E L S U A ~ A KM Blog Thinking Outside The Inbox by Luis Suarez

Cognitive-Edge Is Now Hiring!

Tags: ClustrMaps, Asia, KM Asia, Singapore, Cognitive-Edge, Steve Bealing, Dave Snowden, Job Vacancies, Jobs, Training Manager, Office Manager, Consultant, QA Manager, Web Developer, Patrick Lambe, APQC, Knowledge Management, KM, Knowledge Sharing, Narrative, Storytelling, Stories

Through my ClustrMaps profile, I can see that I have got quite a readership from Asia and it surely comes to confirm how much Knowledge Management has grown up over there in the last few years, while the rest of us just watch and see what happens. Check out, for instance, the superb line up that is coming through for KM Asia 2007. Pretty impressive! (Gosh, I wish I would be able to make it!).

Well, from that readership in Asia I can see that there are a few folks from Singapore and I thought I would go ahead and write this particular weblog entry to alert them of something they may not be aware of, but which surely is quite interesting. Cognitive-Edge is growing! Yes, that is right, as both Steve Bealing and Dave Snowden have commented in their respective blogs, Cognitive-Edge is hiring in Singapore and this is the list of job vacancies they have got available at the moment:

– Training & Office Manager
– Consultant
– Test Support and QA Manager
– Web Developer

I see that Patrick Lambe has been commenting about this as well and I thought it would be a good opportunity to spread the message around, specially given the several times that I have had the chance to link to some of the terrific stuff that Dave has been doing in the area of Knowledge Management and narrative in the last few years.

Back in May, we met at the APQC KM & Innovation event in Houston, TX. I attended his ever inspiring keynote speaker session, which I am sure I would have the opportunity to blog about it at some point; we had a lovely dinner with some other KM folks with some great conversations and must say that if there is anyone out there who has got something to say of value about KM and how narrative is impacting KM then it would be Dave. As simple as that, and if you haven’t subscribed to Dave’s or Steve’s blog I don’t know what you are waiting for. They are both a KM must-read, not to miss out!

That is why, if you live in Singapore and have got a chance to apply for any of the jobs offered by Cognitive-Edge by all means go for it! I can tell you it would be worth while the experience!

If I were you, I would apply myself for it … No doubt!

CoScripter – Simplifying Web-based Processes

Tags: IBM, alphaWorks, Emerging Technologies, Technology, Aneel Lakhani, CoScripter, FireFox Extensions, Extensions, IBM ID, Scripts, Web Scripts, Recording Scripts, Demos, Screencasts, Productivity Tools, Productivity Enhancement, Tessa Lau, Jon Udell, IT Conversations, Flock, Browser, Web Browser, Social Software, Social Networking, Social Media, Social Computing, Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, Knowledge Sharing, Collaboration, Communities, Innovation, Learning.

A couple of days ago, I finished up the weblog post from alphaWorks – IBM Emeging Technology indicating that very shortly I would be talking about one particular new emerging technology put together in alphaWorks itself, that I strongly feel would be a huge productivity enhancement for those of us who live on the Web day in day out. One of my fellow IBM colleagues, Aneel Lakhani, has already blogged about it over at his own blog and this is his conclusion on such technology:

"[...] Because whatever complicated (or not) thing you’re trying to do in your browser has been done before. And sometimes it’s just easier not to figure a thing out from scratch."

Aneel is actually talking about CoScripter, a super cool FireFox extension that helps you work your way through whatever the repetitive task, record it, share it and help others (Along with yourself) save time having to do that task again in the near future. It is like a massive macro extension that will help speed your own browsing experience by saving you time where it matters. Here is a bit more thorough description of how it works (Directly from the homepage):

"CoScripter is a system for capturing, sharing, and automating tasks on the Web. CoScripter scripts contain human-readable instructions for completing Web-based processes, such as changing your mailing address or searching for real estate. If the CoScripter plug-in for Firefox is installed, CoScripter can step through scripts with you, showing you how to perform the task, step by step. CoScripter can also run scripts automatically, eliminating repetitive or mundane tasks for the user."

How cool is that? A tool that would help you speed up the way you accomplish tasks on the Web using your favourite Web browser and without having to go elsewhere!

