Improving the effectiveness of information

Let’s continue our exploration of the contextual intelligence domain and see how simple things in our everyday life could potentially be affected by this development. Our goal in this blog series is to design a context-sensitive, smart Nespresso Machine that can provide us with exactly the right cup of coffee at the right time and that can support us in performing simple maintenance activities. In my previous post we looked at the variables of preparing a cup of coffee with a Nespresso Machine: Brewing ratio: ristretto, espresso or lungo Additions: sugar / sweets, coffee milk / coffee milk powder, steamed / frothed milk Flavor Intensity Other important aspects like temperature and pressure were left out of the list, because they cannot be influenced with a setting on the machine. Relevant Context Variables So, what are the relevant context variables that influence our choice of coffee. In my opinion all of these variables can influence our choice: Taste Flavor / sm

In one of my posts, about a month ago - I complained about the fact that my new Nespresso coffee machine was not able to assist me in performing simple coffee making tasks. The manual - of which the author probably has heard of minimalism but never actually read Carroll's books - didn't help much. These are the primary tasks of the machine: Preparing for first use Adjusting the water level Preparing coffee Emptying the system Resetting to factory defaults Setting the energy saving mode Descaling the machine Cleaning the machine Troubleshooting As exciting as all these tasks may be, there is only one that is really influenced by the context: Preparing coffee . Let's zoom in on this task and see how we can optimize our coffee making experience. The variables of a cup of coffee Assuming we use the Nespresso machine to prepare a cup of coffee, we can identify the following variables: Brewing ratio: ristretto, espresso or lungo Additions: sugar / sweets, cof

I have bought a new coffee machine this weekend. Not that the old machine stopped working, I just didn’t like its coffee anymore. The old coffee machine was one of those Senseo machines, very cool 10 years ago, but not really living up to the expectations when it came to the quality of the coffee. Plus that you really needed to apologize up front to visitors for having such an example of ancient technology in your kitchen. But then the new machine: it is cool, it is white, it is small and it makes excellent coffee. Even better: by buying it I became a member of an exclusive society of coffee enjoyers, amongst who George Clooney is probably the best known. So with high anticipation I unpacked the machine. First came the exclusive black menu card holder, containing a menu card with an overview of all the special flavors that were now within my reach and an invitation to become a member of this exclusive coffee drinkers club. Next came the starters set with 16 exclusive coffee cups

Contextual intelligence is the practical application of knowledge and information to real-world situations. This is an external, interactive process that involves both adapting to and modifying an environment to accomplish a desired goal; as well as recognizing when adaptation is not a viable option. This is the ability that is most closely associated with wisdom and practical knowledge. It is the best predictor of success in real-life performance situations.” Charlie Brown PhD ( http://headinthegame.net ) It is inevitable that enterprises need to become more intelligent as they are facing increasing complexity, global competition, severe cost pressure, demanding stakeholders, constant change and uncertainty. An intelligent enterprise is social, high performing and future-resistant at the same time. To reach such a status, in my opinion enterprises need to  be able to systematically adapt knowledge, input from smart devices and data. The Internet of Things Current developme

The new Healthkit app and the improved Siri in combination with HomeKit - introduced in the new Apple iOS 8 - are two perfect examples of how contextual intelligence enters our daily lifes. Although Healthkit seems to be focusing on monitoring, making it possible to share this data with your doctor, the next step could be that your phone advices you to go on a diet (or even tells you what to eat) or go to the hospital. Siri in combination with HomeKit is also interesting. If you tell Siri (your phone) that you go to sleep, the HomeKit system is able to switch off heatings, dim the lights and lock your doors. What I would find interesting to see is what happens if you add more context data to this system, like data from a video surveillance system in front of your door, or location data provided by your phone. Combine these with dynamic rules and you could have doors that automatically unlock in front of you and lights that follow you through your house (when it is dark). I have f

We’re at the final episode in this blog series about writing effective articles.  In this series of blog posts I have explored the criteria for a successful article, providing you some best practices, lessons learned and examples from my own work.  The recipe for an effective article So what is the recipe for an effective article? For those of you that just jump in, I would recommend going back to the first blog post. For those of you who have followed me all the way through, let’s summarize it: Start with the definition of your goal: What do you want to achieve with your article? Add to it a clear definition of your audience: Who are you writing for? Now – while keeping an eye on goal and audience – make a sketch of your story: What should the high level structure of your article look like. Detail the building blocks of your story and place them in the high level structure Gather the information you need for your article – in a raw form - and start placing it in the build

As a writer I am always eager to get my articles published. Unfortunately – like with all processes – speeding up things often has a negative effect on the end quality of your product. Taking the time for a serious QA step, pays of in a more effective article. There are two processes that you can use to improve the quality of your article: Review process Pre-test process In an ideal situation you do them both. Get reviewed Although most of us are excellent writers, capable of delivering the message to an audience, it is always a good idea to set up a review process for your article before you post it on your blog or send it in to a magazine. A review process in an ideal world consists of two activities: A peer review by someone who knows the topic: technology, method or issue; A grammar & style review by a trained editor. For the peer review it is important to always provide the goal and audience definition to the reviewers, so they know what you are aimin

