Posts Tagged ‘information’

Change2010_04: Transportation as an information flow

Tuesday, September 21st, 2010

In this fifth article, a look at an industry that in few decades has changed how we see the world.

Eventually, we shifted from transportation as an individual choice to transportation as a shared flow, where your individual car is part of a larger system, composed by the infrastructure that you use with your car, all the other transportation means, and, of course, all the accessory services.

Change2010_01: From paper to the cloud and beyond

Tuesday, September 7th, 2010

Defining information technology today

In the second article in the series, I will discuss change in the field that touches the life of everyone of us: Information technology (computer and Internet- but also other active and passive telecommunication media).

When I say “everybody” I am not forgetting the Low Income Countries (LICs), or the non- connected (over 30% in the EU): in one way or another, e.g. also via radio or TV, everybody is touched by information technology.

And, since over the last 20 years gradually each information channel migrated to the digital platform, it is quite easy to see how, eventually, it will be the form and shape at the receiving end (TV, radio, text messages, voice, etc) that will be seen as differentiating the different channels.

The evolution on the transmission of information has been also mirrored by a parallel evolution in its storage: where you information resides started being irrelevant.

Biometrics and you

Saturday, January 2nd, 2010

After the Millennium Bug, a side-effect of 9/11 was the quest for a “silver bullet” in global and personal security.
Biometrics (see the article on Wikipedia to start your quest on what it means).
Pardon my over-simplification: I will consider biometrics, be it the actual measurement of physical, unchangeable characteristics of a human individual, or the profiling [...]

Public procurement 2.0

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

In the private sector, e-procurement has been on the table well before the Internet became accessible.

I will focus only on ICT procurement: from computers to consulting, to any associated services and infrastructure.

The Future of IT – 04/04 Itinerary

Friday, November 13th, 2009

Few weeks ago, when I published the article “The Future of IT”, I was planning to write something about technology.

But, as most bookworms turned practitioners, I know that a white page is tempting.

Most writings about the future are actually the typical side-effect of an attempt to find order within chaos- notably when it is an unknown chaos that you are trying to describe.

This article is published in four parts (no more than 1000 words each).

Of course, I tried to keep it readable- no more than 150 to 250 words per section.

This is the fourth article: itinerary.

You have read about my target future and the present. How do we move from the present to the future? It depends from where you are now. Therefore, I will outline an example, i.e. monitoring online positioning, that could inspire other applications.

The Future of IT – 03/04 Starting

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

Few weeks ago, when I published the article “The Future of IT”, I was planning to write something about technology.

But, as most bookworms turned practitioners, I know that a white page is tempting.

Most writings about the future are actually the typical side-effect of an attempt to find order within chaos- notably when it is an unknown chaos that you are trying to describe.

This article is published in four parts (no more than 1000 words each).

Of course, I tried to keep it readable- no more than 150 to 250 words per section.

This is the third article: starting.

IT systems are obviously not a one-size-fits-all. The current trend is toward standardization, and this chapter will summarize some current trends and issues. The common thread? Tailoring the response to the needs (and budgets), while allowing future expansion.

The Future of IT – 02/04 Destination

Monday, November 9th, 2009

Few weeks ago, when I published the article “The Future of IT”, I was planning to write something about technology.

But, as most bookworms turned practitioners, I know that a white page is tempting.

Most writings about the future are actually the typical side-effect of an attempt to find order within chaos- notably when it is an unknown chaos that you are trying to describe.

This article is published in four parts (no more than 1000 words each).

Of course, I tried to keep it readable- no more than 150 to 250 words per section.

This is the second article: destination.

My approach to change is: ask what the customers aim to achieve, understand where they are, assess the resources available, propose an itinerary, and, if needed (e.g. due to lack of resources), identify a realistic alternative target.

The Future of IT – 01/04 Introduction

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

Few weeks ago, when I published the article “The Future of IT”, I was planning to write something about technology.

But, as most bookworms turned practitioners, I know that a white page is tempting.

Most writings about the future are actually the typical side-effect of an attempt to find order within chaos- moreover, when it is an unknown chaos that you are trying to describe.

This article is published in four parts (no more than 1000 words each).

Of course, I tried to keep it readable- no more than 150 to 250 words per section.

This is the first, introductory article.

I will start with the concept of forecasting, then the logic of building forecasting models, to finally land on the key issues: the experience I used to develop the forecasting framework, and the conceptual model.

AGB2009: the future of IT

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

This part of the AGB2009 series (see the presentation)
AGB2009: THE FUTURE OF IT

BACKGROUND

It has been a long time since IBM supposedly said that few computers would be enough to forever satisfy all the computing needs of humanity.

Do not worry: this is not a technical article.

ABSTRACT

My suggestion? Well, I still hold an Italian passport.

Therefore, I suggested an idea inspired by another industry: segmenting the market by building standardized elements, and then offering different levels of “tailoring”, but with an option to then re-insert, after sometime, the custom-designed services into the basic portfolio.

But, in my view, the issue is becoming even more nuanced. And more complex. And still actual.

A virtual news agency

Monday, July 6th, 2009

If you were to visit a news organization, say, in late 1970s, you would have seen a room with the constant chattering of teletype machines.

Every once in a while, a line would appear with a catchy title, followed by few more lines.

I remember that it was called “strillo d’agenzia” in Italian (I was but a kid, tagging along with my father).

Recently, I have been supporting few pro-bono startups.

In this short post, I would like to focus on a simple issue: layering your online information, taking a page from 1970s news agencies and organizations.