Week 12 & 13 – Group Presentations

As our TWC module draws to an end, we have the last 2 sessions focusing on the major projects’ presentations by our fellow coursemates. Generally, I quite enjoyed the depth of content presented by the various groups, and they did bring forth some points which set me thinking.

Overall, all the presentations (include my group’s) went well and I do feel that it was a great way to “end” the course by allowing each group to share what they learnt and what they were interested in.

Though there the workload is piling up and exams are round the corner, it really is quite reassuring when I look back and think about the knowledge I have gained through this course, I believe the course has taken learning out of the classroom by exposing us to different aspects and avenues of knowledge. Perhaps the most important thing I learnt is not really all the facts and statistics but really the ability to think about technology in a different way and view it with the many “lenses” we were introduced to throughout the various sessions.

Looking back at the past 12 weeks, here are a few points have been constantly brought out.

Ask “Why Not” instead of “Why”

Challenge the status quo, only then will there be change.

Always look forward to the future

If you keep living in the past, you are not able to move on together with the rest of the world and will eventually be left behind. We need to be continually growing/developing. Live you lift as though everything is a miracle

Finding the right opportunities

Cloud, Summit and Valley opportunities. Of course, striking at the summit will be the best.

If we can keep all these points in mind through, im sure there would be much more exciting in the future!

Here’s wishing all change-freaks all the best for the finals and see you all around in school (:

Week 11 – Technology Assessment and Forecasting

Looking back at these 11 weeks, time indeed flies. The Lessons for TWC will be coming to an end, with the following 2 weeks be filled with interesting insights from fellow student presenters.

This week, we look at how Technology is assessed and how do we intelligently forecast them. We learnt some of the factors that enabling us to foresee the future trends of technology. In this session, we talked about technology assessment and forecasting. Through these lessons, I guess what we all really come to agree is that if rely on our boundless imagination, anything is possible.

By intelligently assessing and considering the potential economic, social, commercial and environmental impact, we can determine the advantages and disadvantages of new technologies and perhaps choose which one of them to make reality.  The video that was shared in class, i find that the acronym of the word “FUTURE” is well represented with the following:

Fast
Urban
Tribal-new tribes in this world
Universal
Radical
Ethical

Personally i find that the last three are the most congruent with what we have been learning and experiencing all these while. Technology and innovation should be Universal – Breaking traditional barriers, be it cultural, economical or social. Radical – New and never before invention / innovation defines future and lastly Ethical. Regardless of how revolutionary an innovation / invention is, we should never forget to take account of its credibility and its ethical standards.

At one part, we discussed how being forward looking can also mean being uncertain – this is especially true!
I believe if we can balance this amount of uncertainty with our imagination and also the ability to assess innovation, more good things are on its way to become reality.

In closure, here are a few quotes which i felt were the most compelling:

“Innovation distinguishes the leader from the follower.” Steve Jobs

“There’s enough on this planet for everyone’s need but not for everyone’s greed.” Mahatma Gandhi

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” Albert Einstein

“For time and the world do not stand still… Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.” John F Kennedy 

I’ll rate the session 9/10 and i’m looking forward to learning from other coursemates during the next 2 sesssions!

 

 

 

 

Week 10 – It’s not too hard to imagine

Week 10, session 9 of the class was a fresh start as we went through 8 sessions of tech-based topics and this week, our imagination can finally run wild. All the possibilities that ever came to our minds would just be possible – at least that is how i feel.

A video on creating the “Perfect Woman” was shown in class. The short video was about how this robot was created in Japan to satisfy the needs of the many unmarried men in the world. She could do the chores, and most other things a real human can do, without problems such as attitude and emotional barriers. Though the idea seems cool, i believe this should not be the way human being should actually be heading. The human touch is afterall very important and such, may be lost in robots. Robots that can help us in our everyday life would be useful but it should not be a complete substitute for a ‘partner’.

We also discussed on the topic of Augmented Reality with the example of mobile phones. I believe the newly launched iPhone 4s is a great example of how augmented reality can be part of our life one day. Im sure everyone will look forward to the day where the smartphones can do a whole lot more, from being able to source for information, to providing recommendations such as where to eat / what to wear / etc. The future is indeed exciting and possibilities of what can really happen is endless. A transparent phone with flexible screen that can tell your emotions wouldn’t be so hard to imagine…

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”

– Albert Einstein

The above quote by Albert Einstein sums up the point of the importance of imagination and how far that can take us.

