Week 6

The Biobusiness Revolution 1
Healthcare and the Biomedical Sciences: past, present, future

Lesson started off this this video

Wow, was the only thing I could say. If this happens, it would definitely make our lives so much easier. Like discussed in class, it may or may not happen by 2020, but it will surely happen. At first, I was quite skeptical as to if such a thing were to happen because of the different platforms that were needed, but prof reminded me about the integration of systems these days. Yes, things are CHANGING. Apple used to be niche in this area where if you own an Apple product, you will need to own more. Now, not so much.

Now to the next question: How much will it cost? Of course at this point of time, it would be very costly. If it gets more developed in the future, it will be cheaper, and in the long run, it might reduce healthcare costs as we do not need that many doctors/nurses/pharmacists around.

There are only two ways to live your life.
One is as though nothing is a miracle.
The other is as though everything is a miracle.

- Albert Einstein -

This is an interesting way of looking at things. A rising star's attitude. Anything is possible, look forward to the miracles that can happen.

It really depends on individual's mindset to make things work. If we were to see everything as "Oh, I KNEW something like this would happen", what point is it if YOU are not the one who made it happen?

BioBusiness - commercial activity based on an understanding of life sciences and life science processes

This is indeed an industry that has been fast growing, and still growing. But will there be a point of time where it just stops? Don't think so. After all, we are talking about technology and change. We are constantly looking at ways to improve our lives, and lives of others (the poorer countries). New technology will be created, and change is constant. Though some may say that we are moving too fast and leaving the others behind, but it has been shown that the OTHERS are also moving, probably at even a fast rate actually. So it's not all that bad for the equity part of it.

Not only can technology bring about positive changes in our health, but it can also cause negative impacts. After watching the "obesity video", one can gather that more people are becoming obese, largely due to technological advancements.

Why are more people becoming overweight/obese? Fast Food, and unhealthy eating diets.

What brought about fast food to Asian countries? Globalization.

What cause globalization to happen? Technology.

What reduces the children/adult physical activities? Technology.

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I can come up with a whole list of it, pushing all the blame on to technology.

Still, it is a fact that more people are becoming overweight/obese.

Guess I need to start watching my diet and amount of physical activities.

Rating: 8/10

Group Project Outline

Social Media and Human Behavior

Executive Summary

In these few years, we have seen how social media has evolved and became part of our everyday-computer-life. Having a facebook account is something so common that even a 2 year old has one. Different platforms of social media have been around, and we often see a change in the leader of this particular industry. Needless to say, Facebook is the current leader. Despite the changing leaders, social media has affect human behavior in many ways and we will be looking at the changes.

Background/Introduction

· Development in social media

· Current leaders in social media

· Who is affected by social media

Historical Perspective

· How was it like before social media became in “IN” thing.

· Lessons that we can learn from the past (eg. Nixxon)

Current Situation

· How has it affected behavior of:

§ Youths

§ Political

§ Businesses

§ Social Stability (Raising awareness)

§ Communication

§ Privacy

§ Comparison between developed and developing countries

§ Conflict between generations

§ Pros and cons

§ What value does it add to society

Future Considerations

How will it shape our future?

Group Members:

Gladys Sin Zhenlin

Wilson Ong

Regina Loo

Shawn Ng

Session 5

ICT and World Change

(Mass Media, the Internet, Wireless, Interactive Telecommunications)

Past, Present and Future

Rating: 7/10

Lesson started off with Milo. I've actually watched this video quite a while ago, and yes, I was intrigued with what was shown in the video. However, I can't help to think that what if all these were staged? But prof. said that as much as some parts of the video may be staged, but it also means that it will be possible in the near future. After all, who would have thought that almost all household in the city would own at least one computer.

ICT includes mass media, the Internet, Gaming, Wireless Technologies, Information Systems, knowledge management, and Cloud Computing. What caught my interest was actually "Cloud Computing". What I originally thought as another-one-of-apple's-creation was actually not! Turns out that we have used Cloud Computing in a way or another (eg. E-Learn).

