text:
Prosody (pronunciation: 1, 2) is an XMPP server written in the Lua programming language. Prosody is designed to be lightweight and highly extensible. It is licensed under a permissive MIT license. Prosody is available for Arch Linux in the Community repository with some optional dependencies available from the AUR.
Previous experience with building and installing packages from the AUR and basic knowledge of XMPP will be very helpful when following the guide. As per usual, when command line commands are provided, lines preceded by
$ indicate that the command may be run as a regular user, while lines preceded by
# indicate that the command must be run as
- 1 Installation
- 2 Configuration
- 3 Operation
- 4 Removal
- 5 Tips & Tricks
- 6 Troubleshooting
- 7 Development
- 8 More Resources
- 9 See also
Prosody is available in the Community repository, and is straightforward to install via pacman:
# pacman -S prosody
Optional Dependencies
Prosody has optional depedencies that although not strictly required for its operation, provide useful features. These dependencies may also have to be built and installed from the AUR. If you are unfamiliar with how to build and install packages from the AUR please see this tutorial.
- TLS/SSL Support (Recommended)
- Allow Prosody to encrypt streams to prevent eavesdropping.
Requires: lua51-sec (Community)
- Better Connection Scaling (Recommended)
- Allow Prosody to use libevent to handle a greater number of simultaneous connections.
Requires: lua51-eventAUR (AUR)
- Stream Compression
- Allow Prosody to compress client-to-server streams for compatible clients to save bandwidth.
Requires: lua51-zlib (Community)
- Cyrus SASL Support
- Allow Prosody to use the Cyrus SASL library to provide authentication.
Requires: lua-cyrussaslAUR (AUR)
posix module and
pidfile setting contained in the default configuration file are required for Prosody's proper operation on Arch Linux. Please do not disable or alter them.
The main configuration file is located at
/etc/prosody/prosody.cfg.lua, information on how to configure Prosody can be found in Prosody's documentation. The syntax of the configuration file can be checked after any changes are made by running:
$ luac -p /etc/prosody/prosody.cfg.lua
No output means the syntax is correct.
The Arch Linux Prosody package is pre-configured to log to
/var/log/prosody/prosody.err and
/var/log/prosody/prosody.log. The Arch Linux package also includes a logrotate script in
/etc/logrotate.d/prosody, configure it to suit your needs. If you enabled the
olddir path for rotated log files in
/etc/logrotate.conf you will likely want to move old prosody log files. First create the directory:
# mkdir /var/log/old/prosody
Then uncomment the
olddir line in
You can start Prosody through the included Systemd script:
# systemctl start prosody
To automatically start Prosody at boot execute:
# systemctl enable prosody
Prosody uses the default XMPP ports, 5222 and 5269, for client-to-server and server-to-server communications respectively. Configure your firewall as necessary.
You can manipulate Prosody users by using the
prosodyctl program. To add a user:
# prosodyctl adduser <JID>
admins list in the configuration file.
man prosodyctl to see the man page for
User Registration
Prosody supports XMPP's in-band registration standard, which allows users to register with an XMPP client from within their client and change their passwords. While this is convenient for users it does not allow administrators to moderate the registration of new users. As such, the
register module is enabled in the default configuration but
allow_registration is set to
false. This allows existing users to change their passwords from within their client but does not allow new users to register themselves.
watchregistrations and
welcome modules useful.
Stream Encryption
Prosody can utilize TLS certificates to encrypt client-to-server communications (if the proper dependencies are installed). See the relevant sections of
prosody.cfg.lua to configure Prosody to utilize these certificates.
To require encryption for client-to-server communications add the following to your configuration file:
Host "*" c2s_require_encryption = true
Similarly, for server-to-server communications you may do:
Host "*" s2s_require_encryption = true
While requiring client-to-server encryption is generally a good idea, please keep in mind that some popular XMPP services such as Google Talk/Gmail do not support server-to-server encryption.
Listing Users
A simple way to see a list of the registered users is
# ls -l /var/lib/prosody/*/accounts/*
alternatively, you can download the module mod_listusers.lua, and use it as
# prosodyctl mod_listusers
Prosody and all its (required) dependencies can be removed using pacman:
# pacman -Rs prosody
Check above for optional dependencies that may also be removed.
Prosody may leave the following directories on your filesystem that you may want to remove if you do not plan on reinstalling Prosody:
/var/log/prosody, and
Tips & Tricks
Prosody supports XMPP components, which provide extra services to clients. Components are either provided internally by special Prosody modules or externally using the protocol specified in XEP-0114.
VirtualHosts defined in
prosody.cfg.lua. Attempting to host a component on the same hostname as a defined
VirtualHost will result in errors.
By default, Prosody will listen for external components. If you do not plan to use any external components with Prosody you can disable this behavior by adding the following your configuration:
component_ports = {}
Multi-User Chat
A common component used with XMPP servers is Multi-User Chat (MUC), which allows conferences between multiple users. MUC is provided as an internal component with Prosody. To enable MUC add the following to your configuration file:
Component "conference.example.com" "muc"
This will enable the MUC component on host
Prosody Modules
Prosody Modules is a collection of extra modules not distributed with Prosody. These modules are in various states of development from highly experimental to relatively stable. You should consult a given module's wiki page for more information. An example of an extra module is
pastebin, which when loaded will intercept long messages (for example, log file output) and replace them with a link to a pastebin hosted using Prosody's internal HTTP server (provided by the core module,
To use an extra module download its raw file(s) from the source browser (when viewing a file, search for the link "View raw file"). Alternatively and likely easier, use Mercurial to clone the entire repository:
$ hg clone https://prosody-modules.googlecode.com/hg/ prosody-modules
Now you can copy the module (and any additional files it needs) to Prosody's module directory at
/usr/lib/prosody/modules. To enable the module add it to your
modules_enabled list in your
prosody.cfg.lua for the host or component you wish to use it for. For example, to use the
pastebin module on a MUC component:
Component "conference.example.com" "muc" modules_enabled = { "pastebin" }
mod_foo.lua but simply enabled by adding
foo to the
modules_enabled list.
console module on a multi-user system.
console module provides a telnet console from which administrative operations and queries can be performed. You can connect to the console by issuing:
$ telnet localhost 5582
You of course need the
telnet program provided by the
inetutils package. Use the
help command in the console to get usage help.
The console even allows you to execute Lua commands directly on the server by preceding a command with
>. For example to see if a client connection is compressed:
> full_sessions["firstname.lastname@example.com/Resource"].compressed
Will return
true if the connection is compressed or
nil if it is not.
One of Prosody's primary design principles is to be simple to use and configure. However, issues can still arise (and likely will as is the case with any complex software). If you encounter a problem there are a variety of steps you can take to narrow down the cause:
- Check for known issues
Look at the release notes for your Prosody version to see if your issue is listed as a known issue. Also check the issue tracker to see if your issue has already been reported.
- Check configuration syntax
luac -p /etc/prosody/prosody.cfg.luato check for any syntax errors in your configuration file. If there is no output your syntax is fine.
- Check the log files
Log files are located in
/var/log/prosody. Errors are only logged if there is a critical problem so always address those issues. If you think you have a very low level issue (like protocol compatibility between clients and servers with Prosody) then you can enable the very verbose debug level logging. The default configuration file has commented out lines to log debug messages to
- Check permissions
The Prosody package should add a new
prosodyuser and group to your system and set appropriate permissions, but it is always good to double check. Ensure that
/var/lib/prosodyare owned by the
prosodyuser and that the user has appropriate permissions to read and write to those paths and all contained files.
- Check listening ports
When troubleshooting connection issues make sure that Prosody is actually listening for connections. You may do so by running
ss -tuland making sure that
xmpp-client(port 5222) and
xmpp-server(port 5269) are listed.
- Restart
Like most things, it doesn't hurt to restart Prosody (
/etc/rc.d/prosody restart) to see if it resolves an issue.
If you're unable to resolve your issue yourself there are a variety of resources you can use to seek help. In order of immediacy with which you'll likely receive help:
- XMPP Conference:
- Mailing List: Web Interface, Email
- Arch Forums (for package issues)
Change Log
You may view the change log of the Prosody package by issuing the following command:
$ pacman -Qc prosody
Two development packages are maintained for Prosody in the AUR, prosody-develAUR and prosody-hg]AUR.
prosody-devel tracks the latest source release of a development version (alpha, beta, release candidate) and will actually be behind the stable version if a final version of the development version is released.
prosody-hg tracks the Mercurial repository tip for Prosody and will always contain the latest code as it is checked in. Both packages are built similarly to the stable package.
More Resources
- Issue Tracker
- Source Repository
- Prosody Modules (Non-Core Modules)
- Mailing Lists: prosody-dev, prosody-users
- Conference:
- Blog: Prosodical Thoughts
See also
- Official documentation
- Prosodical Thoughts (Blog)
- Issue Tracker
- Prosody Modules (Extra Modules)


text:
By DONNA CASSATA, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A $625 billion defense bill that establishes military policy stalled in the Senate on Wednesday as Democrats and Republicans struggled over how to move ahead on the massive measure.
Republicans insist on an open process that would allow them to vote on amendments to the popular defense authorization bill that has become law every year for the past half century. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is trying to limit amendments and wrap up the legislation in a few days, avoiding a vote on a possible measure to impose new penalties on Iran and another on health care.
President Barack Obama has pressed Congress to pause on sanctions while the U.S. and other world powers negotiate a nuclear deal with Tehran.
The Senate impasse was on full display Wednesday night.
Reid pressed for votes on just two amendments dealing with how the military handles sexual assault cases. Republicans objected, leaving the bill and the issue in limbo.
"We're really not conducting the business of the country if we're limiting the ability of members of the Senate to offer amendments," Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said.
