Saturday, November 22, I headed to Baltimore and the Decision Sciences Institute Annual meeting. That night I had a relaxed Italian dinner with Gloria Wren, her husband and son. Thanks Gloria.

Sunday was sessions and Monday I participated in a panel chaired by J. P. Shim and titled "Present and Future of Decision Support Technology, Practice and Research." J. P. focused on mobile technologies and the infrastructure needs for future decision support.

Jim Courtney stressed the need for various perspectives in DSS and Knowledge Management. He noted theory needs more development and argued for a broad, multi-perspective model of decision making including ethical concerns. Mark Silver emphasized the need for more behavioral research. Merrill Warkentin stressed the technology mix and broader online/automated decision support tools.

My presentation was the last on the panel and my focus was on future decision support technologies. My presentation began with mobile platforms and Barack Obama using a Blackberry. An open operating system like Android is good for decision support. Then John King of CNN was using his large screen display. Next immersive environments, then TelePresence Holographic Video Conferencing. The photo showed a demonstration by Cisco CEO John Chambers unveiling their On-Stage TelePresence Holographic Video Conferencing using the Musion Eyeliner high definition holographic video projection system with 3-dimensional moving images appearing within a live stage setting. Cisco has held 28,000 meetings using telepresence. Check http://www.musion.co.uk/Cisco_TelePresence.html .

Then my presentation emphasized virtual world technologies. Briefly, I then emphasized the use and availability of very large detailed, active databases. After discussing real-time monitoring and decision support, I summarized some recent decision support technology developments, including: solid state disk (SSD) drives, eBay's 5 petabyte DW, iPhone spreadsheet and BI, visualization widgets, data warehousing as a service, open source BI, predictive analytics, SaaS, pre-configured BI applications, high-definition videoconferencing, semantic intelligence, tracking pallets in real time, and smart navigation.

We will try to jointly write an article and expand on these themes.

Tuesday, I made a presentation of a research article co-authored with Susan Wurtz titled "Using Virtual Worlds for Real World Decision Support." Wednesday I got back to Cedar Falls for a wonderful family Thanksgiving.

Peace and let's all give thanks.

Technorati Tags: Future Decision Support, Business Intelligence, Decision Support .

The election of Barack Obama may be a turning point in U.S. history, but some economic/political/social forces are so powerful that change may be slow and difficult. Let's look at the momentum and decision support opportunities.

Population growth. Our population on this planet will continue to grow and migration pressures and an aging population will continue to challenge the United States. We will need to use technology and decision support responsibly to provide benefits to people and to track guest workers and visitors.

Resource depletion. Petroleum resources are finite, but information technologies can help reduce and monitor consumption. Companies and organizations can monitor fleet fuel consumption, improve maintenance and incorporate smart monitoring into homes and offices.

Religious radicalism. The stress of an increasingly secular, global economy creates strains in some parts of the world. Decision support can assist in military operations, but also in "peace" operations.

Global supply. Goods and services are delivered globally. Extended supply chains for both goods and services can benefit from more sophisticated decision support.

Wealth distribution. Rich and poor nations want a high quality of life for citizens. Technology can accentuate wealth differences or potentially reduce the impact. Databases on needs and consumption, productivity and resources can help global economic development groups target investments and encourage sustainable growth.

Education deficiencies. We all need to know more and learn faster. Computerized decision support can help track student achievement and reward differentially those tasked with creating and disseminating knowledge. The trick is identifying useful performance indicators that can't be manipulated and that show areas for improvement and "real" improvements as they occur.

Financial management. Any meaningful regulation of the global financial system will require complex decision support capabilities.

This list is a start. I think we have many opportunities for using decision support to create positive change.

Technorati Tags: Future Decision Support, Business Intelligence, Decision Support .