You can find out much more about it over here, including the instructions on how to install it (Requires an IBM ID login) and a good list of scripts you can already play with to see its full potential. You can even have a taste of the different social software features put together by checking out the overall site. Even more, there is a demo available, which you can play over here, and which will show you how it eventually works. Probably better seeing it in the works than me trying to explain it, don’t you think? It takes about 4 minutes and, not to worry, it will be worth while the time. I am sure.

Overall, this is one of those emerging technologies that could surely make a difference in the way you surf the Internet. I have been using it internally, behind the IBM firewall, for some time now and the first time I saw it working I knew it would be one of my must-have, don’t miss out FireFox extensions, next to some other ones I may be able to talk about in the near future. But, for the time being, I would strongly encourage you all to have a look into it and play around with it some more. I bet it will be one of those extensions that over time would become essential to your day to day Web activities.

Oh, one more thing, knowing that the one and only, Tessa Lau, is behind it as well just adds up further into the outstanding quality of the offering put together for all of us to experiment with! Check out also Jon Udell‘s recent podcast he did with her over at IT Conversations, talking around that very same subject, although at the time it was called Koala.

(Now, if only it would work with Flock as well. That would be totally awesome!!)

Quintura Kids – Safest Search Engine for Children – Where It Matters

Tags: Quintura, SearchEngineWatch, Search Engines, Search 2.0, Search Engine 2.0, Fact Monster, Quintura Kids, Amit Chowdhry, Phil Bradley, Web, Internet, Knowledge Tools, Knowledge Management, Personal Knowledge Management, PKM, Knowledge Sharing, Social Computing, Social Software, Social Networking, Web 2.0, Innovation, Children, Kids, Safe Internet

You would remember how, in the past, I have been talking about this particular search engine a couple of times already, Quintura, that provides you with an interesting and refreshingly visual new method of finding what you are after. In a world that little by little gets dominated by other much more powerful search engines, like Google, Yahoo! or whatever else, it is, indeed, rather refreshing to see how other folks take care not only of the accuracy of the search results, but also providing you with the right user experience. And all of that to make it much more effective and appealing for you.

But what happens when you are younger? I mean, a lot younger. As I youngster, or even younger, as a kid, how is that user experience? How accurate are those search engines to meet your needs and fulfil them? I know that some of us do not get to think much about these things, and we probably should, but for parents I bet that it is something completely different, that is always in their minds: opening up the Internet to their children in a protected environment. How do you do that?

Well, according to a recent weblog post by SearchEngineWatch, it looks like there is hope. Yes, that is right. In a weblog post titled Savvy Little Searches they get to share their results after performing a number of searches, based on some other interesting criteria (Visual Appeal to a Child, Relevance to a Child, Commercial vs. Educational, Ease of Navigation) and they came to the conclusion that both Fact Monster and Quintura Kids are both of them as good as it gets!

I am not very much familiar with Fact Monster and would probably try to find out some more about it. But I was surely glad to read how Quintura Kids is also one of the best! Both Amit Chowdhry and Phil Bradley get to share their feedback on the subject and I must say that I really enjoyed Amit’s quote stating: "Quintura for Kids takes into account the innocence of children and filters out inappropriate content in a more advanced manner than the other search engines out there. "

I couldn’t have agreed more with it and I am really glad to hear that not only Quintura is pushing innovation further into the search engine 2.0 space, but also I am happy to see how Quintura Kids becomes top of the tops when providing Web content to children in the right context, at the right time and for the right purpose.

As I said, it will probably not get any better than this, but one thing that we have to remember, and which perhaps would bring forward some food for thought for us all, is that younger generation, not too long into the distant future, would become the leaders of the world and it is surely rewarding to see how Web search engines like Quintura Kids are already paving out their way to navigate through the Internet helping them find what they need. And as time goes further, move on to the next step. Just perfect.

Here is the graphic with the results put together on where each search engine sits. Quite revealing to say the least:

Thus, still think that the Internet is not for children any longer? Hummm. you may need to think again…

Congrats to the Quintura folks for such a huge achievement and here is another cheer to their constant innovation and talent put together to help us get the most out of what we really need and forget about everything else. Even at such an early age, because why waste time, right?