In February IEEE Computing Now:
Visualization beyond the Desktop--the Next Big Thing
Today, people interact with visual depictions through a mouse. Tomorrow, they'll be touching, swiping, grasping, feeling, hearing, smelling, and even tasting data. .... "
Friday, May 08, 2015
Good Enough Computing
In the CACM: Thoughtful piece on 'Good enough' computing. Many think of computers as being very accurate entities. Based on the inevitability of 0 or 1. Things like measurements are always imprecise to some degree. Then to what degree should calculations be imprecise? For example a concept in the math of optimization is known as Delta-Optimality,which means that sometimes it is far easier, or even possible, to prove that an answer is within some delta of the very best, than finding the very best itself. And that is often good enough.
That's my technical view, but the article looks at this much more broadly. How much computing do we need? And what does that look like? Are we spending too much for accuracy we do not need? Had not thought of it this way before.
That's my technical view, but the article looks at this much more broadly. How much computing do we need? And what does that look like? Are we spending too much for accuracy we do not need? Had not thought of it this way before.
Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards
Colleague Louis Killeffer reports on the
" .... 6th Annual Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards. As in every preceding year, the scope and scale of this year’s honorees’ ambitions and achievements are breathtaking
And if that sounds over the top - or you’re running short of time or having a bad day/week/month – please just watch this brief video . It’s about Aaron “Wheelz” Fotheringham, a twenty-two year old athlete, born with spina bifida, who’s invented a whole new sport, WCMX. It just might re-orient you and your week/month/year
You’ll find a brief piece on the event and the rest of its audacious award winners here ... .... "
" .... 6th Annual Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards. As in every preceding year, the scope and scale of this year’s honorees’ ambitions and achievements are breathtaking
And if that sounds over the top - or you’re running short of time or having a bad day/week/month – please just watch this brief video . It’s about Aaron “Wheelz” Fotheringham, a twenty-two year old athlete, born with spina bifida, who’s invented a whole new sport, WCMX. It just might re-orient you and your week/month/year
You’ll find a brief piece on the event and the rest of its audacious award winners here ... .... "
Looking further back at Origins of AI
In the CACM: Looking yet further back at the history of AI. My father worked on the Norden at Sperry in WWII. I particularly note some of the connections between sensors and analytics and cognitive AI. It started with linking together streams of logic with sensory interactions. We need to do more of that.
Thursday, May 07, 2015
Advanced Holograms
In CWorld: The advance mentioned below is important:
... Holograms have been part of the business and science community's toolset for some time but Microsoft is highlighting just how advanced they have become lately. ....
Wide angle holograms
Rayvel, which specializes in advanced holographics, was recently awarded a patent for its wide angle hologram technology that enables the production of compact holographic displays.
This is how Rayvel explains the problem it takes on with its technology:
A hologram appears when it is illuminated from a light source at an angle that is determined during the manufacturing process. Typically it is a source at about a 45 degree angle from the hologram. It also usually needs to be placed at a distance from the hologram: the larger the hologram the further away the light source needs to be. This new invention allows the light source to be nearly parallel and close to the hologram, allowing the design of significantly flatter image display systems, useful for advertising signage, point-of-purchase, and trade shows. .... "
... Holograms have been part of the business and science community's toolset for some time but Microsoft is highlighting just how advanced they have become lately. ....
Wide angle holograms
Rayvel, which specializes in advanced holographics, was recently awarded a patent for its wide angle hologram technology that enables the production of compact holographic displays.
