SDI

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With the World Wide Web growing so rapidly each day and even each minute, the Internet just becomes to big to handle. In fig 1.1 is an example of an Information Overload; that is when too much information is retrieved, and the user cannot handle it.

Techniques must be used to find the correct and relevant information. Information filtering or Selective Dissemination of Information is a "tool" that must be used when finding information on the Internet. It is important to know how to filter through information and precisely why a user must do so. There are many information filtering "agents" that can be used to assist the user in filtering through information. Some websites and companies use Push Technology to help the user to receive information easier.

Professional writers help on SDI essays Fig 1.1

1.1 Research Problem

· What is the need for Personalized Information Services on the Web?

Sub Problems

· What is an information overload?

· What is the digital divide?

· What is an information agent, and how does it work?

· What is SDI?

· What is push technology, and when is it used?

. Selective Dissemination of information

.1 What is Selective Dissemination of Information?

According to Dictionary.com selective dissemination of information is

" A current awareness system, which alerts you to the latest publications in your specified field(s) of interest.

A user registers at such a system with keywords representing his or her fields of interest, called a search profile. When new publications matching the search profile appear, the system informs the user of them instantly, periodically or upon request. Some systems may also be able to inform the user if changes in already notified publications occur."

Because of the huge size of the Internet these systems can be of great help to all users.

. How does SDI work?

Information dissemination systems do the searching on behalf of the user through the help of a WWW Robot. The robot is a program that automatically looks through hypertext structure and retrieves a referenced document.

A webowser is not a robot because they are mostly operated by a human and does not automatically retrieve reference document. Web robots are sometimes referred to as Web Wanderers, Web Crawlers, or Spiders. Point 5 (Push Technology) discusses this further.

. Digital Divide

Digital divide is a very big problem in the world, but especially in South Africa. It is Information rich VS information poor. Digital divide is not only caused by the lack of technology but the lack of computer and information literacy. To help the illiterate people push technology and web robots are used.

4. Web Robots

Because the size of the Web increased beyond expectations, it became clear that manualowsing through a big amount of hypertext structures would no longer be possible.

Web robots are implemented as a single software system that retrieves information form remote sites using standard Web protocols.

5. Freely Available Filtering Systems

SIFT

The Stanford Information Filtering Tool includes two selective dissemination services, one for computer science technical reports and one for USENET news articles. The source code is also available.

Firefly

A collaborative filtering service for music and movies.

InfoScan

A program, which filters email and USENET News and includes document visualization features.

InfoTicker

A web-watching robot with filtering functionality.

NewsSieve

A USENET News filtering system.

iAgent

A beta copy of an adaptive web filtering agent.

WiseWire

Empirical Medias filtering service that delivers webpages, newswire articles, and netnews.

BORGES

A USENET News filtering system using.

RAMA

A Unix based USENET news filtering.

owse

An X windows neural network based USENET news filtering system.

NewsClip

A unix programming language designed for filtering USENET News that is capable of binary filtering when used with any newsreader. When used with STRN, the Scoring Threaded version of the unix ReadNews (RN) program, ranking articles in order of likely relevance is also possible.

Sift-Mail

An system for filtering electronic mail.

SMART

A unix package designed for performance evaluation of vector space information retrieval techniques. The capability to filter USENET News is included in the standard distribution.

MAXIMS

MAXIMS is a collaborative electronic mail filtering system.

Procmail

A unix package designed to automatically filter electronic mail.

Maildrop

A unix based mail delivery agent with filtering ability. Maildrop is intended as a replacement for Procmail. Maildrop can optionally read instructions from a file on how to filter incoming mail, and, based upon the instructions, deliver mail to alternate mailboxes, or forward it to somewhere else, like procmail. Unlike procmail, maildrop uses a structured filtering language thats a bit easier on the eyes.

Mailfilt

A perl script to filter electronic mail.

Mailagent

A rule-based electronic mail filtering system.

WebWatcher

WebWatcher is a World Wide Web filtering system which learns the users preferences and highlights interesting links on web pages that you visit.

WebFilter

A system which filters the content of World Wide Web pages in real time.

FilterGus

A simple Java Program that filters up textual documents.

WebWasher

A Window based program that filters ad. images on the Web. The program is free for personal, non-commercial home use or educational institutions.

ScienceIndex

A demo version of citation index available on the web, which aims to be a digital liary for scientific literature in electronic form. Features include autonomous citation indexing, autonomous document location, citation context extraction, full-text indexing, awareness and tracking, related document retrieval, similar document identification, citation graph analysis, and query-sensitive document.

Select

A EU funded project that aims to develop a collaborative filtering system, which can help scientific, technical and other professional Internet users find information.

ChaffAway

An electronic liary where anyone can post and search documents. It supports collaborative filtering by collecting votes from users.

