Articles

Possible readings for class

• Mark Stencel,  “The Reality of Virtual Reality,” Governing: The Managing Technology Letter, 2008.09.
  1. How will you make use of virtual worlds and online communities when you look for work? How will you use them when you look for workers?
  2. Using Second Life and other online communities for recruiting: fad or fantastic?
  3. How would you design your Second Life avatar? If you were using Second Life for recruiting, what consideration, if any, would you give to the appearance of job candidates’ avatars?
• Ellen Perlman and Melissa Maynard, “Working in Wiki,” Governing.com, 2008.05.
  1. Mark Forman says wiki-wise workers “will be hailed as the next great visionaries.” Is that hyperbole? If not, what can you do to join that group (assuming you want the boss to think of you as a visionary…)?
  2. “It takes a certain mindset to be a first adapter of the Web 2.0 tools.” Do you have that mindset? Do you need that mindset? What stands in the way of getting that mindset?
  3. The Montgomery County police chief used the bug-tracking wiki to put pressure on vendors (“the best way not to have technical problems posted was to fix them right away”). Could using that kind of leverage backfire? What content wouldn’t you put on a public company/organization wiki?
  4. For what businesses might a facility simulation like the hospital model be worth the expence?
  5. Could you put something like Transit Camp to work in your workplace? Could you expand it to include (gasp!) customers and other non-employees?
  6. The Washtenaw County example referred to social workers having lots of tech tools, but still not getting the job done. What was missing?
  7. How could apps like these be applied to the DSU environment (either classroom or administrative)?
• Audio: Interview with Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everybody, on NPR’s Talk of the Nation, 2009.01.08.
• Paul Kapustka, “Why LTE vs. WiMAX Isn’t your Typical Standards Battle,” InformationWeek.com, 2008.12.20
  1. Picture yourself interviewing at an organization you’d really like to work for. The boss is there; so is the CIO (if the organization you’re thinking of is big enough to have a CIO separate from the boss). They say, “You’re smart. You’re a DSU grad. We want to expand our employees’ mobile network access. What’s better for us, WiMAX or LTE?” What do you ask them, and then what do you tell them?
  2. Can WiMAX or LTE replace physical in-house networks?
  3. “…for most companies, a near guarantee of e-mail trumps the need for high-bandwidth applications such as mobile video.” How much wireless bandwidth do you really need for your job (current job or job you envision yourself getting)?
  4. [see sidebar]: What do you make of CEO Wolff’s comment about ClearWire’s capacity to move to LTE if necessary?
  5. How will the recession affect the development and deployment of Wi-MAX and LTE? (Think locally first: how would the recession affect your choices related to technology like this if you were a manager?)