Imagining a new era: Humans 1, climate change 0, How nuclear fusion energy might just change the course of history.

30

September

2020

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As soon as we start discussing nuclear reactors, people tend to feel a little uncomfortable. Some of the most recent and devastating global disasters featured a nuclear connotation. The concept reminds people of the atrocities of WW2, Chernobyl and massive landfills of nuclear waste. As terrible as these events may be, they are by no means a justification to disregard nuclear energy all together. Let’s go on a journey delving deeper into what nuclear energy currently is, and what it can become.

I can already hear you thinking: “This is an information strategy blog, why am I reading about nuclear energy?” Just hear me out. 😉

Radioactive_waste_-_concrete_dome_marshall_islands

Figure 1: Massive nuclear waste storage dome on the Enewetak atoll in the Marshall Islands

Traditional Nuclear energy (Nuclear Fission)

Traditionally, nuclear energy is generated through the controlled fission of the nuclei of atoms (read: splitting atoms) from an unstable fuel such as uranium-235 (The office of Nuclear Energy, 2020)1. When a neutron particle is fired at a uranium-235 atom, the atom immediately splits in two and releases heat in the form of radiation and also, on average, two additional neutrons. This can start a chain reaction: If these two new neutrons split two new atoms, and the reaction keeps growing exponentially from there, we have an atomic bomb. However, if you were to absorb one neutron at every fission, you can sustain a relatively stable nuclear reaction. Water can be used for that absorption and thus to moderate the nuclear chain reaction, and as the water does so, thermal radiation from the reaction heats the water up and turns it into steam, which can then be used to spin a turbine. This is what we refer to as traditional nuclear energy2.

chain-reaction

Figure 2: Nuclear fission explained

Whereas this sounds as a great and clean way of producing energy, there are drawbacks. For one, it is the job of the nuclear reactor to keep the fission chain reaction contained. If it fails to do so, because of human error (Chernobyl3) or a natural disaster (Fukushima4) a meltdown can occur, which can be very dangerous (but can usually be contained within modern reactors5). In addition, another drawback is the nuclear waste produced in the form of contaminated water, which can stay contaminated for over millions of years (Kurzgesagt, 2015)6.

The new nuclear energy

When we speak of Nuclear fusion, we don’t speak of splitting atoms, but rather fusing them. Several atoms can be used but Tritium and Deuterium, both hydrogen atoms, are the most suitable for establishing the reaction efficiently. Whereas fusion energy sounds new, it is actually not that new; our very own sun shines because of it! For nuclear fusion an incredible amount of heat is necessary. Our sun generates it through its immense gravity; however, on earth we cannot replicate that. Instead, we try to recreate such conditions with either highly powerful lasers to raise the temperature of a small pellet of fuel, or we use massive electromagnets to form a plasma inside a donut shaped reactor. For all their dissimilarities, however, nuclear fission and fusion do share one thing in common: energy capture. Fusion reactors are also cooled with water, which will eventually turn into steam and turn a turbine. The actual specifics of how nuclear fusion works are very complex. For a simple explanation, please refer to this YouTube video7!

 

iter-reactor

Figure 3: Schematic of the nuclear fusion reactor ITER, currently under construction in France

The bottom line is that energy resulting from nuclear fusion has several very distinct advantages. First of all, it barely produces any waste, certainly negligible compared to fission. Secondly, it is fueled by hydrogen atoms, of which we have vast amounts in our oceans. Lastly, it is not a bomb, if a fusion reaction inside a reactor destabilizes it just quietly dies out and cannot contaminate the surrounding landscapes.

If nuclear fusion is so great, then why don’t we use it?

A common joke made by some is that “nuclear fusion is always 30 years away”, which refers to the predictions some scientists have made that have never ended up being true. The problem with nuclear fusion is that it is incredibly expensive to develop; even to just run an experiment you would need a reactor capable of replicating the heat of the sun here on earth. That is no easy feat, let alone a cheap one. Since we are yet to succeed in creating a commercially viable fusion reactor; which would consume less energy than it produces, it remains incredibly difficult for scientists to make the argument that they should receive funding as opposed to clean renewables (of which we know they work).

Why does it even matter?

Developing nuclear fusion is, in essence, a billion-dollar gamble. We don’t know if it will ever do what we think it can, but we do know that if it does ever get there, it could revolutionize the world we know today. Just imagine a world where energy is cheap and abundant. Energy will no longer be one of the most important and fought for commodities known to modern humans. Wars over oil fields would be in the past, the atmosphere will get the chance to gradually become cleaner and cleaner and developing countries will be able to develop more rapidly and easily. It is potentially a very bright future, but also poses significant risks.

