Exploring the economic value of personal information from firms’ financial statements

Currently personal data gathering in online markets is done on a far larger scale and much cheaper and faster than ever before. Within this scenario, a number of highly relevant companies for whom personal data is the key factor of production have emerged. However, up to now, the corresponding economic analysis has been restricted primarily to a qualitative perspective linked to privacy issues. Precisely, this paper seeks to shed light on the quantitative perspective, approximating the value of personal information for those companies that base their business model on this new type of asset. In the absence of any systematic research or methodology on the subject, an ad hoc procedure is developed in this paper. It starts with the examination of the accounts of a number of key players in online markets. This inspection first aims to determine whether the value of personal information databases is somehow reflected in the firms’ books, and second to define performance measures able to capture this value. After discussing the strengths and weaknesses of possible approaches, the method that performs best under several criteria (revenue per data record) is selected. From here, an estimation of the net present value of personal data is derived, as well as a slight digression into regional differences in the economic value of personal information.     

What is novel about the Metaverse?

The Metaverse is not a radical departure. It is an incremental evolution. Previous virtual worlds, like Second Life, have laid the groundwork for the development of the Metaverse by providing valuable insights into virtual environments and social interactions. Studies of these earlier platforms contribute to a more nuanced understanding of what the Metaverse is, and what it is not. Based on studies of virtual worlds and by applying inductive processes of reflection and abstraction, we propose a framework that supports the identification of attributes that help differentiate the Metaverse from previous virtual worlds from a user experience perspective. We demonstrate the value of the framework by comparing the Metaverse to Second Life. Our framework and comparative analysis ground the current discussions about the Metaverse deeper in the established discourse on virtual worlds. They also shed light on the potential impact of the Metaverse, the special role of its immersiveness and help us to identify lessons learned that can inform the Metaverse's further development.     

What is the future of electrical impedance spectroscopy in flow cytometry?

More than 20 years ago, electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was proposed as a potential characterization method for flow cytometry. As the setup is comparably simple and the method is label-free, EIS has attracted considerable interest from the research community as a potential alternative to standard optical methods, such as fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS). However, until today, FACS remains by and large the laboratory standard with highly developed capabilities and broad use in research and clinical settings. Nevertheless, can EIS still provide a complement or alternative to FACS in specific applications? In this Perspective, we will give an overview of the current state of the art of EIS in terms of technologies and capabilities. We will then describe recent advances in EIS-based flow cytometry, compare the performance to that of FACS methods, and discuss potential prospects of EIS in flow cytometry.     

What is the magnetic permeability of iron?

This paper is a review of the changes brought about in the magnetic properties of “iron” during the period 1870 to 1928 and shows the absurdity of using “iron” as a standard for comparison. The latest (1928) value for the initial permeability (μ₀) of “iron” is given as 1150, its maximum permeability (μ_max) as 61,000, and its hysteresis loss (W_h) as 300 ergs per cubic centimeter per cycle for B = 10,000 gausses. The corresponding values prior to 1900 were: μ₀ = 250 μ_max = 2600, W_h = 3,000.     

A walk on the wild side: ‘Predatory’ journals and information asymmetries in scientific evaluations

In recent years the academic world has witnessed the mushrooming of journals that falsely pretend to be legitimate academic outlets. We study this phenomenon using information from 46,000 researchers seeking promotion in Italian academia. About 5% of them have published in journals included in the blacklist of ‘potential, possible, or probable predatory journals’ elaborated by the scholarly librarian Jeffrey Beall. Data from a survey that we conducted among these researchers confirms that at least one third of these journals do not provide peer review or they engage in some other type of irregular editorial practice. We identify two factors that may have spurred publications in dubious journals. First, some of these journals have managed to be included in citation indexes such as Scopus that many institutions consider as a guarantee of quality. Second, we show that authors who publish in these journals are more likely to receive positive assessments when they are evaluated by (randomly selected) committee members who lack research expertise. Overall, our analysis suggests that the proliferation of ‘predatory’ journals reflects the existence of severe information asymmetries in scientific evaluations.     

What is cyberwoman?: The Second Sex in cyberspace

In this paper I wish to show that, although traditional notions of genderand sex break down in cyberspace, a revised Beauvoirian understanding ofsexual secondariness is applicable and useful in coming to terms with thepossible ethical and philosophical ramifications of this relatively newcommunication medium. To this end, I argue that persons who enter intocommunication in online chat rooms necessarily deny the bodily aspectsof their own identity. In so doing, these persons make themselvesinessential, or secondary, in Beauvior's sense. For Beauvoir, this isa denial of one's own freedom, and thus commmunication in cyberspacebecomes an instance of self-oppression. Yet, if self-oppression canbe avoided, the self-oppressor is morally responsible for her or hisown oppression. Ultimately, I argue, cyberspatial communication is aninstance of such self-oppression.     

Taylor's Q1 “Visceral” level of information need: What is it?

Taylor (1968) dramatically stated that information seekers/searchers do not use their real Q1-level of information need when formulating their query to the system. Instead, they use a compromised Q4-level form of their need. The article directly confronts what Taylor's (1968) Q1-level information need is–the “actual” or “real” information need of the searcher. The article conceptually and operationally defines what Taylor's Q1-level of information need is using Belkin's (1980) ASK concept as a basis for designing a system intervention that shifts the searcher from representing the Q4-level compromised form of the need in her query to representing instead her Q1-level real information need. The article describes the Q1 Actualizing Intervention Model, which can be built into a system capable of actualizing the uncertainty distribution of the searcher's belief ASK so that information search is directed by the searcher's real Q1-level information need. The objective of the Q1 Actualizing Intervention Model is to enable in our Knowledge Age the introduction of intervention IR systems that are organic and human-centric, designed to initiate organic knowledge production processes in the searcher.     

What is protective space? Reconsidering niches in transitions to sustainability

The transitions literature emphasises the role of niches, defined as a protective space for path-breaking innovations. Surprisingly, the concept of protection has not been systematically interrogated. Our analysis identifies effective protection as having three properties in wider transition processes: shielding, nurturing and empowerment. Empowerment is considered the least developed in current niche literature. It can be understood as either processes that make niche innovations competitive within unchanged selection environments (fit-and-conform) or as processes that contribute to changes in mainstream selection environments in ways favourable to a path-breaking niche innovation (stretch-and-transform). Adopting a more constructivist perspective, we subsequently argue that analysis of these properties needs to be complemented with particular attention for the politics involved in their construction. Attention to empowerment confirms the view that niche actors need to link to wider processes of social change, and suggests how this arises. The paper ends with an outlook upon two promising research avenues: (1) the reconstruction of niche development in light of the present framework; (2) analyses of the diverse (political) narratives seeking to empower niches across time and space.