Knowledge Clouds

Objective

The objective purpose of this concept of a ‘knowledge clouds’ web-platform, is to create a user-story, ‘use-case’ investigation tool that supports the means to deliver a multifaceted linked knowledge cloud about any particular problem, using ontological design support principles.

A related idea is well illustrated by this ResearchSpace Video:

ResearchSpace Overview

Rationale

For the first iteration of this tool; The goal is to support multifaceted & complex knowledge representation with respect to the introduction of new business systems that have widespread repercussions.

To illustrate the type of complex project i’m thinking about — i’ll review, in-part, the implications of introducing strong identity (KYCC/AML) and (micro)payment infrastructure for the web; due in particular to the announced intent to form a viable ‘go to market’ strategy, supporting a multi-tenanted, multi-stakeholder approach to the introduction of Libra, and ecosystem solutions that are similar to its ecosystems offering.

Libra (or libra association) is an international association of global organisations who are working together to form, produce and deliver a financial solution for the web. The partners can be found https://libra.org/en-US/association/#founding_members noting in particular, that they include (but is not limited to) MasterCard, Visa, Paypal, Stripe, Ebay, Lyft, Uber, Facebook and Vodafone.

It is expected that their solution will become easily incorporated into webpages through such means as a ‘log in with facebook’ button, or similar; and that the involved parties will continue to grow, whilst competitive solutions are forecast to appear as the underlying barriers are resolved by Libra, who in-turn obtain the early mover advantage.

Notes are being made in the libra forum, linked via this central post: https://community.libra.org/t/micropayments-knowledge-economy-related-considerations/732/5

The impact of these works are envisaged to be as instrumental to the future of humanity, as the introduction of the first financial accounting systems used by the templars and through the use of those first steps, the evolution of our existing financial instruments; that now need to be supplemented by tools made for the web. This brings about a need to create ‘permissive commons’ infrastructure, which in-turn leads to project activities that is harder to do, than would otherwise be the case for projects using existing ‘status quo’ tools.

The opportunities / problems brought about, is expected to be more significant than the introduction of internet and/or Smart-Phones.

Traditional Media works can be described as being reliant upon three C’s, Content, Cash and Customers. Yet this model is now fairly broken.

NowThereafter; The instrumental components to any sovereign state may be defined as the new 3 C’’s

1. Citizenship / Personhood — starting with a birth certificate
2. Currency — AUD and similar, nowadays supported by the federal reserve system, etc.
3. Contracts / Law — that may associate to international ‘choice of law’, domestic law, or otherwise.

The purpose of defining this ‘knowledge cloud’ solution is to produce and operate a tool that is able to be used to explore the use-case factors that are affected by the introduction of new financial instruments and support the means for multiple stakeholder groups (and individuals) to analyse and respond to emerging issues and opportunities now therefore, brought about.

METHODOLOGY

The methodology sought to be employed by this application design project forms what I’ve called ‘knowledge clouds’ which provide a multifaceted means to investigate a particular solutions framework, incorporating the available knowledge of implications that relate to that particular process or thing.

This methodology is in-turn developed using a user-story process, where use-cases are identified within that user-story; and through the development of response materials for each use-case; a knowledge cloud is produced.

The theory is not unlike that of Ted Nelson’s Xanadu.

The utility of this ‘linked’ framework is, for my illustrated purpose, is different to the ‘document’ example provided by ted. Yet, the principles he (and those such as TimBL) use are instrumental to how it is i’m suggesting we could define a framework for ‘knowledge discovery & management; as built tools that help multi-tenanted — work-flow frameworks; to better support rapid curation & production, of complex project / systems, that incorporate cross-functional & inter-related dependencies.

What is a User story?

A User-Story is an example of an activity that may be performed. These user-stories then in-turn involve other objects, things, people and groups; alongside a set of steps that are involved from beginning to end.

What is a Use-case?

User stories involve a one or many use-cases. Each use-case has a group of requirements that must be met in-order for that piece of the user-story to be carried out.

