Few weeks ago a new portal for legal professionals has been published by Wolters Kluwer Italy: it is called Studio Legale and integrates solutions prototyped within our R&D department and discussed also in some of my previous posts about semantic search and technology. Read further >
A bigger part of the Netherlands is located under sea level, which gives me the association of living in a submarine. But this does not imply that the Dutch are hiding from anything, quite on the contrary!
Exquisite research is taking place here, which was very well illustrated during our LOD2 plenary meeting end of March in Amsterdam; after last year’s plenaries in Vienna and Cambridge.
In his latest post, Tom Callaghan was looking back to the impressive progress the company made around UX design in 2012. Another good habit at the end of the year is to look forward and make some statements about the future – just in case 21st December 2012 will not be the end of the world!
The use of quantitative prediction continues to shake up numerous professional services industries by automating or semi-automating tasks previously performed by experts. Professor Daniel Katz (Michigan State University) has offered up an analysis of how quantitative prediction is already changing the legal services industry (Quantitative Legal Prediction – or – How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Start Preparing for the Data Driven Future of the Legal Services Industry, 62 Emory Law Journal ___ (2013) (working draft)). Although Katz’s analysis focuses on legal services, the trends discussed can be applied to other professional service industries, including tax planning and accounting services. Quantitative prediction promises to automate or semi-automate many core questions asked by professionals and their clients: Do I have a case? What is our likely exposure? How much is this going to cost? Are these documents relevant? What will happen if we leave this particular provision out of this contract? How can we best staff this particular legal matter? Read further >
I am not really sure, if this is a correct English sentence, but abbreviations show that meaning and semantics indeed have a lot to tell us. Looking at Wikipedia, you will find that “ISWC” has four different meanings – and I am pretty sure that there are even more around the globe. One is: “International Symposium on Wearable Computers”. There are also others, which are as meaningful like: “International Speed Windsurfing Class” or “International Semantic Web Conference”; the latter I will talk about today.
Mobile solutions are no longer just about getting our content accessible on smartphones or tablets; it is about delivering a holistic experience across multiple screens. If you attended the mobile solutions presentation at the user conference of Wolters Kluwer’s Global Platform Organization (GPO) this year, you heard us talking about the importance of ensemble interactions, which is about providing a holistic user experience that involves multiple linked devices or that dynamically cross two or more devices. Read further >
In her keynote at last week’s I-Semantics conference in Graz (Austria), Lora Aroyo was talking about how vague central concepts like ‘object’ and ‘event’ can actually be modeled from a scientific point of view. She showed an introductory slide, in which an event in contrast to an object is mainly defined by its temporal dimension. An event has therefore a beginning and an end – and a lot of developments and changes in between. According to this definition, I immediately thought: Wow, I am an event as well!
For an established company it is often more challenging to successfully include innovation in its business culture. Companies tend to optimize their processes around their core business – innovation requires an attitude to look beyond that well-known area. On the other hand, it is also undoubtedly true that without innovation, there is no sustainable future for the company either.
Wolters Kluwer has over the last couple of years developed a dedication and passion towards innovation. This is also true for Wolters Kluwer Germany, where innovative colleagues are given the opportunity to become certified innovation managers, trained at one of the most excellent German universities.
Companies continue to be excited about the possibilities of big data, including how data on their customers might reveal new patterns and insights. Although a lot of attention has focused on the benefits of big data, less attention has been paid to the new ethical complications big data presents. An upcoming book, Ethics of Big Data: Balancing Risk and Innovation (O’Reilly), will attempt to address these ethical issues. Howard Wen at O’Reilly Radar does a good job of highlighting some of the most prominent ethical issues which the book is expected to cover. The primary ethical issues involve the privacy expectations of those from whom the data is collected. Read further >
Last week, more than 300 experts and executives from German publishing houses met in Berlin near the famous Brandenburg Gate in order to talk about the current situation and the challenges within the publishing industry in Germany.
The conference widened the scope this year and invited quite a number of speakers from the US, Canada and the UK, which was very fruitful for the discussions going on.
I think that three different areas were in the center of the presentations and workshops:
