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Jon Cavalier

Workflow - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 1 views

shared by Jon Cavalier on 13 Oct 08 - Cached
  • A workflow consists of a sequence of connected steps. It is a depiction of a sequence of operations, declared as work of a person, a group of persons,[1]
  • A workflow is a model to represent real work for further assessment, e.g., for describing a reliably repeatable sequence of operations. More abstractly, a workflow is a pattern of activity enabled by a systematic organization of resources, defined roles and mass, energy and information flows, into a work process that can be documented and learned.[3][4] Workflows are designed to achieve processing intents of some sort, such as physical transformation, service provision, or information processing.
  • The cultural impact of workflow optimization during this era can be understood through films such as Chaplin's classic Modern Times. These concepts did not stay confined to the shop floor. One magazine invited housewives to puzzle over the fastest way to toast three slices of bread on a one-side, two-slice grill. The book Cheaper by the Dozen introduced the emerging concepts to the context of family life.
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    This is the definition of our topic and helps explain exactly what Workflow Software is.
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    when computers became interoperable, it paved the way for work flow software.
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    Definition of Workflow: "A workflow consists of a sequence of connected steps. It is a depiction of a sequence of operations, declared as work of a person, a group of persons,[1] an organization of staff, or one or more simple or complex mechanisms. Workflow may be seen as any abstraction of real work, segregated in workshare."
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    A workflow consists of a sequence of connected steps. It is a depiction of a sequence of operations, declared as work of a person, a group of persons,[1]
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    Shows the meaning of what "workflow" means.
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    "Workflow concepts are closely related to other concepts used to describe organizational structure, such as silos, functions, teams, projects, policies and hierarchies. Workflows may be viewed as one primitive building block of organizations. The relationships among these concepts are described later in this entry."
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    "A workflow consists of a sequence of connected steps. It is a depiction of a sequence of operations, declared as work of a person, a group of persons,["
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    "The term workflow is used in computer programming to capture and develop human-to-machine interaction." Workflow- is the process of using computers to interact with humans, it helps people interact and work together more fluently.
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    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia A workflow consists of a sequence of concatenated (connected) steps. Emphasis is on the flow paradigm, where each step follows the precedent without delay or gap and ends just before the subsequent step may begin. This concept is related to non overlapping tasks of single resources.
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    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia A workflow consists of a sequence of concatenated (connected) steps. Emphasis is on the flow paradigm, where each step follows the precedent without delay or gap and ends just before the subsequent step may begin. This concept is related to non overlapping tasks of single resources.
Thomas H

Home - MSc Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing : Trinity College Dublin - 0 views

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    "Mobile computing allows people to make use of computing and information systems without being tied to a desktop computer located in their office, classroom, or home. People can now make use of computer systems while on the move, whether waiting for a flight in some airport departure lounge, drinking coffee in their favorite cafe, simply driving home, or even just walking down the street. Thanks to the improved portability and processing power of laptop computers, Personal Digital Assistants, and even mobile phones, as well as improved battery life and the near universal coverage of wireless data communications networks, mobile computer users can now make use of almost the same range of services as desktop users. While the use of current mobile computers often follows the traditional pattern of a single user interacting with their dedicated computer via its own display and keyboard, mobile computing is still at an early stage of development. In his seminal paper on the computer for the 21st century written in 1991†, Marc Weiser noted that "The most profound technologies are those that disappear. They weave themselves into the fabric of everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it." Weiser put forward a vision of future computer systems in which "computers themselves vanish into the background". In doing so he inspired a field of research known as ubiquitous computing . In the ubiquitous computing vision, interconnected (mobile) computers are embedded unobtrusively in everyday appliances and environments and co-operate to provide information and services on behalf of their users. The ubiquitous computing vision is now becoming a reality enabled by recent and expected developments in new sensor technologies - increasing the range of stimuli that can be effectively sensed, by wireless networking - allowing mobile computer systems to co-operate, by miniaturization of computational devices - allowing massive deployment of sensor-based systems in every
kimberly caise

The Atlantic Online | January/February 2010 | What Makes a Great Teacher? | Amanda Ripley - 0 views

