This book deeply explores production-capable social media channels, based on thousands of hours of observation and extensive collection of statistical data, extracting hypotheses that may generalize to the real-world distributed manufacturing of the near future. Distributed manufacturing offers the promise of bringing jobs back to local communities, producing goods that are personalized or harmonize with distinctive cultures, and thereby reversing significant aspects of the globalization that has dominated in recent years. Large corporations may still have important roles to play, but in collaboration with local workshops, providing machinery, software, databases of designs, and communication media suitable for a diverse and dynamic workforce. For years, a set of computer simulation laboratories has flourished, in which millions of people have used virtual machines to produce a great variety of products: massively multiplayer online role-playing games. Their systems are highly diverse, complex, and provide information capable of serious social science analysis. This book deeply explores 30 of these production-capable social media, based on thousands of hours of observation and extensive collection of statistical data, extracting hypotheses that may generalize to the real-world distributed manufacturing of the near future. This book begins with an overview of this universe of online virtual worlds then demonstrates the principles of virtual manufacturing, modes of work-related communication, socio-economic structures and dynamics, and the function of artificial intelligence in these human-technology systems. It concludes with consideration of the large-scale technical and cultural variation illustrated both by individual examples and by the rather large industry in which they have long been successful.

This book combines academic theory with real world, practitioner success stories to provide executives a summary of current best practices. This book examines five virtual business strategies that are showing unprecedented opportunity. The Any Place, Any Time strategy focuses on providing high quality service 24/7 by ignoring traditional geographic challenges.

This book offers an in-depth analysis of how local community radio practitioners have embraced the digital revolution. Digital Innovations and the Production of Local Content in Community Radio contextualizes the UK model of community radio, before focussing on specific case studies to examine how the use of digital technologies has affected local radio production practices. The book offers an overview of the new technologies, media forms, and platforms in radio production, shedding light on how digitalization is impacting the routines and experiences of a predominantly volunteer-based workforce. The author presents the argument that despite the benefits of digital media, traditional aspects of programme production continue to be of vital importance to the interpersonal relationships and values of community radio. This book will appeal to academics and researchers in the areas of communication, culture, journalism studies, media, and creative industries.

In HOW ORGANIZATIONS CAN MAKE THE MOST OF ONLINE LEARNING, Dr. David Guralnick describes what organizations need to know about learning and technology in order to create a successful culture of growth and performance – today, tomorrow, and in the future. Online learning has the potential to change an organization’s culture and performance – if the organization employs technology in the right ways. In HOW ORGANIZATIONS CAN MAKE THE MOST OF ONLINE LEARNING, Dr. David Guralnick describes what organizations need to know about learning and technology in order to create a successful culture of growth and performance – today, tomorrow, and in the future. In this book, Dr. Guralnick describes the current world of online learning, lays out his vision of the future, and discusses how organizations can make the best use of technology to improve job performance, including how to best combine the work and skills of an organization’s internal team and outside consultants and vendors. Too much online learning today focuses on memorizing information. HOW ORGANIZATIONS CAN MAKE THE MOST OF ONLINE LEARNING shifts this paradigm to focus on learning key skills that are meaningful to an employee and relevant to their work. Organizations will learn how to create and deliver online learning and performance experiences that can take their employees’ performance to the next level.

Talent development is key to organizations keeping pace with the rapidly changing social and technological developments of today’s workplace. Companies are calling for talent that possesses a mastery of discipline and systems, combined with an ability to handle cross-functional, multicultural teams, projects, and assignments. Colleges and universities face challenges in preparing students across all the competency dimensions employers demand. The T-model configures academic and professional development in a way that allows institutions to provide students with a solid foundation, one built through rich academic and co-curricular experiences that allow them to grow and adapt to the evolving workplace. The T-model comprises five key elements: mastery of academic discipline, system understanding (systems thinking), boundary spanning competencies, interdisciplinary understanding, and a strong sense of self (the ME of the T). In this volume, readers are introduced to the dynamics of the workplace that generate the need for T-professionals, followed by discussion of each of the five key elements of the T-model. Readers are then introduced to and shown how representatives from different segments of higher education infuse the T-model across the curriculum. The book’s final section offers insights from industry professionals on the necessity to grow as a T, once a new graduate enters the workforce.

In this book, experts from industry and academia explore these trends and discuss how innovative companies are leveraging Artificial Intelligence and intelligent tools to make the workforce more inclusive, and enhance and augment the human worker rather than replace it. Jobs, and nature of work as we know it, are changing rapidly. As companies become more "digital," employees need to be empowered to become more innovative. Disruptive changes to work behaviors and business models will have a profound impact on the nature of work and worker. In many industries and countries, the most in-demand occupations, specialties, and skills did not exist ten or even five years ago, and the pace of change is set to accelerate. This will have a tremendous impact on how the workforce of the future acquires and applies new skills, and how companies organize work to stay nimble and competitive. In this book, experts from industry and academia explore these trends and discuss how innovative companies are leveraging Artificial Intelligence and intelligent tools to make the workforce more inclusive, and enhance and augment the human worker rather than replace it.

Volume II of this series discusses the technology used to implement a big data analysis capability within a service-oriented organization. It discusses the technical architecture necessary to implement a big data analysis capability, some issues and challenges in big data analysis and utilization that an organization will face, and how to capture value from it. It will help readers understand what technology is required for a basic capability and what the expected benefits are from establishing a big data capability within their organization.

This is a book for anyone intrigued by the complexities of digital leadership that require a capability to constantly balance the routines of everyday business with the ability to innovate. Finding the appropriate mix between the dichotomy stability—flexibility has been a delicate task that few, if any, corporations have properly managed to overcome. Why is that? This conundrum becomes acute as businesses embark on digital transformations, an often-painful venture highlighting the deficiencies of traditional management styles but also agile methodologies. They deliver results that are far below initial expectations, provide half-baked digital solutions where potential commercial gains are poorly captured and leveraged, and, far too often, not even identified. Mismatches between technologies, the man-machine (dis)connect, or organizational dysfunctionality are typically identified as root causes, but beneath them lurks a more scathing problem: an inadequate leadership. This inadequacy rests on a lack of holistic insights backed by well-rounded skills and sets of knowledge that are required to understand all aspects of a digital transformation, as well as its participants from employees to customers. Thus, what is needed is a modern take of the Renaissance Man.

This edited collection brings together some leading exponents of CI around the world and critically evaluates their experiences.

Knowledge and Technology Integration in Production and Services presents novel application scenarios for balanced distributed and integrated systems based on knowledge and up-to-date technology and provides a great opportunity for discussion of concepts, models, methodologies, technological developments, case studies, new research ideas, and other results among specialists. It comprises the proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Information Technology for BALANCED AUTOMATION SYSTEMS in Manufacturing and Services (BASYS'02), which was sponsored by the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) and held in September 2002 in Cancun, Mexico.