I believe this generation has seen numerous innovations and inventions that have been mind-blowing and life-changing. We don’t really know what is to come, but i believe it is important for us to know how to manage these changes as it comes along, and move on with it. Our mother nature should also be given emphasis on, while we are in the quest to newer, better technologies.

Personally, the key takeaway for this lesson is that we should never stop imagining, even though the idea may seem impossible now, they could be a reality in the near future. I would have liked the class to perhaps discuss more on negative impacts of how these innovations have brought about.

I’d rate this session 8/10 as thought that the videos and presentations were really cool and gave us a great insight on the wonderful possibilities the future holds for us. Looking forward to the next session!

Week 9 – Energy & World Change

The lesson started off with an interesting fact about how much more (solar) energy the sun can provide and how soon oil will run out in the world if consumption remains at the levels today. Given the increasing number of people consuming these resource in developing countries, oil is expected to run out in the next 30 years perhaps.

We went on to discuss how solar energy can be tapped and the vast amount of energy that can be harnessed to supply to the current energy needs. Though initial outlay for setting up solar infrastructure may be high, the great reduction in reducing natural resources would help our environmental significantly.

Here’s an interesting video that i came across :

The presenters of this sessions talked about various forms of energy – some are still in its developmental stage while others, such as wind-farms, have already been widely used. The one which caught my attention to was the idea of “Anti-Matter” and how it is actually used to generate energy. Though dangerous and highly risky, i believe that if more thoughts are put into it, some forms of renewable energy can definitely be explored – alike nuclear energy.

I was kind of surprised that no students talked about the used of alternative fuels, such as cooking oils, sewerage etc. to produce new energy. I believe there are many of these developments out there, that are exploring ways in which sources of energy could be reused / reduced. On top that, the role governments play in dfifferent parts of the world can be discussed too. As mentioned on reading 6, some of the issues that were brought up included the laws and enforcement that were passed by to ensure sustainability criteria were met.

The key takeaway for this session for me was: we’re in constant need for energy sources as consumption increases by the day. New gadgets, machineries, robots, and more. None of which can function properly without energy. The challenge here is to balance the consumption with the actual ‘production’ of energy. Individuals like us can take our baby-steps in doing our part to conserve energy and be less risk-averse to these new twchnologies.

One the whole, i’ll rate the session 9/10 as the topic was clear and easy for me to understand (:

Week 7: Biobusiness – Agriculture & The Environment

Finally it’s the end of week 7, and soon the hard-earned 1 week break will commence. Though i foresee much of the time will be spent in school completing projects and what-nots, it shall be a breather after these grueling 7 weeks!

This week’s topic revolves around Agricultural development, and environmental impacts in Biobusinesses. Personally, im pretty intrigued by the idea of GM foods and GMOs, and this week’s lesson was indeed interesting for me. Prof mentioned in class: “When we are able to grow the resources we need, we will finally be on the road to sustainability”.
This quote left me thinking for a moment and I think the question now lies in how to grow the resources we need sustainably?

The food vs energy debate has also been brought into the spotlight in recent years as energy costs have been increasing exponentially and ultimately, countries / people who have the financial means will be gaining more than those under-privileged people. Technological advancement will greatly help in improving the efficiency of farming, and education is still the key in ensuring this.

Leonard presented on ways to increase crop intensity and i thought that the idea of vertical farming was kind of cool. Crop production are usually affected by seasonal changes / weather etc. but with this technology, year-round crop are made possible. With vertical farming, natural disasters like flooding etc. will not affect the regularity of crop supplies and also, if the crops are grown organically, the  absence of herbicides/pesticides etc. will be absent in the eco-system (i.e.: groundwater, industrial waste etc.) All in all, I believe it is moving in the right direction.

