In German, the word "entdecken" means "to discover." In Cambridge, MA, a company whose focus is on enterprise information access software is known as Endeca, a fitting ode to this German term. Founded in 1999, Endeca has relied on its core values ever since: to aid information-based problem solving across a variety of business processes. On November 10, Endeca extended this ideal to embrace more types of content, with the release of its Digital Asset Navigator (DAN) solution, a search and information access solution designed for media companies, content publishers, advertising agencies, and marketing departments.

The Endeca Digital Asset Navigator is designed to complement Digital Asset Management (DAM) systems, and to provide users the ability to explore and access images, graphics, audio/video files, and other digital assets. Companies, especially within the media and publishing field, which work with many types of digital assets, lose valuable time trying to locate specific files and worse, creative energy in recreating them. Endeca’s DAN aims to mitigate the frustrating process of content discovery by giving users a single platform in which they can pinpoint the content they need.

As John Andrews, director of industry solutions at Endeca, explains, the company’s goal is to "solve the information visibility problem, and give better insight into any data for users that need to make a better decision based on that data." Andrews continues, saying that DAN "allows editors, publishers, etcetera, to quickly and easily put their hands on the right content to help facilitate reuse." In other words, the Endeca DAN goes beyond the typical Digital Asset Management system, which merely organizes content. Endeca’s solution is designed to provide users with an interactive search experience and a one-stop information shop where they can sift through organized information across a variety of content types to find exactly what they are looking for—to make all related content completely visible to users. DAN allows users to see exactly what they need, and information they may not have even known they wanted.

Key features include a tag cloud, which presents related tags and self adjusts during a users search, providing access to relevant information. These features aim to help users discover information they may not have known existed, by bringing related items to their attention. The spotlight area promotes relevant related content, low-cost alternatives, tips, and more based on a user’s profile, highlighting the information most useful to specific users. There is also a date range filter that can narrow results based on a user’s preferred timetable. When all is said and done, the desired files can be added to the DAN clipboard for later viewing.

With a simple user name and password, employees can leverage either structured or unstructured data from a DAM program, CMS, or wherever a company’s digital assets reside. After typing a few keywords into the DAN text box, a search of all relevant digital assets is launched. The search tool even allows users to utilize a "look-ahead" tool, where computer generated suggestions are presented as a user types keywords, much like Google Suggest. Within this summary, users have the option to narrow down their results using the filter, bringing the most relevant search results to the user’s attention. They can find similar items, or filter by other category options such as license models or category, among others. Users can also choose desired file types, and view images and video from within the DAN platform.

As Andrews explains, Endeca believes DAN stands out because of three key factors: its ability to leverage any data from anywhere regardless of structure; an improved user experience; and what he calls, the "speed of thought," or a more interactive performance platform. In this day and age, we are used to being able to interact with information instantly.

The value of the Endeca DAN is simple according to Andrews; it "allows different users to interact with data in an intuitive manner that leverages the Endeca patented guided navigation and summarization platform." Today, users want to find exactly what they need, avoiding unnecessary steps in an information discovery process that reveals a multitude of content types. Endeca believes that DAN will help take the frustration out of digital asset discovery, allowing users a more interactive search experience, and perhaps most importantly, shed a bit of light on the problem of information visibility.

(www.endeca.com)

Demand Media, a provider of social media, announced the launch of Pluck On Demand, a free self-serve widget-based product. Pluck On Demand automatically reads content on a page and provides links to related articles and videos sourced from various content providers. Pluck On Demand also comes with social media features such as comments, ratings, recommendations, and user profiles, making it possible for publishers to build community on their sites. Pluck On Demand's library of articles and videos covers categories including autos, business, entertainment, finance, food, health, sports, and travel. The content is sourced from a selection of websites, blogs, editorial content, and premium brands. The Pluck On Demand library features content from Encyclopedia Britannica, Harvard Health Network, Kiplinger News Service, and editorial content from acclaimed columnists such as Andy Rooney, Dave Barry, and Liz Smith. Also included in the library are instructional articles and videos from eHow and Expert Village, as well as other content from Life123.com, Service Magic, LendingTree, RealEstate.com, FiLife and Reserve America.