As I alluded to in the introduction, this blog surrounds the topic of information strategy and therefore innovations in nuclear power do not seem particularly relevant to business at first glance; however, I would like to argue the contrary. Almost everything we do nowadays has found some way to become more digitized and all that digitalization requires the availability of power. The abundance of energy will therefore have massive business implications and create a vast amount of new exciting opportunities. All of a sudden so much more will be possible since there is less of a need to strive for utter efficiency. Data centers can grow larger, and the electrification of old technology will become less opposed (think of the arguments currently raised against electric cars). Bright futures are met with abundant opportunities.

To conclude, it is very important we realize the risks involved with achieving viable nuclear fusion energy, because they are substantial. The technology has its flaws, but it could eventually revolutionize our lives. Give nuclear power a chance, it might be the key to humanity’s next technological revolution.

p.s. Something to look out for is the Iter project currently being developed in France. Scheduled to start full operation in 2035, this is predicted to potentially be the breakthrough experiment that allows for commercially viable nuclear fusion energy, read more here: https://www.iter.org/.

References:

  1. https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/nuclear-101-how-does-nuclear-reactor-work
  2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HD3k1hgbUXQ
  3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster
  4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_Daiichi_nuclear_disaster
  5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_meltdown#Effects
  6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEYbgyL5n1g
  7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc8SJqAPVaM.

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Platform Envelopment in the Videogame Industry

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September

2020

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Immagine

Last week the Financial Times posted an article1 about how mobile gaming and cloud gaming are now reshaping the videogame industry, displacing some of the incumbents and letting new players join the competition. it is therefore interesting to analyse how the internet has influenced the platform business model that characterizes this industry and how technologies provided different ways for companies to implement platform envelopment.

In fact, since its birth in 1972, the video game industry was characterized by fierce competition between different platforms: Atari, Nintendo, Sega, Sony and Microsoft all competed for decades by managing both developers and gamers, understanding how to create value from their interactions and how to extract some of that value2. This was particularly difficult in the early years of the industry when companies did not have a clear understanding about how to how externalities could affect the different actors: the most notable case is perhaps the one of Atari, which lost market leadership in the 1980s due to its inability to charge the money side of the market3 (game developers), which lead to a decrease in the overall quality of available games that made its consoles less appealing for consumers4. Learning from this episode, firms like Sony and Microsoft understood how customers are sensitive to quality and implemented their pricing strategy accordingly (as is described in Eisenmann et al. 20065).

However, things have changed since 2006. With the diffusion of smartphones, developers realized that they could reach new market niches2 by distributing their games on these new platforms,  rather than on the console ones. This allowed the entry of both Google and Apple, which were able to exploit their user bases and infrastructures to partially  “envelop” their competitors by implementing a conglomeration attack and, by charging (questionable6) fees, obtaining a significant amount of market revenues.

More recently, the advent of cloud gaming (which exploits the high processing capacity of server farms to allow people to play with not-so-powerful devices) might potentially once again reshape the industry boundaries: new players like Amazon, with limited experience in the industry but large user base and computational power, are trying to enter7 implementing envelopment, while several incumbents are trying to defend their position using the same technology8.

1) https://www.ft.com/content/ed5aba41-c174-4b1f-8f14-8637f2da0af0

2) https://techcrunch.com/2015/10/31/the-history-of-gaming-an-evolving-community/

3) https://www.bugsplat.com/blog/video-games/great-video-game-crash-1983/

4) https://www.digitalspy.com/videogames/a453849/atari-retrospective-the-rise-and-fall-of-a-gaming-giant/

5) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/294221616_Strategies_for_two-sided_markets

6) https://www.macrumors.com/guide/epic-games-vs-apple/

7) https://www.ft.com/content/d017aadb-f865-4567-b0ec-c0f4bf3d6401

8) https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/xbox-game-pass-ultimate/cfq7ttc0khs0?activetab=pivot%3aoverviewtab

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 The role of Social Media in polarizing society

30

September

2020

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Opinion

Society is polarizing at accelerating speeds. Evidence of this can be seen all over the world: extreme right and extreme left politicians are dominating the political landscape; fierce ideologies are on the rise and discrimination against minorities is still encountered way too often. Although polarization can have many causes, it is likely impacted by social media. As social media is a blessing for many, allowing them to stay connected with friends, family or work during times of social distancing – it certainly has a downside.

