Download or read book Social Virtual Worlds and Their Places written by Merrill L. Johnson and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-06-11 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a foundational look at social virtual worlds from the geographer’s perspective. How can the geographer’s craft be applied to social virtual worlds? This question is addressed through careful analysis of what social virtual worlds are, how interest in these worlds has waxed and waned during the twenty-first century, and the meaning of their concocted spaces. Examining one of the key features of the social virtual world, the avatar, the book focuses on its user's motivations and identity choices. The book draws on the geographical understanding of place to examine where avatars live, work, and roam, and describes how virtual-world places resemble and diverge from actual-world places. A mixed-methods survey conducted in Second Life adds additional breadth to the discussion, whilst a series of vignettes gives extra life to the subject matter. This original exploration of the content and meaning of social virtual worlds is an essential resource for geographers, and for anyone interested in the virtual world experience.

Download or read book Everyday Chaos written by David Weinberger and published by Harvard Business Press. This book was released on 2019-04-23 with total page 141 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Make. More. Future. Artificial intelligence, big data, modern science, and the internet are all revealing a fundamental truth: The world is vastly more complex and unpredictable than we've allowed ourselves to see. Now that technology is enabling us to take advantage of all the chaos it's revealing, our understanding of how things happen is changing--and with it our deepest strategies for predicting, preparing for, and managing our world. This affects everything, from how we approach our everyday lives to how we make moral decisions and how we run our businesses. Take machine learning, which makes better predictions about weather, medical diagnoses, and product performance than we do--but often does so at the expense of our understanding of how it arrived at those predictions. While this can be dangerous, accepting it is also liberating, for it enables us to harness the complexity of an immense amount of data around us. We are also turning to strategies that avoid anticipating the future altogether, such as A/B testing, Minimum Viable Products, open platforms, and user-modifiable video games. We even take for granted that a simple hashtag can organize unplanned, leaderless movements such as #MeToo. Through stories from history, business, and technology, philosopher and technologist David Weinberger finds the unifying truths lying below the surface of the tools we take for granted--and a future in which our best strategy often requires holding back from anticipating and instead creating as many possibilities as we can. The book’s imperative for business and beyond is simple: Make. More. Future. The result is a world no longer focused on limitations but optimized for possibilities.

Download or read book Joy of Agility written by Joshua Kerievsky and published by BenBella Books. This book was released on 2023-02-07 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Agility enables you, your team, and your organization to streamline slow and awkward actions, overcome obstacles quickly, and adapt to change with ease and grace. Agility isn’t a formula, a framework, nor a set of roles and rituals to follow. It’s a timeless way of being that matures with practice and skill. Becoming agile involves knowing the difference between being quick or hurrying, moving with ease or difficulty, being in or out of balance, graceful or awkward, adaptable or rigid, resourceful or resentful. With Joy of Agility, Joshua Kerievsky, CEO of Industrial Logic, one of the oldest and most-respected agile consultancies in the world, shows you how to harness agility in work and life to solve problems and succeed sooner. Kerievsky shares six essential agile mantras, plus unforgettable, real-world stories of agile people and teams, that will empower you to be quick, adaptable, and resourceful in the face of challenges and opportunities. Learn how to: Distinguish between being quick and hurrying Gain better balance and collaborate gracefully with others Prepare and practice being poised to adapt Take deliberate steps to drive out fear Grow a solution by starting minimal and evolving Overcome obstacles by being readily resourceful Use the lessons learned in Joy of Agility to transform agility from a mere buzzword into an approach that helps you obtain triumphant results.

Download or read book The Startup Owner s Manual written by Steve Blank and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2020-03-17 with total page 568 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than 100,000 entrepreneurs rely on this book. The National Science Foundation pays hundreds of startup teams each year to follow the process outlined in the book, and it's taught at Stanford, Berkeley, Columbia and more than 100 other leading universities worldwide. Why? The Startup Owner's Manual guides you, step-by-step, as you put the Customer Development process to work. This method was created by renowned Silicon Valley startup expert Steve Blank, co-creator with Eric Ries of the "Lean Startup" movement and tested and refined by him for more than a decade. This 608-page how-to guide includes over 100 charts, graphs, and diagrams, plus 77 valuable checklists that guide you as you drive your company toward profitability. It will help you: Avoid the 9 deadly sins that destroy startups' chances for success Use the Customer Development method to bring your business idea to life Incorporate the Business Model Canvas as the organizing principle for startup hypotheses Identify your customers and determine how to "get, keep and grow" customers profitably Compute how you'll drive your startup to repeatable, scalable profits. The Startup Owners Manual was originally published by K&S Ranch Publishing Inc. and is now available from Wiley. The cover, design, and content are the same as the prior release and should not be considered a new or updated product.

