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Friday, 30 March 2012

Bring back Google Wonder Wheel!


In mid-2009, Google introduced a very clever tool, called Google Wonder Wheel.

You would enter a short search item, click search in the normal way, then click on the "show more options" link at the top of the search results page. Then on the left-hand options pane, click "Google Wonder Wheel".
The results show more or less as a one tiered mind-map springing from your central search item. If you hover your mouse over any of the sub-items, that item will expand out into its own series of sub-items.

The user gets a mind-mapped representation of how the ideas link together. See the example below where the user has started with "Green energy lamp" then has moved focus to "solar energy lamps" and now has a new range of concepts to view (googleswonderwheel.com, n.d.a):


(googleswonderwheel.com, n.d.a)

From a research point of view, the Wonder Wheel was a fast way of concept mapping a topic, and it was hoped that over time, the complexity and depth of search-related ideas would increase, shortcutting research times and increasing accuracy.

This was a fantastic tool, but surprisingly in June 2011, users noticed that the Wonder Wheel option was no longer available on the Google site.

Wonder Wheel's disappearance was a total surprise to users; from one day to the next, with no explanation or notification, it vanished. Sites who followed Google Wonder Wheel were finally told after many enquiries that the tool was removed in the ”initial stage” of Google website redesign happening at the time, but did not say if or when it might be reinstalled. Gary Price (15 Aug 2011) mentioned on his site that a Google employee had posted just a few days after the disappearance that the Wonder Wheel was a maintenance ”headache”. One of the Google group blog posts following the loss of the Wonder Wheel posted "The AdWords Contextual Targeting Tool can stand in as a temporary replacement" (Eisemann, 22 July 2011). I have since heard that Google's Wonder Wheel meant that users needed not pay for Google AdWords, as they could self-determine their key terms with a simple Google Wonder Wheel search.

There are a couple of alternatives, but not in Wonder Wheel's relational graphical format (eg http://lsikeywords.com/ in lists, and http://correlate.googlelabs.com/ sort of timeline - which almost deserves a moan about the loss of Google Timeline, but I will save that!).

Wonder Wheel users world-wide have bewailed the loss of this wonderful little tool, but the Googleplex has remained uncharacteristically silent in the nine months since this natty little tool was taken down.

If AdWord protectionism was the reason for Wonder Wheel's demise, it seems like a very filthy-lucre style of business for Google, and quite out of place with their "Focus on the user and all else will follow" values.

I still miss it. Please, Google, bring back Wonder Wheel!


Sam

References:
  • Eisemann, H. (2011, July 22). Where did Google Wonder Wheel Disappear too?.  https://groups.google.com/a/googleproductforums.com/forum/#!topic/websearch/EdKEdEy9iq0
  • googleswonderwheel.com (n.d.a). Google Wonder Wheel – Step by Step. http://www.googlewonderwheel.com/
  • googleswonderwheel.com (n.d.b). Google wonder wheel video. http://www.googleswonderwheel.com/google-wonder-wheel-video#more-38
  • Price, G. (2011, August 15). The Real Reason Google Wonder Wheel Died: It Was A Pain To Maintain. http://searchengineland.com/real-reason-google-wonder-wheel-died-89364 
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Thursday, 29 March 2012

I'll Just Check My Email

When the phone used to ring at home, my siblings and I would all rush off to answer it. My mother would take a much more leisurely approach, saying "The phone is my servant; I am not its". This was an attitude which, especially when teenagers, we regarded with horror, bordering on awe.

These days, most of us have a smartphone, but not all of us allow it to take over our lives. I now completely understand where my mother was coming from; after business hours, a phone is a tool for my convenience; not for others'. I live in the country, have only a cellphone and my reception isn't great, so calls often go to my answer service. I also have it on silent so I can see it flashing when ringing, but it doesn't disturb my concentration, and turn my phone off regularly on the weekends. It's my servant, remember?

Worldwide, the trend of answering work emails and calls at any hour of the day or night on your smartphone is being challenged in some interesting places. Brazil is implementing a new law where employees qualify for overtime when they answer work emails via smartphones after hours. The legislation states that company emails to employees are now seen as direct orders. In 2011, policeman Jeffrey Allen sued Chicago for overtime compensation for his 24/7 connectivity. A French IT company will phase out sending company emails after hours to its staff by next year. German carmaker Volkswagen also is planning to stop after hours emails, with Deutsche Telekom and Henkel considering the same response.