What is a Knowledge Cloud? (in this context)

A knowledge cloud is a database that incorporates a group of user-stories, use-cases and related underlying decision making support material that aids in investigating a series of tasks and/or problems in relation to the delivery of an outcome that has an object purpose; and requires an array of considerations to be made in-order to successfully deliver an outcome that works in a ‘fit for purpose’ manner.

The Technical Solution

The solution sought to be developed is a web based tool that provides an array of forms that are able to be filled out and submitted by contributors.

These forms build a graph database that does in-turn produce a vocabulary that can be referenced by other use-cases. The site will allow a particular user-story to be explored in a multifaceted way; such as to support the means to investigate a user-story (use-case/s) from different aspects in relation to the fulfilment of a solution that is able to provide key problems, available remedy. The Project / website will be developed using an iterative approach as to produce something that works relatively quickly; whilst being cognisant that the development project will continue to improve upon the work.

Key Functional Components to the Web Solution

Ability to:

• Log-In, Authenticate, be assigned permissions in relation to web-content
• Provide means to self-identify key attributes of user (location, role, skill-set, etc.)
• Create a user-story or use-case. Each of these objects are called ‘knowledge objects’.
• Provide each knowledge object an ID.
• Associate key concepts with structured vocabulary
• Ability to support faceted search for content on the site.
• Ability to download in PDF format the entire log of a ‘knowledge cloud’ about a topic.
• Ability to upload documents in pre-defined standardised formats (ie: Google Docs, MSWord, PDF, etc.)
• Ability to reference links, and for those links to be notated with intended purpose.
• A Functional Capacity where a ‘snapshot’ of the link is generated and stored in the database using Archive.org

KYCC / AML — Law Enforcement capabilities

As has been further illustrated in my article ‘Comms & Security: Privacy vs. Dignity’ a constituent consideration is about how to manage permissive use.

USE-CASE

In order to preserve an environment of safety for citizens, accountability frameworks must technically be in place as to support identification and response for law enforcement (& citizens) in response to crime.

The purpose of providing protection from crime is to support the interests of citizens, as defined by law.

PROBLEM

Micropayments may be abused in a manner that could make use of thousands of accounts to pay an accumulative financial sum to a 3rd party for something they may do or provide illegally to others, including but not exclusive to circumstances where this incorporates the use of ‘mules’ or 3rd parties to mask the actors.

AREA OF ENQUIRY / POSSIBLE SOLUTION

Facebook, Ebay and other members already operate sophisticated Graph Database technology that is linking social activities between people and things (places, events, devices, etc.). Today, this is used to improve the presentation of computer generated recommendations, whether they be for advertising or discovery of things the user may be interested in reading or buying.

Considerations

• What is the energy cost for performing this enquiry method, and what is the ‘cost of sale’ for performing the computations involved.
• As KYCC/AML is performed, the means to associate multiple devices with a single beneficial owner is part of what could be achieved systematically, as to rationalise the problem; Yet this in-turn also relates to law-enforcement,
• so how do these issues translate jurisdictionally for those whose role it is to protect their people.

Economic Records & Knowledge Storage

Whilst the concept of financial data has been discussed, perhaps this is an over simplification?

Economic Records incorporate identity related records & credentials, alongside both the financial IOUs and the related information; such as to include, digital receipts, transaction histories; and the means to associate Tax, Banking and related IDs.

USE CASE 1: Retail

• A person goes to buy food from a take-away shop
• A person Goes to buy good from a groceries shop
• A person buys fuel for a vehicle they use in connection to work.
• A person buys stationary supplies for school/work
• A person pays their psychiatrist or gynaecologist for services rendered and needs to save the payment information to obtain a refund benefit from their health insurer or government.

Use Case 2: Income related records

A person finds online jobs to do, that are funded by others who collectively produce a fund to distribute to others who perform labour services to achieve the delivery of a particular task; alone or in a group.

Skills may be required for them to seek to be employed to do the job (ie: plumber).

Credentials may be required to ensure they’re reasonably trusted to do the job (ie: child safety check, Criminal History Check, Trade Credential, right of employment (visa / nationality), etc.)

