We proposed a new search heuristic using the scuba diving metaphor. This approach is based on the concept of evolvability and tends to exploit neutrality in fitness landscape. Despite the fact that natural evolution does not directly select for evolvability, the basic idea behind the scuba search heuristic is to explicitly push the evolvability to increase. The search process switches between two phases: Conquest-of-the-Waters and Invasion-of-the-Land. A comparative study of the new algorithm and standard local search heuristics on the NKq-landscapes has shown advantage and limit of the scuba search. To enlighten qualitative differences between neutral search processes, the space is changed into a connected graph to visualize the pathways that the search is likely to follow.

Scuba Search : when selection meets innovation

Discovery Systems (DS) can be considered as entry points for global loosely coupled distributed systems. An efficient Discovery System in essence increases the performance, reliability and decision making capability of distributed systems. With the rapid increase in scale of distributed applications, existing solutions for discovery systems are fast becoming either obsolete or incapable of handling such complexity. They are particularly ineffective when handling service lifetimes and providing up-to-date information, poor at enabling dynamic service access and they can also impose unwanted restrictions on interfaces to widely available information repositories. In this paper we present essential the design characteristics, an implementation and a performance analysis for a discovery system capable of overcoming these deficiencies in large, globally distributed environments.

A Multi Interface Grid Discovery System

Nice to see they listened.

An article last Sunday on the potential impact of a world cyberwar misstated the main method of recent cyberattacks in Estonia. The method is known as distributed denial of service, not digital denial of service.

When Computers Attack

"A lot of people have preconceptions about talking to the security guy. When you're talking to a Paranoid, it has a different feel."

At Yahoo, it pays to be paranoid

In a follow-up to his now-legendary TED2006 presentation, Hans Rosling demonstrates how developing countries are pulling themselves out of poverty.

He shows us the next generation of his Trendalyzer software -- which analyzes and displays data in amazingly accessible ways, allowing people to see patterns previously hidden behind mountains of stats.

He also demos Dollar Street, a program that lets you peer in the windows of typical families worldwide living at different income levels. Be sure to watch straight through to the (literally) jaw-dropping finale.

I have to say it's not as impressive the second time around.

Hans Rosling's jaw-dropping demo

Cyberspace can be made safer from the chaos and crime that threaten to overwhelm it. But most recipes for security and order come at a very steep price: the loss of the Internet’s creative potency.

This is a rare HBR article that's freely available. But it's only free for a few more days -- until June 27. So get it now, save it, print it.

See also this interview with Zittrain:

In his June 2007 Harvard Business Review article, "Saving the Internet," Jonathan Zittrain describes a looming battle between the yin and yang -- the positive and negative forces -- that the Internet enables. Because of its simple, open design, the Internet is ideal for what Zittrain calls “generativity” -- the capacity of a system to welcome “unanticipated change through unfiltered contributions from broad and varied audiences.” Generativity is what makes the Internet a productive wellspring of innovation; but it also makes the Net vulnerable to spam, fraud, porn, predation, and increasingly severe and numerous attacks on the network infrastructure itself.

Saving the Internet

There is much to love about TiVo, but there is also much to hate and even fear about the vision of technology that it represents.

See also this video:

Jonathan Zittrain proposes a theory about what lies around the corner for the Internet, how to avoid it, and how to study and affect the future of the internet using the distributed power of the network itself, using privacy as a signal example.

See also this paper:

The generative capacity for unrelated and unaccredited audiences to build and distribute code and content through the Internet to its tens of millions of attached personal computers has ignited growth and innovation in information technology and has facilitated new creative endeavors.

It has also given rise to regulatory and entrepreneurial backlashes.

A further backlash among consumers is developing in response to security threats that exploit the openness of the Internet and of PCs to third-party contribution. A shift in consumer priorities from generativity to stability will compel undesirable responses from regulators and markets and, if unaddressed, could prove decisive in closing today’s open computing environments.

This article explains why PC openness is as important as network openness, as well as why today’s open network might give rise to unduly closed endpoints. It argues that the Internet is better conceptualized as a generative grid that includes both PCs and networks rather than as an open network indifferent to the configuration of its endpoints.

Applying this framework, the article explores ways -- some of them bound to be unpopular among advocates of an open Internet represented by uncompromising end-to-end neutrality -- in which the Internet can be made to satisfy genuine and pressing security concerns while retaining the most important generative aspects of today’s networked technology.

From a bit in Wired earlier this year:

Q: You really think the sky could be falling?

JZ: Yes. Though by the time it falls, it may seem perfectly normal. It’s entirely possible that the past 25 years will seem like an extended version of the infatuation we once had with CB radio, when we thought that it was the great new power to the people.

See also my post about CNA and the Hundred Years' War.

The Future of the Internet – And How to Stop It

John Schwartz can't spell DDOS, but there are some quotes here.

how bad would a cyberwar really be — especially when compared with the blood-and-guts genuine article? And is there really a chance it would happen at all?

Whatever the answer, governments are readying themselves for the Big One.

...

"I think cyberwarfare will be far more subtle ... it will be that we can’t trust information we’re looking at."

Consider the Hundred Years' War:

The Hundred Years' War was a time of military evolution. Weapons, tactics, army structure, and the societal meaning of war all changed, partly in response to the demands of the war, partly through advancement in technology, and partly through lessons that warfare taught.

When Computers Attack

It is increasingly common for online communities to rely on members rather than editors to contribute and moderate content. To motivate members to perform these tasks, some sites display social comparisons, information designed to show members how they compare to others in the system.

In this study, we investigate the effect of email newsletters that tell members of an online community that their contributions are above, below, or about average.

We find that these comparisons focus members’ energy on the system features we highlight, but do not increase overall interest in the site. We also find that men and women perceive the comparisons very differently.

Social Comparisons to Motivate Contributions to an Online Community

Many small online communities would benefit from increased diversity or activity in their membership. Some communities run the risk of dying out due to lack of participation. Others struggle to achieve the critical mass necessary for diverse and engaging conversation. But what tools are available to these communities to increase participation? Our goal in this research was to spark contributions to the movielens.org discussion forum, where only 2% of the members write posts. We developed personalized invitations, messages designed to entice users to visit or contribute to the forum. In two field experiments, we ask (1) if personalized invitations increase activity in a discussion forum, (2) how the choice of algorithm for intelligently choosing content to emphasize in the invitation affects participation, and (3) how the suggestion made to the user affects their willingness to act. We find that invitations lead to increased participation, as measured by levels of reading and posting. More surprisingly, we find that invitations emphasizing the social nature of the discussion forum increase user activity, while invitations emphasizing other details of the discussion are less successful.

Talk Amongst Yourselves: Inviting Users To Participate In Online Conversations