How is it possible to avoid losing the user to machine supremacy? Dominance can be attained through any of several avenues. In economics, capitalism can lead to monopoly. Political centralization can become tyranny. Technology automation can arrive at autonomy. There are some cases where these may not be bad, but it is necessary to be able to prevent or remedy them if they are.

There are enough natural crises expected that technology has a role to play in solving them. Fully automated civilizations are still the stuff of scifi, e.g. Correction, Moderator or Pox. The goal is to maintain options along the way and to have something that answers to humanity for as long as possible.

The amount of information that can be reviewed is growing fast. There is an expanding infosphere that people are impacted by, yet have less and less knowledge of. The consumer has to make decisions about health, voting, purchasing, dependents, and assets. Information technology has been useful for organizations and institutions that handle facilities on behalf of patrons. Networks have migrated from messaging, documents, and locations to social groups. Search does not cover it all. Getting the right information to the right place and person requires a lot of preparation.

Utility is the notion of value to the user. This can be measured individually and in the aggregate. There is no common agreement on the appropriate formula or method yet. As a result, there are some superstitions in the form of heuristics or ideologies. People want the advantages of better infrastructure and, when it comes to information, this includes the grids that handle common resource demands according to supplies, prices, and regulations. Technology advances are adding new approaches. Right now, these are propelled by investors. At some point, they may become emergent and self-organizing.

Users of these systems are known by their profiles. They may have preferences and patterns of activity. The former may be abstracted to represent what people need and desire. This describes motivations for the development of further solutions. In terms of information, they often require advisories such as answers to questions, or prediction and planning. There may be urgency of action such as procurement or protection. Admin concerns include provisioning and problem-solving. The actors that do these for the benefit of someone are often called a proxy. Where these may have been professionals in the past, they may metamorphose into machines, or at least a capability of those to remain in synchrony with peoples’ propensities.

The exploration of these topics could take many forms. This one provides discussion of terms and practices, and includes links to sources. There are many issues yet to be resolved. Eventually it may bootstrap into a utility that can describe its own operation.

Continued draft 2

Draft on Utility of Information in progress. This is a blog which discusses capabilities and issues of grid components for advisories, action and administration of test information.

Book Reviews:

Handbook of Research on Urban Informatics: The Practice and Promise of the Real-Time City, Foth, 2008. Looks at case studies on the theme of urban space or cyburg. The following terms are described – augmented: overlay of digital symbols onto physical maps or scenes, enacted: shows informational and social relationships rather than spatial extent, transducted: where technology is an actor in addition to people,coded objects: material objects that rely on code to function, but do not keep their own records,code/space: spaces dependent upon software to function, coded space: spaces that are enhanced by coded process but which can exist without them, logjects: impermeable and permeable coded spaces that also have records. There are twenty-nine chapters. Site urbaninformatics.net. 

Reality, Universal Ontology and Knowledge Systems: Toward the Intelligent World, Abdouliaev 2008. This is an example of information computation. Its goal is an Intellectual Knowledge Society, “an intelligent civilization (culture) sustained by knowledge infrastructure and machines, where a personal, economic, societal and environmental development is mostly driven by ontological AI technology”. Machine reasoning, like natural order, is based on treatment of entities and causal relationships. Ontology is emphasized for both mathematics and the semantic web. A formal theory of language is constructed for use in search, representation and question and answer systems. Words are arranged by groups, types, and rules. The reality, representation and reasoning machine (RRR) and Universal Knowledge Transducer are used to process natural language for the Digital Aristotle base. It proposes a Unified Standard Entity Classification System (may also be labeled Universal instead). There are eight chapters. The preface, including chapter summaries, is shown on Amazon. Content is also on Safari. This does not cover the full range of functionality and user experience discussed in the draft above, but it is a verbose snapshot of this area of research. Keywords include entity, knowledge representation, natural language, ontology, scientific knowledge, semantics, set theory, taxonomies, and Wordnet.

Intelligent Information Technologies and Applications, Sugumaran 2008. Covers multi-agent systems using semantic technologies. Mobile agents can do data mining, and methods have to hide sensitive information. Shopping catalogs expand product findability and offers are discovered by ontology. A process data warehouse captures complex design and development dynamics. Multiple agents can be involved in the enterprise, or do selling or auctioning. A framework for quality of web services is proposed. End users are surveyed about interface agents. A multi-agent system for academic advising does information customization. Agents can support dynamically adjusted learning methods, e.g. as e-learning advisors across domains.

