Poster Project Completed...

It was kind of bittersweet when I was standing in front of my poster project with several pictures of hypotheical vertical farms on it. On the one hand, it was nice to "turn the page" on this semester, especially on my 7:30 wake up time every Monday and Friday. On the other hand, I had an oppurtunity to tell several people about a very distant solution to a very distant problem. If my college experience has taught me anything, it is that advanced planning and spreading the word to get more minds to tackle an issue is the key to success. I enjoyed this poster project because I got to research an idea/technology that I find very interesting, and I also got to spread the word about this concept to other people whom might have better ideas on how to solve the problem of a fast growing world population. My semester was a very long one, yet it felt like we had just started. I will miss Com 435, however part of growing up is the abilitiy to take what you have learned from your experiences, and to grow and develop your view of the world. Com 435 has opened my eyes to some incredible immerging technologies, and when I think of the future impact any one of these technologies could have on society I get very excited about the future.

Mind Controlled Toy...

In Com. 435 we just were studying how electronics and computers are becoming more and more intrecual in everyday life, and how the concept of a "Cyborg" is already upon us. This toy, called the "Mind Flex" actually channels the electric inpluses your brain emits while concentrating, and manipulates a small ball with fans throughout an obstacle course. This type of technology could have huge implications for society if we begin to link everyday techology with this type of brainwave recieving techology. Here is a link to that game's website: http://mindflexgames.com/

It seems pretty amazing, and if a child's toy is beginning to use brainwave recognition technology, imagine the positive implications this type of technology can have for those people with disablilities, or what this technology can do in terms of modern day convience. Imagine having the ability to turn on your computer or surf the internet simply by thinking about a subject...

Poster Project

I have just summarized several articles on vertical farming, and am now preparing a rough draft of my poster. I think this is a very interesting topic, and we are beginning to see small signs of vertical farms in urban environments gain popularity, such as rooftop gardens. My research has made me aware of the large amount of potential problems the human race faces in regards to obtaining sufficient food sources in urban environments, and I believe that although not yet feasible, great thought should be invested in the area of vertical farming. I hope to learn more throughout next year, and this may be a topic I pursue for a research paper next semester.

Vertical Farming

I just saw an old episode of the Colbert Report over Thanksgiving break, and it resparked my interest on the topic of vertical farming. I believe that I will do my presentation poster on vertical farming, simply because it couples both of my degrees that I am pursuing here at Purdue; Agricultural Economics, and Communications. Vertical Farming is currently not feasible, however in the next 50 - 100 years when the human populations explodes to over 9 Billion people, land will become a very restricting factor in supply food to Urban areas. I hope to learn more about vertical farming, and am looking forward to doing my project on this topic.

Nature, You Crazy!

I just saw this video and thought to myself "Wow, nature you crazy!"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8391000/8391345.stm

(There was no embedded code, however it's a pretty cool video)

Mario Bros. New Game

The Nintendo Wii has a new Mario Bros. game coming out in which there is a return to a very basic story of saving a princess, and nothing too complicated. Up to four players can play this new game at a time, and it promises to be very well recieved by young and old alike. Mario Bros. is one of the greatest selling franchises of all-time, and anybody that grew up in the U.S. will tell you of at least one time when they destroyed Bowser's castle. I hope to play this game sometime soon, and hope that Nintendo still has the charm they did almost 25 years ago.

Corperate Social Media Concepts

I just stumbled upon this article and found it pretty interesting:

http://information-security-resources.com/2009/11/10/evaluating-corporate-social-media-strategies/

(there's the original article)

According to the article, most corperate companies obviously know about Facebook and LinkedIn, and many of them use these resources to screen potential job canidates. This just goes to show you that you need to be careful about what you post/ how you reflect your image online.

Another interesting concept is that a lot of companies have begun using their HR departments to use Facebook and LinkedIn for potential customer canidate reports. In the articles, Wallace states "Customer-facing functions such as sales, marketing, public relations and customer service are coming to realize that customers want to engage in a dialogue not a monologue and social media is a great facilitator of this two way communication.
An IT manager that becomes an obstacle to adoption of social media based on security concerns is likely to eventually lose the support of key business constituents. "

This is a very interesting notion, and leaves me wondering why it has been so hard for the corperate world to tap into the incredible network system these social media sites have established. It's not to say companies aren't trying, however I believe that we are still a long way from companies fully understanding how these systems work.