Session Six

This week we discussed BioBusiness. It is huge. It covers over 25% of global GDP and 40% of the world’s labour force. Many of us may immediately assume that biobusiness is about selling cures for diseases after some chemical experiments. But it is much more than that. It covers many areas that we didn’t imagine. The area we concentrated on was Healthcare and Biomedical Sciences.

One of the discussions we had which I found interesting was that on how USA spends a large amount on people who are on advanced stages of diseases. This is pretty much a waste of resources as many of these people are near the end of their lives. Singapore on the other hand is actually moving towards prevention, health promotion and wellness care. This does make more sense as many times it has been proven that prevention is better than cure.

Another discussion we had that interested me a lot was about the video by Microsoft and the future of healthcare. It was about making the healthcare system a lot more convenient for people. They had patients who could actually have consultations with doctors through the television. But the question was and is that is it sensible? How much can the doctor be able “check” one through a TV? What happened to the idea of getting one’s blood pressure checked or blood tested? Are some things better off the old way?

Presentations were great. We had a presentation on genetic discrimination. When we hear of something new and different that has benefits we immediately get very excited. But we never stop to think of pros and cons. This presentation helped me gain more insight on such issues.

The presentation on telomerase was like going back in time to a biology lesson. It reminded me of things I had forgotten. If one is able to live forever how would it be? I would not want to live forever. May be I don’t mind. I am not sure. Let’s wait to see if it’s even possible.

Overall I rate the class 10/10 as I learnt a lot.

Session Five

The main topic of the day was information and communication technology. We went through some areas of interest. What interested me most was the Internet which has one of the biggest impacts on human kind. How we have moved on from a basic web 1.0 to a more interactive web 2.0 plays a major part in our lives as web 2.0 has become a distinct aspect of our daily activities. But the biggest change would be the web 3.0. The idea of web 3.0 excites me, however, it also sounds a little scary. The main question that always comes to my mind regarding advancement in technology is that: Where should we stop before either the human touch is lost or we may be taken over by these very “robots”? May be it might be too much of influence of science fiction movies but if things we did not imagine have been achieved, I am sure even these fears may come true. I also found the idea of knowledge management quite enlightening.

Prof showed us a video on Project Natal. VERY EXCITING! But after reading prof’s blog I kind of agree with Kenny (one of my classmates) that having a computerized person as a companion for kids and elderly a good idea but it may have its implications. As much as parents and teachers can control the use and effects of such technology on children we don’t know how children’s mind work! They may form a bond with such a character and despite all our attempts we might not be able to break that bond. This would definitely affect how the child will interact with others and perceive the world. And in a negative way.

We had a discussion on digital poverty. I feel that even though ICT is a very powerful economic tool to remove poverty in developed countries by educating the people or by allowing greater access to information it is not the answer yet. There are many more important needs in people’s lives. We can’t forget the basic needs of human kind which is food, water, shelter etc. Without these needs no ICT can help these people. May be ICT can be used in another way the help people with their basic needs. That is something I would like to read up on further.

Two presentations were quite interesting. The first was by Melissa on the future of television. The discussion in class seemed to show that a lot of people felt that this will not be a very successful innovation. However, I feel that it might just do well. In TWC class we may be so influenced by the idea of having advances which are way above the television but many people out there aren’t. So the most little improvements in any technology that is part of our daily lives will most probably interest a lot of people out there. This is especially for people who can afford these innovations. A lot of folks out there are willing to use any technology or update their current ones as long as they can afford it.

The next interesting presentation was by Shaak. His article answered my question of the idea free. I was very very very interested, surprised and enlightened by this tactic or method companies use to attract customers. I think this idea is something that will stay all the way with me.

 I give this session a 9/10 as I got to learn a lot.

OUTLINE FOR INDIVIDUAL TOPICAL REVIEW

Specific innovation of interest:

The specific innovation I am choosing is the use of motion control and detectors in video gaming. Motion detectors basically contain sensors which quantify motion that can be either integrated with or connected to other devices that alert the user of the presence of a moving object within the field of view. This technology is now being used for video games such as Wii and Kinect where the games can be played with actual body movements detected by these sensors.

Rational for selecting this innovation:

I believe that two different technologies (motion detectors and video game technology) have been brought together to bring about such a huge change to the gaming industry. But what made this change more attractive was the fact that its impact was so huge that it has also affected other areas outside games, such as healthcare and education. Its social, economical and technological impact has been tremendous.

Proposed approach to development of paper:

Executive summary:

A review on impact of motion sensors in gaming and its spillover effects on other areas.

Background / Introduction:

-          Background on revolutionary/disruptive innovation.

o   Characteristics and indicators that allow us to determine what a disruptive innovation is.

-          Background on video games.

o   Rough idea on how they work

o   Rough idea on progress made

o   Companies related to them

-          Background on motion sensors.

o   Explain how they work.

Historical perspective:

History of

-          Video gaming before motion sensors

-          Technology before motion sensors

Current Situation:

Changes brought about by this technology.

-          Direct impact on gaming industry for which it was meant for (e.g.: economical).

o   Positive

o   Negative

-          Impact on other industries.

o   Positive

o   Negative

Future considerations:

New ways of gaming through cloud gaming platform

Conclusions

References

Session Four

The main topic for the day was CHANGE. At the start of the lesson we went through the different drivers of world change. Such changes come in two ways:

-          Evolutionary

-          Revolutionary / Disruptive

Evolutionary changes are incremental changes that happen over time. They tend to just improve existing technologies, services or products according to customer’s needs.

