Roger Magoulas on Big Data

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From Google to Walmart, managing vast information flows is becoming central to how you run an effective business. Beyond the technical developments that are allowing for new possibilities in managing Big Data there are also new roles emerging within companies large and small; data scientists, visualization specialists etc.

In this second of two videos Roger discusses some exemplars in the emerging field of Big Data. From the Radar community: are there any unlikely companies (read: outside of tech) that are doing a great job in managing Big Data or using analytics to drive their business? We would love to hear about them.

Part one of the video is available here.

Roger will be moderating a panel this Tuesday, January 19 at Stanford titled, “Data Exhaust Alchemy - Turning the Web's Waste into Solid Gold”

Understanding Social Business - Webcast

The term, "Social Business" has been gaining currency over the past year among influential thinkers such as Stowe Boyd, Jeff Dachis, Peter Kim, and Jeremiah Owyang. At its broadest definition Social Business describes the systemic challenges and new opportunities social technologies present to organizations.

I have been writing for some time that organizations needs to "get" social in ways that go well beyond marketing gimmicks or pushing press releases through Twitter. It is a different approach to doing business.

So I am excited to announce that I will be moderating an O'Reilly panel discussion with Boyd (Principal, The /Messengers), Kim (Managing Director at Dachis Group) and Owyang (Partner, Altimeter Group) on January 14 to discuss:

• What is the definition of Social Business?
• How can Social Business impact strategy, design, technology and customer experience?
• Who are the leading exemplars?

Airline Security and Proportional Response

I am flying to London this coming week on business. I have no idea if I will be able to use my laptop, emerge from my seat during the last hour of flight or be required to wear my underwear inside-out during the security check-in. Do I believe that any of these measures will contribute to passenger safety? No.

After the recent foiled airline bomb incident one thing seems clear; we are constantly retrofitting our security measures to defend ourselves against the last attack. Often these measures seem like what Bruce Schneier in a great CNN article calls "Security Theater".

"Security theater" refers to security measures that make people feel more secure without doing anything to actually improve their security.

Video: Roger Magoulas on The Next Device

Future at Work Series: Pico Projectors and OLED Screens

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I recently sat down with Roger Magoulas, Director of Research at O'Reilly to talk about what he is paying attention to these days. I thought we would do a single, quick segment for Radar. I was mistaken. I have broken out the interview into several parts and will release them weekly... Call it Wednesdays with Roger.

This episode touches on new devices that will shape how we work and get things done in the future including Pico projectors and OLED screens.

I would love to hear from people about what type of devices we should be paying attention to and why.

Three Paradoxes of the Internet Age - Part Three

The myth of personal empowerment takes root amidst a massive loss of personal control.

Social technologies are cloaked in a rhetoric of liberation (customers are in control, the internet fosters democracy, social technologies propagate truth etc.) that tend to obscure the fact that never before have we handed so much personal information over in exchange for so little in return.

As we move from the “web of information” to the “web of people” (aka the Social Web) the output of all of this social participation is massive dossiers on individual behavior (your social network profiles, photos, location, status updates, searches etc.) and social activity. This loss of control over personal information is on a collision course with the law of unintended consequences: MIT’s Project Gaydar can spot your sexual preference by your social ties, Facebook checks are occurring customs and every quiz you take on Facebook delivers a shocking amount of personally identifiable information to third parties.

Amidst this barrage of good news for how much power we wield in the transaction of commerce one has to wonder if we are giving away something quite precious in the bargain.

Here are links to the previous posts in this series: One: More access to information doesn’t bring people together, often it isolates us. Two: Individual perception of increased choice can occur while the overall choice pool is getting smaller

What are other paradoxes of the Internet Age? What did I get wrong above?

Three Paradoxes of the Internet Age - Part Two

Individual perception of increased choice can occur while the overall choice pool is getting smaller

This gem from Whimsley makes the point - with extensive statistical modeling supporting the argument - that our algorithm-obsessed, long tail merchants are actually depleting the overall choice pool despite the fact that as individuals we may be experiencing a sense of more choice through recommendations engines...

Online merchants such as Amazon, iTunes and Netflix may stock more items than your local book, CD, or video store, but they are no friend to "niche culture". Internet sharing mechanisms such as YouTube and Google PageRank, which distil the clicks of millions of people into recommendations, may also be promoting an online monoculture. Even word of mouth recommendations such as blogging links may exert a homogenizing pressure and lead to an online culture that is less democratic and less equitable, than offline culture.

