Science & Technology

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 21 may 2015

Value of data lies with how it can be utilized for better and improved decision-making and subsequent beneficial actions. Governments collect and hold substantial amount of valuable data on variety of parameters. Open data movement intends to give wider digital access to public data to increase government transparency, efficiency and accountability. A report by McKinsey Global Institute estimates global economic value of open data at US$ 3 trillion. Open Data Research Network, funded by Canada's International Development Research Centre and led by World Wide Web Foundation, is exploring the emerging impacts of open data in developing countries and how it can help address specific challenges. In Chennai (India) researchers found that existing municipal data on the urban poor is unreliable. Lack of data on the number and location of public toilets, hinder public sanitation investments to reach vulnerable communities. Local officials with the help of researchers significantly improved their procurement processes by creating and connecting different open databases. Another case study in India focused on the extractive energy sector, where no publicly available data has hindered regulatory enforcement in the production of coal, oil and natural gas. In Phillippines, researchers looked at how business, media, civil society and other groups benefit from national open data policy introduced in 2011 that required local governments to disclose financial and procurement related data on their websites. This project identified where local governments can be more accountable. Read on...

Phys.org: Strengthening governance through open data
Author: NA

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 19 may 2015

Today's architects require knowledge and expertise of architecture-focused technology tools and softwares to stay ahead of the curve. Moreover they have to continue to upgrade and update their skills through variety of courses and tutorials available through traditional educational institutions, corporate training programs, paid online courses and free tutorials on internet. ArchDaily has compiled a categorised list of online tutorial websites that offer learning of architectural softwares - (1) General Purpose Tutorial Sites: Lynda.com (Online courses and video tutorials site); Visualizing Architecture (Alex Hogrefe has created a comprehensive list of tutorials for creating compelling images. Most techniques can be achieved using SketchUp and Photoshop); Ronen Bekerman's Blog (Provides case studies. Showcases their own work, explaining how they created a single render from the modeling stage to post-production). (2) Pre-Production (Modeling, Drawing and BIM): Autodesk's Youtube Channel; Bond-Bryan BIM Blog by Rob Jackson; Nick Senske on Youtube; Jose Sanchez's tutorials at Plethora Project on Unity3D game engine, Autodesk's Maya software, C#, Python and Javascript and also Rhino and Grasshopper; NYCCTfab on Vimeo (Tutorials by New York City College of Technology's Department of Architectural Technology Fabrication Lab, on Revit, Rhino and Grasshopper). (3) Production (Rendering and other forms of image creation): Simply Rhino Webinars; V-Ray Website. (4) Post-Production (Adobe Photoshop and other image manipulation software): Vyonix Tutorials; ARQUI9 Visualisation on Youtube. Read on...

ArchDaily: Architecture Software Tutorials - Which Are The Best Out There?
Author: Rory Stott

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 09 may 2015

Digital revolution is affecting and impacting every aspect of human lives. Education is one sphere where the transformation is beginning to happen and schools are applying technology-enabled learning methodologies. But to truly accomplish what technology promises in education, the strategies have to go beyond just providing technology devices and softwares to students. It must try to provide students with enhanced learning capabilities and equip them with skills for success. Arne Duncan, US Secretary of Education, provides his views and ideas on how educational technology and innovation will bring the changes in the learning environment of the future. According to him, 'Innovation in education isn't about the latest gadget or app, or about how adept a student is at using a smartphone to consume the latest Internet meme. It's about how technological tools can empower students to become who they want to be, and who we need them to be - the kind of children and young people who ask - What can I improve? How can I help? What can I build?' He provides following suggestions regarding what technology can do in education - (1) We must make education technology more equitable. (2) Teachers and students must be empowered as creators, not just consumers. (3) We must make teaching more sustainable. He further explains, 'Everyone has an essential role to play in elevating and supporting the teaching profession. Teachers must be willing to explore new ways of supporting and challenging themselves and their students. Students must assume more responsibility for their own learning. Principals must create school climates that honor innovation and experimentation. Elected officials and policymakers must be willing to incentivize policies and programs that lift up the profession - through more resources, support, and funding.' Read on...

