Re: Google Knowledge Graph Experiment

On 2012-05-21, at 17:06, Kingsley Idehen wrote:

> On 5/21/12 12:01 PM, Steve Harris wrote:
…

>>> All vague commentary, the kind that is kinda scary and a little creepy. Again, I doubt it was intentional, but there are some realities bubbling up to the surface re. profiles and the Web etc.. 
>> 
>> While I think Google in general behaves in quite a creepy way, I suspect this is more about the realities of rolling out complex software to a billion people.
>> 
>> It's extremely challenging, and doing it for all users simultaneously is very unwise. We have many times less users, and still do staged deployments.
> 
> Of course "big bang" releases are unwise. Just as it is unwise to make a staggered release and not make it crystal clear to the target audience. 

You might be surprised to discover quite what a tiny proportion of the userbase cares, but doesn't understand stage rollouts. Though, I agree, if it was me, I would have said something near the link.

> As I stated in one of my post, the real issue here is that they had a live demo page [1] with a link [2]. Clicking on said link provided different results (i.e., different web pages) for different users. All they had to do was indicate that results would vary due to the staggered nature of their rollout. 

Yup. they do that with everything though, so I expect most SEO and online marketing people (Google's only real customers) already expect that.

>> All kinds of weird corner cases can't be tested in pre-production, and you don't want to annoy your entire user-base in one fell swoop :)
> 
> Of course, but note the point I am making about clarity. 
>> 
>> FWIW, I now see it on google.com, but not google.co.uk - doesn't matter if I'm logged in or not.
> 
> Yes, and that's today, 21st May 2012 :-)

Yup, they roll out slowly. I understand that Google Mail rollouts can take weeks, and that's a much smaller product that Search.

To be clear, I'm not defending them, just pointing out that they probably don't care :) and with good reason.

- Steve

> Links:
> 
> 1. http://www.google.com/insidesearch/features/search/knowledge.html -- showcase page
> 2. https://www.google.com/search?q=vincent+van+gogh -- "Give It A Try" link that delivered different results (this page still provides no information about the nature of the rollout etc..). 
> 
> 
>> 
>> - Steve
>> 
>> -- 
>> Steve Harris, CTO
>> Garlik, a part of Experian
>> 1-3 Halford Road, Richmond, TW10 6AW, UK
>> +44 20 8439 8203  http://www.garlik.com/
>> Registered in England and Wales 653331 VAT # 887 1335 93
>> Registered office: Landmark House, Experian Way, Nottingham, Notts, NG80 1ZZ
>> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Kingsley Idehen	      
> Founder & CEO 
> OpenLink Software     
> Company Web: http://www.openlinksw.com
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> 
> 
> 
> 

-- 
Steve Harris, CTO
Garlik, a part of Experian
1-3 Halford Road, Richmond, TW10 6AW, UK
+44 20 8439 8203  http://www.garlik.com/
Registered in England and Wales 653331 VAT # 887 1335 93
Registered office: Landmark House, Experian Way, Nottingham, Notts, NG80 1ZZ