Tapping M2M: The Internet of Things — from zdnet.com

Excerpt:

The rise of objects that connect themselves to the internet — from cars to heart monitors to stoplights — is unleashing a wave of new possibilities for data gathering, predictive analytics, and IT automation. We discuss how to tap these nascent solutions.

 

TappingM2M-ZDNET-March2014

 

 

 

I failed my online course — but learned a lot about Internet education — from readwrite.com by Selena Larson (by way of eduwire.com)
Massive open online courses, or “MOOCs,” require a lot of motivation—and sometimes, a thick skin.

Excerpts (comments via DSC):

He provided great insight, paired it with interesting required readings, and led Google Hangouts throughout the course, though only a handful of students were able to participate. Time zone differences and limited space ultimately resulted in a select few students receiving the opportunity to participate in this more intimate online setting.

(From DSC:  Last I knew, only 25 students can get into one of these sessions; this seems to be a major mistake to use Google Hangouts if you are talking MOOCs with thousands of students; Coursera should have required that the professor use a different tool.)

I’ll admit it: I had minimal motivation. Sure, I didn’t want to waste $49, but I certainly didn’t stay up all night finishing a 600-word essay—the goal of receiving a course completion certificate just wasn’t appealing enough.

The quizzes were easy—we were given multiple attempts to get a perfect score—but the essays were a different story. Since the professor was unable to grade them himself, each student was subject to peer reviews—five of them. And each review impacted your grade.

I failed my first essay. All but one reviewer gave me a failing grade, for reasons unknown.

In true Internet fashion, these peer reviews were totally anonymous. I couldn’t discuss with my reviewer why he or she thought my essay was lousy, and I couldn’t defend my link to Fox News. I felt uncomfortable and powerless. Stupid.

(From DSC: I don’t have a lot of confidence in asking other students, who aren’t trained in teaching/pedagogy/grading, to effectively use rubrics to grade other students’ papers. Though one could turn right around and say that of many faculty members as well, who often lack training in education-related courses. But in the case of professors, they often build up such expertise over time.)

 

How MOOCs Can Succeed
(from DSC, I’m paraphrasing below)

  • Get rid of  anonymous grading
  • Get the price point right
    (From DSC: This is tough though, as such a figure most likely differs for each student.)

 

From DSC:
The graphic below attempts to relay the potential power of technologies such as IBM’s Watson in auto-curating content for MOOCs.  But there may be other uses for such technologies — such as if these technologies could be used to effectively grade papers, assignments, quizzes, etc. — then today’s MOOCs would be much more effective and would better address one of Selana’s key concerns.

 

Watson-MOOCs-NewTypesCollaboration-DChristian-2-14-13

 

 

WhatsWatson-March2014

 

 

IBM teams up with AT&T to rule the Internet of Things — from by Mike Wheatley

Excerpt:

In their joint statement, the two companies said they plan to combine their analytics platforms, cloud and security technologies to build smarter cities for us to live in. Specifically, the partnership will see AT&T manage sensor communications and tracking through its global cellular network, whilst IBM will keep a handle on the analytics side of things. The target of their operations, initially, will be the kinds of devices that spew out masses upon masses of Big Data, such as mass transit vehicles, video cameras and utility meters. The goal of this undertaking meanwhile, is to analyze the data collected to identify trends and patterns that”ll help urban planners to regulate the flow of traffic, and to help utility firms to save energy and reduce costs through better management of their equipment.

AT&T and IBM join forces to deliver new innovations for the Internet of Things — from ibm.com
Cities, Utilities and Other Industries to Benefit from Interconnected, Intelligent Devices

 

Also see:

 

ATTandIBM--IoT--Feb182014

 

 

Also see:

 

Gartner-IoE-BusModels-Nov2013

 

Shift2020

 

Excerpt:

An 80 page eBook, paperback or hardcover photobook including insights, quotes and articles from industry leaders on the future of mobile technology and how it can change our world.

In addition to most of the original Mobile Trends 2020 contributors, the content is now extended with contributions of some 50 new experts from around the globe who are prominent futurists and trend-predictors and industry leaders.