The consumer (account holder) may need to undertake accounting for income, and make payments for tax and related purposes. If subject to a 3rd party requirements (ie: GOV: social security, Child Support, etc. Insurance: Income Protection, etc.) they may be required to provide government information about their work, income, and perhaps also information about the resources used to do the job (ie: No.# KM’s travelled in Vehicle).

AREA OF ENQUIRY / POSSIBLE SOLUTION

Who stores these records? Under what ‘choice of law’ are they stored on behalf of the account holder online, and upon what terms.

USER STORIES

Below are some example ‘user stories’ that illustrate an idea that has an express ‘moral’ substance to its intended purpose and the sort of ‘vision’ that may be initially produced, as to investigate how the user-story may be made to work; and in-turn, how that user-story may be iteratively developed overtime to be supported by way of an implemented functional socioeconomically supported ecosystem solution.

USER STORY 1: ‘Lets go Fix problems caused by man in our Environment’

Tim is aware of Victorian Bushlands, in an area used for gold mining about a hundred years ago, where the rivers and general environment continues to be contaminated by an enormous amount of introduced species (flora in particular, but also fauna) that;

• Cause harm to the environment on a continual basis
• Make the areas less attractive to native Fauna and flora
• Play an instrumental role in severe fire events whether they be caused by extreme weather, or by man.

Research shows that the manner in which the fuel-loads were managed prior to the gold mining era was by way of an indigenous Australian practice known as ‘cool burning’, which isn’t a practical solution to manage the issue of the impact these introduced species have on the environment.

Whereas Fire is a natural part of the Australian Landscape (indeed some species only reproduce as a consequence of fire); the impact of these introduced species is a type of fire that is provided an enormous amount of additional materials, and the means to support fire elevating up into the eucalyptus canopy, which produced a fire-storm outcome that is inescapable, unsurvivable for native fauna; threatening life, property and the sustainability of our natural world inclusive of its means to sustain others, through its role.

This problem has existed for many decades without response due to a lack of available economic means to address the problem by assigning labour of men & women to go out and remove the unwanted material. In addition to the cost of time / effort by people in the forest, those doing the work will need shelter and a method to provide supervisory support should others fund the cost without managing the work.

SOCIO-ECONOMIC SOLUTIONS FRAMEWORK

A Facebook ‘cause’ page is put together online, incorporating functional tools to support the creation and communication of a financial forecast and economic model for how this problem might be addressed.

The intention of the facebook ‘cause’ page is to resource workers and funds to get the job done. The undertaking needs no new company specifically, as the online system distributes funds / responsibilities to those involved using online economic tooling.

The system incorporates an environmental accounting standards innovation practice as a project partner, who are committed to articulating credentials in relation to a set of requirements that are put upon the projects governance practice method.

Workers are required to have an Australian Tax ID, and some are travellers (back-packers) who would ordinarily be working on farms collecting produce but are supported by Gov Policy for this type of work.

Portable housing and transportation is organised in conjunction with an on-site project management practice, alongside fishing rods and other recreational activity support apparatus that forms part of the project expenses. The Backpackers require a credential to show that they’ve spent a certain amount of time doing this sort of work, as to extend their visa in Australia for an additional years stay.

Insurance and safety plans are required, which are coordinated in association to local government of the area, who are supportive of the project in the hope it will improve the tourism revenue brought to the area.

The project has been formulated in a manner that is now able to articulate an underlying cost-assumption for the delivery of works, and a set of project governance practices have been elected, such as taking photos of the work done each day in addition to the public authoring of a work-diary, as to support the means for financial contributors who have collectively acted to make the work occur to see the product of their collective contributions.

The Facebook page is distributed to specialised groups and individuals using the facebook advertising tool which allows the opportunity to be communicated to people who might be interested, both in nearby towns, suburbs and cities; in addition to international entities who may work philanthropically to fund these sorts of projects. The total amount to be raised is identified (perhaps with an underwriter who may have a contingency plan if the projected cost is not enough); and people are invited to provide anything from less than a cent, through to whatever their nominated amount is (or the highest amount able to be provided via the web-system online, ie: perhaps $9995 AUD or sub $10,000 due to GOV regulations).

