The Wisdom of Crowds


Book Description

In this fascinating book, New Yorker business columnist James Surowiecki explores a deceptively simple idea: Large groups of people are smarter than an elite few, no matter how brilliant—better at solving problems, fostering innovation, coming to wise decisions, even predicting the future. With boundless erudition and in delightfully clear prose, Surowiecki ranges across fields as diverse as popular culture, psychology, ant biology, behavioral economics, artificial intelligence, military history, and politics to show how this simple idea offers important lessons for how we live our lives, select our leaders, run our companies, and think about our world.




The Rise of the Algorithms


Book Description

The meteoric rise of online video is reshaping the competition for human attention. The Rise of the Algorithms argues that this new technology has changed the way we interact with others, our relationships with public institutions, and our very own behaviors and psyches. In tracing the origins and evolution of online video, John M. Jordan examines the mechanics—and the ethical stakes—of online video platforms, especially YouTube and TikTok but also others, such as Twitch. Tracing the use of algorithms pioneered by Facebook and Google and so successfully exploited by TikTok’s corporate parent, ByteDance, Jordan shows how these platforms now engineer human behavior—with consequences for culture, politics, and identity. Jordan argues that we are at an inflection point. Until now we have proved, as a society, ill-prepared or unwilling to address such problems as the power of digital platforms, the personal cost of viral celebrity, the invasion of privacy, and the proliferation of disinformation. The Rise of the Algorithms combines this urgent assessment with a clear-eyed discussion of present challenges and recommendations for reclaiming our online futures. A valuable resource for understanding the transformations that have been and will be brought by YouTube, TikTok, and similar platforms, Jordan’s timely book is a vital work for anyone who uses the internet and especially for policy makers, technologists, communication and media specialists, and researchers who have a direct hand in determining the future of our online world.




The Marvelous Clouds


Book Description

In medias res -- Understanding media -- Of cetaceans and ships; or, the moorings of our being -- The fire sermon -- Lights in the firmament: sky media I (Chronos) -- The times and the seasons: sky media II (Kairos) -- The face and the book (inscription media) -- God and Google -- Conclusion: the sabbath of meaning -- Appendix: nonsimultaneity in cetacean communication.




The 1:1 Roadmap


Book Description

A book to empower the 21st century learner with technology.




Accelerating Cloud Adoption


Book Description

Many companies move workloads to the cloud only to encounter issues with legacy processes and organizational structures. How do you design new operating models for this environment? This practical book shows IT managers, CIOs, and CTOs how to address the hardest part of any cloud transformation: the people and the processes. Author Mike Kavis (Architecting the Cloud) explores lessons learned from enterprises in the midst of cloud transformations. Youâ??ll learn how to rethink your approach from a technology, process, and organizational standpoint to realize the promise of cost optimization, agility, and innovation that public cloud platforms provide. Learn the difference between working in a data center and operating in the cloud Explore patterns and anti-patterns for organizing cloud operating models Get best practices for making the organizational change required for a move to the cloud Understand why site reliability engineering is essential for cloud operations Improve organizational performance through value stream mapping




The Venture Alchemists


Book Description

We once idolized tech entrepreneurs for creating innovations that seemed like modern miracles. Yet our faith has been shattered. We now blame them for spreading lies, breaking laws, and causing chaos. Yesterday’s Silicon Valley darlings have become today’s Big Tech villains. Which is it? Are they superheroes or scoundrels? Or is it more complicated, some blend of both? In The Venture Alchemists, Rob Lalka demystifies how tech entrepreneurs built empires that made trillions. Meta started as a cruel Halloween prank, Alphabet began as a master’s thesis that warned against corporate deception, and Palantir came from a campus controversy over hateful speech. These largely forgotten origin stories show how ordinary fears and youthful ambitions shaped their ventures—making each tech tale relatable, both wonderfully and tragically human. Readers learn about the adversities tech entrepreneurs overcame, the troubling tradeoffs they made, and the tremendous power they now wield. Using leaked documents and previously unpublished archival material, Lalka takes readers inside Big Tech’s worst exploitations and abuses, alongside many good intentions and moral compromises. But this story remains unfinished, and The Venture Alchemists ultimately offers hope from the people who, decades ago, warned about the risks of the emerging Internet. Their insights illuminate a path toward more responsible innovations, so that technologies aren’t dangerous weapons but valuable tools that ensure progress, improve society, and enhance our daily lives.




Economics of Regulation and Antitrust, fifth edition


Book Description

A thoroughly revised and updated edition of the leading textbook on government and business policy, presenting the key principles underlying sound regulatory and antitrust policy. Regulation and antitrust are key elements of government policy. This new edition of the leading textbook on government and business policy explains how the latest theoretical and empirical economic tools can be employed to analyze pressing regulatory and antitrust issues. The book departs from the common emphasis on institutions, focusing instead on the relevant underlying economic issues, using state-of-the-art analysis to assess the appropriate design of regulatory and antitrust policy. Extensive case studies illustrate fundamental principles and provide insight on key issues in regulation and antitrust policy. This fifth edition has been thoroughly revised and updated, reflecting both the latest developments in economic analysis and recent economic events. The text examines regulatory practices through the end of the Obama and beginning of the Trump administrations. New material includes coverage of global competition and the activities of the European Commission; recent mergers, including Comcast-NBC Universal; antitrust in the new economy, including investigations into Microsoft and Google; the financial crisis of 2007–2008 and the Dodd-Frank Act; the FDA approval process; climate change policies; and behavioral economics as a tool for designing regulatory strategies.




