Methods & Process – Page 50 – Public Intelligence Blog

2010/11/112010/11/11

Journal: Intelligence Out of Control

02 China, Analysis, Augmented Reality, Budgets & Funding, Collective Intelligence, Commerce, Government, info-graphics/data-visualization, InfoOps (IO), Intelligence (government), International Aid, Methods & Process, Military, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence, Policies, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests, Secrecy & Politics of Secrecy, Strategy, Threats

Marcus-Aurelius-150x150 — Marcus Aurelius Recommends

IMHO, ill-advised.

Washington Times
November 11, 2010
Pg. 10

Inside The Ring

By Bill Gertz

Financial intel killed

The Pentagon's intelligence directorate is killing off one of its most strategically important mission areas: monitoring efforts by foreign governments to buy U.S. firms and technology, such as the multiple efforts by China's military-linked equipment company Huawei Technologies to buy into the U.S. high-technology sector.

Defense officials tell Inside the Ring that Thomas A. Ferguson, acting undersecretary of defense for intelligence (USDI) and a former Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) space analyst, initiated the dismantling of the financial-threat intelligence monitoring.

Read rest of the article….

Phi Beta Iota: US Intelligence is out of control–as good as some of the leaders are in terms of diversity of experience within the OLD system, they simply do not have the mind-set nor the authorities to restructure intelligence to the point that it can meet all appropriate needs. The person ostensibly responsible for strategy, a CIA body, has just been made deputy director of DIA, and we have no doubt that a “strategy” exists that might ultimately turn DIA into the analysis center and CIA into a collection management center (while NSA becomes the all-source processing center, all as outlined in Chapter 13 of ON INTELLIGENCE: Spies and Secrecy in an Open World) as well as all subsequent books such as INFORMATION OPERATIONS: All Information, All Languages, All the Time, this is all too little, too slow, too incoherent, and too expensive. An Open Source Agency (OSA) under diplomatic auspices, and a voluntary shift of $200 billion from Program 50 to Program 150 as a lure for Newt Gingrinch coming into the 2012 coalition cabinet under Obama running as an Independent (miracles do happen), are both essential.

2010/11/11

Journal: DoD Goes to the Dogs…

Methods & Process, Military, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence

(1) Militaries have used working dogs for a variety of offensive and defensive purposes for years; (2) military working dogs have been very active in Iraq and Afghanistan; (3) airborne (parachute) units have been jumping dogs officially and unofficially for years, although this is the first report I've personally seen of dogs being jumped using the military freefall technique, (4) the biggest problem I see for the dogs is the landing since, before their handler lands, he will likely lower the dog on a 15-20 foot line so that the dog lands before he does so the challenge for the dog is doing a parachute landing fall with four, rather than two, rather slender and fragile legs — kind of difficult to “keep your feet and knees together”; (5) the alternative to (4) above is for the handler to execute a standing landing, something that is at least theoretically feasible for a well-trained jumper using a ram-air canopy under favorable wind and drop zone conditions; that could possibly mitigate the doggie PLF challenge; (6) I think I'm glad I'm not the free-fall jumper since, while you can see that the dog in the photo below is muzzled to prevent bites, unless he's also sedated, he could flop around enough in his harness to make a stable descent to pull altitude a challenge for his jumper; (7) I'm not sure the United States Parachute Association has ever considered this application of the Tandem technique which is well established for willing human cargoes.)

2010/11/11

Reference: A Path Toward Open Government

Analysis, Augmented Reality, Budgets & Funding, Collective Intelligence, Computer/online security, info-graphics/data-visualization, InfoOps (IO), Intelligence (government), Journalism/Free-Press/Censorship, Methods & Process, Open Government

Adobe Open Government Small — Six Pages Online

Phi Beta Iota: This is one of the most balanced sensible white papers from a vendor it has been our pleasure to encounter. Taken in context of Microsoft thinking about buying Adobe after failing to see the value of Sun's Open Office, this white paper merits broad appreciation against the possibility that Adobe could become the Context & Content Division that Microsoft does not have and will not have under Steve Ballmer now that Ray Ozzie has given up on Microsoft and moved on.

2010 Reference: 5 Lessons From Outgoing Microsoft Software Architect Ray Ozzie

2010/11/112010/11/11

Journal: Newspaper Extinction Timeline

04 Education, 11 Society, Augmented Reality, Collective Intelligence, info-graphics/data-visualization, InfoOps (IO), Methods & Process, Tools

« Keynote on the Future of Global Media in New York | Main | The role of BRIC in the future of global media »

Launch of Newspaper Extinction Timeline for every country in the world.

Ross Dawson, October 31, 2010 10:47 PM US PT

Back in August I predicted that newspapers in their current form will be irrelevant in Australia in 2022. That received significant international attention including from The Australian, The Guardian, Editor & Publisher (which called me the ‘Wizard of Aussie') and many others.

Part of the point I wanted to make was that this date is different for every country. As such I have created a Newspaper Extinction Timeline that maps out the wide diversity in how quickly we can expect newspapers to remain significant around the world. First out is USA in 2017, followed by UK and Iceland in 2019 and Canada and Norway in 2020. In many countries newspapers will survive the year 2040.