He challenged the notion of rushing through a bill that authorizes more than $500 billion — half the federal discretionary budget — while preventing senators from offering amendments.
A visibly dispirited Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, warned that failure to finish the bill before senators take a two-week Thanksgiving break would leave little time to resolve differences with the House and finalize legislation.
The bill — $527 billion in a base budget, $81 billion for the war in Afghanistan and other overseas operations, and $18 billion for national security programs in the Energy Department — covers pay, personnel, ships, aircraft and other war-fighting programs.
Levin said without quick action, "then for the first time in 52 years, there will not be a defense authorization bill, in the absence of some miracle."
The Senate spent more than five hours Wednesday debating two amendments that would change the decades-old military justice system.
The female members of the Senate took the lead in an impassioned debate over the issue, agreeing that the epidemic of sexual assaults in the armed services was unacceptable, praising the 26 changes to the military justice system already in the defense bill but strongly disagreeing about how to prosecute the crimes.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's solution is to give victims of serious crimes such as rape and sexual assault an independent route outside the military chain of command for the prosecution of their alleged attackers. Commanders would be stripped of their authority to decide on whether to prosecute, with the responsibility handed to seasoned military lawyers who hold the rank of colonel or higher.
The New York Democrat has the public backing of 53 senators, including Reid, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and conservative Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas. However, she faces a 60-vote threshold for her measure to pass.
Gillibrand described in explicit terms several horrific assaults only made worse by the military's handling of the cases. The senator said Congress should not do what the generals want, but rather establish impartial, objective consideration of the evidence by trained military prosecutors.
"Victims feel they will not get justice," she said.
The Pentagon estimates 26,000 military members may have been sexually assaulted last year, based on an anonymous survey. Thousands of victims were unwilling to come forward despite new oversight and assistance programs aimed at curbing the crimes, the Pentagon said.
Displaying a chart in the Senate chamber, Gillibrand said only 302 of the 3,374 reported cases last year have gone to trial.
"The current system oriented around the chain of command has been producing horrible results," she said.
The Pentagon disputed Gillibrand's claim. Of the 3,374 reported cases of sexual assault, the Pentagon said it brought charges in 880 cases, with 594 resulting in court-martial, 158 non-judicial punishment, and 128 settled by administrative action and discharges.
Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., a former prosecutor, countered that the Gillibrand proposal would create too many problems, undercutting the ability of commanders to threaten courts-martial and carry out non-judicial punishments.
The Pentagon's top echelon opposes the Gillibrand proposal, as does Levin and three of the seven women on the Armed Services Committee.
Opponents said commanders should be held responsible for meting out justice. They said the unintended consequences of Gillibrand's plan would be creating a system that could be worse for victims, undermining the ability of prosecutors to work out plea bargains that could spare victims a difficult trial.
Foes also said the plan would make it nearly impossible for commanders to threaten courts-martial and carry out non-judicial punishments.
"Commanders must be involved. They must be responsible," said Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., a West Point graduate who served in the Army.
Among the changes already in the bill are provisions that would strip commanders of their ability to overturn jury convictions, require dishonorable discharge or dismissal for any individual convicted of sexual assault and establish a civilian review when a decision is made not to prosecute a case.
The bill also would provide a special counsel for victims and eliminate the statute of limitations for courts-martial on serious crimes such as rape and sexual assault.
McCaskill, and Sens. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., and Deb Fisher, R-Neb., have offered an amendment that would bar defendants from using the good military character defense, allow sexual assault victims to challenge a discharge or separation from the service, and extend the new protections to the military service academies.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
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Presenting the all new and improved iPad Mini 3. The iPad Mini 3 features a gorgeous 7.9" Retina display, an amazing Touch ID experience , a Dual Core Cyclone processor, 1 GB of Ram, a PowerVR G6430 (quad-core graphics) GPU, Wifi connectivity and runs on the all new and improved IOS 8.1. Go mini on design and big on features with the all new and stylish iPad mini 3.
Any way you look at it, iPad mini 3 is pretty amazing. It has a stunning 7.9‑inch Retina display, an incredibly powerful A7 chip, advanced wireless technologies, and Touch ID. Yet it's still thin and light. So while you can do even more, you won't feel like you're holding any more.
iPad mini is amazing to hold. And behold. Every photo is incredibly detailed and vibrant, and every line of text is remarkably crisp and clear. With higher resolution than an HDTV, the gorgeous Retina display is a feast for the eyes.
To make the Retina display in iPad mini incredibly sharp and vivid, Apple had to find a way to pack every one of the 3.1 million pixels from the 9.7-inch iPad into a 7.9-inch display. Every pixel in a display has multiple signals telling it when to light up. And with a 2048-by-1536-resolution display, more pixels and more signals are placed closer together on the same plane, so signals can get crossed and image quality can suffer. To make sure everything on iPad mini looks crystal clear, Apple engineers elevated the pixels onto a different plane — separating them from the signals. In the end, the pixel density jumped to 326 pixels per inch — so dense the human eye can't distinguish individual pixels — making everything look incredibly detailed, vibrant, and razor sharp.
Your fingerprint is the perfect password. You always have it with you. And no one can ever guess what it is. Our breakthrough Touch ID technology uses a unique fingerprint identity sensor to make unlocking your iPad mini easy and secure. And with new developments in iOS 8, your fingerprint will grant you faster access to so much more.
With Touch ID, you put your finger on the Home button, and just like that, your iPad unlocks. And Touch ID is capable of 360‑degree readability. So no matter how you're holding it — portrait, landscape, or anything in between — your iPad knows who you are.
The Home button on iPad mini 3 is made from a sapphire crystal surrounded by a stainless steel ring. When you touch the button, the steel ring detects your finger and the crystal sends an image of your fingerprint to a sensor. Software then reads the ridges of your print and confirms a match. And it all happens in the blink of an eye.
Lots of apps are already integrating Touch ID. You'll be able to use your fingerprint to sign in and authorize new actions, without having to enter yet another password. As always, your fingerprint data is protected and never accessed by the operating system or any other apps.
The Apple-designed A7 chip brings 64‑bit desktop-class architecture to iPad mini 3. That means incredibly fast CPU speeds and outstanding graphics performance for everything you do. And with up to 10 hours of battery life, you have plenty of time to study, play, build, and create whatever you want.
The A7 chip gives iPad mini 3 serious power and capability. With 64‑bit desktop-class architecture, your apps and games are incredibly responsive. But that's just the beginning. With iOS 8 and Metal, developers can create iPad apps with detailed graphics and visual effects once possible only on desktop computers and game consoles.
iPad mini 3 is designed to be on the move. That's why the M7 coprocessor makes so much sense. It measures motion from your iPad mini by pulling data from the accelerometer, gyroscope, and compass. So your apps can give you a better experience based on the movement of your iPad mini. It's a task that would normally fall to the A7 chip. But M7 is more efficient at it, which saves on power.
iPad mini 3 comes with two great cameras that provide everything you need to take amazing photos and videos and make crisp, clear FaceTime calls. And now you can do even more with new iOS 8 features like panorama and time-lapse videos. They're cameras so simple to use, they'll change your perspective on how easy it is to take incredible photos and videos.
Sometimes it's nice to put a face to the conversation. And with FaceTime video calls on iPad mini, your conversations have never looked better. Make a video call over Wi-Fi or cellular and see (or show) every expression on the beautiful Retina display. The FaceTime HD camera in iPad mini ensures that all your FaceTime chats, selfies, and group Photo Booth shots are always crisp and clear, even in low-light situations. You can even use it to take videos of yourself.
The 5‑megapixel iSight camera on iPad mini was designed to help you capture all of life's moments at a moment's notice. Use the Retina display as an easy viewfinder to frame the perfect shot. And quickly swipe between modes including Panorama and Time-lapse to capture stills or video. Every time you shoot, the image signal processor in the A7 chip works with the camera to make adjustments and deliver a great picture or video — automatically. You don't have to think about anything other than who you're going to share the moment with.
The two microphones in iPad mini don't just collect more sound. Together, they employ sophisticated noise-reduction technology to suppress background noise. In addition, when you switch cameras from front to back (or vice versa), the microphones switch, too. So what your iPad mini sees is also what your iPad mini hears.
With its marriage of advanced hardware and sophisticated software, iPad mini 3 captures amazing images. But that's just for openers.
iPad mini is as easy to use as a point-and-shoot camera, but it's so much more advanced. Create beautiful wide shots using Panorama mode. Use face detection, exposure control, and the timer to take great photos and selfies. Or use Time-lapse mode to compress into a few amazing seconds events that take anywhere from 30 minutes to 30 hours.
Once you've captured a photo or video, there's a lot more you can do. And iPad mini makes it a breeze, because its built-in editing apps work seamlessly with all your images. Adjust exposure, color, brightness, and contrast. Add filters. Edit a movie with iMovie. Or use third-party apps to get even more creative. For example, you can turn a photo into a cartoon, complete with dialogue balloons. And thanks to the ample display, you'll be able to do all of your editing right on your iPad mini.
With iCloud Photo Sharing, you can create a shared photo album to show off just the photos and videos you want to just the people you want. Invite your friends and family and they can add their own photos, videos, and comments as well. Everything is automatically kept up to date on everyone's devices. You can also post photos to Facebook, Twitter, or other social media sites directly from the Photos app.
The cameras on iPad mini can do more than take dazzling photos and videos. Used with apps, they can do remarkable things. Like be your partner on that home redecorating project. Improve your athletic performance. Or let you scan, save, and send documents. And developers are working on new apps that do even more with the cameras. You'll find them on the App Store.
