Drea Worker - Self-Assessment
Rachel Wentink - Unified Communications
Dr. Jay Gillette - Competitive Intelligence
Bill Bush - Platform Virtualization
Last MegaSession of the WWiT Day! 330-500pm
Excellent day today! Thank you Kirsten Smith for all of your hard work! Thank you to the planning committees for your support and hard work. Thank you to the speakers who gave excellent presentations today!
See you next year!
Visit WWIT Website: WWIT 2009
Myers-Briggs Personality Type
Based on Carl Jung
16 combinations from 4 Categories
Introversion V. Extroversion
Sensing V. Intuition
Thinking V. Feeling
Judging V. Perceiving
Applications
Leadership
Team building
career planning
time management
prob solving
value differences
Keirsey Temperament Type
Temperament
Artisan (SP)
-whatever works
-bend rules
Guardian (SJ)
-concrete cooperators
-follow rules
Rational
-what new problems intrigue them
-efficient
-ignore arbitrary things
Idealist
-Abstract cooperators
-want to act in good conscious
Foursight
Your Thinking Profile - A tool for Innovation
Designed to boost critical and creative problem solving skills in individuals and groups
Clairifiers
-likes details
Ideator
-Imagination stretchers
intuitive approach to innovation
Developers
-workable solutions
-analyzing potential solutions
Implementers
-want to get stuff done
-"workable" ideas and solutions
Strength Deployment Inventory
-Red: ambitious, competitive, forceful
-Green: Cautious, reserved, fair, persevering
-Blue: caring, trusting, loyal, helpful
*Knowing yourself and your team- a leader may consider brining on a new team member to balance the team
*You can learn to stretch your own abilities
*Talk through with mentor, manager, or friend
*Analyze your situation!
Please understand me
Enhancing leadership effectiveness through psychological type
Seven Habits Profile (Steven Covey)
Technology Assessment!
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Rachel Wentink - Interactive Intelligence
Senior Director of Product Management
Unified Communications
From Wikipedia:
"Unified communications (UC) refers to a trend in business to simplify and integrate all forms of communications. It is typically a software program and infrastructure improvement. In general, it allows an individual to send or receive a message on one medium and received on another. For example, one can receive a voice mail message and then read it in their email inbox using a unified communications program."
A way of integrating applications and communications together. The move to VoIP really began the "UC" hype. Bringing together the management of communications and work processes with measurable benefits ("soft ROI"), hard ROI is easier to demonstrate.
Core Components of UC
Communications driven applications
presence management
IP PBX
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Dr. Jay Gillette
Business Intelligence
"Becoming a Strong Leader: Use Strategic Competitive and Business Intelligence"
Strategy, Competitive Intelligence, Business Intelligence
From Wikipedia!:
"A broad definition of Competitive Intelligence is the action of gathering, analyzing, and applying information about products, domain constituents, customers, and competitors for the short term and long term planning needs of an organization. Competitive Intelligence (CI) is both a process and a product.[1] The process of collecting, storing and analyzing information about the competitive arena results in the actionable output of intelligence ascertained by the needs prescribed by an organization."
Key Definition:
1. Competitive Intelligence is an ethical and legal business practice. (This is important as CI professionals emphasize that the discipline is not the same as industrial espionage which is both unethical and usually illegal).
2. The focus is on the external business environment.[2]
3. There is a process involved in gathering information, converting it into intelligence and then utilizing this in business decision making. CI professionals emphasize that if the intelligence gathered is not usable (or actionable) then it is not intelligence.
~~~
Co-opetition: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coopetition
Coopetition or Co-opetition is a neologism coined to describe cooperative competition. Co-opetition occurs when companies work together for parts of their business where they do not believe they have competitive advantage, and where they believe they can share common costs.
Business Intelligence: Learn the Business
-Read the company phone book (know the order of battle)
-Follow the organization's news and reports (live on facts and data)
-Learn to use BI Technologies (clue: get good at spreadsheets - BI Tech all derive from spreadsheet concepts)
-Develop understanding of the business (act as an interpreter)
~~~~~~
Be a general - no matter what your current rank - lead your forces
Coordinate action through time to achieve goals
Do SWOT analysis
Strategy is action, act on your ideas
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Bill Bush - Virtualization
What is it?