Sheryl’s presentation talked about “growing meat”. The idea of “man-made” meat is a little disturbing at first, but by observing the over-consumption of food in many countries, I would think that it’s not impossible for us to be eating lab-grown meat in the near future. If we really consider the sustainability of lab-grown meat vs traditional farm grown ones, the potential benefits will definitely outweigh the eminent fear we have. Benefits of lab/in-vitro meat can include: reduction in cost of producing meat, more nutrients, less fats, better taste etc.

On a personal note, i’d rate the session 8/10, the presentations we engaging and enlightening !

Biobusiness – The Future?

Week 6 session started with discussion of the healthcare revolution where massive advances in how health services and system work to help us response effectively. Pharmaceutical Industry is another big player in the whole healthcare picture. Not only that is there an exponential growth in biobusiness related industries, there is a growing recognition that we need to move from disease to wellness management.

here’s an interesting clip, enjoy!

In the realms of healthcare, the class discussed about how the world is shifting its focus on curing illnesses when they occur and we are in fact not doing enough to prevent this diseases from happening in the first place. Coming to the point of healthcare in Biobusiness, we covered the impact modern technology has on improving the way we handle problems such as the CT scan and the MRI technology. We can now use such technology to make an in depth study of the area of complaint and will be able to identify the problem with great clarity and certainty. I feel that with the advancements in technology, many issues will also need to be addressed appropriately or misconceptions will arise.

Some of these issues were discussed by the students presenters, such as the use of synthetic / unoriginal drugs etc.

Evangeline discussed on the issue of developing countries like China and India ‘copying’ biotechnological drugs.
The issue lies with patent protection that mostly belongs to the pharmaceutical companies which actually develops them. These drugs, such as AIDs medication, chronic illness support drugs are in dire need in many developing countries. In view of their demand, should drug companies, then, succumb to pressure from the countries and give up their intellectual rights? Personally, i think if they do, its as good as doing charity – good for the developing countries, but bad for the market and innovative landscapes. Not being able to hold on to intellectual property rights will eventually discourage firms from spending more money in R&D – a vicious cycle.

The issue of counterfeit drugs was brought up by Veronica. What I felt personally was that the problem of countrfeit drugs can only be solved with stricter measures and harsher punishments for people/companies violating the law.
On top of that, governmental organisations such as health ministries should take actions to ensure that essential drugs are affordable for the masses. The root of the problem here still lies in the high costs of medication / drugs.

The above 2 presentation well present the dilemma faced by pharma  / drug companies today.
To spend more money on R&D for the betterment of the future mankind OR exist just to provide what they already have, at the lowest price possible?

High expenditure on R&D –> Good products –> Expensive Products –>
Resort to counterfeit –>Pressure to lower price –> No $$ for R&D –> inferior products ?

Food for thought uh?

The takeaways:

We need to be open to changes and not be resistant in the changes available in the biobusiness industry. People may in fact be skeptical towards newer developments in the tools used in operations that are being carried out, but that is the only direction we are heading in the future.

I’ll rate the session 8/10 as it had given me much insight into the fields of Biotechnology and BioBusiness, which I had little knowledge about. The presentations given were also interesting and refreshing.

and the counting down to term break starts….

Group Project Web Report Outline

Alrightos. So our group has decided to look into the topic on Ecotechnology.

Here’s the brief outline of our web report, feel free to look through and give us your valuable comments!

Introduction
-What Ecotechnology / topic is about.

Background / Historical data
-Eco-technology and its emergence: how did it come about / why does it exist?
-Our stand in terms of the idea of eco-technology: is it important? Is it here to stay? What is the future?

Current Situation
-What are some of the environmental movements that we have experienced / brought about significant changes
-eco farming
-methods of harnessing energy
-eco transport
-eco-houses
-eco food / packaging
-reduction / reuse / recycling efforts
-developing countries: eco-tech is the way to go?
-governments regulatory body’s role in eco-movements
-current needs

Future considerations
-What are some of the emerging trends in eco-technology (Future), and support our stand.
-as a business
-amount of money / effort spent in this area (green spending)
-as an area of study and research
-as a need (compliance with law/standards/guidelines)
-Stakeholders in the whole green movement
-consumers : what is in for them, what should they do?
-businesses : what is in for them?
-Rebuttals
-Does the whole movement bring about only benefits?
-opposing viewpoints
-What form of resistance are there(if any)?
-Any setbacks / consequences?