Your new favorite app, book, or movie. Your next FaceTime call or iMessage. Ultrafast wireless lets you access the things you love, right from iPad mini. So more than ever, you can stay in sync and in touch.
iPad mini 3 gives you lightning-quick Wi‑Fi performance thanks to two antennas and MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) technology. With dual-band 802.11n Wi‑Fi and MIMO, download speeds can reach up to 300 Mbps, so when you want to download a movie, share photos or documents with AirDrop, or just browse the web, your connection is always speedy.
If you're out of Wi‑Fi range — in the park, at the beach, on the road — fear not. iPad mini 3 with Wi-Fi + Cellular models let you connect to high-speed LTE networks for faster downloads and easier sharing in more places.
On the iPad mini 3 with Wi‑Fi + Cellular model, 14 LTE bands are packed into a single device. So you can take advantage of LTE networks for fast download and upload speeds practically anywhere you go.
The new Apple SIM is preinstalled on iPad mini 3 with Wi-Fi + Cellular models. The Apple SIM gives you the flexibility to choose from a variety of short-term plans from select carriers in the U.S. and UK right on your iPad. So whenever you need it, you can choose the plan that works best for you — with no long-term commitments. And when you travel, you may also be able to choose a data plan from a local carrier for the duration of your trip.
With Personal Hotspot on your Wi‑Fi + Cellular model, you can easily create a mobile hotspot for other devices. For example, say you're with some friends who want to get online with a laptop, but there's no Wi‑Fi. You can come to their rescue simply by turning on your hotspot in Settings, and voilà, they're ready to connect. And you're the hero.
With an easy-to-use interface, amazing features, and security at its core, iOS 8 makes your iPad more capable than ever. It's designed to look beautiful and work beautifully, so even the simplest tasks are more engaging. And iOS 8 is engineered to take full advantage of the powerful A7 chip, ultrafast wireless, and brilliant Retina display of iPad mini 3.
Apple products have always been designed to work together beautifully. But now, with iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite, they're more connected than ever. You can start writing an email on your iPhone and pick up where you left off on your iPad. Or browse the web on your Mac and continue from the same link on your iPad. You can even answer phone calls on your Mac or iPad.
iPad apps are, true to their name, designed just for iPad. And there are hundreds of thousands of them, designed to use every stunning inch of the Retina display and the power of the A7 chip. You'll find productivity apps that let you create presentations, build spreadsheets, manage your finances, and write and edit documents. As well as apps for photography, gaming, traveling, emailing, and managing your workouts. So whatever you're into, you'll find an iPad app to help you do it better.
|iOS 8.1, upgradable to iOS 8.1.2
|Touch Screen
|Dual Sim
|Dual Camera
|Yes (1.2 MP HD Front Facing Camera)
|QWERTY Keyboard
|Yes, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band
|Screen Size
|7.9 inches
|Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS
|Camera Phone
|Camera Pixel
|5 MP, 2592 х 1944 pixels, autofocus, touch focus, face/smile detection, HDR photo
|Camera Flash
|Processor Type
|1.3 GHz Dual Core Cyclone (ARM v8-based)
|Frequency Band
|N/A (Wifi only)
|Color Display
|Yes, 16M
|1536 x 2048 pixels (324 ppi)
|v4.0, A2DP, EDR
|Video Recorder
|Yes, 1080p @ 30 fps
|FM Radio
|MP3 Player
|Web Browser
|HTML 5 (Safari)
|No (Wifi only)
|Handsfree Speaker
|Internal Memory
|Expandable Memory
|v2.0, reversible connector
|Talk Time
|Up to 10 hours
|Standby Time
|N/A (Non-removable Li-Po 6470 mAh battery (24.3 Wh))
|200 x 134.7 x 7.5 mm
|341 g
Rs. 38990 as of 22-05-2015
Rs. 39990 as of 22-04-2015


text:
E*Trade's New CEO Could Take a Sale Off the Table
Investors are likely to have mixed feeling about E*Trade naming former Barclays executive Paul Idzik as its new CEO.
The online brokerage's stock initially spiked this afternoon on news of the planned announcement, climbing as much as 1.7%, then reversed into the red before finishing up just a penny at $9.87.
The lack of enthusiasm may stem from the market's belief that a new CEO means E*Trade won't get sold any time soon.
E*Trade was pushed by largest shareholder Citadel to sell back in 2011, but to no avail.
With new leadership, it appears ETFC could remain independent and continue to work through its legacy loan issues for some time.
JMP Securities analyst David Trone said in a note to clients that "we believe any takeover premium that is in the stock will likely be given back, as this move signals E*TRADE's Board's desire to remain independent."
Trone said he thought Idzik's experience is relevant but noted he faces challenges ahead.


text:
The Taylor & Francis Group has the imprints of Taylor & Francis, Routledge, Garland Science and Psychology Press, plus other associated imprints that combine to form a leading academic publisher.
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Taylor & Francis Group, Abingdon, United Kingdom is just one of over 20,000 company profiles in our database. If your organization belongs here and is not already profiled, you can submit a request to be listed in this directory. There are no charges associated with this service -- it is totally free.
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text:
By Jessica Dye
NEW YORK, April 25 (Reuters) - A former merchandising
executive at retailer Aeropostale Inc was convicted on
Thursday of defrauding the company and taking more than $25
million in kickbacks from a key vendor, federal prosecutors in
New York said.
Christopher Finazzo, 57, who was an executive vice-president
and chief merchandising officer at Aeropostale, was found guilty
following a three-week trial by a jury in Brooklyn, N.Y., of 14
counts of mail fraud, one count of wire fraud and one count of
Prosecutors said Finazzo, who spent 10 years as a top
merchant at the trendy mall-based retailer, had entered into an
illegal deal with Douglas Dey, the owner of South Bay Apparel
Inc, which was at the time a major clothing supplier for the
Under the arrangement, Finazzo purchased more than $350
million in T-shirt and fleece items from South Bay on behalf of
the company, in exchange for approximately 50 percent of South
Bay's profits, prosecutors said.
Over the course of the scheme, Finazzo collected more than
$25 million in kickbacks from South Bay, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors accused Finazzo of concealing the transactions from
Aeropostale and its investors, and prevented the company from
seeking lower prices or better quality merchandise from another
"We have all heard the saying 'money does not buy
happiness,' and today's verdict is case in point for that
maxim," U.S. attorney Loretta Lynch said in a statement.
"Christopher Finazzo had a great job that paid him millions of
dollars, but this honest living was apparently not enough to
satisfy his greed."
A lawyer for Finazzo could not be immediately reached for
comment on Thursday evening.
Finazzo faces up to 20 years in prison on each of the fraud
convictions and up to 5 years for the conspiracy charge. Dey,
who was also charged, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bribe
Finazzo and faces up to 5 years in prison.
The case is U.S. v. Finazzo et al., U.S. District Court for
the Eastern District of New York, No. 10-457.


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Both the country homesteader and the urban blue collar worker put in long days of tough labor. And on summer evenings — when the work's finally done — both, traditionally, have recharged their weary bodies (and souls) out on the front porch in an easy rockin' chair blowin' sweet music on a mouth harp. There just is no better way to watch the sun go down and help dusk creep in across the fields and up the streets. This article will teach you how to play a harmonica so you can soon be on your way to front porch blowing and relaxing. (Click on the Image Gallery link above for illustrations and descriptions of how to hold and play your harmonica.)
The folks who keep track of such things say there are probably as many harmonicas "out there" doing their thing in the U.S. of A. and Canada . . . as all other musical instruments combined. But that's understandable because the harmonica is certainly affordable, exceptionally easy to play, highly portable, and — once you get the hang of it — mighty rewarding, expressive, and entertaining too. I reckon it comes about as close as an instrument can to being "every man's (and woman's) musicmaker."
A Bit of Harmonica History
If, as so many others have done, you decide to take a fling at learning how to play harmonica, start by simply picking up one of the little charmers and cradling it between your palms. Hey! You're in good company already. Millions of fine folks — from little people you've never heard of to Calvin Coolidge and Bob Dylan — have all taken exactly this same step before you.
A few of those beginners, of course, have gone on from there to fame and fortune for their mastery of the instrument . . . and many others haven't. I like to think, though, that even some of the duffer harp players have risen to the heights of entirely different fields at least in part because of the solace they've been able to draw from their mouth organs.
Why, even Honest Abe Lincoln wasn't above playing a tune or two on the harmonica when the occasion demanded, as Carl Sandburg related in Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years . . . part of his massive study of the 16th President.
According to the story, Lincoln had just finished a particularly hard day of vote chasing during his 1858 campaign against Stephen Douglas for an Illinois state senate seat. And there he was — off by his lonesome, scrunched down in somebody's battered old farm wagon, playing a quiet tune to revive his spirits . . . when someone happened by.
"Say! Mr. Lincoln!" the surprised citizen called out. "What are you doing here playing that mouth organ, when Stephen Douglas is out there in Peoria right this minute campaigning with a brass band?"
"Let Mr. Douglas have his brass band," said the Illinois rail-splitter. "This harmonica will do me just fine."
It's that kind of spirit — the spirit of the true, dyed-in-the-wool mouth harp player — I'm sure, which eventually carried Lincoln all the way to the White House.
The Harmonica's Innards
If it's true that Abraham Lincoln played the mouth organ, it's just as true that the "tin sandwich" he — and a host of homesick Civil War soldiers — mouthed in the mid-1800s was almost identical to the harmonicas being manufactured both today and as early as the 1820s.
Despite the fact that some historians trace the harmonica's ancestors all the way back to the "sheng" — a reed instrument supposedly devised by the Chinese Emperor Nyn-Kwa around 3000 B.C. — the harmonica as we know it was actually invented in 1821. It was then that a German clockmaker named Buschmann put 15 pitch pipes together to create what he called a "mund-aeroline" (derived, obviously, from the German word mund . . . meaning "mouth").
