… from a talk by Richard Gutjahr (see http://gutjahr.biz) held quite a while ago at the 9th Medientag, Salzburg. He argued that many broadcast organisations think they have understood that – in contrast to earlier days – there now is a backchannel from their customers (via interactive TV-boxes, for instance). In the animated figure below, this would be the difference between (1) and (2).
However, in reality the users interact much more between themselves (via social media such as twitter, facebook, etc.) and they do not need the link to the broadcasters (any more). See step (3) in the figure below. Hence, the broadcasters are somewhat out of the game.
Here is the animated figure I drew from the presentation by Gutjahr:
February 22nd, 2013
Sigi Reich
… the increasing availability of data (open, closed, masses, etc.) is influencing the way we do research. This has many implications: we need new/different types of infrastructure (more storage, more processing power), there will be more transparency in research, and, above all, we may even not need scientific theories any more. At least this is how Chris Anderson argues in this short Wired Article (available as http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/magazine/16-07/pb_theory).
As a a computer scientist, this also reminds me the so-called “4th paradigm”, see e.g. a talk by Jim Gray in January 2007 (http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/gray/JimGrayTalks.htm). Again, what can we take from that:
- There are some domains that are (inherently) well suited for data-intensive scientific discovery (earth science, medicine); still, these are just prominent examples
- There is a need and first efforts towards building tools and infrastructures
- Open access is an important aspect
As a consequence, we’ll need to change the way we educate students (both on master and PhD level); perhaps before that, we’ll change the way we do research. And to some degree this raises questions whether we still need (traditional) researchers at all: wouldn’t clever data analysts be able to do the job as well? For many (most?) purposes we do not need theories. We have the data, we can derive the models and thus can explain the world is working.
November 27th, 2012
Sigi Reich
… haven’t tried to publish there, perhaps it is worthwhile giving it a try 
In the store you get your own gear, see http://www.universalrejection.org/
October 12th, 2012
Sigi Reich
A new publication in HMD – Praxis der Wirtschaftsinformatik: Mobile Computing (edited together with Stefan Meinhardt from SAP).
Available now, also as eBook.
August 22nd, 2012
Sigi Reich
The Austrian Council for Research and Technology Development has just published a study on “increasing private funding for “R&D” (the study actually is in German, it is available from http://www.rat-fte.at/tl_files/uploads/Studien/Publiktionen/2012_Strategien%20zur%20Erhoehung%20der%20privaten%20Forschung.pdf). The study has been done by Hannes Leo.
During the last decade, Austria’s RTI (Research, Technology and Innovation) System developed further: some say that Austria closed the gap between being an “innovation follower” and the group of “innovation leaders” (IMHO we have not quite closed that gap but still, the direction is right and the dynamics were good!).
Much of that development was due to public funding – what is being analysed in the study is the current state of private funding in Austria (and Europe) and how private funding could be increased.
In the study, Hannes Leo starts by analysing the situation of private funding (“sponsoring” one might even say) in general. It is shown that the landscape in Europe is not as elaborated as in the US; and even within Europe there are tremendous differences. From that perspective, Leo argues for an enormous potential in Austria: there are private foundations but there is (yet) no philanthropical culture as in Germany or Switzerland: for instance, private and non-private foundations donate in Austria 4 EUR per inhabitant (and year): in CH the corresponding value is EUR 109; and in DE EUR 183(!). And therefore, if that gap was closed in would be of great benefit mostly to basic research – which anyway is a sector that has somehow been neglected and only recently gets more attention.
So, in conclusion, what do we need to increase philanthropical funding in Austria? According to Hannes Leo, we need
- better legal regulations for private foundations
- increased network activities between foundations, i.e., more exchange, etc.
- better public relations for private foundations
Overall, an interesting study well worth reading!
August 5th, 2012
Sigi Reich
… two brilliant figures:
Both images are amazing – and they demonstrate how much we rely on the Internet as a backend infrastructure for whatever we are doing!
August 5th, 2012
Sigi Reich
… and the winner is … Austria’s TOP-10 IT projects from HTLs:
I happened to be member of the jury of the ITS project award, initiated by Gerhard Jöchtl at FH Salzburg. The idea of the award is to motivate high-school students to engage in science and technical development and secondly, to demonstrate the high quality of these projects. The jury was composed of C. Amann-Winkler (IV), R. Hittmair (BCCS), S. Huber (ITG-Salzburg), P. Korczak (ITS Support Association) and myself (= S. Reich, Salzburg Research).