  • This tale of two boys, and of the millions of kids just like them, embodies the most stunning finding to come out of education research in the past decade: more than any other variable in education—more than schools or curriculum—teachers matter. Put concretely, if Mr. Taylor’s student continued to learn at the same level for a few more years, his test scores would be no different from those of his more affluent peers in Northwest D.C. And if these two boys were to keep their respective teachers for three years, their lives would likely diverge forever. By high school, the compounded effects of the strong teacher—or the weak one—would become too great.
  • Farr was tasked with finding out. Starting in 2002, Teach for America began using student test-score progress data to put teachers into one of three categories: those who move their students one and a half or more years ahead in one year; those who achieve one to one and a half years of growth; and those who yield less than one year of gains. In the beginning, reliable data was hard to come by, and many teachers could not be put into any category. Moreover, the data could never capture the entire story of a teacher’s impact, Farr acknowledges.
  • They were also perpetually looking for ways to improve their effectiveness
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  • First, great teachers tended to set big goals for their students.
  • Great teachers, he concluded, constantly reevaluate what they are doing.
  • Superstar teachers had four other tendencies in common: they avidly recruited students and their families into the process; they maintained focus, ensuring that everything they did contributed to student learning; they planned exhaustively and purposefully—for the next day or the year ahead—by working backward from the desired outcome; and they worked relentlessly, refusing to surrender to the combined menaces of poverty, bureaucracy, and budgetary shortfalls.
  • When her fourth-grade students entered her class last school year, 66 percent were scoring at or above grade level in reading. After a year in her class, only 44 percent scored at grade level, and none scored above. Her students performed worse than fourth-graders with similar incoming scores in other low-income D.C. schools. For decades, education researchers blamed kids and their home life for their failure to learn. Now, given the data coming out of classrooms like Mr. Taylor’s, those arguments are harder to take. Poverty matters enormously. But teachers all over the country are moving poor kids forward anyway, even as the class next door stagnates. “At the end of the day,” says Timothy Daly at the New Teacher Project, “it’s the mind-set that teachers need—a kind of relentless approach to the problem.”
  • t year’s end, teachers who score below a certain threshold could be fired.
  • What did predict success, interestingly, was a history of perseverance—not just an attitude, but a track record. In the interview process, Teach for America now asks applicants to talk about overcoming challenges in their lives—and ranks their perseverance based on their answers.
  • Gritty people, the theory goes, work harder and stay committed to their goals longer
  • This year, Teach for America allowed me to sit in on the part of the interview process that it calls the “sample teach,” in which applicants teach a lesson to the other applicants for exactly five minutes. Only about half of the candidates make it to this stage. On this day, the group includes three men and two women, all college seniors or very recent graduates.
  • But if school systems hired, trained, and rewarded teachers according to the principles Teach for America has identified, then teachers would not need to work so hard. They would be operating in a system designed in a radically different way—designed, that is, for success.
  • five observation sessions conducted throughout the year by their principal, assistant principal, and a group of master educators.
  • are almost never dismissed.
  • But this tradition may be coming to an end. He’s thinking about quitting in the next few years.
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    "This tale of two boys, and of the millions of kids just like them, embodies the most stunning finding to come out of education research in the past decade: more than any other variable in education-more than schools or curriculum-teachers matter. Put concretely, if Mr. Taylor's student continued to learn at the same level for a few more years, his test scores would be no different from those of his more affluent peers in Northwest D.C. And if these two boys were to keep their respective teachers for three years, their lives would likely diverge forever. By high school, the compounded effects of the strong teacher-or the weak one-would become too great."
James D

Outsourcing Backlash: Globalization in the Knowledge Economy - 0 views

  • Historically, companies in the United States, Europe and Japan have led globalization, because those countries pushed products and services into developing countries.
  • Likewise, local politicians and political parties may try to protect jobs and obtain votes through legislation such as the bills currently being debated in four U.S. states aimed at blocking the outsourcing of government work to offshore enterprises.
  • Another factor making outsourcing attractive is the changing nature of technical work
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  • With this move to SODA, technologists and business people are talking, working with and understanding processes better. Communication between all parties is in terms of processes and subprocesses, more accurately mapping business needs.
  • Workers in one area of the globe will hear about practices in other parts of the world, raising awareness and intensifying their demands for equity. Labor forces in relatively disadvantaged economies will lobby to bring workforce programs into alignment with those of their global peers. Meanwhile, the values of workers and consumers in wealthier regions will promulgate globally, creating pressure across markets to adopt safe and competitive labor practices. In the long term — 10 years or more — the continuous pressure for equitable practices will normalize work/life programs and start to narrow the gap among regional labor rates.
  • For now, enterprises that are lured by low-cost labor markets will make decisions that satisfy immediate budget requirements, but many know little about domestic outsourcing, and even less about offshore outsourcing.
  • According to a 22 July 2003 article in the New York Times, IBM is now acknowledging the apparent necessity of moving service work to low-cost regions, and it is anticipating anger from displaced employees, as well as potential unionization for worker protection
  • Although there is frequent talk of "sweatshops" in many developing countries, the reality is often far different. In terms of economies of scale, domestic spending power and quality of life, many people in developing nations are compensated exceptionally well. As enterprises globalize, employers worldwide will be forced to offer more-competitive salaries and packages to their employees, especially those who are based abroad
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    " Equal-Opportunity Globalization Historically, companies in the United States, Europe and Japan have led globalization, because those countries pushed products and services into developing countries. As the business of offshore sourcing grows, globalization is beginning to become widely accepted elsewhere. With "nearshore" and offshore sourcing, the global equation has changed. Enterprises in developing countries and emerging markets are now reaching into developed economies, offering a talented workforce at a fraction of the price. Developed and developing economies are exploiting each other's markets, economies and labor forces. It is natural to expect that those disadvantaged by globalization - irrespective of market - will protest and make known their issues. Likewise, local politicians and political parties may try to protect jobs and obtain votes through legislation such as the bills currently being debated in four U.S. states aimed at blocking the outsourcing of government work to offshore enterprises. Moreover, unlike previous instances of globalization - in textiles, products and manufacturing - the latest round is occurring almost instantaneously over a vast and sophisticated communication network. This has enabled business, projects, tasks and jobs to be transferred to virtual workforces across the globe quickly and transparently - a trend that is occurring so rapidly as to disorient entire professions, societies and organizations. Changing Nature of Technical Work Another factor making outsourcing attractive is the changing nature of technical work. By 2006, service-oriented architecture (SOA) will be at least partially adopted in more than 60 percent of new, large and systematically oriented application development projects (0.7 probability). The proliferation of Web services and SOA is causing software to be developed in smaller units that are easier to map to business processes. These smaller units are also ideal for an offshore envi
Vicki Davis

