technology (general)

How WiFi 6 is about to revolutionize the Internet of Things [Loeffler]

On 07/08/2019, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, business, corporate / business world, emerging technologies, internet, IT in HE, society, technologies for your home, technology (general), telecommunications, tools, workplace, by Daniel Christian

How WiFi 6 is about to revolutionize the Internet of Things — from interestingengineering.com by John Loeffler
While 5G tends to get all the press nowadays, WiFi 6 is going to have as big an impact behind the scenes by powering a next phase of the Internet of Things.

Excerpt:

So what’s such a big deal about these new standards? The difference between WiFi 5 and WiFi 6 is much like the jump from mobile’s 4G LTE networks to the new 5G networks rolling out this year and next.

The primary improvements will be in speed, connection strength, a wider spectrum of channels to operate in, and simultaneous streams. This means that there will be more room for each connection at an access point, allowing more devices to connect with less loss of bandwidth than current standards; these connections will be 37% faster than WiFi 5; and the ability of a WiFi 6 network to handle different data streams at the same time.

All of this adds up to a significant jump in speed over WiFi 5, allowing for up to 10 to 12 gigabytes per second of data transfer per connection, which opens up a whole new world of connected devices both at home, at work, and everywhere else in our lives.

Again, how do citizens weigh in on this potential development from Uber?

On 07/03/2019, in emerging technologies, geography / geology, health, law schools, legislatures / government / legal, society, technology (general), United States, vendors, by Daniel Christian

At 1st glance, looks interesting. On 2nd thought, 911 comes to mind–as well as the noise/traffic in the skies. I already live somewhat near an airport & there R times of the day that R very noisy. I don't want more noise. How do citizens weigh in? #FAA https://t.co/6XDZNhEs0z

— Daniel Christian (@dchristian5) July 3, 2019

What new trends & technologies can we use to design & deliver modern training experiences? [Hart]

On 06/26/2019, in corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, technology (general), tools, training / L&D, trends, UK, workplace, by Daniel Christian

What new trends and technologies can we use to design and deliver modern training experiences? — from modernworkplacelearning.com by Jane Hart
Here are 3 meta-trends that I’m seeing which show how new thinking, trends and technologies can be used to offer modern training experiences.

But more significantly, what this means is that these platforms are becoming a hub for work and learning. It’s no longer just about taking an online courses or classroom training – disconnected from the real world of work. Learning is now being seen in a very different light – as a work activity – and one that is highly performance-focused.

Reflections on “Machine Learning: Living in the Age of AI | A WIRED Film”

On 06/21/2019, in 21st century, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, emerging technologies, ethics, morals/values, society, technology (general), the downsides of how people use tech, tools, trends, United States, vision/possibilities, youth, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
As many times happens with humans use of technologies, some good and some bad here. Exciting. Troubling. Incredible. Alarming.

Companies, please make sure you’re not giving the keys to a $137,000, powerful Maserati to your “16 year olds.”

Just because we can…

And to you “16 year olds out there”…ask for / seek wisdom. Ask yourself whether you should be developing what you are developing. Is it helpful or hurtful to society? Don’t just collect the paycheck. You have a responsibility to humankind.

To whom much is given…

Reflections on “How surveillance cameras could be weaponized with A.I.” [Chokshi]

On 06/19/2019, in Amazon, Daniel S. Christian, law schools, legislatures / government / legal, society, technology (general), the downsides of how people use tech, tools, United States, vendors, by Daniel Christian

How surveillance cameras could be weaponized with A.I. — from nytimes.com by Niraj Chokshi
Advances in artificial intelligence could supercharge surveillance cameras, allowing footage to be constantly monitored and instantly analyzed, the A.C.L.U. warned in a new report.

Excerpt:

In the report, the organization imagined a handful of dystopian uses for the technology. In one, a politician requests footage of his enemies kissing in public, along with the identities of all involved. In another, a life insurance company offers rates based on how fast people run while exercising. And in another, a sheriff receives a daily list of people who appeared to be intoxicated in public, based on changes to their gait, speech or other patterns.

