Lecture # 4 (Part 1) - When Making Database of Public Information available to the Public Can Be Bad

Lecture # 4 -
When Making Database of Public Information available to the Public Can Be Bad

Question 1:

Let’s separate the two issues. First, law enforcement agencies frequently publish the location of red-light camera programs and speed traps. Should that published information be made available through an app to help drivers avoid getting a ticket? Why or why not ?

In my opinion, there is nothing wrong for the law enforcement agencies frequently publish the location of red-light camera programs and speed traps through an app.  By doing so, the road users are more alert when passing by specific areas and eventually reduce the speed or obeying to the traffic rules and hence reduce of the road accident rate.

The ultimate purpose of the law enforcement agencies is to create awareness and educate among the road users to obey the traffic rules but not with the intention of catching as many as possible for those offended the traffic rules as their key performance index.

The key issue is not confined to “should’ or “should not” but is  to resolve the problems in the most effective way.

Question 2:

Second, let’s consider location information for DUI checkpoints. If law enforcement agencies publish this information, is it okay to have an app for drivers? Why and why not ?

What is DUI ?

Driving under the influence (DUI), is a crime when driving a motor vehicle with blood levels of alcohol in excess of a legal limit.

Yes. There is no issue of publish the information of the DUI checkpoints using an app drivers. If the information is published by the law enforcement agencies, it indicates that the information is meant to be shared among the public. Hence, it does not matter to have an app because an app for drivers is just a medium to share the information.

If law enforcement agencies do not publish DUI checkpoint information, is it okay to have an app that alerts drivers to those locations? Why or why not ?

In my opinion, so long as it is not prohibited under the law, it is still okay to have an app that alerts drivers to those locations. This is because the purpose of alerts is to remind the drivers not to drive any vehicles when they are under any drugs influence.

Question 3:

Many people believe that drivers should not use a smartphone at all. Even for making phone calls, while operating a vehicle. What kind of potential danger does this added distraction create? How often do you drive and use your phone ? For what purpose you use your phone ?

The potential danger is that the driver may be not focusing in driving and it will cause road accident. I seldom use my phone while driving. The only purpose I am using the phone while driving is the function of Global Positioning System (GPS).

Question 4:

Isn’t the sharing of information, such as the location of a DUI checkpoint, protected freedom of speech by the Constitution? Can the government rally create laws to prohibit this? On the other hand, is it ethical for drivers to share this type of information so that a drunk driver can avoid being caught ?

Yes. Sharing of information such as the location of a DUI checkpoint is protected freedom of speech by the Constitution. The government has no rights to create any law to prohibit this due to the rights are protected by the Constitution.

 It must be clear that sharing of information is nothing wrong in terms of legal and constitutional aspect. The only issue is whether one will make proper use of the information or one will be abusing the rights and misuse the information.

For example, there is always a risk when driving a car on a road because there might be car accident happening. It is very inappropriate for the government to pass a law to prohibit the public from driving on the roads due the high accidents rate in the country. The main solution for the problem is not to prohibit the public to drive but to educate the public how to drive carefully.

In short, it is not ethical for drivers to share this type of information so that a drunk driver can avoid being caught but it is legal to share that type of information.

Lecture # 4 (Part 2) - When Making a Database of Private and Company-Strategic Information Available to the Public Can Be Good

Lecture # 4 -  When Making a Database of Private and Company-Strategic Information Available to the Public Can Be Good

Question 1: What is your first reaction to Glaxo’s approach to finding a cure for malaria? Is it a legitimate initiative or simply a smoke-and-mirrors marketing ploy to get the public to believe that it cares about so-called neglected diseases in third-world countries?

Glaxo’s approach is a very intelligent way to collect information from huge population. By tapping the minds of many, it creates value to the company and society. And people are passionate about being in the community, so will willingly contribute. Although it looks like being “exploited” by the company, but if it is used in a proper way to benefits the community in the end, I find that it is a good approach.

