Militarized Skateboard

Militarized Skateboard

I'm doing a review paper on how military technology has resulted in world change. I stumbled across this article while doing my research and find the idea of a militarized skateboard highly amusing.  Makes me think, where WILL they go next? A military-grade, tank tread equipped Segway?

IMO, this skateboard doesn't seem to be very practical. Why use a skateboard when you have the ATVs?
I think this contraption isn't very useful. However, you may decide for yourself. :)

Session 4

Session 3
SESSION 3: REVIEW
Topics covered:

• Drivers of World Change
• Change Management and Change Leadership

Brief Overview/ Summary
Drivers of World Change

What drives world change?? We established in class that some major drivers of World Change are:

1.    Environmental Drivers
·    Evolution
·    Environmental change (global warming, pollution and environmental contamination)
·    "Germs" (plague epidemics and the Dark Ages/ Renaissance; SARS; Bird Flu)

2.    Scientific Discovery and Technology Innovation

3.    Social, Demographic, Cultural, Ideological Change

4.    Commercial/ Business Innovation

5.    Competition

6.    Globalization

7.    Changing Expectations and "Tastes" with Changing Times

Class Presentation/Discussion

WATER AS A DRIVER OF CHANGE - Peter Wilkie (YUSUF)
 Should water be a human right or commodity?
The main reason of the water crisis is the commoditization of water. Should water access be privatized?
Water can be managed at many levels, namely, global, national and individual, but how is it best managed? (economically, ethically)

TRADE AS A DRIVER OF WORLD CHANGE (DEBBIE)
"Debt is an efficient tool. It ensures access to other peoples' raw materials and infrastructure on the cheapest possible terms. Dozens of countries must compete for shrinking export markets and can export only a limited range of products because of Northern protectionism and their lack of cash to invest in diversification." How far do you agree?
How can LDCs develop their economies and compete with developed countries in the area of exporting manufactured goods?

A MCGYVER FOR THE THIRD WORLD (AISHWARYA)
How can we manage innovation according to the needs of the developing world?
Can the large population of countries such as India be used as a tool for changing them in a positive way
Is change spurred on by individuals leading organizations (such as Amy Smith) or organizations themselves?


Change Management and Change Leadership

During this session, we discussed

• The differences between Change Management and Change Leadership.
• The issue of how to lead change
• The issue of how to manage change.
• What happens following the decision of an organization to respond to change.

Class Presentation/Discussion

THE IRRATIONAL SIDE OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT - CAROLYN AIKEN & SCOTT KELLER (JIANMING)
Are the insights of change management strategy applicable to all businesses (Small, medium & large?)
Do you see any possible setbacks for them?
What were the best change management projects that you were a part of?
Was it a success or a failure?

QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF MALAYSIAN SECONDARY SCHOOL TECHNOLOGY LEADERSHIP (ANZIE)
Given that English is not the medium of instruction in many schools in Malaysia, would it be a significant inhibitor in technology implementation?
How would you define Productivity and Professional Practice in technology usage in schools?
Is there a role in society for those who are not acquainted with technology?

THE NEW VOICE OF THE CIO(JING HAO)
Sometimes the role of CIOs seems contradictory. They have to improve services but at the same time cut costs, how do you think they can do that?
It is said that CIOs have redefined roles. They do not just perform IT roles, they also infuence business strategies. How do you think they can influence business strategies?

Interesting Observations and Ideas/Key Takeaways

Drivers For World Change
1.    Environmental Drivers

• ·    Evolution

o    Humans are anything but static. We’re a dynamic species, constantly changing and learning from the moment we are born to the moment we die.

• ·    Environmental change (global warming, pollution and environmental contamination)

• ·    "Germs" (plague epidemics and the Dark Ages/ Renaissance; SARS; Bird Flu)

o    It’s funny how something as microscopic as bacteria and viruses have the potential to cause such a large and lasting effect on the world. I still remember my experience with the Bird Flu quite vividly to this day. During the Bird Flu period, every time I’d follow my mother to the local wet market, I remember seeing many, if not all of the stalls selling raw poultry closed. Those that decided to remain open were avoided by many of the people in the market. Those were bleak times for those involved in the poultry industry indeed!

