Marjorie M.K. Hlava, President and founder of Access Innovations, Inc. and the Data Harmony suite of indexing software, gives the Miles Conrad Memorial Lecture at the 2014 Annual Conference for the National Federation of Advanced Information Services (NFAIS). The Miles Conrad Award and accompanying lecture was established in 1965 in commemoration of NFAIS founder, G. Miles Conrad. Hlava earned the Miles Conrad Award this January for her past and continuing services to NFAIS and the Information and Knowledge Management industries.

1. Tales from the Field:
Our Changing World
Marjorie Hlava, President
Access Innovations, Inc.
www.accessinn.com

2. Miles Conrad Presentation - 2014
• Tales from the field
–The case of the missing abstracts
–Russian information
–USPTO
–Getty adventures
–Vatican bibles
• Where are we now?
• Future directions

3. The Cutting Edge
• Figure out the client needs
• Figure out the specifications
• Get approval on the specifications
• Figure out how to deliver the data following
the specs
• Quality control the data delivery
• …. But then life happens

4. The Case of the Missing Abstracts
• Tests showed that just searching the indexing did
not provide the full answers users wanted.
Searching the titles and abstracts as well would
improve search.
• Enough space could be found on servers if the data
were moved to in-house from Dialog and Orbit.
• New platform going into production
• New format – Messenger
• Specifications written, test file approved

5. Specifications
Need 99.998% accuracy for user acceptance
Left tagged ASCII
Office in Mexico City – Access de Mexico
Triple key - double proof
Two sets of volumes
792,000 abstract tapes destroyed
1970 – 1982 data

6. Access de
Mexico
7:17 Am Shift change
September 19,1985
8.7 earthquake

7. CAS to Philippines
Limo from the airport with the remaining volumes
Typhoon Dot
October 12, 1985
Clark Air Force base evacuated
Power out for weeks

8. Jamaica
Hurricane Kate November 1985
4 inches of water in the
computer room
No power on the island

9. Beijing China November 1985
• NOTHING HAPPENED
• Finished
• On time
• Under budget
• At promised accuracy level
• Client said “ when I read your contract I
thought you had an unusual level of detail on
the Acts of God clauses….
• But I didn’t expect you to use every one of
them!”

10. Russian Information

11. Implementing Information Theory
Viniti Maxwell
Information map
PDP-8’s
Microfilm machines – no batteries
Glasnost – open but no trust

13. Payroll in cash
… in our
shoes …

18. This is an office???

19. Three flights down metal stairs…
A full well equipped office

21. Puzzles, Keys, and Digitization
• Photocomposition keys
• Science typographers
• Puzzles – SGML
• Encyclopedia Britannica
• Marquis Who’s Who
• Designing the Chicago research and trading
“desks”

23. One mile back in the cave

24. US Patents staging for scanning

26. Fragile pages – air fed – double sided

28. USPTO Conversions
• Scan at 300 dpi
• OCR to 97%
• 5,400,000 patents
• Create the machines
• Test
• QC algorithms
• Display image
• Search dirty OCR
• Spell right once in 30 pages = findable

29. Perugia Bible 12” VideoDisc

32. British Library Map Collection
225,000 maps pre-1850
From printed catalog to
digital catalog

33. Getty AAT to AATA

34. All projects use classification
• To organize the job
• To organize the information
• To allow the finding of the items once digital
• Apply term tags
–Thesaurus-based and controlled
• Apply notation
–Not necessarily classification
–Just reflects the content
• The classification is NEVER done
–Needs to reflect the ever-changing data

35. Theoretical Underpinnings
• Outlines of Knowledge
–Thomas Aquinas
–John Knox (Bacon)
–Morton Taube - Encyclopedia Britannica
• Organization of Knowledge
–Cutter – 1896
–COSATI – 1964
• Alvin Weinberg
–Cranfield Institute papers
• Cleverdon, Aitchison, Vickery

36. Theory of knowledge
…. began early
• Plato et al. - BC
–Knowledge of reality is philosophy
• Realism
–St. Augustine 354 - 430 AD
–St. Thomas Aquinas 1225 -1274 AD
–Characteristics common in particulars
–Not the same object without them
36

37. Theory of Knowledge
• William of Occam (or Ockham) –
–c. 1288 – c. 1348
• Nominalism - Universals are represented by
words
• Conceptualism - Universals are general
concepts, mind dependent, formed by
extraction from particular experiences
37

38. Theory of Knowledge
• The Knower (Subject)
• The Known (Object)
• Knowing (a subjective process)
• An act, a process, or a concept
• Facts or perception?
• Yes or no answers
38

39. The Basis of Knowledge
• René Descartes 1596 - 1650
–Separate what is known - philosophy
–From new knowledge - science
–Conditions of reason, suspension of
belief
–Je pense donc je suis
–Cogito, ergo sum (from Socrates)
–I think, therefore I am
–Cartesian 39