 

Human Computer Interaction & the next generation of exhibits — from ideum.com by one of my former instructors at SFSU’s Multimedia Studies Program, Mr. Jim Spadacini

 

HCI Science Center Exhibits

Excerpt:

Computer-based technology continues to evolve at an ever-accelerating rate, creating both opportunities and challenges for science centers and museums. We are now seeing computing enter new realms, one that are potentially more promising for exhibit development than earlier ones.

 

Split screen interactivity and finger motion control on 2014 Samsung Smart TVs — from v-net.tv

Excerpt:

Samsung has made some incremental improvements to its Smart TV platform for 2014. During International CES the company unveiled the Multi-Link feature, which lets you split the screen and use one half to get more information about content you are watching. For example, you can watch live TV on half the screen and get search results from a web browser on the other or seek out relevant YouTube content. In effect, the company is enabling ‘companion’ or Second Screen activities but on the main screen.

 

Items re: IBM and Watson:

 

 

FURo-S and also see FutureRobot

 

FURo-S-Jan2014

 

Nuance unlocks personalized content for Smart TVs with voice biometrics for Dragon TV — from online.wsj.com

Excerpt:

Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN) today announced that its Dragon TV platform now includes voice biometrics for TVs, set-top boxes and second screen applications, creating an even more personalized TV experience through voice. Upon hearing a person’s unique voice, Dragon TV not only understands what is being said, but authenticates who is saying it, and from there enables personalized content for different members of a household. As a result, individuals can have immediate access to their own preferred channels and content, customized home screens and social media networks.

From DSC:
Re: this last one from Nuance, imagine using this to get rid of the problem/question in online learning — is it really Student A taking that quiz?  Also, this type of technology could open up possibilities for personalized playlists/content for each learner.

 

 

 

The year ahead: ten amazing science and technology innovations coming up in 2014 — from telegraph.co.uk by Paul Kendall and Chris Bell
From the world’s largest underground hotel to Star Wars-style holographic communication, the coming year is set to unveil an array of incredible advances in science and technology

 

Leia display system

 

Former Windows leader Steven Sinofsky presents 10 Mega Trends in Tech for 2014 — from businessinsider.com by Jay Yarow; via Graeme Codrington (@FuturistGraeme) and Laura Goodrich (@LauraGoodrich)

 

Top Technology Trends for 2014  — from computer.org
Excerpt:

Supporting New Learning Styles
Online courses demand seamless, ubiquitous approach.

These days, students from all corners of the world can sign up for online classes to study everything from computer science, digital signal processing, and machine learning to European history, psychology, and astronomy–and all for free. As interest in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) continues to explode, there will be a corresponding need for technology to support these new learning systems and styles. Platforms such as Coursera, with more than 3 million users and 107 partners; and edX, a partnership between Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University with 1.7 million users; are hosting classes with thousands of online enrollees each. And although lectures are still the mainstay of MOOCs, the classes require web forums, online meetups, and keystroke loggers to check identities, as well as powerful servers to handle the volumes. MOOCs and other new online classes are creating a demand for learning that is seamless—happening continuously via different technologies; ubiquitous—drawing from pervasive and embedded technologies; and contextual—drawing awareness from location-based and other sensor-based technologies.

 

5 Higher-Education Trends for 2014 — from theatlantic.com by Sophie Quinton
Expect an increased emphasis on teacher effectiveness, technical education, and more.

Headings include:

  • Earning College Credit for What You Know
  • Career and Technical Education
  • Student-Loan Outrage
  • Data-Privacy Concerns
  • Teacher Effectiveness

 

Special Report: 2014 Top Tech to Watch — from spectrum.ieee.org

 

IEEE-TopTechToWatchIn2014

 

 

NMC Horizon Report — 2014 Higher Education Preview

 

NMCHorizonPreview2014

 

JWT’s 100 things to watch in 2014

 

JWT-100ThingsToWatchIn2014

 

IBM internal experts club together to offer 2014 predictions — from siliconangle.com by  Bert Latamore

Headings include:

  • Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Skills

 

2014 Technology Predictions Series: RadiumOne on Mobile — from siliconangle.com by Suzanne Kattau

 

Internet of Things may strangle enterprise bandwidth — from informationweek.comby Deepak Kumar
The Internet of Things is poised to bring a flood of WAN traffic and new Internet-enabled devices to enterprise WANs. Be sure your corporate network is ready for it.

