Jul 2007
Silobreaker - Online Analyical Tool
31/07/07 13:39 Filed in: Analytical
Techniques | Tools
Online research can be a great tool but as anyone who
has used Google can attest there is a lot of
information out there and most search tools just dump
out an endless list of links. Sorting through it,
discarding the irrelevant, and putting the remainder
into some usable form is a task left to the user. Any
tool that allows the already busy Security Officer to
spend less time searching for information and more
time assessing and analysing it is of value. Silobreaker is one of
these tools. In the words of Silobreaker,
"Silobreaker looks at the data it finds like a
person does. It recognises things - companies,
people, topics, places - and puts them in
context".
While I was testing the public Beta I quickly discovered its utility. A basic search for the term 'suicide bomber' brought up the type of content you might expect but with some preliminary organization. There was a top stories pane, a search result timeline frame, an entity list, a "Quotes" pane, a more traditional search results list and a network visualization diagram. The sidebar also has a list of entities related to your search; cities, people, companies etc.
Since I'm currently in Sri Lanka I "drilled down", as Silobreaker calls it, to Sri Lanka. The result were now much more relevant and lo and behold there were items of interest and relationship that hadn't captured my attention before.
As one would expect with a Beta there is still some work to be done. Even on my relatively fast connection the site seemed slow at times. One very useful feature that counters the sluggishness is the liberal use of hover overs allowing a quick preview of content before you commit to clicking on a link or entity.
Silobreaker is currently allowing free public access to its online Beta. I recommend you give it a try and see if it meets your needs.
While I was testing the public Beta I quickly discovered its utility. A basic search for the term 'suicide bomber' brought up the type of content you might expect but with some preliminary organization. There was a top stories pane, a search result timeline frame, an entity list, a "Quotes" pane, a more traditional search results list and a network visualization diagram. The sidebar also has a list of entities related to your search; cities, people, companies etc.
Since I'm currently in Sri Lanka I "drilled down", as Silobreaker calls it, to Sri Lanka. The result were now much more relevant and lo and behold there were items of interest and relationship that hadn't captured my attention before.
As one would expect with a Beta there is still some work to be done. Even on my relatively fast connection the site seemed slow at times. One very useful feature that counters the sluggishness is the liberal use of hover overs allowing a quick preview of content before you commit to clicking on a link or entity.
Silobreaker is currently allowing free public access to its online Beta. I recommend you give it a try and see if it meets your needs.
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The Economist on Tech, Response, and NGOs
29/07/07 14:05 Filed in: Technology
| NGO Security
The economist has an interesting
article on how technology is changing the
power dynamics between NGOs and their
beneficiaries. There are even a couple of
paragraphs covering concern about how mobile
phones and similar technologies might impact on
NGO security.
NGO in a Box - Security Edition
NGO in a Box has a
Security
Edition that includes Free and Open Source
Software (FOSS) to aid NGOs in securing and
protecting their data and online activities. The
package seems ideally suited to human rights,
anti-corruption, and womens groups, as well as
independent media outlets. Any other group that
wants to protect their data from abuse, misuse,
and vandalism might want to check it out as
well.
Social Networking tools for NGO Security – Part 1
I was experimenting with Twitter when it occurred to
me that it was an ideal tool for NGO security
officers. Rather than using the service to
merely update friends on what I was having for
breakfast I could be sending out security
information alerts and updates. All my
“followers” would then get current, low cost,
security information.
This method has many advantages over the SMS security tree method commonly used by NGOs. Traditional security trees tend to fail when one or more members (the branches of the tree) do not receive or pass on the text messages they receive to those below them, typically because they are on leave or because the tree information is not up to date. Traditional trees can also be expensive. Each SMS sent by every member of the tree comes out of someone’s budget. This can add up quickly if you are sending out several messages a day to a two hundred-member security tree.
Social networking services like Twitter or Jaiku allow us to avoid these problems. Essentially Twitter and Jaiku allow the head of the security tree to send one SMS to the service’s server. The service then distributes the SMS to all the “followers” (subscribers) of the account more or less simultaneously. This means the tree still works even if members are missing. In addition you only pay for the SMS to the service’s server. SMS messages from the server to each of the followers are free*.
* Most mobile service providers only charge for text messages that are sent while those received are free.
This method has many advantages over the SMS security tree method commonly used by NGOs. Traditional security trees tend to fail when one or more members (the branches of the tree) do not receive or pass on the text messages they receive to those below them, typically because they are on leave or because the tree information is not up to date. Traditional trees can also be expensive. Each SMS sent by every member of the tree comes out of someone’s budget. This can add up quickly if you are sending out several messages a day to a two hundred-member security tree.
Social networking services like Twitter or Jaiku allow us to avoid these problems. Essentially Twitter and Jaiku allow the head of the security tree to send one SMS to the service’s server. The service then distributes the SMS to all the “followers” (subscribers) of the account more or less simultaneously. This means the tree still works even if members are missing. In addition you only pay for the SMS to the service’s server. SMS messages from the server to each of the followers are free*.
* Most mobile service providers only charge for text messages that are sent while those received are free.