40. Conditions for knowledge
• John Locke - 1632 - 1704
–“A sailor needs to know the length of a
line he has available before he goes out
to sound the ocean with it.” - J. Locke
• Acquire knowledge of reality
• Establish the conditions needed to acquire
knowledge
• Establish possible extent and limitations of
knowledge
40

41. John Locke 1632 - 1704
Classification of
kinds of
knowledge
Some Thoughts
Concerning
Education 41

42. Philosophy of knowledge divides
• 20th century thought
–Memory
–Perception and memory
–Religion
–Linguistic analysis
–Classification of knowledge
• Vocabulary control
• Linguistic analysis 42

43. Rise of Classification
• Charles Ammi Cutter 1837 - 1903
–Cutter Classification System
• Melville Dewey 1851 - 1931
–Dewey Decimal Classification
• Vladimir Lenin 1870 – 1924
–Rubricon - Russia
–Rubricator
• S. R. Ranganathan – India,1892 – 1972
–Faceted Classification System
–Colonicity 43

44. Charles Ammi Cutter
• Harvard College,
• index catalog,
–using cards instead of published volumes,
–an author index
–and a “classed catalog” or subject index.
• Expansive Classification System (Cutter)
–seven levels of classification,
–each with increasing specificity
–use lower levels and still be specific 44

45. Thesauri
• Philo of Byblos Herennius Philon; c. 64-141
AD
• Sanskrit, the Amarakosha 4th century verse
• Roget's Thesaurus, 1805
–by Peter Mark Roget, and published in 1852
• COSATI - 1964
–TEST - 1967
45

46. Points of knowledge
• Single point of knowledge
–Eve and the apple
–First organism
–All science
–Examples
• Linnean system
• Rubricator
• Locke system
• Dewey
46

47. Points of knowledge
• Multiple points of origin
–Several fields come together - Top terms
–Should they be captured separately or together?
–Facets or different views?
–Anarchy in the universe
–Examples
• Physical biochemistry
• NICEM
• Engineering
–Supporters = Cutter, COSATI, Ranganathan 47

48. Information access is changing
• Teletype
• Fax
• Online
• CD-ROM
• Downloading

49. The players are changing
• Standalone publishers
• Aggregators
• Serials and book vendors
• Hosting services
• Cloud
• Disaggregation
• Everyone is an author
• Loss of quality, accuracy, review

50. Funding for clients is changing
• The US Government spends $17 BILLION a day
more than it brings in
• 50% of the Republicans in the house have served 3
years or less (WSJ 9/23/2013)
• Public university funding - Illinois
–State appropriated funds 18.9%
• Decreasing at 9.4% from 4 years previous
–Tuition revenue 24.7 %
–Governmental grants and contracts 17.9 %
–Hospital income 12.4%
– http://www.ibhe.org/Fiscal%20Affairs/PDF/FY12PublicRevExpRpt.pdf

51. University of California

52. • Handwritten
• Gutenberg
• Linotype
• Web Presses
– Photocomposition
Digital layout
Desktop publishing
Web publishing
The formats are changing

53. Storage is changing
• iPhone has 240,000 times the memory power
of the Voyager 1 – 12 billion miles from earth
(NYTimes 9/13/2013)

54. Search is (finally) changing
• Online search
• Boolean search
• Cached search
• Bayesian
– Co-occurrence
– Neural nets
– Machine learning
• Faceted (fielded)
• Rules systems
• Stairs
• ELHILL
• Orbit
• String search
• Verity
• FAST
• Lucene
• MuseGlobal
• Perfect Search

55. Tagging is still debated
• Permuted indexes
–Chem abs
–Bio abs
–Portals
• Permaterm indexes
–IFI Predicasts
–Classification systems LC
–Thesauri
• Inverted files
• Triples

56. Horizons are more complicated
• Field formatted data
• Relational and SQL databases
• Object oriented systems
• Semantic web
• Linked data

57. Formats just keep being added
• Photocomposition markup
• SGML
• XML
• JSON calls
• Big iron
• Server farms
• Cloud farms
Storage keeps changing

58. Telecommunications tries to
keep up
• Party lines
• Direct connect lines
• Trunk lines
• Fiber optics
• Cell towers
• Wireless

59. Media
• Punch cards
• 9 track tapes
• Mountain tapes
• Removable drives
• Diskettes
–8” –
–5.25 –
–3.5
–Flash drives
–Chips
72% of online Americans use
social networking in 2013, up
from 8% in 2005
Few differences by
Educational attainment
67% are HS Dropouts
72% are college graduates
(Pew Internet & American Life Project)