2.    Scientific Discovery and Technology Innovation
·    Increasingly, technology is becoming an integral part of our lives. So much so that almost all technological advances and scientific discoveries have the potential to cause great impact to our lives. Take mobile computing for example. Not too long ago, computers were anything BUT portable. To move a computer physically from one place to another required a tedious process of removing and disconnecting cables and later reconnecting the cables at the final location. Not only that, computers were heavy and bulky, adding to the further inconvenience of relocating computers. Nowadays, we have been blessed with the laptop! Technological advances have allowed for the miniaturization and condensation of computer components into a single, portable package. I know many of my peers would not be able to imagine life without their laptops. A more recent example of technological innovation would be the creation of Google. (The first modern laptop was created in 1988, Google, the search engine was created in 1998, 10 years later) Can you imagine browsing the web without your trusty search engine?

3.    Competition
·    Often times, competition results in the creation of bigger, better and faster. Multi-core CPUs actually resulted from the intense competition between CPU manufacturers Intel and AMD. An excerpt from http://huestones.co.uk/node/151 :

The gigahertz war
A few years back (2001) single core processors hitting speeds over 3.0GHz was what the consumer PC market was about. AMD was increasingly beating Intel at speed and price and gaining more ground with the Athlon series beating Pentium series to the ground. However as these chips got faster and smaller they consumed more power and chip manufacturers were faced with a horrible physics problem - Heat. Their faster and smaller chips were getting very very very hot and required large fans and heat sinks to cool them down.

The second core
Then came the idea that instead of doubling the processor speed, why not double the number of processors and multi-core was born. Instead of adding more speed to a chip, more cores were added to the same chip. This did not double the processors speed, but it made multi-tasking more efficient as the OS could schedule jobs on two cores, instead of one. This actually improved computer responsiveness as your virus checker would not hog up all of the processors. Given the increased responsiveness, individual core speeds could be reduced resolving the heat issue.

Change Management and Change Leadership
1.    Leadership vs. Management

• ·    Leadership: The process through which an individual tries to influence another individual or a group of individuals to accomplish a goal.

• ·    Management: The act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives.

2.    How to lead change?
In order to lead change, I believe that one has to be proactive in seeking change. Change will come to you eventually, regardless of whether you seek it, or you run away from it. However, actively seeking change will always ensure that you are amongst the first to experience change. Also, one needs to be able to readily embrace change. It’s no use seeking change only to find it but refuse to embrace it. In order to be a leader of change, one has to always be on the lookout on how to make things, bigger, better, faster and readily embrace the changes that are encountered.

3.    How to manage change?
Managing change, one the other hand, is a totally different story from leading change. The process of managing change requires the constant monitoring of change that is going on and making small adjustments to the change to ensure that at all times, the change is directed and developed towards achieving the result intended by the change.

4.    What happens following the decision of an organization to respond to change?
Once an organization decides to change, there are essentially 2 models that are followed with respect to change:

• Traditional Model: Freeze > Unfreeze > Freeze

1. This model involves the process of changing in stages. Organizations will attempt to freeze the current situation, plan accordingly and apply that to the situation although fundamental changes may have occurred during the planning stage. This process is repeated as many times as necessary to ensure the organization remains relevant.
2. This method is slow, and usually only allows the organization to “catch-up” to change. However, it may provide a sense of stability.

• Modern Model: Continuous monitoring and renewal

1. The organization will constantly monitor changes and make multiple small modifications and adjustments to its operations and various activities to ensure it always stays relevant.
2. This method enables organizations to be at the forefront of developments. However, it creates a volatile and ever changing environment within the organization.

Issues for Further Discussion
Most of the topics were quite thoroughly discussed this session. I don't have anything to add in terms of further discussion at this point in time.