One of the most controversial aspects of social media are algorithmic recommendations, which  are algorithms specifically designed to present certain content to the user, based on personal preferences. Perfect for when you can’t get enough of cat-videos, but more harmful when this content is controversial, polarizing or simply fake. As explained in the documentary The Social Dilemma, which aired on Netflix a few weeks ago, algorithmic recommendations do not possess an ethical component. The algorithm is designed with one goal, and one goal only: profit maximization for the giant tech companies. For example, Facebook’s algorithm is designed to maximize your time spent on the app, make you consume as much content as possible and thus maximize the advertisement income you generate for the company. A team of behavioral scientists, psychologists and neurologists think of clever ways to keep the user engaged and make them return to the platform as often as possible.

As a result of this algorithmic recommendations, social media users are presented mostly with content of which the algorithm predicts the user is interested in, after which they get stuck in a ‘filter bubble’ (Chaney 2020). The algorithm does this extremely well, as it uses machine learning to assess what content appeals to you. Moreover, the platform knows more about the user than you can possibly imagine, making accurate recommendations much simpler.

On average, internet users spend 2,5 hours per day on social media, with some teens spending up to 6 hours per day on the platforms (Metev 2020). A large portion of their wake-time is thus spent consuming biased, often one-sided information. This will likely increase polarization, due to this confirmation bias of reading, listening and watching other likeminded people daily. Inevitably, the gap between different groups in society grows. Users are stuck in their ‘filter bubble’, impacting their awareness of the world and leading to tremendous information asymmetry (Chaney 2020). People consume different news and different facts on a daily basis. So, if people are entitled to their own facts, thorough research and proper journalism will be overshadowed by fake news with flashy headlines.

This also explains the rise of conspiracy theories in the last few years. Algorithms know exactly what kind of users are susceptible to fake news and conspiracies, due to their prior search history, clicks and friends. The algorithms are not actively trying to convince users that the earth is indeed flat, they are simply providing you with content that you will consume, engage with and share with others. All of these actions enlarge engagement with the platform and therefore increase advertisement revenues. Whereas the flat earth conspiracy would have been a fantasy of five friends living in their mothers’ basements twenty years ago, social media allows it to spread to many millions, influencing celebrities, parents and teachers along the way. In the end, all that these conspiracies are doing is adding to a growing distrust in authorities, the media and scientist, which I find extremely worrying.

I honestly believe that overcoming the information asymmetry, spreading of fake news, polarization and the growing distrust in authorities, journalism and science will be one of the greatest challenges of our generation. And if you haven’t seen The Social Dilemma, I highly recommend you watch it. Interested to see what you think!

 

References:

Chaney, A., 2020. Why Our Media Silos Are Promoting Political Polarization. [online] Today.duke.edu. Available at: <https://today.duke.edu/2020/09/why-our-media-silos-are-promoting-political-polarization> [Accessed 30 September 2020].

Metev, D., 2020. How Much Time Do People Spend On Social Media In 2020?. [online] Review42. Available at: <https://review42.com/how-much-time-do-people-spend-on-social-media/#:~:text=The%20average%20US%20adult%20spends,was%20142%20minutes%20a%20day.> [Accessed 30 September 2020].

The Social Dilemma. 2020. [Netflix].

 

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Smartphone usage in the classroom?

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September

2020

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Today it is indispensable in the life of a 12-year-old child: the smartphone. What a difference that is with 15 years ago. From personal experience I can say that it was different at the time. If you had some time for yourself back in those days, you would simply watch TV or go outside to play football. Nowadays, however, the phone is indispensable, for both young and old. In fact, millions of people around the globe are addicted to their phones. Most pupils bring along their smartphone to their school as well. But does this actually have negative consequences? Or could it also be that the use of a smartphone in the classroom actually stimulates the performance of the students (if used properly)?

A 2013 study from the Journal of Communication Education found that banning phones in class leads to a 62 percent increase in students taking notes and remembering more of what teachers explain in class. Researchers at the London School of Economics have also found that a smartphone ban leads to higher scores for tests, especially among poorly performing students (Kuznekoff & Titsworth, 2013).

It therefore seems that smartphone usage mainly has negative consequences. However, there is certainly also a positive side to smartphone usage regarding learning objectives! Consider, for example, increasing the interactivity within a class with the use of an app like Kahoot. It is difficult to keep a class of 150 students interactive. Using this app stimulates the participation and interaction between pupils and the teacher.

