health

Should You Buy the Hype? An Inside Look at the Virtual Reality Landscape — from singularityhub.com by Howie Leibach

Excerpts:

Consequently in 2014, less than two years after the Kickstarter, Facebook acquired Oculus for $2.2 billion dollars, and in doing so legitimized the VR industry overnight.

“We’re making a long-term bet that immersive, virtual and augmented reality will become part of people’s daily life,” said Zuckerberg.

With his track record for sniffing out “what’s next” and a distribution network of 1+ billion people, many have been quick to infer VR has a very bright future. Some analysts are already predicting VR will generate $30 billion in revenue by 2020, and many of Zuckerberg’s Silicon Valley counterparts haven’t hesitated to make similar predictions.

VR is still perhaps one or two years away from going mainstream, but more consumers are being exposed to it than ever before. Advancements in headset technology regularly make front page news on CNN, the Wall Street Journal, Business Insider and Wired. VR has even infiltrated the holy grail of pop-culture, prominently featured (and lampooned) on a recent episode of South Park.

But none of this VIP treatment matters if the product can’t sell. With the consumer Oculus Rift six to twelve months away, some are still on the fence, debating if they should buy the hype.

Realistically, many businesses don’t have time to wait and are already bracing for a future with VR in it. As executives scramble to invest in their own VR initiatives, many want to know what’s actually happening in the space.

Below are excerpts from Greenlight VR’s July Research Report, which investigate trends on the state of the industry, including VR growth, investments and opportunities.

Also see:

Which Way Next? A New Singularity Hub Channel to (Re)Imagine the Future — from singularityhub.com by Sveta McShane; also see all of the items on the Which Way Next? channel.

Automated, creative & dispersed: The future of work in the 21st century — from The Economist

Date Published:
May 20th 2015

Excerpt:

The key findings are as follows:

In the next decade-and-a-half, digital technology will dissolve the concept of work as we know it.
The growing use and sophistication of automation will shift the emphasis of human employment towards creativity and social skills.
This new reality of work will require a new, more nurturing approach to management.

Contents

About the research
Executive summary
Introduction
Your workplace is… everywhere
The hospital of the future
Creative and social skills will dominate the automated world
The bank of the future
Well-being and employee development top the management agenda
The university of the future
The government of the future
Conclusion
Appendix: Survey results

This requires university workers to develop new skills, she says. Ms Shutt predicts that in the future lecturers will be encouraging more of their students to take work placements or even launch their own start-ups, and developing relationships that give industry a greater input
into the direction of research. “We need to develop skills in interaction with business and in preparing students for the work world.”

If the NBA & NHL can do this, what about applying this in education & training?

On 03/16/2015, in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, business, changing business models, communications, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, distance education, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, face-to-face, formal learning, future, global / globalization, health, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), hybrid learning, ideas, immersion, innovation, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning spaces, lifelong learning, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, online learning, online media, online tutoring, personalized/customized learning, play, second screen apps, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, technologies for your home, training / L&D, transmedia, user experience (UX), user interface design, using teams, vendors, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Excerpt:

AUSTIN, TX – Virtual reality is featured prominently at South By Southwest Sports this year, from using it to better train athletes with Oculus Rift to how it could transform the fan experience watching basketball, football and hockey at home.
…
The NHL had its first successful test of a 360-degree virtual reality experience at its Stadium Series game between the San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings last month, mounting cameras around the glass that filmed HD images in the round.

Excerpt:

When basketball lovers aren’t able to trek to stadiums near and far to follow their favorite teams, it’s possible that watching games on a bar’s widescreen TV from behind bowls of wings is the next best thing. This may no longer be true, however, as a wave of court-side, 3D virtual game experiences is becoming available to superfans with Oculus gear.

Earlier this month, NextVR showed off its new enhanced spectator experiences at the 2015 NBA All-Star Technology Summit with virtual reality (VR) footage of an October 2014 Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers match-up in Rio de Janeiro. The NBA also already announced plans to record VR sessions of the NBA All-Star Game, the Foot Locker Three-Point Contest, and the Sprite Slam Dunk event and practice.

From DSC:
In the future, will you be able to “pull up a seat” at any lecture — throughout the globe — that you want to?