The Australian has again covered this in a story title Deadline for newspapers as digital publications rise. There may be some more coverage in coming days.

Newspaper_Timeline_front — Two Graphics and More

Phi Beta Iota: Certainly worth reflecting on, this misses two big realities. First, newspapers could still convert themselves into honest citizen intelligence networks and focus on sense-making. Second, five billion poor people are not yet digital and while the dumb cell phone has a bright future, the smart phones and pads do not, in part because of raw earth shortfalls, in part because of embedded toxicity of materials, and in part because even with call centers, there is a very big space that “smart analog” newspapers could fill. The latter is particularly true if one factors in the fact that five billion poor people need alternatives to rote education including primers that can be passed around and do not need power sources.

2010/11/112010/11/11

Reference: Al-Qaeda Statements Index

09 Terrorism, Analysis, Methods & Process, White Papers

berto small — Berto Jongman Recommends...

This paper is written in correlation with a project that aims to provide a distinctly new perspective to current trends in terrorism research by allowing for a new and more nuanced study of statements made by al-Qaeda. This project, the Al-Qaeda Statements Index (AQSI) database project at Haverford College in Pennsylvania, is one example of how new innovations can continue to provide new insight.

AQ Statements Small — 2010 Thesis Online

Unlike previous projects, the Al-Qaeda Statements Index project, when complete, will aid researches in developing a more thorough understanding of al- Qaeda's rhetoric by creating a searchable network to show complex connections among the web of various statements, keywords and ideas professed by al-Qaeda, spanning a period from the 1990s up to the present day. The AQSI will serve as both an advanced annotated bibliography for scholars seeking a starting point to study specific statements more in depth, while at the same time allowing for a quantitative analysis of the intricate connections and relationships among statements which would otherwise not be readily quantifiable or apparent.

Phi Beta Iota: A senior thesis within one of the more intelligent schools in America. Something to be proud of, and good indicator that the emerging generation can think.

2010/11/10

Journal: Digital Outsourcing By the Task

Augmented Reality, Budgets & Funding, Communities of Practice, Earth Intelligence, InfoOps (IO), Methods & Process, Mobile, Policies

How crowdsourcing will change the way the world works.

As the amount of digital work increases and the amount of physical work
decreases, our notions of employment and work change profoundly. Digital work doesn't require roads and factories; it requires a laptop and an Internet connection–equipment that people have access to in their homes. The need for offices, supervisors and rigid employment arrangements
diminishes.

As technology improves, companies should theoretically be able to access in real-time the perfect person for a given job–the one who will do the job the best, enjoy it the most or do it the fastest. All these factors combine in a way that will change the landscape of work. Here's what I think that will look like:

–Within a decade résumés will become less important as we continue to adopt newer, multifaceted ways to measure the quality of a candidate's work. Current hiring processes often involve online research about candidates on sites like LinkedIn and Facebook. Articles, portfolios, presentations and papers by potential job candidates are increasingly
found online. Companies like oDesk and Elance rate workers based on past work rather than on what college they attended.

Full Story Online

Phi Beta Iota: This is of course precisely what OSS.Net, Inc. has been doing since 1993, in sharp contrast to the beltway bandit “butts in seats” high overhead approach. HOWEVER, the world will be divided into three workforces:

A. Digital work done from anywhere by high end digital workers.

B. Analog work done from anywhere by low end physical workers with a simple cell phone–e.g. eyes on observations.

C. Analog work done at a fixed place because the tools or the raw materials or other factors demand a fixed location.

The five billion at the bottom of the pyramid are at C and need to be moved toward B in order to create infinite wealth. That is the insight that governments and corporations refuse to grasp, despite the fact that the annual income of the five trillion is FOUR TIMES the annual income of the one billion rich.

2010/11/09

Journal: Microsoft & Nokia in the Mobile Space

InfoOps (IO), IO Multinational, IO Sense-Making, IO Technologies, Methods & Process, Mobile, Strategy, Technologies, Tools

November 09, 2010

Microsoft and Nokia: A tale of two elephants

Nokia reabsorbs Symbian, and Microsoft ships Windows Phone 7 — to big yawns. How they became mobile's elephants in the room

By Galen Gruman | InfoWorld

When Microsoft released Windows Phone 7 in the United States yesterday, very few people lined up at the AT&T and T-Mobile stores to get the HTC and Samsung debut models — despite all the extensive Windows Phone 7 advertising by Microsoft to goose up demand. (Maybe they read the unenthusiasic reviews from publications that got early versions.)

When Nokia announced yesterday that it was reabsorbing the Symbian operating system it had spun out as an open source effort 18 months ago, I thought, “Why bother? I thought MeeGo was your mobile OS future anyhow?” — especially given the lack of attention to the last major release of Symbian (Symbian 3) in September.

Read rest of review…

Phi Beta Iota: Both Microsoft and Nokia are at a fork in the road. The above review, vastly more critical than the fluff found elsewhere, is bleeding edge truth. Absent new management and a compelling vision–ideally one that united both companies to favor a very simple low cost cellular “key” combined with a vast global grid meshing humans with call centers and back office cloud processing, both companies appear destined for further decline.