UK Team is focusing on online comment defamation - 0 views

  • a new team to track down people who make anonymous comments about companies online.
  • a new team to track down people who make anonymous comments about companies online.
  • a rising problem with people making anonymous statements that defamed companies, and people sharing confidential information online.
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  • a new team to track down people who make anonymous comments about companies online.
  • the numbers of disgruntled employees looking to get their own back on employers or former employers was also on the rise.
  • a story from six years earlier about United Airlines going bankrupt was voted up on a newspaper website. This was later picked up by Google News and eventually the Bloomberg news wire, which published it automatically as if it were a news story.
    • Vicki Davis
       
      Could this be considered the new "insider trading" - hmmm. Surely there are issues if it is done maliciously but isn't there a line here?
  • rogue employees
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      Uhm, how about rogue companies?
  • trying to get Internet Service Providers to give out details of customers who had made comments online
  • shares in American firm United Airlines fell by 99 per cent in just 15 minutes after an outdated story that the firm had filed for bankruptcy was forced back onto the headlines.
  • the new team would ensure there was “nowhere to hide in cyberspace”.
  • could stifle free speech, and the ability of people to act as whistle-blowers to expose actions by their employers.
  • an outlet for anonymous reporting.
    • Vicki Davis
       
      Is it possible to have accountability AND anonymity? Must these be mutually exclusive?
  • This is known as the ‘Streisand effect’ online, after a case where singer Barbara Streisand tried to suppress photos of her California beachside home from a publicly-available archive of photos taken to document coastal erosion.
  • Nightjack. This was the guy who was blogging on the front line about police work and he was forced to stop this story because he was unmasked by The Times
  • If you allow a lot of anonymous debate by people who are not regulated, you can get it descending to the common denominator. If you allow people to register with an identity, even if it’s not their real one, you bring the level of debate up.”
  • There was one case a couple of years ago that we just keep referring back to where a defamatory comment was made and it wasn’t taken down for a period of time. Because of that the host of the website was held to be liable.”
  • the ‘Wild West’ era of the internet was in some ways coming to an end, with firms starting to crack down
  • I think companies are still grappling with whether it’s better to take it on the chin and hope people don’t see the comments, or on the other hand cracking down on everything that’s particularly damaging that’s said online. Maybe this is set to change.”
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    While this article starts out about a lawfirm in Birmingham UK that is going to "track down people who make anonymous comments about companies online" it becomes an amazingly poignant article on the very nature of the Internet today and the push pull between anonymous commenting and accountability of the commenter. Push pull between free speech and online identity and brand protection. One person in this article claims that this sort of thing is the sign that the "wild west" of the INternet is coming to an end. Oh dear, I hope someone invents a new one if somehow anonymous commenters are now going to risk such! Also love the article's discussion of the Streisand effect wherein Barbara protested the sharing of some photos of her eroding beachfront which caused a stir and more people looking at the photos than if she had left it alone. This article is going to be a must read for Flat Classroom students and would be great for college-level discussions as well.
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    Important article that would make a great video story for someone predicting how the Internet is changing - with commenters being hunted down by companies!
scott summerlin

Official Google Blog: Do you "Google?" - 0 views

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    Posted by Michael Krantz, Google Blog Team Q: What do zippers, baby oil, brassieres and trampolines have in common? A: No, the answer isn't that they're all part of the setup for a highly inappropriate joke. In fact, the above list (along with thermos, cellophane, escalator, elevator, dry ice and many more) are all words that fell victim to those products' very success and, as they became more and more popular, slipped from trademarked status into common usage. Will "Google" manage to avoid this fate? This year has brought a spate of news stories about the word's addition to the Merriam-Webster and the Oxford English dictionaries, an honor that's simultaneously highly flattering and faintly unsettling. Consider, for example, this passage from a New York Times story published last May: "Jim sent a message introducing himself and asking, 'Do you want to make a movie?'" Mr. Fry recalled in a telephone interview from his home in Buda, Tex. 'So we Googled him, he passed the test, and T called him. That was in March 1996; we spent the summer coming up with the story, and we pitched it that fall.'" Now, since Larry and Sergey didn't actually launch Google until 1998, Mr. Fry's usage of 'Google' is as distressing to our trademark lawyers as it is thrilling to our marketing folks. So, lest our name go the way of the elevators and escalators of yesteryear, we thought it was time we offered this quick semantic primer. A trademark is a word, name, symbol or device that identifies a particular company's products or services. Google is a trademark identifying Google Inc. and our search technology and services. While we're pleased that so many people think of us when they think of searching the web, let's face it, we do have a brand to protect, so we'd like to make clear that you should please only use "Google" when you're actually referring to Google Inc. and our services. Here are some hopefully helpful examples. Usage: 'Google' as noun referring to, well, us.
Kayla S

