Genetic Programming or Knowledge and Communities

Genetic Programming: On the Programming of Computers by Means of Natural Selection

Author: John R Koza

Genetic programming may be more powerful than neural networks and other machine learning techniques, able to solve problems in a wider range of disciplines. In this ground-breaking book, John Koza shows how this remarkable paradigm works and provides substantial empirical evidence that solutions to a great variety of problems from many different fields can be found by genetically breeding populations of computer programs. Genetic Programming contains a great many worked examples and includes a sample computer code that will allow readers to run their own programs.

In getting computers to solve problems without being explicitly programmed, Koza stresses two points: that seemingly different problems from a variety of fields can be reformulated as problems of program induction, and that the recently developed genetic programming paradigm provides a way to search the space of possible computer programs for a highly fit individual computer program to solve the problems of program induction. Good programs are found by evolving them in a computer against a fitness measure instead of by sitting down and writing them.

John R. Koza is Consulting Associate Professor in the Computer Science Department at Stanford University.

Interesting book: Happy Birthday or Tequila

Knowledge and Communities

Author: Eric Lesser

Knowledge and Communities is the first book dedicated to a major new knowledge management topic. "Communities of Practice" are cross-organizational groups of people sharing knowledge, solving common problems, and exchanging insights and frustrations. Knowledge and Communities, a collection of authoritative articles, describes the dynamics of these groups and explains how they enable organizational knowledge to be creating, shared, and applied.

The book teaches how organizations can empower both traditional and on-line communities and make them a cornerstone of a general knowledge management strategy. Readers will learn how communities can help unify an organization and its external stakeholders, such as customers and suppliers, and how they can critically support an e-commerce strategy. Knowledge and Communities will help readers understand a primary vehicle for building an organization's social capital and competitive advantage.

Hot-topic - addresses how virtual/on-line communities drive an organization's e-commerce and knowledge strategies
Establishes best practices for building and maintaining traditional and virtual communities

Table of Contents:

PART 1- Practical Applications; 1: Wenger, Etienne, "Communties of Practice: The Key to Knowledge Strategy,"; 2: McDermott, Richard, "How Information Technology Inspired But Cannot Deliver Knowledge Management,"; 3: Judge, Fryxell and R. Dooley, "The New Task of R&D Management,"; 4: Stamps, David, "Communities of Practice,"; 5: Storck, John and P. Hill, "Knowledge Diffusion through Strategic Communities,"; 6: Armstrong, A, and J. Hagel, "The Real Value of On-line Communities,"; PART 2- Theory Development; 7: Brown, John and Paul Duguid, "Organizational Learning and Communities of Practice," 8: Prusak, L. and E. Lesser, "Communities of Practice, Social Capital and Organizational Knowledge,"; 9: Liedtka, Jeanne, "Linkingf Competitive Advantage with Communities of Practice,"; 10: Teigland, Robin, "Communities of Practice at an Internet Firm,"; 11: Wellman, Salaff, et al., "Computer Networks as Social Networks,"; 12: Franco, Piirto, et al., "Conflict and Community Building on the Internet,"; 13: Marshall, Catherine, F. Shipman III and R.J. McCall, "Making Large Scale Information Resources Serve Communities of Practice."