Analysts have valued the market for video analytics at as much as $3 billion, with the expectation that it will grow exponentially in the years to come. The important players include smaller businesses as well as household names such as Amazon, Cisco, Honeywell, IBM and Microsoft.

From DSC:
We can no longer let a handful of companies tell the rest of us how our society will be formed/shaped/act.

For example, Amazon should NOT be able to just send its robots/drones to deliver packages — that type of decision is NOT up to them. I have a suspicion that Amazon cares more about earning larger profits and pleasing Wall Street rather than being concerned with our society at large. If Amazon is able to introduce their robots all over the place, what’s to keep any and every company from introducing their own army of robots or drones? If we allow this to occur, it won’t be long before our streets, sidewalks, and air spaces are filled with noise and clutter.

So…a question for representatives, senators, legislators, mayors, judges, lawyers, etc.:

What should we be building in order to better allow citizens to weigh in on emerging technologies and whether any given emerging technology — or a specific product/service — should be rolled out…or not?

“Tech giants believe that voice is as big as touchscreen…” [Wynter Elwood]

On 06/19/2019, in 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, adjunct faculty, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, colleges, community colleges, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Google, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, IT in HE, learning, learning ecosystem, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, Microsoft, mobile learning, mobile technologies, multimedia, Natural Language Processing (NLP), platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, student-related, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, technology (general), tools, training / L&D, trends, United States, universities, usability, user experience (UX), vendors, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, web-based collaboration, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Do you have a virtual personal assistant? With #VoiceAssistants we might get time back to do what we want to do. Tech giants believe that voice is as big as touchscreen and will invest a lot in the further development. #Microsoft #Google https://t.co/uPqkKyiPT3 pic.twitter.com/IjeVn5Af4p

— Wynter (@WynterElwood) June 17, 2019

Also see:

Microsoft is building a virtual assistant for work. Google is building one for everything else — from qz.com by Dave Gershgorn

Excerpts:

In the early days of virtual personal assistants, the goal was to create a multipurpose digital buddy—always there, ready to take on any task. Now, tech companies are realizing that doing it all is too much, and instead doubling down on what they know best.
…
Since the company has a deep understanding of how organizations work, Microsoft is focusing on managing your workday with voice, rearranging meetings and turning the dials on the behemoth of bureaucracy in concert with your phone.

Voice is the next major platform, and being first to it is an opportunity to make the category as popular as Apple made touchscreens. To dominate even one aspect of voice technology is to tap into the next iteration of how humans use computers.

From DSC:
What affordances might these developments provide for our future learning spaces?

Will faculty members’ voices be recognized to:

Sign onto the LMS?
Dim the lights?
Turn on the projector(s) and/or display(s)?
Other?

Will students be able to send the contents of their mobile devices to particular displays via their voices?

Will voice be mixed in with augmented reality (i.e., the students and their devices can “see” which device to send their content to)?

Hmmm…time will tell.

Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends 2019 Report

On 06/12/2019, in analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Asia, Australia, Canada, career development, cost of getting a degree, Cost of legal services - including access, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, education, education technology, emerging technologies, Europe, future of higher education, game-changing environment, health, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), India, innovation, intelligent systems, internet, IT in HE, law schools, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, marketing/social marketing, MBA, Microsoft, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, new business models, online learning, pace of change, platforms, social learning / networks, social media, society, storytelling, student-related, technologies for your home, technology (general), tools, trends, UK, Uncategorized, United States, vendors, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, web-based collaboration, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Excerpts:

From DSC:
That last one reminded me of why I think the Living from the Living [Class] Room vision is so powerful…

Are we there yet? Impactful technologies and the power to influence change — from campustechnology.com by Mary Grush and Ellen Wagner

Excerpt:

Learning analytics, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and other new and emerging technologies seem poised to change the business of higher education — yet, we often hear comments like “We’re just not there yet…” or “This is a technology that is just too slow to adoption…” or other observations that make it clear that many people — including those with a high level of expertise in education technology — are thinking that the promise is not yet fulfilled. Here, CT talks with veteran education technology leader Ellen Wagner, to ask for her perspectives on the adoption of impactful technologies — in particular the factors in our leadership and development communities that have the power to influence change.

