text:
|Publication number
|Publication type
|Application number
|Publication date
|Oct 24, 2006
|Filing date
|Sep 30, 2002
|Priority date
|May 17, 2002
|Fee status
|Also published as
|Publication number
|Shai Agassi, Brian Willis
|Original Assignee
|Sap Aktiengesellschaft
|Export Citation
|BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan
|Patent Citations (49), Non-Patent Citations (19), Referenced by (70), Classifications (16), Legal Events (4)
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet
This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/380,863, titled "Enhancing Information Portals with Supplemental Contextual Content," filed May 17, 2002, and from U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/380,834, titled "Personalizing Portal Content Dynamically," filed May 17, 2002, and from U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/380,864, titled "Rich Media Information Portals," filed May 17, 2002, which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes.
Certain disclosed implementations relate generally to the provision of information, and, more particularly, to providing content that supplements previously-provided information.
Technologies exist which allow users to designate categories of information in which desired content may be presented. For example, web sites may allow users to select categories from a variety of different sources and content providers. Such sites are generally known as "portals," and provide a central gateway through which users can be presented with options and links to various information sources. In this way, users can check, for example, their stocks, mail, local weather, sports scores, and movie listings.
In another example, portals are capable of providing categorized content in disparate pieces (sometimes referred to as "iViews"), where each iView and its associated content can be aggregated into a single delivery package (for example, a web page). Users may select a category of content to be included within each iView, and may generally choose which iView(s) to see and exercise some control over how it is positioned inside the aggregated result.
Once personalized, however, the result is static. That is, the set of iViews shown is constant, as well as the order in which iViews within the set are shown. The content of each iView is likely to change over time (for example, actual news headlines), but its overall subject is usually static (for example, company news).
Other techniques exist that attempt to provide users with content that will be of particular interest to each user. For example, web sites may track items such as books and Digital Video Disks ("DVDs") based on attributes of such items, such as title, author, performer, and genre. By tracking previously-purchased books and DVDs, registered users may be presented with a web page offering items with similar attributes.
Various implementations extend a portal system to provide the capability of displaying supplemental contextual information based on content that is already shown. One implementation looks for metadata that each iView contains (for example, an article about Intel will contain metadata indicating that it is about a "Company" called "Intel") and, based on this metadata, includes supplemental iViews that are related to this metadata (for example a stock ticker iView that will show the current stock price of Intel).
Other implementations may be used in connection with a non-portal system, such as a system in which a pool of articles is accumulated before a user signs on to the system. In these systems, the articles in the pool may be ranked and/or filtered according to criteria such as user preferences, and supplemental content can be generated before or after the ranking/filtering process.
Other implementations may be used in connection with a news information service, in which a publisher of supplemental contextual information eavesdrops on the news information service for messages concerning topics about which the publisher has, or can obtain, supplemental content. Recipients of the original message(s) can thus receive the supplemental content, as well.
Thus, various implementations provide a means to dynamically supplement displayed information based on the content of the information, and to thereby enhance the user experience by displaying such supplemental contextual content.
In one general aspect, supplementing content may include inputting a primary media asset, where the primary media asset includes primary content having individual elements and primary content metadata. The primary content metadata may include the individual elements and a characterization of the individual elements. Supplemental content logic may be accessed, where the supplemental content logic may include rules for the selection of supplemental content based on the primary content metadata. The supplemental media asset may be output based on the supplemental content logic.
The primary media asset and the supplemental media asset may be aggregated for delivery to a user. The primary media asset and the supplemental media asset may be delivered to the user, perhaps electronically. The delivery may include formatting a first frame for displaying the primary content, and formatting a second frame for displaying the supplemental content.
The supplemental content logic includes preference information related to the user. The supplemental media asset may include supplemental content and supplemental content metadata characterizing individual elements of the supplemental content. The supplemental content logic may specify a particular topic that is specified by the supplemental content metadata, for inclusion in the supplemental media asset.
The supplemental media asset may be output by determining a primary discussion object within the primary content metadata, and the supplemental content selection rule specifies that the supplemental content should include the primary discussion object.
When the supplemental media asset is output, an amount of space available for displaying the supplemental media assets to the user may be determined, and the amount of space available may be included in the supplemental content logic. The supplemental content logic may include information related to an availability to a user of a rendering medium.
The primary media asset may be input, the supplemental content logic may be accessed, and the supplemental media asset may be output electronically.
The primary media asset and the supplemental media asset may be delivered to the user in a first and a second frame, respectively. The first frame and the second frame may be a first iView and a second iView, respectively.
The supplemental content logic may include an importance level assigned to the primary content metadata.
The primary media asset and the supplemental media asset may be aggregated by assembling a pool of primary media assets, filtering the pool of primary media assets to obtain a filtered pool, prioritizing each primary media asset within the filtered pool (based on a preference of the user), and delivering the primary media assets and the supplemental media asset to the user.
In this case, the primary media asset and the supplemental media asset may be aggregated by including a plurality of supplemental media assets with the pool of primary media assets before the filtering and the prioritizing of the primary media assets. Alternatively, the primary media asset and the supplemental media asset may be aggregated by selecting a supplemental media asset for delivery with the primary media assets based on the filtering and the prioritizing of the primary media assets.
Additionally, multiple supplemental media assets may be output and stored, so that at least one of the supplemental media assets may be selected for delivery to a user upon a request from the user.
In another general aspect, a system for aggregating content may include an article reader operable to output a primary article, the primary article including primary content and primary content metadata characterizing individual elements of the primary content. The system may also include a storage device operable to store a supplemental content selection rule, and a supplemental content selector operable to select a supplemental article for delivery to the user, the supplemental article containing supplemental content and supplemental content metadata relating to individual elements of the supplemental content, the supplemental article being selected based on the primary content metadata, the supplemental content metadata and the supplemental content selection rule. Also, a pagination engine may be included that is operable to aggregate the primary article and the supplemental article into personalized content.
The content selection rule may include information about a type of rendering medium available to the user for rendering the supplemental article. The content selection rule may alternatively or additionally include an amount of space available to the user for rendering the supplemental article. The content selection rule may alternatively or additionally include information relating to a display or content preference of the user.
The primary content metadata may include an importance level of the primary content, and the content selection rule may include information related to selecting the supplemental article according to the importance level.
The pagination engine may be operable to format a first frame for display of the primary article, and a second frame for display of the supplemental article.
The supplemental content selector may generate the supplemental article for selection and delivery to the user.
In another general aspect, in an apparatus including a storage medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions may include a number of code segments. A first code segment may be for accessing a primary article, the primary article including primary content and primary content metadata characterizing individual elements of the primary content. A second code segment may be for implementing a display for displaying at least some of the articles, the display having a first subsection and a second subsection. A third code segment may be for associating the primary article with the first subsection. A fourth code segment for generating a supplemental article containing supplemental content and supplemental content metadata, the supplemental content metadata including individual elements of the supplemental content, based on the primary content metadata, the supplemental content metadata and a content selection rule. A fifth code segment may be for associating the supplemental article with the second subsection.
The first and second subsections may display the primary article and the supplemental article, respectively.