Globalization - 0 views

  • Globalization (or globalisation) in its literal sense is the process of transformation of local or regional phenomena into global ones. It can be described as a process by which the people of the world are unified into a single society and function together. This process is a combination of economic, technological, sociocultural and political forces.[1] Globalization is often used to refer to economic globalization, that is, integration of national economies into the international economy through trade, foreign direct investment, capital flows, migration, and the spread of technology.
  • describes an ongoing process by which regional economies, societies, and cultures have become integrated through a globe-spanning network of exchange
  • globalization is usually recognized as being driven by a combination of economic, technological, sociocultural, political, and biological factors
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  • lobalization
  • Globalization (or globalisation) describes a process by which regional economies, societies, and cultures have become integrated through a global network of communication, transportation, and trade.
  • Globalization refers to the increasing unification of the world's economic order through reduction of such barriers to international trade as tariffs, export fees, and import quotas. The goal is to increase material wealth, goods, and services through an international division of labor by efficiencies catalyzed by international relations, specialization and competition. It describes the process by which regional economies, societies, and cultures have become integrated through communication, transportation, and trade.
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    Definition and examples of globalization
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    Definition of Gloabalization.
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    Definition of globalization: "Globalization (or globalisation) describes a process by which regional economies, societies, and cultures have become integrated through a global network of communication, transportation, and trade. The term is sometimes used to refer specifically to economic globalization: the integration of national economies into the international economy through trade, foreign direct investment, capital flows, migration, and the spread of technology.[1] However, globalization is usually recognized as being driven by a combination of economic, technological, sociocultural, political, and biological factors."
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    Globalization refers to the increasing unification of the world's economic order through reduction of such barriers to international trade as tariffs, export fees, and import quotas. The goal is to increase material wealth, goods, and services through an international division of labor by efficiencies catalyzed by international relations, specialization and competition. It describes the process by which regional economies, societies, and cultures have become integrated through communication, transportation, and trade.
Toni H.

Multi-core processor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

  • In computing, a processor is the unit that reads and executes program instructions, which are fixed-length (typically 32 or 64 bit) or variable-length chunks of data. The data in the instruction tells the processor what to do. The instructions are very basic things like reading data from memory or sending data to the user display, but they are processed so rapidly that we experience the results as the smooth operation of a program. Processors were originally developed with only one core. The core is the part of the processor that actually performs the reading and executing of the instruction. Single-core processors can only process one instruction at a time. (To improve efficiency, processors commonly utilize pipelines internally, which allow several instructions to be processed together, however they are still consumed into the pipeline one at a time.) A multi-core processor is composed of two or more independent cores. One can describe it as an integrated circuit which has two or more individual processors (called cores in this sense).[1] Manufacturers typically integrate the cores onto a single integrated circuit die (known as a chip multiprocessor or CMP), or onto multiple dies in a single chip package. A many-core processor is one in which the number of cores is large enough that traditional multi-processor techniques are no longer efficient — this threshold is somewhere in the range of several tens of cores — and probably requires a network on chip.
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    In computing, a processor is the unit that reads and executes program instructions, which are fixed-length (typically 32 or 64 bit) or variable-length chunks of data. The data in the instruction tells the processor what to do. The instructions are very basic things like reading data from memory or sending data to the user display, but they are processed so rapidly that we experience the results as the smooth operation of a program. Processors were originally developed with only one core. The core is the part of the processor that actually performs the reading and executing of the instruction. Single-core processors can only process one instruction at a time. (To improve efficiency, processors commonly utilize pipelines internally, which allow several instructions to be processed together, however they are still consumed into the pipeline one at a time.) A multi-core processor is composed of two or more independent cores. One can describe it as an integrated circuit which has two or more individual processors (called cores in this sense).[1] Manufacturers typically integrate the cores onto a single integrated circuit die (known as a chip multiprocessor or CMP), or onto multiple dies in a single chip package. A many-core processor is one in which the number of cores is large enough that traditional multi-processor techniques are no longer efficient - this threshold is somewhere in the range of several tens of cores - and probably requires a network on chip.
Toni H.

Radio-frequency identification - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

  • Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is the use of an object (typically referred to as an RFID tag) applied to or incorporated into a product, animal, or person for the purpose of identification and tracking using radio waves. Some tags can be read from several meters away and beyond the line of sight of the reader. Radio-frequency identification involves interrogators (also known as readers), and tags (also known as labels). Most RFID tags contain at least two parts. One is an integrated circuit for storing and processing information, modulating and demodulating a radio-frequency (RF) signal, and other specialized functions. The second is an antenna for receiving and transmitting the signal. There are generally three types of RFID tags: active RFID tags, which contain a battery and can transmit signals autonomously, passive RFID tags, which have no battery and require an external source to provoke signal transmission, and battery assisted passive (BAP) RFID tags, which require an external source to wake up but have significant higher forward link capability providing greater range. There are a variety of groups defining standards and regulating the use of RFID, including: International Organization for Standardization (ISO), International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), ASTM International, DASH7 Alliance, EPCglobal. (Refer to Regulation and standardization below.) RFID has many applications; for example, it is used in enterprise supply chain management to improve the efficiency of inventory tracking and management. Contents [hide]
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    Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is the use of an object (typically referred to as an RFID tag) applied to or incorporated into a product, animal, or person for the purpose of identification and tracking using radio waves. Some tags can be read from several meters away and beyond the line of sight of the reader. Radio-frequency identification involves interrogators (also known as readers), and tags (also known as labels). Most RFID tags contain at least two parts. One is an integrated circuit for storing and processing information, modulating and demodulating a radio-frequency (RF) signal, and other specialized functions. The second is an antenna for receiving and transmitting the signal. There are generally three types of RFID tags: active RFID tags, which contain a battery and can transmit signals autonomously, passive RFID tags, which have no battery and require an external source to provoke signal transmission, and battery assisted passive (BAP) RFID tags, which require an external source to wake up but have significant higher forward link capability providing greater range. There are a variety of groups defining standards and regulating the use of RFID, including: International Organization for Standardization (ISO), International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), ASTM International, DASH7 Alliance, EPCglobal. (Refer to Regulation and standardization below.) RFID has many applications; for example, it is used in enterprise supply chain management to improve the efficiency of inventory tracking and management.
TaylorJ j

