He epitomizes a new breed of academic who carries out scholarly research while also keeping close ties with industry. Singh and his students are pursuing several research directions in e-commerce ranging from design and analysis of protocols such as for digital payments to flexible contracts among trading partners. One of his major research interests involves trust, which he distinguishes from security. Security without trust is meaningless, he explains, because keeping your information safe won't help if when you do reveal it to someone that turns out to be someone you shouldn't have trusted. Singh and his students are researching cooperative means of increasing trust in the Internet.
People share knowledge, but ultimately they decide for themselves.
The decentralized nature of referrals contrasts with current Internet approaches for finding information. Such approaches are based on directories or recommender services, both centralized, says Singh. But while the merchant knows something about you based on your selection, you are at a disadvantage because you don't know the criteria they used to recommend you the book, and you don't know the people from whom they obtained their information. Singh is working on personal computer assistants that will help people use electronic referral networks to find the most precise, reliable information with as few messages and referrals as possible. Another professor's work focuses on online auctions, which most experts predict will become ever more pervasive and encompass many different kinds of goods and services.