Personal Ratings
(6/10) I  rate this week's session better than the following week. The discussions were much more interesting and much more contributions were made to move the discussion along. I hope to see more improvements like this in the weeks to come.

Session 3

Session 3
SESSION 3: REVIEW

Topics covered:

• Technology and Industrial Development: Toward Sustainability

• Technology and Innovation Management

Brief Overview/ Summary

• Technology and Industrial Development: Towards Sustainability

To give a little background information on Industrial Development, the Industrialization process is commonly attributed to being one of the major causal factors in rapid economic development. Perhaps the best example of this would be the Industrial Revolution.

In class, we discussed Industrial Development and how it may progress towards greater sustainability. We identified the need for industrial processes to shift from a linear process to a cyclical one, where resources used during the process may be reused for the process multiple times, hence the “cyclical” process. A linear process is one that is input focused, that is, only focused on the raw products needed for manufacturing. A cyclical process is one that not only focuses on input, but on the output as well. A cyclical process will also take into account any harmful by-products that may result from the manufacturing process.

The class went on to discuss Sustainable Industrial Development and finally agreed on the definition as set by United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) – Maximizing value creation without reducing options for future generations. 

This week’s quote was:

Sustainability requires a shift from linear to circular thinking
Old industrial Model: Economic Development vs. environmental well-being
Sustainable industrial model: Economic Development AND environmental well-being

- Gurinder Shahi

• Technology and Innovation Management

What is Innovation Management?

Innovation Management is:

1. Creating Value by Increasing the Efficiency of Translating Promising Concepts into High Value Products and Services
2. The R-D-A Translation Process
3. The Innovation Creation Pipeline:

• Concept
• Technology Validation
• “Productization”
• Business Model Validation
• Market Entry and Growth

Basically, Innovation Management is the discipline of managing processes in innovation. It is the control of workflow from the initial idea to the final product of innovation.

Interesting Observations and Ideas/Key Takeaways

• Technology and Industrial Development: Towards Sustainability

1. We are living on a planet with finite resources depleting at an increasing rate.  It is imperative that more effort be made to develop technologies to shift our natural gas dependency to other renewable resources.
2. The problem with Green-tech is what’s known in economics as “The Free-rider problem” It’s an “every man for himself” situation right now when it comes to industrial processes. As the name suggests, the free-rider problem is when the producers in an economy do not take into account the various negative externalities resulting from their production process, instead, leaving it to the Government to deal with the negative externalities present. Green-house gas and carbon emission are some examples of the negative externalities that not all producers are concerned about.
3. An important question: Should the more capable countries share technologies and aid other developing countries in producing and implementing Green-tech? Currently, Green-tech is very cost ineffective. Until newer, more economically viable technology is developed, the implementation of Green-tech is largely inaccessible to many developing countries. Seeing as developing countries usually have higher levels of pollution and carbon emissions (especially the USA) should they not have a moral obligation to provide aid to the less capable countries so that the issue of environmental well-being is addressed?

• Technology and Innovation Management

1. The primary goal of innovation management is to enable an organization or entity to adapt and respond to an opportunity, and direct its creative efforts to introduce new ideas, processes or products. What sets innovation management apart is the fact that it is not relegated to the R&D department. Innovation management involves people at every level that ultimately contribute creative solutions towards the organization’s growth and other operational activities.
2. This quote by Thomas Peters pretty much sums up the need for innovation and innovation management:
   
   
   
   
   Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some
   works.
   You do more of what works.
   If it works big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something
   else.
   The trick is the doing something else.
   Thomas Peters
   
   
   
3. Basically, Development is the translation process of Research into Application. See the diagram below. It explains the various steps of the process clearly and comprehensibly.

[Source: Gurinder Shahi, The R-D-A Translation Process]

Personal Ratings
(3/10) In my opinion, this week's session was a bit dry. It seemed that there were not many significant contributions towards the discussions. A lot was said about very little. I sincerely hope that next week's discussion will be much more interesting!

