Posts Tagged ‘Information Technology’

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Protecting Data Rights and the Free Flow of Information

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010

This challenge of protecting data online is really putting a muzzle on using the full potential of today’s information technology. If we can solve this issue of protecting people’s data rights, we could realize the full potential of information technology to maximize the real-time sharing of information. This would be information that is complete, accurate, and timely that supports technology initiatives such as augmented reality, real-time web, real-time sensor networks, and so on.

There is No 100% Data Protection Guarantee. joeandrieu.com blog posting, Beyond Data Ownership to Information Sharing, gets me thinking that maybe we should be taking a broader view of not just focusing on protecting personal data, but focus on restricting the wrongful use of data. Joe is right in that we should assume that data cannot be fully protected. There is always going to be a hacker or someone’s carelessness that will “spill the beans”. There is no guarantee that data or data “rights” can be protected.

Protecting Online Data Much Like We Protect Real-World Property. Many people do not understand the issue of online data protection, and there are a variety of opinions on how to protect data online. In many aspects, protecting data online is not that much different from protecting real-world property. For example, look at the measures we take to protect a laptop that an employee may use at work and at home. The employee has a responsibility of taking reasonable measures to protect the theft of the laptop. The employer also has policies in place to secure its property. The general community has a moral obligation to protect private property. The Government also has the responsibility to protect property and punish violators. This same holistic approach is needed for protecting data online. Individuals, communities, companies, and governments need to be involved in protecting data rights.

Data Protection Versus Protecting the Wrongful Use of Data. In many cases online data protection measures should follow how we protect real-world property, but there is a key difference with protecting online data. Online data can be copied and transferred anytime, anywhere. Because of this, it may be best to focus more on restricting the wrongful use of data versus putting all our focus on data ownership rights and how to protect data online. We need to define who owns data and take reasonable measure to protect it, but we also need to take a more holistic approach. This means focusing on restricting the wrongful use of data.

Preventing the Wrongful Use of Data and the Free Flow of Information. We all need to pitch in to prevent hackers, thieves, mob mentality, and careless people from wrongfully using online data. We should all be watchful to prevent the wrongful use of personal data. We should all encourage and foster ways for people to be compensated for producing valuable information and content. Wrongful use of data and content should be discouraged and even punished. If we only take a data protectionist approach, it offers no guarantee that data will be protected, and just as bad, protectionist policies discourage the free flow of data as well as limiting the full potential of information technology.


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Proprietary Rights – an Inhibitor or Promoter of IT Innovation?

Saturday, January 2nd, 2010

Information Technology (IT) Innovation is key to both businesses and their customers. Innovation enables businesses to create superior products and services that provide exceptional value to their customers. In the long run, innovation benefits everyone: businesses, customers, and the community at large.



What to Do About Proprietary Rights? One of the major challenges of IT innovation is how to deal with the proprietary rights of the business or person that owns the idea or invention behind the innovation. If proprietary rights are too restrictive, there is the danger of a new product or service either costing too much or not being available to the widest audience possible. On the other hand if proprietary rights are not honored, there is the danger of businesses and individuals not investing in new technology and ideas as they quite rightly fear that their investment will not be protected.

Definition of Proprietary Rights. Proprietary rights can be defined as the “property rights of the owners of proprietary information which may be protected under law. In contracting, this term refers to the data belonging to the contractor, and may include financial information, intellectual property (concepts, designs, techniques), technical documentation, etc. Proprietary rights for IT software and hardware can be protected by a variety of means to include patents, licensing agreements, agreements, and contracts.

Proprietary Rights – Enabling IT Innovation. Proprietary systems and patents are great enablers for encouraging the development of emerging technologies. Proprietary systems enable businesses to develop new systems quickly, thus enabling them to build systems quickly that meets their unique needs. Patents encourage businesses to invest in IT innovation projects knowing that their investment is protected if they are successful with the project. See WSJ posting, Patent Gridlock Suppresses Innovation, for how the U.S. patent system can protect proprietary rights and at the same time promote innovation.

Proprietary Rights – Inhibiting IT Innovation. Proprietary systems and patents can inhibit IT innovation when a given technology has matured or is in great demand. Additionally, proprietary rights can inhibit innovation if the owner of the patent or proprietary right is not bringing their valuable idea or invention to market. This becomes a non-value-add activity that hurts the community at large. Because of proprietary standards and patents, other businesses are inhibited from leveraging or further innovating a given IT technology, product, or service. In these cases the patent or proprietary system can maintain artificially high prices for users, limits use of a valuable service or product, or worst case, a valuable product is not brought to market. Innovation of a new technology or idea can be severely limited by the originator of the product or service. See News & Observer posting, Patent law must not stifle innovation, on how patents can stifle innovation.

Apple iPhone – Example of How Proprietary Systems Can Restrict Innovation. Proprietary systems are good when they introduce a new technology such as mobile web access. A proprietary system becomes restrictive when it begins to restrict innovation and further advances in a technology field. An example of a proprietary system restricting open networks is the iPhone. The iPhone has helped the industry define mobile web access, but it has some weaknesses that may be hard to overcome such as a background-processing capability (i.e., the ability to run multiple third-party apps at once). See posting, The Android OS – Open Vs Permission-based Mobile Computing, for more on open versus proprietary systems restricting innovation and open networks.


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Information Design as a Baseline for Business IT Innovation

Monday, November 16th, 2009

Information design is critical for business IT innovation. Good information design is what enables information technology to best display information, best help users to understand the information, and best encourages users to make the desired response with the information. Without good information design, any IT innovation effort is doomed to failure. Good information design provides a solid baseline for IT to create innovative, superior solutions for businesses. See below for the definition of information design, what is involved in information design, and how to measure the effectiveness of information design for businesses.

Information Design Definition. Information design is the art and science of preparing information so that it can be used by human beings with efficiency and effectiveness.

The Three Levels of Information Design. Saul Carliner’ article, Physical, Cognitive, and Affective: A Three-Part Framework for Information Design describes a good framework for information design. See below for a summary of the three levels of information design.

  • The Physical Level of Information Design. The physical level of information design is where information technology enables the user to find information. This level includes things like page design, graphics, and various other types of media.
  • The Cognitive Level of Information Design. The cognitive level of information design is where IT enables the user to understand the information. This includes things like usability, tailoring information to the situation, and having the right information available at the right time.
  • The Affective (emotional) Level of Information Design. The affective level of information design is where IT enables the user to feel comfortable with the presentation of the information. This includes things like using media to get and retain the user’s attention, providing information that gains the user’s trust, and providing information in a format that encourage the user to have the desired response.

Information design is more than just a method to display information at the physical level. Information design is a framework for processing data to achieve a superior information-based solution that enables better user decision-making and better business operations.

Design Patterns. There are many design patterns that can be re-used as part of an IT business solution. These design patterns offer a proven baseline for creating innovative IT solutions. Information design patterns include software design patterns where proven software modules and algorithms can be re-used. There are also proven information design patterns when it comes to displaying information. Many of these you see everyday like the chart types that you can find in the MS Powerpoint application. See Information Design Patterns for common information design types.

Measuring How Information Design Adds Value to a Business. It can be difficult to determine how effective an information design solution is at adding value to a business. As with any business solution, it is best to measure information design in terms of things like efficiency, productivity, quality, competitive positioning, market share, financial measure, etc. See posting on Measuring How System Design Adds Value to a Business for more information.


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