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Digital Infrastructure

Technology is all around us. But what physical and digital structures actually make up this infrastructure? Furthermore, what sort of implications does the management and control of digital infrastructure have on society and the economy at large?

Hunting big game in commercial space

There’s no question that the space industry is undergoing drastic change, but how do you create the proper incentives for success with so many interdependent business models within the space sector? Professor Matt Weinzierl offers his advice using the classic game theory model the “stag hunt.”

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Distance still matters despite the internet

The internet makes distance less a problem for conducting business, but geography still matters in the digital age. Professor Shane Greenstein explains why.

Disappearing interfaces

Quartz’s Zach Seward takes a look at the interfaces we use to consume information and communicate with technology and remarks that as our familiarity with technology changes over time, so too does the form that technology takes. What shapes will digital (and physical) interfaces take in the future? That is the question.

Intel Inside or on the Outside? Exploring the impact of artificial intelligence on the supply and design of processor chips

As customer demand for greater computing power and product customizations grows, Intel must ask itself, “What is the future the computing supply chain?” and find a way to stay relevant as microprocessors gain further dominance.

The IT transformation healthcare needs

As tempting as it is to think only of the shiny, exciting advancements that technology provides (here’s looking at you, AI), the reality is that most organizations are in need of more basic digital transformation. Nowhere is this truer than in the healthcare industry, where IT systems that support process improvement and innovation are hard to come by. This article from the Harvard Business Review makes the case for importance of IT management and data interoperability within healthcare and argues that such investments can both lower costs and improve quality.

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Chris Forman on internet adoption and knowledge diffusion

On December 13th, 2017 the Digital Seminar series hosted Chris Forman from the Dyson School of Applied Economics & Management at Cornell University.

The truth about blockchain

Despite its centrality to the functioning of society, the technology that governs contracts, transactions, and record keeping has not kept up with the digital transformation of the economy. Blockchain, however, has the potential to change all that – that is, if it can overcome multiple barriers to adoption. In this article for HBR, DI professors Marco Iansiti and Karim Lakhani share what it would really take for blockchain to become the revolutionary technology everyone hopes it will be.

Political Theater and the Ascent of AdTech

Adtech is broken. This is the central tenant of founding director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism Emily Bell’s view on the state of journalism today. With the worrying rise of the role of online advertising in political machinations, Bell argues those in the adtech know have been at best unaware and at worst complicit in failing to raise the alarm about the implications of these powerful technologies. What role do advertisers and brands have to play in developing a healthy democracy? It turns out quite a lot.

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Marc Rysman on network formation and world air services agreements

On September 27th, 2017 the Digital Seminar series hosted Marc Rysman from Boston University. Marc gave a talk called “A Structural Model of Network Formation: World Air Services Agreements.”

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Countering the Proliferation of Malware

Governments have turned to export controls to block the international transfer of malicious software and limit its harmful effects. However, these export controls are failing to check the spread of malware for a variety of reasons. This proposal from the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs highlights 10 recommendations for things states could be doing to address the spread of malicious software instead.

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