Lesson 3: The Wisdom of Crowds

It is time of the week again for me to post my my 2-cents worth of my point of views from the seminar we had last Thursday. It is indeed a extremely meaningful one for me as I am a person who always like to hear the different side of a story to gain more insights before even committing on my ideas or decisions.

So which is better, an individual Smart Alex? Or the Wisdom of Crowds?

I guess this is also a question I have tried to answer before, but I couldn't.... Haha... Even after this discussion with the class and coming home to "reseach" further into this topic in the web. I am still unable to make a stand on really an individual is better or actually the wisdom of the mass crowds stand out. I still feel it is rather subjective to conclude on it but I definately gain lots of insights into this question. And perhaps able to try and deploy the teory learnt here and decide which method to use the next time round when I face a problem.

Alright, just a short recap on what we have learnt and discussed in class:

Many cognitive, coordination and cooperation problems are best solved by canvassing groups (the larger the better) of reasonably informed, unbiased, engaged people. The group's answer is almost invariably much better than any individual expert's answer, even better than the best answer of the experts in the group.

Agreed? Or not agreed? For those unfamiliar with the concept of the Wisdom of Crowds, here is just what you need to catch up with us:

http://www.randomhouse.com/features/wisdomofcrowds/

This is the link to the writer of the book, James Surowiecki, on 'The Wisdom of Crowds', as well as information about the contents of the book. Anyone out there who wish to read up more on this interesting topic can check out this website.

While "reseaching" in the web, I came across another blogger by the name 'Dave Pollard' blog article on the Wisdom of Crowds. This guy is a real season blogger who's blog articles and posts running deep under my screen. I guess this is really an interesting blog to read as his posts are all his environmental philosophy, creative works, business papers and essays over a wide spectrum of issues.

He himself after reading the Wisdom of Crowds, have been bouncing ideas on how to implement the principles in James Surowiecki's book The Wisdom of Crowds off a variety of people in the public and private spheres.

And here is what he had came out with his bouncing ideas: The 'Collective Wisdom' Model

The Value Proposition for this model is compelling:

Tapping into the Wisdom of Crowds with a disciplined process will reduce or eliminate the need for (and cost of) 'expert' consultants, academics and focus groups, while producing better decisions and solutions than those experts can offer.

If you would like to find out more information on this model of Collective Wisdom to solve your problem, you can read up his ideas in his blog here:

http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/2004/11/15.html

Okay, so much about the Wisdom of Crowds, now back to what I have done today with my team AMG for our assignment for this thursday presentation on the problem exist in the Jurong Bird Park.

I guess the wonder of techologies today are to help we human beings to implement what was then thought as impossible in the past. Hence, whole lots of applications are available in our mind for us to implement them as to serve our fellow human beings better. And here my team have came out with a great idea to help solve the problem of communicating with the visitors in the Jurong Bird Park as well as providing them with the best of information at their finger tips.

But wait...... ...... it is too early to review more on what is up in our proposal. Just hang on a little, we will review in our presentation on this coming Thursday.........

Cheers!!

Lesson 2: Technology Infrastructure

Got my first and second comments for my blog from Prof Gilbert. I would like to thank him for his encouragement on my interest in designs. I guess what Prof Gilbert did mention in the discussion was really true. This blog for this module have add in more interactivities between the students and the Professor. Hence allow us to get to know more about each other and share information across as well. Enjoy reading his comments and awaiting more to pour in soon.

Met up last thurday with my team mates for my project to discuss on the Starhub case study as well as prepare for the presentation in class on the questions posted by Prof Gilbert.

This is the first assignment for our MB362 module. And its quite an interesting one for us to work on since its on Starhub, a telecomunication company all of us are pretty much known of in Singapore. We had our group discussion and exchanged our ideas on the case study article as well as prepare our answers to the questions in a Powerpoint slides for our presentation later in the day.

My team was called upon the first team to do the presentation, most of the teams came up with quite similar answers. Hence, the are also pointers exchanged between the different groups and Prof Gilbert. We touch on the major issue of new entrance in the telecommunication market in Singapore, namely MobileOne and followed by Starhub. We also discussion on the impact of the new entrance to the market as well as the roles they play in this market.

One interesting topic during the discussion mention was the goals of the firm. And all the team stated that the important goal of Starhub was to establish itself as the leader of the market over time. However, Prof Gilbert quickly point out the point if it is always necessary and true that every player that enters a market should try to be the leader of its field.

And guess the answer is NOT always true.

We should actually look into different aspect of the business and evaluated if the main objective of the emerging companies should be the leaders. Just like company taking debts to finance their investment activities. On the general view of debts are always bad, however if the companies are able to manage their debts well, it may turn out to be the source to generate profits and revenues.

We also touch on the bundlering of services provided to gain market shares by starhub. Value added services as well as backend capability to provide customers with single billing services. Convergence of services are the next level of playing field in such a highly penetrated and mature market in Singapore. Actually not to increase market shares but more to retain customer base in this fiercely competitive market.

And in search of the next generation of mobile phones and features I would like to have in my pocket is the ability in the mobile device to share information. Yes.. yes... handphone features of today have gone a long way since the beginning, however with the ability to connect to internet and bluetooth connectivity between handsets are still limited to data rate as well as distance between nodes.

