Like City Lights, Receding: ANSi Artwork and the Digital Underground, 1985-2000

The rise of the Internet has obscured knowledge of the modes of mass online interaction that preceded it. Foremost amongst these was the Bulletin Board System (BBS), whose unique technological constraints encouraged the development of the art form known as ANSI. Through an examination of the economic paradigm shift that permitted mass adoption of microcomputers, the technological operating environment of the 1980s and 1990s and the ethos of the software piracy scene of that era, this thesis explains why this species of art took the form that it did, why artists chose to express themselves in this medium, and how ANSI defined the aesthetics of the online world between 1985 and the turn of the century. Far from a mere form of expression, the production and display of ANSI art on BBSes served as a signifier of and route to the acquisition of status within the sub rosa branch of autonomous dial-in computer systems that comprised the pre-Internet digital underground

Prediction of Emerging Technologies Based on Analysis of the U.S. Patent Citation Network

The network of patents connected by citations is an evolving graph, which provides a representation of the innovation process. A patent citing another implies that the cited patent reflects a piece of previously existing knowledge that the citing patent builds upon. A methodology presented here (i) identifies actual clusters of patents: i.e. technological branches, and (ii) gives predictions about the temporal changes of the structure of the clusters. A predictor, called the {citation vector}, is defined for characterizing technological development to show how a patent cited by other patents belongs to various industrial fields. The clustering technique adopted is able to detect the new emerging recombinations, and predicts emerging new technology clusters. The predictive ability of our new method is illustrated on the example of USPTO subcategory 11, Agriculture, Food, Textiles. A cluster of patents is determined based on citation data up to 1991, which shows significant overlap of the class 442 formed at the beginning of 1997. These new tools of predictive analytics could support policy decision making processes in science and technology, and help formulate recommendations for action

A description of a knowledge broker role implemented as part of a randomized controlled trial evaluating three knowledge translation strategies

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A knowledge broker (KB) is a popular knowledge translation and exchange (KTE) strategy emerging in Canada to promote interaction between researchers and end users, as well as to develop capacity for evidence-informed decision making. A KB provides a link between research producers and end users by developing a mutual understanding of goals and cultures, collaborates with end users to identify issues and problems for which solutions are required, and facilitates the identification, access, assessment, interpretation, and translation of research evidence into local policy and practice. Knowledge-brokering can be carried out by individuals, groups and/or organizations, as well as entire countries. In each case, the KB is linked with a group of end users and focuses on promoting the integration of the best available evidence into policy and practice-related decisions.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A KB intervention comprised one of three KTE interventions evaluated in a randomized controlled trial.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>KB activities were classified into the following categories: initial and ongoing needs assessments; scanning the horizon; knowledge management; KTE; network development, maintenance, and facilitation; facilitation of individual capacity development in evidence informed decision making; and g) facilitation of and support for organizational change.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>As the KB role developed during this study, central themes that emerged as particularly important included relationship development, ongoing support, customized approaches, and opportunities for individual and organizational capacity development. The novelty of the KB role in public health provides a unique opportunity to assess the need for and reaction to the role and its associated activities. Future research should include studies to evaluate the effectiveness of KBs in different settings and among different health care professionals, and to explore the optimal preparation and training of KBs, as well as the identification of the personality characteristics most closely associated with KB effectiveness. Studies should also seek to better understand which combination of KB activities are associated with optimal evidence-informed decision making outcomes, and whether the combination changes in different settings and among different health care decision makers.</p

Managing by design

This editorial written by myself and Marc Gruber of EPFL. It explores the role of design thinking in the management of large organisations, and focuses on how design principles can be applied to the design of the workplace and the nature of work itself. As Head of Service Design at the RCA, my contribution is on how to apply design thinking methods for managers and the 6 key elements described in this approach In the last decade the importance of design and the value of design thinking as a tool for innovation has been recognized by both business and government. Design has become a strategic tool for business helping to translate technological innovation into user value, connecting with consumer needs and creating compelling product and service experiences that create new business value. In this paper we consider a further application of design thinking by considering how managers can apply it to the design of the workplace experience. Many enterprises, especially those in the knowledge economy, are defined by their human resources and their capacity to attract and retain talent. In this competitive environment the design of the employee experience and the services that support them and enable them to deliver value to the clients and colleagues, is a key differentiator. Applying design thinking to the design of work itself, the systems that support it, and the physical and virtual environments in which it takes place can help business and organizational leaders to attract and retain top talent, as well as to enhance productivity and operational effectiveness. In this paper we explore the key factors and principles by which leaders and managers can apply design thinking to transform the workplace experience and we propose 6 key elements for managers to enable that transformation and enhance social capital and business and organisational performance

Corrigendum to: Cohort profile: Extended Cohort for E-health, Environment and DNA (EXCEED)

This is a correction to: International Journal of Epidemiology, Volume 48, Issue 3, June 2019, Pages 678–679j, https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyz07

Inter-organizational governance and trilateral trust building: a case study of crowdsourcing-based open innovation in China

In a case study of a Chinese crowdsourcing intermediary, we explore the impact of inter-organizational governance on trilateral trust-building. We show that formal control and relational governance mechanisms are essential for swift and knowledge-based trust in R&D crowdsourcing. The case also indicates that Chinese businesses continue to use guanxi (informal personal connections) as a relational and contingent mechanism to maintain affect-based trust, but guanxi is shown to inhibit the growth of Internet-based crowdsourcing for open innovation in China

Research on Markets for Inventions and Implications for R&D Allocation Strategies

Several streams of literature have examined the phenomenon of “markets for inventions”, that is, the trade of elements of knowledge which are “disembodied” from individuals, organizations, and products. The aims of this paper are to bring together the various streams of research in this area and discuss their major assumptions and limitations, in order to provide a comprehensive framework for understanding the phenomenon, and identify promising paths for future research. We start our review by identifying the object of market exchange—that is, an invention whose knowledge has been codified and disembodied from individuals, organizations, or artifacts. We then identify those factors that enable firms to trade inventions, distinguishing between institutional-, firm-, and industry-level factors. We close our analysis of the extant literature by discussing the implications of markets for inventions for firm behavior and performance. Against this background, we highlight an important avenue for future research. A neglected implication of the development of invention markets is that firms are confronted with a wide variety of technological paths from which to choose, because the opportunity to acquire technologies on the market offers them a greater variety that can their internal R&D departments. However, the streams of research on markets for inventions and on R&D allocation strategies have been surprisingly disconnected so far. Hence, in the final section, we start to establish and explore the link between these literatures, and to identify a research agenda in this domain