So where does all this get us?

Well, we can get a bit obsessed about technology, and obsession about anything isn't healthy. Some of us should think about reducing the amount to which technology can take over our lives; the desire to be so continuously connected that we can't be solely real-world people any more.

As Peter Griffin said in an NZ Herald article "Let's hit the virtual pause button for a minute and consider what our digital lives have become. Many of us now spend our days with our head in the high-tech "clouds"." Quite true. I was off the web yesterday and wandered around feeling quite lost. Bizarrely, nearly every work task I needed to do required the internet.

Peter goes on to say "...there's that nagging voice telling us that despite our unprecedented connectedness, we sometimes feel more overwhelmed and, ironically, disconnected, than ever before. While it's easy to blame technology for taking us away from the people and things we love, in truth we're often our own worst enemy." Then he asks five questions "Do you sometimes feel the urge to pull out your phone while someone else is talking to you? Have you ever realised that you were texting or reading email while your child was telling you about her day and later couldn't remember her story? Have you ever felt that something hasn't really happened until you post it online? Do you feel anxious if you're offline for any length of time? Does a ringing phone trump everything else?"

Well, Peter went cold turkey from the web, and then wrote a four-step "digital diet" book with the time he created. Hmmm. I would imagine he wrote it on his computer. And he wouldn't have been able to write it without using the internet...

But what Peter suggests it is a good reality check for each and every one of us. Use tools in moderation. Relationships with real people are more important that virtual people. Nothing is ever so important that we can't have time for recreation, being human and "face-time".

Ooo - is that my phone I hear ringing?!

References
  • TVNZ (13 January 2012). Answering work emails after hours begins to pay. Retrieved 15 January 2012 from http://tvnz.co.nz/technology-news/answering-work-emails-after-hours-begins-pay-4686184
  • Griffin, Peter (15 January 2012). Obsessively absorbed in a digital world. NZ: NZ Herald. Retrieved 15 January 2012 from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10778797 

Sam
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Thursday, 8 March 2012

Valuables in Plain View

In trawling through some old magazines over the summer break, I re-read some back issues of the Listener. Frances Rombel (Listener, 23 July 2011) in letters to the editor said "blaming a victim for inviting sexual violence is as logical as blaming the victim of a home invasion for having a home”. Frances went on to say that "Nobody deserves or invites rape, not the one in four females or one in eight males who, according to the NZ Rape Prevention Education website, are likely to have experienced sexual violence in their lifetime. And of those one in eight males, how many were told they were 'asking for it' because of their clothing?"

In riposte (Listener, 6 August 2011), Rachel Priebee agreed with Frances' comment, but went on to say that, "However, it is also accepted common sense not to leave your valuables in plain view lest some lowlifes decide to help themselves".

Rachel's comments interesting, largely because, while I understand that vox pop would agree with her, I had always thought that rape was about power, not lust; a view that Rape Prevention Education promotes (n.d.). If rape is a perpetrator's way of gaining power, it explains why the elderly, infants, children and battered spouses become victims along with sex workers, partners, teenagers and anyone of consenting age. I haven't noticed many of the elderly or babies leaving their ...er... "valuables in plain view".

I understand Rachel means, by leaving our "valuables in plain view", that she feels we 'allow' temptation. I equally understand the other side that says we should all be grown up enough to know what is right, and what is wrong, and not be swayed by the temptation 'offered' by "valuables in plain view".

But, if rape is an act of power, not one of lust activated because there is temptation, then neither argument has any bearing on why rape happens. Neither Rachel's 'be paranoid' nor Frances' 'promiscuity should be OK' stance is relevant.

In addition, I also see an underlying and unspoken assumption in Rachel's comment. I feel what has gone unsaid is that "asking for it" is an excuse for sociopathic behaviour.

There may be reasons, but in my opinion there is no excuse.