Conclusions
-Restate our thesis/stand
-Limitations on our research
-interpretations and implications of our research results

END

‘Mass’ media in the past : ‘Individual’ media today?

Moving on to the 5th session, we spoke about the development in Infocomm Technologies and the mass media.

A topic which I believe most of all have no problem relating to, it’s simply part of us in this digital age.

What I thought was really interesting was the development on cloud computing. Cloud computing enabled us to do many things today, from facebook, dropbox, youtube and more, some of which we never knew was possible. I think businesses will definitely benefit from cloud technology as that will bring about substantial cost savings and scalability, regardless of the size of the business.

The day has to come where software are taken off shelves with the advent of software as a service. However, as the ‘cloud’ gets bigger, what is really important is for the cloud-providers to consider the limitations and security issues.

Individual topic presentation was done by Ivan, Andrea, Myself, Pearline and Rebecca.

Ivan spoke about the reliability of news and media, and the information portrayed to us. I felt that he brought up a good discussion point with regards to non-partisan reporting in media, being a difficult thing to do. This is very relevant in our context as we all know, the media industy here are more than just bias. He also asked the class if we are receptive to what we see on the news / newspaper or are we skeptical. Personally, i’ve a mixed feeling towards this. On topics such as politics, local media tend to be biased. What is heartening to know is that there’s a vast number of other sources for information.

A presentation on E-Books was done by Rebecca Chee and i thought she provided a good insight of the technology and also the future of books. Most of us agreed that in the near future, we will soon experience the demise of paperbacks / hardcovers for what we call e-books. The convenience of e-books, affordability of the readers and titles definitely outweigh physical books. Im looking forward to seeing e-books evolve, perhaps into a social platform where people share works of literature, comment, annotate and socialize on a platform!

My presentation talked about the decline in advertisement sales and the reasons behind it.
The article I reviewed highlighted the shift in advertisement patterns, such as customized ads using analytics engine. To sum it up, the article emphasized that though it is important to keep up with times, such as buying into new technology, it is equally important for us to look ahead and decide what is going to be the future.

I’d rate the session 9/10 as I think ICT and Mass Media is the most relevant topic in our lives today. The various presentations were also informative and provided good insights in their own aspects. Looking forward to the next session as we prepare for the group project outline/contents!

Cheers

.

Individual Review Paper Outline

Here it goes…
The outline of my review paper is as follows, feel free to drop some comments and i’ll try my best to work it out (:

Web 2.0 and its impact on Education in the 21^stCentury

1. Executive Summary

2.Introduction of the Web 2.0 technology

• 2.1       What is Web 2.0?
• 2.2       Internet and telephony in the past – transmission of data
• 2.3       Printed media / books etc.

3. The Past – How did it evolve and came about?

• 3.1       Social Media
• 3.2       Collaborative frameworks (e.g.: wiki pages, blogs)

4. Current Trends & Challenges Observed – Web 2.0 in Education

• 4.1              Is Web 2.0 the future of education?
• 4.2              Contributing, Collaborating & Creating Content
• 4.3              The culture of openness & social learning

5. Pitfalls and the future

• 5.1              Information overload
• 5.2              Creditability
• 5.3              Intellectual property issues
• 5.4              Cloud technology, integration

6. Conclusion

7. References

.

Manage change, managing people?

Session 4 started off with the video of “Who Moved My Cheese” – a self help book that i’ve read many years ago. Through the adventure of Hem & Haw, the story sums up in telling readers, the important of embracing and accepting change. Fears, reluctance and resistance should be put aside. This book portrayed the different ways we as human beings react to changes differently. Many companies have been said to be an advocate for the story and it has proven its worth by staying as a topseller for along period. Here’s a summary:

Change Happens They Keep Moving The Cheese
Anticipate Change Get Ready For The Cheese To Move
Monitor Change Smell The Cheese Often So You Know When It Is Getting Old
Adapt To Change Quickly The Quicker You Let Go Of Old Cheese, The Sooner You Can Enjoy New Cheese
Change Move With The Cheese
Enjoy Change! Savor The Adventure And Enjoy The Taste Of New Cheese!
Be Ready To Change Quickly And Enjoy It Again They Keep Moving The Cheese.