(www.demandmedia.com)

Adlib Software, a provider of server-based document conversion, recognition, and publishing, announced the availability of Adlib Express Server 4.5, an enhanced version of its server-based suite of applications that integrate with enterprise application software or as part of any document workflow solution. Adlib Express Server 4.5 now allows users to convert XML files to PDF or other formats. With Adlib Server 4.5, users can arrange and format a variety of XML documents with text, tables, graphics, and images while converting to high quality PDF. Other new features of Express Server 4.5 include: support for rendering Microsoft's Infopath forms to PDF, a user-definable variable substitution within Adlib XML Job Tickets, document-to-image output, additional supported image formats, learning resources for XML Job Ticket functionality, and an automated job information collection.   

(www.adlibsoftware.com)

Paragon Software Group, a technology developer for mobile devices and desktop PCs, launched the Merriam-Webster’s dictionaries for iPhone and iPod touch users. This dictionary line, providing one-click access to word and phrase definitions, consists of one explanatory and two bilingual – Spanish-English and French-English dictionaries. Merriam-Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged provides coverage of American English. Its database contains more than 476,000 entries with more than 143,000 etymologies detailing word origins, 100,000 quotations, and 1,100 synonymy paragraphs. Once installed, the dictionary can be accessed anywhere, any time, without Internet connection or additional charges. The SlovoEd engine compresses the Merriam-Webster database to a minimum of memory space while allowing users to quickly perform multiple lookups. Users can access words and their definitions and find detailed etymologies. In addition, Paragon’s software features a single-click application for translations.

(www.paragon-software.com, www.penreader.com, www.epocware.com, www.Merriam-Webster.com)

SpringCM Inc. and Kodak now work together to provide businesses with a solution that enables digitization and remote access to information. A member of Kodak’s Authorized Independent Software Vendor program, SpringCM provides SaaS that enables users to remotely access their information on demand through an established web based enterprise content management (ECM) system. KODAK Scanners and KODAK Capture Pro Software provide businesses with a front end solution that works together with SpringCM’s suite of software products to help organizations capture, enhance, manage, and archive large volumes of mission critical information. The SpringCM Software uploads information to a secure document repository, backed by user authentication security.

(www.springcm.com, www.kodak.com)
 

Swets, a subscription services company, announced the appointment of TED Engineering Documents JSC, a document delivery services provider, as its sales distributor in Vietnam. TED Engineering Documents JSC offers marketing and selling information products and solutions to the academic marketplace. TED will be the local sales distributor for Swets’ comprehensive products and services portfolio. This initiative coincides with Swets’ strategy to expand into the Asian markets with a local sales presence or preferred partnership.

(www.swets.com)

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has released the final report from a study that ARL commissioned Ithaka to conduct, Current Models of Digital Scholarly Communication, by Nancy L. Maron and K. Kirby Smith, along with the database of exemplars that the study produced. ARL engaged Ithaka's Strategic Services Group to conduct an investigation into the range of online resources valued by scholars. Ithaka's findings are based on a collection of resources identified by a volunteer field team of over 300 librarians at 46 academic institutions in the US and Canada. Field librarians talked with faculty members on their campuses about the digital scholarly resources they find most useful and reported the works they identified. The authors evaluated each resource gathered by the field team and conducted interviews of project leaders of 11 representative resources. Ultimately, 206 unique digital resources spanning eight formats were identified that met the study's criteria. Highlights from the study's findings include: some of the resources with greatest impact are those that have been around a long while, innovations relating to multimedia content and Web 2.0 functionality appear in some cases to blur the lines between resource types.

(www.arl.org, www.ithaka.org)

Researchers and developers from OCLC and the information schools of Syracuse University and the University of Washington announced their participation in a new international effort to explore the creation of a more credible web search experience based on input from librarians around the globe.  Called the "Reference Extract," the planning phase of this project is funded through a $100,000 grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Reference Extract is envisioned as a web search experience similar to those provided by popular search engines. Unlike other search engines, Reference Extract will be built for maximum credibility of search results by relying on the expertise of librarians.  Users will enter a search term and receive results weighted toward sites most often used by librarians at institutions such as the Library of Congress, the University of Washington, the State Library of Maryland, and over 2,000 other libraries worldwide.

(www.macfound.org, www.ischool.syr.edu/about/, www.ischool.washington.edu/, www.oclc.org)