IP Sharing Leads to Riches for Goldcorp!
Check out this interesting story of how Goldcorp shared their intellectual property regarding geology on property they owned to avoid bankruptcy and make millions.
Blockbuster’s Electronic Networks
Electronic networks are pervasive many companies at presently and are used to aid in efficiently running the company. Electronic networks are defined by John Seely Brown in two ways, “First, they help deal with cascades of information that many people find so threatening. Second, they promise to handle many intricate human tasks.” (Brown, Duguid 2002 p. 36). These electronic networks are made up of agents that perform many actions. As a frequent movie watcher, I am a subscriber to Blockbuster’s online movie rental program as well as a member at my local brick and mortar store. I will detail some of the agents in use by blockbuster and offer some suggestions for agents which would improve the overall experience of renting movies from Blockbuster.
Blockbuster currently uses an agent which deals with the complex amounts of information regarding my movie ratings, and comparing them with similarly rated movies, and looking at the movies they also rate highly in order to provide recommendations to me. The problem with these agents is that they understand the rules but cannot impart judgment into a decision which results in a weakness for the overall electronic network (Brown, Duguid 2002 p. 53). These problems trouble all recommendation systems currently in use, and companies are actively pursuing new methods for recommendation agents. Netflix, Blockbuster’s competitor, has even offered a reward for a member of the general public who creates a new and improved recommendation method. This is similar to Goldcorp’s method of finding new gold deposits by sharing company intellectual property (Tapscott, Williams 2006 p. 10). The Netflix contest has already resulted in many entires, many of which are already improving on Netflix’s recommendation system by more than 6%.
Blockbuster also uses an agent as part of their brick and mortar store to let customers know when they have overdue movies. The agent is similar to the chatterbot described in The Social Life of Information with the information supplied by a store rather than by a chatting customer (Brown, Duguid 2002 p. 36). The agent isn’t perfect in that is will sometimes call a renter after the movie has been returned, however it performs its task well and negates the need for a human to remind someone that a movie is late. This system is also backed by a postcard system to inform users if they have a movie which is close to the purchase point of a late fee.
One part of an electronic network which would be beneficial for Blockbuster to add would be an agent or process in the system which reconciles in store rentals with the online rental history of a user. This would perform several functions the most important being the removal of in store rentals from the rental queue, in order to avoid duplicates reaching the customer. Another added benefit would be for the recommendation system to view a larger rental history which is actually a twofold benefit. A new system could look at movies rented but not rated and some calculation could be performed on that, the history could also be used to prompt the user to rate more movies hence improving the overall recommendation system.
The use of agents at Blockbuster as parts of their electronic network have improved both the customer service by providing recommendations, and the efficiency of Blockbuster by automating many tasks and handling complex datasets. Without these networks it would be very difficult for blockbuster to contend in the online movie rental system.
References:
Tapscott, Don, Wikinomics, Portfolio (Penguin Press), New York 2006.
Brown, S. J. and Duguid, P. The Social Life of Information, Harvard Business School Publishing
Ubuntu How To Roundup
I recently set up a dual boot system on my Gateway laptop, with Windows XP and Ubuntu (edgy). After working my way through some issues mounting my NTFS drive, which I was able to do with this ntfs 3g walkthrough, and forcing a checkdisk in windows by opening the run from start and typing ‘chkdsk /f’, without quotes.
The next obstacle I had to overcome was having root privileges when installing a few of Lifehacker’s top 10 apps. After a bit of googling I found out that simply adding sudo, to the beginning of a command will allow the install to proceed. For example, “sudo apt-get install checkgmail".
Finally I had to get sound working on my gateway 4525GZ laptop. This proved to me that most fixes in Linux are easy as soon as you know what to do. In order to enable sound I had to mute the external amplifier. Again after some research it turns out this is an easy thing to do. Mute your external amplifier to fix no sound in Ubuntu.
Another useful app is brightside which allows you to switch between workspaces by moving your mouse off the side of the screen. You can get brightside by simply opening your terminal and typing
sudo apt-get install brightside
then to run it
brightside
and to set it up
brightside-properties
If you want to make brightside or any other program start when you boot Ubuntu go to System->Preferences->Sessions choose the Startup Programs Tab, click add and put the name of the program you want to start in. For this example brightside. For another handy program, I simply put in checkgmail.