History of...
Why should I care?
Resources
From Wikipedia!
"In computing, platform virtualization is a virtualization of computers or operating systems. It hides the physical characteristics of computing platform from the users,[1] instead showing another abstract, emulated computing platform."
Emulation: virtual machine simulates the entire hardware set needed to run unmodified guests for completely different hardware architecture
Full Virtualization: hypervisor can run virtual instances of several different OS concurrently.
Para Virtualization: hypervisor exports a modified version of the underlying physical hardware. VM are "aware" they are virtual.
Current Players: VM Ware, Citrix, MS
Why me?
Strengths:
Better utilizing of physical hardware
Better system reporting
Portability
High availability
Disaster recovery!
Easier chargeback modeling
Weaknesses:
Licensing/Support Costs
Not perfect for all situations
Server "sprawl"
Staff Training on technology & process
Requires different mindset to manage
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Links
MyersBriggs.org
Personality Pathways
Foursight Online - Thinking Profile
Unified Communications
Soft ROI
Microsoft's Definition of UC
Interactive Intelligence
Co-opetition Website
Society for Competitive Intelligence Professionals
Competitive Intelligence - Get Smart!
Strategic Management - SWOT
Intel + Virtualization
Who's Who in Virtualization via Forbes
MS Virtualization
Kernel Thread - Intro to Virtualization
----
What is your personal brand?
Tell your story
*3 to 5 word brand
*memorable career elevator pitch.
Research Yourself
*It's good to Google!!
Why should they care about who you are?
Make yourself memorable to those you meet
How do you describe yourself in those 3-5 words?
e.g. "Global strategic leadership"
~~~~~~~
These Guiding Principles Will Help You Get Started
*Craft an agenda that supports your brand
*Make yourself available - keep your hands free and business cards available
*Avoid the "wandering eye" - be here now, be polite, pay attention, you don't know when they are coming back around
*Create a reason to keep in touch. - pay attention, focus, use information as a way to follow-up
--------
Remember, networking extends your reach
It is estimated that each person knows an average of 250 people
1 networking contact = 62,500 Potential Contacts
LEVERAGE THIS MULTIPLIER EFFECT
-Be the connector!
--------
It's time to chart your own course
*Practice delivering your brand and career elevator pitch
*identify networking opportunities
*consider speaking for an event
*be prepared for/with questions
*Schedule time to network
-------
Publicize Your brand
*Universities like speakers
*Talk to students who need guidance
-------
If you are shy-ish person, bring up something like food, or something about them (let them talk), or talk about their job/first job/whatever!
Barbara Walters - How to talk to anyone about pretty much anything
Harvey Mackey- How to swim with the sharks without being eaten alive
________
Links
http://www.amazon.com/Talk-Practically-Anybody-About-Anything/dp/B001GUMNNA/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239038162&sr=1-3
http://www.amazon.com/How-Talk-Anybody-About-Anything/dp/0806520779
Fastest growing population group is older Americans.
An estimated 7-10 million adult children are caring for their parents from a long distance.
Impact of dealing with this:
Something has to give in part of your life to make it balance
33% decreased hours
29% passed up a job promotion
Some took a leave of absence
ends up taking a toll on health, you give up heathcare to take care of everyone else
Fix it:
Identify stressors
Recognize how yo deal with stress
Find healthy ways to take care of yourself
Retirement security or insecurity?
Are you saving enough?
Figure out how much income you might need, decide when you want to retire, start saving now!
Caregivers have a higher incident of death than those they are caring for.
Caregivers don't ask for help - have a feeling that they have to do it all, make it right.
-----
Aid
Stream of revenue outside of your career/after retirement to supplement your fundage
----
Things to remember as your parents age:
Are they eating/letting their food spoil?
Let them have control of their own life as much as possible, but know the gray area
Do they have a Will?
How financially stable are they?
Plan for a funeral - otherwise it will screw you eventually - have co-executors of the Will
Find out the financial layout, else you may find yourself in a pickle later
Ask about where the "drawer" is in their house - safe deposit boxes?
--
Open up the conversation with: "We were talking about this financial future stuff and is there anything I should know, just in case anything happens to you or dad?"