Alternatively, another experiment might relate to second screening lectures — i.e., listening to the lecture on the main/large screen — in your home or office — and employing social-based learning/networking going on via a mobile device.

Consider this article:

Twitter Aims To Hook TV Viewers With Radical New Mobile Service
Twitter’s TV Timeline lets viewers focus on one show while second-screening

TV-friendly social network Twitter is testing a new Social TV service on iPhones which provides users with content and interaction about only one TV show at a time.

The aim is to give users significantly better engagement with their favourite shows than they presently experience when they follow a live broadcast via a Twitter hashtag.

This radical innovation in Social TV design effectively curates just relevant content (screening out irrelevant tweets that use a show’s hashtag) and presents it in an easy-to-use interface.

If successful, the TV Timeline feature will better position Twitter as it competes with Facebook to partner with the television industry and tap advertising revenue related to TV programming.

Apple Introduces its Watch, ResearchKit, a new MacBook; HBO NOW on Apple TV/iPad/iPhone

On 03/09/2015, in Apple, design, health, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, mobile technologies, research, technologies for your home, television, wearables, by Daniel Christian

Also see:

Spring Forward Event — from apple.com
See the Apple Watch in action (in six GIFs) — from fortune.com by Jason Cipriani
Everything you need to know about Apple’s Watch Event — from yahoo.com by Dan Tynan
Apple failed to explain why we need a smartwatch, but it did give us a hint — from businessinsider.com by Steve Kovach

March 21 – World Down Syndrome Day | #DearFutureMom

On 03/17/2014, in global / globalization, health, hearts -- matters of the heart, society, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
A powerful, wonderful piece:

Published on Mar 13, 2014
A heartwarming message from 15 people with Down syndrome to a future mom.

Many of these presentations will be live streamed at:

Also see:

January 2014: Remote Webcast Locations

IBM’s 5-in-5: Innovations that will change our lives in the next 5 years

On 12/17/2013, in 21st century, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business, change, corporate / business world, data related items, emerging technologies, future, health, IBM, marketing/social marketing, society, by Daniel Christian

See also:

IBM’s 5 in 5: In the future, computers will learn — from asmarterplanet.com by Steve Hamm
Personalized learning: In 5 years the classroom will learn you

Primer: Learning Machines — from IBM by Dario Gil

Also see:

‘Classrooms of the future’ and DNA-tailored health care: IBM’s 5-in-5 tech predictions — from ctvnews.ca

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.”

Teaching how to learn [Harvard Medical School & phys.org]

On 10/25/2013, in health, heutagogy, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, lifelong learning, by Daniel Christian

Teaching how to learn — from phys.org

Excerpt:

Medicine is a constantly changing field. With each passing year, new diseases and treatments continue to be discovered, and some of what has been “known” in medicine is proven wrong. Doctors must keep their knowledge and skills up to date after completing medical school and clinical training, medical educators say, but many often lack access to the training necessary to identify learning needs, or craft plans to fill knowledge gaps on their own.

Citing a growing body of evidence, education leaders at Harvard Medical School said at Medical Education Day 2013 that the issue will be addressed by shifting the focus of HMS’s standard medical education curriculum from simply transferring factual knowledge to students to fostering more independent learning and problem solving.

That, in turn, means faculty members must develop new skills to help transform medical students into lifelong learners.

…

“We want students to develop skills and habits of mind that encourage lifelong, self-directed learning, but we don’t do a lot to prepare them for that,” said Richard Schwartzstein, director of the Academy at Harvard Medical School and Ellen and Melvin Gordon Professor of Medical Education at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, who served as the day’s course director.

How Google’s flexible workspace ignites creative collaboration (on wheels) [Kohrman]

On 09/27/2013, in collaboration, experimentation, face-to-face, Google, health, innovation, learning spaces, smart classrooms, using teams, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Many of our learning spaces — if not all of them — need to be completely interchangeable, flexible, mobile, adaptive. Putting chairs and tables on wheels is a great place to start! I also like what they did w/ the electricity here; very flexible.

