Yvette Arts

“I can’t see the forest for all of the trees!”

Billions of genealogy records are available via the Internet. And millions of people are searching those records for their ancestors. Where does one start to search for a James Wood or a Miho Won? And how can one be certain that the James Wood she finds is the James Wood that connects the branches on her family tree?

For the uninitiated seeker, one name from one place that closely fits the puzzle is picked up with satisfaction and placed on the tree. With all of the exploring and finding that goes on each day, many mistakes are unknowingly made. What can be done to increase the probability of a perfect match?

Searchable information on the Internet include obituaries, military records, phone directories, newspapers, oral histories, alien registration records, port logs, passenger manifests, birth records, census records, pedigree charts, land and property records, marriage records, wills, maps, court records, passports records, cemetery records, and on and on ad infinitum.

The availability of these records in a searchable format has hastened the work of many amateur and professional genealogists.

The question we are asking our content acquisition team is “Can these records be layered with each other in such a way that results are quicker and more accurate?” As we amass more data in tandem with technological advances, we are driven to answer this question.

And as my colleague said to me this morning, “People pay for results.” And whether the historical records are offered for free or whether they come at a premium, people will pay for results either with their time or with their money.

We are committed to producing results. What this means to us is that the James Woods and Miho Wons of the world will be found and put on the right tree in “record” time. And this means that with the accelerated pace that we are working to provide, all those searching can more quickly locate their relatives.

In other words “When a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound?” You bet it does. And we will be there to hear it.

I have always liked Martha Stewart. Well, in my “younger” days I was head-over-heals for Martha as THE role model of the savvy business woman because of her stint as the most powerful woman in media (she even walked over Oprah) until she found herself in prison. She dropped from my high-horizon for a time, but I see she is making a comeback. And can I really use the word comeback? Did she ever leave? I don’t think so. There was Kmart and Sears. Now there’s Federated Department Stores and KB Homes. And there are hints about Martha putting a firm stamp on the scrap-booking industry and the Web 2.0 Internet.

Now that I’ve started back to tracking Martha, I’ve discovered a “new” business-savvy driver of the market, Susan Lyne, President and CEO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Susan is making some wide strides under the banner of Martha, just like she did as president of ABC Entertainment, executive vice-president at ABC/Disney, editor-in-chief of Premiere and in many other media venues.

In a news release from this morning, Susan is quoted as saying, “We are well on our way to executing our strategy to diversify our mix of merchandise and channels of distribution. These new businesses will create predictable, high-margin revenue streams, positioning the company for the long term and creating value for shareholders.”

I like how Susan uses the word “we” when talking about Omnimedia. I’m thinking there is a duo at the top of the savvy market, and I’m going to be watching to see how that partnership pushes the trends and changes the face of media.

I’m more alert now as to what is said in certain circles about Blackberry users.

Provo Labs recently provided me with a Blackberry. I’ve heard so many jokes about the addiction associated with these devices that I was certain that there had to be something different about having one of these things as opposed to using a regular cell phone. I’m now in the know.

I just read an article by John Dvorak called “Death to the Crackberry.” John observes that there is such inefficiency in typing with one’s thumbs (a must if using the Blackberry). He said it’s like “playing the piano with your nose.” He believes that a big time-wasting activity in the business world is where people are incessantly “staring at the BlackBerry.”

As for typing with my thumbs I must tell John that this is much more efficient that typing a text message on a cell phone. At least the Blackberry has a full keyboard. But he is right about the time-wasting part in some cases. A colleague and I were talking in the parking lot at work earlier this week. During our conversation she realized that she could answer one of my questions if she checked her email and found out if someone had responded about a request for an appointment. I told her that she could just use my Blackberry and access her email. After all, I could access my Google email in a matter of moments with my Blackberry.

I activated the browser and handed over the device. Her email was not through Google and so she had to use the browser to access her email. It took us 20 minutes to get the information! We could have been four times faster in getting the information if we had gone back to the office, fired up a computer, and checked her email there.

The Blackberry is quite fun to have, however. My colleagues could chat through Google with me as I went to pick up some lunch this week at a local eatery that none of us had patronized (so none of us knew the menu). We chatted about what food was available and they “sent” to me their orders. I realize that this task could have been accomplished much quicker by a simple phone call, but hey, my thumbs were happy to be on the case instead of twiddling idly.

We have a limit of 300 texts a month. When I heard that I just laughed! (Who would ever write 300 texts a month?) There is no way I would/could/should ever reach that number! “I’m safe” I thought. “As long as I don’t go over ten texts a day (could I ever?) then I’m within the safety zone.” Well, third day with the Blackberry I went over ten texts. And well, I was glad that I had the full Blackberry keyboard that made the texting feature far superior to my old cell phone. And I figured my over-ten text messages were for a good cause. My 13 year-old daughter was traveling out of town and I was able to “talk” with her by sending texts to her cell phone. Again, of course, I could have just called her up and talked with her, but…why? I was having so much fun texting.

There is one thing I don’t like about my new device. The Blackberry doesn’t feel comfortable next to my ear and so there’s a lot of slip between ear and lip. I can’t hear as well as with my last phone because the Blackberry doesn’t fit “right” against my ear. And what’s with the “END” button being right where my fingers need to be to hold the phone so I can hear?

Anyhow, I am glad that I have my Blackberry. (And “no” I don’t play the piano with my nose so that is why I didn’t type this blog entry with my Blackberry.)

The Content Acquisition Team (CAT) is looking for an “add water” solution for our online training modules. In my search I discovered Blue Mango Learning Systems. Blue Mango claims that since the average human attention span is somewhere between 15-20 minutes, they focus on creating e-learning modules no longer than 15 minutes.

I checked out the sample tutorial and I was impressed. They indeed kept their promise of small, bite-sized chunks of content. The tutorial that is available for view at their site is called the Cardiac Screening Examination (CSE) of the Fetus. There are actual embedded movies that show the fetal heartbeat at certain stages of development. The lessons are viewed through a proprietary viewer. The lessons can be started at any point, and the system remembers where you have “studied.” Another key feature is “live updating” where anytime a student is hooked to the Internet, he or she will automatically receive updates.

Check it out and let me know whether you think it is a truly “add water” solution.