Medium: What Can Technology Do for Tomorrow's Children?
Author: Arne Duncan

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 05 may 2015

Big data has potential to transform how healthcare is delivered. But considering the huge volume and complexity of data, it is difficult to analyze with the usual data processing tools. In healthcare, big data is multi-structured and multi-sourced (Claims data; Clinical data; Status data). Specialized tools and softwares have to be used to make this big data actionable. Actionable data is standardized, predictive, preventive, timely, and comprehensive. Actionable data, which is ready for advanced analytics, can provide an organization with insights that improve patient care, reduce risk and strengthen the bottom line. Optum infographic shows how to make big data actionable and get value. Read on...

Forbes: Infographic - How To Make Big Data Actionable For Better Health Care Insight And Value
Author: NA

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 30 apr 2015

According to the new research by Eduserv, 'Creating The Right Environment for Digital Transformation', most charities are aware of the importance of IT and digital transformation to improve the way they deliver services and engage with their volunteers. But there seems to be lack of clarity about how they will implement and accomplish this. Report observed three challenges that charity leaders are facing while driving digital transformation - (1) Strategy and Knowledge Gap: Many of those at the top of charities have yet to grasp that digital transformation is not about using technology or digital platforms to replicate existing activities but about fundamental transformation of the way charities go about doing their business. (2) Structure: Delivering on the needs of the digital-first charity requires different ways of organising and managing teams. Most charities are still relying on old structures and working relationships. IT and digital are failing to add value because they are seen as service providers and support functions rather than business partners. (3) Infrastructure: Charities are not only failing to put in place the right IT platforms but they are failing to invest in people with the right skills to support their digital future in their IT teams. To overcome these challenges, charities can do the following - (1) Embed digital capability at the top of organisation's leadership, so that digital is embedded at the heart of a charity's strategic thinking. (2) Build a digital-first culture throughout the charity. It is not realistic to expect digital and IT teams to drive change from the margins as support functions. Invest in IT and digital skills and tools. Read on...

Information Age: Digital transformation - the pressing three priorities for charities
Authors: Chloe Green, John Simcock

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 26 apr 2015

According to CDC estimates, about 30 million of US population had diabetes in 2014, and more than 1/4th of them were undiagnosed. Moreover another 80 million were classified as 'pre-diabetic', meaning they have greater chance of getting diabetic in the next decade if they don't change their lifestyle. Diabetes costed US$ 176 billion in direct medical bills and US$ 69 billion in indirect costs, including disability, work loss and premature death, in 2012. Considering data-intensive nature of diabetes, patients have to continuously monitor, calculate and control their blood sugar levels within a healthy range. As there are numerous and complex factors that affect blood sugar - including food, physical activity, and sleep patterns - it's not always clear what exactly occurs between a good blood sugar reading and a bad one. According to Jeff Dachis, co-founder of digital marketing firm Razorfish and now founder of diabetes managing app called One Drop, 'It's math all day long...if I stay in range, I can stay considerably healthy and unimpacted by diabetes.' Adoption of wearable health devices is somewhat trying to solve the mathematical aspects of diabetes. Moreover the coming wave of wearable technology and social media and mobile apps show prospects to transform how people live with and manage diabetes. Companies are also developing innovative devices like continuous glucose monitors, which constantly measure blood sugar levels through a small sensor that is inserted under the skin, providing a lot more insight into how a good reading turns into a bad one. Another technological advancement is an 'artificial pancreas', an implantable device which would monitor blood sugar as well as automatically deliver insulin. Researchers are developing small implants that can do both, eliminating the need for daily finger pricks and injections. Google and Novartis AG are partnering to develop less invasive way to measure blood sugar, a contact lens that monitors glucose contained in tears and transmits the data through a tiny antenna. These technology devices although hold a considerable promise to overcome challenges regarding the management of diabetes but they will be expensive and will take time to be commercially available. Read on...

The Washington Post: How the data revolution could transform the way people live with diabetes
Author: Ana Swanson

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 18 apr 2015

Professor Shree K. Nayar of Columbia University, research engineer Daniel Sims and consultant Mikhail Fridberg of ADSP Consulting, have invented a fully self-powered video camera that can produce an image each second, indefinitely, of a well-lit indoor scene. They designed a pixel that can not only measure incident light but also convert the incident light into electric power. According to Prof. Nayar, 'We are in the middle of a digital imaging revolution. I think we have just seen the tip of the iceberg. Digital imaging is expected to enable many emerging fields including wearable devices, sensor networks, smart environments, personalized medicine, and the Internet of Things. A camera that can function as an untethered device forever - without any external power supply - would be incredibly useful.' The team used off-the-shelf components to fabricate an image sensor with 30x40 pixels. In this prototype camera, which is housed in a 3D printed body, each pixel's photodiode is always operated in the photovoltaic mode. Read on...

