Institute's Blog

Issue Papers The following short papers are written by IIIP's academic advisors and represent their thoughts on various topics relating to innovation and productivity. We expect this collection of papers to grow by two or three a month. These papers are not intented to report research results, but to speculate about issues and to provote further discussion and debate. Email comments and remarks Computational Social Science February 6, 2009 Author: Professor Sinan Aral, et. al Abstract — IIIP Academic Advisor Sinan Aral has published an article in the most recent issue of SCIENCE, which heralds the dawn of a new age of "Computational Social Science." In the piece, Professor Aral and colleagues argue that the availability of massive amounts of digitized data on human behavior like those generated by email, instant messaging (IM) and mobile phone communications traffic, is enabling studies of population level human interaction on scales orders of magnitude greater than what was previously possible. These new data, they argue are ripe with opportunity for understanding social and economic dynamics, but that use of such data in research also requires great care. Information on Information January 15, 2009 Author: Dr Guus Pijpers Abstract — Information has its own features. An attribute is a characteristic that describes a feature. Attributes can be thought of as questions that are asked about the feature. Information also has its own qualities, some of which describe features that are very specific to information. Valuing information is also an inherently difficult task because of the unique features of information that distinguish it from other material resources. These features are being addressed in this paper. Knowledge about these intricacies of information is necessary if an information worker and their organizations need to increase their information productivity. Information Identified January 5, 2009 Author: Dr Guus Pijpers Abstract —We use the word 'information' numerous times each day. Information is all around us. We need information in our daily life. Information is also the new currency of business. Yet what we mean with the concept 'information' is not precisely clear. Starting with the history of information and introducing a number of notions on the concept of information, this paper tries to emphasize that a single definition of information is not really possible. One of the most powerful definitions involves the relationship between information and the human mind. After all, we humans make sense of our environment by continuously applying meaning to data. Using an Information Profile May 13, 2008 Author: Dr Guus Pijpers Abstract — The proliferation of information makes it necessary to pay more attention to the human side of information exchange. When people send out information, they often think about themselves. However, to be productive with information, any message should be aimed primarily at the receiver's characteristics. We have to make ourselves familiar with his information profile in order to exchange information effectively. As a start, one has to know his own peculiarities when dealing with information, possibly with support from an information coach. Invisible Computing: Vision or Reality February 28, 2008 Author: Bharat Rao, Ph.D. Bojan Angelov Abstract — This brief paper presents the idea of an emerging value chain comprised of (1) info-structures, (2) devices, (3) interfaces, and (4) smart spaces, which together form the core elements of a pervasive information environment. We believe that a shared understanding of this framework by numerous stakeholders will accelerate the deployment of pervasive information systems in today's service-oriented organizations, and lead to increased productivity, interactivity and customer satisfaction. A Value-Hill Model of Innovation February 13, 2008 Author: C. Warren Axelrod, Ph.D. Abstract — This paper outlines an approach to selecting and scheduling R&D projects leading to innovations in products, services, and processes, with the goal of maximizing the net value generated by the innovations.