We are seriously contemplating a complete rewrite of the open source project KATO and ask that you help us decide which way is the right way to go.
KATO is all about saving time online by delegating tasks to KATO. Let KATO do the repetitive and boring work to find what you are looking for then do what you want it to do once KATO finds what you are looking for.
So, why should we redesign KATO now? Currently, the architecture is very focused on the notion of a repository of software agents. Each agent does one thing. The end user must schedule then configure an agent before running the engine. This requires that the end user must choose an agent and set up its parameters and events. The end user may even have to enter duplicate search criteria in order to run multiple agents on the same query. That doesn't sound very easy to us.
The end user isn't the only one with a difficult task in KATO. Because the current architecture is software agent focused, the developers sometimes have to write duplicitous code. You have to create a new agent even if what you are looking for is already being handled by another agent but what you want to do with it once you find it is different.
Please help us in this redesign effort so that we can get it right this time. I want you to participate in the ongoing discussion on this proposed redesign of KATO. I also want you to take this online survey to help us understand just what you are looking for in KATO.
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Ran into this blog about the coming age of the smart personal assistant which is mostly a plug about Zemanta but also talks about Siri and Watson. It seems to me that the software agent as social media ombudsman is a trend that is on the rise. For example, this CMS enhancement uses a robotic reporter as a kind of assistant that records online meetings and publishes a summary of the minutes.1
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In this segment, KATO turns its robotic eye towards online media.
What Makes an Internet Meme Go Viral?
On The Media is an NPR franchise covering stories that focus on the media itself.
Pandora Radio, Mobile and Beyond
Joe Kennedy, CEO of Pandora, speaks on Pandora's future mobile implementations Pandora, a personalized Internet radio service, is one of the most popular free iPhone apps, with 5 million downloads since launching an iPhone app in September 2008. After launching a Blackberry app last month, Pandora has 1 million activations.
S.773 - Cybersecurity Act of 2009
A bill to ensure the continued free flow of commerce within the United States and with its global trading partners through secure cyber communications, to provide for the continued development and exploitation of the Internet and intranet communications for such purposes, to provide for the development of a cadre of information technology specialists to improve and maintain effective cybersecurity defenses against disruption, and for other purposes.0Add a comment
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We're starting to gear up the testing of the new KATO engine. This is the actual working part of KATO which is still very much in an early stage of development but would appreciate your giving it a spin and providing feedback.
KATO is not a search engine. It may perform web search functionality for you but there has to be three criteria in your web search requests to KATO in order for KATO to add more value than Google.- Your search is ongoing and open ended. You want to keep up to date with the latest and not just finish once you have found the answer.
- Your search is towards a specific purpose other than general curiosity. Finding good results helps you towards a goal that you must communicate to KATO. KATO needs to adjust where and how it searches based on your intended goal or purpose.
- Your search is domain specific. KATO does not and cannot search the entire Internet the way Google does. KATO can search dark spaces based on the users login information (if the user can trust KATO with that information). KATO can search web sites assessed by domain experts for the quality of their information. Those are two features that lie outside of Google's mandate.
Right now the engine has only an email interface so please email your request to the following address.
KATO will start looking for what you want and will email the results back to whatever account you emailed KATO from. Feel free to provide feedback about those results either as a comment here or as another email to KATO.0Add a comment
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We continue to iterate the prototype as we make adjustments based on your feedback. Here is what is new from last week's version.
- Some of you wanted to go straight into a chat session with KATO after telling KATO what to do so you don't have to click on the chat button anymore in that specific scenario.
- We heard you complain about the detail area on the right hand side being too busy so we added a dual display/edit mode for you.
- When you bring up a response on the right hand side, it starts in a display mode which is less busy. Clicking the edit button switches the display to edit mode. This is a toggle button so you can click it again to return to display mode.
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We have made enhancements to the prototype based on your suggestions.
- New request functionality surfaced on welcome tab.