 

7 things you should expect from your leaders in 2014 — from forbes.com by Glenn Llopis

 

10 Jobs for tomorrow that barely exist today (Infographic) — from jobmarketmonitor.com by Michel Cournoyer and Thomas Frey

 

Addendum on 1/4/14:

 

skills for tomorrow

 

IDC predicts 2014 will be a year of escalation, consolidation, and innovation as the transition to IT’s “3rd platform” accelerates — from idc.com

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

  • The 3rd Platform will deliver the next generation of competitive advantage apps and services that will significantly disrupt market leaders in virtually every industry.
  • Worldwide IT spending will grow 5% year over year to $2.1 trillion in 2014.
  • Emerging markets will return to double-digit growth of 10%, driving nearly $740 billion or 35% of worldwide IT revenues
  • Within the 3rd Platform, value will start to migrate “up the stack”, from infrastructure as a service (IaaS) to platform as a service (PaaS) and from generic PaaS to data-optimized PaaS.
  • Cloud spending, including cloud services and the technology to enable these services, will surge by 25% in 2014, reaching over $100 billion.

 

Also see:

What is the 3rd platform and how will it affect business? — by Mark Neistat US Signal Company

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

Simply stated, the 3rd Platform is the next phase of the IT revolution. The first platform was the mainframe computer. The second was Personal Computers (PC) which dominated the IT landscape from 1985 to 2005. The 3rd Platform is being built on mobile computing, social networking, cloud services, and Big Data analytics technologies.

 

IBM5-in-5-12-17-2013

 

 

See also:

 

IBM5-in-5-Education-12-17-2013

 

 

IBM5-in-5-Learning-12-17-2013

 

 Also see:

 

Addendum on 12/18/13:

IBM reveals its top five innovation predictions for the next five years — from venturebeat.com by Dean Takahashi

Excerpt:

Globally, two out of three adults haven’t gotten the equivalent of a high school education. But IBM believes the classrooms of the future will give educators the tools to learn about every student, providing them with a tailored curriculum from kindergarten to high school.

“Your teacher spends time getting to know you every year,” Meyerson said. “What if they already knew everything about how you learn?”

In the next five years, IBM believes teachers will use “longitudinal data” such as test scores, attendance, and student behavior on electronic learning platforms — and not just the results of aptitude tests. Sophisticated analytics delivered over the cloud will help teachers make decisions about which students are at risk, their roadblocks, and the way to help them. IBM is working on a research project with the Gwinnett County Public Schools in Georgia, the 14th largest school district in the U.S. with 170,000 students. The goal is to increase the district’s graduation rate. And after a $10 billion investment in analytics, IBM believes it can harness big data to help students out.

“You’ll be able to pick up problems like dyslexia instantly,” Meyerson said. “If a child has extraordinary abilities, they can be recognized. With 30 kids in a class, a teacher cannot do it themselves. This doesn’t replace them. It allows them to be far more effective. Right now, the experience in a big box store doesn’t resemble this, but it will get there.”

 

From DSC:
First, some items:


Thinking for the future — from nytimes.com by David Brooks

Excerpt:

We’re living in an era of mechanized intelligence, an age in which you’re probably going to find yourself in a workplace with diagnostic systems, different algorithms and computer-driven data analysis. If you want to thrive in this era, you probably want to be good at working with intelligent machines. As Tyler Cowen puts it in his relentlessly provocative recent book, “Average Is Over,” “If you and your skills are a complement to the computer, your wage and labor market prospects are likely to be cheery. If your skills do not complement the computer, you may want to address that mismatch.”

So our challenge for the day is to think of exactly which mental abilities complement mechanized intelligence. Off the top of my head, I can think of a few mental types that will probably thrive in the years ahead.

