The truth at any cost lowers all other costs — curated by former US spy Robert David Steele.
Edited 10 Jan 05 to point to Robert Buckman's book, Building a Knowledge-Driven Organization which is the implementation counterpart to this book. Those “stake-holders” whose egos are wrapped up in the hoarding of secrets will not like either of these books but the trends lines are clear: sharing beats hoarding, and collective intelligence of the group beats secret “single expert” intelligence just about every time.
Read this book along with Howard Rheingold's Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution, Tom Atlee's The Tao of Democracy: Using Co-Intelligence to Create a World That Works for All, Pierre Levy's Collective Intelligence: Mankind's Emerging World in Cyberspace–and if you wish, my own, The New Craft of Intelligence: Personal, Public, & Political–Citizen's Action Handbook for Fighting Terrorism, Genocide, Disease, Toxic Bombs, & Corruption This book has seriously altered my view of how to organize national decision-making. While I have been exposed to many great thinkers and authors, and formed my own views based on three decades in the defense-intelligence complex where America spends $70B a year on the 10% of the information it can steal, and next to nothing on polling, subject matter experts, and open sources of information, this book was an eye-opener for me.
I disagree with those reviews that dismiss this as “unscientific” or lacking in rigor. This book tells a very important story that could-that should-alter how we made decisions about very important matters with long-term consequences. While the author appears largely unwitting of the body of literature focused on this matter going back to at least Pierre Tielhard de Chardin and H.G. Wells, his book stands as a very valuable self-contained reference that cannot be ignored.
The author examines three broad situations: coordination, aggregation, and cooperation, and in all three concludes, with sufficient and compelling evidence as well as anecdote, that the best answers are from multiple disparate views that have been normalized. The author is also effective in pointing out that most “experts” rarely agree with one another, or get it right in the first place.
To take the simplest example, guessing the number of jelly beans in a jar, the author examines how “experts” or “closest individual guess” get within roughly 20 of the right number, while the crowd of disparate individuals–including biased and illiterate individuals–comes within 2. That is a huge benchmark.
This book is relevant to the application of emerging technologies, for example, application oriented networking systems and intelligent networks where P2P puts most of the knowledge at the edge of the network. What hit me with great force is that P2P and intelligent networks cannot be fully effective without an aggregation capability, a super-sized federated database system that scales infinitely–hence disqualifying all of the so-called relational databases.
I have over 20 notes on how to monetize the information in this book, which I consider to be the single most valuable book I have read in the past couple of years, after Thomas Stewart's “The Wealth of Knowledge.” Here is one simple one as citizen blogs and other information including environmental information begins to come on line: why not create a citizen's digital dashboard for cell phones and hand-held devices, so that the barcode on a device creates a full price analysis–not just price in dollars and cents, but price in terms of the greenness of the maker, hidden costs, the human rights and labor relations record of the maker and the seller, etc. I see the day coming when government cannot fund stupid programs because the people put those corporations that build stupid things into bankruptcy, while the labor union pension funds start using their power to invest only in companies committed to sustainable growth. Far-fetched today–this book, and my own understanding of where information technology is headed in the next five years–made me smile.
This is not a “fad” book. It has a great deal of meat. For the hacker set, this is “SNOWCRASH” all grown up, married with children.
Other books with reviews:
The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom
Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind from the Big Bang to the 21st Century
Group Genius: The Creative Power of Collaboration
One from Many: VISA and the Rise of Chaordic Organization
If you are a manager to whom information technologists report, or a manager that employs technical advisors who in turn help oversee varied IT procurements and implementations, then this book is an ideal primer. It can also be scary, because I will wager than in 7 out of 10 cases, the technical experts are not pursuing the enterprise integration fundamentals that this book outlines.
Both authors are strong in their own right. The book bring together Bill Ruh, former MITRE, MITRETEK, and Concepts 5 guru, today the global manager for CISCO AONS, who is updating his 2000 book on the topic, with Beth Gold-Bernstein, who has consulted, lectured, and written on this topic, and has her own book titled “Enterprise Integration: A Practical Approach.”
I regard the book, and the topic, as a watershed between the old days of configuration management and a focus on data that was largely within internal custody, and today, when real-time data integration and exploitation is required across both all internal points (i.e. including the 85% that is in emails and hard drives) and external points–not just the web, but supplier, buyer, regulatory, and other databases.