60. Indexes
• Pre-coordinate
–Back of the book
–Subject headings
• Post-coordinate
• Bayesian
• Co-occurrence
• Neural nets
• Machine learning
• Rules systems

61. Our Cozy World
• Has CHANGED
• The landscape is shifting in profound ways
• Funding models are changing
• Who will pay is changing
• Systems manipulating knowledge
• User needs and wants are changing

62. Challenge old assumptions
• In the olden days
– companies had “industries” that they worked within
– “markets” that they sold into, and
– “business models” that they pursued
– assumptions that drove their decisions
– and associations that represented them in
– a world that moved relatively slowly
• Now…every single assumption needs to be challenged
– rapid change in future trends
– innovation is constant
– we need to find the growth opportunities

63. Doing Business at the
speed of thought
• Communicating in 140 characters
–Twitter
–Text
• Small screens
• Small thoughts
• Always connected
• Social networking

64. Where are we headed?
• An Australian study predicted that 65 percent of
preschoolers would eventually work in jobs and
careers that do not currently exist.
• It’s going to be a move from a bad economy to the
next economy” - Mike Fleming, American Chamber
of Commerce

65. Technology
• Cell phones
• Netflix
• iPod
• Tablets
• iPad
• Digital journal collection
bundles
• e-books
• Google
• Linked data
• Blackberry
• E-mail
• Webex
• Skype
• Blogs
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• YouTube
• MySpace

66. The Landscape is Changing
• New fields driven by technology
–Information architects, KM, KOSs
• New associations, new companies
• Interests and focus - associations merge, fold,
or morph

67. Systems Manipulating Knowledge
• Search domination
–Steering the Bayesian engines
–Tricking the search systems
• Google's personalization algorithms affect
search results.
• Yahoo and Microsoft do the same thing

68. Filter Bubbles

69. Systems Manipulating Knowledge
• Knowledge is Power
http://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles.html
"The Filter Bubble: What The Internet Is Hiding From You"
– Eli Pariser – Chair of MoveOn.org

70. Demographics
• World Population = 3,031,720,300 – July 1980
• World Population = 6,775,235,300 – July 2009
• World Population = 7,098,978,020 – February 2013
• World Population = 7,214,213,389 – February 2014
• U.S.A. Population = 180,671,000 – July 1960
• U.S.A. Population = 226,542,250 – July 1980
• U.S.A. Population = 317,599,000 – February 2014*
• U.S.A. Population = 321,666,147– February 2014*
• New Mexico Population = 1,303,303 – July 1980
• New Mexico Population = 2,085,287 – 2013 estimate
• *Accounting for births, deaths, and net immigration, the population
is expected to tick up by another person every 15 seconds.

71. Gross Domestic Product - USA
• 25% of global economy
• 20% of global manufacturing
• Government added 14% of USA GDP
• Not-for-profits added 5.5% of the USA GDP
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_United_States

72. Public finance - USA
• Public debt $17,322 trillion (2014)
• Revenues $2.5 trillion (2012)
• Expenses $3.54 trillion (2012)
• Economic aid (ODA) $30.7 billion (2011)
• Public and private US debt = 3.5 x GDP
• Public debt is growing at $2.44B each day

73. Total US revenue
http://www.usgovernmentrevenue.com/united_states_total_revenue_pie_chart

74. Federal only US revenue
http://www.usgovernmentrevenue.com/piechart_2014_US_fed

75. Our customers revenue

76. Who will pay? - Academic
• Demographics are increasingly challenging
• We cannot continue to use eminent domain as a driver
– Build more
– Consume more
– Add more people
– Increase the GDP
– Increase taxes
• Research and universities dependent primarily on tax revenue
– Grant funding
– Government contracts
– Donations
– UNM: 25% from State for 2011-12, 12% for 2013-14
– Funding models facing pressure to change

77. Who will pay? - Associations
• When the company pays for membership
– Most let membership continue indefinitely
– When a member, who first used his boss’s
membership, then decided to pay for his own,
didn’t think the $100 paid was worth it.
• Companies are changing association membership
• from company-paid to personal-paid
• causing problems for some of the biggest trade
groups and membership societies.