I used to work in a small company that was rather self-sufficient. They didn't have softwares catered specifically to the company needs, and I often thought of ways that things could improve because we still used hardcopy calendars instead of one on the internet. However, after this session, I learnt that cloud computing just may be the answer to it!

I believe that Cloud Computing has helped many small enterprise in their business because they do not have the extra capital to invest in a good software.

One interesting question "What will it take to capture the full potential of the ICT/Knowledge Revolution?"

I guess it really depends on how we fully utilize this powerful technology, be it for good or bad.

With everything technology that is invented, there is a purpose to it. Take dynamites for example. They were invented to make mining easier, which is for a good purpose. However, it was later used in warfare. Parallels can be drawn from dynamites and ICT. Created for good, but used for bad. (For some people)

Individual Topical Review Paper Outline

Specific Innovation of Interest: 3D technology in films

Rationale for selecting this Innovation:

Personally, I am interested in the film industry. Since the 3D technology has changed things, I want to learn how it has changed the way the film industry works and explore the future possibilities.

Executive Summary

How 3D technology has affected the film industry and how will it continue to affect it.

Background/Introduction

3D movies first started out mostly on animated films, however, as time passes, the 3D technology has improved to live-action films as well. The screen is not “flat” anymore. As technology improves, we may no longer have to wear uncomfortable 3D glasses in the cinema. Actually, we do not even need to go to the cinemas to experience the 3D effect!

Historical Perspective

Mass entertainment has moved from live plays/musicals/opera/concerts, to flim screening in the cinemas or television. We thought that cinemas were the best we could get if we wanted to watch movies. Now, we can have a combination of both!

Current Situation

Movies have always been on the flat screen (using a projector to project the image on to the screen), though the sound effects and interesting footages on the screen can make you thrilled, the introduction of the 3D effect in movies simply adds on to the experience. From using it primarily on animated films, the 3D technology has moved on to live-action films. Usually, the 3D effect only shows off in a small part of a film, but now, it is possible to watch the whole movie in 3D. It is even possible to watch a concert at only a fraction of its original price, halfway across the globe.

Future Considerations

3D technology today is largely based on movies in cinemas. Though there are 3D televisions available in the market, but it was not a blockbuster. With improvements in technology, more people may be more keen on owning a 3D television at home, and not only will it be based on movies, but also for TV series. Also, 3D technology can also improve to make films that are interactive for the audience.

Conclusion

As the world changes and the 3D technology improve, there are many possible things that we can do with this technology. The film industry can use this opportunity to attract audiences back into the cinemas instead of them downloading illegally, watching it at home.

Session 4

Session 4 was about the Drivers of World Change, as well as Change Management and Change Leadership.

For the first part, we learnt about the different drivers of world change, the difference between Evolutionary and Revolutionary Change, and also Disruptive change, though I'm still not very sure what exactly is disruptive change.

“Disruptive change is an irreversible change in your expected future”

Is it a change that causes everything else to change so that the future that people expects will be different?

We then moved on to the diagram of the New Technological Adoption which shows how different groups of people react accordingly to new technology. I use to belong in the "Early majority pragmatists", wanted to own almost every new gadgets there are, and after using it for awhile, I will get tired of it, and then change to something else. However, because technology is moving too fast, I don't have the 'capabilities' to keep up with it... So I guess I'm under the "Late majority conservatives" category now.

For the 2nd part of the lesson, we talked about Change Management and Change Leadership.

People can have different ways to approach things. The Eagle, Ostrich and Do-Do bird approach.

Environment is often changing. If you are not smart and perceptive enough to change with it, or even change faster than it, you will become a dodo bird - extinct. There is also the pessimism-time curve, and also the models (Traditional and Modern).

I personally like the Pessimism-Time Curve concept a lot because it can really be applied to many different situation in lives, not only as a business.

What caught my attention during the lesson is when we were talking about leadership VS management. The manager’s job is to plan, organize and coordinate. The leader’s job is to set the vision, inspire and motivate. There is a difference between a leader and a manager.