Those who contribute are provided ‘online badges’ that provide to them a verifiable claim that they’ve supported that particular project (incorporating semantic definitions about its purpose, category, etc.) and can decide how they want that to be represented anywhere on the web on an unofficial or official basis.

Other companies and groups are able to contribute also (noting — perhaps this is a ‘tax deductible gift’, and if so — what would be needed to support this determination and attribution, online) and be provided the accounting materials they need for financial reporting; alongside the supply of ‘online badges’, logos and branding materials that support their means to obtain ‘brand equity’ in relation to their sponsorship.

Cumulatively the funds are raised to support the delivery of the project, and the means to manage the delivery of it is supported by the online economic platform structures that enable communities to get good things done.

This in-turn supports the creation of new employment opportunities that are made easier to due to reduced need to support ‘human resource acquisition’ costs and the ability for people to be encouraged to look to the world about what they might want to do that is good for the world, and be provided the online tools to go and get support they need to turn an idea of something good to do; to a paid job to get it done.

Inference Related Considerations

The above example highlights an environmental problem, that like many others, has not been addressed and would ordinarily require a very specific group of relatively expensive agents (for specific actors) to go about doing the work involved in raising, forming and dimensioning a problem area before anything could be addressed in that area. Consequentially the reality is, that all too often this is why these problem remain for decades without the means to be addressed (save by means of slavery); and this one example, can be extended to others where significant funds are allocated towards projects that look to investigate why something has fallen into a state of disrepair, resulted in death, economic injury, or similar.

An example in Australia includes the issues relating to the Murray Darling basin river system; whereby, it is entirely possible that people local to the problem areas of that river system were in need of work; and could act to benefit themselves and the environment if an online socioeconomic framework was in place.

There is not a lack of jobs to do (“work”); there’s a lack of ways to pay people to do a job. Libra is an initiative that offers a means to very quickly respond to this enormous problem. All too often today, it is the thing that benefit our natural world, and humanity as part of it; that cannot find the funding. This is an incremental problem, as the problem only worsens as the risk continues to elevate on the basis that fewer and fewer examples can be found of how doing good for society, humanity and environment can be good for the socio-economic environment of the broader jurisdictional territory for its economic growth.

SOME QUESTIONS & CONSIDERATIONS:

• What are the use-cases built into that description above.
• Who are the involved parties that become curated through this online socio-economic system.
• How can these systems be improved overtime and what should be expected by parties interested in contributing towards the realisation of such a system, to be ‘early adopter issues’.

User Story 2: Lets improve the way we address, homelessness.

See Background Work: https://docs.google.com/document/d/14kWJhmbHKxaS0uPLiUaN5zG8MZPcKUosj--WBSBbP5U/edit?usp=sharing

Considerations.

Whether it be electronic vouchers, the means for people to write a diary about what is happening in their life which may in-turn infer and educate others socially, about the sorts of things they struggle with, the things that they may have done well in the past; and the sorts of things that could instrumentally change their lives for the better. The ability to identify whether they’re actually homeless. To identify if they’re not mentally well, particularly in areas of human exploitation that all too often, may relate to crime and/or human rights abuses.

In Summary

The above notes relating to the intended functional properties of a website solution designed for the express purpose of exploring use-case oriented ‘knowledge clouds’.

I hope I’ve illustrated, sufficiently, the complexity of the underlying problems.

There is a perceived requirement to build a tool that better equips ecosystem participants to work cooperatively on solving problems, to improve solutions definition work, to respond in a timely manner.

In-Turn, this intends to produce an informatics environment (or ‘knowledge cloud’) that recognises the rapidly changing environmental actors, subject matter experts are required to engage with others, from other fields.

Consequently, it is believed that this may in-turn assist to inform stakeholders, such as government (amongst others) to respond in an effective and timely manner; upon the basis that they may be made reasonable equipped, to support their duty to make informed decisions, and inform others with a degree of accuracy, how to make the best of a situation.