In another general aspect, a system for rendering content may include a media asset reader operable to access media assets. The system may also include a frame generator operable to generate a set of frames in a display format in which a subset of the media assets is to be displayed, and further operable to generate a supplemental frame in the display format. The system may also include a supplemental content generator operable to determine a supplemental media asset, based on supplemental content metadata within the supplemental media asset and on content selection rules, for inclusion within the supplemental frame.
Each media asset in the subset may include content and content metadata characterizing the content, and the supplemental content generator may determine a supplemental media asset based on the content metadata.
The supplemental content generator may be further operable to determine the supplemental media asset based on preference metadata associated with a user. The frame generator may be further operable to dynamically size the set of frames and the supplemental frame, based on an amount of space available for display and preference metadata associated with a user.
In another general aspect, a system for delivering content may include means for selecting a number of articles, means for analyzing the number of articles to determine related articles, means for aggregating the number of articles and the related articles, and means for delivering the number of articles and the related articles to a user.
The details of one or more implementations are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features will be apparent from the description, the drawings, and the claims.
Article generator 105 may utilize various techniques for gathering and publishing information as discrete articles. For example, article generator 105 may utilize software agents to gather appropriate information (agents are generally defined as automatons running on a scheduled basis and querying a data source for information and either producing or not producing content based in part on the result of that query).
The use of the term "article" in this context generally refers to a discrete collection of information that may include content and information about the content. Information about the content may include high-level attributes of the article, such as its author or general subject heading (for example, sports or weather). The information about the article also may include portions of the actual content itself used to articulate content metadata, perhaps in the form of "discussion objects."
In general, discussion objects are considered to be conceptual or tangible objects that are mentioned (discussed) as part of an article. This may include words, phrases, graphics, sequence of notes in an audio file, or some other aspect of the content of the article. Similarly, "discussion classes" are the types, or categories, of discussion objects. For example, an article about a discussion class of "computer manufacturers" may mention discussion objects "Intel" many times, while only mentioning "Dell" infrequently. Discussion objects and/or discussion classes may be categorized within a particular article as, for example, primary or secondary with respect to that article. Also, discussion objects and/or classes may overlap to some extent with the high-level attribute information.
Articles may be, for example, text, video, audio, Hyper-text Markup Language ("HTML") files, or another available rendering medium, or a combination of two or more of these media. Articles may contain the same piece of content in multiple forms, and may permit generation of one type of content from another, as discussed below. Therefore, an article may also be referred to as a "media asset," message, or another similar term describing such information to be passed on to a user. Content of an article may include a publicly-available web page (or portion thereof), an internal electronic mail, an individual's personal contact information, weather information, or a set of stock quotes. Content also may be obtained from specific applications, such as a profit and loss report of a company, an OLAP report, a "print-out" of a sales order, or many other examples of discrete pieces of content to be made available to the user(s).
Various object models may exist for describing how the content metadata should be generated, characterized, and interpreted. An object model includes a definition of permissible discussion objects and the classes to which these objects belong. These object models may differ in different contexts; for example, Intel might be a "customer" to one enterprise and a "supplier" to another. Multiple object models can therefore be implemented in conjunction with a context of a particular article; that is, Intel might be characterized as both/either a customer and/or a supplier for a particular article.
Articles may be additionally output to a supplemental content selector 125. Supplemental content selector 125 analyzes the attribute information and content metadata associated with each article, and compares this information against a set of rules contained in a supplemental content logic database 130. Supplemental content selector 125 may then gather information from information sources 110 and/or 135 (that is, may use the information sources 110 available to article generator 105, as well as other information sources 135), and thereafter publish supplemental articles 140. In one implementation, the primary and secondary articles may be published in the Extensible Markup Language ("XML") or in HTML.
There may be many different rules that can be implemented as supplemental content logic. For example, one rule may state that supplemental content should always be generated for a particular company or other discussion object. Another rule may state that supplemental content should be provided for a particular discussion object if it is mentioned in some threshold number of primary articles in database 115. Other rules may be used, as discussed below and/or as would be apparent in a particular implementation.
In this and related implementations, it should be understood that the term article could also be considered to extend to the entirety of the iView itself, even in the situation where the iView contains a plurality of different stories. That is, given that supplemental content is selected based on content of an iView, as explained in more detail below, all of the content generated by code associated with the iView (that is, the content of the iView), can be considered one article for the purpose of generating supplemental content therefrom.
It should be understood that articles generated by article generator 105 will not generally exist prior to a time that user 210 requests a portal page from system 205. That is, when user 210 logs onto system 205 and receives (and/or refreshes) a corresponding portal page, system 205 actuates article generator 105 and retrieves information from information sources 110 to formulate articles for delivery to user 210. This article generation may be as simple as obtaining a previously-written news article from an on-line newspaper, or it may be more complicated, such as accessing a database to withdraw requested data and compose a user-specific story from that data.
This technique of article generation should be differentiated from the technique of compiling a pool of articles before user 210 (or other users) even logs onto system 205. An example of a system that can compile articles for (and associate subsets of the articles with each of) a plurality of users before receiving a request from any of the users is discussed below, and is described in detail in U.S. application Ser. No. 10/231,440, titled "Dynamic Presentation of Personalized Content" and filed Aug. 30, 2002, and in U.S. application Ser. No. 10/231,459, titled "Rich Media Information Portals" and filed Aug. 30, 2002, which are each incorporated by reference for all purposes.
In other words, it should be understood that the difference between a portal system, as that term is used herein, and the systems in the above-referenced disclosures, is that the former type of systems are generally "query" systems, in which data is obtained in a reactive manner. That is, data is generally obtained only after a user (or other) request, and based on the request. In contrast, the latter types of systems are generally "reverse-query" systems, in which data is obtained proactively (for example, on a periodic basis), prioritized with respect to a particular user, associated with the user and stored for delivery to the user if and when that user logs onto the system.
Pagination engine 230 is generally used to describe a portion of system 205 that interacts with user 210 to receive a request, a user preference, and/or a system capability (where the user preference and the system capability may or may not be part of the request). Pagination engine 230 may then act to deliver a portal page and associated iViews (having category-appropriate articles contained therein) to user 210, with the iViews being arranged in a manner determined by user 210 during an initial portal set-up.
The user system capabilities may be stored in a user system capability database 235, and the user preferences may be stored in a user preference database 240. It should be understood that user preference database 240 is generically used to refer to an ability of system 205 to store any user preferences. For example, user preference database 240 may store information used by article generator 105 to generate primary articles. User preference database 240 may also store the user-determined layout or arrangement of the iViews on the user's portal page.
User preference database 240 may also store preferences of the user 210 with respect to supplemental articles. Thus, data stored within user system capability database 235 and user preference database 240 may be used by supplemental content selector 125 in conjunction with other information stored in a supplemental content logic database 245 to generate articles that supplement the primary articles generated by article generator 105. The supplemental articles, similarly to primary articles, may be cached in a database 250 within database 220, or may be generated on an as-needed basis (and therefore not cached at all).
As discussed above with respect to
In one implementation of system 205, supplemental content selector 125 may generate supplemental content based simply on the appearance of a particular topic or subject in articles output by article generator 105. In other implementations, the supplemental content selector 125 may be more specific to user 210 than simply specifying a particular topic or subject. For example, the supplemental content selector 125 may select supplemental content based on supplemental content logic 245, where supplemental content logic 245 includes rules that are personalized to each of a plurality of users, including user 210.
