Wikis

The year is started and once the first part of my Master Thesis is written, I do a pause to write a brief post about Wikis. I'm a strong supporter of Wikis. Not only of the servers themselves but also of Wiki Philosophy: Collaboration, Openness, Control... Control? Yes, Control, I really think that the versioning system of Wikis is very powerful and enables control about what is published, when and by whom. Would be Wikipedia possible without editorial control?
I have found an interesting whitepaper from a site that talks about Wikis. Although it is a commercial Whitepaper I found it quite interesting. Particularly some parts like these excerpts:

Though the type of wiki employed may differ from company to company, the types of tasks for which wikis are used are basically the same. Specifically, daytoday usage of the application typically falls into the following three categories:

Project Management

• Wikis may be used as a central repository for capturing constantly updated product features and specifications
• Wikis may provide a central repository for simple issue tracking and resolution
• The iterative nature of wikis allow team members to track thedevelopment history of projects over time
  

Collaboration

• Internally, wikis allow simple text-based collaboration on internal documents such as company guidelines, reports, and productspecifications
• Externally, wikis are useful for collaboration with customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders on key business documents and ongoing projects
  

Knowledge Management

• Because wikis can be easily updated by anyone in the organization, wide-ranging company documents, such as guidelines and FAQs are more easily kept accurate and up-to-date

Actually in the R&D department of my company is used for the 3 purposes. Interisting also these comments about evaluating the value of Wikis in the enterprise, that i find true but quite dangerous ;-)

In assessing the potential impact of wikis, one might do well to take a lesson
from the early days of e-mail. Although many tried to detail the cost savings
associated with e-mail by measuring the related reductions in postage, increases
in worker productivity, and various other metrics, these estimates paled in
comparison to the actual value brought by e-mail itself. This major discrepancy
occurred primarily because e-mail ultimately changed the way people worked,
not just how they exchanged documents.

You can find the whole document here.

The social Enterprise

Before the Magic Black Box appears... a very good article on the Social Software applied to the Enterprise.

Excerpt:

"The discussion eventually brought us to an even broader question: Why should enterprises go social, and what are the compelling reasons for adoption? On the surface there are immediate benefits, but from experience we know that consumer technologies do not directly map into the enterprise. In this post, we explore the reasons for the social enterprise, look at what social technologies fit and raise various concerns related to adoption."

"As a rule, what is good for individuals is not good for companies and the other way around. This is because both are selfish and it is the tension between the two that drives capitalism. The same is true for technologies; consumer products have not traditionally been needed by companies, with the exception of communication tools."

"Apple, for instance, is known to be very secretive about its plans. Does it give them a competetive edge? Likely yes. How does the introduction of blogging and open social tools to the enterprise impact that? More leaks are likely to occur. Information has an amazing tendency to find its way forward through the human network. The challenge then, is to define a set of policies and rules that ensure that nothing classified gets out. This is not simple."

"New social tools can enable companies to be more agile and self-organizing. The have a chance to break down the walls of complex, ineffective hierarchies and to empower employees to get things done. These tools are simple, fun, engaging, and inspirational. Bringing fresh winds of change to the stale corporate mentality is a good thing and should be welcomed."

More on Thesis Sources

Patents, patents, patents!

I have been working a bit more on the patents side of my thesis. After the previous script that retrieved the data from the Wipo website on a patents query search, I have developed another script to import this data into a database. I have used a PostgreSQL DB although I have not been able to integrate it directly to Python, I have used ODBC connections instead. I guess that but the connection parameters it is suitable for any ODBC ready database.