Christian Messner, another clockmaker, soon introduced the instrument to the town of Trossingen, where — in 1857 — Matthias Hohner, his wife, and two employees produced 650 harmonicas by hand. As you probably know, Hohner has led the field ever since. Furthermore, the German firm "still makes 'em just like it made 'em in the Good Ol' Days."
The heart of the harmonica has always been — and still is — its reeds: Thin strips of a special brass alloy that vibrate when air is blown past them. These reeds are mounted into two plates which, in turn, are sandwiched — one above and one below — around a resonating chamber (a squared-off slice of wood or injection-molded plastic that has been "honeycombed" with air passages cut parallel to the platemounted reeds. Two nickel-coated steel cover plates — one across the top and the other across the base of the instrument — protect the reed/resonating chamber/reed sandwich within from drops, bumps, and prying fingers. A few small rivets and screws hold the whole thing together.
And why does the harmonica have two separate and distinct reed plates inside, each equipped with a full set of reeds? Because one plate contains a set of "blow" reeds, and the other is filled with "draw" reeds . . . so that, no matter whether you breathe in or out on one of the honeycomb holes across the front of your harmonica, you'll get a note. The mouth harp, in short, is a very simple instrument to play . . . precisely because its manufacturer has taken the time to do some rather sophisticated work on its "innards" before you buy it.
Types of Harmonicas
And, believe me, this "sophisticated work" can become quite complex indeed. There are, for instance, diatonic harmonicas (tuned to just the eight tones of any standard major or minor scale such as — for the key of C — C, D, E, F, G. A, B, C). There are also chromatic mouth organs (tuned to any of the same standard scales . . . but including all the sharps and flats too, such as — for the key of C — C, C4 or Db, D, Db or Eb, E, F, F or Gb, G, G4 or AO, A, A# or Bb, B, C). You can frequently — though not always — tell the chromatic harps from the diatonic ones because many — but not all — of the chromatic instruments have a little finger slide on one end which, when pushed, diverts the air that is blown through the organ from the whole-note to the half-note reeds.
Then there are tremolo-tuned harmonicas. Each air passage of such an instrument is divided into an upper and a lower cell, and each cell is equipped with a reed . . . but all the reeds are either "blow" or "draw," instead of the half "blow" and half "draw" of a basic harmonica. Besides that, although both the upper and the lower reed in each air passage of a tremolo harp are tuned to the same note, one is pitched just slightly higher than the other. This very small difference gives a beautiful "vibrating" effect when the organ is played.
And there are octave-tuned mouth harps, which are very much like tremolo harmonicas except that each double-set of reeds is tuned one octave apart for a stronger and more fullbodied sound.
There are big and small, double and triple decker, and straight and curved versions of most of these variations on harmonica design. There are special mouth harps designed just for concert work and orchestral accompaniment and the blues and Lord knows what all.
The Basic Instrument
But you can forget about such complicated and specialized mouth organs when you're learning how to play a harmonica. For that matter, you can forget about them even if you have played a harmonica for a hundred years. Because — as millions of harp players, ranging from the rawest beginners to the most polished professionals, have amply demonstrated over the years — there is one simple, inexpensive, straightforward, easy-to-play mouth harp that (for all practical purposes) will "do it all."
I'm talkin' 'bout the good ol' Hohner Model HH-1896 Marine Band harmonica. The instrument internationally recognized by farm boys, factory hands, trail-ridin' cowpokes, blues artists, folk performers, and all other devotees of the mouth organ . . . as the handiest, most versatile, most expressive, easiest to carry and easiest to play little musicmaker the world has ever known.
Technically, the Marine Band is a "single reed, diatonic" harmonica with 10 holes. Each opening is equipped with one (hence the term "single") blow and one draw reed, and every reed is tuned to a different note on the scale. This "doubling up" of two tones in each hole makes it possible for you to play a full eightnote scale (C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C . . . in the case of the key of C) by breathing in and out properly on just the four openings in the mouth organ's center. The three holes to the left and the three to the right of the four central openings continue this basic pattern . . . but with certain notes omitted so that chords can be wrung out of the small (it's only four inches long!) instrument.
The HH-1896 Marine Band is available in 12 different keys: A, B, Bb, C, Db (Cg), D, E, Eb, F, Fg, G, and Ab (G4). If you're just starting out in music, pick up one of the harmonicas tuned to the key of C (which is the easiest of all the keys to learn). Later, after you've mastered a number of songs in C and started thinking about transposing them into some other key, you'll find the job to be quite simple: just buy another HH-1896 in A, G, Eb, or whatever and wail away exactly the same way that you learned the tunes in C (only the sounds which come out will be different).
Get Acquainted With Your Harmonica
Once you've ambled on down to the local musical instrument shop and returned home with an HH-1896 Marine Band in your pocket, it's time to sit down and become well acquainted with your harmonica.
First off, your mouth organ probably was packaged in a compact little hinged box with a U.S. Marine Band photograph on its cover. And the nice fellow or gal down at the music store probably slipped you a complimentary copy of a 24-page booklet entitled "How to Play the Hohner Harmonica." (If he or she didn't, go back and ask for the guide. You'll undoubtedly "outgrow" the mini-manual during your first serious day of harp practice, but the booklet does contain some good beginner's tips and . . . well, you're entitled.) The 24-page Hohner guide plus the information in this article should be all you need to learn how to play a harmonica.
Now right at the beginning, you can tell your casual-interest-in-the-instrument player from your dyed-in-the-wool hardcore harmonica freak. Because the "boys" and "girls" — so to speak — tend to hold a mouth organ rather gingerly in a "four fingers on each end" clasp . . . while the "men" and "women" in the game start right out cradling their harps in a "ten finger sandwich" (the only decent grip ever invented for a self-respecting harmonica).
Form this sandwich by, first, placing your hands around your harp as if you're praying . . . with the instrument lying between your palms and aligned with your fingers. Then — depending on which feels most comfortable to you — rotate your hands one way or the other so that one winds up with its fingers on top of the mouth organ and its thumb on the bottom ... and the other is wrapped around the first with the heel of its palm squarely facing your mouth. (Righties generally end up with their right hands "dominant" in this kind of sandwich and lefties the opposite . . . but suit yourself.) This grip, as you'll immediately see, creates a sort of "chamber" around the harmonica. And that does two things: [1] It automatically gives a funkier sound to your harp playing and [2] it allows you to move the fingers of your "outside" hand up and down rapidly, thereby "wavering" your mouth organ's notes as you play . . . which adds a great deal of emphasis and emotion to the music that you just can't squeeze in any other way. Try it! You'll see.
The manner in which you "kiss" your instrument also has a great deal to do with the sound you'll get out of it. If you simply insert the harp partway into your mouth and blow, you'll get just what you deserve: a disgusting mix of three or four notes at a time and no melody at all. (The half-wits who try to play this way also tend to play with chewing gum or food in their mouths, blow excess saliva through their harps instead of swallow it, and otherwise follow practices guaranteed to wreck a harmonica in short order.)
What you have to do is experiment and practice until you've trained your lips and your tongue to direct a breath of air (either in or out) through just one of the openings in your instrument at a time. This will produce one steady, pure tone after another which — despite what you may have heard to the contrary — is what basic harmonica playing is really all about.
Yeah, this'll seem kinda tough to handle right at the start. But then so was riding a bicycle the first time you tried that. Keep at it. Don't give up. Try different ways of pursing your lips and different ways of curling your tongue. Before you know it, "kissing" those sweet sounds — as clean as country water — out of your harp will seem like second nature. It's just a matter of practice and "gettin' the feel" of the whole thing.
Your First Tunes
The Hohner company — with a little printed sheet folded up in the box that contains your harmonica or its 24-page beginner's booklet — tries its darndest (with letters, numbers, and arrows) to teach you a few simple songs note by note.
Well, I don't reckon it'll do you any harm to start off that way, especially if you're completely new to the idea of makin' your own music. Anything that'll get you rollin' is fair.
The sooner you learn to get by without "training wheels" (which is what that sheet music really is), though, the sooner you'll be able to take off and really "ride" your new musical instrument. Yes sir! I'm talkin' about "playing by ear" and — at least with a harmonica — that's not nearly as difficult as most folks seem to believe.
Once you've gained a certain amount of "feel" for the mouth organ, you'll surprise yourself. Your lips and tongue will begin to understand the "ups and downs" of the harp, and you'll start blowing and drawing out "just the right" notes with hardly any conscious effort at all. My own experience is probably as good of an example of this as any:
I was the rankest of rank beginners when I first picked up a harmonica four years ago. After noodling around on the instrument for a while just to get acquainted, I began to feel comfortable holding it properly and trained my mouth to blow pure notes. Soon, I was ready to learn a song.
I chose "When the Saints Go Marching In" as my initial musical conquest because I figured it for a natural harmonica ditty that would be about as easy to work out on the mouth organ as any tune could be. I was right (you'll have a hard time getting discouraged if you start your harp career with "Saints"). It wasn't long before I was following up my first victory with "Oh, Susanna," "Greensleeves," "The Old Gray Mare," "Red River Valley," and just about every other folk song that I could think of.
Eventually I sharpened my skills enough so that I could begin picking songs off the radio. And I've never stopped. As a friend of mine says, "You know, I find that I'll lay my harmonica aside for a while and more or less forget the instrument. Then I'll hear a song on the radio, and I know right away that I just have to learn it. And off I go to dig out the of harp and have at it."
I know what my buddy means. It happens to me all the time. And, most generally, I can "sound out" and memorize a brand-new tune in only about 10 minutes these days! (If I can do it, so can you. Give it a try . . . and, before too long, you'll be measuring your progress by the number of songs you can coax out of your harp too. And after that — when you've finally stopped countin' — is when you'll know you've really mastered the mouth organ!).