I recommend this book for managers in part because the book itself is quite clear on the fact that information technology by itself, no matter how much money is thrown at it, will not achieve enterprise information integration. Management mind-sets, management metrics, management enforcement of standards and compliance with the strategic direction implied by enterprise integration, are all required.
Early in the book there are important references to both scale and speed, with the key difference between the 1990's and today being that instead of humans accessing the data, there now much more machine to machine communication and sharing, and this requires hyper-speed. There is also much more focus on event-driven information actions, with Delta Airlines being cited as a very good case study–the system must be able to take many autonomous actions triggered by an event (e.g. an airplane more than 15 minutes late, with repercussions across gate management, luggage management, connections management, catering management, etc.). Zero latency, real-time enterprise, and event-driven information transactions are among the buzz words.
The case study of CISCO on page 6 grabbed me early on–my primary focus is on the Global War on Terror (GWOT), and reading about CISCO's move to real-time metrics (this book is *very* strong on metrics, which I take to be a very good thing) and real-time decision making and course corrections, I was thinking to myself that CISCO is to information as special operations are to terror. So when CISCO doubled productivity, cut costs by 30%, and made daily reporting the norm, I say to myself: okay, now let's see that in GWOT….this book is Ref A in answering that challenge. Another case study, on FedEx using hand-held devices as both points of data entry in the field, and end points for data value to the field, also struck me as relevant to GWOT.
Throughout the book, one of its own phrases: “people are the most expensive part of any system,” keeps resonating, because everything in here is about either increasing productivity or reducing the time-cost of information transactions. This book also has a very healthy focus on information sharing across all boundaries, with appropriate security, privacy, and legal attributes for each transaction.
Standards receive heavy emphasis throughout.
The book is slightly dated on the topic of automated metastandards and semantic data definitions, but I know the authors to be personally very engaged in the very latest developments surrounding semantic web and synthetic information architectures and other related automated assignments of meaning, so I take this to be primarily an issue of timing–the book had to be put to bed.
The chapters on Information Integration Architecture and on Information Integration, the ones I was most looking forward to reading, strike me as the least developed among the many excellent parts of this book. In part this is because Enterprise Content Management (ECM) is just coming of age, and truly scalable solutions to the challenge of managing global multi-media multi-lingual unstructured information data (Cf. InfoSphere AB in Sweden) are just now coming into being. This chapter does provide an important itemization of key organizations responsible for metadata standards, and lays out a framework for establishing “who needs to know what when” as part of the manager's contribution to the over-all enterprise integration planning process. These two chapters excel in pointing out that information management is about ensuring long-term data value, allowing for reachback over time and space.
In its conclusion the book makes reference to turf wars, training, reducing redundancy, reducing reliance on proprietary technologies with lock-in costs, finding a return on assets, and creating a culture of reuse. The last hundred pages of the book, and the CD-ROM, provide templates that any manager could reasonably demand of their technical advisors. I opened these up and found them very useful, to the point of being worth at least a week if not more of man-time, and hence easily repaying the price of the book many times over.
The bibliography is good and the index has been thoughtfully developed. I recommend this book to anyone who deals with global information in any form, but especially to managers who might be wondering if their IT people have any clue as to where they are taking the enterprise and its information. This book also strikes me a superb textbook, both for undergraduates as a primer, and for graduates as a foundation for a more nuanced discussion. For myself, it was “just enough, just in time” information, exactly what I wanted and needed in my specific context.
My over-arching note on the book is that information can and should be a moral force, and a force for good within any community.
The author's bottom line is that morality must be inherent in the individual–it cannot be imposed, only taught–that those who consider themselves religious are not necessarily moral, and that politicians cannot be neutral on moral relativism, or they open the door to moral extremists.
Among my notes in the margins, inspired by the author: cannot turn responsibility into duty; citizens failing to be socially responsible can open the door to tyranny; anarchy comes with excessive autonomy–deviance allowed is deviance redefined as acceptable; communitarians may be an alternative to the extreme right, something is needed with the collapse of the democrats; organizational morality is important–should corporations be allowed to degrade and exploit humans in the name of “neutral” economic values?; shared values are the heart of sensible sustainable policy making; laws can inspire corruption and crime; inherent morality is the opposite; many policies (e.g. transportation, housing, education) do not provide for social impact evaluation; no such thing as “value free” anything; monolithic communities harm the multi-layered community.