It creates two tables. One with all the patents information and another one that relates this patents to the search terms that resulted on it. I paste here the definition of both tables:

-- Table: patents

-- DROP TABLE patents;

CREATE TABLE patents
(
p_id integer NOT NULL,
p_code character(20),
pub_dated date,
description character(512),
applicant character(1000),
intl_class character(15),
appl_number character(20),
url character(500),
abstract character(3000),
CONSTRAINT firstkey PRIMARY KEY (p_id)
)
WITH (OIDS=FALSE);
ALTER TABLE patents OWNER TO postgres;

-- Index: codeidx

-- DROP INDEX codeidx;

CREATE UNIQUE INDEX codeidx
ON patents
USING btree
(p_code);



-- Table: patent_query

-- DROP TABLE patent_query;

CREATE TABLE patent_query
(
recid integer NOT NULL,
pat_id integer,
query_terms character(256) NOT NULL,
CONSTRAINT patent_query_pkey PRIMARY KEY (recid),
CONSTRAINT patent_query_pat_id_fkey FOREIGN KEY (pat_id)
REFERENCES patents (p_id) MATCH SIMPLE
ON UPDATE NO ACTION ON DELETE NO ACTION
)
WITH (OIDS=FALSE);
ALTER TABLE patent_query OWNER TO postgres;

-- Index: queryidx

-- DROP INDEX queryidx;

CREATE UNIQUE INDEX queryidx
ON patent_query
USING btree
(pat_id, query_terms);

I have uploaded the second script to the site and can be found here, along with the previous one.

WIPO Python document retriever

Working on the sources for my MSc. Thesis I started to have a look to the patent finder of the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization). As it is the world database and the topic I am covering is quite globalised I think that it is the best IPR database to do the analysis. I need to do such an analysis of several searches on the Wipo database and I have not close the terms of the final search I have to do. So, I have to perform previous searches, analyze the number of records per year, applicant... and then decide if the terms are OK.

The point is that the way the records are retrieved is not useful enough. Thus I have written a Python script that retrieves the records that match the terms of search and stores them in a delimiter separated file. This file can be imported in a calc sheet and analyzed with the usual tools, or even exported to any database format to do advanced treatment of the information.

I put it in online under a Creative Commons license, as usual. I will update the code uploaded if I make further developments.

Here is a sample of what you would get if you execute:

C> wiposearchretrieve.py "Smartcard"

Query Params|Record Id.|Patent Code|Publication Date|Description|International Class|Application Number|Applicant Name|url|Abstract
SIM+Card|1|WO 2008/052205|02.05.2008|COMBINED ALGORITHMIC AND EDITORIAL-REVIEWED MOBILE CONTENT SEARCH RESULTS|G06Q 10/00|PCT/US2007/082754|JUMP TAP, INC.|http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/fetch.jsp?LANG=ENG&DBSELECT=PCT&SERVER_TYPE=19-10&SORT=41236014-KEY&TYPE_FIELD=256&IDB=0&IDOC=1451431&C=10&ELEMENT_SET=BASICHTML-ENG&RESULT=1&TOTAL=3280&START=1&DISP=500&FORM=SEP-0/HITNUM,B-ENG,DP,MC,AN,PA,ABSUM-ENG&SEARCH_IA=US2007082754&QUERY=%22SIM+Card%22|In embodiments of the present invention improved capabilities are described for reviewing mobile content to determine relevance such that presenting the reviewed content to a mobile communication facility may be based at least in part on the relevance. The reviewed content may be subject to an algorithmic review, an editorial review, or a combined algorithmic- editorial review. The reviewed content may be blacklisted and prevented from being presented, whitelisted and permitted to be presented to the mobile communication facility, or given a relevance score based at least in part on appropriateness of content. Portions of the reviewed content may be removed or replaced with appropriate content prior to presentation to the user.
SIM+Card|2|WO 2008/052100|02.05.2008|PORTABLE MULTIFUNCTION DEVICE, METHOD, AND GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE FOR ADJUSTING AN INSERTION POINT MARKER|G06F 3/048|PCT/US2007/082486|APPLE INC.|http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/fetch.jsp?LANG=ENG&DBSELECT=PCT&SERVER_TYPE=19-10&SORT=41236014-KEY&TYPE_FIELD=256&IDB=0&IDOC=1451325&C=10&ELEMENT_SET=BASICHTML-ENG&RESULT=2&TOTAL=3280&START=1&DISP=500&FORM=SEP-0/HITNUM,B-ENG,DP,MC,AN,PA,ABSUM-ENG&SEARCH_IA=US2007082486&QUERY=%22SIM+Card%22|In accordance with some embodiments, a computer-implemented method is performed at a portable electronic device with a touch screen display. The method includes: displaying graphics and an insertion marker at a first location in the graphics on the touch screen display; detecting a finger contact with the touch screen display; and in response to the detected finger contact, expanding the insertion marker from a first size to a second size on the touch screen display and expanding a portion of the graphics on the touch screen display from an original size to an expanded size. The method further includes detecting movement of the finger contact on the touch screen display and moving the expanded insertion marker in accordance with the detecte...
SIM+Card|3|WO 2008/051718|02.05.2008|METHOD, SYSTEM, AND GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE FOR MAKING CONFERENCE CALLS|H04M 1/247|PCT/US2007/080971|APPLE INC.|http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/fetch.jsp?LANG=ENG&DBSELECT=PCT&SERVER_TYPE=19-10&SORT=41236014-KEY&TYPE_FIELD=256&IDB=0&IDOC=1450639&C=10&ELEMENT_SET=BASICHTML-ENG&RESULT=3&TOTAL=3280&START=1&DISP=500&FORM=SEP-0/HITNUM,B-ENG,DP,MC,AN,PA,ABSUM-ENG&SEARCH_IA=US2007080971&QUERY=%22SIM+Card%22|A user interface for handling multiple calls includes displaying an image associated with a first party on a first call and an image associated with a second party on a second call. When one call is active and the other call is on hold, the image associated with the party that is on the active call is visually highlighted to make it more visually prominent relative to the other image. When both calls are joined into a conference call, both images are displayed adjacent to each other and neither is visually highlighted relative to the other.
...
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Sources of information