NoCeM

A collaborative filtering system for Usenet. Filtering instructions are sent out in the form of PGP signed notices according to each users personal criteria. Commonly used for spam filtering, but not limited.

Scoop

A Weblog system that helps users select news articles based on collaborative filtering.

6. How to use Intelligent agents

Intelligent agents are user-customized search robots helps the user locate exactly the information that he or she needs on the Web. Agent software and services are often part of the product line of companies that make search and indexing software.

Infoseek, one of the major Internet search engine companies, offers an industry-specific search service called IndustryWatch. Information in this sub-section of Infoseeks main index takes 500 sources including trade newsletters, newspapers, and periodicals with categories such as space, real estate, energy, health care, insurance, banking, and pharmaceuticals. Each headline links to the full text of the article within the IndustryWatch page.

Farcast is a paid subscription service that delivers customized news via email on a regularly scheduled basis of the users choosing.

Farcasts intelligent agents are called droids.oadcast droids deliver news, weather, and press releases; company droids deliver press releases and news items about a particular company.

Each news piece arrives as a separate email message with the subject line clearly defined. A message containing the full text is delivered within minutes.

Marimba

Marimba (www.marimba.com) is as famous for its implementation of Java, a programming language developed by Sun Microsystems, as it is for its own products. Marimbas Castanet offering, designed to be used in conjunction with a Webowser, automatically distributes and maintains software applications and content within a company or across the Internet (Guenther 00).

Marimba with both Netscape and Microsoft to use push technology to automatically update software applications without having to go through the lengthy download process.

BackWeb

BackWebs (www.backweb.com) technology enables institutional clients to create their own internal Webcast channels to direct customized content, referred to as InfoPaks, to specific users. BackWeb uses its Polite Agent technology to optimize the availability of a users Internet connection.

7. Push Technology

Repeatedly searching the Web for information on a particular topic can be both time-consuming and frustrating. But a set of technologies collectively referred to as push technology may help by delivering or pushing information directly to a users desktop.

7.1 How does push technology work?

The users PC must be configured to receive pushed information. Often it is required that the user downloads and installs the push vendors software from a Web site such as BackWebs Polite Agent or Marimba Inc.s Castanet. With a service from CNN called Newswatch a smallowser patch must be downloaded to receive up to the minute information.

Some vendors push their services without requiring anything from the user, but a Webowser and an Internet connection for example ABC News. Users fill out a profile specifying what types of information they want. The profile acts as a filter and is stored either on the clients machine (client-based filter) or on the push vendors server (server-based filter).

Based on the users profile, the vendors server searches across a variety of Web sites or its own channel-a collection of Web-based content that it has rights to distribute. The filter then retrieves relevant information and sends it to the users desktop.

7. Whats the best use for push technology?

Because of an Information Overload, many users find it very difficult to find the exact and correct information. An information profile is used to find information within channels and other sources.

The profiles work well for simple queries such as weather forecasts or stock quotes, but they can work poorly for more complex queries in which the user is trying to define and search aoader concept, such as employee retention. Using it for the latter tends to result in large quantities of information that must still be re-evaluated and digested by the user to determine its true relevance.

For example

When a user likes to receive the latest news, it would then be the best to use push technology provided by a site such as CNN.com, where the latest andeaking news will appear on to the desktop of the user as soon as an Internet connection has been established.

7. How can push contribute to the workplace?

The adoption of push technology has been most successful in environments where pushed information is not tied to rigid information profiles but instead used as a mechanism to deliver information en masse over the corporate intranet.

Companies are currently using push to issue information to employees, such as automatic updating of business manuals, parts inventories and policies.

Workers can fill in a form, specifying what they would like to receive or where their interests lie for example A person working at the accounting department of a large firm would prefer to receive the latest financial information from the various sources, a Selective dissemination of information worker or agent will then search for these sources and the information on behalf of the worker and pass it on as soon as possible.

When tied to databases and spreadsheets, the technology can automatically notify managers when trends in sales and services change. Such practical business applications may eventually be the real impetus for a wider acceptance of push technology in the marketplace.

7.4 Example of Push Technology

7.4.1 CNN

CNN launched Newswatch on June 5 00 (see Fig 1.), it is a personalised news service designed to provide Internet-based desktop access to news interest. The information is received through full-screen visuals, text and videoeaking news alerts and continuously scrolling ticker across the top of the screen. (See appendix for Press Release)

Fig 1.