Based on the explanation above with respect to
Similar comments apply to other iViews shown in
Finally, in the screen shot 300 of
Articles within the various iViews each contain content metadata, as explained above with respect to
Discussion objects may be identified in the content of an article by displaying them in a different color than remaining text, highlighting them, underlining them, or using another technique for identifying them to user 210. On the other hand, discussion objects could simply be incorporated into the article as metadata, without explicitly identifying them visually in the content at all.
It should be understood that, in conventional systems, a user would not expect to see, and indeed would not see, the supplemental information about George Simmons; that is, such information is different from what the types of information the user selected for receiving when setting up the primary iViews. Thus, the supplemental information may be a valuable tool for gaining the user's attention with respect to a particular topic. Given that supplemental content will often be generated for the most important articles/content within the primary iViews, the user's attention will thus be drawn to the more important articles/content, as well. For example, the supplemental article about George Simmons in this example, may allow or remind user 210 to contact George Simmons regarding the meeting discussed in the article of iView 310.
The amount of space 325 reserved for supplemental content, and/or a number of iViews to be included in space 325, may be determined by user 210. In iView 410, content about only one discussion object ("George Simmons" 355) is included. However, more than one discussion object can be included in each article within supplemental or contextual iViews 405/410. For example, in iView 405, content about each of the discussion objects 335, 340, 345, and 350 is included.
Since space is limited for inclusion of supplemental content, and as referred to above, various rules may be included in supplemental content logic database 245 for determining what content is generated by supplemental content selector 125 for inclusion in space 325. For example, supplemental content selector 125 may use a priority system to determine iView categories and/or discussion objects for which to generate supplemental content. Such priorities may be determined, for example, by user 210 and/or the enterprise deploying system 205.
Supplemental content selector 125 may also examine a particular discussion object to determine, for example, how often it is mentioned in a particular primary article(s). If the discussion object is mentioned a certain number of times, it might be prioritized as a basis for supplemental content.
In short, system 205 may be used to include supplemental content in the context of an otherwise-conventional portal environment. Users may thus be provided with information (that is, the supplemental information) that may be useful or interesting to them, in addition to information provided in conventional portal environments.
Supplemental content selector 125 may also be used in contexts outside of conventional portal environments. For example,
Information referencing the articles is passed on to a content-based router 520. Although entire articles could be passed through the system 505, other techniques may be used. For example, only links to corresponding articles need be circulated through system 505, with the articles themselves remaining stored in database 515. As another example, such links may be circulated with the associated attribute and/or content metadata, but without the content itself; in this way, the article may be processed (as discussed below), without actually having to circulate the article in its entirety.
Content-based router 520 examines each article with respect to its content, associated attributes, and/or content metadata, for example, discussion objects, and compares this information to information stored for individual users. For example, an Access Control List ("ACL") database 525 contains a security clearance for each user with respect to various subjects, so that a user who is not cleared to receive certain information within an article will not receive that article. A user preference database 530 contains information about each user, for example, the extent to which a user likes or dislikes a particular subject, or the type of device(s) on which the user may be receiving the articles.
A router capable of routing articles based on content as described herein may be built and/or utilized to implement system 505. One type of router that is capable of performing the functionality of content-based router 520 is known as Elvin and is produced by the Distributed Systems Technology Centre (DSTC). The DSTC is an Australian-based joint venture supported by the Australian Government's Cooperative Research Centres Program and over 24 participating organizations, and intended to develop enterprise infrastructure(s). Other types of content-based services include Gryphon, produced by IBM, and Keryx, a Java-notification service by Hewlett Packard.
User preferences for populating user preference database 525 can be obtained by a number of techniques. For example, the preferences could be gained by asking users to fill out a preference form before gaining access to system 505. As another example, the preferences can be modified over time by obtaining feedback from the users.
By accessing databases 530 and 525, content-based router 520 is able to filter articles that are restricted from or are of no interest to a particular user. The action of content-based router 520 thus eases the burden on a personalized article processor ("PAP") 535, which has the job of individually prioritizing the remaining articles. The prioritization may be based on a comparison of contents of the user preference database 525 to the content and to the content metadata/attributes of each article. Accordingly, individually-sorted articles may be stored in a sorted articles database 540, where articles for user 210 are stored with their corresponding priority information for that user in database portion 545. The priority information may be associated with an article by, for example, storing the information in a table or storing articles in a prioritized order.
Articles in database 545 may thus be presented to a user, as discussed in more detail below. Additionally, supplemental articles may be generated by supplemental content selector 125 operating in conjunction with user system capability database 225, user preference database 525, and a supplemental content logic database 550 (and possibly with ACL database 530, connection not shown). The supplemental articles may be stored in database 555.
A pagination engine 560 may thus gain access to two sets of articles associated with, and prioritized with respect to, an individual user. Pagination engine 560 will typically have access to characteristics of the client system being used by each user, which may be stored in user system capability database 225, or determined from the user request at the time of the request.
Pagination engine 560 determines a layout of the canvas being used by each user, using a canvas layout subsystem 565. In this context, the term "canvas" includes any rendering media in which articles may be presented. Canvas examples include web pages (on desktop computers, laptops, Personal Digital Assistants ("PDAs"), web-enabled cell phones, etc.), audio (for example, cell phone or radio), video (for example, television or Motion Picture Expert Group ("MPEG") player), or another type of device capable of receiving content within an article and presenting it to the user.
Since, as a practical matter, a canvas will typically have capacity limitations, one of the services of the canvas layout subsystem 565 within pagination engine 560 is to determine how much "space" is available to the user for displaying articles. For example, a web browser on a PDA typically will be able to display a smaller number of articles than a browser on a desktop computer. As another example, a user who receives audio articles via cell phone or radio only may have twenty minutes during a car ride during which to listen to articles. In short, canvas layout subsystem 565 determines any user-specific capacity constraints when deciding which articles to provide to a given user.
A content-type selector 570 determines which rendering media are available to the user for the selected canvas, and which articles are consistent, or can be made to be consistent, with that media. For example, content-type selector 570 may determine that a canvas has audio and HTML capabilities, but not video.
Finally within pagination engine 560, a media-type enabler 575 is available to enable a rendering media that would not ordinarily be available to the user (based on the content type(s) of the articles), when feasible and desired. One example of this feature is the capability of reading aloud to the user an email that is included as an article. Another example is the generation of an animation of a newscaster, complete with moving lips, to read aloud a print story to the user.
For example, content-type selector 570 may determine from user system capability database 225 that a system for user 210 has audio capability. Pagination engine 560 may then determine from user preference database 525 that user 210 prefers to have text content read to him or her, rather than having the text content displayed on a screen. Pagination engine 560 may then use media type enabler 575 to convert the text content to an audio format.
During a final portion of the pagination process, pagination engine 560 aggregates the selected articles, in their selected formats, and delivers a personalized "page" of information to the user 210, so that the user 210 receives articles for rendering that are of the most interest to him or her at a given point in time (or that the system determines the user should/must see, even if the user has expressed non-interest in such an article, such as a direction from the user's boss, or an article about a "hot" topic of the day). Here, it should be understood that a page refers to the aggregated articles, regardless of the rendering method. A system(s) of user 210 may thus receive information suitable for rendering a page of information consistently with the user's respective system capabilities and requirements.