Also see:

Watch: This Desk Knows When You Should Stand, Sit, Or Just Breathe — from fastcompany.com by Christina Chaey
The Stir Kinetic Smart Desk, from veterans of Apple, Ideo, NASA, and Disney, adjusts heights and tracks your habits in an effort to help you work smarter and healthier.

and

The Kinetic Desk from Stir

Great minimalist design — yet still highly functional/useful — as seen in a simple plate

On 09/16/2013, in Daniel S. Christian, design, health, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
My wife had purchased a few things at the store the other day, including the plastic plate below. So when I reached for a smaller plate and grabbed hold of this one, I stopped and stared for a moment at it. Then my kids heard me say, “This is great design!” After that, I literally had to stop, put it on the counter, and take a picture of it so I could post it on this blog. The design is so simple, so straightforward, and yet so functional. I don’t have to remember what all the food groups are — they are right there for me to “fill up.” Great, minimalist design. Simple, yet still very effective.

.

Great-Design----DSC---Sep2013

“I feel soooo much joy when I dance.” Music and life at the level of the soul. Talk about gifts…wow!

On 09/05/2013, in art, Australia, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, health, hearts -- matters of the heart, music, relationships, by Daniel Christian

“I want to change the world…one smile at a time.”

.

From DSC:
If you watch this ~8 min clip, I guarantee that you will smile — and, if it hits you like it hit me, you will even cry. But you will be touched. It’s music and life at the level of the soul.

I’d like to thank Joe and Kate Byerwalter for this excellent and fun find.
Rarely do I want to go out an immediately purchase a tune that I’ve just heard.
But that’s what happened when I heard the tune that Tommy Franklin danced to:
Shooting Stars from The Bag Raiders

Will IBM’s Watson — or a similar set of technologies — be a key ingredient of our future MOOCs? [Christian]

On 09/05/2013, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, blended learning, career development, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, digital learning, disruption, global / globalization, health, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), hybrid learning, IBM, ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interactivity, internet, IT in HE, K-12 related, lifelong learning, marketing/social marketing, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, online learning, online media, online tutoring, passions, personalized/customized learning, professional development, research, second screen apps, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, social media, society, storytelling, strategy, streams of content, teaching online, technologies for your home, training / L&D, trends, ubiquitous learning, United States, using teams, vendors, videoconferencing, virtual K-12 schools, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
IBM Watson continues to expand into different disciplines/areas, which currently include:

Healthcare
Finance
Customer Service

But Watson is also entering the marketing and education/research realms.

I see a Watson-type-of-tool as being a key ingredient for future MOOCs and the best chance for MOOCs to morph into something very powerful indeed — offloading the majority of the workload to computers/software/intelligent tutoring/learning agents, while at the same time allowing students to connect with each other and/or to Subject Matter Experts (SME’s) as appropriate.

The price of education could hopefully come way down — depending upon the costs involved with licensing Watson or a similar set of technologies — as IBM could spread out their costs to multiple institutions/organizations. This vision represents another important step towards the “Walmart of Education” that continues to develop before our eyes.

Taking this even one step further, I see this system being available to us on our mobile devices as well as in our living rooms — as the telephone, the television, and the computer continue to converge. Blended learning on steroids.

What would make this really powerful would be to provide:

The ability to create narratives/stories around content
To feed streams of content into Watson for students to tap into
Methods of mining data and using that to tweak algorithms, etc. to improve the tools/learning opportunities

Such an architecture could be applied towards lifelong learning opportunities — addressing what we now know as K-12, higher education, and corporate training/development.

.

IBM and USTA captivate tennis fans with immersive second screen experience [MarketWatch.com]

On 08/28/2013, in analytics, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, digital learning, education technology, educational games / serious games, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, health, IBM, innovation, interactivity, internet, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, lifelong learning, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, mobile technologies, multimedia, online learning, online media, online tutoring, participation, second screen apps, social learning / networks, streams of content, tablets, technologies for your home, technology (general), by Daniel Christian

IBM and USTA captivate tennis fans with immersive second screen experience — from MarketWatch.com
Analytics, cloud, mobile and social computing technologies deliver US Open to fans’ fingertips

Excerpt:

The innovative digital US Open environment provides fans, players, broadcasters and media with access to a range of Big Data insights streaming from the courts, including stats, facts, videos, live scoring, and historical and real-time analysis of tennis data served to tablets, smartphones, PCs and other devices.

