The Zygomatica.com web site has now been launched. In brief: Zygomatica.com is a demonstrator for thinking differently.
Please see Who we are to see what the team is about. This blog is bilingual in Finnish and English, depending on the subject matter. Materiaali on joko englanniksi tai suomeksi, aiheesta riippuen.
The group has four general interest areas. Blog postings will made quasi-randomly, whenever any member has anything interesting to say (or anything in general). When a question becomes particularly interesting, we may launch a collaborative project around it, inviting others to join. We have four interest areas. One blog posting has already been written for each area.
- Creativity. The light side of Zygomatica. These are the “problems in search of a solution” of the title. Any projects in this area will be quick and short. First blog posting: Catapult camera. We present an example of a solution which did not find a problem.
- Transparency. The use of open information in interesting new ways. We prefer concrete examples, but will philosophize when the urge strikes. First blog posting: Weathercaching: Let’s enhance geocaching so that you get more points for finding a cache in really horrible weather. We combined an interest in geocaching with an interest in open weather data. The results were not entirely successful.
- Opacity. Addresses our value “anything can be a source of information, if properly interpreted”. These will mostly be case studies on how to mine out information from sources which look opaque. Blog posting: “Onko Google ainoa järkevä suomenkielinen hakukone / Is Google the only useful Finnish search engine?” Yritämme selvittää, johtuuko Googlen 98%:n markkinaosuus siitä, että se olisi hakukoneena valtavasti parempi kuin muut. Pikatutkimuksemme löytää jotain hypoteeseja, mutta lähinnä nostaa esiin jatkokysymyksiä ja -tutkimuksen aiheita. Ennen muuta esitämme kysymyksen, pitäisikö yhden yhtiön monopoliasemasta olla huolissaan. ////////////////// We study whether Google’s 98% share in Finnish search is justified by a uniquely high search quality. Our quick study develops some hypotheses, but mostly raises issues for further study. Above all we ask whether a 98% monopoly by a single company should be cause for national concern.
- Security. The serious side of Zygomatica. Security is a complex issue that benefits from unconventional thinking. First blog posting / kirjoitus: Laivaonnettomuuden analyysi, osa 1. Näkemys Costa Concordian laivaonnettomuudesta ja ennen muuta sen nostattamista systeemitason kysymyksistä. Myöhemmissä artikkeleissa tullaan käsittelemään artikkelin esiin nostamia uusia kysymyksiä tarkemmin, erityisesti avoimemman datan arvoa turvallisuustekijänä. //////// A system analysis of the Costa Concordia accident [In Finnish]. Future postings will answers questions raised in this essay, in particular the possible value of information transparency as a safety factor.