Add a Little Soul
Just as with most other musical instruments, there's harmonica playing . . . and then there's harmonica playing. One man or woman can get up and blow a tune and you'll feel a real emotional tug, but when another player tries, there's nothing.
Emotions. Feelings. That's what music (especially harmonica music) is all about. And, just as soon as you have the mechanics of the mouth organ down, that's what you'll want to strive to inject into your playing.
The simplest way to add this flavor to your music is by varying how loudly you play. Make your harp's sound rise and fall with the character of a song (don't worry, the tune will tell you how loudly or softly to make a passage if you'll only let it). The amount of sound coming out of a mouth organ, of course, is varied and controlled by blowing and drawing more or less forcefully as air is directed through the instrument's reeds.
Expression is also added to harmonica music by soulful use of the wavering tones made possible by the "10-finger sandwich" grip that I described earlier in this article.
One of the best ways of all, though, to add "guts" to your harp playing (especially those sad old blues songs) is by "bending" notes as they're formed. Nothing beats a bent note for sheer expression . . . still, it's only fair to warn you that the practice is hard on an instrument's reeds. (But, what the heck: If you refuse to bend notes just because you're too cheap to buy a replacement organ from time to time, you've got no business trying to play real music in the first place. Bend 'em!)
To accomplish this little trick, you have to flatten that curl you've learned to roll into your tongue . . . and you have to do it while you're blowing or drawing a note. That will change the way the air passes through the reed cause the reed itself to distort while it's vibrating and, in turn, "bend" the sound it produces.
Of course, when you really wanna add something special to your harp blowin', you'll just have to teach yourself to play some chords on your ol' Marine Band.
What you do is you open your lips enough to allow you to blow through four of the harmonica's openings at once. At the same time, though, you press your tongue up against the wooden partitions on the instrument's front and you use it to cover either the three holes to the left (if you want to add a low chord to your melody note from time to time) or the three holes to the right (if you want to add a high chord). And then — while one corner or the other of your mouth concentrates on blowing a steady tone through the single hole that's always uncovered — your tongue is moved (in rhythm!) to cover and uncover the other three openings, thereby adding and subtracting the high or low chord.
That's right. To play chords, you have to be able to do two things at once.
It ain't easy . . . but it sure can drive a audience wild. If you want to hear an excellent example of what I mean, give a listen to The Ozark Mountain Daredevils' version of "If You Want to Get to Heaven." I still can't figure out how the group's harmonica player does it. He must have two mouths!
Care for Your Harmonica
Even though there's not a whole lot that can possibly go wrong with a mouth organ, you can ensure a longer life for your instrument if you follow a few simple rules:
[1] Vary blow and draw all you like for emotional effect as you play your harp . . . but do try to limit the maximum amount of stress that you put on the harmonica's reeds.
[2] Swallow and otherwise control the flow of saliva as you play. A dry mouth harp lasts longer.
[3] Don't play your Marine Band while you're chewing gum or when you have any food in your mouth . . . for obvious reasons.
[4] After playing the harmonica, tap it a few times against the heel of your hand — face down — to dislodge any saliva or foreign matter that might have gotten into the instrument during its use.
[5] Before putting the Marine Band back in its case, dry its playing surfaces with a soft, clean, lint-free cloth.
Me and Ol' Betsy
There's something so nice and comforting about carryin' a harmonica around in your pocket that I hope you'll give the idea a try. And if you do — and if you're like me — it won't be long before you give the instrument a name and start thinkin' of it as a true friend (in my case, "Ol' Betsy") who can entertain you, inspire you, comfort you, and help you get across life's awkward spots.
For instance: there was the night I took Ol' Betsy with me to see a Civil War movie set in the South ("Dixie" was more or less the film's theme song), and something happened to the electricity about halfway through the flick. One second, the packed theater was full of happily entertained people . . . and the next, it was filled with suddenly restive humans sitting in total darkness.
What'd I do? Why, I grabbed Ol' Betsy and started blowin' out a quick rendition of "Dixie" on my own. And the whole crowd immediately began laughing, stomping, and clapping along.
Well sir. I'm here to tell you that that made me feel pretty darned good. It could just as easily have been you and yours getting that applause, of course . . . but I'm glad it was me and mine.


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As the Queen's confidant and magician, Allistair always has her ear and is a master manipulator. He's kind of an evil dude, but Rosalind and Peter can usually persuade him into helping them with some scheme or another. He has a weakness for tiny chocolates.
Frederick is King Rufus' right-hand man and the head assistant to the court. He runs the day-to-day operations and keeps a level head while he puts up with all the crazy demands of the King, Queen and kids.
10 years-old Alex thinks he's entitled to everything because he's a prince. When King Rufus tries to discipline him, he runs to Queen Eleanor's side, and she always saves him because she doesn't know of his rotten antics.
He'd rather spend his time painting in the garden and studying in the library than practicing his swordplay. King Rufus often pressures Peter into doing things under the guise that it will be "good for him." His father tries to give him grand life lessons in sound bites, but they're often confusing rambles.
She loves all animals and has a pet fox named Tobias. She's more comfortable hunting in the forest than attending a royal ball. The 17 year-old princess couldn't be more different than her closest younger brother, Prince Peter.
Queen Eleanor is very concerned with keeping up appearances. She can't be bothered to pay attention to the needs of the people, but heaven forbid her daughter forgets to bow to the visiting Arch-Duke of Where-everington. She will always try to win an argument, even if there is no argument to be won.
King Rufus has a hard time keeping his kids in order and ruling the land. He fondly remembers his time as a youth growing up on a peaceful farm with no stress. While he really cares about his kids, sometimes he doesn't know how to relate to them. He also enjoys long baths.
The holidays can be a hectic time, even more so if you're royalty. The royal family tries to keep it together as they navigate the week-long Yule Hare Festival. There will be delicious food, exciting frights, singing forestmen, and most important, a family you'll love to laugh at.


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Editor's Summary
Direction on the construction and application of classification schemes such as taxonomies is readily available, but relatively little has been offered on evaluating the schemes themselves and their use to categorize content. A classification scheme can be judged for how well it meets its purpose and complies with standards, and a strong evaluative framework is reflected in S.R. Ranganathans principles of classification. The degree of certainty of classification decisions depends on objective understanding of the object to be classified, the scope and details of the class and the coverage and organization of the overall classification scheme. The more complete the information about each class, the more reliable the goodness- of-fit for an object to a class is likely to be, whether chosen by human or machine classifiers. This information comes through definitions, examples, prior use and semantic relationships. The risk of misclassification can be reduced by analyzing the goodness-of-fit of objects to classes and the patterns of missed or erroneous selections.
classification schemes
manual indexing
automatic classification
Bulletin, December 2012/January 2013
Special Section
Evaluating Classification Schema and Classification Decisions
by Denise Bedford
This article considers how evaluation pertains to taxonomies. Taxonomies and evaluation are both rich concepts, so it is best to start out with some definitions that help to define our discussion. What do we mean by taxonomy? And what do we mean by evaluation?
For seasoned information professionals the traditional characterization of a taxonomy is as a hierarchical classification scheme. This characterization has expanded in the last 20 years as the taxonomy community and the information environment have expanded. Today the taxonomy community includes people who design taxonomies, those who build systems that support them and those who use them. Our complex information environment may call for a variety of taxonomic structures, including
- flat taxonomies such as lists of languages or lists of countries;
- hierarchical taxonomies such as topical or subject classifications, business classifications or service classifications;
- faceted taxonomies such as metadata or parametric search structures;
- ring taxonomies such as synonyms or authority control data; and
- network taxonomies such as fully relationed thesauri or knowledge networks.
Each of these structures has its own set of principles and behaviors. And each requires an evaluation method that aligns with those principles and behaviors. This article focuses on the second type of taxonomy the traditional classification scheme or hierarchical taxonomy. Classification schemes govern the organization of objects into groups according to explicit properties or values. Classification schemes are in widespread use in everyday life from grocery stores to websites to personal information spaces.
To evaluate something is to determine or fix a value through careful appraisal. There seem to be two important evaluation points related to classification schemes. The first is an evaluation of the classification scheme itself. The second is how well the scheme supports classification decisions. Each requires its own framework and context.
Evaluating a Classification Scheme
We can evaluate a classification scheme based on its intended goal and purpose and by how well it aligns with professional standards and principles. Goals and purpose will be institution-specific and are best addressed internally by those who design and work with the scheme. Evaluating a classification scheme according to professional standards and principles, though, is a process that can be generalized. ISO 11179-2 Information Technology Metadata Registries (MDR). Part 2. Classification (2005) [1] provides advice for constructing data structures and relationships that are used to represent a scheme. ISO 25964 Thesaurus Schemas [2] and ANSI-NISO Z39.19 (R2010) Guidelines for the Construction, Format, and Management of Monolingual Controlled Vocabularies [3] provide some guidance on the distinction between a thesaurus (a network taxonomy structure) and a classification scheme (a hierarchical taxonomy). Important sources for advice on how to construct classes in a classification scheme, though, derive from other sources such as S.R. Ranganathans Prolegomena to Library Classification [4] and discussions of set theory found in the mathematical sciences literature [5]. Table 1 provides a sample set of principles for constructing classes derived, but reinterpreted, from Ranganathan for an information technology team. The challenge with using these sources for evaluation is that they generally require substantial translation to be understandable by the teams that are building and appraising the scheme. A full set of interpreted principles is available from the author upon request.
Table 1. S. R. Ranganathans principles re-interpreted for an information technology team.
