KM Labs : Knowledge Management Technologies

The « Seamless Web » can be defined as the complex graph linking everything to everything in the universe through the time. So it is also a « system of systems » but the approach is different from the complex systems theory. As It links here without seam intentional and unintentional systems or processes. It is actually a more global approach than the complex systems theory, defining each system as a combination of structures, functions and evolution, but can be completed this way.

Technosphere and environment are here described through a « network actor model » (cf NAT (Network Actor Theory). We have to consider each element ubiquitous (chaotic reality). For instance, your keyboard or your mouse is part of your technosphere but they also exists in the global environment. The difference is a user centric point of view : if you can control your mouse or your keyboard (technosphere), then you can for instance use the internet environment. On the other way, the same reality can be either in or out of the technosphere depending on the position of the central actor.

As points out Timber Neslee, blogging about the Social Graph as does also Alex Iskold, who discusses social graphs and network theory (like network topology,) in general, “users want to own their own social graphs”. And “There is a "Social Network Portability" community. Its not the Social Network Sites that are interesting -- it is the Social Network itself. The Social Graph. The way I am connected, not the way my Web pages are connected.” (Timber Neslee)

« Social graph » is also the point of view of Mark Zuckerberg, creator of Facebook. He says « it is the whole relations of all the people in the world. There is only one and nobody owns it ».

So we could extend the concept of « Social Graph » to this concept of « Actor Graph », which is not also including Social Graph as the graph between Human Systems, but the graph between all things that would be linked in the real world, for example, Technology, Economy, Cultural an Natural Systems, …as these systems are all « Seamless » in the real world. It is a transdisciplinary world !

The Technosphere model is choosen because it considers the user (you, me, and everybody!) into Network-centric operations (NCO) model. This concept can trace its origins to 1996 when Admiral William Owens introduced the concept of a “system of systems” in a paper of the same name published by the Institute National Security Studies. But Technology as the “General Technology”, so not only the physical objects, but the cultural organisation also, - as technology - , is a new concept for NCO.

Human action shapes technology and technology determines human action. There is so an important challenge for the world society : the SCOT (Social Construction of Technology), and this is reflected each time people work together. So this model should help social-networks to shape their reality and the one of others.

In the Digital Earth framework, standards foundations are : domains, disciplines’content and applications. >We have so our Environments (domains) and the Technology (Disciplines, datas, Applications ...are functional structures !) The model is directed to and from physical technologies : the Net we normally use as short for Internet, is also moving towards the International Information Infrastructure (III). It is a natural evolution because the largest Technosphere we have is our Global Environment !

Digital Earth Framework 

It is not in the official news of the GEO (Group on Earth Observations), but the GEOSS Search Engine (GEOPORTAL) was launched ! 

Derived from ESA's Earth Observation Community Portal (EO Portal), this contribution will put the accent on remote sensing, geospatial-static and in-situ data, with web services information. You can for instance overlay satellite datas to Google Earth !

Another update about the Metaverse project : a workshop conference is organised at Stanford University this 15 february. Objectives : exploring the spectrum of technologies and applications identified in the Roadmap. Functions : augmentation to simulation; and intimate (identity-focused) to external (world-focused), Applications : lifelogging, augmented reality, mirror worlds and virtual worlds. It is not a Roadmap Summit, but rather a further exploration of the ideas, and a chance for people in the field to connect and converse, and to prepare a full Summit in 2009 or 2010.

Contributions to the GEOSS project (GEOSS : Global Earth Observation System of Systems) we already talked about here are being made by the IEEE who leads the effort in developping standards for the 4 core functions :

FUNCTIONS are the following :

- Observation

- Processing

- Storage

- Dissemination

The IEEE is also publishing 2 journals on Earth Observation : earthzine (since DEC 07) and next summer J-STARS (Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observation and Remote Sensing) .  This is Neogeography for Neogeographers !

It seems also the GEOSS search engine we previously talked about into this post has not been launched yet. Any update about this project would be welcome...

The United Nations system have published recently a web site dedicated to the Climate Change issue that explains this "important problem" and follows works and progress being done to tackle the global situation.

following the IEEE Committee on Earth Observation, a new search engine portal and dataclearinghouse for environmental datas, including  "not just datas from Earth-observing satellites, but also terrestrial sensors datas, population figures, and regional health and ecosystem information" should be launched next November with the GEOSS (Global Earth Observation Systems of Systems) program. This technology will benefit the entire community, creating a social geo referential, that looks a bit more advanced than the common Google Earth Mashups.

Digital Earth is a global initiative aimed at harnessing the world's data and information resources to develop a virtual 3-D model of the Earth in order to monitor, measure, and forecast natural and human activity on the planet. An International Journal of Digital Earth will be launched in January 2008.

Last July 29-31, the World Future Society convened its annual conference in Minneapolis:

WorldFuture 2007 :  The conference Summary can be found under the session summaries 

For the Recordings, some multimedia CD-ROM of all the conference sessions and presentation materials are available from IntelliQuest Media.

Nb : More conference coverage will appear in the November-December 2007 issue of THE FUTURIST magazine.

Worldfuture 2008: The 2008 Conference will be held in WASHINGTON, D.C. and will be focused on "learning to see the future through new eyes".  Chairing next year's conference will be Nat Irvin II, founder of FutureFocus 2020.

About the Future conditions : if you are already aware that climate change is a global and important problem, maybe read (in french) this excellent trimestrial letter from the french academy of sciences where this phenomen is greatly analysed and explained.

GEOSS : Global Earth Observation System of Systems
GEOSS is an international world-wide project. A 10 years strategy has been set up at the last Earth Observation Summit by the Group on Earth Observations, representing 61 countries and composed of numerous Geo-organizations.. See the interesting Tools, the next plan of Action and the GEONET Real Time Network

GMES : Global Monitoring for Environment and Security
it is a project from The European Commission and the European Spatial Agency (ESA) . See GMES Program and GMES Info . In GMES, GeoVille group within the ESA financed GSE Land project (geoland) has already developed environmental indicators regional development (see also the European Research page), particularly INSPIRE about EO (Earth Observation).

The IEEE is organizing this summer the IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium 2007 (IGRSS), from 23 to 27 July 2007 - Barcelona. Consult here the topic map and the list of invited sessions.

Interesting topics KM Lab has selected :

LA04. Agricultural Mapping and Monitoring
AS06. Remote Sensing using GPS
DP05. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Data Visualization

Interesting processes KM Lab has selected :

MC01. GEOSS Architecture and Data Management.
MC02. Integrated Earth Observations Systems for GEOSS
MC03. Space Agencies Missions and Technologies
MC04. Planetary Remote Sensing
MC05. Instruments and Programs: Terra, Aqua, ALOS, AMSR, Radarsat,
Aquarius/SAC-D, SMOS, TRMM, GPM, TerraSAR, ENVISAT...

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