I was especially interested in revolutionary changes. This change is also known as disruptive innovation, which was a term introduced by Clay Christensen. The whole idea is to basically overturn the existing dominant technology, market, product or service. However this doesn’t happen overnight. According to Christensen, “many innovations are often inferior in most respects to established products, but succeed because they possess some attribute that is valued by a new customer segment–or possess an attribute existing customers did not even realize they valued”.

I came across a graph which seemed to increase my understanding of a disruptive change.

We also went through the different ways in which people react to changes.

-          Reaction One: An eagle

o   They have a bird’s eye view of what is happening and they react accordingly to the changes.

-          Reaction Two: Ostrich

o   They recognize the fact that there are changes happening. Provide their opinion on what is going to change, what should be done etc but never do anything.

-          Reaction Three: Dodo

o   This are the “blur” group whole completely fails to recognize that there is even a change. Thus, failing to take any appropriate action.

During the discussion prof mentioned to us about adaptability, flexibility and specialization. I feel that we can be and should be specialized in what we do but within that field/discipline we should have enough flexibility to change according and be willing gain the new knowledge/lessons that change brings to us.

We then moved on to part two of the lesson in which we had an intense discussion on management and leadership and its differences. Prof mentioned that as times are changing to a more knowledge based economy, leaders/managers can’t treat their subordinates as “donkeys”. They can’t just shout or order their team members to give their best. There will be no motivation for these employees to give their best ideas or put in their best effort. Eventually it will be loss of knowledge for the leader/manager and company.

We got to view video about how anyone can be a leader. But the difference is that they must have the courage and in a lot of cases they must be thick skinned enough to be different from the rest. One point prof that stayed me till now is that another important person who helps that one person to be a leader is his first follower. And that makes so much sense. If you have at least one person who truly believes in something/someone it definitely does make you think what is so special about that thing/person that attracts anyone. From here the interest starts.

The presentation that interested me most was the one on a CIO’s role in a company. A CIO can no longer just be someone who knows a lot about IT. But he or she must be also aware on how these technologies can work well together with their business processes to further enhance their productivity, efficiency etc.

I rate this session a 9/10 as it really kept me interested and motivated me to do more research on my own.

“Action and reaction, ebb and flow, trial and error, change - this is the rhythm of living. Out of our over-confidence, fear; out of our fear, clearer vision, fresh hope. And out of hope, progress.”

Bruce Barton

BUT we must keep in mind that:

“All change is not growth, as all movement is not forward.”
Ellen Glasgow

Session Three

This week’s class started off with a summary of the past two sessions. The question raised by Prof was: How are we going to see children in the coming future? Are we going to despise them because they would be a burden on us? Or are we going to envision them as the future Einstein and work towards making them that successful?

We moved on to the topic of sustainability. We were asked to think about what we thought sustainability was. On the top of my head, without checking the proper definition, sustainability to me is something that is possible to happen/occur/do for a long time without difficulty. The two dictionary definitions I got were:

 1. Pertaining to a system that maintains its own viability by using techniques that allow for continual reuse

2. Able to be maintained or kept going, as an action or process.

Two words that stand out from these definitions, for me, are ‘maintain’ and ‘reuse’. This is how sustainable development should be like. One of the biggest concerns now is the fact that due to increasing global demand, resources are running out. I was shocked to find out that by now we have used up 1/3 of the world’s natural resource bases. Many of these resources aren’t renewable. Thus it is very important that we keep these two words in our mind because our only solution to protect our environment and our future is through sustainable technologies or resources that can be MAINTAINED and REUSED!

The first presentation we had has stayed on in my mind. It was on the use of palm oil as a bio fuel. We had a discussion on how viable are its economic benefits as compared to how it affects the environment. Without thinking too deep into it I felt that it was a very good substitute for fossil fuels. I decided to read up more on it and realized that there is a totally different side to it. Two articles that caught my attention were

1.      http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/palm_oil_biofuel_position.pdf

2.      http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/apr/04/energy.indonesia

From these articles I understand what the prof meant when he said: Economic growth has surpassed environment endowment. When we talk about coming up with substitute resources such as palm oil for energy, we have to be very careful that the benefits surpass the risks and problems by many folds. What is the point of having developments that turn out to be a bane more than a boon?

In the second section of the class Prof went through with us “The Shahi Landscape Model for Technology Assessment: Conceptual Framework”  and “The Shahi Technology Innovation Value Creation Pipeline”. The first model reminded me of his “The Shahi  Organizational Behaviour Model for Identifying Innovation Leaders and Dominant Players”. Through the discussion in the second half we spoke about the different types of technology. They are innovation driven and market driven technologies. Monetary success is the top in the to-do list of many companies thus the majority of the products we currently have is definitely market driven.

During the second set of presentations what interested me the most was the presentation on Steve Jobs. It was a shock and that got me reading up more on him. An interesting article that I read was ‘Apple cries about Samsung and Motorola’s Patent “Monopoly”’ (http://www.dailytech.com/Apple+Cries+About+Samsung+and+Motorolas+Patent+Monopoly/article22586.htm).

With all the new ideas from the lesson I rate it a 9/10.