------
Links
Social Workers: http://www.helpstartshere.org/Default.aspx?PageID=1340
The Sandwich Generation: http://www.thesandwichgeneration.com/
Caregiver.com: http://caregiver.com/
National Family Caregiver Act: http://www.cga.ct.gov/2006/rpt/2006-R-0203.htm
Carepathways: http://www.carepathways.com/caregivers.cfm
]]>April 6, 2009
Alumni Center - Ball State University
**CICS-ers are in free!**
Website: http://wwit.iweb.bsu.edu/
]]> Women Working in Technology 2009: Next Level LeadershipThe WWiT 2009 conference s a one-day event devoted to exchanging ideas and engaging in creative ways to take you to the next level of leadership. Please join us to find your path to the Next Level of Leadership.
When:
April 6, 2009
Where:
Ball State University - Alumni Center
Cost (before 3/25):
$30 for Professionals
$25 for BSU Employees
$10 for Students
NOTE: Due to a sponsorship by the Cisco Area Training Center of Indiana (CATC, Ball State), student scholarships are available. If you are interested in a scholarship, please email: kirstensmith@bsu.edu, with the name of your school, your major and your reason for attending. This request does does not need to be more than a couple of sentences. We hope to be able to accommodate all students. A link to register will be sent to you after we receive your application letter.
For more information, please visit the WWiT 2009 website: http://wwit.iweb.bsu.edu/
]]>Abstract
WiMax, or IEEE 802.16, is “designed to deliver next-generation, high-speed mobile voice and data services and wireless “last-mile” backhaul connections that could potentially displace a great deal of existing radio air network (RAN) infrastructure”. (Motorola, 2008, pg. 2) WiMax gives a viable option to service providers to go beyond 3G technologies.
However, 802.16, in contrast to its predecessor WiFi, holds the philosophy of building in security measures rather than adding on to the network when a security threat is identified. IP is the main protocol utilized in the WiMax core network; however there are IP-related security threats. The IP protocol has certain weak points that make it vulnerable to attacks and providers need to be aware of them.
Three mechanisms have been identified to protect data theft. The first is encryption. Encryption allows data to travel through the network without being compromised or viewed by anyone other than the intended user. The second is authentication. Each station attached to the network is required to have a X.509 certificate. This certificate tells the network that the device is legitimate, thus reducing the amount of faked users on the system. The last mechanism is availability. 802.16 operates in the RF spectrum. The use of the RF spectrum protects against inadvertent intrusion.
Opinion
There are many issues regarding network security in WiMax. The good thing is that those network service providers deploying WiMax are building their networks with more “built in” forms of security, rather than using a “try it and see” approach. Encryption is a great approach for protecting data sent over the network, but could come into problems if the destination computer cannot read it. Until a more multi-use, wide-ranging form of encryption becomes available, I think authentication is the best way to reduce service theft. Certificates given to the device using the service AND to the user that is allowed to use the service will drastically reduce unintended use. Overall, I believe that WiMax networks will radically change the landscape of wireless technology and use.
Annotated Bibliography
Wright, J. (2006, December 12). WiMax Security Issues. Retrieved September 27, 2008, from Network World: http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/2006/121106-wireless-security.html.
*Provides a brief overview of possible security risks associated with WiMax networks
Motorola, Inc. (2007). WiMax Security for Real World Network Service Provider Deployments. Retrived September 29, 2008, from Motorola.com: http://www.motorola.com/staticfiles/Business/Products/Wireless%20Broadband%20Networks/WiMAX/WiMAX%20Access%20Points/WAP%20400/_Documents/StaticFile/WiMAX_Security_for_Real_World_Network_Service_Provider_Deployments_Copy.pdf.
*A white paper outlining how network service providers can optimize use of a WiMax network.
Abstract
Metro Ethernet is a carrier-class Ethernet based network that covers a large Metropolitan area. It has been around in various incarnations since the 1980s. Metro Ethernet has many benefits, such as the ability to scale the technology to a large population without a large price; ease of use in terms of packet-type- many are already Ethernet- so there is no need to decode and encode; a rapid recovery rate if something goes down; the whole network is able to recover from an interruption quickly; Quality of Service that is high; match with “requirements for voice, video and data over converged business and residential networks” (MEF, 2008). As with any technology transporting data there are security risks. They include data leakage, data theft and data loss.
