Read more in
Search This Blog
Friday, March 24, 2017
Not your grandfather's video
Given the dramatic increase of video content on social channels, marketers are working out strategies to capitalize on the medium. To stand out in such a sea of video content, they key is to not just attract viewers but to keep them engaged. The key ingredient for engagement is interaction, according to Wyzowl, a video explainer company that boast of having created videos for over a thousand companies.
Read more in
Read more in
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
IoT security guidelines
Hello Barbie, one of the connected toys that raises secuirty concerns |
The IoT Security Foundation is a "vendor-neutral, international initiative aspiring to be the expert resource for sharing knowledge, best practices and advice." Those resources include the best practice guides, one of which is "IoT Security Compliance Framework." The first version of the framework covers consumer products and markets, but future iterations will cover several other categories, such as medical, automotive and critical infrastructure.
"The IoT is the next evolutionary wave of the internet and, with dwindling costs of technology and low barriers to entry, new products are flooding the market," declared John Moor, managing director of the IoT Security Foundation. The internet of things extends to all kinds of new wearables, as well as connected appliances and smart toys.
The toy category has already raised data privacy concerns, but all types of businesses have to think about privacy issues when designing anything that connects to the internet. What is first hailed as "the 'internet of treats,'" Moor explains, can easily develop into "the 'internet of threats' if these new products do not have sufficient security capabilities."
The question is, What is sufficient security? That's a question the framework seeks to answer with a checklist for users.
- See more at: http://www.baselinemag.com/innovation/internet-of-things/building-a-framework-for-iot-security-compliance.html#sthash.WPkYNvNz.dpuf
Friday, March 10, 2017
A virtual assistant you can bank on
In early 2016, SEB, one of Sweden's largest banks with a presence in 20 countries around the globe, started integrating Amelia, an artificial intelligence (AI) platform from IPsoft, into its help desk. Amelia is represented by a blond female avatar and is always referred to as "she" rather than "it."
The artificial intelligence platform is built on semantic understanding, which enables Amelia to interact with users through natural language to determine what actions to take in order to answer a question, fulfill a request or solve a problem. She is also designed to learn through observation.
At SEB, Amelia serves as a customer interface with automated interactions that can scale up to meet expanded support needs. "The driver is to find a way to improve the experience for our customers," explains Mikael Andersson, the bank's IT strategy transformation lead.
- See more at: http://www.baselinemag.com/innovation/banking-on-ai-to-offer-better-customer-service.html#sthash.Mk05GLW5.dpuf
Tuesday, February 28, 2017
Voice powered shopping
Like the captain of the Starship Enterprise, we too can now ask a computer for information by talking to it. We can even order tea, Earl Grey, though maybe not at the preferred temperature just yet. As voice activation is being directed toward shopping, there are new opportunities for marketers to explore.
With Siri, Cortana, Alexa, or the Google Assistant available, voice activation and queries have become an integral part of smartphones and smart home technology. According to Thrive Analytics, voice search among smartphone user hit 65 percent in 2015 in the US. That's more than double what it was just two years before, which indicates a very rapid rate of growth. The voice control option is also growing among users of smart home products.
Taking note of this trend, Google is now nudging its Google Home customers to start using their voices for shopping. It recently announced that Google Assistant could not be used by people with Google Home to order a variety of products from over 50 participating Google Express retailers.
Read more in OK Google Goes Shopping
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Shining light on the dark side of big data
Does the shift toward more data and algorithmic direction for our business decisions assure us that organizations and businesses are operating to everyone's advantage? There are a number of issues involved that some people feel need to be addressed going forward.
Numbers don't lie, or do they? Perhaps the fact that they are perceived to be absolutely objective is what makes us accept the determinations of algorithms without questioning what factors could have shaped the outcome.
That's the argument Cathy O'Neil makes in Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy. While we tend to think of big data as a counterforce to biased, just decisions, O'Neil finds that in practice, they can reinforce biases even while claiming unassailable objectivity.
“The models
being used today are opaque, unregulated, and uncontestable, even when they’re
wrong.” The math destruction posed by algorithms is
the result of models that reinforces barriers, keeping particular demographic
populations disadvantaged by identifying them as less worthy of credit,
education, job opportunities, parole, etc.
Now the organizations and businesses
that make those decisions can point to the authority of the algorithm and so
shut down any possible discussion that question the decision. In that way, big
data can be misused to increase inequality. As algorithms are not created in a
vacuum but are born of minds operating in a human context that already has some
set assumptions, they actually can extend the reach of human biases rather than
counteract them.
“Even algorithms have parents, and
those parents are computer programmers, with their values and assumptions, “Alberto Ibargüenhttps://www.knightfoundation.org/articles/ethics-and-governance-of-artificial-intelligence-fund,
president and CEO and of the John
S. and James L. Knight Foundation wrote. “As computers learn and adapt from new data,
those initial algorithms can shape what information we see, how much money we
can borrow, what health care we receive, and more.”
I spoke with the foundation’s VP of Technology Innovation, John Bracken about its
partnership with the MIT Media Lab and the Berkman Klein Center for Internet
& Society as well as other individuals and organizations to create a $27
million fund for research in this area.
The idea is to open the way to “bridging”
together “people across fields and nations” to pull together a range of
experiences and perspectives on the “social impact” of the development of
artificial intelligence. As AI is on the road “to impact every aspect of human
life,” it is important to think about sharping policies for the “tools to be built” and how they are
to be implemented.
Read more in
Algorithms' Dark Side: Embedding Bias into Code
Monday, February 13, 2017
V is Video Marketing for Valentine's Day
The National Retail Federation estimates that consumers in the U.S. will spend $18.2 billion this Valentine's Day. Large though the figure may appear, it's actually down from last year's record high of $19.7 billion. It works out to an average of $136.57 per person. The bulk of it, $85.21, is earmarked for one's romantic partner, and the rest is divided among parents and children, teachers or classmates, friends, pets, and coworkers.
Though gifts of jewelry, flowers, chocolates, and dinners out, still make up the bulk of anticipated spending, there are also other options considered, particularly in light of the expanded categories for recipients of gifts on this holiday. And that means expanded opportunities for marketing around the holiday. The medium of choice for many marketers is video, because of its reach, its engagement, and the metrics on both.
photo from https://www.goodfreephotos.com/albums/vector-images/arrow-with-heart-vector-clipart.png |
read more in Why Marketers Heart Video for Valentine's Day
Thursday, February 2, 2017
The Digital Advance of a Venerable Medical Journal
Since 1840, the British Medical Journal (BMJ) has been associated with health care expertise. Now the brand includes 60 specialist medical and allied science journals with millions of readers around the world.
As a global brand, the BMJ relies on a digital platform to reach its worldwide audience. To keep up with the demands of this growth, it needed a partner to help it meet its needs.
The printed copies of the venerable journal are still mailed out, but the journal also embraces digital technology and expanded reach. It was the first medical journal in the world to go online 21 years ago, says Sharon Cooper, chief digital officer at the BMJ.
- See more at: http://www.baselinemag.com/cloud-computing/virtualizing-a-venerable-medical-journal.html?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=BL_NL_BB_20170202_STR2L1&dni=393649804&rni=25396992#sthash.qU3lEl7D.dpuf
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
-
en.wikipedia.org No, Edison didn’t invent search engine optimization. But he did make a habit of tinkering around until he found what...
-
Bridge near Bear Mountain, photo by Ariella Brown I saw the title in my email and knew I really shouldn't click it, but my curiosity go...
-
No more boots for Ms. Green and other changes for M&M's candies A major component of marketing is tapping into trends and making an...