Open Data Institute: “The Information Economy Strategy sets out a range of key actions, including: Digitally transforming 25 of the top 50 UK public services over the next 300 days, including plans to give businesses a single, online view of their tax records Launching a new programme to help 1.6 million SMEs scale up their business online over the next five years. Publishing a data capability strategy in October 2013, developed in partnership with government, industry and academia. The strategy will build on the recommendations in Stephan Shakespeare’s review of Public Sector Information and the Prime Minister’s Council for... (More >)
Why Are We Signing Our Emails With “Thank You?”
Krystal D’Costa on Anthropology in Practice in Scientific American: “These types of linguistic structures are known as “politeness formulae.” … These patterns of responses are deeply nuanced and reflect the nature of the relationship between participants: degree of intimacy, relative status, and length of contact or expected duration of separation all influence how these interactions are carried out. In the age of texting, these practices may seem antiquated, but the need for those sorts of rituals remains important, particularly in electronic communication where tone is hard to read. We end our communiques with “talk later,” “talk 2 u tomorrow,”... (More >)
Big Data Is Not Our Master. Humans create technology. Humans can control it.
Chris Hughes in New Republic: “We’ve known for a long time that big companies can stalk our every digital move and customize our every Web interaction. Our movements are tracked by credit cards, Gmail, and tollbooths, and we haven’t seemed to care all that much. That is, until this week’s news of government eavesdropping, with the help of these very same big companies—Verizon, Facebook, and Google, among others. For the first time, America is waking up to the realities of what all this information—known in the business as “big data”—enables governments and corporations to do…. We are suddenly wondering,... (More >)
Great groups: What 15 things do breakthrough genius teams share?
Barking Up The Wrong Tree: “Warren Bennis and Patricia Biederman studied a number of breakthrough great groups to see what made them so successful. They compiled the results into their book, Organizing Genius. They looked at the Disney’s Animation division, the Manhattan Project (developed the nuclear bomb), Xerox PARC (designed the modern computer interface), the 1992 Clinton campaign (pulled off an enormous victory), Lockheed’s Skunk Works (created the U2 spy plane and the Stealth Bomber), and others. Highlights from Organizing Genius summarized by Erik Barker can be found here.” ... (More >)
Smart Citizen Kit enables crowdsourced environmental monitoring
Emma Hutchings at PSFK: “The Smart Citizen Kit is a crowdsourced environmental monitoring platform. By scattering devices around the world, the creators hope to build a global network of sensors that report local environmental conditions like CO and NO2 levels, light, noise, temperature and humidity. Organized by the Fab Lab at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, a team of scientists, architects, and engineers are paving the way to humanize environmental monitoring. The open-source platform consists of arduino-compatible hardware, data visualization web API and a mobile app. Users are invited to take part in the interactive global environmental... (More >)
First, they gave us targeted ads. Now, data scientists think they can change the world
Derrick Harris in Gigaom: “The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads … That sucks.” – Jeff Hammerbacher, co-founder and chief scientist, Cloudera Well, something has to pay the bills. Thankfully, there’s also a sweeping trend in the data science world right now around bringing those skills to bear on some really meaningful problems, … We’ve already covered some of these efforts, including the SumAll Foundation’s work on modern-day slavery and future work on child pornography. Closely related is the effort — led by Google.org’s deep pockets — to create an international... (More >)
Complex Algorithm Auto-Writes Books, Could Transform Science
Mashable: “Could a sophisticated algorithm be the future of science? One innovative economist thinks so. Phil Parker, who holds a doctorate in business economics from the Wharton School, has built an algorithm that auto-writes books. Now he’s taking that model and applying it to loftier goals than simply penning periodicals: namely, medicine and forensics. Working with professors and researchers at NYU, Parker is trying to decode complex genetic structures and find cures for diseases. And he’s doing it with the help of man’s real best friend: technology. Parker’s recipe is a complex computer program that mimics formulaic writing…. Parker’s... (More >)
Empowering Consumers through the Smart Disclosure of Data
OSTP: “Today, the Administration’s interagency National Science and Technology Council released Smart Disclosure and Consumer Decision Making: Report of the Task Force on Smart Disclosure—the first comprehensive description of the Federal Government’s efforts to promote the smart disclosure of information that can help consumers make wise decisions in the marketplace. Whether they are searching for colleges, health insurance, credit cards, airline flights, or energy providers, consumers can find it difficult to identify the specific product or service that best suits their particular needs. In some cases, the effort required to sift through all of the available information is so... (More >)
Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends Report
AllThingsD: For the second year in a row, Mary Meeker is unveiling her now famed Internet Trends report at the D11 Conference. Meeker, the Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers partner, highlights growth of Internet usage and other activities on mobile devices and updates that now infamous gap between mobile internet usage and mobile monetization.But there are many new additions. Among them are the rise of wearable tech as perhaps the next big tech cycle of the coming decade and a look at how Americans’ online sharing habits compare to the rest of the world.Here’s Meeker’s full presentation: KPCB Internet... (More >)
The Performativity of Data: Re-conceptualizing the Web of Data
New Paper by several authors of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, including Jim Hendler, Marie Joan Kristine Gloria, Dominic DiFranzo and Marco Fernando Navarro: “As the discipline of Web Science matures, its interdisciplinary claim has many researchers unsure about its core theory and methodology. Instead, we often see results that are more multi-disciplinary than interdisciplinary. The following contribution attempts to recast our understanding of the current methodologies and tools leveraged by the Web Science community. Specifically, we review the Semantic Web and Linked Data technologies not just from a technical perspective; but, through a critical reading of key social theories... (More >)