Until now we have in this series of blogs about writing effective articles focused on the preparing steps before the actual writing. In this post we have finally reached the point where we have been waiting for: the actual writing of our article. So sharpen your pencils and your wits, put that empty sheet of paper on your desk and start writing. Your sheet is already half filled If you have followed the steps described in my previous posts, your sheets is actually already half full. You know your goal and audience and you have created that overall structure of your article, right? Then it is simply a matter of copying that overall structure into your empty page and you have the outline for your article, including the main topics and subparagraphs. A strong article has a strong opening Get your readers involved from the moment that they start reading: your introduction is the key to the overall success of your article. Make sure that the introduction offers a strong statement,

In the previous episodes of this blog about writing effective articles, we have looked at two things: Defining your goal Defining your target audience Now that we have a clear vision of our goal and know for who we are writing this article, the next step is to create a conceptual model of the article. It is like creating the blueprint for your new home: starting as a sketch and in a number of increments it gets more and more detailed until you have reached the point that you can start decorating the house. Creating the overall plan for your article During my study in Linguistic competence, I learned to represent the structure of my text in an hierarchy. While this may work for informative articles, this is in my opinion not the best approach for goal-driven articles. For a goal-driven article the overall structure should in my opinion look like a process: a serial structure of steps leading towards a conclusion.  In this first rough sketch of your article, you start to define t

In the previous blog posts, we have talked about the criteria for effective articles and how important it is to set a goal before you start. Now suppose you have decided to write an article about new technology that enables organizations to perform better and make more profit. The goal of your article is to persuade the reader to come to one of the conferences where your company demonstrates this new technology. Would you be interested to hear what your neighbor – a software engineer – thinks of this article? Or the gardener? Or your kids? The audience is part of the goal Aim at a specific audience and define them If you write an article that is supposed to generate new opportunities for your organizations, you are typically aiming at decision makers within a specific industry. So while your neighbor – the software developer – can find your article too shallow and lacking the technical details he is looking for, your targeted audience of decision makers could possible find it

How to write effective articles? We can’t possibly answer that question if we don’t specify what we want to achieve. As mentioned in my previous post,  if you simply write an article because you feel the urge to do so, you will at best amuse your audience with an intriguing story. But to be effective, you need to know what you want to achieve. A goal-driven approach to writing Writing articles is – or at least should be - a goal-driven activity. You are trying to achieve ‘something’ with your audience and that something is not passive reading. An effective article is in my opinion an article that persuades the reader: • to perform an action • to change his or her opinion • to share your ideas with others If you look back upon the articles that you have read, which ones would you still consider to be worth reading? Exactly: the ones that changed your opinion on a topic, that helped you in your work or that motivated you to discuss the topic with others. So simply providing inform

I am a writer. I have been all my life and I wouldn’t know what to do if I would ever lose this talent. I have been writing about many topics: from welding procedures and high tech greenhouse technology to  software implementations and the use of semantic technology.  Apart from the writing I enjoy digging into these topics and finding out how things really work and what the benefits are of these new technologies or approaches. But is a talent for writing in combination with an interesting topic enough to form the basis for a successful and effective article? Or do we need more? In this series of blog posts I will explore the criteria for a successful article, not necessarily providing you with a fix set of rules but rather focusing on best practices, lessons learned and examples from my own work. On the cover of a magazine One example from my own work. In 2008 I wrote an article called “The Flexible Intranet” about using semantic technology to create smarter Intranet sites. Ho

As mentioned in my previous post, my carreer at Be Informed ended a couple of weeks ago, offering me the opportunity to rethink my professional goals and ambitions. As a result I made the decision that being a product marketer - focused on 'pushing' a product - was not the way to go for me. I would rather work again as a business consultant, closer to the business and working with a customer - really helping a customer - to improve a company's agility, efficiency and results. In Accenture I have found an employer that offers me the opportunity to use my > 15 years of experience with enabling performance improvements for organizations in interesting national and international projects for renowned customers. It will give me the great opportunity to develop myself further as an expert in translating complex organizational goals and processes to clear and innovative ICT solutions and making knowledge applicable. In this blog I will continu to describe my ideas and

The last three years I worked as a (senior) business consultant and information architect at software company Be Informed in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands. We worked on an amazing product, a ground breaking model-driven business process platform. And my job was to explain the possibilities of this platform to various audiences. The Be Free program, which I launched in September 2013 was a marketing campaign that targeted on making a wider group of people familiar with the product. The campaign was a great success and I had the feeling that I was really helping people in proving their ideas to their customers and managers. But the interaction was on-line and from a distance, never close enough to really understand their business goals and issues.  The sudden end of my contract with Be Informed, forced me to rethink my professional goals and ambitions. What do I really want? Do I want to be a product marketer, focused on 'pushing' a product? Or do I want to be a business cons