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Weekly News Digest
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July 14, 2003 — In addition to this week's NewsBreaks article and the monthly NewsLink Spotlight, Information Today, Inc. (ITI) offers Weekly News Digests that feature recent product news and company announcements. Watch for additional coverage to appear in the next print issue of Information Today.
CLICK HERE to view more Weekly News Digest items.
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New Site to Provide Data for Government Information Awareness
On July 4, the Computing Culture group of the MIT Media Lab launched a new site for a research effort called Government Information Awareness (GIA; http://opengov.mit.media.edu/). It aims to provide software and data "to help citizens understand the complexities of their government." The group says it was motivated by the (controversial) Defense Advanced Research Program Administration's (DARPA) Terrorism Information Awareness (TIA) program, which seeks to gather, consolidate, and analyze information about Americans and foreigners. (Note: TIA was originally named Total Information Awareness but the name was changed. For more information, http://www.darpa.mil/body/tia/terrorism_info_aware.htm.)The premise of GIA is that individual citizens have the right to know details about government, while government has the power to know details about citizens. Its goal is to develop a technology that "empowers citizens to form a sort of intelligence agency; gathering, sorting, and acting on information they gather about the government." In addition to including data from public sources, the site allows individuals to contribute information, while retaining anonymity, but while also being identified as a consistent source. Any subject of a submission — whether individual, agency, or organization — is notified of the submission and asked to respond. Source: MIT Media Lab, Computing Culture
Autonomy to Acquire Virage
Autonomy Corp., PLC, a provider of infrastructure software for the enterprise, announced it will acquire Virage, Inc., a provider of video and rich media communication software. The companies will include Autonomy's Dremedia video technology (whose customers include the BBC and CNN) and Autonomy's infrastructure software in the Virage products. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including the approval of Virage's stockholders. The transaction is expected to be completed late in the third quarter of 2003 with combined products available the following quarter.Autonomy said that the transaction would enable it to further extend the adoption of Autonomy's Intelligent Data Operating Layer (IDOL) as the key infrastructure for the automated management of all forms of unstructured information. It will also significantly broaden Autonomy's installed base of enterprise, media and entertainment, educational, and government customers. Virage bring a customer base of over 400 companies, including Bloomberg, Citigroup, CNN, Coca-Cola, the FBI, General Electric, Microsoft, MIT, the United Nations, and multiple U.S. federal agencies. Virage, headquartered in San Mateo, Calif., has offices throughout the U.S. and Europe. Virage solutions include VS Production for streamlining of professional video work flow, VS Publishing for developing content into Internet programming, and VS Webcasting for planning and producing interactive, live and on-demand Webcasts. Autonomy has its headquarters in San Francisco and in Cambridge, U.K., and has offices around the world. Autonomy's customer base includes more than 600 global organizations. Source: Autonomy
Nstein and Context Media Offer Integrated Solution
Nstein Technologies, Inc., a provider of software applications for managing unstructured data, announced the integration of its Nserver software suite with Context Media Interchange Suite, an Enterprise Content Integration software solution from Context Media, Inc. Together, the two products will make it easier for organizations to manage, distribute, and access digital content stored in disparate content management, document management, and digital asset management systems across an enterprise.The companies said they have completed the first sale of the joint solution to a large U.S.-based e-publishing company. The customer has asked to remain confidential at this time. Dan Harple, Context Media's CEO, said, "The combination of Nstein's automated indexing software and our Enterprise Content Integration solution will enable our customers to maximize the value of their information and technology investments across the enterprise." Source: Nstein Technologies, Inc.
Send correspondence concerning the Weekly News Digest to NewsBreaks Editor
Brandi Scardilli
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