8 industrial IoT trends of 2019 that cannot be ignored — from datafloq.com

Excerpt:

From manufacturing to the retail sector, the infinite applications of the industrial internet of things are disrupting business processes, thereby improving operational efficiency and business competitiveness. The trend of employing IoT-powered systems for supply chain management, smart monitoring, remote diagnosis, production integration, inventory management, and predictive maintenance is catching up as companies take bold steps to address a myriad of business problems.

No wonder, the global technology spend on IoT is expected to reach USD 1.2 trillion by 2022. The growth of this segment will be driven by firms deploying IIoT solutions and giant tech organizations who are developing these innovative solutions.

To help you stay ahead of the curve, we have enlisted a few trends that will dominate the industrial IoT sphere.

5. 5G Will Drive Real-Time IIoT Applications
5G deployments are digitizing the industrial domain and changing the way enterprises manage their business operations. Industries, namely transportation, manufacturing, healthcare, energy and utilities, agriculture, retail, media, and financial services will benefit from the low latency and high data transfer speed of 5G mobile networks.

Survey: Students Choosing Online Programs Closer to Home — from campustechnology.com by Dian Schaffhauser

Mentioned in that article:

ONLINE COLLEGE STUDENTS 2019: Comprehensive Data on Demands and Preferences — from learninghouse.com | Research Report | June 4, 2019

Also see:

Survey: Most students say online learning is as good or better than face-to-face
— from campustechnology.com by Dian Schaffhauser

“It’s encouraging to see that a majority of students who are studying fully online are reporting great value and satisfaction with their online programs which are largely tied to ambitious career goals,” said Todd Zipper, president and CEO of Learning House, in a prepared statement. “With an increasing population of savvier consumers with high expectations, institutions need to do better at offering more quality, diverse programs that are sensitive to cost in order to keep up with the growing demands of online college students.”

From DSC:
If, in the year 2019, most students say online learning is as good or better than face-to-face, what will they say come 2025? 2035?

Many people will still prefer to have F2F-based learning experiences no matter what year it is. That said, as the innovation continues to occur mainly in the digital/online/virtual realms, F2F will likely find it harder and harder to compete. My advice to current faculty members? Get experience teaching online — and do so as soon as you possibly can.

‘Robots’ Are Not ‘Coming for Your Job’—Management Is — from gizmodo.com by Brian Merchant; with a special thanks going out to Keesa Johnson for her posting this out on LinkedIn

A robot is not ‘coming for’, or ‘stealing’ or ‘killing’ or ‘threatening’ to take away your job. Management is.

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

At first glance, this might like a nitpicky semantic complaint, but I assure you it’s not—this phrasing helps, and has historically helped, mask the agency behind the *decision* to automate jobs. And this decision is not made by ‘robots,’ but management. It is a decision most often made with the intention of saving a company or institution money by reducing human labor costs (though it is also made in the interests of bolstering efficiency and improving operations and safety). It is a human decision that ultimately eliminates the job.

From DSC:
I’ve often said that if all the C-Suite cares about is maximizing profits — instead of thinking about their fellow humankind and society as a whole — we’re in big trouble.

If the thinking goes, “Heh — it’s just business!” <– Again, then we’re in big trouble here.

Just because we can, should we? Many people should be reflecting upon this question…and not just members of the C-Suite.