It has generally been my experience that Ranganathans principles align with but are more exhaustive than the popular guidelines found in the usability engineering literature. The challenge, though, is that they are difficult to interpret by anyone outside of the information science profession. Adapting and interpreting Ranganathans principles will provide you with a very strong framework for evaluating the strength of your classification scheme. In fact, the principles convert very nicely into a working checklist for periodic evaluations.
Evaluating Classification Decisions
Evaluating classification decisions is less straightforward. In order to evaluate a classification decision, we need a good description of the classification process. Within the process description we can pinpoint what to evaluate. Classification is a decision-making process that involves making choices. Typically, choices are made in the context of an existing classification scheme by a human or machine classifier and for a given object (Figure 1). In theory, this choice seems like a straight-forward decision process. The classifier who knows the classification scheme, considers what is known about the object, what is known about the possible classes and makes a decision as to which class in the scheme is the best fit for the object.
Figure 1. Simple characterization of the classification process.
The research on classification evaluation is extensive. The citations in this article are illustrative and not comprehensive. The research tends to focus on several contexts for evaluation, including
- comparison of human and machine classification practices [5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10];
- assessment of the variability of classification decisions among human and machine classifiers [11, 12, 13];
- comparison of machine-generated classification structures and well-established classification schemes and thesauri [14, 15, 16, 17, 18];
- the quality of classification in the context of information retrieval [19, 20, 21]; and
- evaluations of the quality of statistically generated classes [22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36].
One fundamental perspective appears to receive less treatment the simple question of how well the object fits a class in a classification scheme. We suggest there are two simple reasons why this perspective has not received more attention. First, to date most classification is done by people, and we have always assumed that humans make optimal decisions. Second, until recently we have not had the capacity to evaluate decisions in a direct and controlled way. Rather, we have had to evaluate them from an information-retrieval and end-user perspective. What would a direct evaluation of the fit between an object and a chosen class look like?
In an expanding universe of information, classification decisions may be made by people who have neither professional information science training nor subject expertise. Classification decisions may also be made by machine classifiers. Regardless of who makes decisions, the goal is to ensure that those decisions are optimal. An optimal classification decision reflects the best choice that can be made given the information available at the time. An optimal choice may be defined as a good fit between the object and possible classes. An optimal decision also reduces the risk of misclassification. Misclassification may take two forms. The first form occurs when we assign the object to a class for which it is not good fit. In this case, the object will be presented to the user in error. The second form occurs when we fail to assign the object to a class for which it is a good fit. In this case, the object will be overlooked because it is not in the class. So our evaluation point for classification decisions is determining how well the classified object aligns with the chosen class(es).
Reducing Uncertainty in the Classification Decision
Information economists tell us that optimal decisions result from reducing uncertainty. One way to improve a classification decision, then, is to reduce the uncertainty in the process. Classification is characterized by several kinds of uncertainty. The classifier may have an incomplete understanding of the object. Uncertainty may be high where the classifier has access only to an abstract or summary of the object. The classifier may be uncertain as to what properties or attributes define the class. Uncertainty about the class may result from an incomplete understanding of the scheme or an incomplete specification of the domain perhaps not all relevant classes have been defined in the schema. Perhaps the classifier has imperfect knowledge of all the topics covered in the scheme. The scope and coverage of the classes may not be explicitly available, requiring subjective interpretation by the classifier.
Any of these uncertainties may lead to a suboptimal classification decision. In some cases, making a less than perfect classification decision may be acceptable perhaps the risk resulting from a classification decision is not so great. If a young reader overlooks a book about the role of snakes in a desert ecosystem for a school project because it was misclassified, the risk is low. In other cases, though, the risk of misclassification may be significant. Where an energetic-materials scientist overlooks an important report of a chemical experiment, national security risks may arise.
These uncertainties are important when we are making a classification decision and when we are evaluating a classification decision. How can we reduce the uncertainty we find in the classification decision? How can we improve the information we need to evaluate classification decisions? The answer is simple. By expanding the information we have about the object, individual classes and the overall makeup and purpose of the classification scheme. Table 2 identifies some of the conditions that might produce low, moderate and high rates of risk in classification decisions.
Table 2. Methods for Reducing Uncertainty
Notice that the more explicit and objective information we have about each of the factors, the lower the uncertainty. Uncertainty is highest when we rely on subjective interpretation of objects, where there is no direct access to objects and where there is no formal and extensive representation of a class. High levels of uncertainty may result in higher probabilities of misclassification.
Today we are not likely to encounter uncertainty about an object because the classifier human or machine will have the object in hand or will be able to access it in its entirety in digital form. It is more probable that we will encounter uncertainty about a class. While humans have constructed hierarchical classification schemes for centuries, often they have not provided rigorous characterizations of those classes sufficient to reduce uncertainty in the decision process. For example, classification schemes are often represented
- through narrative scope notes (Figure 2);
- through dictionary definitions (Figure 3);
- by default through subclasses (Figure 4);
- by de facto practice as defined in collections (Figure 5); and
- through associated subject headings and descriptors (Figure 6).
In each of these cases, the classifier has little explicit knowledge to work with. As a result, the choice is made based on a subjective interpretation of the class. A human classifier relies on personal subject knowledge and experience. The choice made by the machine classifier will be simple word matching and relevancy ranking.
Figure 2. Class defined through use of scope note in the ERIC Thesaurus [37].
Figure 3. American Heritage Dictionary definition of term [38]
Figure 4. FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization) Classification of Livestock. Default definition through subclasses [39].
Figure 5. Class default definition from library catalog collections.
Figure 6. Class defined through associated subject headings or terms [40].
Optimizing the Classification Decision Using Extensive Class Descriptions
Our first evaluation criterion for a classification decision was the alignment or goodness of fit of an object to the chosen class. The challenge is that we likely dont have enough information about the class to conduct a good evaluation. Uncertainty rules in this situation [36]. The easiest way to reduce uncertainty is to provide a full and explicit representation of class, its properties and values. Such representation is not a trivial task, though. Today subject experts and human classifiers rely on a deep understanding of a field that they have built up over time. What we need is a way to efficiently and reliably create a full and explicit class definition that can be used to evaluate the choice of class for any object. And, to evaluate that choice, we need an objective, quantifiable and verifiable approach.
One approach that appears to work leverages a combination of machine and human methods. The first step in this process is to assemble a rich but representative sample of objects for the class. It must represent a variety of perspectives expert-novice, popular-academic, brand specific-generic. And it must represent all aspects or facets of the class. To this collection we apply natural language processing and concept extraction methods to construct a draft representation. Domain experts and classifiers review and revise the draft representation, perhaps several times. When the representation has passed their review, it may serve as an explicit representation of a class. Figure 7 provides an example of a fully elaborated class representation for
Livestock that was generated using this approach. This is one of 750 classes in a scheme. The representation comprises 3,341 concepts that were reviewed and approved by domain experts and professional indexers.
Figure 7. Elaborated class definition for livestock and animal husbandry machine classification [41]
Evaluating the Classification Decision
Given an extensive representation of a class, we can make a strong classification decision. It also supports an objective and verifiable evaluation. This approach provides the information we need to evaluate our first criterion the goodness of fit of an object to a class. Generally, a good fit will result from a high number of matching properties and a high occurrence of those properties. Figure 8 illustrates the way in which a machine categorization engine might report on the goodness of fit to one or more classes. The classification engine can swiftly conduct a property-by-property, value-by-value comparison of the object and class.
Figure 8. Evaluating the classification process.
Our second evaluation criterion for the classification process pertained to minimizing the risk of misclassification. We can better manage misclassification when we have a full picture of goodness of fit of an object to all classes in the classification scheme. A goodness of fit indicator can be calculated for any class where a full representation is available. Figure 9 illustrates the way in which a machine categorization engine might report on the goodness of fit to all classes. Using this approach, institutions may establish thresholds for classification decisions that can be monitored and evaluated. Misclassification is minimized where we can explicitly see which classes may have been overlooked or which may have been selected in error.
|Figure 9. Class goodness of fit results for sample object [42]
<CATEGOR_ITEM.mdx> name=Livestock and Animal Husbandry GOF=1240 />
<CATEGOR_ITEM.mdx> name=BiodiversityGOF=690/>
<CATEGOR_ITEM.mdx> name=Pollution ControlGOF=552/>
<CATEGOR_ITEM.mdx> name=Dairies and DairyingGOF=551/>
<CATEGOR_ITEM.mdx> name=Food and Beverage IndustryGOF=446/>
<CATEGOR_ITEM.mdx> name=AgribusinessGOF=439/>
Conclusions and Observations
We considered evaluation of a hierarchical taxonomy or classification scheme and the classification decisions made when working with a hierarchical taxonomy. We offer three observations for evaluating hierarchical taxonomies.
- The principles we need to evaluate and improve classification schemes are readily available. While they are understandable to information science students, some interpretation is needed for designers, engineers and the general public.
- We can convert these principles into institutional checklists to support periodic evaluation and improvement of classification schemes.
- Information science education should include assessment of general hierarchical taxonomies in the curriculum, in addition to introducing students to the commonly used classification schemes.
In regard to evaluation of classification decisions, we offer four observations.
- Classifications are often evaluated indirectly. We have suggested an approach that more directly targets the classification decision directly.
- This approach requires more information about the classes in a classification scheme. It makes explicit the implicit knowledge of classifiers used to make decisions. Providing more information about a class is not a trivial task for existing schemes. However, it is manageable for new schemes.
- The approach allows an institution to objectively judge the goodness-of-fit of any decision and to assess the risk of misclassification.
- This approach supports rather than substitutes for other evaluation perspectives. Understanding the nature of the classification decision helps us to better understand end user responses to that decision.