This is how Rayvel explains the problem it takes on with its technology:
A hologram appears when it is illuminated from a light source at an angle that is determined during the manufacturing process. Typically it is a source at about a 45 degree angle from the hologram. It also usually needs to be placed at a distance from the hologram: the larger the hologram the further away the light source needs to be. This new invention allows the light source to be nearly parallel and close to the hologram, allowing the design of significantly flatter image display systems, useful for advertising signage, point-of-purchase, and trade shows. .... "
Measurement and Models
Just now In the Edge: Popper Versus Bacon
A Conversation With Peter Coveney intro by John Brockman
People have to go around measuring things. There's no escape from that for most of that type of work. There's a deep relationship between the two. No one's going to come up with a model that works without going and comparing with experiment. But it is the intelligent use of experimental measurements that we're after there because that goes to this concept of Bayesian methods. I will perform the right number of experiments to make measurements of, say, the time series evolution of a given set of proteins. From those data, when things are varying in time, I can map that on to my deterministic Popperian model and infer what's the most likely value of all the parameters that would be Popperian ones that would fit into the model. It's an intelligent interaction between them that's necessary in many complicated situations. .... "
There’s a massive clash of philosophies at the heart of modern science. One philosophy, called Baconianism after Sir Francis Bacon, neglects theoretical underpinning and says just make observations, collect data, and interrogate them. This approach is widespread in modern biology and medicine, where it’s often called informatics. But there’s a quite different philosophy, traditionally used in physics, formulated by another British Knight, Sir Karl Popper. In this approach, we make predictions from models and we test them, then iterate our theories. .... "
A Conversation With Peter Coveney intro by John Brockman
People have to go around measuring things. There's no escape from that for most of that type of work. There's a deep relationship between the two. No one's going to come up with a model that works without going and comparing with experiment. But it is the intelligent use of experimental measurements that we're after there because that goes to this concept of Bayesian methods. I will perform the right number of experiments to make measurements of, say, the time series evolution of a given set of proteins. From those data, when things are varying in time, I can map that on to my deterministic Popperian model and infer what's the most likely value of all the parameters that would be Popperian ones that would fit into the model. It's an intelligent interaction between them that's necessary in many complicated situations. .... "
There’s a massive clash of philosophies at the heart of modern science. One philosophy, called Baconianism after Sir Francis Bacon, neglects theoretical underpinning and says just make observations, collect data, and interrogate them. This approach is widespread in modern biology and medicine, where it’s often called informatics. But there’s a quite different philosophy, traditionally used in physics, formulated by another British Knight, Sir Karl Popper. In this approach, we make predictions from models and we test them, then iterate our theories. .... "
Measuring Relatedness of Knowledge Graphs
Interesting and technical talk on how research labs are using Map-Reduce to examine the closeness of terms in text. Looks at the efficiency of doing this for very large examples of knowledge bases. Creates a measure of relatedness of interest for practical applications.
" ... speaker this week is Yosi Mass from IBM Haifa Research Lab, who will present "A scalable graph representation of knowledge bases and its uses for semantic document relatedness." ... '
Slides here.
Audio will be placed here (Scroll down)
" ... speaker this week is Yosi Mass from IBM Haifa Research Lab, who will present "A scalable graph representation of knowledge bases and its uses for semantic document relatedness." ... '
Slides here.
Audio will be placed here (Scroll down)
Internet of Things to Surge Productivity
Had not thought of the connection directly, but a reasonable idea, and information technology has done that. Efficiency, and disrupting innovation? An economist's view.
" ... The view from Harvard's Michael Porter, an economist noted for his work on competition, is that the last 10 or 15 years have been "pretty dismal" for the economy. The IT- and Internet- driven innovations over the past four decades or so have played themselves out. The rate of investment and innovation "has been slowing down," he said.
But that will change thanks to Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, which will deliver "tremendous" efficiency gains, he said.
At the ThingWorx conference here, organized by the IoT platform company of the same name, Porter put context around how the IoT efforts of many individual companies will lead to overall economic improvement. ... "
" ... The view from Harvard's Michael Porter, an economist noted for his work on competition, is that the last 10 or 15 years have been "pretty dismal" for the economy. The IT- and Internet- driven innovations over the past four decades or so have played themselves out. The rate of investment and innovation "has been slowing down," he said.
But that will change thanks to Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, which will deliver "tremendous" efficiency gains, he said.
At the ThingWorx conference here, organized by the IoT platform company of the same name, Porter put context around how the IoT efforts of many individual companies will lead to overall economic improvement. ... "
General Morphological Analysis for the Wicked
Just received, points to excellent resources and examples of morphological, or 'structural' analysis. This should see much more application, consider applying it before detailed quant data is acquired for a complex problem. It can show you rich opportunities of structure for particularly wicked problems.
