In a previous blog I discussed the concept of the Rich Internet Experience ofnot just graphics with depth (a la Photosynth), but with text. And, while subject "clouds" in del.icio.us and Microsoft Listas suit, I recently found a most interesting news site.
Check out the "newsmap" at Marumushi.com.
Marumushi.com uses a technique called treemaps. Using the Google news aggregator, the tree map uses a "visualization algorithm" to display "the enormous amount of information gathered by the aggregator" (Newsmap About Concept). In essence, it is providing us with a view of patterns of how news is reported around the world.
Check it out.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Ahead of the Curve. A new committment for a new year.
The one thing that I like the best about a new year is that it gives us the opportunity to reflect and recommit. It is an opportunity to dust off the mental resume and, for those of us in IT, it is the perfect opportunity to ask “what do I know about where we are going.” And, actually, at MHCC, we’ve been asking that question for about a year.
Technology is an insatiable taskmaster. Languages, skill sets, and applications are changing so fast that in many instances text book publishers cannot keep up (I have not used a formal written lecture in years and in many classes we are going without book), and we are looking toward alternative methods for class tracking (more on this later). To a people for whom the phrase “be relevant” is a motto, forethought is a mandatory requirement. And frankly, the old crystal ball is a bit foggy beyond 3-5 years.
ComputerWorld recently published two outstanding articles which should be mandatory reading. One is by Thomas Hoffman entitled “The Hottest 8 for ‘08” and identifies skill sets on the “in-demand list”. High on this list are the Web 2.0 platform software AJAX, XML, and .Net. Clearly, the transformation of the Internet is well underway and topics like Rich Internet Applications, feeds, and the Social Net are keywords we need to know.
Number 3 on Hoffman’s list is help desk/tech support. Here is an interesting social phenomenon which I described in my paper Help Desk Renaissance: A New Understanding of the Importance of Technical Support Services (in Issues in Information Systems, 2007); while outsourcing or off-shoring technical support makes short-term financial sense, the social backlash of American consumers seeking technical support has caused providers to rethink their strategy. The bottom line is more generalist and entry-level technical jobs on-shore and a greater demand for IT graduates (see “Perfect Storm on Horizon for U.S. Labor Markets ” by John Venator).
The other must-read by Mary Brandel on “The top 10 dead (or dying) skills” is from May 2007. It is a hard thing to let go of an old skill. Especially one we knew well and had success in using. I loved COBOL. It was a language like no other with English-like commands and a structure that flowed like prose (and not some cold, harsh language like FORTRAN!). Alas, I must move on and relegate COBOL to a box on the shelf of my garage – before I am.
However, unlike many other things on the shelf of my garage, I won’t discard my old skills entirely. There was a lot that I learned using things like COBOL which apply directly to skills necessary for the modern languages. Skills like looping structures, cascades, and sub-modules echo loudly even today. So while it is important to pick up on the new, it is equally important to remember the old. After all, though Actionscripts, AJAX and MashUps are hot, hot, hot; how long until they, too, are old school?
Technology is an insatiable taskmaster. Languages, skill sets, and applications are changing so fast that in many instances text book publishers cannot keep up (I have not used a formal written lecture in years and in many classes we are going without book), and we are looking toward alternative methods for class tracking (more on this later). To a people for whom the phrase “be relevant” is a motto, forethought is a mandatory requirement. And frankly, the old crystal ball is a bit foggy beyond 3-5 years.
ComputerWorld recently published two outstanding articles which should be mandatory reading. One is by Thomas Hoffman entitled “The Hottest 8 for ‘08” and identifies skill sets on the “in-demand list”. High on this list are the Web 2.0 platform software AJAX, XML, and .Net. Clearly, the transformation of the Internet is well underway and topics like Rich Internet Applications, feeds, and the Social Net are keywords we need to know.
Number 3 on Hoffman’s list is help desk/tech support. Here is an interesting social phenomenon which I described in my paper Help Desk Renaissance: A New Understanding of the Importance of Technical Support Services (in Issues in Information Systems, 2007); while outsourcing or off-shoring technical support makes short-term financial sense, the social backlash of American consumers seeking technical support has caused providers to rethink their strategy. The bottom line is more generalist and entry-level technical jobs on-shore and a greater demand for IT graduates (see “Perfect Storm on Horizon for U.S. Labor Markets ” by John Venator).
The other must-read by Mary Brandel on “The top 10 dead (or dying) skills” is from May 2007. It is a hard thing to let go of an old skill. Especially one we knew well and had success in using. I loved COBOL. It was a language like no other with English-like commands and a structure that flowed like prose (and not some cold, harsh language like FORTRAN!). Alas, I must move on and relegate COBOL to a box on the shelf of my garage – before I am.
However, unlike many other things on the shelf of my garage, I won’t discard my old skills entirely. There was a lot that I learned using things like COBOL which apply directly to skills necessary for the modern languages. Skills like looping structures, cascades, and sub-modules echo loudly even today. So while it is important to pick up on the new, it is equally important to remember the old. After all, though Actionscripts, AJAX and MashUps are hot, hot, hot; how long until they, too, are old school?
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