Given seven layers of dialog, from neighborhood to national, it is possible to have every citizen participate in a national dialog in the course of a single day. This makes it irresponsible for any of us to accept a political process that claims to be value neutral while opening the door for extremists. I have said this, but this excellent book documents it: you get the government you deserve. Participate, or lose it.
The author's primary focus is on what some would call “public diplomacy” or “public affairs” information, that is, the message that goes out from the United Nations force (civil, military, police) to all concerned–the world at large, the participating governments, the Member governments not participating, all other NGOs and organizational participants, the host government, and the indigenous belligerents and bystanders (many of them refugees).
The author's two core points are that information operations must be in the UN mandate or it will be unlikely to be addressed as a coherent unified program by the leaders on the ground; and that the information program *must* be unified–there cannot be separate SGSR, force commander, and police commander messages and programs.
Although the author makes passing reference to intelligence and the value of information collected overtly by elements of the total force, both this work and the book specifically avoid any discussion of intelligence in the form of decision support, as the Brahimi Report has stated so forcefully is needed by the UN at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels.
The author makes very good points with respect to the need for continuity of operations (too many personnel on short tours make it impossible to succeed), for substantial numbers of language-qualified interpreters and translators, and for an educational program to teach all concerned within the force, the message, and their role in getting the message out.
The author touches very lightly on the fact that no amount of message is going to save a completely screwed up mission with the wrong mandate, insufficient forces, insufficient aid, and lousy tactical leadership.
In my view, in the age of information, the concepts of peacekeeping intelligence and information peacekeeping, two different concepts, are going to comprise the heart of stabilization operations world-wide. Emerging technologies including application oriented intelligence networks, semantic web and synthetic information architecture, super-sized federated data systems, and fully funded commercial information support operations, will dramatically alter what we do, when we do it, and how we do it, as we all seek to avoid war and foster prosperity within the lesser developed regions of the world.
The author is, in my view, one of the intellectual pioneers whose voice must be heard, and it is my hope that we will see more from her on this topic in the very near future.
See also:
Peacekeeping Intelligence: Emerging Concepts for the Future
This book is a first class piece of work, a seminal work with ideas not readily available elsewhere. Building on her earlier monograph about the UN experience in Haiti with respect to public information–a monograph that is included in this book as a chapter–the author has gone on to look at several other UN operations.
The author's conclusions are consistent with but expand upon her findings from the Haiti mission.
1) Information Operations must be in the mandate and must be a major focus of effort from day one. Although the author has a limited focus, on information as public affairs or public diplomacy, her points are all relevant to the larger appreciation of Information Operations as inclusive of decision-support and tactical-operational Peacekeeping Intelligence, as well as the larger concept of Information Peacekeeping.
2) Secretary General's Special Representative (SGSR), the military force commander, and the police force commander must agree on unified public information operations and an integrated staff with a single coherent message.
3) Standing staffs and normal tour lengths are essential to success. The somewhat common practice of Member states rotating people in and out in 30-90 day cycles is simply not professional and ultimately undermines the mission.
4) Considerable numbers of language-qualified translators and interpreters are required.
5) In illiterate societies (such as Haiti), radio and music rule. Strong radio programs can be extremely helpful, but only if hundreds of thousands of portable radios, and the batteries to power them, are given out. When confronting violence on the street, or seeking to break up gathering mobs, music has extraordinary power to diffuse anger.
While the author is most diplomatic in addressing the facts, it is clear from this book that the Department of Public Information (DPI) at the UN has still not matured, and is still a major obstacle to the implementation of the Brahimi Report recommendations on creating strategic, operational, and tactical decision support or intelligence capabilities for all UN operations. In my personal view, the next head of the DPI needs to be given one simple order: “turn DPI into a global grid for information collection and information sharing, or find a new job.” DPI today is 77 one-way streets, and generally immature one-way streets with potholes. DPI has no understanding of peacekeeping intelligence, information peacekeeping, information metrics, or information as a substitute for money and guns. In the context of what the Brahimi Report seeks to accomplish–all of it good and urgently needed–DPI appears to be a huge cancer within the UN, one that must be operated on before the larger UN information environment can become effective.
The author adds to the literature in articulating six principles for outward communications of message in a peacekeeping operation; in brief, 1) public perceptions are a strategic factor; 2) international and local public opinion impact on the political influence that impacts on tactical effectiveness; 3) external information campaign must be a strategic focus from day one; 4) education campaigns, e.g. on the rule of law, are vital aspects of peacekeeping campaigns; 5) culturally-sensitive messaging is a must; and 6) transparency of policy and objectives is a pre-condition for message success.