Law’s Looming Skills Crisis [Cohen]

On 05/24/2019, in business, collaboration, corporate / business world, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, law schools, legislatures / government / legal, pace of change, society, technology (general), by Daniel Christian

Law’s Looming Skills Crisis — from forbes.com by Mark Cohen

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

The good news is that legal professionals have more career paths, lifestyle options, and geographic nimbleness than ever before. The bad news is that relatively few in the industry are prepared to fill the new roles.

A growing list of clients demand transformed legal services. What does that mean? Legal professionals must meld law, technology, and business and apply principles of digital transformation to the legal function. They must be proactive, data-driven, client-centric, and collaborative*. They must appreciate that clients want solutions to business challenges, not legal tomes.
…
Legal culture responds to the warp speed change—when it does at all– with buzzwords, denial, and self-congratulation. The packed calendar of industry award dinners celebrating pioneers, innovation, diversity, and other self-declared advances belies data exposing law’s dreadful scorecard on diversity, gender pay equality, advancement opportunities for non-white males, and other legal guild cultural holdovers. Then there’s the disconnect between the lawyer and client view of industry performance. Law’s net promoter score lags other professions and almost all industries. Legal culture needs a jolt; client-centricity, the ability to respond rapidly and effectively to new risk factors and challenges, data-driven judgments, and agile workforces are among law’s transformational musts.
…
Legal culture is slow to embrace data, technology, new delivery models, multidisciplinary practice, regulatory reform, collaboration, diversity, gender pay equality, the distinction between the practice of law and the delivery of legal services, client-centricity, and digital transformation. Law is rooted in precedent; it looks to the past to prepare for the future. That is no longer the world we live in.

From DSC:
*And I would add the ability to look into the future, develop some potential scenarios and some responses to those potential scenarios…in other words, practice some methods used in futurism.

I would encourage my colleagues within the legal education world — which includes the American Bar Association (ABA) — but also judges, lawyers, legislators, attorney generals, public defenders, and many others to realize that we need to massively pick up the pace if we are to help tame the wild west of emerging technologies these days!

Has Technology Made State Regional Universities Obsolete? — from campustechnology.com by Richard Rose
While SRUs do some things well, the current model is not sustainable, with students taking on enormous debt and receiving relatively little income benefit in return. Here’s how technology can help change the equation.

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

What if the State Board of Higher Education assembled a team to create one exceptionally fine Official Texas Version of the sophomore Western Civilization course? The team would include brilliant subject-matter experts, the best graphic artists, senior instructional designers, professional film editors and sharp-eyed text editors, who could produce a 48-clock-hour video course of previously unimaginable quality.
…
When technology is fully embraced because the need for a better and cheaper product finally trumps the political protection of the status quo, the state regional university will be replaced as part of new state university systems in which local institutions will play a very different role. These new local institutions could be called Learning Satellite Centers (LSCs).
…
Much content will take the form of high-budget, high-quality multimedia productions with delivery available to all popular devices, from desktop computers to cell phones. Access to learning materials, from course movies and podcasts to reading materials, will be through an expanded electronic distribution system that will eliminate the need for paper-based academic libraries.
…
The goal of the University Center plus Learning Satellite Center model is to transfer agency back into the hands of the students, where it belongs. No longer will a self-appointed privileged group of professional academics with their arcane degrees and funny ceremonial robes be dictating to the rest of society what we all need to learn and how we need to learn it. Technology will be the great leveler and the marketplace will help individual students decide what choices are best.

Of course, a brief sketch like this one will raise many questions that cannot be explored in a single article, but the conversation must begin. The current State Regional University is not sustainable and can only be propped up by politics and sentiment for so long. Too many students are piling up huge debt to earn dubious degrees that don’t lead to marketable skills or significant economic benefits. Technology has made more effective models of higher education attainable and at a lower price. We need to fearlessly explore such models before our charming old regional campuses drift into irrelevance.

From DSC:
While the article has a bit of a bite to it (which I suppose readers of this blog would say they might see in my writings/comments as well from time to time), THIS is the kind of innovative, creative thinking that will get us somewhere. I really appreciate Richard’s article and the deep thought he was put into this topic.