Also see:

.

From DSC:
Questions I wonder about:

How might this sort of thing help us in education? What if, instead of a tennis match, it was a debate on X vs. Y…?
.
Could we use it in educational gaming apps?
.
If so, what sorts of apps that lean on social learning could we create?
.
How could professional development/conferences use this type of immersive second screen experience? What sorts of opportunities for participation would open up?
.
Could we develop things like this that help us learn things IN REAL TIME from the streams of content flowing by? (Do learning agents employ this sort of thing?)

Somewhat-related items:

College students bring targeted media to doctors’ waiting rooms — from entrepreneur.com by Michelle Goodman

Excerpt:

Their idea was to sell doctors’ offices prepackaged video segments containing tips on diet, exercise and other lifestyle tweaks patients could make to improve their health. A TV screen in the reception area would broadcast this programming, modeled after segments on shows such as Today, while patients waited for appointments.

To test the idea, Agarwal, Shah and classmate Derek Moeller bought TVs and DVD players, culled content from the internet and distributed the equipment and “shows” to 50 doctors in five states.

MOOCing the Liberal Arts? Technology and Relationship in Liberal Arts Education
The Thirteenth Annual Conversation on the Liberal Arts
February 13 – 15, 2014

Shortfall in educated U.S. workers to worsen: study — — from reuters.com by Paige Gance

Excerpt:

WASHINGTON | Wed Jun 26, 2013 5:55pm EDT (Reuters) – U.S. workers with advanced skills in areas such as math, science and healthcare are growing more scarce, with a shortfall of 20 million adequately educated workers expected by 2020, a study released on Wednesday found.

“The United States has been under-producing workers with postsecondary education since the 1980s,” researchers at Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce said in the study. “Jobs will return, but not everyone will be ready for them.”

They predicted that 65 percent of the projected 165 million jobs in 2020 will require more than a high school diploma, up from 59 percent in 2010.

From DSC:
IF the status quo is maintained, the outlook for the U.S. is not good.

That is, if the prices of obtaining a degree in higher ed keep going up and the middle class continues to be hollowed out, a smaller pool of people will even be able to afford getting a postsecondary education (regardless of whether it’s in healthcare, math, or science).

How much longer do the status quo’ers think that the U.S. Federal Government will wait around, watching this situation develop? How much longer before the Federal Government looks elsewhere for its workforce development (let alone the students out there who need to make a living)?

There is not an infinite period of time for institutions of traditional higher education to respond. MOOCs are a start, but they are but one option and they need to be improved. Along those lines:

The organization who can collaborate with those perfecting IBM’s Watson, Apple’s Siri, or Google Now — and integrate those technologies into a low-cost solution for postsecondary education — will be a potent force in the future.

iDoctor: Could a smartphone be the future of medicine? [nbcnews.com]

On 05/20/2013, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, budgets, health, nursing, productivity / tips and tricks, telecommunications, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

iDoctor: Could a smartphone be the future of medicine?

Description of video (which was done back in January 2013):

One of the world’s top physicians, Dr. Eric Topol, has a prescription that could improve your family’s health and make medical care cheaper. The cardiologist claims that the key is the smartphone. Topol has become the foremost expert in the exploding field of wireless medicine. Dr. Nancy Snyderman reports.

.

Also see:

Why informatics is the next big degree in healthcare — from askforeducation.com
What’s the future of medicine? — quib.ly

Learning Ecosystems

Apple Introduces its Watch, ResearchKit, a new MacBook; HBO NOW on Apple TV/iPad/iPhone

March 21 – World Down Syndrome Day | #DearFutureMom

Calvin College’s January Series 2014: Some excellent presentations coming up!

Teaching how to learn [Harvard Medical School & phys.org]

How Google’s flexible workspace ignites creative collaboration (on wheels) [Kohrman]

Great minimalist design — yet still highly functional/useful — as seen in a simple plate

“I feel soooo much joy when I dance.” Music and life at the level of the soul. Talk about gifts…wow!

Shortfall in educated U.S. workers to worsen: study [Gance]

iDoctor: Could a smartphone be the future of medicine? [nbcnews.com]

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