System 505 may also receive feedback from a user to be recorded in user preference database 525, so that the pages increasingly become better-personalized to each user as time goes by.
System 505 may be implemented in an enterprise environment, as discussed above, for the convenience of employees and/or customers of the enterprise. Implementations may be utilized via various other private networks, such as, for example, a university or other school network. Implementations, additionally or alternatively, may be provided to members of the public at large, via the Internet.
It should be understood that the system 505 may thus provide dynamic, personalized content to the user 210, and that this content may be supplemented with supplemental content that is selected based on the personalized content. This implementation has various differences from the implementation described above with respect to
Thus, in the implementation of
In conjunction with the above-described features of the implementation of
Another selection option includes supplemental content selector 125 selecting supplemental content only for articles having a certain priority level, or only for articles having the highest priority level. Similarly, another presentation option includes the ability to re-size the space 325 reserved for supplemental content, as needed. For example, if user 210 specifies that supplemental content is only desired for one discussion class, such as "Company News," and there is little or no company news to be shown in a current rendering for the user 210, then the space 325 may be reduced or removed, so that other articles may be included in that space. Other selection and presentation options exist for including supplemental content in the implementation of
Additionally, supplemental content selector 125 need not select supplemental articles only from among the non-presented articles in database 545. Rather, supplemental content selector 125 may access the entire article pool stored in database 515, or may access external information sources 135 (or 110, connection not shown). In such cases, supplemental content selector 125 may generate articles in the manner described with respect to article generator 105 in
Also in the implementation of
Finally with respect to
In other words, in system 505, as just explained, articles may be collected in a pool (and prioritized/filtered), stored in a database, and associated with a user all prior to a specific user request. The articles then may or may not be aggregated in a rich media setting (that is, a setting that includes the possibility of incorporating various types of media in a content delivery).
It should be understood that article processor 610 is a simple processing engine for associating iViews/articles to be generated based on a user request, and does not require the capabilities of content-based router 520 and/or personalized article processor 535 shown in system 505 of
Pagination engine 560 communicates with both article processor 610 and user system 210. Pagination engine 560, as already described, will typically have access to characteristics of the client system being used by each user, determined either from user preference database 615, user system capability database 225, or from the user request at the time of the request.
In this way, pagination engine 560 determines a layout for the canvas being used by each user, using canvas layout subsystem 565. As described above, one of the services of the canvas layout subsystem 565 is to determine how much "space" is available to the user for displaying articles, as well as any other user-specific capacity constraints relevant to deciding which articles to provide to the user(s).
Content-type selector 570 may then determine which rendering media are available to the user for the selected canvas, and which articles are consistent, or can be made to be consistent, with that media. Media-type enabler 575 is available to utilize a type of media that would not normally be available to the user.
In the implementation of
Thus in
In short,
In one implementation, rich media is made available to systems 505 and 605 by incorporating various content-types within content blocks within the article, each content-type conveying similar information and having at least some segment of the content. See, for example, the article in
In short, system 205 of
The term wire originates as a reference to distribution services used by news services such as the Associated Press ("AP"), which publishes news stories to be distributed nationally and used by national and/or local paper. In the context of this description, the term wire may refer to many different types of information distribution services. For example, the wire 710 may be a collection of servers connected thru computer networks, and perhaps sending/receiving HTML, XML, simple text, and/or other types of content. Such servers may support the functionality of wire 710 by means of specialized software, such as a messaging system like Java Messaging Service ("JMS").
Generally speaking, wire 710 may refer to any separation layer between the publishers and clients receiving published content. Wire 710 could thus be a bus (for example, JMS or Elvin), or could simply be a file system or a table in a database. Wire 710 could also simply be the Application Program Interface ("API") to a publishing system, or simply an electronic mail ("email") inbox.
In short, wire 710 may be an information distribution service that supports publishing articles and/or messages, receiving the articles/messages, listening for specific types of articles/messages, and selectively receiving specific types of article/messages thereof. Additionally, the term "stream" may be used to represent a flow of articles, messages, or other information on the wire.
Generally speaking, a characteristic of a messaging system such as wire 710 is a separation between a sender such as primary publisher 705 and a recipient. The structure of the messages is such that any client connected to the wire 710 can easily create a message and transmit it over the wire 710. In order for the sender to send a message to the recipient, the sender may utilize, for example, a direct address of the recipient. However, it is not necessary that the sender know such a direct address. For example, in the case of content-based messaging (discussed in more detail below), the sender need not know where or even who the recipient is; rather, the sender may merely send messages over wire 710, and trust that the wire 710 will, based on the content of the messages, ensure that users interested in such content will actually receive the messages.
Thus, the wire 710 may act as a mediator between senders and recipients. This layer of separation enables several advantageous features in the system of
Various techniques exist for routing messages on a wire. First, in direct addressing, each recipient has a unique address. Publishers who want to send content to that recipient need to know this address. Email systems are an example of such a system.
Second, in channel-based addressing, recipients may subscribe to a channel or to a family of channels. Publishers send content to channels, not to recipients directly. This provides for means to multi-cast messages to multiple recipients who expressed interest in a specific topic. A good example is a newsgroup, where people may join and thereafter receive all emails addressed to the group as a whole. In addition, users may opt to unsubscribe from the group.
As a final example, content based messaging (CBM) allows recipients to describe their subscription based on the content of the message. A recipient specifies that he would like to receive messages only if they contain something specific. This provides for the ultimate separation between senders and recipients. Senders simply broadcast their messages, which thereafter get routed only to interested consumers. As referred to above in the context of
In any of the above-described messaging schemes, messages may reach users such as a user 725 and/or a user 730 via wire 710. Since the messages will often be in a format (for example, an XML file) that may be unreadable to an average human recipient, it may be necessary to include client systems 735 or 740. As shown in
Clients 735 and/or 740 may be capable of rendering the messages in a format suitable for use by users 725 and 730, respectively, and in accordance with the client's capabilities. For example, client application 740 running on user system 730 may be an application designed simply to render text of a message to the user, perhaps as a "ticker" at the bottom of a screen of the user. In contrast, a more complex client system such as client 735 may be able to render messages in a plurality of formats to a plurality of users. Examples of client system 735 are discussed below with respect to
Contextual publisher 745 also may act as a client or subscriber to wire 710. Contextual publisher 745, unlike primary publisher 705, does not generally initiate generation of new content. Instead, contextual publisher 745 eavesdrops on the wire 710 for information that it recognizes, and for which it has (or can generate) relevant information. When such information is recognized, the contextual publisher 745 accesses or creates a message that is related to the recognized information in some way, and publishes the accessed/created message on the wire 710, addressing the accessed/created message to the same user(s) identified in the original, eavesdropped message (that is, the recognized information).
