Monthly Archives: June 2015

R – the swiss army knife of the data scientist

R LogoThe video below, a talk by John D. Cook (via Flowingdata), is a very nice intro to R for the someone who wants to be a data scientist and have some notion or experience of programming. I have been beginning to look at R, but need a specific project to analyze in order to get into it. When learning a programming language (or any powerful tool, for that matter) it is important to get under the skin of it, to understand it to the point where you don’t look up the function or whatever in the manual because you intuitively know what it would be named, since you think like the developers. (I can’t claim any knowledge like that, except perhaps for IFPS (a defunct financial programming language), REXX (macro language for IBM mainframes), and Minitab (statistical package, rather marginalized now). Learning something to that level requires time and, most importantly, a need. We’ll see.

But it helps to have someone explain things, so I guess watching this video is not a waste of time. It wasn’t for me, anyway. And R certainly is the thing to learn, in this Big Data (whatever that may mean) world. (Though, as is said here, it was never designed for huge data sets. But huge data sets need models to work, and you build those on small data sets…)

Book review: Seveneves by Neal Stephenson

SevenevesSeveneves: A Novel
by Neal Stephenson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I like the premise – that the moon explodes and, inevitably, the debris will destroy the earth. Humanity decides to vastly expand the international space station to create the seeds (literally) for survival of most species. As with all Stephenson books the science part is believable and thoroughly worked out, but as with most Stephenson books, the characters are a bit woody and the descriptions a bit long. Better than Anathem, more fanciful than Reamde, but his best books remain Cryptonomicon and the Baroque Trilogy, in my opinion.

That being said, I gave this four stars because, well, there is an element of suspense, and I like the thoroughness of how he works through an idea.

View all my reviews

Update 30.6.15: Here is a podcast with Neal Stephenson discussing the book.

Strategic management – EMM program

Flyer Strategic Management

Update, July 1 2015: Unfortunately, this program did not get enough applicants, so the first instance of the course will not be until next year. This was partially because Norwegian students who were interested but ultimately chose the Norwegian version, and because the message hasn’t gotten to the expat community (which, I remain certain, is a significant market.) We’ll be back next year, with 1) a changed program, differentiating it from the traditional strategic management course and hence palatable to the Norwegian student, and 2) increase our marketing to the expats, particularly to HR managers trying to recruit foreigners and facing difficulties because, well, spouses need something useful to do. Such as getting a part-time degree.

See you next year!

As previously mentioned, BI has a very successful set of part-time programs that, if you take three of them, will confer the degree Executive Master of Management.

So far, this has been a program for Norwegian-speakers only (with one exception.) I have long been an advocate of more English-language programs at BI – and so I have (with my excellent colleague Alessandra Luzzi) created an EMM program called Strategic Management. You can read more about this program at BI’s web pages, but let me highlight a few points which I think sets it apart (aside from the centrality of its topic, of course):

  • The program has a cumulative structure, where the end result (i.e., the term paper) is gradually built in a managed process, borrowed from Ragnvald Sannes‘ and mine (actually, Ragnvald’s as far as the process is concerned) program Strategisk Forretningsutvikling og Innovasjon. This means that you as a student will write your term paper (a detailed strategic analysis and plan of a company you choose yourself) in portions towards each course module (there are five of them) as you add new methods to your quiver.
  • We will make use of some brilliant new teachers; The aforementioned Alessandra Luzzi (good on technology competition, innovation and intellectual property), Paulina Junni (strategic alliances and knowledge strategy) and Chandler Johnson (strategic decision making, decision analysis) as well as some old war horses, such as Øystein Fjeldstad (strategic business models, network strategy) and yours truly (whatever is left). Variety for all and a chance to interact with some really smart people. And me.
  • The program is in English – did I mention that? – which means that not only do you not have to know Norwegian (which we Norwegians for some reason seem to think is an important language), you also get to meet other people of the same ilk. Foreigners in Norway tend to be interesting in themselves…
  • We use the HBS Core Curriculum: Rather than base the course on a textbook (which we find a trifle boring and never can agree with on everything) we will be using the Harvard Business School’s Strategy Core Curriculum, which is very fresh indeed and present strategy with excellent examples and very up-to-date theories (as a matter of fact, about half the literature has not been written yet, but if the existing articles are anything to go by, it will be very interesting reading indeed.)
  • …and finally, we will do five modules instead of the usual six, and instead have some videoconference-based lectures, which means more flexibility for you (and fewer hotel nights if you are living outside of Oslo).

And with that – apply now while supplies last! Feel free to send me an email if you have questions, unless they are difficult and administrative in nature, in which case you should send them to Elisabeth Lund (who can also be reached at +47 464 10 073.

