In the tail of the Government's National Digital Economy Strategy launch comes an ad for an Economist conference Information: Making sense of the deluge.
This is part of their series on the Ideas Economy. The conference is described as;
The world now contains unimaginably vast amounts of digital information, which is growing exponentially. The era of big data presents incredible opportunities—smarter cities, stronger companies, faster medicine—but just as many challenges. Storage is scarce, systems overloaded and governments and businesses know too much.
Managed well, data can be used to unlock new sources of economic value, provide fresh insights into science and hold governments to account. Managed poorly, it can cause great harm.
Ideas Economy: Information will tackle these issues and more. It will examine the data revolution from a range of perspectives, seeking solutions to big problems. The event will bring together theorists, strategists, and innovators who understand how to harness data to create value and advance individual, corporate, and social good.
There are two aspects of this conference that I particularly like.
The first is focussing on the Digital Economy as a problem not a promise....there are choices to be made here, not just a nirvana to be reached by peddling faster (I plan to write more on this shortly).
The second is that the conference looks like it is structured to have speakers and discussants - that is, there is real engagement with the ideas not just a blurting forth of positions. The Communications Alliance Broadband and Beyond series could benefit from this approach.
Anyhow, I'd like to know if ANY Australian is proposing to attend the conference in the US. If not, is anyone in my wider circle able to provide feedback.
Novae Meridianae Demetae Dexter delenda est
Showing posts with label The Economist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Economist. Show all posts
Friday, June 03, 2011
Monday, May 02, 2011
Digital Economy and Architecture
I had the chance on Saturday night to have a chat with a young architect (finished undergrad and working and teaching, but yet to do postgrad).
Architects have always thought in 3-dimensions, but the limitations of communicating in paper has been that designs are always rendered as two-dimensional "elevations" and plans. The earliest applications of computers to the task with CAD were about rendering these two-dimensional plans.
The next stage was the development of 3D modelling, but still with the "goal" of passing on a 2D image for the next stage.
These days that happens less. A builder or a fabricator might well just get the 3D image and that is then used to create the relevant component. The analogy was car manufacturing - the body shop just gets a 3D image file to fabricate the body parts.
The concept of direct connection between 3D design and fabrication is growing rapidly. The Economist recently had a feature on 3D printing. This has been around for about ten years for prototyping but is starting to be used for actual manufacture.
If you combine these techniques with the production processes of "just in time" the world of "mass customisation" has come another step closer.
This is the kind of thing that becomes important in Digital Economy discussions. It is not just about productivity improvements from doing the same things faster, but by doing things differently.
"The industrial revolution made the blacksmith redundant, the information revolution makes the draftsman redundant" Discuss.
Novae Meridianae Demetae Dexter delenda est
Architects have always thought in 3-dimensions, but the limitations of communicating in paper has been that designs are always rendered as two-dimensional "elevations" and plans. The earliest applications of computers to the task with CAD were about rendering these two-dimensional plans.
The next stage was the development of 3D modelling, but still with the "goal" of passing on a 2D image for the next stage.
These days that happens less. A builder or a fabricator might well just get the 3D image and that is then used to create the relevant component. The analogy was car manufacturing - the body shop just gets a 3D image file to fabricate the body parts.
The concept of direct connection between 3D design and fabrication is growing rapidly. The Economist recently had a feature on 3D printing. This has been around for about ten years for prototyping but is starting to be used for actual manufacture.
If you combine these techniques with the production processes of "just in time" the world of "mass customisation" has come another step closer.
This is the kind of thing that becomes important in Digital Economy discussions. It is not just about productivity improvements from doing the same things faster, but by doing things differently.
"The industrial revolution made the blacksmith redundant, the information revolution makes the draftsman redundant" Discuss.
Novae Meridianae Demetae Dexter delenda est
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