Smart Objects

Smart Objects Tetrad
Enhances:
· Objects “knowing ” about themselves
· Objects can tell you their location and state
· Items can be traced to anywhere

Retrieves:
· Bar coding information
· ATM/Credit cards
· Metallic detectors/scanners


Reverses:
· Surveillance systems
· Manually stored records
· Existing shopping cards


Obsoletes:
· Tracking systems like GPS and SATNAV
· Less reliance on human investigators
· Items /people being lost

Explanation:
Smart objects have the ability to “tell” where they are and they can feed vital information to any location. We have not seen anything like before and this is certainly something that is new.
With smart objects being able to tell where they are and the state or condition they are in, traditional tracking systems have become obsolete. Libraries for example can track their books to any place on this earth.
Smart objects bring to mind the old military way of wiring someone’s vehicle to track their movements. The problem with that method was that the intelligence built into the devices were very limited in capability and they were restricted to geographic locations.
Smart objects are likely to proliferate into several other aspects of society and business and are likely to be the standard devices in the next few years

Source:
Horizon Report ( 2009). Retrived on October 1, from http://wp.nmc.org/horizon2009/chapters/smart-objects/

Obsolete Technology

Obsolete technology is a critical thing to understand. People who do understand it would know how long to keep a piece of equipment and when to part with it and be able to avoid making costly mistakes. An obsolete piece of technology is one in which the useful life is gone and one that fails to interact well with similar modern equipment, is less efficient and is hardly upgradeable. It could be argued that a technology may be useful to one person while another considers it to be useless but there must be some international benchmark by which everything is measured and judged. For example, a firm in one country may decide to ship some old equipment to some poor community where the citizens consider the technology to be state-of-the-art. Isn’t that “new found” technology still obsolete? Yes, it is because when spare parts for that donated equipment are needed to maintain it they may not be available and that technology may not be as efficient as the more recent models.

In fact, new technology emerges to do a far better job so the earlier piece of equipment is no longer preferred. It means therefore that the speed at which more improved technology emerges determines the rate at which competing technologies become obsolete. We say that computers generally have a useful life of five years but when new and more efficient ones are made, we quickly dispose what we had as inadequate and purchase new ones. The five year life span becomes irrelevant. We must therefore measure the usefulness of technology using several units of measurements which must include: life span, availability of better models and equipment efficiency among other factors. This will help use to better understand at what point something becomes obsolete. I expect the life span of most technological pieces to shorten considerably.

Staff members are techno-resistant

We considered setting up an EMIS in the Ministry of Education and all schools throught out the country and we realized that many members of staff needed to be trained in computer literacy before they would be able to use the new system. To gain the staff's attention, we had the software vendor come over and demonstrated to the staff members how the EMIS works and everyone was given the opportunity to try the new system. Following the presentation, we had extensive discussions on the benefits of the EMIS and everyone agreed that the new system was very relevant to the new thrust in education.

We organized training for the varioius members and noticed that several leading officers were not attending the sessions. We investigated further and discovered that a number of them were uncomfortable sitting in classroom with the younger staff who "knew" more than them. We needed them to come on board so we had one-to-one training in their own offices, for those officers. It took us longer to start using the EMIS but when we did start, everyone was on board.

People were made to interact

We were made to interact.
From a spiritual stand point, we were made to interact. Christians will say to you that God saw how important it was for man to interact not just with animals and plants but with his equals- hence the reason for Eve and procreation.

Why do most people find it very difficult to sit by someone for a long period and don't say something to that person. Those who accomplish it, do so with great discomfort. Why people end up online chatting with hundreds of people they dont have a clue about? No man is an island. We some times need direction, affection, medical attention, companion. Interaction brings us closer together and helps us support each other while at the same time accomplishing a lot. Scheinkman(2004) says that social interaction is useful for resolving issues and achieving goals.

If one tries to imagine a world where there is little or no interaction between the people, one will discover a world that is truly unbalance and boring. Iacoboni et al (2003) believes that interaction builds this community spirit in people and it helps people identify the line of authority in a system.

Connectivism

I am not sure that the network has changed the way I learn. What has happened is that it has revolutionized the way I access information. The network has shown that my resource base has also expanded as I am connected to many more people and institutions, many of which are in the virtual world. The way my work is being assessed has changed in some respects since my participation in discussions, blogs and other online activities are graded and a mark awarded to me. This new network has put me in contact with many scholars and professionals whose input gives credibility to my work. The network also shows that my access to information is not hindered by geograhic location nor time zone. I have a good contingency system in place in terms of my ICT support system and my financial connection is also good.

The Ipod is my favorite digital tool. It works for me as a mobile secretary since it always keeps me in touch with my courses and learning community. The beauty of the Ipod is that I am not limited to space and time. I am in touch with the university anywhere and all the time. Another advantage of the ipod is that it not cumbersome and it is very light. When I need to relax I can play music on it and if I need to revise I can also listen to my lectures on it. Great tool!

I gain knowledge mainly by posting my questions on discussion for a, blogs, to my colleagues in the learning community, my instructors and the printed pages.

Mind Map of Lawrence Cato