Download or read book Technology Entrepreneurship written by Thomas N. Duening and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2014-08-12 with total page 395 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The focus of this book is on technology ventures — how they start, operate, and sometimes exit profitably. In short, it covers all the elements required to launch a successful technology company, including discussion of cutting-edge trends such as "entrepreneurial method" and "lean startup," emphasis on the ideation process and development of an effective business plan, coverage of product and market development, intellectual property, structuring your venture, raising capital, sales and marketing, people management, and even strategies for exiting your venture. This is not another armchair book about entrepreneurship. It’s a working guide for engineers and scientists who want to actually be entrepreneurs. An intense focus on product design and development, with customers and markets in mind Extensive discussion of intellectual property development, management, and protection Potent insights into marketing and selling technology products to the global marketplace Techniques for forecasting financials, raising funds, and establishing venture valuation Best practices in venture leadership and managing growth Overview of various exit strategies and how to prepare the venture for exit

Download or read book The Lean Startup written by Eric Ries and published by Crown Currency. This book was released on 2011-09-13 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most startups fail. But many of those failures are preventable. The Lean Startup is a new approach being adopted across the globe, changing the way companies are built and new products are launched. Eric Ries defines a startup as an organization dedicated to creating something new under conditions of extreme uncertainty. This is just as true for one person in a garage or a group of seasoned professionals in a Fortune 500 boardroom. What they have in common is a mission to penetrate that fog of uncertainty to discover a successful path to a sustainable business. The Lean Startup approach fosters companies that are both more capital efficient and that leverage human creativity more effectively. Inspired by lessons from lean manufacturing, it relies on “validated learning,” rapid scientific experimentation, as well as a number of counter-intuitive practices that shorten product development cycles, measure actual progress without resorting to vanity metrics, and learn what customers really want. It enables a company to shift directions with agility, altering plans inch by inch, minute by minute. Rather than wasting time creating elaborate business plans, The Lean Startup offers entrepreneurs—in companies of all sizes—a way to test their vision continuously, to adapt and adjust before it’s too late. Ries provides a scientific approach to creating and managing successful startups in a age when companies need to innovate more than ever.

Download or read book Lab Rats written by Dan Lyons and published by Hachette Books. This book was released on 2018-10-23 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times bestselling author Dan Lyons exposes how the "new oligarchs" of Silicon Valley have turned technology into a tool for oppressing workers in this "passionate" (Kirkus) and "darkly funny" (Publishers Weekly) examination of workplace culture. At a time of soaring corporate profits and plenty of HR lip service about "wellness," millions of workers--in virtually every industry -- are deeply unhappy. Why did work become so miserable? Who is responsible? And does any company have a model for doing it right? For two years, Lyons ventured in search of answers. From the innovation-crazed headquarters of the Ford Motor Company in Detroit, to a cult-like "Holocracy" workshop in San Francisco, and to corporate trainers who specialize in . . . Legos, Lyons immersed himself in the often half-baked and frequently lucrative world of what passes for management science today. He shows how new tools, workplace practices, and business models championed by tech's empathy-impaired power brokers have shattered the social contract that once existed between companies and their employees. These dystopian beliefs--often masked by pithy slogans like "We're a Team, Not a Family" -- have dire consequences: millions of workers who are subject to constant change, dehumanizing technologies -- even health risks. A few companies, however, get it right. With Lab Rats, Lyons makes a passionate plea for business leaders to understand this dangerous transformation, showing how profit and happy employees can indeed coexist.

