"In physics,power is the rate at which work is performed or energy is converted."
--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_%28physics%29
Power equals work divided by time. So you get more power with less time.
This is, pardon the pun, a powerful metaphore. Hashtags or # plus a key word is a powerful formula for cataloging, idea jotting, event reminders, and just about anything you can use a "keyword" for when tagging.
For a longer description:http://www.techforluddites.com/2009/02/the-twitter-hash-tag-what-is-it-and-how-do-you-use-it.html
Where do you use it?
Well, it is a serreptitious use of twitter that has been applied to everything from geekpoles to conference notes. Simply tweet with a #keyterm and anyone can use the Search function of twitter to read what you are doing, thinking, working on, listening to, planning, etc.
A very cheap universal SMS or Short Message Server since twitter is free and all those using it are already text friendly. Those who aren't can still get a free account and search with a web browser on their PC or Mac.
Smart. Very. Advertising and spam have even hacked into the Hashtag power.
Now, remember that this is public, and tweets can be "found again" using new time warp functions. Keep it clean, keep it professional, and most of all keep it useful.
How do you know to search for a #tag on twitter? Easy enough. Most conferences, pamphlets, and advertisements tell you the hashtag or keyword to search for.
Also, you can random search for things you think others might be talking about. A common trend is a #moviename or #celebrityname EX: #AliceinWonderland or #JonnyDepp
If you are a researcher, its a little sloppy and on the qualitative side, but if you are tech admin and trying to see where the wind is blowing today, you can learn a lot from your friends out there. If you work with a group on a particular software, you can all # your comments on issues and solutions with the software name. What if another organization that uses the same software hashtags their issues and solutions. FAQ on the move with more info as the collaborative group grows.
There are many more things I can think of to use the #tag function for, but I think what is most important is the realization that there is power in "mashing up" many of our social networking tools for faster solutions or easier lives.
So, what will you #tag?
#whatwillutagkatblue14
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Cloudy with a chance of computing...
Today I wanted to stop from my little digital world to talk about the things that keep coming up at work.
Cloud Computing:
Cloud computing is in essence the Tower of Babel, the Library at Alexandria, it is the collective consciousness.
We live in two veils of existence. We are never alone. We always have help. We have friends we will never see. We have friends we see that we never speak to the way we do the friends we don't see.
Is this bad?
Perspective is important. I listened recently to Dr. Christopher Dede at faculty forum speak about digital media.
As he spoke about value of digital media and social networking, there was still a sense of cynicism and distrust that seemed juxtaposed by his excitement for the tools. It made a lot of interference for me as a listener to hear someone diametrically opposed from a digital standpoint against the very same idealism his generation (my parents too) tried to teach us as young students. The ability to dream and to make those dreams come true.
I listened to the group pick apart the ability of my generation and the ones below me to delineate real from virtual worlds.
I found myself asking, "What is your problem? You told us to grow up and change the world, to make it a better place. You told us to make friends, to work together, to be more than what we are. So what if I have an Avatar--that avatar is working with others to transfer the world we are making in the cloud of the net back to YOUR reality."
Then I stopped myself.
Dr. Dede's rhetoric is indicative of the digital divide in whatever current terms are available.
I enjoyed what he had to say, but I can't necessarily agree with his ideas on application or his distrust. And, maybe he didn't really mean for his conversation to echo the distrust of his generation.
Students need solid problem based learning problems and skills to work in these virtual realms that will apply to their real life. I want my child to be a problem solver. I can thank my MOM for my first TSR Dungeons and Dragons set and its hours of problem solving and collaborative skills sets. World of War Craft, Second Life, Mafia Wars, and all the millions of flash group games are teaching us to work together rather than apart. Eventually no one will remember a world where it wasn't ok to go look something up or ask for help with a problem. If you can solve a problem together, you can solve it alone too. The skill set is the same, the knowledge base is just more diverse in a group.
More importantly, for me, his conversation opened my eyes on better ways to ask faculty and students to work together. Stop looking at the buttons, look at how the skills from the buttons that have nothing to do with clicking will click in the RW or Real World.