Resource #2 - 0 views

  • The first computers, constructed during World War II, employed radio valves, which were switched on and off to represent binary digits. But soon thereafter, the semiconductor was invented; it used much less electricity and thus did not overheat so easily, and it was sturdier. (V. Ramamurti, an Indian scientist, believed that the semiconductor was invented because the Allies feared the loss to Japan of India, the Allies' prime source of mica, which was essential to the making of radio valves.) Technological development of computers and of their multifarious applications has since been driven by the progressive reduction in the size and cost of semiconductors.
  • The first computers in the 1940s were as big as a house; by the 1960s, however, miniaturization of semiconductors had made it possible to create computers that were no bigger than a small room. At that point, IBM began to make a series of standardized computers; its 1620 and 360 series of mainframe computers found users all over the world, including India. The Indian government imported a few computers from the Soviet Union, especially EVS EM, its IBM 360 clone; but they were not popular, even in the government establishments where they were installed. IBM computers dominated the market. They were used for calculation, accounting and data storage in large companies, and in research laboratories. Tata Consultancy Services, India's largest software producer, was established in 1968 to run the computers acquired by the Tata group and to develop uses for them.
  • By the 1980s, computer chips were becoming small enough to be embodied in almost portable minicomputers, and these were getting cheap enough to be used in small businesses. Manufacturers began to build into minicomputers a selection of programs that performed the most common operations, such as word processing, calculation, and accounting. Over the 1980s, the mini-computers shrank in size and weight and were transformed into personal computers (PCs). Indian agents who sold imported minicomputers and PCs also employed software engineers for sales assistance and service. Thus, in the latter half of 1980s, Indian software engineers were scattered. Some worked in CMC; others serviced the surviving IBM machines in companies, government establishments, and research facilities; and still others serviced minicomputers and PCs.
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  • By 1985 satellite links made the export of software possible without having to send programmers abroad. At that time, however, the Indian government did not allow private links, so Texas Instruments gave it the equipment, which it then proceeded to use from its Bangalore establishment. IBM, which wanted to set up a link in 1988, ran into the same problem: the government insisted on retaining its monopoly in telecommunications, the rates offered by its Department of Telecommunications were exorbitant, and it was inexperienced in running Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) links.
  • In 1991 the Department of Electronics broke this impasse, creating a corporation called Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) that, being owned by the government, could provide VSAT communications without breaching its monopoly. STPI set up software technology parks in different cities, each of which provided satellite links to be used by firms; the local link was a wireless radio link. In 1993 the government began to allow individual companies their own dedicated links, which allowed work done in India to be transmitted abroad directly. Indian firms soon convinced their American customers that a satellite link was as reliable as a team of programmers working in the clients' office.
  • In the 1980s, an importer of hardware had to get an import license from the chief controller of imports and exports, who in turn required a no-objection certificate from the Department of Electronics. That meant going to Delhi, waiting for an appointment, and then trying to persuade an uncooperative bureaucrat. In 1992 computers were freed from import licensing, and import duties on them were reduced.
  • Satellites and import liberalization thus made offshore development possible, with a number of implications: It enabled firms to take orders for complete programs, to work for final clients and to market their services directly. Work for final clients also led firms to specialize in work for particular industries or verticals: it led in particular to India's specialization in software for banking, insurance, and airlines. It gave India a brand value and a reputation.
  • The late 1990s saw a surge in the Indian IT industry. To assure potential clients of their permanency, Indian software companies built large, expensive campuses, where they made working conditions as attractive as possible, to help them retain workers. Trees grew and streams flowed inside buildings, and swimming pools, badminton courts, meditation rooms, auditoriums, and restaurants were provided.
  • The IT boom in the United States was the source of India's software exports.
Ivey Carden

The Science Advisory Board - Protocols, Product Reviews, Member Forum, and Science News - 0 views

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    "34% of users report their organization's telemedicine program has been in existence between 1 and 2 years, and almost 20% report their program has been in existence for 5 years or longer. Supporting "Continuing Medical Education" is the most common way in which telemedicine is used, followed closely by "clinical consultations". "Text documents" are the most frequently transmitted type of medical information transmitted between locations, while "real-time motion video" is transmitted least frequently. A desire to "deliver quality care to rural/under-served areas" was cited by users as the most important reason their organizations decided to implement a telemedicine, but non-users claim the "availability of affordable technology" would be their primary motivation. "Access to medical databases" was considered the most valuable clinical telemedicine application cited by users. 87% of those using telemedicine report that their organization provides them with access to the Internet. Slightly more than a third of those using telemedicine report that their organization "occasionally" uses telemedicine to assess a patient at a remote location, while almost half "occasionally" use an interactive technology to consult with a remote caregiver. "Lack of funding" was by both users and non-users as the greatest impediment to the growth of telemedicine. Budgets for the majority of new telemedicine programs (less than one year old) appear to have increased by 50% or more from 1997 to 1998. However, budgets for the majority of older telemedicine programs (5 years or more), have remained the same for the majority of the respondents. Non-users indicated that having access to medical databases and the ability to transmit medical images would be the two most valuable telemedicine capabilities. " This talks about the findings of telemedicine that researchers have discovered.
Toni H.

