People who know me, will probably describe me as being analytical and pragmatic. And I fully agree with that assessment – most of the time. But every now and then something happens, which touches my emotional side and if my analytical part also agrees, I can get rather passionate. Exactly that happened in the previous months, when a vision became reality. I am talking about Jurion – an innovative and new kind of software and knowledge platform for the legal market, covering all the different aspects that really create added value to our customers’ professional processes. Read further >

Creating a positive user experience out of a single content asset is more challenging than ever. Just think about a single treatise. It can be available today in print, CD-ROM, as an ebook on the Kindle device, the Kindle Cloud Reader or the Kindle iPad app. It could be available on the Kindle Fire, taking advantage of color and graphics. It could be available as a PDF accessible through the Kindle, iPad, or a PC’s deskt0p. There are many ways to make it available through the iPhone. It also could be accessed through a Web-based research application, such as IntelliConnect. In the context of Web-based research applications, user experience can differ according to the type of browser used – Safari, Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer – and even the version of a particular browser, such as Internet Explorer 8 versus Internet Explorer 9. Early adopters might be experimenting with Internet Explorer 10. It’s a multichannel, multi-browser world. Read further >

I just sat through a presentation of a practice management software application that transformed the way people worked and functioned. Innovation according to Wikipedia is the ”creation of better or more effective products, processes, technologies, or ideas that are accepted by markets, governments, and society.” It is interesting to note that innovation differs from invention where as the former is relating to use of a new idea or method and latter is the creation of the idea. 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 >

At Frankfurt Book Fair, I gave a presentation on “Semantic Web for Publishers”, including what semantic search means and how it affects our current and future business. Since all chairs were taken – some people even had to stand at the back – and nobody in the audience left before the session was over, one can certainly conclude that the buzz word “semantic” has caught the attention of the publishing community. 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 >

The Frankfurt Book Fair is certainly one of the main events of the information services and publishing industry in the world. Over the last years, the focus of information professionals as part of the community has changed in particular. Mobile apps, online research, and software integration are at the center of attention. This is also true for semantic search capabilities. And why? Because customers ask for intelligent and innovative solutions. Read further >

On September 15, 2011, CMS launched its new esMD pilot program, giving providers a new mechanism for submitting medical documentation. This launch marks the beginning of phase one of CMS’ initiative and CMS is hoping to make it significantly easier for providers to submit information, as well as easier for CMS’ recovery contractors to identify improper payments by reducing costs and time spent on these transactions. 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 >