I find value in Second Life because we can see what works before we spend too much money or time. I value Second Life for being able to bring people into a multicultural or problem solving situation that I would never have access to in the Real World.
Academia is changing, and will continue to change. The world is opening up. Can you allow yourself for two moments to think that maybe someone sitting on a machine in Ghana might have the answer you need to your current problem? Can you be grateful that they are in your cloud helping you along? Can you help someone in Alaska? Australia? Thailand?
You tell your students to go to the library, but the world is right there waiting behind a 15 inch screen with real humans waiting to help you not only read their experiences, but to experience with them their world.
Cloudy with a chance of computing. Hope comes from the skies.
Cloud Computing:
Cloud computing is in essence the Tower of Babel, the Library at Alexandria, it is the collective consciousness.
We live in two veils of existence. We are never alone. We always have help. We have friends we will never see. We have friends we see that we never speak to the way we do the friends we don't see.
Is this bad?
Perspective is important. I listened recently to Dr. Christopher Dede at faculty forum speak about digital media.
As he spoke about value of digital media and social networking, there was still a sense of cynicism and distrust that seemed juxtaposed by his excitement for the tools. It made a lot of interference for me as a listener to hear someone diametrically opposed from a digital standpoint against the very same idealism his generation (my parents too) tried to teach us as young students. The ability to dream and to make those dreams come true.
I listened to the group pick apart the ability of my generation and the ones below me to delineate real from virtual worlds.
I found myself asking, "What is your problem? You told us to grow up and change the world, to make it a better place. You told us to make friends, to work together, to be more than what we are. So what if I have an Avatar--that avatar is working with others to transfer the world we are making in the cloud of the net back to YOUR reality."
Then I stopped myself.
Dr. Dede's rhetoric is indicative of the digital divide in whatever current terms are available.
I enjoyed what he had to say, but I can't necessarily agree with his ideas on application or his distrust. And, maybe he didn't really mean for his conversation to echo the distrust of his generation.
Students need solid problem based learning problems and skills to work in these virtual realms that will apply to their real life. I want my child to be a problem solver. I can thank my MOM for my first TSR Dungeons and Dragons set and its hours of problem solving and collaborative skills sets. World of War Craft, Second Life, Mafia Wars, and all the millions of flash group games are teaching us to work together rather than apart. Eventually no one will remember a world where it wasn't ok to go look something up or ask for help with a problem. If you can solve a problem together, you can solve it alone too. The skill set is the same, the knowledge base is just more diverse in a group.
More importantly, for me, his conversation opened my eyes on better ways to ask faculty and students to work together. Stop looking at the buttons, look at how the skills from the buttons that have nothing to do with clicking will click in the RW or Real World.
I find value in Second Life because we can see what works before we spend too much money or time. I value Second Life for being able to bring people into a multicultural or problem solving situation that I would never have access to in the Real World.
Academia is changing, and will continue to change. The world is opening up. Can you allow yourself for two moments to think that maybe someone sitting on a machine in Ghana might have the answer you need to your current problem? Can you be grateful that they are in your cloud helping you along? Can you help someone in Alaska? Australia? Thailand?
You tell your students to go to the library, but the world is right there waiting behind a 15 inch screen with real humans waiting to help you not only read their experiences, but to experience with them their world.
Cloudy with a chance of computing. Hope comes from the skies.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Browsers Be Gone....
It seems easy, you make a tool that runs on any browser, then anyone can use it. Riiiight!
This week has been a lesson in how the lack of enforced code standards in XHTML and internet protocols as well as MIME types can create a nightmare for online education departments.
I am leaving company names out due to the fact that money is good and debt is bad, however, I am pretty sure they know who they are.
Most of the big Learning Management Systems as well as the new out-cropping of browser based add-ons for education begin by saying they support Internet Explorer....7...no wait 8...9? They constantly are having to shift their focus in coding to deal with the latest disaster that the company that owns the rights to the browser makes for them.