Voice over Internet Protocol - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

  • Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP, Voice over IP) is a general term for a family of methodologies, communication protocols, and transmission technologies for delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. Other terms frequently encountered and synonymous with VoIP are IP telephony, Internet telephony, voice over broadband (VoBB), broadband telephony, and broadband phone. Internet telephony refers to communications services — voice, facsimile, and/or voice-messaging applications — that are transported via the Internet, rather than the public switched telephone network (PSTN). The basic steps involved in originating an Internet telephone call are conversion of the analog voice signal to digital format and compression/translation of the signal into Internet protocol (IP) packets for transmission over the Internet; the process is reversed at the receiving end.[1] VoIP systems employ session control protocols to control the set-up and tear-down of calls as well as audio codecs which encode speech allowing transmission over an IP network as digital audio via an audio stream. Codec use is varied between different implementations of VoIP (and often a range of codecs are used); some implementations rely on narrowband and compressed speech, while others support high fidelity stereo codecs.
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    Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP, Voice over IP) is a general term for a family of methodologies, communication protocols, and transmission technologies for delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. Other terms frequently encountered and synonymous with VoIP are IP telephony, Internet telephony, voice over broadband (VoBB), broadband telephony, and broadband phone. Internet telephony refers to communications services - voice, facsimile, and/or voice-messaging applications - that are transported via the Internet, rather than the public switched telephone network (PSTN). The basic steps involved in originating an Internet telephone call are conversion of the analog voice signal to digital format and compression/translation of the signal into Internet protocol (IP) packets for transmission over the Internet; the process is reversed at the receiving end.[1] VoIP systems employ session control protocols to control the set-up and tear-down of calls as well as audio codecs which encode speech allowing transmission over an IP network as digital audio via an audio stream. Codec use is varied between different implementations of VoIP (and often a range of codecs are used); some implementations rely on narrowband and compressed speech, while others support high fidelity stereo codecs.
Kreslyn C

A New Voyage of Discovery -- The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Cen... - 0 views

  • come right to the main point of this review: Thomas Friedman's brilliant catch phase, book title and powerfully developed new thesis — "The World is Flat" — is yet another reaffirmation of what Bahá'u'lláh said about 150 years ago when He declared that “The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens.” That's not to say there is nothing new in Mr. Friedman's latest book. The World Is Flat is a wide-ranging examination of how trends and technologies like freedom, the Internet, and open-source software are converging to make it possible for educated people everywhere to compete with the best and the brightest in North America and Europe . And that is changing everything, for people everywhere, much more quickly than had been previously imagined. Mr. Friedman, a Pulitzer prize-winning columnist for the New York Times , says the convergence of these trends and technologies is “flattening” the world. They create a “level playing field” where companies and individuals now successfully compete in the global market regardless of location. Mr. Friedman is by now an acknowledged expert on globalization, having outlined its impact in his 1999 book The Lexus and the Olive Tree . There he argued that globalization had become “the dominant international system at the end of the twentieth century — replacing the Cold War system…”
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    "To come right to the main point of this review: Thomas Friedman's brilliant catch phase, book title and powerfully developed new thesis - "The World is Flat" - is yet another reaffirmation of what Bahá'u'lláh said about 150 years ago when He declared that "The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens." That's not to say there is nothing new in Mr. Friedman's latest book. The World Is Flat is a wide-ranging examination of how trends and technologies like freedom, the Internet, and open-source software are converging to make it possible for educated people everywhere to compete with the best and the brightest in North America and Europe . And that is changing everything, for people everywhere, much more quickly than had been previously imagined. Mr. Friedman, a Pulitzer prize-winning columnist for the New York Times , says the convergence of these trends and technologies is "flattening" the world. They create a "level playing field" where companies and individuals now successfully compete in the global market regardless of location. Mr. Friedman is by now an acknowledged expert on globalization, having outlined its impact in his 1999 book The Lexus and the Olive Tree . There he argued that globalization had become "the dominant international system at the end of the twentieth century - replacing the Cold War system…""
mitch g

Mike McCue | CrunchBase Profile - 0 views

  • Mike McCue founded Tellme Networks in 1999 as the CEO. He joined Microsoft as the General Manager of the Tellme subsidiary after its acquisition. In 2000, Mike led Tellme to launch one of the world’s first Internet platforms to deliver web data to anyone over any telephone. Starting with simple Web services, Tellme’s innovative platform inspired the migration of large-scale phone services from proprietary applications to open standards applications and drove the global adoption of VoiceXML. Before founding Tellme, Mike worked at Netscape as Vice President of Technology. He joined Netscape after their successful acquisition of the first company he founded, Paper Software, a leader in 3-D browser technology. Mike was honored with a Kilby International Award as a Young Innovator for his work bringing 3-D technology to the world through Netscape’s Web browser.
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    Mike McCue founded Tellme Networks in 1999 as the CEO. He joined Microsoft as the General Manager of the Tellme subsidiary after its acquisition. In 2000, Mike led Tellme to launch one of the world's first Internet platforms to deliver web data to anyone over any telephone. Starting with simple Web services, Tellme's innovative platform inspired the migration of large-scale phone services from proprietary applications to open standards applications and drove the global adoption of VoiceXML. Before founding Tellme, Mike worked at Netscape as Vice President of Technology. He joined Netscape after their successful acquisition of the first company he founded, Paper Software, a leader in 3-D browser technology. Mike was honored with a Kilby International Award as a Young Innovator for his work bringing 3-D technology to the world through Netscape's Web browser.
Vicki Davis