Book reviews:

Physics of the Future, Kaku 2011

This is a view of likely technological advances during the rest of the century based upon current research. It is written by a practicing scientist and may seem conservative compared to other popular futurists and speculative to journal publications. It is summarized by description of a day in 2100 under a type I global civilization. Author video.

World Wide Mind, Chorost, 2011

The author’s cochlear implants inspired him to think about how these enhancements can be connected to the internet and then how the combined social interactions would lead to a new order of self-awareness. Trends are extrapolated for the instruments and their applications. This might also be of interest for user experience or requirements as a subset of network science. Author video.

Biosystems Engineering, Nag, 2009

This book looks at the uses of bioengineering including those for agriculture. The combination of genetics and system analysis are used to make sustainable environmental modifications to address some of the critical needs due to impact of things like population and climate in the future.

Book reviews:

The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood, Gleick, 2011

The book covers how information has been treated in the precursors of the Information Age up to and including Google, Twitter and DNA databases. There is no standard definition, but there is the theory that the title refers to of Claude Shannon, and the overload of too much (TMI). The only irreversible process, and thus of any cost in terms of physical energy such as heat generation according to Landauer and Bennett, is erasure. The text briefly comments on data mining and machine intelligence, but does not dwell on the directions, not does it consider metadata, ontology, semantic web or augmented reality. Some of the author’s previous interests in chaos theory, quantum, entropy and thermodynamics are summarized. It goes more deeply into the abstractions of concepts such as meaning, language, writing, cryptography, paradoxes, numbers, measurement, logic, communication, transmission, computers, networks and genetics along with the major contributions of a host of researchers. There are fifteen chapters and extensive notes and bibliography. Author video.

Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other, Turkle, 2011

There are two parts about the author’s concerns about social intimacy and solitude based on practice and research. People decide how to keep devices busy. Questions about privacy and civil society bear on democracy and sacred spaces. People tend to identify with their machines They are vulnerable to overanthropomorphizing the capabilities of social robots. The companions offer safe havens. Some of them require nurture and others can double for caregivers for self or valued others. They may be an alternative to digital immersion. Online self-presentation has become a constant, in some cases also when in physical proximity like cyborgs, while in others for retreat to rehearsal or confession. There are fourteen chapters. Author site.

Storytelling for User Experience, Quesenbery and Brooks, 2010

There are sixteen chapters which appropriately have anecdotal stories. Business narratives are usually told in either reports or presentations. The latter can be oral, written or multimedia. User experience can be structured as prescriptive, hero, familiar or foreign, framed, layered and contextual interludes. Ingredients include perspective, characters, context, imagery, and language. These are intended to engage the audience in some way. They put a human face on research data. They can describe usability tasks for tests and reviews, and design ideas and requirements. Analysis activities identify fragments which are built into stories and personas. These can be found from listening, questioning, instructing, logs and note-taking. Good research ethics are relevant.

A/B testing supported by Optimizely and SumoOptimize. Firefox 4 Beta announced. RStudio is an IDE for R.

Intendix produces brain computer speller. Mogwee app is for mobile social group chat. Battery made from aerogel. Geotrio posts video tours. Senate maps wireless spectrum.

Security avatar questions travellers. Geminoid is a realistic android. Robotics react to human emotions and play basketball. There were twenty recent links.

Book Reviews:

Reality is Broken: why games make us better and how they can change the world, McGonigal, 2011. Video

The author looks at trends in collaboration and augmented reality. Games provide a satisfying and social way to accomplish tasks and improve skills using positive emotional activation. They show how to tackle unnecessary obstacles. One of the goals is to develop massively multiplayer foresight. This is expected to be a 68 billion dollar industry in 2012. Ten instances of global epic scale efforts are detailed for health, climate, peace, and economics. There are three parts for fourteen chapters. Book site.

The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom, Morozov, 2011. Video

The internet, and social media such as Facebook and Twitter, are used to promote democracy and activism, but are also a means of surveillance, censorship and propaganda by authoritarian governments. Cases are shown in China, Iran, and Russia. There are eleven chapters.

Climatopolis, Kahn, 2010

Sixty percent of the population will be urban by 2030. Carbon dioxide will cause air temperatures to rise. The author is an economist and optimistically expects a successful capitalist response from many innovations. There are several lessons. Each city will respond differently. There will be migration, rebuilding and booms in the aftermaths. Government activism increases risk-taking, taxes go up and corruption degrades quality. Climate models vary on predictions of rates and amounts of sea level rise which will impact coastlines. The scenarios for NYC, LA and China are looked at in depth. There are nine chapters. Also see synopses here and here.