Add in Mozilla, Safari, Chrome, and whatever company decides to jump in, how ARE these companies that are using browsers going to hang in there for technical support. Every time the tools and add-ons up grade the transverse principle applies as well. What they do won't run on old browsers/java et al. Backwards compatibility seems to have never entered their thoughts.
This isn't like new and nifty brands of shoes, kids!
Maybe you should bundle a browser with your software that we can supply to our students? Maybe Education should create a flavor we encourage and support.
Maybe we need to re-think the backbone structure we use?
I do not have the answer students, instructors, tool makers and browser moguls. But, I do know that spending 8 or more hours trying to switch people back and forth between IE, Safari, and Mozilla because one things works in this browser and not that is ridiculous. A three ring circus.
Do we need enforced codes that ALL browsers must use? MIME type handlers that MUST be included in any new flavor. Required backwards compliance in all software and browsers? OH wait, even better, what happens in .Net or Virtual Worlds that ride on the same code backbones?
PLEASE make our jobs easier. If you have a solution my friends, post it here, let's talk about it. Petitions are waiting to be made.
Browsers be gone....or at least the difficulties.
This week has been a lesson in how the lack of enforced code standards in XHTML and internet protocols as well as MIME types can create a nightmare for online education departments.
I am leaving company names out due to the fact that money is good and debt is bad, however, I am pretty sure they know who they are.
Most of the big Learning Management Systems as well as the new out-cropping of browser based add-ons for education begin by saying they support Internet Explorer....7...no wait 8...9? They constantly are having to shift their focus in coding to deal with the latest disaster that the company that owns the rights to the browser makes for them.
Add in Mozilla, Safari, Chrome, and whatever company decides to jump in, how ARE these companies that are using browsers going to hang in there for technical support. Every time the tools and add-ons up grade the transverse principle applies as well. What they do won't run on old browsers/java et al. Backwards compatibility seems to have never entered their thoughts.
This isn't like new and nifty brands of shoes, kids!
Maybe you should bundle a browser with your software that we can supply to our students? Maybe Education should create a flavor we encourage and support.
Maybe we need to re-think the backbone structure we use?
I do not have the answer students, instructors, tool makers and browser moguls. But, I do know that spending 8 or more hours trying to switch people back and forth between IE, Safari, and Mozilla because one things works in this browser and not that is ridiculous. A three ring circus.
Do we need enforced codes that ALL browsers must use? MIME type handlers that MUST be included in any new flavor. Required backwards compliance in all software and browsers? OH wait, even better, what happens in .Net or Virtual Worlds that ride on the same code backbones?
PLEASE make our jobs easier. If you have a solution my friends, post it here, let's talk about it. Petitions are waiting to be made.
Browsers be gone....or at least the difficulties.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Hey Gamer Fans--Check this out!
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/0401/04-ask.html
One of the physics students who works in our lab at APSU showed me this! Thanks Zach!
I wanted to take a minute to share it with you, because you should know you are working to transcribe books that OCR scanners can't read. You are also helping others with creating artificial intelligence.
PBS rocks! But I think it is also important to note that our students are watching, reading, and learning on the net. Social networking is not just about dating, it is even more so about like minded individuals discussing important innovations, seeking comprehension of the innovation, and applying the innovation in even more innovative ways.
Kudos to Zach, a remarkable student at a remarkable university, Austin Peay State University to be exact.
One of the physics students who works in our lab at APSU showed me this! Thanks Zach!
I wanted to take a minute to share it with you, because you should know you are working to transcribe books that OCR scanners can't read. You are also helping others with creating artificial intelligence.
PBS rocks! But I think it is also important to note that our students are watching, reading, and learning on the net. Social networking is not just about dating, it is even more so about like minded individuals discussing important innovations, seeking comprehension of the innovation, and applying the innovation in even more innovative ways.
Kudos to Zach, a remarkable student at a remarkable university, Austin Peay State University to be exact.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Mind Your Media
One of the most common questions I get these days in the land of Online and Distributed Learning concerns the validity of chasing the social networking monster for education.