.... via Tom Ritchey, SweMorph | Swedish Morphological Society ...
For those who are interested in the numerous and varied applications of general morphological analysis (GMA), the following article is now available at AMG:
Álvarez, A. & Ritchey T. (2015) “Applications of General Morphological Analysis: From Engineering Design to Policy Analysis”, Acta Morph Gen, 4(1).
Abstract: Since its conception and development in the late 1940’s by Fritz Zwicky at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), the “morphological approach” – or General Morphological Analysis (GMA) – has been applied to many diverse areas of study, from engineering design and technological forecasting to policy analysis, organisational development and creative writing. This article outlines the numerous applications of GMA since the 1950’s and gives examples from some 80+ published articles. Early examples of Zwicky’s work are also described and an overview of modern, computer-aided GMA is presented.
The applications are divided up into the following categories:
• Engineering and product design
• General design theory and architecture
• Futures studies and scenario development
• Technology foresight/technological forecasting (a subset futures studies)
• Management science, policy analysis and organisational design
• Security, safety and defence studies
• Creativity, innovation and knowledge management
• Modelling theory, OR methods and GMA itself .....
.... via Tom Ritchey, SweMorph | Swedish Morphological Society ...
Álvarez, A. & Ritchey T. (2015) “Applications of General Morphological Analysis: From Engineering Design to Policy Analysis”, Acta Morph Gen, 4(1).
Abstract: Since its conception and development in the late 1940’s by Fritz Zwicky at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), the “morphological approach” – or General Morphological Analysis (GMA) – has been applied to many diverse areas of study, from engineering design and technological forecasting to policy analysis, organisational development and creative writing. This article outlines the numerous applications of GMA since the 1950’s and gives examples from some 80+ published articles. Early examples of Zwicky’s work are also described and an overview of modern, computer-aided GMA is presented.
The applications are divided up into the following categories:
• Engineering and product design
• General design theory and architecture
• Futures studies and scenario development
• Technology foresight/technological forecasting (a subset futures studies)
• Management science, policy analysis and organisational design
• Security, safety and defence studies
• Creativity, innovation and knowledge management
• Modelling theory, OR methods and GMA itself .....
Wednesday, May 06, 2015
Deep Learning with Structure and Interpretation
A dozen years ago we were using neural nets to capture aspects of consumer behavior and interpret the results to apply to marketing decisions. Not what is today called 'Deep Learning', but uses the same some of the same math tools. One of the primary problems was that it was hard to interpret the results to determine their validity. The problem has not gone away with new applications, but is now being addressed:
In KDNuggets:
A big problem with Deep Learning networks is that their internal representation lacks interpretability. At the upcoming #DeepLearning Summit, Charlie Tang, a student of Geoff Hinton, will present an approach to address this concern - here is a preview ... "
In KDNuggets:
A big problem with Deep Learning networks is that their internal representation lacks interpretability. At the upcoming #DeepLearning Summit, Charlie Tang, a student of Geoff Hinton, will present an approach to address this concern - here is a preview ... "
Old Brands Surprising Consumers
In K@W: A number of companies I know need more of this.
New Tricks: How Old Brands Can Still Surprise Consumers
To reinvigorate iconic brands, companies must figure out what is core to their products and how to make that relevant to the modern consumer. ... "
New Tricks: How Old Brands Can Still Surprise Consumers
To reinvigorate iconic brands, companies must figure out what is core to their products and how to make that relevant to the modern consumer. ... "
Essentials of Innovation
In McKinsey:
The eight essentials of innovation ...
Strategic and organizational factors are what separate successful big-company innovators from the rest of the field. ... "
The eight essentials of innovation ...
Strategic and organizational factors are what separate successful big-company innovators from the rest of the field. ... "
Intersection of AI and Blockchain
Blockchain has come up in a number of conversations. In O'Reilly, interesting piece about how it interacts with AI.