Fig 1.4

7.5 Monitoring Competitive Intelligence using Internet Push TechnologyMuch has been written about the Internet as both a source of competitive intelligence and a medium for disseminating it. Emerging technologies now give information providers the ability to push their content to interested persons who subscribe to such a service or voluntarily use push client software.The same technology may be used within the organization to disseminate intelligence reports and push information to internal end users. 7.5.1 Internet Information Overload The key to using the Internet effectively for competitive intelligence is not just knowing where and how to look for information, but how to put utilities such as intelligent agents and push clients to work for the user.The Internet is a vast sea of publicly-available but uncontrolled information that changes daily. Before information filtering agents, the only way to find relevant information on the Web was to use Internet search engines like Infoseek, Google or Alta vista, subject directories such as Yahoo!, or online database services such as Lexis-Nexis and Dialog. These services are time consuming because they require the user to be active and searching and filtering through the information.Push clients such as PointCast (fig 1.5), and push services such as Farcast, lets the user specify exactly what sort of information they want, then delivers it to there desktop on a regularly-scheduled basis. Push clients can act as intelligent agents, sifting through the mass of content published daily on the Web, andinging the user only what theyre interested in. Fig 1.5Push services deliver timely news and industry information such as press releases, corporate updates, stock information, financial news, and international headlines. For the C.I. professional, push services do not replace in-depth background research, but rather are a way to keep up-to-date with news, industry events, executive comings and goings, and to monitor emerging trends.7.5. Using Push Technology to Disseminate InformationPush technology can be used by the C.I. analyst both as a way to collect selected information from the Internet, and to disseminate it to C.I. users within the organization.For companies that have an intranet, or internal network based on Internet technology, there are software applications, some that work in conjunction with search engines, that let you supply your own companys users with announcements, alerts, and news items. In fact, any type of document - for example, a C.I. report - can be pushed to the appropriate users. Information from outside sources or from the companys internal database may be used. Knowledge managers within the organization can set up specifics for searches, and push internal communications to the desktops of their employees.Many software companies are working on intranet push services. Wayfarer Communications Incisa software creates a small square window in the top corner of a users screen to display its push alert information. Verity, a leading maker of search engine software for corporate intranets, offers an intranet push client called Intelliserv, which runs on Windows NT servers and can be used to deliver information to internal users through their Webowser or email. Both Microsoft and Netscape, leaders in Internetowser software, are currently developing tools for businesses to use to create information-delivery channels for their corporate intranets.Intermind offers Intermind Communicator free from its Web site. The software can be used by C.I. professionals to publish customisable channels of multimedia content to anyone within the organization. End-user subscribers to the information channel simply select what information they want from a Web site or other data source and, when changes occur, they are notified and view multimedia content right inside theirowser or other application. There are 170 preset channels from which to choose, plus you can create your own.

7.5. Information Push Models

There are a number of different models for information push on the Internet

- oadcast model

Theoadcast model is also known as pure push. PointCast and other channel-oriented services are the best examples.

The user, installs a push client on the PC, selects the channels of information that interests the user, then sets the service in motion. The service will continuallyoadcast information to the users Webowser.

- Selective or automated pull model

Selective pull means the user subscribes to certain types of information, then specifies when that information is to be delivered. The service, once set in motion, is automated and will change only if the user requests it. Examples of this model are magazine and newspaper digests, commonly delivered weekly via email; company or industry newsletters, delivered on a regular publication schedule; and services such as Farcast in which the user subscribes to certain news sources and specifies how often they want them delivered.

- Distributed push/pull model

In the distributed push/pull model the service acts as aoker of information, notifying the end user when information on another Web site changes or is updated. Microsofts Internet Explorer offers this service.

- Interactive push

In the interactive push model the user can both receive and send information. List servers, for example, are e-mail based discussion groups devoted to specific topics. Users subscribe to the list and become members of it. Members send messages to the list server which then redistributes the message to each member. Replies will automatically be sent to everyone on the list.

- Customized pull

Newspage is an example of a service that works on the customized pull model. At the Newspage Web site the user may specify information they wish to monitor, and Newspage will construct a customized home page for the user.

7.5.4 The Development of Push

With the rapid growth of the World Wide Web content providers face stiff competition for audience. Todays researcher who uses the Internet has an estimated 100 million sources of information from which to choose. Information publishers are increasingly using push technology as a competitive tactic.

PointCast was the first information push service, a combination news delivery, advertising medium, and screen saver which users download and install on their PC. In within a few months that PointCast was released, it was being used by over a million people.

A serious problem with using push clients is that they require a great deal of bandwidth because they are continuously sending large volumes of information to each users desktop. In an office where too many PCs are online and using continuous information delivery services, other users sending email or downloading files may experience slower response due to network traffic jams. The makers of push clients have been alerted to this problem and future versions of software promise to reduce their impact on the system by staggering information delivery.

Information delivered through the PointCast network arrives at the users desktop in theirowser in the form of headlines and summaries. Users may then click on an item to view the full text. Its push in the sense that selected information is delivered directly, however, its still up to the user to scan the incoming data for articles of interest, which can then be saved to the hard disk.