FOXNews.com - Cyberbullying: Parents, Tech Companies Join Forces to Keep Kids Safe - Sc... - 0 views

  • An ex-friend’s mother faces charges in federal court as a result, and Missouri has made Internet harassment a crime.
  • Cyberbullies often commandeer e-mail accounts and social-networking profiles, attacking kids while pretending to be someone they trust, like a best friend. They use cell phones and the Web to spread embarrassing and cruel material, and they can harass their victims well beyond the schoolyard -- even when they're "safe" at home.
  • 85 percent of 5,000 middle-school students surveyed said they had been cyberbullied. Only 5 percent of them said they’d tell someone about it.
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  • Fake profiles and anonymous screen names are used in 65 percent of cyberbully attacks,
  • she went to a mental-health clinic
  • assuming that if they haven’t received a death threat or had a picture of their face posted on a naked body on the Internet, they haven’t been bullied.
  • They think that’s just part of online life,
  • Aftab said she knows of three other teens who have committed suicide after cyberbullying attacks, and that the problem is on the rise.
  • Cyberbullying peaks in 4th and 7th grade
  • 4th graders are especially into blackmail and threatening to tell friends, parents or teachers if the victim doesn’t cooperate.
  • The most outrageous recent way is through theft of a cell phone for a few minutes," Aftab said. "If your kids leave their cell phone unattended or accessible in their backpack, the cyberbully will take it and send a bunch of bad text messages or reprogram it.”
  • “This whole password thing freaks people out ... but a good password doesn’t have to be hard to remember, just hard to guess,” Criddle said. “Friends don’t ask friends for passwords.
  • October as National Cyber Security Awareness Month,
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    Excellent article on cyberbullying and an example of a girl who was harrassed online and killed herself. This sort of thing is tragic and we should consider what we think aboutinternet harrassment penalties, particularly against children. There are mention of several websites including one I'd never heard of called CyberBully Alert.
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    You should consider mentioning cyberbullying as an issue. This might also be a topic of interest to push forward for a social entreprenuership video.
tommy s

Outsourcing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

  • Outsourcing or sub-servicing often refers to the process of contracting to a third-party.
  • Cost savings — The lowering of the overall cost of the service to the business. This will involve reducing the scope, defining quality levels, re-pricing, re-negotiation, and cost re-structuring. Access to lower cost economies through offshoring called "labor arbitrage" generated by the wage gap between industrialized and developing nations.[10] Focus on Core Business — Resources (for example investment, people, infrastructure) are focused on developing the core business. For example often organizations outsource their IT support to specialised IT services companies. Cost restructuring — Operating leverage is a measure that compares fixed costs to variable costs. Outsourcing changes the balance of this ratio by offering a move from fixed to variable cost and also by making variable costs more predictable. Improve quality — Achieve a steep change in quality through contracting out the service with a new service level agreement. Knowledge — Access to intellectual property and wider experience and knowledge.[11] Contract — Services will be provided to a legally binding contract with financial penalties and legal redress. This is not the case with internal services.[12] Operational expertise — Access to operational best practice that would be too difficult or time consuming to develop in-house. Access to talent — Access to a larger talent pool and a sustainable source of skills, in particular in science and engineering.[13][14] Capacity management — An improved method of capacity management of services and technology where the risk in providing the excess capacity is borne by the supplier. Catalyst for change — An organization can use an outsourcing agreement as a catalyst for major step change that can not be achieved alone. The outsourcer becomes a Change agent in the process. Enhance capacity for innovation — Companies increasingly use external knowledge service providers to supplement limited in-house capacity for product innovation.[14][15] Reduce time to market — The acceleration of the development or production of a product through the additional capability brought by the supplier.[16] Commodification — The trend of standardizing business processes, IT Services, and application services which enable to buy at the right price, allows businesses access to services which were only available to large corporations. Risk management — An approach to risk management for some types of risks is to partner with an outsourcer who is better able to provide the mitigation.[17] Venture Capital — Some countries match government funds venture capital with private venture capital for start-ups that start businesses in their country.[18] Tax Benefit — Countries offer tax incentives to move manufacturing operations to counter high corporate taxes within another country. Scalability — The outsourced company will usually be prepared to manage a temporary or permanent increase or decrease in production. Creating leisure time — Individuals may wish to outsource their work in order to optimise their work-leisure balance.[19] Liability — Organizations choose to transfer liabilities inherent to specific business processes or services that are outside of their core competencies. [edit] Implications
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    Definition of outsourcing: "Outsourcing or sub-servicing often refers to the process of contracting to a third-party."
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    wikipedia on outsourcing
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    overview of outsourcing
Kayla S

What is globalization - 0 views

  • Globalization is a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations, a process driven by international trade and investment and aided by information technology. This process has effects on the environment, on culture, on political systems, on economic development and prosperity, and on human physical well-being in societies around the world. Globalization is not new, though. For thousands of years, people—and, later, corporations—have been buying from and selling to each other in lands at great distances, such as through the famed Silk Road across Central Asia that connected China and Europe during the Middle Ages. Likewise, for centuries, people and corporations have invested in enterprises in other countries. In fact, many of the features of the current wave of globalization are similar to those prevailing before the outbreak of the First World War in 1914.
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    Globalization is a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations, a process driven by international trade and investment and aided by information technology. This process has effects on the environment, on culture, on political systems, on economic development and prosperity, and on human physical well-being in societies around the world. Globalization is not new, though. For thousands of years, people-and, later, corporations-have been buying from and selling to each other in lands at great distances, such as through the famed Silk Road across Central Asia that connected China and Europe during the Middle Ages. Likewise, for centuries, people and corporations have invested in enterprises in other countries. In fact, many of the features of the current wave of globalization are similar to those prevailing before the outbreak of the First World War in 1914.
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    This site explains what globalization is and how it and evolved from thousands of years.
Vicki Davis