Thinking Machines and the Philosophy of computer Science: Concepts and Principles, Vallverdú, 2010

The papers show summaries of multiple opinions on research topics such as information, biological computing, quantum mechanics, robotics, and security.

There are five sections for twenty-two chapters by thirty-two contributors in addition to the editor. Also on Safari.

Intel has BIOS implementation test suite. YouEye performs eye-tracking during tests. Aspiritech testers apply Asperger’s. Microsoft uses controlled experiments for business. Landing page tests listed.

Interactive Fabrication does realtime 3D. Hololabs has a 3D augmented reality editor. NMQ has 3D radar mosaic.

Robot subs used for longer term periods. Demolition robot slices concrete. Self-aware robot models body, thoughts and theory of mind. Stochastic robots put themselves together and take others apart. Cheetah-Bot made for pursuit. Robot marathon completed. Segway solowheel is self-balancing. Snakebot reaches heart.

Atomic antennae do quantum transmission on chip. Organic microprocessor announced. Phononic produces advanced thermoelectric devices. Millimeter-scale computer chips are prototyped.

OpenMesh provides internet-less routing. Brain-computer interface does multi-tasking. Swype eases mobile text input. OnSwipe self-publishes for tablets. HelloFax does transmits online. Batteries do self-repair. Solar caps put on landfills.

CapLinked has private investing platform. Seismic Warning Systems alert before earthquakes. Disaster relief model handles chaos. Video monitor automatically detects life jackets.

Book Reviews:

The End of Discovery, Russell Stannard, 2010

This book is about philosophy of science. The argument is that basic science has found things that are fundamentally unknowable. The description of the state-of-the-art is accompanied by questions that show the current limits. The nature of consciousness and free will is brought up initially. Others deal with what things are, their causes, proof, measurement, observations, past occurrences, and how to select between theories. Figures are used to understandably illustrate complex propositions and a few equations. There are thirteen chapters.

The End of the Long Summer, Dianne Dumanoski, 2009

This is a lyrical treatment of many environmental ideas. The basic thesis is that a future based on climate change and global warming cannot be avoided. The ozone hole was a demonstration of industrial civilization’s side-effects and the fact that nature is unpredictable. Humans have learned to dance to the music, however business cannot proceed as usual. Shift is volatile and rapid. The destiny is not set since there are choices. Technofix is a temptation, for example geoengineering, but the proper values include life, resiliency, diversity and survivability in contrast to survivalism. There can be overconnectedness as in hypercoherence. Humanities’ place is on Earth. Conservationists hope that people will be able to still enjoy animals several millennia from now. The best statement may be Carson’s Silent Spring. This is a Massachusetts author. There are nine chapters.

Embedded quality concerns highlighted by Accenture. Test lab management organized by Parasoft Virtualize. Mutual Mobile tests enterprise apps. SOASTA performs cloud and mobile load tests. Strike has simple task manager. Google bookmarks imports directly from delicious.

Wolfram reviews Watson. Satellites learn to dodge obstacles. Roombots morph into furniture. Meka Robotics combines Kinect and ROS. Lasers transfer data on-chip. Antilaser absorbs light.

BrainDriver kit for mind over motorcar. Compare to driving while blind. Ants lead in network trails.

inboxQ sweeps Twitter Q&A. RIM acquires Gist contact manager. Greplin searches social media. Crowdsourcing may speed social development. Wikistrat observes how tech propels global middle. EFF reports expansion in federal surveillance. Hackers spoof news via Wi-Fi.

Doctor’s brief presents Tech and Medicine. Nurses are apprehensive of alarm fatigue. Human skin becomes printable. Nanobioconnect hosts directory.

Mississippi powers underwater turbines. Geothermal Energy plentiful in Iceland. There were thirty-one recent links.

Book Review:

The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos, Brian Greene, 2011

Nine types of parallel universes are proposed including quilted, inflationary, brane, cyclic, landscape, quantum, holographic, simulated and ultimate. The questions include how to test these theories, e.g. involving features which are common, or correlated, to the known universe, possibly through computation, and whether they can be used to solve problems. Various components such as black holes, string theory, and branes are explored and related to each model. There are eleven chapters. Audio comments

Pen.io publishes pages. SpeakerText does transcription. TigerText does secure texting. Mobile Basecamp released. Automated reading clarifies historic maps. Cloud contest announced. HP challenges Google for cloud. Paygr does service classifieds. DIY blogs Ramshackle Solid and Homegrown Evolution feature case studies.

Universal flu vaccine handles all strains. DNA adhesives used to label valuables.

Anonymous claims Stuxnet source. Night Dragon virus penetrates energy firm systems. Medical Device Innovation Initiative fast tracks regulatory approvals. Unmanned combat air system US Navy X-47B tested.