Is there value?
What many instructors in online and face to face courses are seeking to do is create a conversation that pulls us past the "lecture and test" principles commonly practiced before the 1970's revolution of problem based learning.
PBL or Problem Based Learning is NOT new guys. See http://www.ntlf.com/html/pi/9812/pbl_1.htm However, everyone has had a different take on how to make it work.
Problem based learning is time consuming to engineer effectively. Instructional Design principles vary, but one of the most common engineering practices in curriculum development is backwards engineering. The use of rubrics with competencies to meet learning objectives for overall competence in a subject is for some a natural way of teaching and certainly lends itself to backwards engineering. However, the 'road map' so to speak of the learning objectives and competencies can expand at an alarming rate if you really engineer a course. See: http://www.desire2learn.com/competencies/what/ for a useful look at the simplest maps.
In online education, that road map is tantamount. Time has to be spent on aligning technologies that will best allow students to meet the learning objectives and competencies for maximum learning, easy assessment, and overall comparison to expected outcomes in the rubric. In a larger scale, graduation rates and program success depends even on the smallest learning objectives and competency. If the department fails to look at core courses and what is expected for all students in each level to have mastered before progressing, the students will fail at an undesignated point when that competency is the cornerstone of their next competency in an upper level course.
An example from my own discipline of Theatre might be:
Competency: Successful students in theatre must understand the collaborative nature of theatre.
Learning Objective: Students will be able to label the production position chart from Producer to Stage Technician and discuss the hierarchical relationships between the positions with a focus on the collaborative nature of theatre.
Assessment: Label the hierarchical chart
Read sample tasks or problems that may arise in a productions cycle
Use discussion boards to talk about who students would assign those issues or tasks
The instructor may comment to enforce or "teach" good choices students post
Media of "sample" production meeting issues to be reviewed by student
Essay using texts or other sources to support personal idea of how to best resolve issues, describe what is happening in the meeting to be assessed by the instructor on quality and thoughtfulness of response.
Competency Achieved:
If a student understands the structure, they will know who to address the problem to and that their job is related to and dependent on other jobs. Critical thinking will allow them to independently select the most appropriate method to achieve a production goal.
Program Competency Achieved:
Program success would meant that the student who masters this seemingly "easy" learning objective and competency will be able to work and think at a higher level as a collaborative team member for planning and execution of anything from design work to being a member of an ensemble cast.
Returning to my point---->
Online development IS harder in the initial phase because the instructor must analyze their rubrics, competencies, and learning objectives with a finer eye to detail. Students are often learning in asynchronous formats without the ability to "stop the teacher" when they do not get it. They also do not constantly have the instructor reminding them of WHY it is important to learn what they are learning. In problem based learning, the WHY is a crucial element for students to foster trust, communication, and collaborative learning. Conversation is imperative to student success in any learning environment, social networking gives us that ability to converse out of synch with time about a common subject fed to places we live in most online or on our mobile phones.
There must be a balance between understanding for an assessment and understanding that endures through multiple assessments. Problem Based Learning is indeed a good method for fostering deep learning as well as critical thinking skills that will allow learners the ability to take the teachable moment into their own hands when you, the instructor, are not beside them in the work force.
Mind your media is my way of saying that all these tools for social networking and multimedia are just that, tools.
If you fail to think in terms of basic curriculum design, no cool video, no Twitter account, and no Facebook account will save you or increase learning.
One of the best books I ever read in grad school was Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Pirsig. See: http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/401.Robert_M_Pirsig for good quotes. We have to find the, "right tool for the right job." A phrase that applies to many disciplines, even that of theatre.
Yes, these tools are valuable, but YOU the instructor are even more valuable because you have the ability to use the tool to increase learning, and help students to critically think, discuss, and relate to one another. One mind is powerful, but as cloud computing has shown us, many minds solve a problem more quickly.
