A value-added service in many public search engines has been auto-complete and pre-search suggested searches for searchers. You go to Google or Bing and begin typing a query, for example, “bus”, and Google’s auto-complete suggests “bus times,” “business links,” “business for sale,” and “bus timetable.” This feature is very helpful in several aspects. By displaying alternative word forms, the researcher has the opportunity to discover a better formulated version of his or her query. The suggestions might be words that are directly related to the searcher’s intent but which also serve to expand or refine the user’s search. Auto-complete in mobile devices, where the logic seems to be driven by an app in the smartphone itself, such as in my iPhone, can be quite annoying because frequently the suggested terms are wholly unrelated to my search intent and I experience it as low value-add, in fact, a nuisance. But I’ve adapted my search workflow to the iPhone. Read further >

Financing or refinancing a mortgage in the United States is a paper-intensive process, especially when it comes to borrower disclosures. Wolters Kluwer Financial Services  has made the process “as easy as pushing a button” for its customers. By working directly with mortgage lenders Financial Services developed Disclosure Manager, a complete solution that automates the initial disclosure process from generation of compliance document packages and secure electronic document delivery to borrowers, to outsourced print and paper fulfillment. Read further >

Private publishers such as Wolters Kluwer have long been an essential part of the tax, legal & regulatory content value chain. Traditionally they have aggregated, organized, linked, and explained primary and secondary sources of law so that professional practitioners — lawyers and accountants — can help their clients better predict the consequences of their decisions. Print-based aggregation in looseleafs and treatises over time transformed into digital aggregation in full-text searchable databases organized by document type and/or practice area. Digital aggregation is challenging because government sources of law, including legislative, judicial, and executive branches of government, make their data available in different formats according to their own schedules. If these different government entities could make their data available using uniform standards, private publishers would be able to aggregate primary sources of law more quickly. Of course, that would mean that explanations, linking, and topical organization could occur more quickly. This is how I view the promise of 5-star linked data for tax, legal & regulatory publishers. Read further >

I assume you have heard about Flipboard, and bet that if you own an iPad you may be a Flipboard user just like me. For those not familiar with Flipboard, think of it as your very own personal social magazine. The Flipboard app pulls information from the web, both from news sources and from your friends pages and services, like Facebook and Twitter. All this information is presented automatically in an appealing magazine-like format. Needless to say the content of your magazine is updated continuously.

Personal settings travel with you
Recently Flipboard released a new version and introduced Flipboard Accounts. I believe this is a big deal in those environments and households where not every single individual has its own iPad. With Flipboard accounts you can share an iPad but still have your own very personal Flipboard magazine. As the company states; “With Accounts, your reading preferences stay with you no matter how you access Flipboard. For example, families and friends who share an iPad can log into Flipboard and find their favorite sections.” Read further >

Algorithms are becoming increasingly sophisticated at finding and categorizing information. Indeed, for a thought-provoking talk on the importance of algorithms in general, check out this TED presentation, entitled, “How Algorithms Shape Our World.” Google, for example, has built a business on algorithms. Google’s PageRank algorithm ranks search results for researchers based partly on the authority of links. Google Scholar applies algorithms that purport to identify for US cases (1) how a case has been cited; (2) the documents that are cited by a particular case; and (3) related documents. There is even a patent. I applaud Google’s research and development. But can algorithms replace human editorial expertise? Not yet. Read further >

If you read this, you are most likely a regular internet user. Without a doubt you exchange sensitive and private information with many different websites on a regular basis. You have been told that in such cases you should look for, even demand, a secure internet connection. But how vulnerable is that system? Read further >

I’ve posted in the past about visiting China and working with Wolters Kluwer’s strategic partners there, such as Commercial Press and China Financial & Economic Publishing House. The progress is exciting. Read further >

Solvency II, which will be effective as of January 2013, is a set of new and stronger European Union-wide requirements for insurers. These new requirements on capital adequacy and risk management are meant to help protect policy holders and will reduce consumer loss or market disruption in insurance. The regulation has three portions or pillars that include quantitative requirements (regulatory reporting), disclosure, and transparency in communicating to shareholders and enterprise risk management (ERM). Read further >

Without a doubt the internet, and with it websites, have brought about a change in how publishers and advertisers can ‘track and trace’ readers behavior. If you are into web analytics and have heard about cookies you probably know what I am talking about. Recently I had the pleasure to attend the Adobe Omniture Summit. One of the talks was about the ePrivacy Directive, Adobe’s Chief Privacy Officer, Meme Jacobs Rasmussen, has posted an extensive blog post on the European ePrivacy Directive. While this puts the Directive into perspective for Omniture customers it is a must read regardless if you use Omniture. Read further >

InContext Design’s Shelley Wood made a comment to my recent post about the eroding distinction between content and software. I had the privilege of attending a few years ago a training session in contextual design given by Shelley. Her comment on my post reminded me about the importance of contextual design in creating solutions for customers. So I thought it would make sense to write more comments about it here in this post. Read further >