Columbia Engineering: Columbia Engineering Professor Invents Video Camera that Runs without a Battery
Author: Holly Evarts

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 16 apr 2015

Using technology to bring social change and improve people's lives is a challenging task. 'One-size-fits-all' approaches to implement technology strategies may not be effective and provide expected results. There is need to have proper context, clarity of purpose and supportive environment to fulfil the promises that technology intends to bring for the well-being and welfare of the society. Professor Kentaro Toyama of University of Michigan, in his latest book 'Geek Heresy: Rescuing Social Change from the Cult of Technology', argues that technologists undermine efforts at social progress by promoting 'packaged interventions' at the expense of more difficult reforms. Prof. Toyama has worked extensively in India and launched various projects that sought to use computers and Internet connectivity to improve education and reduce poverty. Following are selected excerpts from his Q&A session done by Brian Bergstein, deputy editor of MIT Technology Review - • 'There are already several randomized, controlled trials of schools with and without One Laptop per Child. Generally, what most of these studies show is that schools with laptops did not see their children gain anything in terms of academic achievement, in terms of grades, in terms of test scores, in terms of attendance, or in terms of supposed engagement with the classroom.' • 'I think it's perfectly sensible for parents to want a certain amount of exposure to technology for their children, both as a form of explorative play and as a way to get them used to technology that they'll undoubtedly encounter later in their life. I think the fundamental error people make is that, therefore, we should have the computer be the primary instrument of education for all children...I think one of the issues is we tend to think of education as being the content. We overemphasize the importance of content, as opposed to emphasizing the part that's really difficult in any good education, which is adult-supervised motivation - the motivation of the child to learn something.' • 'If you measure some positive benefit in the technology case, your conclusion is that technology helped. But it was always the people that we worked with, the partners that we chose and the people on the ground who interacted with the people that we wanted to support. All of those human factors were required for the technology itself to have an impact; whether the technology helped or not was really up to people.' Read on...

MIT Technology Review: Putting Technology in Its Place
Author: Brian Bergstein

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 14 apr 2015

According to MarketingTerms.com, 'Affiliate Marketing' is the 'Revenue sharing between online advertisers/merchants and online publishers/salespeople, whereby compensation is based on performance measures, typically in the form of sales, clicks, registrations, or a hybrid model.' Wikipedia defines 'Customer Relationship Management' (CRM) as 'System for managing a company's interactions with current and future customers. It often involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize sales, marketing, customer service, and technical support.' Affiliate managers need to keep track of their affiliate relationships efficiently and they can use CRM tools to stay organized. According to Dustin Howes, Director of Marketing at Marketing Clique, 'Using the CRM creates full transparency of the current state of the affiliate program and the growth in the near future.' He provides the following ways CRM can be effective for affiliate marketing - (1) Document Hot Leads (2) Task Reminders (3) Institutional Memory (4) Predicting Affiliate Performance. Read on...

FeedFront: Growing your Affiliate Program with a CRM
Author: Dustin Howes

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 12 apr 2015

Adoption and implementation of business-IT strategies with emerging technologies like big data, cloud, social business and mobility, is a continuous long-term process. It involves multiple streams of projects with complexity and uncertainty. In such an environment CIO's will be challenged to manage a continuous process of incremental development. Jyoti Lalchandani, group vice president and regional managing director at IDC Middle East, Africa and Turkey, explains the approach of 'Failure Management' that IDC utilizes for project management. According to him, 'Businesses rushing to embrace emerging technology solutions may fail more often than not to extract full value from individual projects, but in the long run they will reap enormous value as long as they persist and stay focused on their strategic goals.' Failure management doesn't consider failure as an absolute end result but as a range of project outcomes. Some outcomes might lead to project termination but in other situations it would require some alterations and tweaking to get favourable results and returns on tech investments. Evaluation process is a must at key stages of project lifecycle. The stages are called 'value checkpoints' as they measure the business value return in addition to standard performance metrics. When projects are failing, there are three options for organizations, called 'Rule of Three' by IDC - (1) Stay the course (2) Kill the project or (3) Find a way to change the project's trajectory. Although most project planning methodologies focus on (1) & (2), but it is important to consider all three options and answer all questions to determine the optimum course of action. Read on...

Gulf Times: Manage failure to secure strategic advantage
Author: Jyoti Lalchandani

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