In summation, yes, there is value in blogs, vlogs, wikis, twitter, second life, and a host of other flavanoid loaded options for collaborative discussion and work. However, none of them have value without you, the instructor, to guide students through conversations as you have always done. No technology is a substitute for that.
Mind your Media!
Is there value?
What many instructors in online and face to face courses are seeking to do is create a conversation that pulls us past the "lecture and test" principles commonly practiced before the 1970's revolution of problem based learning.
PBL or Problem Based Learning is NOT new guys. See http://www.ntlf.com/html/pi/9812/pbl_1.htm However, everyone has had a different take on how to make it work.
Problem based learning is time consuming to engineer effectively. Instructional Design principles vary, but one of the most common engineering practices in curriculum development is backwards engineering. The use of rubrics with competencies to meet learning objectives for overall competence in a subject is for some a natural way of teaching and certainly lends itself to backwards engineering. However, the 'road map' so to speak of the learning objectives and competencies can expand at an alarming rate if you really engineer a course. See: http://www.desire2learn.com/competencies/what/ for a useful look at the simplest maps.
In online education, that road map is tantamount. Time has to be spent on aligning technologies that will best allow students to meet the learning objectives and competencies for maximum learning, easy assessment, and overall comparison to expected outcomes in the rubric. In a larger scale, graduation rates and program success depends even on the smallest learning objectives and competency. If the department fails to look at core courses and what is expected for all students in each level to have mastered before progressing, the students will fail at an undesignated point when that competency is the cornerstone of their next competency in an upper level course.
An example from my own discipline of Theatre might be:
Competency: Successful students in theatre must understand the collaborative nature of theatre.
Learning Objective: Students will be able to label the production position chart from Producer to Stage Technician and discuss the hierarchical relationships between the positions with a focus on the collaborative nature of theatre.
Assessment: Label the hierarchical chart
Read sample tasks or problems that may arise in a productions cycle
Use discussion boards to talk about who students would assign those issues or tasks
The instructor may comment to enforce or "teach" good choices students post
Media of "sample" production meeting issues to be reviewed by student
Essay using texts or other sources to support personal idea of how to best resolve issues, describe what is happening in the meeting to be assessed by the instructor on quality and thoughtfulness of response.
Competency Achieved:
If a student understands the structure, they will know who to address the problem to and that their job is related to and dependent on other jobs. Critical thinking will allow them to independently select the most appropriate method to achieve a production goal.
Program Competency Achieved:
Program success would meant that the student who masters this seemingly "easy" learning objective and competency will be able to work and think at a higher level as a collaborative team member for planning and execution of anything from design work to being a member of an ensemble cast.
Returning to my point---->
Online development IS harder in the initial phase because the instructor must analyze their rubrics, competencies, and learning objectives with a finer eye to detail. Students are often learning in asynchronous formats without the ability to "stop the teacher" when they do not get it. They also do not constantly have the instructor reminding them of WHY it is important to learn what they are learning. In problem based learning, the WHY is a crucial element for students to foster trust, communication, and collaborative learning. Conversation is imperative to student success in any learning environment, social networking gives us that ability to converse out of synch with time about a common subject fed to places we live in most online or on our mobile phones.
There must be a balance between understanding for an assessment and understanding that endures through multiple assessments. Problem Based Learning is indeed a good method for fostering deep learning as well as critical thinking skills that will allow learners the ability to take the teachable moment into their own hands when you, the instructor, are not beside them in the work force.
Mind your media is my way of saying that all these tools for social networking and multimedia are just that, tools.
If you fail to think in terms of basic curriculum design, no cool video, no Twitter account, and no Facebook account will save you or increase learning.
One of the best books I ever read in grad school was Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Pirsig. See: http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/401.Robert_M_Pirsig for good quotes. We have to find the, "right tool for the right job." A phrase that applies to many disciplines, even that of theatre.
Yes, these tools are valuable, but YOU the instructor are even more valuable because you have the ability to use the tool to increase learning, and help students to critically think, discuss, and relate to one another. One mind is powerful, but as cloud computing has shown us, many minds solve a problem more quickly.