"The recommender "system" could be anything that tends to build on its own popularity, including word of mouth...Our online experiences are heavily correlated, and we end up with monopoly populism...A "niche", remember, is a protected and hidden recess or cranny, not just another row in a big database. Ecological niches need protection from the surrounding harsh environment if they are to thrive. Simply putting lots of music into a single online iTunes store is no recipe for a broad, niche-friendly culture.

Three Paradoxes of the Internet Age - Part One

In the circles that I travel the Internet is often breathlessly embraced as the herald of all things good; the bringer of increased choice, personal empowerment, social harmony...and the list goes on. And yet, as with any powerful technology, the truth of its consequences eludes such a singular and happy narrative.

Here is the first of three paradoxes of the Internet Age. I would love to see Radar readers point out others. More access to information doesn’t bring people together, often it isolates us. Elizabeth Kolbert has a piece in this week’s New Yorker reviewing Cass Sunstein’s new book, “On Rumors: How Falsehoods Spread, Why We Believe Them, What Can Be Done." In the review she lays out the concept of "group polarization"

People’s tendency to become more extreme after speaking with like-minded others has become known as “group polarization,” and it has been documented in dozens of other experiments. In one, feminists who spoke with other feminists became more adamant in their feminism. In a second, opponents of same-sex marriage became even more opposed to the idea, while proponents shifted further in favor. In a third, doves who were grouped with other doves became more dovish still.

Participatory Sensing - An Interview with Deborah Estrin

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While the iPhone doesn’t ship nearly as much as its humbler brethren - the iPhone opened up many minds about the potential of phones to do a whole lot more than talk. In that regard it is a peek into the future.

The iPhone is a rich portable computer with onboard sensors. Specifically, it is a location-aware (GPS), motion-aware (accelerometer), directionally-aware (digital compass) visually aware (camera being used to scan QA codes or serve as visual input), sonically aware (microphone and speakers), always-connected (wireless or 3Gs) handheld computer. Every operative word in that sentence is deeply meaningful and rich with possibilities we have just begun to explore. The iPhone does a whole lot more than display information. It is an environmental sensor. Its value lies just as much in sensing information as it does in displaying information.

While the iPhone has the richest set of onboard sensors even basic feature phones are allowing for some remarkable innovation (see my interview with April Allderdice of MicroEnergy Credits) This is an enormous leap forward when our devices are not only connected but context-aware. It is a core theme behind Tim O’Reilly and John Battelle’s “Web Squared” definition that see concepts of Web 2.0 moving into the world.

This concept of “humans as sensors” was the subject of the Web 2.0 Summit panel led by Radar’s Brady Forrest last week. I caught up with panelist Deborah Estrin before to discuss her UCLA group’s work on participatory sensing. Deborah is building multiple applications to express the value of the phone as a sensing device; from large group projects to collect data on an area (such as www.whatsinvasive.com) to personal applications that blend GPS and accelerometer to constantly map your location in time and space then overlay valuable information upon it such as air quality and so on. In the case of air quality - this data might help inform your decisions about where you go jogging or take your baby for that morning stroll.

John Hagel on The Social Web

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I am releasing my conversation with John Hagel in three segments. In the first segment we discussed the real-time web. Here we discuss the move from the information web to the Social Web.

John makes the point that the rise of the Social Web feels “a bit like Back to the Future” for people who have a long history with the Internet. In the early days the Internet functioned to link people - scientists, researchers etc. The advent of the World Wide Web saw the Internet functioning more as a publishing platform. Now, with the Social Web, we are back full circle to a network that connects people together. When you connect people to people (as opposed to just brokering information) you are able to surface valuable tacit knowledge that is difficult to express in documents.

Abandon Stocks, Embrace Flows - A Conversation with John Hagel

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John Hagel spoke yesterday at the Web 2.0 Summit on the panel, Web Squared and the Economy of Work I met with John beforehand and wanted to discuss three “Big Shifts” that have dominated 2009 (1) The move to the real-time web, (2) the move from the information web to the Social Web and (3) the rise of mobile. Since John co-chairs Deloitte’s Center for the Edge I wanted to get his take on each in terms of its impact on larger organizations.

This first video covers the Real-Time Web.

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