Opinion
Metro Ethernet combines cost-effective networking with high class service. I think this technology will continue to grow, especially in large businesses to aid them in communication over large metropolitan areas. Ethernet itself is becoming a standard service and as it grows the need to decode various forms of packets will go down, cutting cost even more.
I do agree with Dan Minoli in that there can be a lot of hype around a technology that interferes with the development of that technology. He believes that is just what has happened with Metro Ethernet. If the security risks to large enterprises are sufficiently solved to protect the corporate interests and their customer’s information, metro Ethernet could turn into a great cost-effective enterprise networking solution.
Annotated Bibliography
Minoli, D. (2006, December 7). Metro Ethernet: Where's the Beef? Retrieved September 6, 2008, from Network World: http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/2006/121106minoli.html?zb&rc=lans_metro
*Provides an opposition view to the benefits of metro Ethernet, asks for more development of the technology instead of continuing to hype a stagnant technology
What is Carrier Ethernet? (2008). Retrieved September 6, 2008, from Metro Ethernet Forum: http://metroethernetforum.org/page_loader.php?p_id=140
*Provides basic overview of what metro Ethernet is and what the benefits are
Zik, J., & Auster, M. (2008, September 3). True Cost Implications of a Metro Network Architechture, The. Retrieved September 6, 2008, from Converge! Network Digest: http://www.convergedigest.com/bp/bp1.asp?ID=541&ctgy=
*Provides a corporate view of the cost implications of a metro Ethernet Network; what benefits and risks are associated with this networking technology
Links
]]>Breadth without depth would still give a person some talking points on a wealth of knowledge. This is the basis of the American high school education and the reasoning behind the "Core Curriculum" at many Universities. Without a wide range of knowledge you limit your understanding of everything. That almost sounds backwards, but it's really true. When you learn about many different things, you begin to realize how connected everything is. All subjects are connected by a common string that will inevitably deepen your understanding.
Depth without breadth restricts your understanding to a single study. It'd be like putting blinders on your brain, you see the roads take off in other directions, but you never take them. There are many people that have a depth of knowledge of a subject because they see no benefit in learning outside their discipline, but how boring are those people to talk to? They know a whole bunch about one thing and always bring the topic back to that (not that I'm drawing on experience....).
It is important as Renaissance People to be rounded in many subjects, to keep our minds stimulated and always working. Being rounded will also help us in our job hunt throughout our lives. Those of us who are flexible and knowledgeable in many subjects, will be a good fit in many different career paths. My parents always told me to keep my options open. Don't close opportunities for yourself. Being a "T person" is only keeping all my options open for a long time.
Links
]]>Classroom 2.0 was created by Steve Hargadon , and won the 2007 EduBlog Award for “Best Use of a Social Network for Educational Purposes”. Hargadon created Classroom 2.0 from the open source, social networking platform, Ning. Ning is free to use, but the user is able to pay for premium services such as adding storage and bandwidth, removing ads and promotional links and using your own domain name.
Classroom 2.0 embodies a plethora of different tools for creating a “digital dialogue” between users, including blogging, calendars, instant messaging, Google Earth, mapping, podcasting, photo sharing, social note-taking, and video conferencing.
“Classroom 2.0 is a network for teachers (yes, adults, those sometimes called "digital immigrants!”) who are interested in the use of Web 2.0 in the classroom and who are using the site for personal professional development. The ability to have productive, engaging dialog with others in a community is a natural fit for all ages in education.”(Hargadon, 2008)
Elgg is a social network creation platform for all types of uses, but specifically education. Elgg is designed to run the core of any socially-aware application and building on Elgg is easy. Also, “because the engine handles common web application and social functionality for you, you can concentrate on developing your idea.” (Elgg, 2008)
Elgg is open source. That means, when you use Elgg, you have the benefit of being part of a large developer community, with the security and stability that hundreds of eyes can provide. It's also headed and used by Curverider and its partners, so you can be assured that it's in commercial use and will cope with the demands of a popular application. (Elgg, 2008)
Both Ning and Elgg platforms could be used in the classroom itself, in a technology education setting. This would allow students to learn website development and actually see their results get used and bugs could be fixed by the very students who created it.
YouTube has enormous potential for classroom and communication use. However, many school systems block YouTube to prevent inappropriate content being displayed during school hours.