I beg to differ. Other than inspiring and motivating others, a leader should also be involved in doing some of the work because all these inspiring and motivation thing seems to be just like all talk and no action. As for a manager, his job is to plan, organize and coordinate, he follows orders from the 'leader'. But in today's world, managers are required to make their own decision, in a sense, setting some sort of vision. So shouldn't a manager be considered a leader as well? This seems to be as though as the leader is the good guy, making everything seem so fluffy cotton candy-like, and the manager is the bad guy, destroying the cotton candy with reality because of the work that needs to be done. Isn't this a little unfair to them? Maybe, the only difference between a manager and a leader, is that a manager lacks some qualities that the leader has, but to differentiate them to such a extend, I think that it is unnecessary.

Rating: 7/10

Session 3

Technology and Industrialization

Many parts of the world has moved from being Industrialized to more service-oriented. Well, I'm actually referring to the more developed countries. The developing countries are very much focused on industrialization.

I've actually watched "The Story of Stuff" before, but watching it the 2nd time helped make me understand things better.

Just for safekeeping sake, I'll embed it here.

I shall not go into the details of the video, but it basically talks about how OUR actions has been affecting OUR planet. The new word is "Sustainability". We need to change from a linear system, to a CYCLICAL one so that future generations will not be affected.

In recent years we have heard from all-over-the-place that we have to be environmentally friendly, we have to use the 3Rs, different companies are doing things which are more environmentally friendly, there are regulations to cut down pollution, etc.

I do believe that we need to be more sustainable, but what we are doing is just not enough, or maybe it just needs a really long time before results can be seen. Then again, every single small action counts. The world is made out of a total population of about 6.94 Billion (6 940 000 000). One person may be only a very tiny percentage, but if everyone does it together, it is possible. (Sorry for sounding a bit too optimistic here).

Looking around, I can actually see that younger people are being more environmentally friendly as compared to our parents and grandparents. So I guess in a way, all these are working?

What I liked about this lesson, is learning that being 'backward' has it advantages. UK and US has always been the pioneers in almost everything. Though countries behind them may not have the title of "first", but they have actually benefited much more, or should I say, lost less.

Those behind (let's just call them laggers so that it is easier), are able to learn from the pioneers, and work on things without making the same mistakes that they had. Though the laggers are slower, but their growth is faster.

Technology and Innovation Management

After all this talk about moving from industrialization to sustainability, here is the next question. What are we going to do to ensure that the things that we do are sustainable? So in the lesson we talked about Innovation Management.

Many a times we (or at least I do) think of an awesome idea at the back of our head and think that this could be something!

Basically my train of thoughts would be something like this

- Amazing Idea

- Hmmm, this seems interesting.

- Okay, I will remember this and maybe next time it can be put to good use or I can suggest this to someone!

More than ever, I will not be able to remember it after an hour because all these ideas were just really random ones that pop up in my mind.

So the definition of innovation is to take any idea, understand how you want to use it, and then translate it into application. People usually say that there are not enough ideas going around. I beg to differ. The ideas are just simply not translated into application. With so many brains around, I'm sure that there are many different ideas that many different people will have. We just need to DO it.

Saying it is easy, but in actual fact, to make it big, you have to do the right thing, at the right time. This brings us to the Landscape Model that we learnt. About Valley, Summit and Cloud opportunities. Following that is the R-D-A translation Process (Diamonds and Dreams), the Value Creation Pipeline, and lastly, the Pyramid of Innovation.

Rating: 7/10

Saw this video that one of my friend showed me. Just had to post it up because it made me realize how much technology has changed.

When I was young-er (It is not as if I'm really old now), Nintendo and Sega were the 'in' things almost everyone would have heard of it, and many average families would have had one in their homes for the children, or even the adults.

As time goes by, newer gaming devices/consoles such a the PlayStaion, and Xbox soon took over the regime of Nintendo and Sega. Nintendo came back after that with the Wii.

Now, there are so many different gaming devices and consoles that I don't really keep track of them. Probably the newest ones would be the Kinect by Xbox and the Nintendo 3D.

Well, technology has definitely changed, but this video made me realize how technology can actually bring us back! Who would have though that someone would use the 8-bit "graphics" and music from 10 years ago to create something that is very much present in the year 2011. It really does bring back memories of when I was young and my favorite game is Super Mario Bros, and it actually still is. Just that there are so many different versions of it now...