Download or read book Lean Startup written by Philip Small and published by Philip Small. This book was released on 2021-10-28 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Yes, You Can Build A Successful Startup On The First Try - Here's How To Pick The Right Business Strategy And Manage Your Business Like A Pro Are you working on a business idea but not sure how to turn it into an actual business? First of all, don't believe the people who say that everyone's first business is doomed to be a failure. It's true that many first-time entrepreneurs fail and end up in debt. But in most cases, it's their own fault because they just started a business without educating themselves on business strategies and management techniques. It's like jumping into a river without learning how to swim! You don't have to repeat this mistake. With this book, you can become a smart, innovative and successful entrepreneur on your first try. This book will help you: - Develop and refine a business idea before you spend any money on it - Start your small business with the right mindset - Use Lean Startup methodologies to boost your chances of success - Organize your work like a pro with agile project management methods - Use the power of Six Sigma to boost your productivity - Follow the "one small step" mindset to achieve big goals - Scale up and take your business to a new level! With this book, you'll succeed even if you're a complete newbie at business strategies and management methods! Spending a few days or even weeks mastering Lean, Six Sigma and Agile is one of the wisest investments you can make because it will transform the way you think about business. Are you ready to take your first step towards success? Get your copy now!!!

Download or read book Lean AI written by Lomit Patel and published by O'Reilly Media. This book was released on 2020-01-30 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How can startups successfully scale customer acquisition and revenue growth with a Lean team? Out-of-the-box acquisition solutions from Facebook, Google, and others provide a good start, but the companies that can tailor those solutions to meet their specific needs, objectives, and goals will come out winners. But that hasn’t been an easy task—until now. With this practical book, author Lomit Patel shows you how to use AI and automation to provide an operational layer atop those acquisition solutions to deliver amazing results for your company. You’ll learn how to adapt, customize, and personalize cross-channel user journeys to help your company attract and retain customers—to usher in the new age of Autonomous Marketing. Learn how AI and automation can support the customer acquisition efforts of a Lean Startup Dive into Customer Acquisition 3.0, an initiative for gaining and retaining customers Explore ways to use AI for marketing purposes Understand the key metrics for determining the growth of your startup Determine the right strategy to foster user acquisition in your company Manage the increased complexity and risk inherent in AI projects

Download or read book Scaling Lean written by Ash Maurya and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2016 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Scaling Lean offers an invaluable blueprint for modeling startup success. You'll learn the essential metrics that measure the output of a working business model, give you the pulse of your company, communicate its health to investors, and enable you to make precise interventions when things go wrong, "--Amazon.com.

Download or read book Virtual Lives written by James D. Ivory Ph.D. and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2012-01-06 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the THE source for information on virtual worlds, covering every aspect of this intriguing and fast-changing social practice and the technologies upon which it rests. Virtual Lives: A Reference Handbook describes the history, development, and role of virtual worlds, also known as virtual environments and immersive virtual environments. It provides detailed background about virtual worlds and their societal impact, from early precursors and inspirations to the latest trends and developments. Specifics on user demographics are included, as are descriptions of virtual worlds' functions, discussion of societal concerns and opportunities, and information about relevant research data and key persons and organizations. Although virtual worlds in their current form are a relatively new phenomenon, other online social environments have served as precursors for decades and literary inspirations go back even further. This handbook therefore covers some early developments dating back to the mid-20th century. Its primary focus, however, is on developments since the mid-1990s and especially on the current state and social impact of virtual worlds, including their impact both in the United States and around the world.

Download or read book DevOps written by Len Bass and published by Addison-Wesley Professional. This book was released on 2015-05-08 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The First Complete Guide to DevOps for Software Architects DevOps promises to accelerate the release of new software features and improve monitoring of systems in production, but its crucial implications for software architects and architecture are often ignored. In DevOps: A Software Architect’s Perspective, three leading architects address these issues head-on. The authors review decisions software architects must make in order to achieve DevOps’ goals and clarify how other DevOps participants are likely to impact the architect’s work. They also provide the organizational, technical, and operational context needed to deploy DevOps more efficiently, and review DevOps’ impact on each development phase. The authors address cross-cutting concerns that link multiple functions, offering practical insights into compliance, performance, reliability, repeatability, and security. This guide demonstrates the authors’ ideas in action with three real-world case studies: datacenter replication for business continuity, management of a continuous deployment pipeline, and migration to a microservice architecture. Comprehensive coverage includes • Why DevOps can require major changes in both system architecture and IT roles • How virtualization and the cloud can enable DevOps practices • Integrating operations and its service lifecycle into DevOps • Designing new systems to work well with DevOps practices • Integrating DevOps with agile methods and TDD • Handling failure detection, upgrade planning, and other key issues • Managing consistency issues arising from DevOps’ independent deployment models • Integrating security controls, roles, and audits into DevOps • Preparing a business plan for DevOps adoption, rollout, and measurement