78. Open Source Issues
• But you know that discussion!
• …..

79. Landscape forms
• More publisher consolidation
• E-book self-publishing is surging
• Publishers will use metadata in more sophisticated
ways
• Expansion of peer power
• Less peer review more self publishing

80. Publishing today
http://www.worldometers.info/

81. Landscape Forms - Technology
• Increased content in the cloud
• Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)
–iPad Air, iPhone 6
–Widespread adoption of Android
• Increasing demand for mobile apps and websites
• Increase in software-as-a-service (SaaS) options
–Ubiquitous communications
• Increased implementation of cloud computing
• Widespread adoption of 3D technology

82. Landscape Forms - Apps
• Applications being “socialized”
• Enhanced/interactive/portable e-books
• Many options for low-priced standalone e-readers
• More legal disputes and patent wars
• More interest in open and linked data
• Search analytics
• Gradual adoption of HTML5
• Streaming content
• Information prices are rising,
– but content budgets aren’t keeping pace

83. Landscape Forms – Data
• Smartphone adoption
• Blending of offline-online worlds
• Gesture-based computing
• Increased geo-tagging of information
• Voice interfaces
• Interactive Learning
• MOOCs—Massive Open Online Courses

84. Landscape Forms – Data
• Data analytics
• More Big Data
–Underneath, there are compelling applications
to be implemented
–Enterprise search and business insight
technologies
• Intelligent objects—The Internet of Things
• Work anywhere
• More predictive personalization

85. Landscape Forms - Libraries
• Increased engagement with social media
• Growing popularity of e-singles
• Web-scale discovery for library collections
• Facilitation roles for librarians
• Monograph e-platforms ascendant
– Books at JSTOR, University Publishing Online, University Press
Scholarship Online, University Press Content Consortium Book
Collections of Project MUSE

86. Landscape forms - Politics
• WikiLeaks
• Net neutrality battles
• Government tries to regulate the internet (SOPA and
PIPA, ACTA, WCIT)
• Privacy and security concerns dominate policy
discussions
• Developments in discovery tools
• New legal platforms
• Ongoing focus on security/privacy issues—online
• Newspapers and magazines online only
• Information access regulation

87. Giants are moving
• Battling on hardware and search
–Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon
• Battle of the mobile devices
–Apple iOS, Google’s Android, Microsoft Windows
• Growth in open source innovation/problem solving
• More installations of Solr
• Power outages are much more a problem than
data breaches

88. Universe of Options
What should we do?

89. Publishers
• “publishers have behaved a bit like hunter-gatherers of
research” *
• Become information providers
• Invest in search & data management tools
• Make sure relevant articles find their way to researchers
• Open article databases to software developers
• Build community apps on top of their content
• Drive readers to obscure content
• Open Access initiatives
• *(Economist, “One of the best media businesses is also one of the most resented,”
Http://www.economist.com/node/18744177/)

90. “Ask an Expert” Sites
• 2005 – 15 % used such sites
• 2009 – 43% used them
• 2013 – 83% used them
• “librarian” usage is flat
• 83% of those who used librarian perceived value
• Embed ourselves in the expert sites!
• Add a taxonomy to leverage search
• http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/889752-264/stuck_in_the_past_.html.csp

91. New kinds of customers
• Publishers
• Information professionals
• CTO, CIO, Librarian
• Researchers
• Information consultants
• Information architects
• Taxonomists
• Library technical assistants
• Business owners
• Planners
• Work inside libraries
• Researchers
• Information consultants
• Knowledge managers
• Records managers
• User experience
specialists
• Indexers
Where do we find such a diverse set of customers?

92. Thirst for knowledge
• “The reality of the future of meetings is that
learning is what most people will do for a
living in the 21st century. There will be a
requirement to constantly replenish that
knowledge, and a huge focus on knowledge
delivery.” -- Jim Carroll, Futurist

93. What information format?
• Symposia
• Articles
• Databases
• Meet-ups
• Tweet-ups
• Virtual networking
• Short seminars
• Continuing education
• Workshops
• Webinars
• Blogs
• Free vs fee
• 12 x per year 4 x per year
• All day or two hours

94. Need trusted sources
• Semantic enrichment
• Make data findable
• Ensure trustworthy data
• Replicable search results
– Discovery
– Precision
– Recall
• Aiding the human brain
• Automated efficient processing

95. Now
• Changing the way we learn
• Changing the way we find things
• Easier to manipulate what we know
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8ofWFx525s
• Comprehensive information / invasive
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNJl9EEcsoE
• People now know what search is.

96. Our Path
• Metadata 2.0
– Taxonomies will lead innovative search
– Publishers will be using metadata in increasingly
sophisticated ways
• Production will shift to web ready data
– Publishers already had big data!
– Accelerated repackaging and combining of existing
resources
– Channeling of data will become more important
– Semantic tagging will leverage product development
– Selling more directly to the consumer

97. Our Path
• Markets
–Publishers and enterprises will embrace the
web for distribution
–Government funded sales will decrease
–Enterprise sales will increase
• Reaching customers
–More personal approach
–Fewer will attend conferences

98. Future
• Information any place, any time
• A great big mess - unless we corral it.
–Tag it,
–Clean it,
–Weed it,
–Curate it.
• Everyone is creating content

99. The information
explosion has just
begun

100. We should be all be part of it!
Marjorie M. K. Hlava
Access Innovations / Data Harmony
mhlava@accessinn.com
+1-505-998-0800
Thank you