Thursday, November 02, 2006
Mac vs PC
Just to show that what we do during the course isn't all serious stuff, we have recently been having a side debate about whether the Apple Mac is better than the PC or not. The majority of people I have spoken to seem to think that the Mac is better, but the guy in the link below may disagree!!!http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6553260189868317794
What are Management Information Systems?
This is another interesting article I posted on my other blog - Naked Chasm Jumpers
The term Management Information Systems has become ever more popular in recent times, indeed the course we are presently studying is called MIS. However, a couple of questions I asked recently were - What is a Management Information System? And, if it fails, is it important?In its simplest format it is an Information System for Management. But, does this mean computers, databases, hardware, software? Indeed, who are the management? The MD, the Finance Director or the Supervisor or the person who manages the process?Unfortunately, I don't have a definitive answer, but I believe it is all of the above plus the system that allows feedback and discussion to take place to allow management to tap into the knowledge of their most important resource - humans!If there is no MIS in place, does it really matter? Well, yes, because without it there is just chaos. Whether it is a structure that is stuck to rigidly or a loose structure that provides guidelines, it is important.Click the link below to see a situation that I believe helps define a Management Information System and that many people will not have thought of. Failure of this system could have potentially catastrophic consequences.http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7198985749136975119
The term Management Information Systems has become ever more popular in recent times, indeed the course we are presently studying is called MIS. However, a couple of questions I asked recently were - What is a Management Information System? And, if it fails, is it important?In its simplest format it is an Information System for Management. But, does this mean computers, databases, hardware, software? Indeed, who are the management? The MD, the Finance Director or the Supervisor or the person who manages the process?Unfortunately, I don't have a definitive answer, but I believe it is all of the above plus the system that allows feedback and discussion to take place to allow management to tap into the knowledge of their most important resource - humans!If there is no MIS in place, does it really matter? Well, yes, because without it there is just chaos. Whether it is a structure that is stuck to rigidly or a loose structure that provides guidelines, it is important.Click the link below to see a situation that I believe helps define a Management Information System and that many people will not have thought of. Failure of this system could have potentially catastrophic consequences.http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7198985749136975119
The Singularity!
Source - Naked Chasm Jumpers"The Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger), is sent back to the year 1984 to assassinate a young woman named Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton). The cyborg comes from the year 2029, following a nuclear war which has devastated the better part of civilization. Computer defense mechanisms have turned on their creators, starting another war, in an effort to eliminate the human race altogether."
The above extract was taken from The Terminator Home Page, an unofficial fan site of the famous movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. However, given our last lecture on Scenarios and looking to the future, could the 'story' above ever become reality?
Analysed closer, there is a distinct possibility that "Computer defense mechanisms [could] turn on their creators ... in an effort to eliminate the human race altogether."
In todays world, there are scientists working towards what they call the singularity! This is the point at which computers are of equal power to the human brain and humans and technology start to fuse together. It is believed that at the current rate of development, it will be 25 years from now that scientists will understand the human brain and how it works. By some scary coincidence, people believe that Humans version 2.0 will be created in 2029, the same year that the Terminator was sent from! Is this the first step to the destruction of humans by their own creations, computers?
Can you imagine controlling machines by your thoughts or machines speaking for you as you think? Don't believe it could happen? I suggest you check out the link below -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctwo/programmes/?id=horizon (Current as of 29th October 2006)
The above extract was taken from The Terminator Home Page, an unofficial fan site of the famous movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. However, given our last lecture on Scenarios and looking to the future, could the 'story' above ever become reality?
Analysed closer, there is a distinct possibility that "Computer defense mechanisms [could] turn on their creators ... in an effort to eliminate the human race altogether."
In todays world, there are scientists working towards what they call the singularity! This is the point at which computers are of equal power to the human brain and humans and technology start to fuse together. It is believed that at the current rate of development, it will be 25 years from now that scientists will understand the human brain and how it works. By some scary coincidence, people believe that Humans version 2.0 will be created in 2029, the same year that the Terminator was sent from! Is this the first step to the destruction of humans by their own creations, computers?