Predictive Technology in Social Media


Book Description

Can behaviour on social media predict future purchase patterns? Can what we click on social media foresee which political party will we vote for? Can the information we share on our wall foretell the next series I might want to watch? Can the likes on Instagram and Facebook predict the time one will spend on digital platforms in the next hour? The answer is no longer science fiction. It points to the ability of mainstream social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to be able to deliver specialised advertising services to highly targeted audience segments controlled by the billions of devices that flood our daily lives. At the same time, it highlights a more relevant problem: can social media guide, suggest or impose a certain behaviour or thought? Everything seems to indicate that they can do it. Predictive Technology in Social Media comprises 10 essays that reflect on the power of the predictive technology of social media in culture, entertainment, marketing, economics and politics. It shows, from a humanistic and critical perspective, the predictive possibilities of social media platforms, as well as the risks this entails for cultural plurality, everyday consumption, the monopolistic concentration of the economy and attention, and democracy. The text is an invitation to think, as citizens, about the unbridled power we have ceded to digital platforms. A new voice to warn about the greatest concentration of communicative power ever seen in the history of humanity.




The Definitive Guide to HR Management Tools (Collection)


Book Description

A brand new collection of high-value HR techniques, skills, strategies, and metrics… now in a convenient e-format, at a great price! HR management for a new generation: 6 breakthrough eBooks help you help your people deliver more value on every metric that matters This unique 6 eBook package presents all the tools you need to tightly link HR strategy with business goals, systematically optimize the value of all your HR investments, and take your seat at the table where enterprise decisions are made. In The Definitive Guide to HR Communication: Engaging Employees in Benefits, Pay, and Performance, Alison Davis and Jane Shannon help you improve the effectiveness of every HR message you deliver. Learn how to treat employees as customers… clarify their needs and motivations … leverage the same strategies and tools your company uses to sell products and services… package information for faster, better decision-making… clearly explain benefits, pay, and policies… improve recruiting, orientation, outplacement, and much more. In Investing in People, Second Edition, Wayne Cascio and John W. Boudreau help you use metrics to improve HR decision-making, optimize organizational effectiveness, and increase the value of strategic investments. You'll master powerful solutions for integrating HR with enterprise strategy and budgeting -- and for gaining commitment from business leaders outside HR. In Financial Analysis for HR Managers, Dr. Steven Director teaches the financial analysis skills you need to become a true strategic business partner, and get boardroom and CFO buy-in for your high-priority initiatives. Director covers everything HR pros need to formulate, model, and evaluate HR initiatives from a financial perspective. He walks through crucial financial issues associated with strategic talent management, offering cost-benefit analyses of HR and strategic financial initiatives, and even addressing issues related to total rewards programs. In Applying Advanced Analytics to HR Management Decisions , pioneering HR technology expert James C. Sesil shows how to use advanced analytics and "Big Data" to optimize decisions about performance management, strategy alignment, collaboration, workforce/succession planning, talent acquisition, career development, corporate learning, and more. You'll learn how to integrate business intelligence, ERP, Strategy Maps, Talent Management Suites, and advanced analytics -- and use them together to make far more robust choices. In Compensation and Benefit Design , world-renowned compensation expert Bashker D. Biswas helps you bring financial rigor to compensation and benefit program development. He introduces a powerful Human Resource Life Cycle Model for considering compensation and benefit programs… fully addresses issues related to acquisition, general compensation, equity compensation, and pension accounting… assesses the full financial impact of executive compensation and employee benefit programs… and discusses the unique issues associated with international HR programs. Finally, in People Analytics, Ben Waber helps you discover powerful hidden social "levers" and networks within your company, and tweak them to dramatically improve business performance and employee fulfillment. Drawing on his cutting-edge work at MIT and Harvard, Waber shows how sensors and analytics can give you an unprecedented understanding of how your people work and collaborate, and actionable insights for building a more effective, productive, and positive organization. Whatever your HR role, these 6 eBooks will help you apply today's most advanced innovations and best practices to optimize workplace performance -- and drive unprecedented business value. From world-renowned human resources experts Alison Davis, Jane Shannon, Wayne Cascio, John W. Boudreau, Steven Director, James C. Sesil, Bashker D. Biswas, and Ben Waber .




Contemporary Strategy Analysis


Book Description

The updated new edition of the classic strategic analysis textbook, addresses the emerging challenges that businesses face in an increasingly complex and dynamic environment A market-leading title across the world in upper-level undergraduate and MBA courses, Contemporary Strategy Analysis combines a rigorous approach to business strategy analysis with highly relevant examples of current practice and a rich collection of case studies. With a lively narrative style, expert strategist and lecturer Robert M. Grant introduces students to some of the latest thinking in the strategy field while addressing the strategic issues that business enterprises face today. Designed to be accessible for students from different backgrounds with varying levels of experience, the twelfth edition of Contemporary Strategy Analysis builds upon its tradition of clarity of exposition, emphasis on practicality, and concentration on the fundamentals of value creation and appropriation. A wide range of contemporary topics are presented alongside fully integrated business models, real-world examples of business model innovation, and practical tools for formulating and implementing business strategies. Contemporary Strategy Analysis, Twelfth Edition, remains the ideal textbook for core strategy courses in Business Studies, Management, and MBA programs, as well as for executive courses on competitive strategy, corporate strategy, and management consulting skills. It is also a valuable resource for managers, business owners, founders, and other professionals who are responsible for the strategic direction of a modern enterprise.