While we considered evaluation of the scheme and the decision separately, we should not overlook the dependencies between a well-formed classification scheme and a well-executed classification decision. Making an optimal classification choice is dependent upon a good representation of the class, a well-formed class and a well-formed classification scheme. While the context in which taxonomies are used has expanded significantly in the past 20 years, the criteria for evaluation have not changed. The expansion in affordable computing power and the availability of semantic technologies provides the capacity to make and evaluate classification decisions in low risk and object ways.
Resources Mentioned in the Article
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[2] International Standards Organization. (2011). ISO 25964 Thesaurus schemas. Retrieved September 15, 2012, from www.niso.org/schemas/iso25964/
[3] American National Standards Institute (2010). ANSI/NISO Z39.19 (R2010) Guidelines for the construction, format, and management of monolingual controlled vocabularies. Retrieved September 15, 2012, from www.niso.org/apps/group_public/project/details.php?project_id=46
[4] Ranganathan, S. R. (1957). Prolegomena to library classification. London: The Library Association.
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[13] Lee, W.-C., Hanson, B. A., & Brennan, R. I. (2002). Estimating consistency and accuracy indices for multiple classifications. Applied Psychological Measurement, 26(4), 412-432.
[14] Bedford, D.A.D., & Gracy, K. F. (July 2012). Leveraging semantic analysis technologies to increase effectiveness and efficiency of access to information. Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Libraries (QQML) 1(1), 13 26.
[15] Fischer, K., (2005). Critical views of LCSH, 1990-2001: The third bibliographic essay. Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, 41(1), 63-109.
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[18] Strader, C. R. (2009). Author-assigned keywords versus Library of Congress Subject Headings: Implications for the cataloging of electronic theses and dissertations. Library Resources and Technical Services, 53(4), 243-250. Retrieved November 14, 2012 from www.ala.org/alcts/sites/ala.org.alcts/files/content/resources/lrts/archive/53n4.pdf
[19] Boros, E., Ibaraki, T., & Makino, K. (1998). Error-free and best-fit extensions of partially defined Boolean functions. Information and Computation, 140(2), 254-283. Retrieved November 15, 2012, from http://biomet.oxfordjournals.org/content/91/1/45.full.pdf
[20] Chen, M.-H., Dey, D. K., & Ibrahim, J. G. (2004). Bayesian criterion based model assessment for categorical data. Biometrika, 91(1), 45-63.
[21] Ciesiak, D., & Chowla, N. (2009). A framework for monitoring classifiers performance: When and why failure occurs. Knowledge and Information Systems, 18(1), 83-108.
[22] Cunningham, M. A. (2006). Accuracy assessment of digitized and classified land cover data for wildlife habitat. Landscape and Urban Planning, 78(3), 217-228.
[23] Garland, K. (1983). An experiment in automatic hierarchical document classification. Information Processing and Management, 19(3), 113-120.
[24] Hammer, P. L., Kogan, A., Simeone, B., & Szedmak, S. (2004). Pareto-optimal patterns in logical analysis of data. Discrete Applied Mathematics, 114(1-2), 79-102.
[25] Heaps, H. S. (1973). A theory of relevance for automatic document classification. Information and Control, 22(3), 268-278.
[26] Hildalgo, J. M. G. (2002). Evaluating cost-sensitive unsolicited bulk email categorization. Proceedings of the 2002 ACM Symposium on Applied Computing (SAC 02), 615-620.
[27] Kattan, M. W., & Cooper, R. B. (1998). The predictive accuracy of computer-based classification decision techniques: A review and research directions. Omega: The International Journal of Management Science, 26(4), 467-482.
[28] Kelil, A., Wang, S., Jiang, Q., & Brzezinsky, R. (2010). A general measure of similarity for categorical sequences. Knowledge and Information Systems, 24(2), 197-220.
[29] Lewis, D. D. (1991). Evaluating text categorization. In HLT 91: Proceedings of the Workshop on Speech and Natural Language [pp. 312-318]. Stroudsberg, PA: Association for Computational Linguistics.
[30] Szollosi, D., Denes, L. D., Firtha, F., Kovacs, Z., & Fekete, A. (2012). Comparison of six multiclass classifiers by the use of different classification performance indicators. Chemometrics, 15(3-4), 76-84.
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[32] Sun, A., & Lim, E.-P. (2001). Hierarchical text classification and evaluation. In Proceedings of the 2001 IEEE International Conference on Data Mining (ICDM 2001) [pp. 521-528]. New York, IEEE. Retrieved November 14, 2012, from http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=989492
[33] Villa Medina, J. L., Boqué, R., & Ferré, J. (2009). Bagged k-nearest neighbours classification with uncertainty in the variables. Analytica Chimica Acta, 646(1-2), 62-68.
[34] Winters, W. K. (1965). A modified method of latent class analysis for file organization in information retrieval. Journal of the Association for Computing Machinery, 12(3), 356-363.
[35] Wyse, A. E. (2011). The potential impact of not being able to create parallel tests on expected classification accuracy. Applied Psychological Measurement, 35(2), 110-126.
[36] Yang, Y. (1999). An evaluation of statistical approaches to text categorization. Journal of Information Retrieval, 1(1-2), 69-90.
[37] Education Resources Information Center. Thesaurus of ERIC Descriptors. Retrieved September 15, 2012, from www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/resources/html/thesaurus/about_thesaurus.html
[38] American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. Livestock. Retrieved September 15, 2012, from www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=livestock.
[39] Food and Agriculture Organization. Classification of livestock. Retrieved September 15, 2012, from www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/ess/documents/world_census_of_agriculture/appendix5_r7.pdf
[40] Library of Congress. Library of Congress Subject Headings. Retrieved September 15, 2012, from http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85077784.html
[41] Kahneman, D., Slovik, P., & Tversky, A. (Eds.) (1982). Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases. New York: Cambridge University Press.
[42] SAS Inc. (2012). SAS enterprise content categorization
studio. Retrieved September 15, 2012, from www.sas.com/text-analytics/enterprise-content-categorization/index.html
Denise Bedford is the Goodyear Professor of Knowledge Management at Kent State University. She is a member of several professional associations including ASIS&T, ACM, AIIM, SLA, DAMA, SCIP, ALA and AAAI. She can be reached at email@example.com
Articles in this Issue
Taxonomies in Practice Introduction
Evaluating Classification Schema and Classification Decisions
Case Study: Developing the PLOS Thesaurus
Building User Experiences: Synchronizing User Experience Design and the Supporting Metadata and Taxonomy Infrastructure
Indexing Electronic Medical Records Using a Taxonomy
Building a Taxonomy for Auto-classification
Building Controlled Vocabularies for Metadata Harmonization
President's Page: Diane Sonnenwald
President's Page: Andrew Dillon
IA: On What Assumptions Do You Base Your Thinking? Contextual Challenges and Strategic Possibilities
RDAP: Digital Curation Postdoctoral Fellowship - The Hybrid Role of Data Curator


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2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Men's Marathon
February 7, 2004
Alan Culpepper, Meb Keflezighi and Dan Browne qualified for the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team by finishing 1-2-3 Saturday at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Mens Marathon in Birmingham, Alabama. The Trials were presented by USA Track & Field, the Alabama Sports Foundation and Birmingham Marathon, Inc.
Culpepper (Lafayette, Colo.), Keflezighi (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.) and Browne (Portland, Ore.) all passed then leader Brian Sell (Rochester Hills, Mich.) in the 21st mile. Culpepper held a small lead for the next two miles over Keflezighi before winning the race in 2 hours, 11 minutes, 42 seconds, a five-second winning margin over Keflezighi. Browne finished in third place in 2:12:02, with Trent Briney setting a personal best by 8 minutes, 35 seconds, with his fourth place finish in 2:12:35. Culpeppers performance is the second fastest Trials winning time ever, second only to Tony Sandovals Trials record of 2:10:19 in Buffalo, N.Y., on May 24, 1980.


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Winder, GAHome Menu
Winder Police Employment Application
The City of Winder is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. We consider all applicants for positions without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, citizenship, age, mental or physical disabilities, veteran/reserve/National Guard, or any other similarly protected status. Applications must accompany resumes. Pre-employment drug screening, a physical examination and a background investigation are required, other background checks may be utilized depending upon the position applied for. The consent form required to authorize these pre-employment procedures is included with the application packet and must be completed and signed and a picture ID submitted.
Due to the volume of applications received we will no longer be contacting applicants to re-submit any missing or incomplete information. Therefore it is of the utmost importance to complete the application in its entirety and provide any documents requested. You should only apply for those jobs which match your education and experience, salary expectations and job interests.
Applications submitted incomplete or missing information will be considered incomplete and will not be processed further. If you have any questions in regards to submitting an application please contact the Human Resources Department before returning application to the City of Winder.
Documents requested must be submitted at the time of returning application to the City of Winder. If you are expecting documents but do not have them while completing the application you will need to wait until you receive these documents to turn in your application; otherwise your application will be considered incomplete. Also, if the open position has a deadline date no applications for this position will be considered after the deadline date. Once you have completed all necessary paperwork please return to City of Winder Human Resources Department in person, by mail or by fax (See Below for Mailing Address and Fax Number). Application Packets and Resumes will NOT be accepted by email.
|Mailing Address:
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|Human Resources Department
City of Winder
45 East Athens Street
PO Box 566
Winder, GA 30680
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This application can be filled out using the forms function and printed, but must be submitted to the City of Winder in person, by mail or by fax.
(See above for submission requirements).


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Explorations of Literature Student Text (4th ed.) presents a compilation of stories, poems, and essays from a variety of authors and genres grouped by theme to develop critical thinking skills. Vocabulary glosses explain unfamiliar words within the literature selections. Thinking Zone pages throughout the book ask questions to encourage the student to think about literature in at least four ways: comprehension, interpretation, analysis, and appreciation. In addition to teaching literary terms, these questions also develop the students' abilities to respond biblically to literature. Unit reviews provide additional review questions to prepare students for quizzes and tests.