I hope these help someone else out, and I know I will find them useful next time I do a Ubuntu install.
Buckellcast Episode 4 Is Up
My friend and science fiction author/blogger Toby has started a weekly podcast which covers a range of topics though usually comes back to writing, he even takes reader questions. This week I felt like I caught a snippet of MTV cribs, as Toby shows off his office and his new powermac. These videocasts in general are startign to catch on for me, and I am toying with the idea of starting a cellphone/mobile technology podcast.
What are your thoughts on Toby’s Buckellcast, and on a Mobilephone/Tech Podcast?
Chevy Volt Gets a Date!
GM’s aggrezssive looking electric car the Volt, was recently given two dates, a prototype date of 2007 which I thought we had already seen, and a production date of 2010. I am very excited about this car, almost as excited as I am about the new Jeep Wrangler!
More on the Chevy Volt via Wired
Sony and the Blogosphere: Missed Connections
“Companies need to realize their markets are often laughing. At them.”
20th of 95 Theses from the Cluetrain Manifesto
Sony has come under much scrutiny in the past year and has illustrated that they do not understand how to communicate on the Web as we know it today. They have been also been the subject of many blog posts regarding their products, hacking them, reviewing them, attacking Sony practices, and much more. Sony has often taken a strong arm approach to dealing with information they do not want shared, and they have taken an even stronger approach to users modifying their hardware, or criticizing their business practices. To highlight these problems I will further discuss Sony vs. Homebrew on the PSP, Sony and its Rootkit, Sony vs. Kotaku, and Sony vs. blogs on the PS3.
Google v. Wikipedia Workplace Structure and Management Styles
*This is the first part in my postings for the MBA program I am currently in. The course covers information technology in relation to a variety of topics.
Google and Wikipedia are both pioneers in the information industry and are revolutionizing the current market for information gathering and information sharing. These two companies share similarities but the management styles and philosophy surrounding these companies varies greatly.
Google has revolutionized searching on the internet and information finding for people of all walks of life. Google provides a new way to cultivate ideas internally and utilize the power of creativity. At Google, employees are able to utilize 20 percent of their time to pursue projects which interest them (Vise, 2005, p. 131). This practice was garnered from the ability of professors to utilize one day of their work week for academic projects (p. 132). Many of Google’s new features have been started as employee projects. These projects have lead to increased branding, market share, and profitability for Google. The projects have become integral to Google after being worked on by employees during the 20 percent time, includes Google News, Froogle, Google Reader and many more which are part of the Google Labs portion of Google (p. 137). This method of fostering innovation and creativity has helped Google better live up to its mission, “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” (http://www.google.com/corporate/). The top down management structure of Google contains rigid scrutiny for projects by Both Larry and Sergey account for the success of the 20 percent projects which become public tools (p. 138).
Bluffton Beavers Mourn Loss of Students
Today, Bluffton University lost 4 students, their families lost sons and brothers, we lost friends, teammates and best friends. We lost poeple we have worked with, gone to class with, eaten Marbeck food with and many more are wounded and in need of support. Bluffton is so small that you would be hard pressed to find a student who was not affected by this tragedy. Please remember during this time what it means to be a Bluffton University Alumni, remember dorm hours which you didn’t agree with, taking a gen ed for reasons you couldn’t fathom, remember watching SNL in the dorm lobbies before cable came to our rooms. Remember the people you met your first day, don’t forget the bonds you formed so quickly with your new friends, quickly piling into a car to head to the “J” or the “Main St.”. Bluffton was and still is a special part of all our lives, college is so much about the people you spend 4 years with, that your thoughts on educational policies and administrative rules don’t really stop you from loving Bluffton. Even if you left with a bitter taste for whatever reason, remember today that you were and are a Beaver. Please keep the families and players in your thoughts and prayers, open your arms to them if you have a chance to help them. I know this sounds so cliche but really take time to appreciate those around you, the people you surround yourself with everyday, life is so short, and you can’t tell what tommorow can bring.
I’m a Beaver
Your A Beaver
We’re a Beaver All
When We get together we do the beaver Call
B-E-A-V-E-R
Go Beavers!
Josh Smith is a blogger, database manager and adjunct professor of business and technology. 