How I wish I am able to set up networks between my peers in the mobile world. With all of us connected in a peer-to-peer networking environment that allows each and everyone of us to transfer information even if we are distance apart. Hopefully this can be seen sometime soon with the introduction of 3.5G HSDPA network as well as the coming 4G intelligent broadband mobile network.

Coming back to the topic of the last seminar, Technology Infrastructure. Learning about the grow of technologies along the way as well as the backbone infrastructure network that enable all this wonderful services available today. Rekindle back to the good old days of the snail mail of sending information across the island and the world, I could not held but really appreciated these works that are done by the innovators and creators of all these wonderful technologies.

We move on to a simple lab session on creating a simple HTML file that can be view in the browser on our laptops in the seminar room. And I really appreciated Prof Gilbert effort to help all of us to gain access to the laptops in the seminar room this time round as we are not being able to log on in the previous session. He really ensure that we are able to really get a feel of what we are studying with real application execises and discussions to illustrate his course materials. Something I guess do help us to understand better on this module as compare to traditional way of delivering in a lecture-tutorial way.

Once again looking forward to this thursday seminar on Infrastructure for Mobile Commerce.

Cheers!!

Interesting Article: Gartner warns operators to stay focused

Just read about this article from Telecoms.com website about research firm Gartner warning operators to stay forcus on their core business rather then distracted through efforts to transform into media companies.

Gartner warned that more than half of these new approaches will fail because many carriers only have a limited knowledge of their existing subscriber base and often do not understand the new business models.

Maybe you guys will be interested to read more about it. Here is the link of the article:

http://www.telecoms.com/itmgcontent/tcoms/news/articles/20017397472.html

Cheers!

Lesson 1: Disruptive Technologies in Electronic Commerce

Finally gain much insight to the MB362 module with the first seminar session on last thurday evening. Spend some time in the weekend browsing through the course materials as well as the external links from the course site.

Interesting, interesting... This course is really quite different from the previous modules I have taken in the past 2 years in NTU. Relating to some work I did during my attachment, the discussion on the disruptive technologies really trigger my excitement on the future of the info-communication world.

Really impressed with the power of the electronic communication system have brought to the changes in our life, guess that the reason why I decided to take up computer engineering many years back. However, having worked in a MNC like Motorola and learning on the information shared by Prof Gilbert last thurday. Tells me that the world do not just evolve around on technology alone but brings about many impact on businesses and of course our life.

On the discussion of the disruption, I was really taken aback on the personalisation point mention. I was wondering that its was so wonderful to tap on these information that was collected to actually build on it to provide personalise level of services is really great. However, on the down side of it was really losing our privacy when you know that somebody is actually monitoring your personal life activities closely.

During my attachment, I was given the opportunities to work on some emerging technologies and actually study into the impact or possible impact these technologies may have on the existing network. And the possible emerging disruptive giant is Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, WiMAX. A standards-based technology enabling the delivery of last mile wireless broadband access as an alternative to cable and DSL.

These high speed internet access technologg may be the solution to the cellular network to enable mobile devices with the capabilities to provide m-commerce activities as well as bandwidth hungry entertain applications.

There is also these book that I would like to recommand you guys for reading interest in how we can manage emerging technologies. It is titled 'Wharton on Managing Emerging Technologies' by George S. Day and Paul J. H. Schoemaker.

Emerging technologies such as the Internet and biotechnology have the potential to create new industries and transform existing ones. Incumbent firms, despite their superior resources, often lose out to smaller rivals in developing emerging technologies. Why do these incumbents have so much difficulty with disruptive technologies? How can they anticipate and overcome their handicaps?

Wharton on Managing Emerging Technologies presents insights, tools, and frameworks from leading busi-ness thinkers based on the research of Wharton's Emerging Technologies Management Research Program. The editors contend that managing emerging technologies represents a "different game," requiring a different set of management skills, frameworks, and strategies than those used by established firms to manage existing technologies.

I find the contend in these book are really very interesting and informative. It really helps me to understand more in the changes in the technologies areana and assessing future markets for new technologies by assessing the market rate of diffusion for example.

Hope you guys find this book useful to bring in some new thoughts. For now, I am awaiting my group discussion on our group project for some real interesting ideas to be born.

Cheers!

Lesson 0: I just love the challenges and wonders in Technologies!

As I was browsing through the lists of General Electives modules that I am suppose to clear for my GE requirement for my final year of studies in NTU, MB362 simply just caught my attention to be my first choice in my list of selection.

I was attached to Motorola Electronics in the last semester for my Industrial Attachment. The role I played in my team during my attachment was a challenging and enriching one. I was attached to the S&E Asia Networks Strategy and Business Development team.

The role I played in the team includes reseach and study of the S&E Asia telecomunication market and well as technologies. Along the way helping to build business models and drive the latest technology products of the Motorola Networks.

Along the way, I truly enjoy my working days in Motorola working with the latest technologies as well as business development projects. Hence, there is no doubt that when I did my module registration, MB362 was the module I had selected for my GE studies.

Hoping to extend and gain more knowledge in these areas of studies with Prof. Gilbert and you guys out there with me on every thurdays in the weeks to follow.

Cheers!