References
  • Editor (6 August 2011). Letters to the Editor: Common Sense. NZ: New Zealand Listener. Retrieved 12 January 2012 from http://www.listener.co.nz/commentary/letters/prison-terms/
  • Editor (23 July 2011). Letters to the Editor: Common Sense. NZ: New Zealand Listener. Retrieved 12 January 2012 from http://www.listener.co.nz/commentary/letters/the-81-tour-continued/
  • RPE (n.d.). FAQs Text Questions & Answers. NZ: Rape Prevention Education - Whakatu Mauri. Retrieved 12 January 2012 from http://www.rapecrisis.org.nz/content.aspx?id=53

Sam





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Friday, 2 March 2012

Newsletter Issue 214, March 2012



Sam Young Newsletter

Issue 214, March 2012
Hi guys,
Remember when your Mum made one of you cut the cake and the other one chose? Read about how Equity... As We See It can affect us in the workplace below.
How's your hearing? Ever made a lyric gaffe? Check out Mondegreens below. 
Don't forget, if you want to be taken off my mailing list, click here to send me a reply e-mail and I will remove your name.

Equity... As We See It

Carol Kinsey Goman, Ph.D., is an executive coach, author, and keynote speaker who addresses the US government, associations and business audiences around the world. She has kindly let me share with you an excerpt from her latest book, "The Silent Language of Leaders".
Let's play a game.
Here are the rules: We'll be asked to split a sum of money. I get to make the split and you get to choose whether to accept or reject the split. And if you reject it, both of us will walk away empty-handed.
Rationally, I should realize my advantage and offer a lopsided split in my favor and you should accept the uneven split -- because any amount of money is better than nothing. Right?
Wrong. If we're like everyone else who plays the game, we'll end up with an even split.
Here's why:
While the fairness of the split shouldn't logically affect the second player's decision, it nearly always does. If offered a lopsided split, the second player will reject the deal, and neither player will get any money. So most people end up offering a fifty-fifty split to the second person.
To find out why people react in this way, a team of Princeton researchers attached players to functional MRI machines. They discovered that when people are offered an unfair split, a primal part of their brains known as the anterior insula sends out signals of disgust and anger. It doesn't matter one little bit that rejecting the split - regardless of how unfair - is an irrational financial decision. It feels right.
That's the power of what I call "the equity factor." And it has everything to do with leadership in turbulent times.
A close look at the psychology of relationships reveals that most individuals automatically attempt to keep a mental balance between what they contribute to a relationship and what they get back from it. When employees believe that they are putting more into their company than they are getting back, or when they do not perceive the rewards distribution to be equitable, engagement slips dramatically.
When employees look for balance through equitable treatment, it is their perception of the treatment, rather than the treatment itself that defines reality. I once interviewed employees at a public utility where workers were negotiating a 2 percent raise that management was resisting. At that same time, the fleet of corporate vans was being repainted. Instead of viewing this as a necessary expense, the employees' perception was that it was unfair of the company to spend money on vehicles while it argued about a salary increase with employees: "How dare they throw money at those trucks and then quibble about a lousy 2 percent raise!"
The CEO of a chemical manufacturing company put it this way: "As a leader you must make it a routine part of your decision-making process to ask the question: Will this action be perceived as equitable?"
As companies [and nonprofits] downsize, restructure and refocus, employees are asked to do more and work harder. And they have, on the whole. But their resentment is most frequently seen in their reaction to executive compensation. Big disparities in pay between executives and the work force, especially in times of downsizing and plant closures, can destroy employee engagement -- just when it is most needed.
Here's how one employee sees it: "The biggest budget cuts were employee-focused. They eliminated all our merit increases, rewards and recognition programs. And then the top management got bonuses. I used to be a 'gung-ho' employee. Now I think my loyalty has been misplaced."
Goman, Carol Kinsey PhD (2011). The Silent Language of Leaders: How Body Language Can Help – or Hurt – How You Lead. USA: Jossey-Bass (pp. 90-91)
 

