Abstracts

The research papers described below can be downloading directly to your hard disk. You will need a standard reader for Portable Document Format (PDF) which is available free for Macs, PCs, and Unix Systems.


Higher Education's Information Challenge

Alstyne, M. V.

KEYWORDS: Higher Education, Information Explosion, Network Organization, Specialization, Public Goods, Information Sharing

(working paper, current version 97/03/21)

This article examines university pressures due to growing information and changing information technology. By looking at possible causes for the information explosion and at current incentives, it tries to draw conclusions about increasing competition between colleges, emerging winner-take-all markets, and growing trends toward hoarding private information rather than sharing it as a public good. The essay then proposes a structural modification involving collaborative specialization that might help universities cope with information rich environments.

Download Higher Ed. Challenge -- 70 K


Electronic Communities: Global Village or Cyberbalkans?

Alstyne, M. V. & Brynjolfsson, E.

KEYWORDS: Information Economy, Computerization of Society, Organizational Structure, Information Flows, Globalization

(working paper, current version 97/01/20)

Information technology can help link geographically separated people and facilitate search for interesting or compatible resources. Although these attributes have the potential to bridge gaps, they also have the potential to fragment communities by leading people to spend more time on special interests while screening out less preferred contact. This paper introduces precise measures of "balkanization" then develops a model of individual knowledge profiles and community affiliation to examine how improved access, search, and screening might fragment interaction. As IT capabilities continue to improve, policy choices we make could put us on more or less attractive paths.

Download Balkanization-In-Cyberspace -- 120 K


Communication Networks and the Rise of an Information Elite -- Do Computers Help the Rich Get Richer?

Alstyne, M. V. & Brynjolfsson, E.

KEYWORDS: National Information Infrastructure, Information Sharing & Growth, Information Economy, Computerization of Society, Winner-Take-All Markets

(Under Review, current version 96/07/15)


Circumstances exist under which a telecommunications policy of universal access leads to an increase in the gap between the information "haves" and the "have-nots." A national information infrastructure which provides only channels and not incentives for information sharing might therefore lead to results which are reversed from those originally intended. This argument and several related propositions are explored through a formal theoretical model built on four simple assumptions: one cannot converse with everyone at the same time, information is not lost when shared, private information resources differ in quality, and agents can improve the quality of their information based on the quality of the resources to which they gain access. The model rigorously explains how inter-agent infrastructure can be used to help the "rich get richer" and also why "it's not just what you know but whom you know." This theoretical framework serves to explain several stylized events and offers several useful levers for exploring policy options.

Download Info Elite -- 200 K

Graphic simulation results are available which illustrate and animate ideas presented in the paper. To view the animation, you will need access to Mathematica Reader which is available free and runs on any Mac, PC, or Unix platform. Click here to download the uncompressed ASCII output from graphic simulations (580K), or click here to download the zip compressed graphic simulations (120K). You will need a free zip expander or other uncompression software if you choose the compressed version. You only need the free mathreader program and the simulation output to view the animated graphics if you choose the uncompressed version.

In addition, you can download the code to create or manipulate your own demonstrations. This code is an ASCII text Mathematica program which requires access to full Mathematica to execute. If you would like the source code, click here for the text of the program (30K).