Survey: Teens' Cell Phones Indispensable - CBS News - 0 views

  • The wireless trade association CTIA and Harris Interactive surveyed some 2,000 teens across the country and learned that teens feel that cell phones have become a vital part of their identities.
  • Another recent survey conducted by Nielsen revealed that kids are getting cell phones even before they hit their teens. Nearly half of kids age 8 to 12 years old own cell phones in the U.S, according to the Nielsen report. And on average kids get their first cell phone between the ages of 10 and 11 years old.
  • Most of the teens on the panel agreed that Apple's href="http://www.cnet.com/apple-iphone.html" class="link" target="new">iPhone is the coolest phone on the market. But none of them owned one, largely because the devices are too expensive and so is the monthly service fee from AT&T.
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  • And 42 percent of those surveyed say they could text blindfolded.
  • third of teens surveyed say they regularly play games on their phones
  • 20 percent of them use their phones for social networking.
  • 36 percent of teens in the survey said they don't like buddy-tracking features that reveal their physical location to others
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    Research shows that cell phones are a vital part of student identities with four out of five students having a cell phone. Now, nearly half of kids aged 8-12 years own cell phones. Most kids get their first cell phone between 10 and 11.
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    Percentage of US teenagers who have cell phones.
TaylorJ j

Resource #1 - 0 views

  • In the 2000s the Internet grew to an astounding level not only in the number of people who regularly logged on to the World Wide Web (WWW) but in the speed and capability of its technology. By December 2009, 26 percent of the world’s population used the Internet and “surfed the web.
  • The rapid growth of Internet technology and usage had a drastic cultural effect on the United States. Although that impact was mostly positive, the WWW caused many social concerns. With financial transactions and personal information being stored on computer databases, credit-card fraud and identity theft were frighteningly common.
  • Hackers accessed private and personal information and used it for personal gain. Hate groups and terrorist organizations actively recruited online, and the threat remained of online terrorist activities ranging from planting computer viruses to potentially blowing up power stations by hacking computers that ran the machinery. Copyright infringement was a growing concern
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  • At the turn of the century, most users accessed the Internet by a dial-up connection in which computers used modems to connect to other computers using existing telephone lines. Typical dial-up connections ran at 56 kilobytes per second.
  • raditional communications media such as telephone and television services were redefined by technologies such as instant messaging, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), mobile smartphones, and streaming video.
  • The Internet changed the production, sale, and distribution of print publications, software, news, music, film, video, photography, and everyday products from soap to automobiles.
  • With broadband, Internet users could download and watch videos in a matter of seconds, media companies could offer live streaming-video newsfeeds, and peer-to-peer file sharing became efficient and commonplace. News was delivered on websites, blogs, and webfeeds, and e-commerce changed the way people shopped. Television shows, home movies, and feature films were viewed on desktop or laptop computers and even on cell phones. Students researched online, and many parents began working from home for their employers or started their own online businesses.
  • It was also becoming increasingly easy for users to access it from Internet cafés, Internet kiosks, access terminals, and web pay phones. With the advent of wireless, customers could connect to the Internet from virtually any place that offered remote service in the form of a wireless local area network (WLAN) or Wi-Fi router.
  • In January 2001 Apple launched the iPod digital music player, and then in April 2003 it opened the iTunes Store, allowing customers to legally purchase songs for 99 cents. Although federal courts ordered that music-sharing services such as Napster could be held liable if they were used to steal copyrighted works, Fanning’s brainchild realized the power of peer-to-peer file sharing and the potential success of user-generated Internet services.
  • Email was the general form of internet communication and allowed users to send electronic text messages. Users could also attach additional files containing text, pictures, or videos. Chat rooms and instant-messaging systems were also popular methods of online communication and were even quicker than traditional email. Broadband made other popular forms of Internet communication possible, including video chat rooms and video conferencing. Internet telephony or VoIP became increasingly popular f
  • or gaming applications.
Brody C

Eric E. Schmidt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

  • Eric Emerson Schmidt (born April 27, 1955(1955-04-27))[3] is an engineer, Chairman/CEO of Google and a former member of the Board of Directors of Apple Inc.[4] He is the author of the lex lexical analyzer software for Unix. He has also sat on the boards of trustees for Carnegie Mellon University[5] and Princeton University.[6]
  • Schmidt was born in Washington, D.C. After graduating from Yorktown High School,[7] Schmidt attended Princeton University where he earned a BSEE in 1976.[8] At the University of California, Berkeley, he earned an MS in 1979 for designing and implementing a network linking the campus computer center, the CS and the EECS departments,[9][10] and a PhD in 1982 in EECS with a dissertation about the problems of managing distributed software development and tools for solving these problems.[11] He was joint author of lex (a lexical analyzer and an important tool for compiler construction). He taught at Stanford Business School as a part time professor.[12] He lives in Atherton, California, with his wife Wendy.[13] He is also on the list of ARTnews 200 top art collectors.[14]
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