In summation, yes, there is value in blogs, vlogs, wikis, twitter, second life, and a host of other flavanoid loaded options for collaborative discussion and work. However, none of them have value without you, the instructor, to guide students through conversations as you have always done. No technology is a substitute for that.
Mind your Media!
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Social Networking 101: Hacking Is Inevitable
I want to stress that I spend a lot of time looking at my digital foot print.
What?
What is that?
Please note that just because you put something out on the web does not mean you:
1. Are the owner
2. Can control who sees it (despite what they told you in class)
3. Can dodge interviewers by saying, "I was just a kid!"
Some where, some how, anything can be found again.
Sometimes all you need to do is look at a Cached page on a google search. Hint...Myspace you can see deleted profiles that were private that way as well!
Next, there are "timewarp" sites that can let you find something as far back as the 90's. Yep, someone back then thought of owning you too. I bet you thought Facebook was the first to ever violate your rights.
Let me also stress that the cute guy next to you in class is not liable to feel the least bit shy about sharing his mobile pict txts from your last hot session or fight. Sadly, this is what is probably going to eventually cause Social Net's to charge money. They can ID you by a credit card and the government will be happy. Or, more importantly, they will have a stash of money for the liable suit that currently they think their terms and conditions protect them from. Note: Build a better mouse trap and some one will make a better mouse.
Welcome to the Web 2.0 world, it is OPEN and it is UNMONITORED.
Do I have stupid things out there...yep. Those of us who grew with the net were there before we even knew what it meant, let alone how long it would exist. I am pretty sure none of us really know what it all means now or what it will look like in another 20 years. Like the world we live in, the NetWorld is open ended.
So, I do the basic checks, google, etc on a regular basis to make sure I am still 'ok'. This isn't to say some post on a journal in which I was angry won't be found by someone who REALLY wants it. It simply means I know the worst for the average searcher. (Hint: Do these searches before you interview!)
Hint hint...most sites will take things down on request. No one wants a legal battle.
Finally, it is good to see who is checking you out. There are plenty of places to get trackers. My current fave is TraceMyIP.org
Easy to use, easy to place, and the average human doesn't have a clue what it is or what it does. It can give you a quick google map of where the the person is located--and sometimes to the house or building! You can track how often they show up, what pages they are looking at, etc. You can also use this as a cool marketing tracker if you work it correctly.
Either way, I thought I would devote today to sharing with my friends the darker side of Social Networking. Enjoy it, but like a night out at the club, watch your drink.
What?
What is that?
Please note that just because you put something out on the web does not mean you:
1. Are the owner
2. Can control who sees it (despite what they told you in class)
3. Can dodge interviewers by saying, "I was just a kid!"
Some where, some how, anything can be found again.
Sometimes all you need to do is look at a Cached page on a google search. Hint...Myspace you can see deleted profiles that were private that way as well!
Next, there are "timewarp" sites that can let you find something as far back as the 90's. Yep, someone back then thought of owning you too. I bet you thought Facebook was the first to ever violate your rights.
Let me also stress that the cute guy next to you in class is not liable to feel the least bit shy about sharing his mobile pict txts from your last hot session or fight. Sadly, this is what is probably going to eventually cause Social Net's to charge money. They can ID you by a credit card and the government will be happy. Or, more importantly, they will have a stash of money for the liable suit that currently they think their terms and conditions protect them from. Note: Build a better mouse trap and some one will make a better mouse.
Welcome to the Web 2.0 world, it is OPEN and it is UNMONITORED.
Do I have stupid things out there...yep. Those of us who grew with the net were there before we even knew what it meant, let alone how long it would exist. I am pretty sure none of us really know what it all means now or what it will look like in another 20 years. Like the world we live in, the NetWorld is open ended.
So, I do the basic checks, google, etc on a regular basis to make sure I am still 'ok'. This isn't to say some post on a journal in which I was angry won't be found by someone who REALLY wants it. It simply means I know the worst for the average searcher. (Hint: Do these searches before you interview!)
