WowWee was a gift for my son in 2008. I felt it best to let
him interact with machines from an early age. I was in for a surprise. WowWee
was more machine than interactive.
Today WowWee is a doorman. Buffed like most, stoic as well. We’ve removed the batteries so WowWee does not take in any data anymore and has no ability to react. Perfect for the job! Stands there all day and keeps the door open. When the door needs closing, gets picked up, placed next to the sofa and stays there until the door is open again.
WowWee is programmed to follow instructions from a remote control unit which we’ve lost long ago. Could walk like a human, sees things in colour including infrared and has a sense of touch. Altogether not impressive when put into action. The sparkle wears out in a few days when it becomes apparent that WowWee knows some things but understands nothing.
WowWee will do pretty much the same thing, to the same remote command, every time. Data in, action out. That’s the level of understanding, the theory being that information is the understanding of relationships in data and knowledge is the understanding of patterns in information. WowWee is appreciated, as an early step towards machine intelligence that deciphers data.
Businesses benefit when they can derive knowledge from the information they process. When information is mined to help make tactical decisions, more value, in the form of knowledge, is extracted from the information and the patterns within. If WowWee for example decides to move next to the sofa when I get to the door at around 10:00pm, we can say there is understanding.
Businesses want to detect the patterns contained in their information. If they be confident that the information is accurate, the answers to queries can be trusted. Imagine a company running a promotion to all the Johns on John St in the parish of St John, already aware of how many there are and what they will most likely be interested in. Micro campaigns.
To effectively do this, the initial data has to be accurate and when information is moved around the company it has to maintain integrity. It is a perpetual challenge to spread information to where it is needed, in the correct state.
The solutions to accomplish this are not limited to expensive software systems. To maintain information integrity, a culture of awareness and custody has to become part of the organisation. When information is interrogated and its results are valued, the necessity for accuracy is recognised.
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