Contextual publisher 745 generally contains a message reader 750 that monitors the wire 710 for articles in which the contextual publisher has expertise. That is, contextual publisher 745 can be regarded as an expert in a specific field or category, and will generally publish supplemental content when such supplemental content is, in fact, relevant to a particular article or message. This is represented in
Supplemental content selector 125, as generally described above, receives as to input supplemental content logic from database 755, as well as messages from message reader 750, and outputs messages back onto the wire. The supplemental messages may be accessed from/or generated using information sources 135. The supplemental messages also may be stored in supplemental articles database 760, so that contextual publisher 745 can transmit the messages more quickly the next time contextual publisher intercepts a related message from primary publisher 705.
An example of a contextual publisher 745 might be one that listens on a news wire for articles (embodied as messages) regarding Standard and Poor ("S&P") 500 companies. Whenever one is detected, the contextual publisher 745 generates a new message with the stock quote for that company. Since the discussed company is in the news for a given day, it is likely that recipients of that original message will be also interested in the stock quote message as well.
For the example of
Contextual publisher 745 may be thought of as a consumer and a publisher at the same time. That is, contextual publisher 745 both receives messages and sends new messages.
Next, in a time period 925, primary publisher 705 b publishes message B 810, which is received by contextual publisher 745 later in time period 915. Determining that it has expertise about the subject matter of message B 810, contextual publisher 745 publishes the related message B′ 815, which is then passed on (through wire 710) to consumer 735/740 in a time period 930, during which the consumer 735/740 is again online. Message B 810 is received by consumer 735/740 later in time period 930.
It should be understood from
One advantageous reason to produce supplemental, contextual content is to provide consumers with information regarding stories they already find interesting. In this regard,
Contextual publisher 745 thus increases the likelihood that users will receive sufficient information on topics that they find interesting, without overburdening either the users or the system(s) delivering the information to the users. In other words, conventional system may be capable of delivering much of the content that a user may find interesting; however, delivering all available content (for example, all stock quotes currently available) would make it difficult for the user to sift through the content to find useful information (for example, a particular stock quote). Even if a client application of a user were implemented for prioritizing such content, the client application itself may become overburdened.
With contextual publisher 745, however, the user may only receive information that the contextual publisher 745 may infer will be useful. In this way, a burden on both the user and the user's client application is reduced, and the likelihood of the user receiving information that is both interesting and useful to the user may be increased.
Contextual publisher 745 can be implemented in different ways, depending on the addressing scheme being used. For example, with direct addressing, all messages are generally routed directly to the consumer. Thus, because contextual publisher 745 does not impersonate a specific consumer, the contextual publisher 745 does not have access to the messages. In order to enable content enrichment in this environment, contextual publisher 745 may be run in a privileged environment where it has access to all messages. In the privileged environment, contextual publisher 745 can analyze each message and, where applicable, generate a supplemental message. In most cases in this type of scenario, the supplemental message will be addressed to the addressee of the original message.
For example, a contextual publisher for an email system may be installed on the email server itself. It would therefore have access to all incoming and outgoing emails, and would be able to process them. If an email contains a subject that the contextual publisher 745 feels it has something to contribute to, it may generate a new email with supplemental content (or append the supplemental content to the email with the primary content).
In the example of channel-based subscriptions, the contextual publisher 745 can act as a regular subscriber and subscribe to the channel like anybody else. When a new message comes in to the channel, all users, including the contextual publisher 745, will receive it. At this point, the contextual publisher 745 can process the message and may choose to publish a new message that is based on the original one. In some cases the new message will be directed to the same channel, since it is likely to deal with the same topic as the original message. In others, it may be directed to another channel.
For example, assume a messaging system with a channel for customer complaints. A contextual publisher 745 may eavesdrop on (subscribe to) this channel and process all incoming complaints. Out of each message, the contextual publisher 745 may extract the customer who complained and generate a full customer report for that customer. This report may then be broadcast (via the wire 710) on another channel.
With content-based messaging, ("CBM"), the contextual publisher 745 is free to use the fine-grained subscription mechanism to subscribe to only those messages for which it has (or can obtain or generate) supplemental content. This reduces the overhead of processing messages that will not generate supplemental content. Once a message does pass through to the contextual publisher 745, the contextual publisher 745 generates the supplemental message and publishes it. Moreover, in the CBM environment, as long as the right metadata is included in the supplemental message, the message will find its way to the right consumers.
For example, the contextual publisher 745 may subscribe only to messages that contain metadata about companies. Once received, the contextual publisher 745 will thus look up the quotes, generate a new message (making sure to mark it with the same metadata as the old message) and publish it to the wire. Because the metadata is the same and because consumers subscribe based on metadata, those consumers that receive the original message are very likely to receive the supplemental message.
Because there could be several contextual publishers, some might produce supplemental content that is based on another's supplemental content (as opposed to an original message of a primary publisher). This may produce a cascade effect of messages. If needed, it is possible to eliminate cascading by preventing contextual publishers from receiving messages of anyone but primary publishers. Alternatively, if cascading is desired, its flow may be controlled in other means to prevent an overflow of messages and, even in extreme situations, an infinite feedback loop between publishers.
Meanwhile, a newsbot 1130 and a newsbot 1135 may read news articles from various other individual sources, such as a news source 1140 and a news source 1145, respectively, and store the articles as messages within a local database (not shown). The newsbots 1130 and 1135 may be, for example, software agents as described above, and may be collecting information about stocks in the news.
Each newsbot 1130 and 1135 subscribes to messages on CBM infrastructure 1125 to receive messages that contain stock quotes and are not generated by any other newsbot. Each newsbot 1130 and 1135 publishes messages that contain, for example, the ticker symbol contained in the original message, the name of the newsbot that published the message, and a Uniform Resource Locator ("URL") that points to the original news story on the web (i.e., the original message which triggered the collection of the stock quote(s)). Alternatively, the newsbot 1130 or 1135 may publish a message that contains the news story and stock quote(s) directly, rather than pointing to their location on the web.
A client 1150 subscribes to those messages that contain symbols that an associated user (not shown) is interested in.
Finally, an HTML bot 1155 subscribes to all messages that contain a stock symbol, and stores incoming messages in an internal database. Upon the fulfillment of some predetermined rule or condition for generating contextual content, the HTML bot may generate a webpage containing at least the stock symbol(s)/quote(s) (and possibly also the original news story), and placed on a webserver 1160. Then, a new message is generated containing the original message containing the stock symbol, the name of the HTML bot that published the message, and a URL pointing to the generated webpage.
Using client system 1205, user 210 has access to the advantageous features of prioritization and/or filtering that increase the likelihood that the user 210 will receive messages in which he or she is actually interested. Further, supplemental articles can be put into the pool and prioritized along with all the other (that is, the primary) articles, so that a supplemental article that has a relatively low priority will not be shown to user 210. This feature may be particularly helpful when messages are emailed to the user 210, since it will help keep the user 210 from feeling that his or her email inbox has been "spammed," or overwhelmed with uninteresting information. Moreover, system 1205 may include a ratings system for each discussion object, whereby user 210 will be able to rate a particular discussion object or entire message as particularly interesting or disinteresting. This rating may be stored in user preference database 525, so that, over time, the user 210 will be more and more likely to receive messages that are of interest to him or her.
Additionally, pagination engine 560 may provide the content to the user in a format or media (for example, text, audio, video) that the user 210 finds most advantageous. Pagination engine 560 may also be able to reserve space in a rendered page or canvas for supplemental content, since the supplemental content (due to its relatively low priority ranking) might otherwise not be shown on the page.
