Link Collection — August 5, 2012

• The Perils of Highly Interconnected Systems – Technology Review

  Totally agree with this statement: “The key thriving in an increasingly complex world is to develop a nuanced, stable theory of interoperability.”

  We need to switch our thinking to systems-of-systems, in which information flow, interoperability, change, systemic implications and dot-connecting are key.

  But, as the commenters say, I’m not sure I could make my way through the book either… 

  tags: systems systemsofsystems interop

• Big Data Presents Oppurtunities and Costs – The CIO Report – WSJ

  Agreed: data is inherently messy

  “But because Big Data requires companies to accumulate increasing amounts of data, even free software like Hadoop is causing companies to spend more money. According to Rubin, whose clients include several of the world’s largest banks, many CIOs believe data is inexpensive because storage has become inexpensive. But data is inherently messy – it can be wrong, it can be duplicative, and it can be irrelevant – which means it requires handling, which is where the real expenses come in. “The cost of more data is the application and the computing power and the processes to reconcile all these things,” Rubin said.”

  tags: bigdata cio wsj rubin

• Why Procrastination is Good for You | Science & Nature | Smithsonian Magazine

  “Much recent research about decisions helps us understand what we should do or how we should do it, but it says little about when,” he says.

  In his new book, Wait: The Art and Science of Delay, Partnoy claims that when faced with a decision, we should assess how long we have to make it, and then wait until the last possible moment to do so.

  tags: procrastination delay

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.