Seed Strategy
Seed Strategy has merged with Burke
" .. Seed Strategy grows big ideas for brands around the globe. Our clients can expect smart strategic thinking, head-turning creative and lasting relationships driven by the thrill of the process and the sweetness of success. ... "
" .. Seed Strategy grows big ideas for brands around the globe. Our clients can expect smart strategic thinking, head-turning creative and lasting relationships driven by the thrill of the process and the sweetness of success. ... "
Sustainability Through Service
Today's Service Sciences Talk.
ISSIP SIG Education & Research is Prof. Adi Wolfson, Green Processes Center, Shamoon College of Engineering, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
Title of his presentation is “Sustainability through Service.” Slides here.
http://ijctonline.com/ojs/index.php/ijct/article/view/883O Link to related paper.
http://www.sce.ac.il/eng/staff.php?cat=0&incat=&segel_id=11 Link to Adi Wolfson
ISSIP SIG Education & Research is Prof. Adi Wolfson, Green Processes Center, Shamoon College of Engineering, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
Title of his presentation is “Sustainability through Service.” Slides here.
http://ijctonline.com/ojs/index.php/ijct/article/view/883O Link to related paper.
http://www.sce.ac.il/eng/staff.php?cat=0&incat=&segel_id=11 Link to Adi Wolfson
Watson Discovers Knowledge in TED Talks
Interesting knowledge management technique using Watson. Any company, or for that matter knowledge developing entity, has this need. How practical this might be is of question. Like to see the idea further developed. In the enterprise we examined several related applications.
" ... Have TED’s 2,000 Presenters Answer Your Deepest, Probing Questions With Help From IBM's Watson ... The new discovery tool creates a super mashup mix tape of TED speakers expounding on any term you might want to search for. .... "
Tuesday, May 05, 2015
Signals and Noise in Observation
On signals and noise and observation, in Nicholas Carr's blog Roughtype:
" ... From Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s ... book Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder, but I found this bit to be intriguing:
The more frequently you look at data, the more noise you are disproportionally likely to get (rather than the valuable part called the signal); hence the higher the noise to signal ratio. And there is a confusion, that is not psychological at all, but inherent in the data itself. Say you look at information on a yearly basis, for stock prices or the fertilizer sales of your father-in-law’s factory, or inflation numbers in Vladivostock. Assume further that for what you are observing, at the yearly frequency the ratio of signal to noise is about one to one (say half noise, half signal) —it means that about half of changes are real improvements or degradations, the other half comes from randomness. ... "
" ... From Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s ... book Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder, but I found this bit to be intriguing:
The more frequently you look at data, the more noise you are disproportionally likely to get (rather than the valuable part called the signal); hence the higher the noise to signal ratio. And there is a confusion, that is not psychological at all, but inherent in the data itself. Say you look at information on a yearly basis, for stock prices or the fertilizer sales of your father-in-law’s factory, or inflation numbers in Vladivostock. Assume further that for what you are observing, at the yearly frequency the ratio of signal to noise is about one to one (say half noise, half signal) —it means that about half of changes are real improvements or degradations, the other half comes from randomness. ... "
Windows Business Intelligence Automation
In CWorld: Mentions the integration of business intelligence and voice interaction with an operating system. We could all use a personal assistant with business intelligence advisory and delivery skills. Assuming all the data would be easily available and understandable. This is probably more deeply integrated with Microsoft's Power BI. (See below for that, currently using it) This is not automating Data Science, but the more mundane need for data visualization and basic statistics. My guess is that is a big percentage of business intelligence needs. BigData/Data Science can be added for more innovative solutions. Yet voice interaction with something detailed like spreadsheet data can be a problem. Looking forward to see what this might look like in practice.
Make Yourself Unforgettable
Thinking back on many years in a big company I can remember only a small handful of unforgettable meetings and presentations. Best for the right reasons, of course. Were they effective in their goals, and in my remembering them? Good thoughts on being unforgettable.
Random Freebies Creating Loyalty
In Retailwire: This is a classic psych finding, that random rewards can produce a kind of loyalty. Though mostly found in experiments with pigeons. This was an experiment that was proposed in one of our grand experiments, but ultimately not implemented. How well does it work with loyalty programs? Still interested in a well constructed experiment.
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