 


EmploymentAvatars-12-12-13

Excerpt:

Create your own employment avatar robot to replace you at work. Fight fire with fire. Could this be the solution to the coming robotic automation revolution?

The question on everyone’s mind is “If all the jobs are automated, who will have money to buy the products from these corporations?”  This is not just a blue-collar issue. Predictive analytics in soft A.I. robots could replace creative jobs as well.

 


 

IBM-AnEcosystemOfInnovation-Watson-2013

 


Siri says ‘dump him’? How mobile devices could run (or ruin) your life — from CNN.com by futurist Gerd Leonhard

Excerpt:

(CNN) — The Web is set to change our lives dramatically over the next decade. This will also raise questions about the use of personal data and the need to balance new powers with ethics.  Here are five ways you can expect the explosion in technology to impact you:


 

From DSC:
These items caused me to reflect…they made me wonder…

  • How should we educate our youth in this age of automation?
  • How should our curricula respond/change/adapt to these trends?
  • Or should we even be talking about curricula? Perhaps we should rather be curating and providing streams of content — and doing so on a lifelong basis…?
  • How should we reinvent ourselves and keep ourselves marketable?

 

 

Addendum:

 

 

From DSC:
First some recent/relevant postings:



IFTTT’s ingenious new feature: Controlling apps with your location
— from wired.com by Kyle VanHemert

 

An update to the IFTTT app lets you use your location in recipes. Image: IFTTT

 

Excerpt:

IFTTT stands athwart history. At a point where the software world is obsessed with finding ever more specialized apps for increasingly specific problems, the San Francisco-based company is gleefully doing just the opposite. It simply wants to give people a bunch of tools and let them figure it out. It all happens with simple conditional statements the company calls “recipes.” So, you can use the service to execute the following command: If I take a screenshot, then upload it to Dropbox. If this RSS feed is updated, then send me a text message. It’s great for kluging together quick, automated solutions for the little workflows that slip into the cracks between apps and services.

 

If This, Then That (IFTTT)

IFTTT-Dec2013

 

4 reasons why Apple’s iBeacon is about to disrupt interaction design — from wired.com by Kyle VanHemert

Excerpt:

You step inside Walmart and your shopping list is transformed into a personalized map, showing you the deals that’ll appeal to you most. You pause in front of a concert poster on the street, pull out your phone, and you’re greeted with an option to buy tickets with a single tap. You go to your local watering hole, have a round of drinks, and just leave, having paid—and tipped!—with Uber-like ease. Welcome to the world of iBeacon.

It sounds absurd, but it’s true: Here we are in 2013, and one of the most exciting things going on in consumer technology is Bluetooth. Indeed, times have changed. This isn’t the maddening, battery-leeching, why-won’t-it-stay-paired protocol of yore. Today we have Bluetooth Low Energy which solves many of the technology’s perennial problems with new protocols for ambient, continuous, low-power connectivity. It’s quickly becoming big deal.

 

The Internet of iThings: Apple’s iBeacon is already in almost 200 million iPhones and iPads — from forbes.com by Anthony Kosner

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Because of iBeacons’ limited range, they are well-suited for transmitting content that is relevant in the immediate proximity.

 

 


 

From DSC:
Along the lines of the above postings…I recently had a meeting whereby the topic of iBeacons came up. It was mentioned that museums will be using this sort of thing; i.e. approaching a piece of art will initiate an explanation of that piece on the museum’s self-guided tour application. 

That idea made me wonder whether such technology could be used in a classroom…and I quickly thought, “Yes!” 

For example, if a student goes to the SW corner of the room, they approach a table. That table has an iBeacon like device on it, which triggers a presentation within a mobile application on the student’s device.  The students reviews the presentation and moves onto the SE corner of the room whereby they approach a different table with another/different iBeacon on it.  That beacon triggers a quiz on the material they just reviewed, and then proceeds to build upon that information.  Etc. Etc.   Physically-based scaffolding along with some serious blended/hybrid learning. It’s like taking the concept of QR codes to the next level. 

Some iBeacon vendors out there include:

Data mining, interaction design, user interface design, and user experience design may never be the same again.