System 1205, like system 505, assumes that messages and articles are pre-assembled for users, so that they may largely be prioritized and filtered for delivery to user 210 upon a logging on to the system by user 210. This will generally be the case, since contextual publisher 745 must have something (that is, some article or message) to intercept and examine in order to generate supplemental content.
One way to consider the difficulty in utilizing the contextual publisher 745 in a conventional portal environment is to consider the difference between an email system and a live telephone conversation. In the former, the delayed nature of emails results in a number of email messages accumulating in an inbox. As the messages enter the inbox, a contextual publisher 745 having appropriate permissions can generate supplemental content specific to those email messages. In contrast, during a live telephone conversation, it would be more difficult for a contextual publisher to determine topics of conversation and provide supplemental content in a timely fashion.
One way around this problem involves "predictive caching," in which a mechanism predicts, based on, for example, past use of the user 210, types of articles that user 210 may request. For example, the system 1305, having knowledge that user 210 normally logs on every morning, may refresh or update a page of iViews to be delivered to a user sometime during the night before. Based on the resulting articles, supplemental content can be generated and assembled for delivery to the user.
Thus, in system 1305, many of the elements of systems 205 and 605 are displayed. There is no supplemental content selector 125 in system 1305, since supplemental content is provided by contextual publisher 745; however, such a supplemental content selector 125 and associated supplemental content logic could be included, for example, if the supplemental content logic was somehow different from the supplemental content logic used by contextual publisher 745. For example, the supplemental content selector 125 may be more specific to user 210 than simply specifying a particular topic or subject. Similarly, pagination engine 560 is shown to include the canvas layout subsystem 565, the content-type selector 570, and the media-type enabler 575 discussed above for delivering rich media content including audio, video, and text to be rendered as audio and/or video. However, pagination engine 230, without some or all of these features, could also be used.
In another implementation, space on a rendering canvas, such as one or more iViews on a portal page, can be reserved for supplemental content from a contextual publisher, as described above with respect to
In another implementation, supplemental content may be generated based on a "hot topic" of the day, for example, once a certain number of primary articles have been generated about a specific topic, a contextual publisher 745 or some other supplemental content selector 125 (for example, in
A section 1440 labels the next content block as containing a viewable image in a standard format such as ".gif." The image has an associated headline in section 1445, and is itself located in section 1450. Finally, a section 1455 labels a last content block as containing music, which may be, for example, background music having no words, in a standard format such as "midi." The actual midi file is in a section 1460.
Although not explicitly shown, it should be understood that video (for example, MPEG) and other formats may also be used. Also, as should be understood from
In the implementations described above, a supplemental content selector inputs primary articles, user preferences, and supplemental content logic, and outputs articles having content that supplements the content of the primary articles. In a conventional portal environment, the supplemental content selector allows the portal to retain space (for example, iViews) on the page for the supplemental content, delivered to the user, for example, with or after the primary content. The primary and supplemental content can also be delivered in various media, including audio or video.
In a personalized, dynamic content delivery system, the supplemental content can be prioritized with, apart from, or based on a prioritization of the primary content, and delivered to the user in a plurality of media formats.
Supplemental content selector can also be used as part of a contextual publisher, which eavesdrops on an information distribution service for content in articles in which it has a particular expertise or ability in adding supplemental content. The supplemental content can then be delivered to the user, via the information distribution system and perhaps a client system interacting with a system of the user. The client system may be, for example, the personalized, dynamic content delivery system described above, or may be any of the other content delivery systems described herein.
A number of implementations of methods and systems for presenting personalized content have been described. Nevertheless, it will be understood that various modifications may be made. Accordingly, other implementations are within the scope of the following claims.
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|Aug 9, 2007
|Shai Agassi
|Content center and method for business process applications
|Aug 24, 2006
|Feb 28, 2008
|Maeda Naoya
|Distributed portel system, content page creation server and recording medium
|Feb 14, 2008
|Aug 28, 2008
|Aol Llc
|Peer-to-peer access of personalized profiles using content intermediary
|Feb 26, 2008
|Aug 28, 2008
|Aol Llc
|Content recommendation using third party profiles
|Jan 23, 2008
|Aug 28, 2008
|Aol Llc
|Personalization techniques using image clouds
|Feb 14, 2008
|Aug 28, 2008
|Aol Llc
|Active and passive personalization techniques
|Feb 25, 2008
|Aug 28, 2008
|Aol Llc
|User profile snapshots
|May 29, 2008
|Dec 3, 2009
|Scottrade, Inc.
|Method and System for Creating Dynamic Advertisements
|Apr 29, 2010
|Nov 11, 2010
|Samir Kakar
|Method and system for publishing a document, method and system for verifying a citation, and method and system for managing a project
|Nov 19, 2009
|May 19, 2011
|At&T Intellectual Property I, L.P.
|Television content through supplementary media channels
|Jun 30, 2010
|Jan 5, 2012
|Yahoo! Inc.
|Method and system for performing a web search
|Feb 21, 2013
|Jul 4, 2013
|Google Inc.
|Enhanced document browsing with automatically generated links to relevant information
|Jun 25, 2015
|Mar 31, 2016
|Oracle International Corporation
|User interface component wiring for a web portal
|U.S. Classification
|International Classification
|Cooperative Classification
|European Classification
|Jun 10, 2003
Owner name: SAP AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT, GERMANY
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Free format text: CHANGE OF NAME;ASSIGNOR:SAP AG;REEL/FRAME:033625/0334
Owner name: SAP SE, GERMANY
Effective date: 20140707


text:
Special PODCAST:
This talk explores how to find freedom in relationship to sickness, old age, death and embracing 'reality-based' practices.
You'll learn how deeply investigating these phenomena helps you to savor and celebrate this life and to re-dedicate yourself to live your life fully.
Subscribe to Jonathan's podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/jonathan-foust/id455422434?ign-mpt=uo%3D4
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan's YouTube channel here.
A complete course on accessing the "still, small voice within" to find answers to persistent problems.Click Here
Bamboo flute improvisations by Jonathan Foust.
This series of 15–20 minute guided meditations explore cultivating a profound balance of 'chitta and prana,' or awareness and energy.
Use these guided meditations regularly to rejuvenate your body, mind, and spirit.
In this original audiobook, you'll explore how to release physical and emotional restrictions in order to experience a more profound relationship of your body, mind, and spirit.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Now that the two parties have bid farewell to most of their presidential contenders and between them are now down to four — sorry, Congressman Paul — perhaps they will consider last rites for their faith in the role of money, endorsements, polls, pollsters and formidable political machines. There was a far more potent influence in this election, one that helped propel candidates to victory and allowed some to trick defeat, often long enough even to escape it.
It wasn't money; the candidates who raised the most lost many of the early contests, and Mitt Romney was unable to stop either of his under-funded rivals in the GOP. It wasn't a commanding lead in the polls, either; consider New Hampshire and California. And it wasn't the best pollster; Hillary ClintonHillary Diane Rodham ClintonGOP rushes to cut ties to Moore Papadopoulos was in regular contact with Stephen Miller, helped edit Trump speech: report Bannon jokes Clinton got her 'ass kicked' in 2016 election MORE has one of them, and has paid him $4.3 million, though she has run out of money. John McCainJohn Sidney McCainGOP rushes to cut ties to Moore GOP strategist: 'There needs to be a repudiation' of Roy Moore by Republicans World leaders reach agreement on trade deal without United States: report MORE hasn't had a pollster since June.