Download or read book The Pyramid of Game Design written by Nicholas Lovell and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2018-12-07 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Game design is changing. The emergence of service games on PC, mobile and console has created new expectations amongst consumers and requires new techniques from game makers. In The Pyramid of Game Design, Nicholas Lovell identifies and explains the frameworks and techniques you need to deliver fun, profitable games. Using examples of games ranging from modern free-to-play titles to the earliest arcade games, via PC strategy and traditional boxed titles, Lovell shows how game development has evolved, and provides game makers with the tools to evolve with it. Harness the Base, Retention and Superfan Layers to create a powerful Core Loop. Design the player Session to keep players playing while being respectful of their time. Accept that there are few fixed rules: just trade-offs with consequences. Adopt Agile and Lean techniques to "learn what you need you learn" quickly Use analytics, paired with design skills and player feedback, to improve the fun, engagement and profitability of your games. Adapt your marketing techniques to the reality of the service game era Consider the ethics of game design in a rapidly changing world. Lovell shows how service games require all the skills of product game development, and more. He provides a toolset for game makers of all varieties to create fun, profitable games. Filled with practical advice, memorable anecdotes and a wealth of game knowledge, the Pyramid of Game Design is a must-read for all game developers.

Download or read book Virtual Law written by Benjamin Tyson Duranske and published by American Bar Association. This book was released on 2008 with total page 484 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you are one of the many who have read about and heard about virtual worlds but do not really understand what a virtual world is, or even how to use appropriate terminology when discussing them, then this is the book for you."--Jacket.

Download or read book Melusi s Everyday Zulu written by Melusi Tshabalala and published by Jonathan Ball Publishers. This book was released on 2018-07-13 with total page 183 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Duduza. Bopha. Imbiza. Phapha. Asixoliseni. Amapopeye . . . What is the power of a single word? Six days a week, advertising creative Melusi Tshabalala posts a Zulu word on his Everyday Zulu Facebook page and tells a story about it. His off-beat sense of humour, razor-sharp social observations and frank political commentary not only teaches his followers isiZulu but also offer insight into the world Melusi inhabits as a 21st century Zulu man. Over the past few months he has built up a big and a loyal following that include radio host Jenny Crwys-Williams and Afrikaans author Marita van der Vyfer. He pokes fun at our differences and makes us laugh at ourselves and each other. Melusi asks critical questions of everyone, from Aunty Helen, Dudu-Zille to Silili (Cyril Ramaphosa) and even Woolworths (why are their aircons always set on 'jou moer'?) His fans love him for his honesty and commitment to pointing out subtle and overt forms of prejudice and racism. Melusi's Everyday Zulu holds up a mirror that shows South African society in all its flaws and its sheer humanity. Most importantly, he shows the power of words and that there's um'zulu in all of us!

Download or read book Commercial Transactions in the Virtual World written by Avnita LAKHANI and published by City University of HK Press. This book was released on 2014-06-30 with total page 610 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is a growing trend in virtual world commercial transactions. In order to protect people’s rights in the virtual world and keep pace with innovative trading demands, it is essential for us to understand the commercial implications of virtual world economies by evaluating the effectiveness of the existing laws, practices, and policies in business, technology, intellectual property and related fields. This book, in 11 sections, investigates the issues and opportunities associated with commercial transactions in the virtual world. In 29 detailed essays, this book analyses every facet of virtual world transactions, including the nature of virtual commercial transactions, virtual goods and services, transfer of virtual property, issues of negotiable instruments, remedies for buyers and sellers in the virtual world, consumer protection, dispute resolution and other related topics. Each of these sections both contributes to and advances the field of commercial law and related disciplines. This book is an excellent source of reference for students, practitioners, academics, policy makers, and researchers as well as anyone with an interest in the exciting developments of commercial law in cyberspace. This book is published by City University of Hong Kong Press. 香港城市大學出版社出版。

Download or read book Brand Avatar written by Alycia de Mesa and published by Springer. This book was released on 2009-02-27 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Virtual worlds such as Second Life, have millions of users worldwide. Virtual world "residents" wield huge purchasing power, and use real money in the online economies. Companies as diverse as Adidas, Jean-Paul Gaultier, and MTV have plunged into these unchartered waters to give their brands a virtual presence, using varied strategies.