Hint hint...most sites will take things down on request. No one wants a legal battle.
Finally, it is good to see who is checking you out. There are plenty of places to get trackers. My current fave is TraceMyIP.org
Easy to use, easy to place, and the average human doesn't have a clue what it is or what it does. It can give you a quick google map of where the the person is located--and sometimes to the house or building! You can track how often they show up, what pages they are looking at, etc. You can also use this as a cool marketing tracker if you work it correctly.
Either way, I thought I would devote today to sharing with my friends the darker side of Social Networking. Enjoy it, but like a night out at the club, watch your drink.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Welcome to the Holo Deck Captain.....
http://tinyurl.com/5m2tzs
The URL posted above goes to a YouTube video that I very much enjoy watching.
If you work in the world of AV you can imagine how exciting something like this technology is. If you work with GPS technology, etc. even more so.
There are practical applications for the technology obviously, but one that I thought of almost immediately is holographic technology.
At Virginia Tech, my alma mater, there is a place called the CAVE. It is very much the first steps towards the infamous Holo Deck idea from Star Trek.
It involves tedious mapping and correlation to make the "holo tours" that they currently show, but imagine being able to take a software like Seadragon, feed in a few hundred real snapshots from all around the world to build an object that is projectable through a sort of fuzzy logic that the human brain uses.
I'm not saying it is going to be tomorrow, but the real and practical use of holographic technology will be in my lifetime--probably the latter part. Imagine Art History and being able to tour the cathedrals or visit the Parthenon; a meaningful "do" sort of experience that helps students not only witness but retain the lesson through deep learning.
The hardest part of my job is looking at each and every technology and trying to decide what will mean something in 5 or 10 years. What is going to last? Will the initial investment pay off?
The internet as we know it today was only text in 1993 for the most part. In 2023 we may see a virtual web that allows the user to move from site to site as an avatar to shop and "hold" objects, not just look at static pictures or Flash animations.
Social Networking is certainly taking us to heights unimagined in years past, not just in the amount of divorces, but in more productive uses. Imagine a think tank as large as the world in which everyone contributed to solve issues. A repository for world leaders to build better futures.
Imagine every computer in the US donating 10 percent of it's processing time to work on something for the betterment of society?
I think about these things quite a lot lately. We can do more. We should do more. What will you do?
The URL posted above goes to a YouTube video that I very much enjoy watching.
If you work in the world of AV you can imagine how exciting something like this technology is. If you work with GPS technology, etc. even more so.
There are practical applications for the technology obviously, but one that I thought of almost immediately is holographic technology.
At Virginia Tech, my alma mater, there is a place called the CAVE. It is very much the first steps towards the infamous Holo Deck idea from Star Trek.
It involves tedious mapping and correlation to make the "holo tours" that they currently show, but imagine being able to take a software like Seadragon, feed in a few hundred real snapshots from all around the world to build an object that is projectable through a sort of fuzzy logic that the human brain uses.
I'm not saying it is going to be tomorrow, but the real and practical use of holographic technology will be in my lifetime--probably the latter part. Imagine Art History and being able to tour the cathedrals or visit the Parthenon; a meaningful "do" sort of experience that helps students not only witness but retain the lesson through deep learning.
The hardest part of my job is looking at each and every technology and trying to decide what will mean something in 5 or 10 years. What is going to last? Will the initial investment pay off?
The internet as we know it today was only text in 1993 for the most part. In 2023 we may see a virtual web that allows the user to move from site to site as an avatar to shop and "hold" objects, not just look at static pictures or Flash animations.
Social Networking is certainly taking us to heights unimagined in years past, not just in the amount of divorces, but in more productive uses. Imagine a think tank as large as the world in which everyone contributed to solve issues. A repository for world leaders to build better futures.
Imagine every computer in the US donating 10 percent of it's processing time to work on something for the betterment of society?
I think about these things quite a lot lately. We can do more. We should do more. What will you do?
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