Got a pair of Cheap Earphones?

The Secret Scam of Cheap Earbuds


Personally, I disagree with the author of the post. I know of many people who have at least a pair of these "cheap earbuds" (No, i do not own a pair myself). Many of them have admitted to purchasing their earphones for the mere fact that they like the way it looks, not really caring about the sound quality. To most, I'm sure that these earphones are no more than a fashion accessory. After all, not everyone is an audiophile.

How blind people see the internet

 

How blind people see the internet

I found this article really interesting. Up till now, i never really realized that blind people would have so much trouble using the internet. Unlike a book, where everything is linear, web pages are anything but linear! How DO you present a visual equivalent of a web page to the visually impaired?

Session 2

SESSION 2: REVIEW

Topics covered:
·    Technology, Society and Global Dominance
·    Technology and Human Development

Brief Overview/ Summary

• ·    Technology, Society and Global Dominance

How do we build societies/companies that are dominant leaders in their respective arenas?

I believe that in order to address the following issue, the unique traits of dominant leaders must first be explored. Prof Gurinder Shahi presented the class with a diagram addressing this issue.
In his diagram, he identified the various traits of rising as well as declining countries.

[Source: The Shahi Organizational Behavior Model for Identifying Innovation Leaders and Dominant Players]
Countries that are rising tend to have the following characteristics:
Open perspective, optimistic, hungry to learn from others, keen to invest in new ideas

Countries that are in decline:
Closed perspective, pessimistic, not interested in learning from others, not keen to invest in new ideas

Observations: societies/corporations/organizations at different stages of innovation leadership and technology dominance display very different behavioral traits and operational attitudes.

I wholly agree with this analysis. I find that in order to develop and progress, one must be open minded and receptive towards new ideas. Being closed minded and rejecting new ideas from others only guarantees one thing, you will be left behind and cast aside by the wake of progress! Just take a look at China. Only recently has China reopened its doors to the outside world.

• ·    Technology and Human Development

Firstly, what is development? In class, someone raised the question that there are 2 sides to the development coin. Development will bring about both positive and negative effects. Personally, I disagree. The term development implies positive change. I define development as an improvement of circumstances and understanding. Development is progressing from a lesser state to a better one.
Next, how is development related to world change?
I believe there are many different ways of looking at development. There can be social development, economic development, cultural development, as well as development in terms of the current state of technology.

What about Human Development?

Human development is all about maximizing human potential. It deals with increasing the capabilities of mankind as a whole. However, in order to gauge human development, a method of measuring human development must first be established. This is where the Human Development Index(HDI - http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics) comes in. Part of the United Nations Development Programme, the HDI measures the progress of human development in terms of life expectancy, literacy and income(in the form of GDP)

Interesting Observations and Ideas/Key Takeaways

• ·    The 8 Millennium Development Goals (MDG) (http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/)

The MDG consists of 8 international development goals that all 192 members of the United Nations have agreed to achieve by 2015

1.    Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
2.    Achieve universal primary education.
3.    Promote gender equality and empower women.
4.    Reduce child mortality rate.
5.    Improve maternal health.
6.    Combat HIV/AIDS and other diseases
7.    Ensure environmental sustainability
8.    Develop a global partnership for development.

[Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Development_Goals]

Here’s a video on the MDG.






Honestly, I don’t think the MDGs can be achieved by 2015. It is highly unlikely that in 5 years, poverty and world hunger will be eradicated.  A cure for HIV/AIDS in the next 5 years? This objective may be achieved. Perhaps by some stroke of genius (pure luck?) a cure is found. Please note that I am not saying that the MDGs will never be achieved. Given enough time, I’m sure it’s entirely possible! I’m merely stating that it seems highly unlikely that anything will happen in the span of the next 5 years.

Personal Ratings

5/10 (I felt that the pace of class was too rushed. Many times, I felt left behind by the discussions. More time should have been spent discussing fewer topics.)

Did you know 4.0

An updated video I found of the Shift Happens series.
Enjoy! :)