In 2019 Google launched an app called Read Along. This app has been developed with the aim of improving children’s reading skills. By means of speech recognition, the app listens to a child reading and then provides feedback accordingly. The app can even explain the meaning of certain words. To motivate the children to be more dedicated to learn, there are also in-app rewards to be earned (Hyder, Z., 2020).

In addition, there are various apps that ensure learning a new language at your own pace, in contrast to language courses. An example of a new development among the apps of language learning is the app called “Read My World”. With this app, users can take pictures of objects around them. By means of computer vision technology, the app recognizes the objects on the photo and translates these objects into the desired language. This makes learning a new language a bit more fun  (Microsoft, 2019)!

All in all, in my opinion, it is currently more sensible to let children use their smartphone mainly outside of their school lessons. However, that doesn’t mean that a smartphone can’t be useful for learning new things. In contrast! The smartphone can be a great way to convey languages and other learning material to the students in an interactive and fun way. In the current global pandemic, online learning material has already proven to be a very strong alternative. New software and hardware will continue to develop so that more and more learning opportunities arise through technology. Smartphones are on the way to becoming the norm in the classroom.

What do you think? Should smartphone usage in class be banned? Or do you think schools should in stead support smartphone usage to provide pupils with another dimension of learning and to familiarize the children with the technology?

 

References:

Hyder, Z. (2020, mei 7). Kids Can Learn At Home with Read Along by Google—The Keyword. https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/education/early-access-read-along/

Kuznekoff, J. H., & Titsworth, S. (2013). The Impact of Mobile Phone Usage on Student Learning. Communication Education, 62(3), 233–252. https://doi.org/10.1080/03634523.2013.767917

Microsoft. (2019). Read My World. Microsoft Garage. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/garage/profiles/read-my-world/

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Augmented Reality Glasses in the Sports Industry

30

September

2020

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Augmented reality is a direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment where software interacts with sensory and digital projectors to attach digital objects to the environment. The technology has already penetrated various industries and markets including healthcare, manufacturing, and retail. Contrarily, in sports augmented reality it is still in the early phase and did not have a major impact on the industry yet. In general, augmented reality in sports has the possibility to provide valuable insights for professional or non-professional players to improve their playing skills with real-time data. Especially glasses have the potential to be widespread applications of augmented reality. In the next two sections, I will give an overview of two examples of augmented reality glasses in the sports industry: The “Ghost Pacer” glasses for running and the Nike AR glasses for golfing.

GhostPacer_1-1280x720 Screenshot 2020-09-30 at 16.20.23    Ghost Pacer Avatar

Screenshot 2020-09-30 at 16.09.33    Ghost Pacer Technology

The “Ghost Pacer” augmented reality glasses project a live holographic running opponent into your field of view that paces you and pushes you to perform at your best. Research has proven that having a running partner leads to more effective and higher-quality training. Therefore, this virtual partner that is available anywhere at any time can have a positive impact on the training. The company provides a companion application where you can set the avatar at a certain pace and find routes for a run. Moreover, the app allows you to race against a friend at different times as the avatar is able to mimics his pace on the route. The AR glasses contain a small supercomputer, an ultra-bright led, and a high-resolution AR display which can also connect to an Apple Watch.

nike-heads-up-display-770x508    Nike AR Glasses

Nike has recently patented augmented reality glasses that have integrated a display that golf players can wear on the golf course. This display, when linked up to a connected Golf ball, is able to provide real-world statistics and data on the ball’s motion through a build-in processor. The data specifically includes the distance traveled, the trajectory, spin rate, and speed. In general, the AR glasses have an electronic screen with a transparent display area that can dynamically display images within the golf player’s field of view. The integrated technology is able to present personalized information and recommendations that let the golfer adjust strategy and approach to better suit their own playing strengths and weaknesses.

I personally would definitely like to try both versions of augmented reality glasses as I am a big sports enthusiast. For running, the ghost pacer would give me some more motivation on bad days where I am not in the mood to do sports. Although, it must feel really special to have an avatar running next to you. For golf, it would be interesting to see how they work in practice, as I never had any real-time data available after making a golf shot. What is your opinion? Do you see a general benefit in using augmented reality glasses during running, golf, or other kinds of sports sessions?