It wasn't endorsements. Consider Sen. Edward Kennedy's (D) influence in Massachusetts. It wasn't the best political machine, either — McCain's first formidable, flush, establishment-built campaign died a spectacular death last summer while his subsequent shoe-leather campaign prevailed. Now Clinton's vaunted and unrivaled operation is struggling for survival.
In this first election without an incumbent since Sept. 11, 2001, it wasn't al Qaeda or the Iraq war or even that war we thought we were starting with Iran. It was personality, what the dictionary defines as: "The visible aspect of one's character, as it impresses others." This changed the story again and again.
For Barack ObamaBarack Hussein ObamaOvernight Cybersecurity: What we learned from Carter Page's House Intel testimony | House to mark up foreign intel reform law | FBI can't access Texas shooter's phone | Sessions to testify at hearing amid Russia scrutiny Russian social media is the modern-day Trojan horse Trump records robo-call for Gillespie: He'll help 'make America great again' MORE, there was little chance of taking on the powerful Clinton machine, let alone the fantasy of upending it, without his remarkable blend of cool and charisma, confidence and hope. Before the voters were involved, a team of Democrats had to believe in him and be willing to buck the tide. It was Obama himself, and never his policies, that moved them to take such a risk.
The inimitable insurgency of Mike Huckabee, with few dollars and many obstacles, was born of the charm, warmth and humor of the underdog, who spent much of 2007 below 10 percent in the polls. Lacking in foreign policy experience and branded a tax-and-spend liberal by economic conservatives, the delightful Huckabee has smiled his way past the cynics and the odds and unnerved the party with his surprise victories, nearly nabbing Virginia from McCain this week.
McCain's Phoenix-like rise from the political pyre is the most astounding tale of the 2008 race thus far and is attributable only to the senator's trademark blend of grit and humility. McCain was resolved to win the race, but resigned to the odds that he could not. He fought doggedly for victory but fought even harder for redemption. He was willing to be broke, tired, rejected, even laughed at — but losing would come only on his terms.
Then there is Hillary Clinton, a political force who wields her husband's larger-than-life personality as a key asset, yet assiduously guards her own. She is known to charm everyone she meets in small settings, but voters see a different person. There is even a pro-emote vs. anti-emote rift inside her team, a bizarre tension since it is only up to candidates to reveal or hide themselves. Clinton herself chalks it up to being a Methodist, which may largely be true. She is no Obama, Bill ClintonBill ClintonTop Oversight Dem pushes back on Uranium One probe Bill Clinton hits Trump, tax reform plan in Georgetown speech The Hill's 12:30 Report MORE or even McCain, but she need not be. As long as it is real, voters are satisfied. A little more of Hillary is probably what she needs the most.
Stoddard is an associate editor of The Hill.


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Hahah this to me is hilarious while I can drink my coffee black, I did it for a year straight.. I like to add a splash of premier protein or muscle milk to flavor it up and I enjoy it so much more! It takes me about 2-3 days to go through one 11oz carton (depending on how much coffee I drink or how much flavor I want ☺).
Shared by thehoneydewcrew (Elyse | Georgia) and selected for Food.


text:
1/26 Yeo Street Neutral Bay 2089 NSW
Character-filled 2 bedroom Art Deco unit
This is a lovely ground floor apartment in a small security block.It has tonnes of character and a very homely feel. It is fabulously located in the heart of Neutral Bay and just footsteps from cafes, shops and all the amennities Neutral Bay has to offer. A six month lease would be ideal.
Features include:
- Two bedrooms with built-in robes
- Polished timber floorboards throughout
- Modern kitchen with gas cooking
- Good storage spaces
- Full bathroom with shower and bathtub
- Internal laundry facilities
- Off-street parking via the rear lane
- Perfect for the professional couple or young family
No pets
Available: Wed, 2 Nov
Bond: $2340
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text:
CCMP Capital Looses One of Its Longest Serving President, Steve Murray
CCMP Capital one of the biggest private equity investment companies found in the United States. The company is based in the New York City, although it has branches in other countries. Since the company was formed, it has worked hard to maintain leverage buyout and the growth in the capital transactions.
Since its incorporation, the company has had several names. First of all, it was given the name JP Morgan Partners, before it got the name CCMP. The company parted ways with their partners in 2006 and started to do business on their own. The original partners of the company were known as JP Morgan Chase.
Since the separation in the year 2006, CCMP has used a lot of money in the transactions it has performed. According to the reports from the company, the organization has used more that twelve million dollars in the form of transactions. In 2007, the company was announced to be the seventeenth among the biggest private equity funds in the world. For a company to do so well in the competitive market, it must have the best employees and managers to remain on the top. This is one of the things that has helped Stephen Murray CCMP Capital to do so well.
At the time of the separation with JP Morgan Chase, the company had not spread into many nations like it has managed to do today. The company was only headquartered in New York City, with no other branches. Today, the company has expanded, opening more offices in London, Hong Kong, Tokyo and many other cities. The company has plans to open more branches in the near future. The chairperson of the company at the moment is known as Greg Brennenmen.
In the year 2007, Stephen Murray CCMP Capital appointed one its longest serving employees to take the position of CEO. This individual was Steve Murray, and he had shown all the qualities that he can be reliable in the management of the company since he was one of the founding members of the institution. Steve Murray had been working in the company for long, and this means that he was experienced and knowledgeable in matters concerning the company. After taking over the leadership, Steve Murray worked for some time before leaving the company due to health problems. Stephen Murray CCMP Capital, however, did soon after at the age of 52, according to the Wall Street Journal leaving the company under the management of Mr. Greg. The company says that it has lost one of the most important people that have brought a lot of changes.


text:
HOW WE DID IT: Doc Style
2 years ago
Great commentary and great pictures, Stu! Very insightful!
Dave P.
Stu, I really enjoyed reading this. Thank you.
Only comments that DO NOT include links will be allowed. Any comments that include product advertisements will be deleted. Other than that, thanks for stopping by and I appreciate you taking the time to write a comment.


text:
Italy - Culture Smart! - Charles Abbott
"Culture Smart!" provides priceless nuggets of cultural information on Italy not found in a standard guidebook.
1 reviews from the community
Review of "Italy - Culture Smart! - Charles Abbott"
"Italy is calling me again !"
This guide was a book purchased by me when my Wanderlust magazine ran an offer for its subscribers to purchase books free and just pay for postage. Being a lover of the Italian places I have been to visit so far and completely loving the way of life, I felt this guide might be of some use to myself and hubby to read through and pick up any other bits of useful information as well as being useful to have for work purposes working within the travel industry.
The publishers:
The Culture smart books are published by Kuperard. They also publish a lot of other travel guides of which I have used or come across in my job.
