One potato, two potato: 'Mashed Library' two years in

An article aimed at academic librarians about the 'Mashed Library' movement and series of unconferences, which are all about 'bringing together interested people and doing interesting stuff with libraries and technology'

Redesigning procurement in the public sector will be a vital part of meeting budget reductions.

In 2008/09, the public sector spent £220 billion on goods and services alone, accounting for one third of all spending. However, there is multiple overlap in terms of procurement processes and structures across the public sector and collaboration across organisational boundaries has been slow to develop. Chris Cox and Paul Rainford report from a recent seminar organised by the London School of Economics and the Design Council in which it was argued that innovative procurement will be crucial if the public sector is to reduce duplication, provide value for money and survive austerity.

Structural change in the presence of network externalities: a co-evolutionary model of technological successions

The paper examines the conditions under which technological successions can occur in the presence of network externalities. A two-stage, multi-agent simulation model is presented in which product designs co-evolve with consumer preferences. It provides a rich framework in which to study the complex phenomenon of quality. Following an initial period, in which old technology firms develop their designs and externalities accrue, a technological shock occurs. New technology firms and new consumer classes enter the market. Data from the simulation model is analysed by identifying a robust econometric model of the probability of succession, given the immediate state of the post-shock market. 4 factors affecting the probability of a succession are identified. First, succession can occur if gains in direct utility from higher quality new technology goods outweigh the network utility of old technology goods. Second, sailing ship effects are possible. Old firms can innovate in order to see off the new entrants. Hence, a better initial (new technology) design does not guarantee succession. Third, a trade-off exists between quality and price. A succession will not occur if cost (price) differentials favour the old technology. Consequently, increasing returns in production enjoyed by established firms are an important barrier to successful entry. The fourth factor is time: the relative length of time old firms have to develop their products, and that which new firms have to develop their products.research and development ;

Technological diffusion, welfare and growth: technological succession in the presence of network externalities

The paper examines the conditions under which technological successions can occur in the presence ofnetwork externalities. A multi-agent model is developed in which the product designs offered by firmsco-evolve with consumer preferences. Firms compete though product innovation. The modelincorporates a modified genetic algorithm (GA) in which imitation is conducted via a process ofselective transfer (a one-way crossover) and internal R&D is conducted via selective mutation.Following an initial period in which old technology firms develop their designs and networkexternalities accrue, a technological shock occurs in which new technology-based firms enter themarket. The findings of the model indicate that a necessary condition for a technological successionare the existence of at least one consumer group that champions the new technology, developing newpreferences for its characteristics. Further, the introduction of novel characteristics are have a greaterbearing on the probability of a succession than incremental gains in characteristics offered by the oldtechnology. Third, the analysis identifies an inverse relationship between time the probability of atechnological succession.economics of technology ;

Communities of Practice: Going One Step Too Far?.

In the late 1990s, Knowledge Management (KM) and Communities of Practice (CoPs) seemed inseparable. CoPs appeared to offer the key to reversing the failure of some of the earlier technologically based attempts to manage knowledge. However, the original CoP concept was built around a very different set of principles to those put forward by the proponents of KM. This paper presents a critical review of some of the claims made for CoPs. It will address questions such as "Are CoPs really suitable for use in a business setting?" and "Can a CoP ever be truly virtual?"Communities of Practice, Knowledge Management, Business Environment, Virtual Environment, Social Networks.

Multiple Scattering of Seismic Waves from Ensembles of Upwardly Lossy Thin Flux Tubes

Our previous semi-analytic treatment of f- and p-mode multiple scattering from ensembles of thin flux tubes (Hanson and Cally, Astrophys. J. 781, 125; 791, 129, 2014) is extended by allowing both sausage and kink waves to freely escape at the top of the model using a radiative boundary condition there. As expected, this additional avenue of escape, supplementing downward loss into the deep solar interior, results in substantially greater absorption of incident f- and p-modes. However, less intuitively, it also yields mildly to substantially smaller phase shifts in waves emerging from the ensemble. This may have implications for the interpretation of seismic data for solar plage regions, and in particular their small measured phase shifts.Comment: 9 Pages, 5 Figures. Accepted by Solar Physic