 

References:

Android Headlines. 2020. Nike Patents Wearable AR System To Help Golfers Improve. [online] Available at: <https://www.androidheadlines.com/2017/12/nike-patents-wearable-ar-system-help-golfers-improve.html> [Accessed 30 September 2020].

Ghostpacer.com. 2020. The Ghost Pacer. [online] Available at: <https://ghostpacer.com> [Accessed 30 September 2020].

Indiegogo. 2020. Ghost Pacer: Your Holographic Workout Partner. [online] Available at: <https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ghost-pacer-your-holographic-workout-partner#/> [Accessed 30 September 2020].

Joshi, N., 2020. Revolutionizing Sports With Augmented Reality. [online] Forbes. Available at: <https://www.forbes.com/sites/cognitiveworld/2019/10/26/revolutionizing-sports-with-augmented-reality/> [Accessed 30 September 2020].

LetsGoDigital. 2020. Nike Heads Up Display With Tracking System For Golf Ball | Letsgodigital. [online] Available at: <https://en.letsgodigital.org/smart-wearables/nike-heads-up-display/> [Accessed 30 September 2020].

Mallis, A., Nelson, J., Richards, D. and Christian, R., 2020. Channelnews : Nike Patents Augmented Reality Glasses For Golf. [online] Channelnews.com.au. Available at: <https://www.channelnews.com.au/nike-patents-augmented-reality-sunnies-for-golf/> [Accessed 30 September 2020].

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The Social Dilemma: revelation or bullshit?

30

September

2020

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The Social Dilemma on Netflix is the most discussed documentary of the moment. In this documentary conscientious defectors from big social media companies describe that the perniciousness of social networking is a build-in feature (Girish, 2020). It is striking that former employees are interviewed who no longer agree with the direction of the companies. According to these employees the manipulation of human behavior is intentionally implemented. The people around me received the documentary in an educational and revealing way, but I had my doubts about it.
First of all, the director Jeff Orlowski has a certain strategy how he wants to convey documentaries to the public. I quote: “he brings compelling new insights to a familiar topic while also scaring the absolute shit out of you” (Ehrlich, 2020). Of course: climate change is a troubling problem, and so is the social dilemma, but aren’t we all aware of these issues? The question is: is it even possible to change this and how are we suppose to do that? And that is exactly the question Orlowski did not answer.
Besides, as we have learned within the course Information Strategy: the development of data analytics and big data has helped us providing better, and faster information in every branch of business (Li, 2020). The development of negative externalities described in ‘The Social Dilemma’ are problems of the contemporary era that arise with a new, progressive development such as Big Data. However, they are not, as Orlowski describes, ‘too-powerful entities fragmenting attention and rewiring brains by a design that leads to an addiction to phones. The social media would be a function of their business model which devides the community and drives us to dystopia’ (Horton, 2020).
In conclusion, I found the documentary ‘The Social Dilemma’, which is in line with our master in Business Information Management, a superficial documentary that can give ignorant viewers a wrong picture of reality. However, it seems like I am the only one who feels that way about this, so I am curious about your opinions. Please let me know in the comments!

Ehrlich, D. (2020, January 29). ’The Social Dilemma’ Review: A Horrifyingly Good Doc About How Social Media Will Kill Us All. IndieWire. Retrieved from https://www.indiewire.com
Girish, D. (2020, September 9). ‘The Social Dilemma’ Review: Unplug and Run. Https://Www.Nytimes.Com/#publisher. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com
Horton, A. (2020, September 8). ‘A climate change-scale problem’: how the internet is destroying us. Retrieved 24 September 2020, from https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/sep/08/the-social-dilemma-netflix-internet-tech-film
Li, T. (2020, September 1). Information Strategy [Slides]. Retrieved from https://www.canvas.eur.nl

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Will AI replace doctors?

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September

2020

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Fitbit, Apple watches, Garmin’s and many more smartwatches have become very popular the last five years. These types of watches are also known as activity trackers and smartwatches. Currently, 21% of Americans say they use smart watches or activity trackers (Vogels, 2020). This trend potentially implies that people want to be more aware of their health.
Activity trackers and the mobile application which belong to these activity trackers encourage healthy behaviour (PWC, 2017). An apple watch for example notifies a user every hour to stand up and walk a certain number of steps. It has recently become possible to get an hourly notification to wash your hands and not touch your face in order to fight against COVID-19 (Putock, 2020). The applications and activity trackers help with the management of a healthy lifestyle. It gives the users the feeling that they are in control of their own health.

