My Digital FootPrint

It is insane that this book has such a low coverage and poor reviews. It is brilliant. The book explores the way algorithms interpret and influence our behaviour. The book forces you to re-assess what you think data says you are. We love the idea that data and the compute model follow our mental models for binary abstraction in defining who we are. The “I am male, female or prefer not to say,” is how we believe the systems see us. John explores why they don’t. In the system we are all part-everything based on the data and how you react to media, because of this the machine see you as your behaviour to what they can see and not what you think or believe. This delta between what you think you are and what the machine thinks you are is unknown and often not reachable. We can correct false data but not false interruption. John quotes lots of people and work we all know, but also many who are not on the usual circuit which makes the book far more informative as it brings in new thi

Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe . The next post will be Surveillance Capitalism vs Zucked - this one is just a quick review of Roger's book. Further to reading the book worth listen to Roger on Sam Harris https://samharris.org/podcasts/152-trouble-facebook/ As background: Roger McNamee is a Silicon Valley investor for thirty-five years. He was a former mentor to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and helped recruit COO Sheryl Sandberg. What you will read is how the BigTech (esp Facebook) amplify tribalism, allow “bad actors” to “harm democracy” and as there is no accountability there is an ever “shirking civic responsibility.” The book is how we got to this point and not really one on how to answer the problem (will come back to this below). The key point which might be missed is that mafia of funding giants, such as the Peter Thiel, Reid Hoffman and many others shape the culture of start-ups and models. Don't blame one person (company), the eco-system is not tak

define: Agency [the ability to shape the context of one’s life] define: Purpose [the belief that there is something beyond your immediate self that matters] define: Belonging [the belief that there is a context to which you matter in turn] define: Power [practical access to genuine opportunities to shape that context] define: Agree [time gives experience which concludes I accept or understand] Run (life) TIME = 0 REPEAT  Agency AND (Purpose, Belonging, Power) = TRUE; TIME = TIME + 1 UNTIL Agree; THEN Print ("I am therefore I now have Identity") End ------ Start here on the Stanford Site talking about Plato In very general terms, an agent is a being with the capacity to act, and ‘agency’ denotes the exercise or manifestation of this capacity.  The philosophy of action provides us with a standard conception and a standard theory of action. The former construes action in terms of intentionality, the latter explains the intentional

NO TIME TO READ AI RESEARCH? WE SUMMARIZED TOP 2018 PAPERS FOR YOU reference - excellent Source : https://www.topbots.com/most-important-ai-research-papers-2018/

I saw 50 black swans when thinking how data data portability/ mobility will migrate value towards the individual. Now some headlines are set up for click bait; however here is my picture taken in on the North Island New Zealand on lake Rotomahana when out walking and preparing this. Yes each little do it a black swan. Summary : Been thinking about the complex and hidden implications of the personal data portability/ mobility models and data sharing economics. The thinking leads to the possibility of making it far harder for large silo data owners to sell/ share their data due to risk of re-identification; which changes the data economy. Less general silo data being available for sale but increasing demand for ‘quality’ data could mean individual collated data becomes far more valued far quicker than forecast, as the value chain shifts in response to new legislation/ regulation. Early and fast adopting countries will benefit with significant increases in innovation, investment and

This post is not should Amazon create a bank, just would BigTech companies do better at the retail FinTech/ banking functions because of the data they hold on you and me? --- All of Amazon’s reporting data is here , Q4 will be released on 31.1.2019. We know from the existing reporting that they have passed 500,000 employees, added $5Bn to cash and sales income of over £200bn. Whilst the Q10 reporting give numbers, facts and a short section on risks there is no mention of data. Can AMAZON or any other BigTech buy an existing international retail bank in cash – yes, but would they be able to do any better? Ignoring the specific relationship that customers have with Amazon and these same customers with their banks, the regulation frameworks and that Amazon has a range of credit/ gift card offers right now; the question:- “Is any of the BiGTech’s data set on me (and you) provide an advantage insomuch that it would enable them to make better decisions as a “bank” that say y

