New Research Project Studies CI in the Age of Social Computing

2013-10-07 10:19 CEST
Source: http://blogg.sh.se/cibas/press-release-october-7/

A new three-year research project at Södertörn University in Stockholm aims to study how the competitive intelligence (CI) and business analytics (BA) industries can meet challenges, and utilize possibilities, linked to social computing. The project is a collaboration between the Department of Media Technology at Södertörn University and leading companies from the CIBA industry. The project, Competitive Intelligence and Business Analytics: Social Computing for the Knowledge-intensive enterprise (CIBAS), is co-funded by research financier The Knowledge Foundation and the participating companies with a total budget of around SEK 6.5mn.

A growing number of organizations increasingly rely on informal social structures and individual decision making as a means to increase innovation and productivity. The project intends to investigate what types of CIBA tools and services that will be required for these so-called social enterprises. This includes important practices such as information retrieval and diffusion, content creation and publishing, and collaboration. A point of departure for the research project is that we believe that the role of analytics for the new social software platform must follow the rules and exploit the possibilities of web 2.0 technology. In particular, it is essential that the analytics solutions are easy-to-use for both causal users and experts, and that they can take advantage of the vast amount of available heterogeneous data that is created by new practices.

The CIBAS project will include a future analysis study based on interviews with industry and research expert, an interaction design study that will investigate how usage of CIBA tools designed for social enterprises can improve existing solutions, and an information architecture study that will result in a library of IA design patterns for analytics tools of social enterprises. The project started in January 2013 but the fall of 2013 marks a new phase with activities and resources that are open also to external parties. These activities include a series of seminars and workshops in Stockholm and a blog that will provide updates about the project as well as the CIBA industries and related academic fields. Two conferences in 2014 and 2015 are also planned as part of the project.

The participating companies M-Brain Group, Comintelli, and Glykol together bring more than 60 years of industry experience and an international network of specialists to the project. The companies will also provide state-of-the-art solutions for information gathering and handling to maximize the creation of knowledge.

– We welcome a forward-looking project that will offer an in-depth study of issues that already impact many parties and are becoming increasingly important. Support from the Knowledge Foundation (KK-stiftelsen) and participating businesses reflects the credibility of our researchers and enables Södertörn University to strengthen its position in a new and exciting field of research, says Minna Räsänen, head of The School of Natural Sciences, Technology and Environmental Studies at Södertörn University.

– M-Brain is delighted to be able to make a contribution to the active exchange of knowledge between researchers and leading businesses. As a knowledge-intensive business we place great value in working closely with the university, which can function as a creative meeting place for stakeholders from different industries and fields of research, says Johan Hammarlund, Project Manager, M-Brain.

M-Brain Group is a leading European competitive intelligence company with offices in 7 countries. We monitor and analyze social and editorial media online as well as traditional printed media and radio and television. We build our innovative services and solutions on global data coverage, strong technology and human intellect with 300 analysts worldwide that add intelligence and value to our customers by providing them with insightful reports and analyses based on information from over 30 languages.

Comintelli® is a leading provider of information access software, with solutions for Knowledge Management and Competitive Intelligence. Comintelli’s mission is to create order in information chaos by filtering information according to users’ specific needs. Founded in 1999 and with extensive industry experience, Comintelli continues to respond to customers’ needs, developing flexible systems that save both time and money.

Glykol AB develops conceptual IT and information services. Our customers want to learn in a rapid phase and need constant information with a high degree of relevance. Our mission is to deliver technology and information to the learning organization. We have given strategic advantage to political parties, Swedish government and influential industry actors since 2002.

The Department of Media Technology at Södertörn University performs research in co-creative media systems and the CIBA area that will be further strengthened by this research and the contacts with the CIBA industries. The Department of MI is responsible for teaching related to CIBA in web-based information systems, information architecture and other media technology courses. Currently, the Department of MI is strengthening their profile in the areas of CIBA, data journalism, information visualization and information architecture. This project is an important integral part of such an educational and research effort.

Contact:
Lars Degerstedt (Senior Lecturer, Södertörn University)
CIBAS project leader
Email: lars.degerstedt@sh.se
Phone: +46 70 495 49 04
web: www.sh.se

Johan Hammarlund (Project Manager, M-Brain)
Email: johan.hammarlund@m-brain.com
Phone: +46 8 55608800, +46 70 4329262
Web: www.m-brain.com

Jesper Martell (CEO, Comintelli)
Email: jesper.martell@comintelli.com.loopiadns.com
Phone: +46 8 6637 600
Web: www.comintelli.com

Peder Söderlind (Owner, Glykol)
Email: peder@glykol.com
Phone: +46(0)8 641 37 10, +46 (0) 733 60 10 40
Web: www.glykol.com