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MS Defense
Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
Linked Data for Cybersecurity Vulnerability Descriptions
Arnav Joshi
9:00-11:00 Monday, 22 July 2013, 325b ITE
The Web is typically our first source of information about new software vulnerabilities, exploits and cyber-attacks. Information is found in semi-structured vulnerability databases as well as in text from security bulletins, news reports, cybersecurity blogs and Internet chat rooms. It can be useful to cybersecurity systems if there is a way to recognize and extract relevant information and represent it as easily shared and integrated semantic data. We describe such an automatic framework that generates and publishes a RDF linked data representation of cybersecurity concepts and vulnerability descriptions extracted from the National Vulnerability Database and other text sources. Entities, relations and concepts are represented using custom ontologies for the cybersecurity domain and also mapped to objects in the DBpedia knowledge base, producing a rich resource of machine-understandable linked data. The resulting cybersecurity linked data collection can be used for many purposes, including automating early vulnerability identification, mitigation and prevention efforts.
Committee: Professors Tim Finin (chair), Anupam Joshi and Tim Oates
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Google Fonts are a tremendous addition to any designer’s arsenal, providing a basic library of typefaces that cover most requirements. But if you’ve ever tried to add them to a WordPress theme you’ll know what kind of hacking is involved.
Fortunately, web designer Eric Alli has recognized the issue and released a great plugin for WordPress that will allow anyone to utilize Google’s font library.
Google Typography is a free solution, and the best thing about it is that it’s incredibly simple to use. Once you’ve installed, just navigate to the Appearance > Typography settings page, click Add New to add a new type style and customize your text via the live preview. Once you’ve set up your font, all you have to do is enter the CSS selector to apply it to and click Save; that’s it, your font choice is now being used live on your site.
What’s more Alli has included a register_typography function to enable theme developers to quickly add Google fonts to themes. It makes adding a font as simple as this:
if(function_exists('register_typography')) {
register_typography(array(
'page_titles' => array(
'preview_text' => 'Page Titles',
'preview_color' => 'light',
'font_family' => 'Lato',
'font_variant' => '300',
'font_size' => '45px',
'font_color' => '#252525',
'css_selectors' => '.page_title'
)
}
} There are obvious omissions: there are no line-height, or tracking settings for example, which are vital for body text and display text respectively; however, the plugin is only at version 1.0 and hopefully more will be added over time.
I’d encourage anyone to download the Google Typography plugin and give it a try, it’s a simple, intuitive way of adding Google fonts to WordPress sites; easy to use but fantastically flexible.
What I love about the web design community is that for everyone who rehashes someone else’s product to make a quick buck, there’s someone else who releases something really useful, free of charge. Eric Alli’s Google Typography is a case in point, and it makes the web just a little bit better.
Have you used Google Typography yet? What options do you wish were included? Let us know in the comments.
| 3 Amazing TipoType Fonts – only $17! |  |
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Whenever I meet with a new client for the first time, I always tell them this: It’s not important that you like the design I’m going to make for you.
It’s always humorous to see the client’s reaction to this statement. Most look inquisitive, others look downright baffled.
I then expound on my initial statement: "It’s a bonus if you like it, but the main objectives are that your business needs are met and that your customers like it."
In almost all cases, they go along with this logic.
A few clients, however, will still have a personal need to like the finished product for themselves. But the smartest and most awesome types of clients get the concept, and I prefer to work with them. Why? Because they approach the design project with their business foot forward rather than let their personal tastes and biases control the process.
Personally, I approach each design project by looking at the needs of the users and the client first — so it only makes sense that I would expect the same from my clients.
The key difference between clients that need to love your work themselves versus those that go about the process in a much less personal manner all depends on who is paying the bills.
Nine times out of ten, when a client is paying you out of pocket, they’re going to be much more hands-on throughout the process. Examples of clients that may be in this situation are startup entrepreneurs bootstrapping their company, who may have a powerful and very personal attachment to their business. It’s only human nature. They’re paying for it — or more specifically, they’re paying you for it — so they may want very fine control over the outcome. They may make the process too personal, because by the very nature of the situation, it is very personal.
I absolutely understand that situation. But the problem I see is this: The more a client takes the project personally, the less objective they become, and the more they tend to exert their own personal tastes towards dictating the direction the project takes.
On the flipside, clients who are merely overseeing the project on behalf of a large company aren’t paying for it themselves.
They will also have a compelling desire for the project to turn out successfully, but they tend to make it much less personal, and much more about what is good for their company.
Of course, those are all vast generalizations, but in my experience they tend to be true for the most part.
Whether your client is a big multinational company or a fledging startup business, it’s your duty to make them see the forest rather than the trees when they are caught up in their own personal preferences.
If you’re designing a new website for a client — and you have done your due diligence at the beginning — you have probably asked many questions relating to their customer base and business needs, and are producing the website accordingly.
So what happens when you have done your job correctly and have created the perfect website that will connect with and engage their target market, but your client still doesn’t like it?
Ask them to point out specific parts of the design they don’t like. Then ask the client why they don’t like those parts of the design.
Then, ask the client if the parts they don’t like fail to fulfill the objectives of the project or if it helps achieve the objectives.
Often if you can get them to admit that although they might not like something, that it still matches with the objectives of the project, you will have a much easier time convincing them to go your way.
If you can get your client to point to examples of solutions that they like better, one of two things can happen. Maybe their solution is actually a better one. If not, collect your thoughts and explain why your solution is better for the job.
If your client is adamant about adding an audio loop or splash screen on their homepage, send them references and resources that show why those are horrible ideas. Point to facts that show how these things affect user experience and usability.
If they want an overly complex logo, show them examples of successful logos in their industry, and point out what commonalities they all share (typically, good logos are simple and created using vector illustration software).
And if you can’t point to facts, then consider the alternative that the point of contention is debatable.
Having said all of that, there will come a time when it’s best to just give the client what they want.
Many designers will have a different point of view on that statement I’ve just made.
But in my experience, if I have a client that is firmly digging in their heels on an issue, I state my case, and leave the ball in their court.
As the saying goes, you have to pick your battles. Good design is definitely worth fighting for; and as for the rest, they don’t matter in the broader scheme of things.
While most of my clients have hired me for my years of experience and my body of work, some of them trust in these credentials more than others.
I always prefer to work with business people rather than people paying out-of-pocket, because they understand the end game in a much purer way.
While I love the situation where my clients love the finished product, it’s never my goal. If the project doesn’t hit home with their customers and business objectives, I can’t chalk it down as a success.
Lead image source: "Workers at computers at the Huichon Machine Tool Factory in Huichon, Chagang Province"
Wes McDowell is the Principal and Creative Director for The Deep End, a web design firm in Los Angeles. In addition to client work, he’s authored several books for freelance designers and co-hosts a popular graphic design podcast called "The Deeply Graphic DesignCast." Follow Wes on Google+.
The post Your Clients Don’t Have to Like Your Work appeared first on Six Revisions.
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