It is interesting to see how hard is to get the right sources for developing a rigorous work on any subject. Let's say that sources are half of the final result. Of course, the effort is not half, just like buying good bricks is not half of the effort of building a house, but a bad election of bricks would have dramatic consequences in the final result.

In my work regarding the knowledge production on the SIM technology, I have found some databases that would help in the retrieving of records related with the research. I have mainly found in the UPC library page. I have also checked in the UB and UOC library, as I have remote access for this libraries only, and almost them all are accessible from them.

Additionally I have started using del.icio.us, the fantastic online bookmarks manager. I am not a fan of bookmarks thus the elementary possibilities provided by firefox sufficed my needs, but now that I have to look for interesting and locatable sources in the Internet, it is a very powerful tool.

One of the problem of creating a knowledge database is the format. First I started with MSWord, the I switched to BibTex, and finally I did it in Excel. I will combine the use of Excel with Python scripts to be able to convert between this format and the others... let's see how it works ;-)

Master Thesis

Finally the time has come. I have started the final season of the MSc. and I must prepare the Master Thesis. I have published some posts on the topic but I have some news. First of all, I have changed the subject of study. My original idea was to make some study about Knowledge Management and the ways to audit it.
After a first conversation with my thesis adviser I agreed to work on a KM related topic: Technological transfer and knowledge transformation in the SIM world. The objective is to do a quantitative analysis on the present production of knowledge in the Out of the mobile communications by the SIM card as to find some trends and opportunities... here is the draft for the proposal, although I must work deeply in clarifying the purpose and final hypothesis...

Master Thesis

These days, thanks to the book for the Information for Research course, I've been thinking a lot on what topic to do the Master Thesis about, and although I'm pretty sure of the area, I have no idea on the topic. The main area is Knowledge Management, from an economic and results oriented approach, but the fine subject is not clear.

I've found some links to take ideas, and what is more important, previous research on the topic, but I'm not able to align it with the framework on KM of my company. I'm sure it has to have a practical point of view, and that one of the returns must be a way to turn tangible the outcomes of a KM program in a company. How to address this objective without leaving the rigorous and academic approach? This is one of the challenges of the present season work!

P.S: Why languages are so strange, thesis is a doctoral dissertation in spanish and a dissertation is a master thesis... fool's world!