The Nominees were
- HTL Braunau | Posture Recognizer for Physiotherapy: a pretty cool project using MS Kinect technology to implement a kind of “digital physiotherapeut”;
- HTL Dornbirn | WAKA Kennzahlen Analyse: a project on data warehousing and business intelligence using MS-technology;
- HTL Leonding | CrazyFingers: an early stage project on using various sensor technologies to interpret movements of hands/gestures;
- HTL Mistelbach | Android App über Hautkrankheiten: a seriously well done app for assisting people in interpreting skin diseases – what I liked here was the approach of using a Wizard with questions and answers for narrowing down the choices = diseases (BTW: there was also a learning mode for medicine students);
- HTL Mössingerstraße | Smart Globe: a project on promoting a new chip by Infineon technologies with an eye-catcher device;
- HTL Ottakring | RiffGrabber: a quite clever software for real-time analyzing of guitar riffs. Cool stuff! Also very impressive suite of software tools (web, mobile, …);
- HTL Rennweg | EMPALOGIA – die soziale Plattform: a social web platform for community work/social engagement. See http://www.empalogia.org/: technically perhaps not the really new but truly well marketed.;
- HTL Saalfelden | Hotspot GPS: an innovative, very helpful app for the fire brigade: where is the nearest fire hydrant (it may be hidden behind an anti-noise barrier …)?
- HTL Salzburg | SoccerBoard: again, truly innovative and already in use at the Salzburg Soccer Association, this tool allows for football players to improve their passing;
- HTL Ybbs | Yes, we CanSat: a nicely engineered prototype for measuring local weather and climate data. Needs a rocket to be put up in orbit/space.
The winner is SmartGlobe, HTL Mössingerstraße, Carinthia. Congratulations!
June 5th, 2012
Sigi Reich
IMHO there are already many systems/concepts/etc. that indicate that “openness” is there and will stay. Open source, for instance. But also Open Streetmap, Linked Open Data, Open Innovation, open access, open science, … The question is whether these are always transparent, safe and privacy aware.
April 22nd, 2012
Sigi Reich
These days, we (Plenos and Salzburg Research, with support by ITG-Salzburg, Wirtschaftsförderungsgesellscahft Berchtesgadener Land and Land Salzburg) launched a new portal that aims at digitally connecting innovative enterprises and researchers. Our regional focus is on Bavaria/Rupertiwinkel and Salzburg.
The portal offers
- Links to innovative companies in this region (i.e., SMEs and enterprises that actively participate in R&D projects, that have successfully competed in innovation prizes, etc.)
- Links to researchers and research organizations
- News, events, and pieces of information that you would only receive as member of innovators.eu.
February 16th, 2012
Sigi Reich
… nice article forwarded via LinkedIn. See http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericjackson/2012/01/02/the-seven-habits-of-spectacularly-unsuccessful-executives/.
By referring to research done by Prof. Sydney Finkelstein, Eric Jackson argues for the following seven habits that CEOs of unsuccessful companies did have
- Habit # 1: They see themselves and their companies as dominating their environment: “Pride will have a fall”, one could say.
- Habit #2: They identify so completely with the company that there is no clear boundary between their personal interests and their corporation’s interests: this one is interesting, as one would have expected that the more one identifies with one’s company, the better it is. The danger apparently is that a “private empire” mentality may take place.
- Habit #3: They think they have all the answers: the danger here IMHO is more obvious: one would not listen to other opinions or perspectives.
- Habit #4: They ruthlessly eliminate anyone who isn’t completely behind them: you loose excellent people in your team …
- Habit #5: They are consummate spokespersons, obsessed with the company image … and focus too much on the media.
- Habit #6: They underestimate obstacles: that is an interesting one again. Because, if you are too cautious or cowardly that’s no good either …
- Habit #7: They stubbornly rely on what worked for them in the past: this may be a classic …
IMHO the difficulty with all of these it that to some degree we want CEOs to have these habits. The tricky thing is to have sufficient but not to much of these properties. The question is how to measure …
January 6th, 2012
Sigi Reich
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