I think it is legitimate because it was very transparent so people already would be able to self-govern and be accountable to one another.  The only risk that may arise is the intellectual property rights and which party should have ownership of the resulting content built. Company can have a contract with participants which gives IP rights to the company, or in some contracts, certain users can retain IP rights. So as long as everybody is doing what is right and have structures for shared contribution, the risk will be reduced. However, there could be company exploiting this method to steal people’s idea without respecting the IP rights. Therefore, challenges still exist as there were lacking of laws to protect and distributing ownership of ideas of users. Thus legal risk do exists.

Question 2: What role could a social media tool like Facebook play in supporting this initiative? What information could Glaxo and the volunteer researchers share on Facebook to speed up the process of finding a cure for malaria?

Social media serve as a tool for business to engage consumers, fans and followers, encouraging a two-way conversation, that speed up the information exchange process. Facebook has been used widely by everyone around the world, and consumer have time and desire to be involved on a much deeper level in Facebook. The collective, thoughtful engagement in Facebook generates powerful results as it is where the consumers contribute their input or ideas in Facebook. It helps to connect your customer, and obtaining valuable feedback from them. Facebook can pass the messages to an abundant amount of crowd, at anywhere and anytime, without cost.

Glaxo can share in Facebook, the 13500 compounds that may be capable of inhibiting the parasite that causes malaria. Glaxo can showcase previous trial research and other relevant information about malaria. Researchers from all over the world can also use Glaxo’s intellectual property to move through the tedious and long trial-and-error process in search of the cure for malaria.

Question 3: Search the Web and find at least two sites at which you can participate in “saving the world” through some sort of crowdsourcing initiative. What sites did you find? Who sponsors the sites? What is the “save the world” focus?

Crowdsourcing is the practice of harnessing collaboration--internally or externally--to solve problems, attain innovation, and efficiency on many different levels across various industries.

·         https://www.khanacademy.org/

Khan Academy is a non-profit organization founded by educational entrepreneur Salman Khan and has its mission to provide a world-class education to anyone for free. It is relying on volunteers to subtitle into the widely spoken languages of the world Khan Academy's substantial collection of educational videos on subjects ranging from math to art history.

·         http://seeclickfix.com/

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SeeClickFix is a web tool that allows citizens to report non-emergency neighborhood issues, which are communicated to local government, as a form of community activism. It has an associated free mobile phone application. The site allows for anonymity of reporting as a way to encourage more people to report issues, hoping for transparency that keeps civic agencies accountable. Ben Berkowitz, one of the founders, says that what sets SeeClickFix apart from other hyperlocal sites is that it can foster interaction among government, news media and residents. The site aims not only to hold government accountable, but to facilitate community volunteering. The tool has also been made into an iPhone App, which combines GPS tracking and the iPhone's built-in camera to allow users to report issues from their mobile phones. The site contains a widget generator that provides code for creating customized displays to embed on external sites. The text widget displays a list of reported issues within the defined area, and the map widget displays them spatially using Google Maps software.

Question 4: What role can analytics play in facilitating this type of research? What “intelligence” would be important to capture and share with everyone? What sort of information regarding the 13,500 available compounds could be displayed in a digital dashboard?

Analytics is the science of fact-based decision making. Analytics is a growing field of study, research, and career opportunities that focuses on the integrated of technology tool and statistical techniques to create real-time, high-quality, fact-based business intelligence in support of decision making. Business intelligence is the component of overall field of analytics. The collective information from business intelligence will become the input for analytics to analyse various relationship within the information, and in the end generate accurate findings that help us to make decision.

In Glaxo’s research, analytics is very important, because the volunteers will provide information about their past experience, or knowledge on which compound may be possible to cure malaria. After gathering all information from all volunteers, we need to perform information processing. Then, online analytical processing can be done to manipulating the information to support decision making.

In this research for example, the intelligence is “what new drugs can be used to kill the malaria bacteria”, “which compound is most effective to kill the malaria bacteria”, “what compound can serve as secondary cure for malaria disease”, etc.

Information that can be displayed in digital dashboard include the CA number for each chemical compound, different type mixture compound, dosage of compound used, concentration of chemical used, reaction time, the method, the compound characteristic/ description, lab result, date of trial, customer contact, etc.