Next, we went on to discuss readings and here are some points from a few articles which I thought was interesting and worth thinking about:

Global Trends 2025 –
“policy makers and the public will have to cope with a growing demand for multilateral cooperation”
“China will become the largest economy by 2025, US will be a less dominant power”
The idea of “The world without the west” was briefly discussed in the article, and i felt that this should be placed more emphasis on. As we all know, the rise of the East will bring about this phenomena of decline in the West. How then are we going to react and adapt to these changes?

“No changes are inevitable, yet none are necessarily likely”
Events have been anticipated or predicted, and we are certain that some of these changes will take place. However, more often than not, we fail to acknowledge the unknown and underestimate the harm it can do to us. I guess this is also the “paradox of planning” – failure to plan vs. over-planning?

Herding Cats-
The  article by PWC sums up the whole idea of change management by driving the notion that Change is all about people. I felt that the example given about the implementation of ERP software in companies was a refreshing viewpoint, especially for myself, as an IS student. Effective implementation of systems can unify, integrate processes, but more often than not, they underestimates behavioral risks.

So much have been taught to us with regards to the technology, software and hardware of various systems that could be implemented to organisations, but what is really lacking is in fact how do we ensure effective implementation of the systems. Effective implementation here does not refer to the action of ensuring the systems work well, but instead, how to make sure that the PEOPLE using the systems are adaptive, comfortable and also welcoming to it.

The article also classified people into 4 main categories relating to how they react at times of Change:
-Originators
-Conservers
-Pragmatists
-Resisters

The bottom line in terms of change management: Leaders have to learn how to implement, and employees need to learn how to accomodate and welcome change, only then, can we say that the implementation in effective.

Last but not least, the article hosted on Ministry of Economic Development, New Zealand was truly filled with absolute candor, despite the fact that the report was endorsed by a governmental organisation. Towards the end of the report, the weak areas of the country was highlighted, such as the lack in ICT Graduates for the knowledge based economy, erroneous immigration policy, small venture capitalist market and lack of strategic vision. I think this level of candor should be embraced, especially in countries like Singapore. Many hard truths are still ‘hidden’ in local contexts and I think this could lead to case of complacency in our people.

The individual presentation was covered by Tiffany, Hui Pin, Karen, Yao Zhong and Kenneth for this week.

Overall i think the presenters did a great job in linking the week’s topic to their articles and the class is becoming more enthusiastic in the response to the discussion question. It really amps up the class and make the 3 hours stretch less mundane and boring.

During Tiffany’s presentation, one of the discussion brought up was along the line of government playing a role in helping actions to curb  global warming. I feel that government has a large role to play in this and i agree that many governments in different countries are pre-occupied in earning the trust and recognition of their people – in bid to stay in power, instead of addressing pressing issues such as climate change.

The next presentation led by Huipin talked about the changes to the mass media around us. Much debate has been going around, with regards to the relevance of print media in this era where community journalism and micro blogging are so rampant. Personally i feel that media companies (press, newspaper agencies etc.) simply need to keep up with time. They can jump onto the bandwagon of developing technologies and leverage on them to reach out to customers. On top of that, print media will not be taken off the shelves totally in the near future – perhaps just a reduction in sales volume?

Apple & Microsoft was put into comparison during Yao Zhong’s presentation and the question posed on whether Apple will be able to manage the company like what they are doing today, when they reach the size of America. Many would think that Apple may struggle to achieve that with Steve Jobs absence. On hindsight, if Steve Jobs was as visionary as we would have thought, i’d believe much plans have been laid for both short term and long term development of his brainchild. Hopefully the 2nd generation of leaders will continue Apple’s legacy and continue to serve humankind with outstanding, innovative technologies for many years to come.

The class have also started to be more lenient and generous with the grading for each presenter!

On the whole, i’d rate the session 8/10 as the discussion are getting more interesting. The topics are what we could really connect to as they are simply happening around us and affecting us pretty directly. Looking forward to the next lesson while i prepare my share of the presentation on developments on ICT and World Change.

Here’s a cool clip on the developments around – cool facts and figures (:

Cheers!