 

What’s the future of the CIO? — from cioofthefuture.com by Peter EvansGreenwood
CIOs have an opportunity to drive strategy and create business value, and not just reduce costs 

From DSC:
The sections entitled “The demise of the Chief Infrastructure Officer” and “Technology is now central to how our organizations engage their market” seem especially appropriate.

The CIO of 2020: The future of the Chief Information Officer — from innovationexcellence.com by Paul Muller

CDOs are reaching new heights — and quickly — from sloanreview.mit.edu by Michael Fitzgerald
Is the chief digital officer position the new path to the chief executive title?

 

 

 

IBM’s Jeopardy-winning supercomputer will power a ‘cognitive, expert personal shopper’ app next year — from businessinsider.com by Dylan Love

 

ibm watson

 

Excerpt:

The app calls upon Watson’s ability to understand the nuances of human language and uncover answers from Big Data. Consumers who use Fluid’s app will interact with rich media and dialogue with Watson, as their newfound “cognitive, expert personal shopper.

The Fluid app incorporates the information users share and questions they ask to help them make smart, satisfying purchases by putting a knowledgeable sales associate in the hands of consumers, on demand.

 

From DSC:
I am not saying that we are looking at a future whereby computers and algorithms will replace teachers, professors, trainers, coaches, mentors, etc.   However, I am saying that tools and technologies are in (and have been in) development that will be hugely beneficial in helping us stay current with our knowledge bases — and will help us remain marketable in a world that left the linear trajectory of change a while back and continues to move at an exponential rate.

 

Phase I:
How might this be applied to recommendation engines for topics/courses/modules/streams of content to explore if you are trying to learn about the most recent information on XYZ?

Phase II:
How might this be applied to actual assessments for assignments, essays, etc.?

Phase III:
???

The Living [Class] Room -- by Daniel Christian -- July 2012 -- a second device used in conjunction with a Smart/Connected TV

 

 

[Many of] the 10 fastest-growing job titles are in tech — from mashable.com

Excerpt:

Based on their data, the fastest-growing job titles between 2008 and 2013 were:

  • DevOps engineer
  • iOS developer
  • Data scientist
  • UX designer
  • Staff accountant
  • Paralegal
  • UI developer
  • Administrative assistant
  • Android developer
  • Business intelligence developer

 

From DSC:
Another sign that the pace of change has changed (emphasis mine):

Indicating a trend beyond employment, four of the seven fastest-growing technology jobs — DevOps engineer, iOS developer, data scientist and Android developer — did not even exist on TheLadders five years ago.

 

 

“Learning in the Living [Class] Room” — as explained by Daniel Christian [Campus Technology]

Learning from the Living [Class] Room  — from Campus Technology by Daniel Christian and Mary Grush; with a huge thanks also going out to Mr. Steven Niedzielski (@Marketing4pt0) and to Mr. Sam Beckett (@SamJohnBeck) for their assistance and some of the graphics used in making these videos.

From DSC:
These 4 short videos explain what I’m trying to relay with a vision I’m entitling, Learning from the Living [Class] Room.  I’ve been pulse checking a variety of areas for years now, and the pieces of this vision continue to come into fruition.  This is what I see Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) morphing into (though there may be other directions/offshoots that they go in as well).

After watching these videos, I think you will see why I think we must move to a teambased approach.

(It looks like the production folks for Campus Technology had to scale things way back in terms of video quality to insure an overall better performance for the digitally-based magazine.) 


To watch these videos in a higher resolution, please use these links:


  1. What do you mean by “the living [class] room”?
  2. Why consider this now?
  3. What are some examples of apps and tech for “the living [class] room”?
  4. What skill sets will be needed to make “the living [class] room” a reality?

 

 


Alternatively, these videos can be found at:


 

DanielSChristianLearningFromTheLivingClassRoom-CampusTechnologyNovember2013

.

 

 

Eli Pariser Keynote, #DevLearn “The Filter Bubble” – from Cammy Bean

Excerpt:

Every major company is moving towards personalization and providing people with more relevant data.

This means we don’t all see the same news…

There are three key problems with this…

 
© 2024 | Daniel Christian