Additionally, the data which is created by the use of the activity trackers and smart watches can give healthcare professionals a better insight in the day-to-day patterns of individuals. In combination with AI this can help them to provide better feedback and give more advanced guidance to stay healthy (PWC, 2017).

The use of AI and the Inter of Medical Things (IoMT) very hopeful. AI can help people to stay healthy, professionals get insights in the daily patterns of the patients. This seems a very hopeful development in the medical world. But the use of these systems come hand in hand with very big challenge; security of the data. Even though the data will be securely stored nowadays data is nowhere really safe. A data leak may have huge implications. Very sensitive personal data will be out in the open which can be used against you at any moment in time.

The innovations which are being introduced in the healthcare can be very disruptive and improve the quality of life. Will in ten years a smartwatch or activity tracker prevent the population of potential diseases or will the use of smartwatches be decreased since the data is not securely stored?

Bibliography

Vogels, E. A. (2020, 01 09). Pew Research Center. Retrieved from About one-in-five Americans use a smart watch or fitness tracker: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/01/09/about-one-in-five-americans-use-a-smart-watch-or-fitness-tracker/

Putock, M. (2020, 03 13). How to set up hourly reminders on Iphone and Apple Watch to wash your hands and stop touching your face. Retrieved from https://9to5mac.com/2020/03/13/hourly-reminders-to-wash-hands-on-iphone-apple-watch/

PWC. (2017). No longer science fiction, AI and robotics are transforming healthcare. Retrieved from https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/industries/healthcare/publications/ai-robotics-new-health/transforming-healthcare.html

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Can we reinvent the Internet?

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September

2020

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“The benefit of [the internet] is that voices that might never have been heard are heard. On the other hand, we also hear from people whose messages we wish weren’t delivered—terrorism, misinformation, deliberate deception, and then there is malware and other kinds of things.”- Bob Kahn & Vint Cerf, founders of the internet.

The endless technological possibilities of the current era are drivers of the constantly growing IoT ecosystem, which resulted in more than 30 billion IoT connected devices worldwide today (Statista, 2020). The pace of launching connected devices to the market cannot be kept with cybersecurity professionals. A very large portion of the security of today’s IoT devices  are vulnerable, allowing hackers to access the device and track personal data or even take control over the device (Kontsevoi, 2020). And this is rapidly increasing; in 2019 there were 300% more cyberattacks on IoT devices than its year before (Doffman, 2020). The internet where such devices are connected to, is not designed to protect its users from cyberattack in the first place. The fundamentals of the internet are openness, transparency and connectivity. And the last years, security practises are placed onto it. With this in mind, why can’t we invent the internet again, like we did 50 years ago? With security as its foundation. China is already doing so, so why can’t we?

Last year, Huawei presented the idea of re-inventing the internet, called ‘New IP’, to meet the fast growing digital world at the International Telecommunications Union (Murgia & Gross, 2020; Huawei, 2020). Their vision is that current internet model, the TCP/IP (internet protocol), does not have the capabilities to enable future technological developments to function such as holographic video calling, autonomous driving and remote surgery. There is a need for a new internet architecture that is able to support these developments with a so-called governance top-down structure, that is very likely the replace the current Internet model (Murgia & Gross, 2020; Hogewoning, 2020). Huawei stated that this new IP does not involve any governmental influence, but critics believe otherwise. Several scientists believe China wants to create absolute control over everyone using the internet, like they have now in their politics (Murgia & Gross, 2020). With this new IP, data would be shared among the Chinese government that in turn can accept or deny users to access the internet and gain control over all individuals that is connected to the internet.

The current internet is not owned by anyone. US firms like Google, Facebook and Apple have likely the most power over the internet and its users. There is no central sovereignty controlling all the content and users. Hackers can access the internet and threaten organisations and even households at all times. One might say the current internet is too open and unstable for all its users. Firms do not have cybersecurity as a main priority (Annenbaum, 2017). Firms are more focussed on the profitability of their businesses and to stay ahead of competition rather than the threat to the environment they are creating. Households and organisations are increasingly using IoT devices in their daily activities that are very vulnerable of being hacked. We can discuss if you really need a smart fridge that tells you when you run out of milk, or that drones are of such importance to deliver your package at the same day. If all that matters to our lives so much, why can’t we re-invent the internet? Building the IP infrastructure that contains all the security practises needed to avoid cyberattacks.