Mondegreens

So what's a mondegreen?
A mondegreen is a song or poetry lyric that we mishear; and it is usually quite funny (some think it is an improvement on the original). For example "spare him his life from this one-sausage tea" is a mondegreen for "spare him his life from this monstrosity" from Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody.
Cute.
Thought up by Sylvia Wright, a Harpers Bazaar contributor, the term mondegreen is actually a mondegreen itself. Sylvia had always thought that the last two lines of the Scots ballad, The Bonnie Earl of Murray, ran "They hae slain the Earl Amurray, And Lady Mondegreen", when the actual words were "They have slain the Earl O’ Moray, And layd him on the green".
Hence in 1954 the term mondegreen was coined - by Silvia - in the absence of 'proper' term, and has been adopted into the English lexicon.
Some purlers include:
  • "Haffely, Gaffely, Gaffely, Gonward", instead of "Half a league, half a league | Half a league onward" from Lord Tennyson's Charge of the Light Brigade.
  • "Wrapped up like a douche" instead of "Revved up like a deuce" from Manfred Mann's Earth Band's Blinded by the Light.
  • "She's got electric boobs, and mohair shoes" instead of "She's got electric boots, a mohair suit" from Elton John's Benny & the Jets.
  • "She was a fax machine, she kept her modem clean" instead of "She was a fast machine, she kept her motor clean" from AC/DC's You Shook Me All Night Long.
  • "She's got a chicken to fry" instead of "She's got a ticket to ride" from The Beatles' Ticket to Ride (doesn't the song title give it away?!).


Word Copy & Paste Shortcut

TechRepublic posted a great tip for Word recently; a faster way of copying text, shapes or anything else, within a document (this also works in Outlook). For example, if you wanted to copy some text, you would normally take four steps. You would:
  1. Highlight the text to select it
  2. Key Ctrl and C to copy
  3. Click your mouse to where you want the text to be repeated
  4. Key Ctrl and P to paste.
But what you can do is just use the Ctrl key, as follows:
  1. Select the text.
  2. Key Ctrl and hold the key down.
  3. Move the text to where you want it.
Done. Isn't that easy?!
 

TLAs for SMEs

Here are this newsletter's TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms) for you:
  • GCC, Global Credit Crunch, and
  • GFC, Global Financial Crisis

Please feel free to email me with any TLAs that you want to get the bottom (meaning!) of.

Tips, Short+Hot Keys
In this newsletter, we are look at all you can do with Page commands in Access:
  • Access "Display the next screen to the right while working within Pivot Table Wizard" Alt & Page Down
  • Access "Display the previous screen to the left while working within Pivot Table Wizard" Alt & Page Up
  • Access "Extend the selection one screen down" Shift & Page Down
  • Access "Go down one screen, page or window, or at the end of the record, moves to the equivalent page on the next record, , or scroll to the next "page" inside a table, or to the next "page" of the diagram, or to the end of a help topic in larger increments, or view the next page (when fit to window is selected), or move down one page when using a combo box or list box or one window when working in database view or one full screen when working in print preview and layout preview or when working in a pivot table list, display the next screen" Page Down
  • Access "Go to the previous tab when working in a tabbed or help dialog box or move to the current field in the previous record or go to the same field in the previous record or go left one screen" Ctrl & Page Up
  • Access "Go up one full screen, page or window; at the end of the record, moves to the equivalent page on the previous record, or scroll to the previous "page" inside a table, or to the previous "page" of the diagram or to the beginning of a help topic in larger increments, or display the previous screen when working with a pivot table list, or go up one page when working in form view; at the end of the record, use to move to the equivalent page on the previous record, or move up one page when using a combo box or list box or one window when working in database, or scroll up one full screen when working in print preview and layout preview or when navigating a database diagram, scroll to the previous "page" inside a table or the previous "page" of the diagram" Page Up
  • Access "Move to the current field in the next record or go to the same field in the next record or go right one screen" Ctrl & Page Down
  • Access "Reduce a selection by one screen when working with a Pivot Table list" Shift & Page Up

Hot Linx
For a reminder of the lighter side of life, check out this track from the Meaning of Life, with pictures, to put things in perspective at http://dingo.care2.com/cards/flash/5409/galaxy.swf
With 61% of staff as Gen Y, 28% Gen X & 11% baby boomers, Deloitte are using Social Media to connect with clients and employees. Read all about it at http://www.eeotrust.org.nz/peoplepower/view_case.cfm?org=Deloitte
How does your potential candidate fit your organisational culture? If culture hasn't been a consideration thus far, perhaps you need to read HR Daily's article at http://community.hrdaily.com.au/profiles/blogs/it-s-the-vibe-of-the-thing-can-you-explain-your-culture

                                Catch you again soon!! E-mail your suggestions to me here
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