http://www.k-praxis.com Enabling action with knowledge! en-us postmaster@k-praxis.com Mon, 28 Feb 2005 15:03:40 +0530 http://www.k-praxis.com/archives/online_information/000132.html The ‘search’ functionality forms the base of most internet operations today.K-praxis has, in previous posts, speculated on the future of search. With the advent of ‘prospective search’ this functionality is now branching off in a different direction. What is the scope and potential of prospective search? How is it different from traditional search methods? What kind of a future does prospective search have? In this article k-praxis examines the definition and uses of prospective search as opposed to retrospective search. http://www.k-praxis.com/archives/online_information/000131.html There has been some interesting discussion around the idea of information technology vs media on some of the vantage points of online discussion networks. How does one understand these discussion threads? Is this just a buzz about the companies that being mentioned (Google and Yahoo)? Or there are some fundamental issues being discussed here that define the use, consumption and monetization of online information. It could be interesting to explore some of these concepts further. http://www.k-praxis.com/archives/online_information/000130.html K-Praxis has revamped its website with a new interface and has enabled its analysts with technology solution developed by Textual Analytics Solution to analyze and track trends in the area of online information management. http://www.k-praxis.com/archives/research_management/000103.html The functioning of the society is often likened to the way in which the mind works. The virtual community is also said to operate like the mind. In an earlier article we had looked at the relation between the real world communities and online communities finding remarkable similarities at least in relation to its spontaneously evolving nature. Evolutionary biologists have been studying the patterns of the functioning of the mind for the mind for several decades. This time, K-Praxis takes a look at their findings to see how the networks or patterns within the mind could be imposed upon the workings of the society and the web. http://www.k-praxis.com/archives/research_management/000102.html E learning seems to be on its way to replacing the traditional methods of learning. Or at least it seems to be aspiring to do so! While in the earlier article, K-Praxis attempted to demonstrate the consequences of uniformity within e-learning, this article will evaluate the viability of e learning in terms of the responsiveness of the students, the economic feasibility and finally the desirability of such a take-over of the educational field. Besides the old question in a new article: can automated education replace the human guru, this article also looks at the practices of e learning and the delicate issues that they throw up. http://www.k-praxis.com/archives/research_management/000101.html Heterogeneity and a multiplicity to choose from, marks (at least superficially) the contemporary educational system. A certain uniformity, however, emerges from within this diversity in the form of standardization. Does this standardization aid and abet learning? What are the processes by which it creates a better atmosphere for a learner in terms of the mode and medium of education/instruction? K-Praxis examines e learning as this process of standardization in the educational field and attempts to demonstrate some intimations for the field of education as a whole. http://www.k-praxis.com/archives/research_management/000100.html In the previous article we saw how automating the collection of data can help in establishing some criteria to demarcate the scientificity of a particular study within the field of academic research. Once the data is made available to the human researcher, what kind of standards does one place to make the study of some value? In the face of the debunked notions of objectivity and verifiability, how can one make the analysis of data more 'scientific'? http://www.k-praxis.com/archives/research_management/000099.html There has always been a controversy as to the 'method' employed within scientific/ academic research. While there are quantifiable standards available to mark excellence within commercial and business research, what marks the truth/success of a piece of study undertaken by the academia? More importantly, what is the methodology employed by which one can arrive at the conclusions of a proposed study? Academic research not only concentrates on conclusions/results which could be arrived at randomly or instinctively, but primarily on the method of the study. K-Praxis looks at why it is important to chalk out what are the features of this method of science. http://www.k-praxis.com/archives/research_management/000098.html If academic research is a search for newer knowledges then what is the component of this new knowledge and how does it get formulated? K-Praxis takes a look at the role that data and information play in the creation of knowledge. How does one systematize, categorize, evaluate and understand this data? http://www.k-praxis.com/archives/research_management/000097.html It is increasingly felt that top-down instruction may not be the best pedagogical tool for transferring knowledge. With the prolific cyber-culture, there are abundant alternative ways of exchanging information and learning. K-Praxis takes a look at online education and e learning to examine what happens to information/knowledge when its processes of transmission are radically altered. http://www.k-praxis.com/archives/search_technologies/000096.html Introduction to the Report: With the impending Google IPO, and the huge amount of buzz created by the search engines in recent months, we at K-Praxis ran a series designed to give a complete round up of search engines. We now present this series formatted as a complete report. This report is aimed at understanding the phenomenon of search from the point of view of an information searcher / information consumer /knowledge worker. This report is intended to offer him/her glimpses of various facets of information search - including: search technology, search process, search engine usability, search results display, information crawling and indexing process. http://www.k-praxis.com/archives/social_networks/000095.html Knowledge may or may not be power and power may or may not be a desirable commodity in the contemporary world. It cannot be denied, however, that information and dissemination of information has become a crucial preoccupation, which has led a large number of people to come together to form virtual communities and information-based online groups. K-Praxis takes a look at why and how information becomes a key concept for virtual communities. http://www.k-praxis.com/archives/social_networks/000094.html Virtual communities have, on the one hand led to a proliferation of identities where a member of a group could adopt any persona that she choose and discard it to don another identity in the next interaction. On the other hand, however, the significance attached to these identities has reduced considerably. Is the fluidity and flexibility of identity an adhesive to the online communities? Does it make the virtual world a democratic utopia? How do people relate to each other in the face of this unstable identity? K-Praxis investigates the role this identity has to play in the virtual world. http://www.k-praxis.com/archives/social_networks/000093.html Are there n simple ways to building a community? Could the Do-it-Yourself model be applicable to online communities as well? K-Praxis examines some issues and communities to understand how online communities are designed and built. http://www.k-praxis.com/archives/social_networks/000092.html The social sciences and humanities are still grappling with explanations of how communities evolved. There are currently two equally convincing and yet contradictory trends attempting to posit an explanation. While one claims that communities come into being with a common purpose, by a certain 'social contract', the other would assert that the evolution of communities is not based on any particular goal but is a self evolving dynamic process. With the current proliferation of virtual online communities, K-Praxis re-examines this debate by exploring newer ways of understanding the question and presents some thoughts on the nature of online communities.