China is doing it in a more radical way, but the western world could collaborate and create an alternative, democratic IP infrastructure. An European Union version of the internet, with all member states having a say, including scientists and law makers, deciding on the new foundation of the internet. Since we are in the middle of a technological revolution and we need an internet that is able to support the future technological applications, while keeping everyone safe at the same time, why not reinvent?

I am curious about your opinion about the New IP of Huawei. Do you believe we need a new internet, if so, how would you like to see it?

References:

Kontsevoi, B. 2020. IoT threats and what to do about them. [online] Available at: < https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2020/03/31/iot-threats-and-what-to-do-about-them/#6a8fc8155b50   > [Accessed 29 September 2020]

Fastcompany, 2017. The Internet’s Future Is More Fragile Than Ever, Says One Of Its Inventors [online] Available at: < https://www.fastcompany.com/40437402/the-internets-future-is-more-fragile-than-ever-says-one-of-its-inventors> [Accessed 29 September 2020].

Huawei. 2020. A Brief Introduction About New IP Research Initiative. [online] Available at: <https://www.huawei.com/en/industry-insights/innovation/new-ip> [Accessed 29 September 2020].

Murgia, M. and Gross, A., 2020. Inside China’S Controversial Mission To Reinvent The Internet. [online] Ft.com. Available at: <https://www.ft.com/content/ba94c2bc-6e27-11ea-9bca-bf503995cd6f> [Accessed 29 September 2020].

Doffman, Z., 2020. Cyberattacks On IOT Devices Surge 300% In 2019, ‘Measured In Billions’, Report Claims. [online] Forbes. Available at: <https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2019/09/14/dangerous-cyberattacks-on-iot-devices-up-300-in-2019-now-rampant-report-claims/#538634715892> [Accessed 29 September 2020].

Hogewoning, M. 2020. Do we need a New IP? [online] labs.ripe.net. Available at: <https://labs.ripe.net/Members/marco_hogewoning/do-we-need-a-new-ip> [Accessed 29 September 2020].

Griffin, A. 2020. Amazon reveals new Alexa devices, including round echos and new show that follows you around the room showing Do we need a New IP [online] theindependent.co.uk. Available at:  <https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/amazon-echo-alexa-show-new-netflix-round-price-release-date-buy-b597874.html>[Accessed 30 September 2020].

Annenbaum, A. 2017 “Why Do Iot Companies Keep Building Devices with Huge Security Flaws?,” Harvard Business Review Digital Articles, 4/27/2017, P2.

Statista, 2020 IOT number of connected devices worldwide.[online] Statista.com. Available at: <https://www.statista.com/statistics/471264/iot-number-of-connected-devices-worldwide/> [Accessed 29 September 2020].bf05a2d2-6e7a-11ea-89df-41bea055720b

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Trump VS Biden – As Shallow As Democracy Can Get

30

September

2020

5/5 (1)

Last night, the first official “face-off” between Republican Donald Trump and Democratic Joe Biden in the traditional Presidential Debate took place. I do not recommend someone watching it as naming it a debate would be a compliment. As Green (2020) would describe it: “What might possibly have been an interesting and even educational exchange turned out to be a distressing and largely unwatchable pissing contest.” With an overload of insults, lies and shallow comments, the two presidential candidates who will have the task of running this immense country seemed more like two children fighting over toys. As entertaining as this may be, it also makes me wary, as this is what campaigning in the US is mostly about right now, throwing dirt at each other to improve their own position at the voters.

Currently, political polarization is growing. This becomes evident by the statistics found by Gilberstadt (2020). This may be due to the fact that one candidate is better at insulting than the other candidate is, however, there is a tool that stimulates this growth in polarization. Online users are prone to searching information that aligns with their beliefs, forming and joining groups that have the same values and perspectives on matters, e.g. echo chambers. Algorithms on social media stimulate this process by promoting content based on user preferences, limiting information that might oppose the users’ beliefs. Bessi A, Zollo F, Del Vicario M, Puliga M, Scala A, Caldarelli G, et al. (2016)

To illustrate this, a Democratic political video appeared on my Facebook that, you guessed it, threw dirt at Trump. Kind of amused since I’m not a huge Trump fan I watched it and moved on. Then to my surprise, over the next weeks, I got overloaded with Democratic videos about why Trump slacks as a president, stimulating an even more one-sided perspective on Trump. The most worrying aspect of this process to me was that aside from me disliking Trump even more, I favored Biden more to be the next president, without knowledge of any of his plans!