(Incidentally, if you feel inclined to share this post with others (particularly within the English-speaking expat community in Norway, I will not be offended or even demand royalties. Feel free to spam everyone you know…)

WWII deaths in graphics

This video by Neil Halloran shows how many people died in the second world war, and what has happened in the world since (in terms of war deaths.) It really makes an impression, and is well worth the 18 minutes.

The Fallen of World War II from Neil Halloran on Vimeo.

70 million people died during WWII, more or less (since the numbers, particularly on the Eastern front, are in dispute.) The video shows that most losses were suffered by the Soviet Union (the way the column grows and grows is heartbreaking, you just want it to stop) and China, that Poland had the most dead as a percentage of the population, that some individual incidents – massacres, battles, bombings – made for a surprisingly large portion of the dead. Stalingrad alone had more deaths than all wars since WWII combined.

The video has roughly the same message as Steven Pinker: That violence and war is on a downward trend, and that this is to be understood and appreciated. And, given these statistics, that giving the Nobel Peace Prize to the EU in 2012 perhaps wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

The Double from toy to tool

There is a lot of writing about how computers (in this case, referred to as “robots”) will take over the role of the teacher (as well as many other jobs) these days. I have my own robot, from Double Robotics, and it is gradually becoming a tool rather than a toy – and it allows me to extend my reach, rather than automate my job. Granted, so far it has mainly been used for experiments and demonstrations (below, a picture from a meeting of an ICT industry organisation in Norway) but better access and a few technology upgrades have made it much more reliable and gradually into something that is useful rather than just fun.

The practical issues with the Double have been numerous, but have largely been solved. Here they are:

  • The Double required a lot of manual intervention before I could use it – specifically, it was in my office, and the department administrator would have to unlock my office and unplug it to let it out. This was solved by acquiring a docking station and positioning the Double out in the public area of my department (next to the mailboxes, as it happens.) I was worried that someone would make away with it (or steal the iPad) but both are password protected and besides, the department requires an ID card to get in. This has also meant that other department members can use the Double – one colleague has severe allergies and has to go to his mountain cabin for several weeks in the spring every year, he used the Double to attend seminars.
  • The speaker and microphone did not work well. Out of the box, the Double uses the speaker and mike from the iPad. The speaker was too weak, and the iPad microphone picks up too much noise as well as conversations all around rather than what is in front of you. Initially, I solved the speaker problem by using a Bluetooth speaker, but it was on a separate charger and did not work very well. Double Robotics came up with an Audio Kit upgrade which largely has solved the problem – I can now generate enough clear sound that I can use the Double for lecturing, and the directional mike filters out some of the noise and ambient conversations to make communication much more natural.
  • Thirdly, the iPad will sometimes go offline because of interruptions, chiefly because of software updates. This means it will not be able to set up a connection, and needs a manual restart. This was fixed by running the Double app in a Guided Access mode (found under Settings>General>Accessibility>Guided Access), a way of setting the iPad to only run one app only, uninterrupted by software upgrades, messages and other distractions.
  • Fourth, the sound sometimes disappears on the iPad altogether. This may actually be a physical problem (it has been banged about a bit, and the metal part behind the sound buttons is a weak spot), but was fixed by allowing the physical sound controls to be run in Guided Access mode, and then asking whoever I was talking to to turn up the sound if necessary.
  • Fifth and last, the wi-fi connection drops for about 30 seconds every time I go from one wireless router to the next, which happens all the time in our large office building. I solved this by using the cell connection instead. It still has dead spots some places in the building (despite our telecom vendor, NetCom, being headquartered very close to us) but I am beginning to know where they are. It is also solvable by setting up a VLAN, something that requires cooperation from the IT department and which I haven’t gotten around to quite yet.

All in all, I am beginning to find the Double a useful tool. Next time I am invited to speak on TV, I’ll consider sending it down to the studio in a taxi, just to see the reaction. Like many digital solutions, true productivity does not come until everything is digital – for instance, i wanted to use the Double for an early meeting with students last week, but found I couldn’t do it because the door to the department would be locked and there was no way I could unlock it remotely. So I ended up going in for the FTF meeting anyway, even if it was the only thing I needed to be in the office for that day.

A second observation is that the Double elicits all kinds of thoughtful (and less thoughtful) comments from grown-ups, mainly along the lines of how surprisingly natural this is but how traditional face to face is better, alienation etc. etc. The younger element takes to it naturally – my cousin’s eight year old daughter, seeing her Dad in the Double, responded with a “Hi Dad” as the most natural thing in the world.

And thirdly – one obvious use of the Double would be to ship it to wherever I am supposed to be, so I can give a talk remotely. I gave a talk in Bordeaux two days ago. Bordeaux is complicated to get to from Oslo, and the trip ended up taking three days. I could have sent the Double, but a) I think my physical presence helped the talk, and b) the Double has a large lithium-ion battery, and you can’t ship those on airplanes. Consequently, the Double is a tool for making me stay in place while moving about, rather than the other way around.