The notes and references in this book are quite professional. One wonders if the Brazilians and the Americans are reading the DPKO Mid and Post Mission Assessment Reports from Haiti in 1996, or simply making the same mistakes anew.
See also:
Peacekeeping Intelligence: Emerging Concepts for the Future
Information Operations: All Information, All Languages, All the Time
The New Craft of Intelligence: Personal, Public, & Political–Citizen's Action Handbook for Fighting Terrorism, Genocide, Disease, Toxic Bombs, & Corruption
THE SMART NATION ACT: Public Intelligence in the Public Interest
My short notes on this incredible film:
* Possible for 1 man to detect evil early on, and to resist evil
* Bonhoeffer excelled at pointing out that for any man or nation to presume that God takes sides or endorses any particular position is very pretentious
* God is *community* — God is present to the extent that community of man thrives
* If the working poor turn away from the church, it is failing; if the petty bourgeoisie flock to the church it is failing and pretentious
* In times of economic crisis, fascism can be attractive to BOTH the industrial leaders AND the forlorn working poor
* New York fellowship focused him on social ethics, energized him with exposure to writing by black authors, pious singing within black churches
* Purpose of ethics and theology is to change the world for the better
* Adam Clayton Powell Senior made the black church in New York into a political and social force
* Black Christ has rapturous passion, contrasts sharply with white didactic Christ
* Friendships with pacifists taught him that “nothing in scripture permits man to destroy the body of Christ” (the community)
* For every person that is unemployed, 2-5 go hungry
* Hitler called on God, claimed God, Quoted God. For Hitler, God was a “completely ideological God” according to Bishop Wolfgang Huber, one of those interviewed
* Church in Germany was guilty of preparing the way for Hitler, setting the stage for an authoritarian or “acceptance” state
* At 27, Bonhoeffer addressed nation via radio, suggested that the leader as “idol” was sacrilegious. His broadcast was cut off.
* Bonhoeffer brought the Bible alive–taught his student to read the Bible as if God were *here and now* speaking to *you* personally.
* Hitler called on God, but he was actually in competition with God for the role of SAVIOR of the German people.
* Hitler legalized church prejudices against Jews going back to Martin Luther
* Must distinguish between anti-Judaism (conflict of faiths) and anti-Semitism (racism)
* According to Bonhoeffer, Church has three options in times of crisis and state abuse:
1) Ask the State if its actions are legitimate
2) Support the victims (Bonhoeffer is specific in saying Church must support all victims, even if not part of the Church)
3) Oppose the State
His work focused on the ease with which false loyalty (e.g. to a President rather than a Constitution), false Church is a easy path for most.
Catholic Church signed a Concordat with Hitler, agreeing not to resist.
Others did resist–Pastors Emergency League, claimed 7,000 members out of a possible 27,000
Bonhoeffer was so exceptional that he was invited by Gandhi to visit him
“Peace is the opposite of security” (one is actual, the other is enforced)
* Study, service, prayer.
* Oppressed people of color have piety and also have something to teach to all Christians.
* What cost oppression? The cost is the loss of God.
* War, and the persecution of Jews, are injustice incarnate. “One is not true to God when one has a lax conception of war or of justice,” This according to Bishop Albrecht Schonherr
* Bonhoeffer was a double agent, engaged in plot to kill Hitler
* Ethics is situational–will of God has infinite variations. Ethics is less about principles and more about flexibility. Ethics is an act of faith–every minute, every day.
* Hitler dominated Germany for over a decade.
* Bonhoeffer was marched naked to the gallows and hung. His last words, “For me this is the beginning of life.”
* His message: live completely in this world–thus do we throw ourselves into the hands of God–take ALL suffering seriously.
This was a moving DVD. It offers superb organization, superb visuals, and superb choral music in the background. This DVD was so thoughtful I found myself replaying sections 3X to 5X.
This was so good it has focused me on my next book–instead of national security (forced peace)–I am going for INFORMATION PEACEKEEPING: Ethics, Theology, and Collective Intelligence (inherent peace).
If you've gotten this far, you need to see this DVD. Available at Blockbuster and also well worth buying as a recurring reflection piece .
See also, with reviews:
Gandhi (Widescreen Two-Disc Special Edition)
The Snow Walker
The Last Samurai (Two-Disc Special Edition)
March Or Die