In fact, as readers of this blog will know, I have long been a supporter of a TEAM-BASED approach. And listed below are some graphics that prove it — as well as this article I wrote for evolllution.com (where the “lll” stands for lifelong learning) back from 2016.

This page* lists those graphics plus the list of team members that I thought of in December 2008:

Subject Matter Experts
Instructional Designers
Project Managers
Recruiters
Legal Counsel
Researchers / Mind Experts
Digital Audio Specialists
Digital Video Specialists
Streaming Media Experts
Mobile Learning Consultants
Writers and Editors
Programmers and Database Specialists
Web Design and Production Specialists
Interactivity Designers
Multimedia Specialists including Multi-Touch Experts/Programmers
3D / 2D Graphic Designers and/or Animators
MindMappers / Visual Learning Experts
Personalized Learning Consultants
Security Experts
The students themselves
Other

*BTW, I renamed this idea from the Forthcoming Walmart of Education
to the Forthcoming Amazon.com of Higher Education

.

While I’m at it…below are a couple of ideas that I documented back in 2009 that Richard might like…

.

As of today…I would simplify that last graphic to
include a subscription model to streams of content.

Ok…one more graphic from 5/21/09 that describes what I thought would happen if institutions of traditional higher education maintained the status quo through the years. I feel pretty good about how these predictions turned out, but I wish that we would have made even more progress along these lines than we have (since the time I created this graphic).

Introduction: Leading the social enterprise—Reinvent with a human focus
2019 Global Human Capital Trends — from deloitte.com by Volini?, Schwartz? ?, Roy?, Hauptmann, Van Durme, Denny, and Bersin

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Learning in the flow of life. The number-one trend for 2019 is the need for organizations to change the way people learn; 86 percent of respondents cited this as an important or very important issue. It’s not hard to understand why. Evolving work demands and skills requirements are creating an enormous demand for new skills and capabilities, while a tight labor market is making it challenging for organizations to hire people from outside. Within this context, we see three broader trends in how learning is evolving: It is becoming more integrated with work; it is becoming more personal; and it is shifting—slowly—toward lifelong models. Effective reinvention along these lines requires a culture that supports continuous learning, incentives that motivate people to take advantage of learning opportunities, and a focus on helping individuals identify and develop new, needed skills.

Watch Salvador Dalí Return to Life Through AI — from interestingengineering.com by
The Dalí Museum has created a deepfake of surrealist artist Salvador Dalí that brings him back to life.

Excerpt:

The Dalí Museum has created a deepfake of surrealist artist Salvador Dalí that brings him back to life. This life-size deepfake is set up to have interactive discussions with visitors.

The deepfake can produce 45 minutes of content and 190,512 possible combinations of phrases and decisions taken by the fake but realistic Dalí. The exhibition was created by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners using 6,000 frames of Dalí taken from historic footage and 1,000 hours of machine learning.

From DSC:
While on one hand, incredible work! Fantastic job! On the other hand, if this type of deepfake can be done, how can any video be trusted from here on out? What technology/app will be able to confirm that a video is actually that person, actually saying those words?

Will we get to a point that says, this is so and so, and I approved this video. Or will we have an electronic signature? Will a blockchain-based tech be used? I don’t know…there always seems to be pros and cons to any given technology. It’s how we use it. It can be a dream, or it can be a nightmare.

Learning Ecosystems

How WiFi 6 is about to revolutionize the Internet of Things [Loeffler]

Again, how do citizens weigh in on this potential development from Uber?

What new trends & technologies can we use to design & deliver modern training experiences? [Hart]

Reflections on “How surveillance cameras could be weaponized with A.I.” [Chokshi]

Are we there yet? Impactful technologies and the power to influence change [Grush & Wagner]

8 industrial IoT trends of 2019 that cannot be ignored [datafloq.com]

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