-history/?hp

A critical look at Google Scholar citation data

I just stumbled across this article and thought I'd share the link. I must make two points: 1) I must disclose that I work for a company that is a competitor with Google in this field and 2) the author does not balance his criticism with equally detailed criticisms of existing abstracting & indexing services (such as the on I work for). That being said, it's worth reading.

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6703850.html

Big data article in JavaWorld

In JavaWorld recently, an article about the "Big Promise of Big Data" :

http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-09-2010/100914-big-data.html


It's a nice overview of what's happening in the world of Big Data, and where to look further for information.

The Atlantic Tech Canon

This week in The Atlantic, Alexis Madrigal lists 50 books and films that purportedly constitute a "Tech Canon." Madrigal constructed the list with starting with over 200 suggestions from tech writers and scholars, then whittled it down to the final 50. Covering written fiction and nonfiction as well as film, the list includes old standbys like Fred Brooks' _The Mythical Man Month_ and William Gibson's _Neuromancer_. However the list also includes books like Orson Scott Card's _Ender's Game_, which is perhaps lesser known to the non-science-fiction-reading public, but thought to have been an influence in the creation of the fictional universe in which the bestselling video game "Halo" takes place.

As with any list, there are arguments to be made for and against each choice. I must say that personally I was surprised by the thoughtful case made for the inclusion of "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" on the list.

Check out the list on the Atlantic site at:

The Atlantic Tech Canon - Alexis Madrigal - Technology - The Atlantic

Swingly -- A search engine that answers your questions

SearchEngineLand has an article about a new search engine called "Swingly" that answers your questions directly rather than giving you a list of sites where you might find the answer.

Swingly does well at certain kinds of questions like "What was the first video on MTV?" However, Swingly could not answer the logical inverse of that question. When asked, "Why are the Buggles important in music history?" Swingly's answer was less than satisfactory. However, this "why" question is more subjective than the question that preceded it.

Google and Bing Catch-up

Good piece in the NYTimes recently about how Google is constantly adjusting to the challenges posed by Bing, Microsoft's search engine.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/02/technology/02google.html

How Google Works

PPC Blog has produced a great new graphic entitled "How Google Works."   Since they have given blanket permission to include this image on other web sites, I went ahead and pasted it in below.  Check it out--it's a great nuts and bolts overview of what happens with Google search.  You can view the full size version here.




Infographic by PPC Blog