(Karimi, 2006)
“Education using multimedia and other visual aids has always been a strengthening component of many subjects’ curriculum, and today’s educators are taking steps to incorporate the Internet and media-based tools to improve participation and learning.”
Not only could YouTube be used for student created content and technology education, YouTube holds many valuable historic videos, as Pritchett mentioned in his interview. The creation of a filter on the school’s network would allow teachers to access the content and the whole Internet, while still blocking students from accessing inappropriate content, or wasting time during school hours. It would open a host of learning tools for the teachers that would keep students interested and exposed to history, especially the history of music, and theory that they would not be able to get otherwise.
St. Bernard’s iPrism solves blanket filtering that many schools have in place by allowing network administrators to define user groups and their levels of access. “Because iPrism supports different types of users, different patrons can have the access they require. This adaptability is a positive advantage for “library Internet filter” and “school Internet filter” solutions, since children can be blocked from adult sites, while adults can still access them.” (St. Bernard, 2008)
Links
Social Networking in Education - Steve Hargadon
]]>It is so enjoyable because some of what the artist has created in the photo could actually become reality! Computer technology in and on your refrigerator, reminding you when to restock, nutritional value of the food, telling you the weather, also notifying you when food may be getting a little yucky. Other photos include hybrid fruit, new ways to play outdoors, futurisic home gym items, funny news items from 2018, etc. It is always interesting and funny, bringing a fantastic close to my WIRED read.
Hyperlinks
Meta Filter List
WIRED.com
A blog covering AftF
Here's a snippit of the paper. It covers basically what Meg did before she joined up with eBay in 1997.
Margaret C. Whitman was born August 4th, 1956 in Cold Spring Harbor, New York, on Long Island (Nolan, 2007). She earned her Bachelor’s in Economics from Princeton in 1977, then went on to get her Masters of Business Administration from Harvard Business School in 1979 (Bigault, 2007).
After her M.B.A., Whitman spent two years with Procter & Gamble. During this time she honed her brand management skills that would serve her well throughout her career (Bizography, 2007). While she was employed with P & G, she met a neurosurgeon and married him.
In 1981, she became a consultant with Bain & Company. Whitman started as a consultant but, during her nine year employment, she was able to work her way up to Vice President of the company (Bizography, 2007).
In 1989, Whitman gained a position as a Senior Vice President of Marketing in the consumer products division at the Walt Disney Company. With Disney, she oversaw the deployment of the first Disney Store in Japan (Meyers, 2005).
Whitman’s change from Disney in 1992 was motivated by her husband’s move to chief of neurosurgery at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston (Biographies, 2007). Luckily, Stride Rite, based in Lexington, MA, offered her a position as President. During her three year stay, she successfully revitalized the failing brand Keds and launched the baby shoe brand called “Munchkin” (Nolan, 2007).
After those many notable triumphs, Whitman moved to FTD, Florists Transworld Delivery, where she was President and CEO. At FTD, she revived the company from florist-owned to privately owned company actually earning profit (Nolan, 2007).
When she left FTD, Whitman became an executive manager for Hasbro, in their Playskool department (Nolan, 2007). Even though she was only with Playskool for a year, Whitman oversaw a successful re-launch of the vintage favorite Mr. Potato Head. (Biographies, 2007)
In the fall of 1997, Whitman was contacted by David Beirne who was part of a headhunting firm looking to staff a little known company called “Auction Web” (Fishman, 2007). Whitman was not so sure of a move for her and her family across the country for a struggling auction website startup. But in 1998, Pierre Omidyar, eBay’s founder, convinced Whitman to take the helm to whip Auction Web into a large, growing company (Nolan, 2007).
The thing I found most interesting about Meg Whitman is her unwavering sense of "calm". Never once did I read something about Whitman that labeled her as out of control or spontaneous. Her employees were loyal and mostly supported her business decisions.
Whitman did not invent eBay, she made it the empire it is today. Without her passion for quality and brand management, not to mention the EXCELLENT customer service she provided to millions of loyal eBay customers, eBay would have gone the way of the DOT COMs.
]]>
I'm getting off point. Dr. Gillette quoted Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Self-Reliance" in reference to confidence and consistency. The more I read, the more I liked, so I shall discuss!
