“We refer to this property as social locality. Recent works [9, 32] have shown that distributed queries of small data records reduce performance compared to local queries. Therefore, social locality should be taken into account when designing a distributed storage for OSNs. More specifically, data of the users who are socially connected should be stored on servers within short reach from each other. An ideal storage scheme should be socially aware. However, the most prominent distributed storage scheme for OSNs, Cassandra is not socially aware” (Tran, 2013, Data Storage for Social Networks. A Socially Aware Approach, Springer, p.1-2)
Author: Cosimo Accoto
Making the Visual Visible in Philosophy of Science
image from “Minds, Bodies and Machines: 1770-1930” (Palgrave, 2011)
“As data-intensive and computational science become increasingly established as the dominant mode of conducting scientific research, visualisations of data and of the outcomes of science become increasingly prominent in mediating knowledge in the scientific arena. This position piece advocates that more aention should be paid to the epistemological role of visualisations beyond their being a cognitive aid to understanding, but as playing a crucial role in the formation of evidence for scientific claims. The new generation of computational and informational visualisations and imaging techniques challenges the philosophy of science to re-think its position on three key distinctions: the qualitative/quantitative distinction, the subjective/objective distinction, and the causal/non-causal distinction” (Carusi,”Making the Visual Visible in Philosophy of Science”, Spontaneous Generations 6:1(2012).
https://mediatropes.com/index.php/SpontaneousGenerations/article/viewFile/16141/15603
new Data intermediaries in the big data age
“In some cases, “data intermediaries” will emerge that are abe to collect data from multiple sources, aggregate it, and do innovative things with it. The data holders will let these intermediaries perform this role because some of the data’s value can only be reaped through them” (Mayer-Schonberger and Cukier, 2013, from “Big Data”)
on the observability of a complex system
“The developed approach can also identify the optimal sensors for target or partial observability, helping us reconstruct selected state variables from appropriately chosen outputs, a prerequisite for optimal biomarker design. Given the fundamental role observability plays in complex systems, these results offer avenues to systematically explore the dynamics of a wide range of natural, technological and socioeconomic systems (from the Abstract, “Observability of a complex systems”, 2013, PNAS Early Edition by Yang-Yu Liu, Jean-Jacques Slotine, Albert-László Barabási)
Raw Data is (always) an Oxymoron
“We live in the era of Big Data, with storage and transmission capacity measured not just in terabytes but in petabytes (where peta– denotes a quadrillion, or a thousand trillion). Data collection is constant and even insidious, with every click and every “like” stored somewhere for something. This book reminds us that data is anything but “raw,” that we shouldn’t think of data as a natural resource but as a cultural one that needs to be generated, protected, and interpreted. The book’s essays describe eight episodes in the history of data from the predigital to the digital” (“Raw Data is an Oxymoron”, edited by Gitelman, from the abstract on Amazon, 2013).
http://www.amazon.com/Raw-Data-Is-Oxymoron-Infrastructures/dp/0262518287#reader_0262518287
TOWARD THE ROLE OF INTERACTION IN VISUAL ANALYTICS
“This paper firstly provides a general introduction in the most important aspects and ideas of Visual
Analytics. This multidisciplinary field focuses on the analytical reasoning of typically large and complex
(often heterogeneous) data sets and combines techniques from interactive visualizations with computational
analysis methods. Hereby, intuitive and efficient user interactions are a fundamental component which has
to be efficiently supported by any Visual Analytics system” (from the abstract, Kerren and Schreiberm 2012)
Major Trends in Information and Communication Technologies
“Networked computers are ubiquitous. They come in different shapes and forms (desktop, laptop, mobile phones, tablets, ebook readers, etc.) or are embedded in devices, objects, and systems such as, for example, cameras, washing machines, televisions, cars, heating systems, robots, traffic control systems. Software is usually available in multiple human languages” (Rehm and Uszkoreit, 2013, from the abstract).
http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-36349-8_3
Social business goals and metrics (Altimeter Group, 2013)
The evolution of social business [a new report by Altimeter Group]
http://www.altimetergroup.com/research/reports/evolution-social-business
[Altimeter Group, image and abstract] “Companies are not created equal. Altimeter Group found that companies go through six distinct stages of social business maturity, each with unique risks and opportunities.Based on a series of interviews with organizations that are investing in social media strategies at varying levels, we learned that notable differences exist between companies implementing a social media strategy and those that are building a social business. A social media strategy lays out the channels, platforms, and tactics to support publishing, listening, and engagement. A social business strategy is the integration of social technologies and processes into business values, processes, and practices to build relationships and spark conversations inside and outside the organization, creating value and optimizing impact for customers and the business alike” (from the executive summary, Altimeter Group, 2013)






