[This is a re-post (originally
posted on 12 Nov 2012) with minor edits, deleted the original posts by mistake]
In the age of
information, human capabilities must become even more significant. Gary Hamel, one of
the great theorists of modern management suggested that historically there has
been two basic ways to ‘aggregate and amplify human capabilities’. They were bureaucracy and markets. Now we have a third – networks that helps us
work together on complex tasks more easily.
The global internet has been well documented to magnify this
process as Wikipedia shows. Wikipedia
with only a few full time employees is ten times bigger than Encyclopedia
Britainica and is roughly the same in accuracy from a study by Nature. The internet industry abounds with many
similar cases. There is much to learn of
this observable fact. Indeed, these are
all new models of production based on the community that by collaboration in
unprecedented and surprising ways (for us dinosaurs!) is changing the very
definition of economic theory and in doing so raises global productivity.
Economically
speaking an underused resource, the homemakers, a large percentage in any
economy, can enter the workforce more easily.
To a smaller degree, retirees and the handicap are able to as well, all
working from home because they now can, with good broadband connections. I think some new generation Call Centres or
online temp agencies such as oDesk do not even realise a worker thousands of
miles away is a handicap. The internet model
equalises. The internet economy would be
good socially and economically for any country.
Human capability
thus amplified by the network effect and the internet in general will help with
productivity and also drive the next phase in socio-economic development. While crowdsourcing becomes the factory of
the information age and we humans as the factory workers willingly and
unwittingly, the raw material is data. [I
like to compare the massive productivity gains the world saw when Henry Ford
invented the assembly lines to crowdsourcing.]
One aspect, termed Big Data, a general
term used to describe the voluminous amount of unstructured and semi-structured
data we create mostly by using the internet, will be significant. They can be transformed into
informational products or used to sell physical ones. They provide the data for which information
can be derived and better information improves productivity of white collar
workers. As the service economy continues
to increase globally, statisticians of productivity become a happier lot!
To understand how
Big Data works, think of yourself going through a typical day. For me, I drive to work, send some emails,
respond to a comment in LinkedIn, maybe search and then buy a cinema ticket
online and when I get home, Skype my daughter, Amanda in Sydney. Taken alone, this is disjointed, plain data.
To a data analyst, it makes up your digital character, your online activity
trial, turning data into potentially valuable information. It is all about mining this commodity of data
and making sense of it to make predictions, analyse our behaviour, improve
service, sell more products, sell more ads.
The world’s
starting to get all manner of information; products, prices, locations, human
intent, behaviour and anything that can be coerced out of us. eCommerce, search, social media, blogs and a
hundred more new internet companies will generate Big Data. Google knows we want to buy a car when we
search for car deals fervently. Pinterest
knows our interest when we pin items of interest, such as photos or links to an
online volunteer group into boards. Like
tin and iron ore mining was to Kinta Valley and economic success it bred for
the City of Ipoh (once the tin mining capital of the world) in Malaysia, there
is a lot of value in mining it.
The perception for
a long while is that general data has little value. Yahoo and Google are the early successful
plays to show otherwise. This has to do
with new business models, one of which is the internet business model. Over this century, many will monetise this
commodity called ‘data’, applying internet business rules. We are witnessing this new ‘gold’ rush
now. Others will use it to serve the
public good such as Wikipedia (encyclopaedia), Quora (expertise database) or
educational material online (eg. MIT). Thousands of other start-ups each
claiming they have the superior model will vie to extract the best possible
data from us for commercial purposes. Big Data looks set to become a sub-industry on its own. How else can information be mined? A later column would ink some thoughts,
highlighting and analysing projects such as the London DataStore, a potentially
iconic early Big Data initiative at a municipal level.
This initiative,
allowing open access to public data, is worth watching. It could one day show the way and the
importance of building an online economy, an online government and modern
mining. It might sire a new class of
information entrepreneurs; commercial and social. It may be a new way for governments to enable
society and generate opportunities for economic production. It could raise public service to a new
level. It is a probable glimpse of the
future of an information economy in action.
Part
IV- the beginnings of the sharing economy in.
©Chen Thet Ngian, InternetBusinessModelAsia.blogspot.com
(2012, 2013). Unauthorized use and/or
duplication of this material without express and written permission from this
blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be
used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Chen Thet Ngian and InternetBusinessModelAsia.blogspot.com
with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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