Now imagine living in the US where there is a clear division in population and what party they support. This political preference is increasingly more based around videos that illustrate why one candidate is unfit to rule. So, what happens if voters are prone to vote for a candidate based on how good they are at insulting the other party? The result of this trend was never so obvious, just take a look at the presidential debate of last night. This trend is worrying and simultaneously saddening to witness. Now I don’t know what steps are necessary to take, but I do believe social media platforms need to address the issue of echo chambers. Provide voters with information from opposing sides as well as this would slow down the trend of “voting for the better insulter” and perhaps the political debate will be made less superficial as it is now!

Bessi A, Zollo F, Del Vicario M, Puliga M, Scala A, Caldarelli G, et al. (2016) Users Polarization on Facebook and Youtube. PLoS ONE 11(8): e0159641. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0159641

Gilberstadt, H. (2020, September 10). Voters’ Attitudes About Race and Gender Are Even More Divided Than in 2016. Retrieved September 30, 2020, from https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2020/09/10/voters-attitudes-about-race-and-gender-are-even-more-divided-than-in-2016/

Green, L. (2020, September 30). Trump v Biden in the first 2020 presidential debate: our panelists’ verdict. Retrieved September 30, 2020, from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/29/first-2020-presidential-debate-our-panelists-verdict

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Ballsy play – the power of analytics in football

30

September

2020

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The first time I got into contact with sports analytics was by watching the movie “Moneyball”. There, a smaller baseball team switches from traditional scouting methods to using a data-based approach in order to compete against more well-funded firms. This really visualized the opportunities of data analytics as well the superstition against it. But is sports analytics still in its infancy and what is the situation like for football (US: soccer)? This blog will give you an introduction into these topics and offer some initial predictions for the future.

Similar to a lot of traditional industries, soccer provided lots of data points relatively early on: Game journals, goal scores and ball touches. This data, however, wasn’t used for a long time – at least not in terms of machine learning and model analysis. Scouts for instance used these values as a base and infused them with their on-pitch observations but the underlying power of data remained untouched. In today’s time specialized firms such as GoalImpact and established IT Players such as SAP regard this sector as valuable growth option (orange by Handelsblatt, 2018). GoalImpact defines a player’s impact based on game journals which are also available for youth teams. The football team’s success in terms of results difference (!) is put into relation to the number of times a player was on the pitch – accurate to the minute. This is then also compared to a prior prediction of GoalImpact. Therefore, before a match a prediction is made which is then used as somewhat of an experiment to measure whether the result is accurate. Based on the outcome, the goal impact calculation is then re-modified (GoalImpact, 2020).

Apart from game journals, nearly everything on a football field can be measured, especially if you think about it in terms of x and y axes. Havard Sports Analysis Collective (2014), for instance, analysed that the success factors of creating “danger” from corners kicks while Power, Hobbs, Ruiz, Wei & Lucey (2018) debunked soccer myths and found results regarding corner defense via heat maps and statistics. Moreover, analysis can be used for tactics review, training improvement and more healthy players.

Regarding predictions, I think that data analytics will not only increase but will actually become a necessity because no one can afford to lack behind. Respondent trends such as the VAR (Video Assistant Referee) leading to increased camera usage in stadiums as well as wearables and sensors will revolutionize sports analytics and provide an exponentially rising availability of data which would only need to be harvested correctly for success.

Still in the end, data analysis “represents a statistical value. As such it is not right or wrong, it just is” (GoalImpact, 2020). What we make out of it, remains our ballpark.

 

 

References:

BiScout, 2017. Die Vermessung des Sports. [online] Available at https://www.bi-scout.com/die-vermessung-des-sports [Accessed on 30 September 2020]

GoalImpact, 2020. Website. [online] Available at goalimpact.com [Accessed on 30 September 2020]

Havard Sports Analysis Collective, 2014. Spatial analysis of corners. [online] Available at http://harvardsportsanalysis.org/2014/09/spatial-analysis-of-corners/ [Accessed on 30 September 2020]

Orange by Handelsblatt. Wie Daten im Fußball über Sie und Niederlage entscheiden. [online] Available at https://orange.handelsblatt.com/artikel/45882 [Accessed on 30 September 2020]

Power P., Hobbs J., Ruiz H,, Wie, X., Lucey, P., 2018. Mythbusting set-pieces in soccer. MIT Sports Analytics Conference. [online] Available at http://www.sloansportsconference.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/2007.pdf [Accessed on 30 September 2020]

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