Teach your students to analyze literature in light of God's Word, and give them an enjoyment of literature that they will take with them beyond the classroom. Following each literature piece, Thinking Zones teach literary terms and foster critical thinking through specific questions that require more than mere recall. Students must interpret, analyze, and evaluate what they have read. Unit reviews, using a variety of question types, prepare the student to be successful on unit tests.
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|Great Expectations Teacher's Edition
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Surplus Property
- Surplus Property (For Departments)
- for information concerning the designation of university departmental items as surplus.
- Surplus Store
- for information regarding the Surplus Property Retail Store, which is open to the public.
What is Surplus Property?
Surplus Property encompasses all university property no longer in use by a university department. University departments transfer all property and equipment to Surplus Property as soon as it is determined that the property is no longer needed. Departments are not authorized to transfer or sell any state property, except to other university departments. Departments may not sell, discard or give away state property, nor is it to be used for personal use.
Property not re-assigned to university departments is disposed of, according to guidelines of the NC State Surplus Property Agency.
Who can Purchase Surplus Property?
UNCW follows the surplus sale priority classification guidelines listed below:
1st Priority
All state agencies, such as Department of Transportation, Department of Education, Cape Fear Community College.
2nd Priority
All prior approved non-profit tax exempt agencies, such as County Schools, City Schools, County and City Agencies.
3rd Priority
General public, such as individuals and wholesalers.


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Justin Timberlake Performed New Song for Jessica Biel at Their Wedding
All it took was getting married for Justin Timberlake to go public (finally!) with some new music. The singer, who has not released an album since 2006′s 'FutureSex/LoveSounds,' sang a new love song for his wife Jessica Biel at their wedding in Italy last week.
Us Weekly quotes a source who witnessed the nuptials and heard JT sing. "Justin performed one song at the wedding," the insider said. "It's a new one that he hasn't released yet. He dedicated it to Jessica." Unfortunately, the magazine did not report any additional details about the song, so we'll just have to imagine what a new Timberlake love song might sound like.
Timberlake and Biel enlisted Questlove to DJ the affair, and the Roots drummer even played some of Justin's music. "Questlove played a bunch of Justin Timberlake songs, but no 'N Sync," the source said.
Us reported that Timberlake was sick on his wedding day, but he did not let that stop him from enjoying the special day. The wedding took place at the Borgo Egnazia resort, which was covered in flowers for the occasion. "Even the balconies facing the main courtyard were dressed with white blooms," the Us source added. "Small white heart shaped petals fell on the couple as they left the chapel."
While the insider said of the guest list, "The biggest surprise to everyone was that it was such a small group and not star-studded," celebrities in attendance included Timbaland, Andy Samberg, Jimmy Fallon and Beverley Mitchell.
Watch the Justin Timberlake 'Senorita' Video


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Interview with Texans running back Ben Tate
This summer, I've been given the opportunity to write a piece for What's Up? Annapolis Magazine to profile local athletes from Anne Arundel County (my home county) and Maryland's Eastern Shore who have made it to the professional level.
I've been trying to kick it into second gear and actually talk to some of these players.
Fortunately, some have been receptive, including Houston Texans running back Ben Tate, who grew up on the Eastern Shore.
I had the chance to talk to him on Thursday. Most of the conversation centered around his time growing up in Salisbury and going to school in Berlin, Md. and how it helped him get to where he's at now. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Baltimore Ravens, Ben Tate, Bo Jackson, Dallas Cowboys, Emmitt Smith, Houston Texans, Michael Jordan, Walter Payton, Washington Redskins


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The other day, someone needed to talk to Michael Keasey on the phone. The boys' lacrosse practice at Corona del Mar High was over.
G.W. Mix, the coach, said it had wrapped up 30 minutes earlier. But he knew where to find Keasey.
Mix told the person wanting to speak with Keasey to wait before calling.
"He shoots a couple of 100 balls after practice," said Mix, long gone from practice, and on his way home. "The easiest way to get a hold of him is to text him and let him know who you are."
Keasey is usually the last player to leave campus after a workout.
While the rest of his teammates practice together for two hours, Keasey spends more time working. It is usually just him, his stick, some balls and the goal.
Keasey, the Daily Pilot Male Athlete of the Week, just fires away until he is happy with his shot. Mix said that usually takes 30 to 45 minutes.
Oh, and is Mix happy with Keasey and that shot of his. The junior has turned the shot into one of the most lethal at CdM, which needed a scorer after Mix's son, Ryan, graduated last year.
Is it a coincidence that it was Ryan, who taught Keasey the makeup of a scorer? Nope. It all starts with a work ethic, one that Keasey learned to appreciate while watching Ryan hone his skills when no one was around.
"He used to be the guy shooting by himself," Keasey said of Ryan, who one day last season invited Keasey to join him.
"He took me under his wing and pushed me to be as good as I can be."
Keasey has developed into the Sea Kings' leading goal scorer, a title that belonged to Ryan last season, when he produced 82 goals. Through seven matches, Keasey has recorded 18 goals. He registered three big ones last week in CdM's 8-3 win in the the Battle of the Bay at Newport Harbor.
Ryan, who is at the University of Notre Dame, would be proud with how far Keasey has come. The Sea Kings lost 17 seniors from last season's team, which advanced to the U.S. Lacrosse Orange County Southern Section Division I title game for the second straight season.
Not many starters are around from that squad this year. Keasey is one of three starters back and he has helped CdM get off to a 6-1 overall start and a perfect 4-0 record in Pacific Coast League play.
Keasey, who is humble, credits his teammates for the Sea Kings' early success during what he calls a rebuilding year. He brings up the names of the other returning starters, junior Michael Ortlieb, who moved from attacker to goalie this season, and defender Donald Dalton.
If Keasey could, he would publish the name of every teammate in the paper. That is another quality his coach appreciates.
"He has stepped up," said Mix, who is just as proud of his midfielder's play on the field as he is of his 4.3 grade-point average in school. "We're just happy to have him on our side. He represents the student-athlete really well."
Michael Keasey
Born: Feb. 2, 1994
Hometown: Newport Beach
Height: 5-foot-11
Weight: 155 pounds
Sport: Boys' lacrosse
Position: Midfielder
Coach: G.W. Mix
Favorite food: Spaghetti
Favorite movie: "Forgetting Sarah Marshall"
Favorite athletic moment: "Winning in overtime last year against Foothill in the regular season."
Week in review: Keasey scored three goals in the Sea Kings' 8-3 victory in the Battle of the Bay against Newport Harbor, making it six straight years CdM has won the rivalry game.


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Workday announced Tuesday that the Workday Big Data Analytics offering debuting this week is ready for all the data scale and variety customers can throw at it. But the company said it expects that most of its customers will want to start with more pressing, smaller-scale analyses that make use of internal data.
Workday also announced new endowment accounting functionality and a planned major new Workday Student application for the higher-education market, where the company competes head-on with PeopleSoft. But the big news of the day was Workday Big Data Analytics, a new component of Workday 20, the latest release of the company's cloud-based human capital management (HCM) and financials applications.
Workday announced plans for Big Data Analytics late last year, and, as promised, it's delivering a system capable of helping organizations "unify multiple sources, sizes and structures of data with Workday data to deliver insights business leaders need for critical workforce and financial decisions." But in the process of collaborating with approximately 20 customers to develop the system, Workday discovered that many known, internal analyses are more in demand than speculative big data opportunities.
[ Want more on cloud application progress? Read Salesforce.com, Workday Keep Cloud Momentum Rolling. ]
"We're meeting them where they are today, which is dealing with enterprise structured data primarily," said Dan Beck, Workday's VP of technology product management in a phone interview with InformationWeek. "They're interested to know that they can grow into analyses of [multistructured] data from outside the enterprise as they're ready."
Examples of data that might come from outside the enterprise might include compensation benchmarking data relevant in HR analyses or sentiments about suppliers from social networks relevant to financial analyses, Beck said.
That's not to say that Workday Big Data Analytics' ability to handle a variety of data will initially go to waste. The last mile in many desired internal analyses involves data from outside of Workday. That means it doesn't necessarily conform to Workday data models, yet business users won't have to worry about complex ETL or data transformation to make use of that information, Beck said.
Workday has developed a set of 10 prebuilt templates for the most popular types of analyses requested by customers. A prebuilt template for Retention Risk and Impact Analysis, for example, calculates employee retention-risk and impact-if-lost scores by combining compensation and performance data in Workday with external CRM data. In another example, a Customer Profitability 360 template crosses revenue and cost metrics from Workday Financials with data from third-party (but internal) systems tracking support cases filed and customer satisfaction levels.
Other templates do involve analyses of high-scale, semi-structured data sources more worthy of "big data" billing. Compensation and headcount analyses, for example, blend internal, Workday-managed payroll and HR data with external salary surveys, benchmarks, and job postings and stats from recruiting sites like Monster.com and social networks such as LinkedIn.
The infrastructure in use behind Workday Big Data Analytics says it all: The service is running on Amazon Web Services, specifically Simple Storage Service (S3) storage buckets and Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) processing. For now, the analytic software component from partner Datameer runs on top, in what amounts to a single, simple S3/EC2 node for each customer.
Datameer normally runs on top of Hadoop, the industry-standard big data platform. Workday is ready to switch to the Hadoop-based Amazon Elastic MapReduce service as data scale and variety warrant, Beck said, and plans call for the eventual behind-the-scenes deployment of Hadoop by Workday. For now, that's not necessary, Beck said.