The majority who read this will be aware of the response that when a digital or Internet service is Free; you are the product. It is most probably an adaption of a 1970 quote from the TV/media industry. Free to Air TV, which is advertising supported, means you watch for FREE in exchange for attention to watch adverts, as product and service owners hope you will buy. The idea of this post is to explore this line of thinking a little further, as with the introduction of PSD2, GDPR and many other new regulatory frameworks from the US to Australia: the user/ consumer can now get their data back, so this idea needs to be looked at again with our digital glasses on. The purpose here to raise questions with the hope others will help explore what it means through commentary.  Definitions for this post  Derivative : A derivative is a contract between two or more parties whose value is based on an agreed-upon underlying digital data asset (like your social media posts) or set o

This is Richard Holton (x MIT) discussing the classic philosophical problem of can data predict and free will --- that is, the question of whether we human beings decide things for ourselves, or are forced to go one way or another.  He distinguishes between two different worries. One worry is that the laws of physics, plus facts about the past over which we have no control, determine what we will do, and that means we're not free. Another worry is that because the laws and the past determine what we'll do, someone smart enough could know what we would do ahead of time, so we can't be free. He says the second worry is much worse than the first, but argues that the second doesn't follow from the first. The next problem is that this assume the mind and no body and when we realise that they are one ( the strange order of things) - and chemistry is a bigger controller of outcome than the mind ( the mind is flat ) - does knowing more data help or not?

We humans set a premium on our own free will and independence ... and yet there's a shadowy influence we might not be considering. As science writer Ed Yong explains in this fascinating, hilarious and disturbing talk, parasites have perfected the art of manipulation to an incredible degree. So are they influencing us? It's more than likely. Love the challenge and what data might tell us that we don't want to know. 

Tony Fish @My Digital Footprint I have been working with several teams on data driven innovations and failing to create the value expected. Listed below are some mindsets which I have come across that appear to create hurdles to the data opportunity. The theme underlying these views, I believe, is the same as the old philosophy argument on behaviour and judgement which is “are you Fact or Opinion biased?”  Personally I am defiantly and firmly in the “tell me your opinion.” The Internet has allowed the world to find, no matter what the opinion, some data to support it.  As I can/will always find facts to back any story, I want to know what you’re thinking, why you hold that view and what drives you. Why do I think this; because strategy and innovation is a judgement on outcomes and not a science.  I find it interesting that many are trying to prove me right or wrong with their data, rather than accepting that my opinion is mine and it is neither right or wrong but based on

Jake Flomenber talks about how he views the larger big data market. Jake works with the  Accel’s big data fund , which recently opened their second $ 100 million fund, so he knows what he is talking about. He talks with Stefan Groschupf, the chief executive of Datameer, another well-funded Big Data startup with almost $ 37 million in funding.

  Pew Research Internet Project has released ( March 2014) a report on Digital Life in 2025 based on expert interviews.   The report marks the 25th anniversary of the creation of the World Wide Web by Sir Tim Berners-Lee who released the code for his system, for free, to the world on Christmas Day in 1990.  The Web became a major layer of the Internet. Indeed, for many, it became synonymous with the Internet, even though that is not technically the case.   This report looks at the present and the past of the Internet, marking its strikingly fast adoption and assessing its impact on American users’ lives. This report is part of an effort by the Pew Research Center’s Internet Project in association with Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center to look at the future of the Internet, the Web, and other digital activities. This is the first of eight reports based on a canvassing of hundreds of experts about the future of such things as privacy, cybersecurity, the “Internet of things

Source : http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/business_technology/views_from_the_front_lines_of_the_data_analytics_revolution The link above is to a very good McKinsey article titled “Views from the front lines of the data-analytics revolution” Key points for me 1.     Senior management don’t understand Data irrespective if it is big, small, open, flat, simple or complex 2.     Privacy is not the issue – control, controls, authority and rights are 3.     Talent is always a problem but it never seen as a strategic issue

interrupting our free from communication is much more difficult than we think

Tony Fish @My Digital Footprint When we were chatting about a collaborative digital business model, my nephew Chris challenged me with this statement “ I can't understand what the consumer gets for helping others though! ” I had just shared with him a business that raised $10m which allows people to help people for free.  I was rather hoping that his digital youthfulness was about to surprise me and provide me with a deep native understanding of being-digital and offer me some insights to the future; but his mind has already been corrupted by out of date, but classical business/ marketing, education. As we continued to debate digital first as I structured out an update to classical marketing, as is set out below. There is an awful lot written and taught about the traditional 1960’s marketing mix tool which is commonly known as the 4, 5, 6, 7 and even 8 P’s of marketing. A quick read of Wikipedia gives all the basics.  A re-write that never really caught on in the 1990s was