8. Conclusion

Despite technology-driven advances, one thing hasnt changed; information professionals are still the ultimate intelligent agents for their organizations and, fittingly, their strategic role is growing. More and more, professional researchers are employing technologies to improve productivity and ensure timeliness, accuracy and depth of content.

By improving push distribution technology, information professionals can spend less time with searching and more time increasing their effectiveness and value within their organizations.

The technology around types of software to push the information will just get better and better, especially in the area of Financial information.

The key to Push Technology still lies with the Digital Divide and it is not a cure for the information overload, but it will help the user to use the Internet and the World Wide Web even more efficiently. When a user is satisfied with the search results, that user will come back next time, assure that the correct information will be given in a short period of time.

Handled properly, push technology can become one of the information professionals most valuable tools together with selective dissemination of information.

. References

Arnold, S.E. & Arnold, E.S. 17. Push technology driving traditional online into a corner. Database. [Online]. Available WWW http//www.onlineinc.com/database/AugDB7/arnold8.html

Barry, E. 00. CNN Launches Newswatch. [Online], Available WWW http//cnn.com

Berghell, H. 1. Cyberowsing information customisations on the Web. Journal of the American Society of Information Science 50(6)505-51.

CompInfo. 00. CompInfo The computer information Centre. [Online]. Available WWW http//www.compinfo-center.com/tpagnt-t.htm

Choo, C.W., Detlor, B and Turnbull, D. 000. Web work information and seeking knowledge work on the World Wide Web. Boston Kluwer.

Cullen, R. 001. Addressing the digital divide. Online information review 5(5)11-0. Digital http//general.rau.ac.za/liary/bibweb/HTML/index1.htm to access Emerald.

DeCandido G. (1) Push technology pushed to theink. [Online]. Available WWW http//www.pla.org/technotes/push.html

Edmunds, A. & Morris, A. 000. The problem of information overload in business organisations a review of the literature. International journal of information management 017-8.

Graef, Jean. Using the Internet for Competitive Intelligence from the [Online] Available WWW http//www.montague.com/le/cio.html

Guenther, K. 00. What is Push Technology? [Online] Available WWW http//www.darwinmag.com/learn/curve/column.html?ArticleID=4

Gustitus, C. 17. The Push is on. [Online]. Available WWW http//www.sla.org/pubs/serial/io/18/jan8/push.html

Notess, G.R. Internet current awarenss. Online ()75-78.

Reuters. 17. The Reuters guide to good information strategy. [Online]. Available WWW http//www.reuters.com/rbb/research/gisframe.htm

Staneck, W.R. 17. Pushing the envelope with push technology. PC Magazine Online. [Online]. Available WWW http//www.zdnet.com/pcmag/issues/1616/pcmg00.htm

Stanley, T. 18. Push technology shortcutting the information maze. Online & CD-ROM review () 5-7. (Liary)

Wyle, M.F. 16. Selective Dissemination. [Online]. Available WWW http//www.wyle.org/~mfw/diss/node4.html

10. Appendix

News Release

For Release June 5, 00

CNN Launches NewswatchOnline Service Powered by Infogate to Provide Personalized News to Users

CNN today announces the launch of Newswatch, a personal news service designed to provide Internet-based desktop access to news tailored to the interests and needs of users. Powered by San Diego-based Infogate, the subscription-based service displays continuously updated information related to news topics selected by the user. The information is received through full-screen visuals,eaking news alerts and a continuously scrolling ticker across the top of the screen, and can be routed to the users desktop, e-mail or mobile device. CNN Newswatch provides a timely, comprehensive and personalized news and information experience to our users, said Mitch Gelman, senior vice president and executive producer of CNN.com. CNN Newswatch is another example of our efforts to provide news and information to users in whatever way is most convenient to them. We are honored to have CNN as one of our first partners and proud to be working with the worlds leader in television news, said Clifford T. Boro, CEO and chairman of Infogate. We think there is a great unmet demand for a service like Newswatch. The heart of the service is the SmartScreenTM, a full-screen interactive news interface filled with photos, headlines, personalized alerts, stock charts and other user-selected information. News is gathered from CNN, the leading news wires and more than ,000 regional, national and world news sites. Infogate empowers leading media companies to leverage their online investments,and equity and customer base by creating exceptional subscription-based personalized information services. The companys patented technology enables users to read, view and interact with carefully filtered news and information using a persistent desktop ticker, interactive screensaver, mobile devices and email. Founded in 14, Infogate is primarily backed by CitiGroup (NYSEC), idealab! and the Trump Group. The company is headquartered in San Diego and has a sales office in New York City. CNN, a division of Turneroadcasting System, Inc., an AOL Time Warner Company, is one of the worlds most respected and trusted sources for news and information. Its reach extends to 15 cable and satellite television networks; three private place-based networks; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; 1 Web sites, including CNN.com, the first major news and information Web site; and CNN Newsource, the worlds most extensively syndicated news service.

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