The range:
The culture smart books are designed to help visitors understand cultures and customs as well as giving advice on how to get the most out of your time there including the best way to see sights, get around or connect with the locals. They are not to be bought as a guide book with a list of sights to see and opening times etc and if you bought one for this reason you would be sorely disappointed!
Culture Smart Italy:
The Italy guide is really quite eye catching with a bright green cover and a picture of the Grand Canal in Venice. I am a great lover of the small amount of Italy that I have managed to visit so far and I love the way the Italians are so for me, I wanted to gain as much knowledge as possible of the place. Italy is a country I have sold for years but, it wasn't really until I visited myself that I realised how diverse a country it is and also how beautiful. I was hoping when I purchased this guide that it would enlighten me in areas I may know have much knowledge of.
The book, as with all culture smart guides, is broken down into chapters and this particular one has nine, each with their own sub areas. There are the expected chapters such as 'Getting around' and 'communicating' as well as such ones as 'Values and attitudes' and 'daily life'. In particular for me, I am desperate to try and eventually speak the language fully and although admittedly, it isn't go rather well just yet, I found the chapters on communicating very interesting especially in regards to body language. A part of what I love about Italy is the expressive way the Italians talk with their hands as I do the same so I feel very at home when there! I liked how they gave some small examples of hand language you might see and the differences between the North and South.
The guide covers basics too such as nice little map before the introduction and a key fact page after it with capital city, currency, populations etc. There is even also a regional guide on what place is the capital of each region too which is quite interesting. There is also recommended further reading material listed at the very back just before the index.
The author:
Other things:
Many important top tips or need to know type information is presented in a green bubble box. In keeping with the rest of the colour scheme of the book, the text is then a darker shade of green. I like this as it gives the book a bit more oomph than just being very plain and boring.
It is worth noting that these guides do not contain opening times to attractions and a literally more of a culture guide than one you would use to plan your attraction seeing.
This particular guide was written by Charles Abbot who has travelled extensively around Italy and has worked over the past 10 years as a consultant with many Italian firms in places such as Rome, Milan, Genoa and Naples. He is also a director for the international communications training institute at international house in London, a language school with affiliates in four Italian cities so it seems he is more than qualified to give information on this wonderful country.
As I mentioned I received an offer through my Wanderlust subscription to receive these guides free although of course I did have to pay for postage. However the offer I had meant I still only paid around £5 for 7 books at the time which of course works out to a measly 71p per book - Not bad at all in my opinion! I then bought some more the next time the offer ran so I do own a large range of these books. Usually they are priced at £6.95 each and this is pretty much average for a travel guide. I would say keep your eyes peeled for offers though as they frequently run these on the Kuperard website which is where I purchased all of my culture smart guides from.
Overall opinion:
I personally think this is another great guide from the Culture Smart range. I do feel there are some things I already know but, this is probably due to my job and having travelled to Italy on numerous occasions. However, if you had never been or only visited once, you may find this book a useful tool in helping you enjoy your future visits. I certainly recommend it and have found lots of useful bits from it to which I am grateful for. It is only a small book and at just 168 pages long it will never give you everything you need to know but, it can certainly cover a lot. A definite recommendation from me.
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Comments on this review
MalibuMands published 05/01/2012super review xx
catsholiday published 01/01/2012I haven't seen this brand of guide - we tend to opt for the DK ones if they have one.
koshkha published 22/12/2011That'll teach me to pay more attention to my copies of Wanderlust. Totally missed this one.
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Product Information : Italy - Culture Smart! - Charles Abbott
Manufacturer's product description"Culture Smart!" provides priceless nuggets of cultural information on Italy not found in a standard guidebook.
Product Details
Type: Non-Fiction
Genre: Travel
Subgenre: Country Travel Guide
Title: Italy - Culture Smart!
Author: Charles Abbott
Publisher: Kuperard
All Authors: Charles Abbott
Country: Italy
Continent: Europe
Listed on Ciao since: 25/08/2009


text:
Hi Everyone
For todays post from me I have a canvas for you, a very long canvas, this piece has been created on a 15" by 4" canvas.
Here's what I Did:-
The first thing was to prep the canvas with gesso which helps the canvas take the paint better. I then chose a selection of colours of PaperArtsy Fresco paint and painted them on blending one into the other, working over with a large paintbrush where each colour joins so they look like they are blended in together. I then stencilled the dots using black Archival ink.
I then used some corrugated cardboard from an old box and die cut the winged ring and fly circle. I roughly painted with a touch of gesso and then sprayed with Dylusion sprays and Dylusions mica spray. These die cuts were to be my dream catcher. I filled the centre of my dream catcher with a stamped image coloured with spectrum noir pencils. I then set about making all my feathers. I randomly smeared, the same colours of paint that I used on my canvas, onto a piece of thick card. Over this I then stamped several times each of the feathers. Then came the 'Fun' part, not!! Cutting them all out.
Once they were all cut out, and several cups of tea later, I needed to have them all hanging from the dream catcher. I chose a fancy piece of fibre and added it to the top by threading through some eyelets that I had added. The sentiment I added was a Tim Holtz Chit Chat sticker. To add a touch of bling I roughly added some pink foil to the edges in places using tacky glue, this doesn't really show up on the photo but it really catches the light.
I have included photo's of each half which when clicked on will hopefully show more of the detail.
What I Used:-
15" x 4" Canvas from my stash
Corrugated Card
Dylusions Sprays – Bubblegum Pink, CalaypsoTeal
Dylusions Mica Sprays (used the pink)
Carabelle Studio Stamps:- Plumes & La Femme aux Oiseaux
Fibres from my stash
Hope you like it and I'll see you all same time next week
Amanda X


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27 Arrested in First Online Gambling Bust Since Bush Signed Law Banning Internet Wagering
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
NEW YORK — Prosecutors brought charges Wednesday against 27 people — including a Major League Baseball scout — in connection with a billion-dollar-a-year Internet sports gambling ring, the first such case since President Bush signed a ban on Internet gambling last month.
The charges were brought in connection with a site called Playwithal.com, run by professional power player James Giordano, 52, of Pine Crest, Fla., New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.
Also charged was Frank Falzarano, 52, of Seaford, N.Y., identified by prosecutors as a scout for the Washington Nationals and a former scout for the San Francisco Giants. His alleged role in the operation was not immediately clear.
Search warrants executed in several locations resulted in the seizure of gambling records, computers and hundreds of millions of dollars in property.
The property includes four Manhattan condominiums, millions of dollars in cash, tens of thousands of dollars worth of casino chips from the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas, art, jewelry, gold coins, and a football signed by the 1969 New York Jets following their Super Bowl victory.
The scheme involved placing sports bets through bookies via a secure Internet site. The bets were taken on all kinds of sports, including football, baseball, basketball, hockey, car racing, and golf.
The charges include enterprise corruption, money laundering and promoting gambling.
Police said arrests were made in New York, New Jersey, Florida and Nevada.
Kevin Ryan, a spokesman for the Queens District Attorney, said "we have initiated a $500 million asset forfeiture case," one of the largest in state history.
The charges, which followed a two-year international investigation on Internet gambling, come a month after President Bush signed into law the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.
Brown and Kelly had scheduled a news conference, at which seized cash and assets — including artwork, jewelry, gold coins and sports memorabilia — were to be displayed.