Motorika provides robotic rehab. Affetto does realistic faces. Bilibot Project makes robotics cheaper. eRockit and YikeBike offer electric bikes.

Nanowires do computing. On-chip photonics speed up processing. There were twenty-five recent links.

Book review:

Verification and Validation in Scientific Computing, Oberkampf and Roy, 2010

Scientific computing is finding more uses in engineering and research. This book is about model verification. The questions are how well a simulation matches an actual activity, or how to get experimental data for a mathematics of micro- and nano-scales, and whether reviewers will find the results credible. Verification activities are shown for software, solution, model and management. Predictive capability is summarized in several steps for identifying sources of uncertainty, characterizing them, estimating error and uncertainty in the system response quantities (SRQs), updating the model, and analyzing sensitivities. There are five parts for sixteen chapters, and an appendix.

Apps for Development seeks evaluations. Sysadmins called to improve testability. Coverity leads market in automated software testing. Topicmarks does document summarization. Wrangler simplifies form-based data cleanup. Linked open data adds value. EMC released Greenplum visual language for big data. Canvas learning management system announced.

White house publishes innovation strategy. Startup America supports entrepreneurship. National Power Grid has security issues. FBI search engine developed. Local Motors announces transport design battle. National Security Space Strategy published. Russians resume plans for spaceplane. China announces 2020 science goals. Clean nuclear power is a priority in China. Japanese elderly not quick to accept bot care companions. RoboEarth networks bots globally. Surgeons communicate with nurse bots using gesture recognition. David Hanson’s bot heads advance.

Video discusses implants for humans and brains for bots. Heart cells are made from skin. Accelerometer is made of paper. Nestle tests products in huge stomach. Neer tracks group member locations. Ericsson texts money transfers. AT&T expands mobile banking. Walgreens fill prescriptions by cell cam. IntoNow promotes social TV. Digital museums are browsable in Google Art Project. There were thirty-three recent links.

Book Review:

Verification and Validation in Systems Engineering
This book looks at how architecture frameworks use SysML and UML 2.0. Techniques are classified as informal, static, dynamic or formal. These use inspection, testing, simulation, reference model equivalence checking and theorem proving. It proposes a unified approach to evaluate designs, including comparative metrics and procedures There is a case study of an ATM. Semantics, probabilistic behavior and performance analysis of activity diagrams are considered using the PRISM model. There are thirteen chapters.

Data deluge includes new terms. State unites in Sputnik Moment prioritizing tech innovation. All-Seeing Eye test results in contention. Egyptian election revolt disconnects media excepting network surveillance. Cyber police activated in Iran. Facebook handles hacks from Tunisia. Bluetooth is useful to insurgents. Mobile phones are to be tested in space. Android 3.0 SDK announced. Digital docs use steganography. Universal memory seeks to replace flash and DRAM. Alternative energy may take about three more decades. Robot hands become more robust. Cloud bots get smarter. Visual microscopy automated. Autom supports weight reduction. There were twenty recent links.

Book review:

The Next Decade, George Friedman, 2010
This book looks at the near future of US foreign relations in terms of a realignment of the balance of power through actions of the President as Commander-in-Chief. There are two themes, the unintended empire, and whether it can be managed to allow the republic to survive. The US global military supports economic policy. Its President is always engaged in the art of war. This will move beyond recent fear of rising oil prices and Jihadist war and establish surrogates in each region. While democracy, human rights and social progress are still important, strategy becomes more of a concern than ideology. The issues are economic, geopolitical, demographic and technological. There is an aging population, contracting workforce, and lack of water. The state, in the form of the DoD, is more powerful than the market for long-term investment. On the American contents, Cuba is likely to be a target of influence, Latin America will include Brazil, Argentina and Mexico. The latter’s violence and corruption will be resisted at the border and cartels are expected to be in control there, while US hypocrisy will scapegoat members of its government staff during investigations. Canada is stable. In Asia, Korea, Australia and Singapore balance Chinese splintering and Japanese assertiveness. India surges economically, but is not a threat to China, and is balanced by Pakistan to keep its expenditures on Army and Air. In Europe, Brits’ interests are closer to US, and Poland is important to containment since Germany dominates economically, backed by France allied with Russian military which seeks to balance US with radical Islam. Denmark blocks Baltic sea exits. NATO is irrelevant. In the Middle East, US withdraws from Iraq, distances from Israel, and has detente with Iran. Sunni Turkey eventually rises and is important to Russian containment in Balkans and Caucasus. There are fourteen chapters.