Can you imagine controlling machines by your thoughts or machines speaking for you as you think? Don't believe it could happen? I suggest you check out the link below -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctwo/programmes/?id=horizon (Current as of 29th October 2006)
The Future Scenario
Source - Naked Chasm Jumpers
A question that everybody asks at some point in time is "What does the future hold?" Most people have a clearly defined route of where they want their lives to go, from careers to love life to money! How many times does this 'plan' actually play out the way we want it to?
We had a very interesting lecture last Thursday from Ian Kendrick on scenario thinking. He started the lecture with a very powerful story about an older lady and her plans for the next couple of weeks over the Christmas holidays. She was to enjoy Xmas with her family in her new home and see her grandchild for the time. Everything was in place, her family were on the way and the champagne was in ice. All of a sudden, the peace was shattered by a loud rumbling noise. The old lady went outside into her garden where she could make a shape out at the bottom of her garden. On closer inspection, she dicovered a young man strapped to a seat, dead. A loud explosion was heard a couple of miles away and the air was filled with debris. The woman lived near Lockerbie in 1988.
In those days, not many people could have envisaged such an event happening, but today, based on past experience, people would think such an event could happen. Businesses need to be able to cope with the future and as such need to plan for possible scenarios becoming reality or at least be aware that they may happen!
I found an interesting video on YouTube, which clearly shows one companies thoughts on what the future holds both for them and their customers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BkuynPMP7o
As I questioned previously in my blog entitled "Are Blogs the new Time Capsules?", could blogs become the new 'soft' version of the Time Capsule?
I invite you now to post your version of 'The Future' and lets see if it becomes reality!
We had a very interesting lecture last Thursday from Ian Kendrick on scenario thinking. He started the lecture with a very powerful story about an older lady and her plans for the next couple of weeks over the Christmas holidays. She was to enjoy Xmas with her family in her new home and see her grandchild for the time. Everything was in place, her family were on the way and the champagne was in ice. All of a sudden, the peace was shattered by a loud rumbling noise. The old lady went outside into her garden where she could make a shape out at the bottom of her garden. On closer inspection, she dicovered a young man strapped to a seat, dead. A loud explosion was heard a couple of miles away and the air was filled with debris. The woman lived near Lockerbie in 1988.
In those days, not many people could have envisaged such an event happening, but today, based on past experience, people would think such an event could happen. Businesses need to be able to cope with the future and as such need to plan for possible scenarios becoming reality or at least be aware that they may happen!
I found an interesting video on YouTube, which clearly shows one companies thoughts on what the future holds both for them and their customers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BkuynPMP7o
As I questioned previously in my blog entitled "Are Blogs the new Time Capsules?", could blogs become the new 'soft' version of the Time Capsule?
I invite you now to post your version of 'The Future' and lets see if it becomes reality!
Breaking mental models (sort of)
Again, this blog was taken from my other blog.During our lecture last week with Ian Kendrick, he was talking about peoples mental models and how these are based on the experiences of people. As a bit of fun, I tried to find some examples of videos breaking mental models. By far the funniest is in the link below and is for all you wanna be boy (or girl) racers out there, although I don't think you will ever be able to do this in reality!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlCzCJEwZmY
The way of the future?
I posted this blog on my other Blog for my MBA - The Naked Chasm Jumpers, so thought I would post it on here as well.
I found an interesting article on the BBC website which talks about Google and its ad revenues. It is expected that the Internet giants ad revenues for 2006 will surpass that of Channel 4, a TV channel in the traditional media sector. It is then expected that in 18 months it will surpass ITV's ad revenues. Is online advertising the way of the future?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6108678.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6108678.stm
The Ultimate Boy Racers!!
For all you wanna be boy racers out there, I found this video for you on You Tube. This is the ultimate in boy racing and of course could never happen. Just imagine if it did though!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlCzCJEwZmY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlCzCJEwZmY
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