]]> This essay is brilliant in so many ways. It is in human nature to doubt our abilities. Mr. Emerson captures that feeling and sets it on it's ear, telling us to simply trust ourselves and hold steady.Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connexion of events. Great men have always done so, and confided themselves childlike to the genius of their age, betraying their perception that the Eternal was stirring at their heart, working through their hands, predominating in all their being.- Paragraph 3
If you think about it, without self-trust, we have nothing. Self-trust helps you learn, helps you chose the right path to follow, helps you chose the right multiple choice answer when you fell asleep in your book the night before the test (Something got through!). Another way to name self-trust would be "intuition". It has helped humans make it through all kinds of hardships.
The other terror that scares us from self-trust is our consistency; a reverence for our past act or word because the eyes of others have no other data for computing our orbit than our past acts, and we are loath to disappoint them. - Paragraph 12
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. - Paragraph 14
These two quotes definitely belong together. Consistency, while good for election years and cats, really makes for very unhappy humans. When you get into a place where your work is being reviewed on a regular basis (say in a school or corporate situation), consistency is rewarded. Many businesses don't like surprises or new ideas. Routine is a key word.
My favorite line of this is "with consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do". Especially as young techno geeks, we crave constant change (read: Tom Peters). It makes things interesting and keeps us caring about outcomes. Again with the Tom Peters reference, "support fast failures". Fast failures don't happen with consistency! Get creative!
Links
Dom Caristi - Moderator
Panelists:
Kimberly Zarkin
Barry Umansky
Paul MacArthur
By User!
Is filtering an effective way to control content?
Prior Bill
-content provider filter technology
-no one uses the V-Chip? Why does that matter? It's a personal choice to use it.
V-Chip: do parents know how to use it? do they know it's there? do they care?
Individual choices, giving the user the tools to make those choices
TVs able to block certain channels on the actual TV instead of calling the provider to do it
Kids always find a work around, parents must be vigilant.
V-Chip and other tools are a way to stave off government regulation. We take care of it, the government won't have to step in.
By the Provider
Joe Leibermann - YouTube issue - please remove all videos that are "ProTerrorism" or "ProViolence".
Did the videos actually violate the terms of service?
Providers must protect their customer or the customer will leave them. So it is worth it to the provider to provide control of their network.
New technology is being abused. Defamation and Libel still are in effect. Squash comment boards, but what does that mean?
Ethics on the Internet!
Educate rather than block
But what about China? France?
Illegal activities vs. Defaming speech
Should the Government regulate content: indecent or otherwise?
Broadcasting is different than the Internet. The Internet is more open than TV.
Librarians evaluate books that come into a library. But they are trained to do so. Legislators making a blanket statement about what can be seen on the Internet is something else. They aren't trained. Plus, the lines aren't drawn properly. It's too vague of an application.
Usenet - Andrew Cuomo
Child pornography
To comply with Cuomo, Time Warner said "Fine, you can't connect to usenet while using Time Warner services."
Not a tight enough distinction between individual right to speak and the corporate right to speak. But the customer's protection is most important and that needs to be taken into consideration when listening to the corporations.
Indecency case in the Supreme Court - Keep your eyes on this.
Trade associations have to advance the desires of their members. Thus delaying things that would go against their interests. (i.e.: NAB - against satellite)
Who is going to be turned off in February? 15% is a lot. What is going to happen?
When it happens, we are going to see what no over the air broadcasting really means.
The boxes are hard to program for HD, even for the people who know how to program them.
Consistency is key, but not widely practiced.
The government will have to deal with digital "Must Carry" with all the new things coming up in the next year.
Dish V. Cable penetration - what does that mean for the future?
Regulation for the airwaves stems from scarcity?
Regulation stems from protection of children?
Scarcity doesn't really exist anymore with the advent of digital. We can cram more stuff into the same amount of space. More channels!
End Question: Should their be content control of any sort? If no, then who should be in control of that?
Umansky: In law, it depends!
Zarkin: Until something better comes up, we are responsible for what we see.
MacArthur: Yes, there should be, but the government will be doing that until something else comes up.
The conference just began, the first sessions started at 915. I am currently attending the Net Neutrality session.
Panelists in this session include: Cecil Bohanon, Dr. Bill Lehr, Wayne Dunham, and Steven Titch.