- Text based form buttons replaced by icon button toolbar.
- Search results get shown immediately after saving a request.
- Can download to either Word, Excel, PDF, or HTML formats.
- Better tab management introduced. No duplicate tabs allowed and you can close a tab by clicking on the red X icon.
- An interactive chat facility with KATO has been introduced. KATO can interview you to help refine your search query.
- You can now return to the originating request when viewing a result.
- Better folder management surfaced. You can move a result to a different folder or create a new folder for it.
Remember that this is just a prototype so none of this functionality actually works. We're just faking it right now until we get the finalized requirements right.
KATO gets stronger only because cool folks like you tell us what works about it and what doesn't. Please continue to evaluate and provide feedback, either by emailing us at or by commenting on this post.
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We have reloaded a new mockup for KATO, this time with a more modern and stylish GUI. Here is what has changed from the previous one.
- switched from Outlook style tabs to vertical tabs
- switched from simple links to a multi-column grid
- any result can now be a folder for more results
- as you load more items into the right hand side, they just become tabs so you can revisit where you have already been more easily
As always, let us know what you think. Is this mockup better than the last, worse, or about the same?0Add a comment
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Work on the KATO redesign effort continues. Thanks to everyone who gave feedback about the proposed new architecture. We are also conducting some preliminary usability trials.
To that purpose, we have published a new demo site. This one is non-operational. It doesn't save anything and it doesn't actually accomplish any KATO like activities. Think of this as just an electronic version of a paper mock-up.
We hope that you play around with it and let us know what you think. Pretend that this is the kind of GUI you would see after signing in to KATO in order to check on past requests, review results, or update settings. There will also be an email interface where you simply email your new requests to KATO and a search box interface where you type your request into that search box on your web browser and select KATO from the drop down list.0Add a comment
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We are seriously contemplating a complete rewrite of the open source project KATO and ask that you help us decide which way is the right way to go.
KATO is all about saving time online by delegating tasks to KATO. Let KATO do the repetitive and boring work to find what you are looking for then do what you want it to do once KATO finds what you are looking for.
So, why should we redesign KATO now? Currently, the architecture is very focused on the notion of a repository of software agents. Each agent does one thing. The end user must schedule then configure an agent before running the engine. This requires that the end user must choose an agent and set up its parameters and events. The end user may even have to enter duplicate search criteria in order to run multiple agents on the same query. That doesn't sound very easy to us.
The end user isn't the only one with a difficult task in KATO. Because the current architecture is software agent focused, the developers sometimes have to write duplicitous code. You have to create a new agent even if what you are looking for is already being handled by another agent but what you want to do with it once you find it is different.
Please help us in this redesign effort so that we can get it right this time. I want you to participate in the ongoing discussion on this proposed redesign of KATO. I also want you to take this online survey to help us understand just what you are looking for in KATO.0Add a comment
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From social media to business intelligence, software agents are subtly playing an important role in the shaping of the next generation of the web. In only two months, KATO has gathered an impressive catalog of agents but this is only the beginning.
Imagine a world where any time consuming online task is delegated to your own personal KATO. Executives have their own personal assistant who delegate tasks to the most qualified person in the organization. With KATO, you will be able to state your wish and under-the-covers, KATO will find the right software agent or agents to make it so. Concerned about security? Order KATO to constantly check your accounts and profiles to guard against identity theft. Want the best deal on a purchase? Have KATO scour the web for the lowest price for what you want automatically. Need to keep up to date on recent trends of interest? Tell KATO to keep you informed about what is new without deluging you with what you already know. That is the future of KATO.
The first step on the road to this vision is to build out a large catalog of those software agents. Here is where you can help shape this vision of the web's future.- What online tasks would you like to see KATO able to complete?
- What software agents would you like to see as a part of the KATO catalog?
Please contribute your ideas to KATO by joining the discussion either on the project web site or on the open source repository. Take part in exploring a web where you are in control. See you there.0Add a comment
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