"When gasoline costs $4 a gallon, companies shouldn't just be doing all they can to expand telecommuting — they should be scrapping their offices entirely. No, not turning them into toy-filled communal spaces, as advertising titan Chiat/Day infamously did in the early-'90s, but abandoning them outright.
That might sound a bit radical to those who swear by the office's supposed benefits, like camaraderie and face-to-face collaboration. But time and again, studies have shown that telecommuters are every bit as engaged as their cubicle-bound brethren — and happier and more productive to boot." - Home Sweet Office (wired.com, 9/22/08)
"Going Green" is a new fad in business. A whole new market emerges for you to sell your product to when you tout "green". But certainly not having a central office for your employees to flock to every day saves all kinds of resources. It's a serious selling point. Not to mention your employees would (theoretically) love not having to get up at 7am every day to slog their way in to work.
But as Kirsten Smith noted today, "Some bosses don't care how much you get done, but how long your butt is in the seat." While that is an admirable tradition to just stick it out even if all your work is done (think finishing your vegetables) that is wasted time. Which equals wasted money. Which means less for more and not in the good way!
The second aspect of the article was that of the communication and collaboration aspect of simply going to work. Studies have shown that much of the "work" that gets done in offices is completed or created around the "water cooler". When the environment is non-threatening, people are more apt to be creative and share-y.
Informal communication can also come in the form of IMing during work hours. But this brings up all the new web tools that exist to bring us closer in this global economy. You can't always make it to Japan to talk to a client. What do you use? Video conferencing. What would you use if you were at home, a telecommuter, and got beeped in for a meeting? Video conferencing. That's been happening for years, why would it change now? Even if the central office would be done away with, there would be a need (and human desire) to get together for meetings every now and then. As we are learning in 601, trust between people that you are working with in any capacity is extremely important.
In conclusion, I believe that abandoning the central office won't happen, at least in the next 10 years. It's tradition that we go through these rituals of slogging to work every day. Having regular conversations with our coworkers, actual human communication, on a daily basis is pretty important, even if we don't realize it consciously.
Hyperlinks
Home Sweet Office - via Wired.com
]]>"The Big Switch" has a very interesting premise. Nicholas Carr claims that a power shift has occurred from the "Personal Computer" to the "Public Computer". The tools that we used to use off network are now pulled off the Internet and we often do the bulk of our work "online". Because of this our brains have be reprogrammed to think like the Internet, like we browse.
I will throw this out there right now, I have not read this book. As soon as I get the funds I will be beat-feeting it to my local bookstore to buy it. I am intrigued by the drastic change in humans that technology has caused. 6 years ago I would not have dreamed of texting anyone, but couldn't drag myself away from my AOL Instant Messenger. Now it's just the opposite, I'm never on AIM, but always text, practically refusing to call anyone unless I have to. I digress.
Carr noted in the Colbert interview that a byproduct of our dependence on the Internet and it's subsequent retooling of our brain is that our concentration and focus has totally disappeared. For the most part, as a society our ability to stop and reflect. We are always GO GO GO. Carr says that our brain has basically turned into an Internet browser and thrives on jumping from LOLCats to CNN.com to 5 minutes of actual research of any one subject.
My first reaction was one of rejection. I thought, "That's not even possible. I don't do that. Did I do my homework? I was supposed to read that book for Bellaver. Damn it. I wonder what's on CNN.com. OH! I Can Has Cheeseburger has new pictures up! Wait, I'm getting a text."
Oh.... that's what he was talking about.
To me it just makes sense. I thought about everything I do in a day and how many things are flying through my head at the same time. I multitask in class (yeah, I do). I have 4 browser windows and my notes page on OneNote open, AND I'm thinking about what I'm going to do after class and what I'm going to eat.
So what do we do? How do we, as scientists and well-educated folk of the world, battle this? How can we learn to focus and reflect on our day in a constructive way? For me, I know I will always be multitasking and "browsing" in my brain even while I'm doing important task. This perhaps will go on my "Quality" list, a la Mr. Bernard F. Sergesketter, author of "Quality is Personal". I will make a conscious effort to stop, focus and reflect on my day and just smell the roses, so to speak.
**Note: I will follow up on this with a review and thoughts about "The Big Switch" as soon as I get the book.
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