Web + Work = Innovation

The web has drastically changed the way we all do our daily jobs and lead our lives. Like it or not, the change has made our society work in ways never thought possible. For example, more people from all over the world are collaborating as a team for projects. Projects that before would have required team members to be in the same building to complete them are now being done from across the world via the web. Amazing when you think about it!

The web allows people to work from home, on vacation, in a taxi, or on a plane. The ability to share information in real time is more innovative than ever before. The web levels the playing field in that the most fitting person for the job can be utilized – whether in the next office or halfway around the globe (Friedman, 2007). The web and technology work to link us all together in one place – people from all walks of life can view the same information at the exact same time.

The impact of the internet on my workplace is immense – both positively and negatively. The internet is relied on for both web-enhanced and online courses – through the use of Tegrity (to record lectures), YouTube videos, or web engine searches for nursing journals in the classroom. The internet is also utilized to send and receive important information via email. We also use the social networking site, Facebook, for a page for our nursing program, Student Nurse Association, and each individual semester of nursing students. 

Many of our faculty who are not open to change or adapting to new technology are against utilizing Facebook but I would argue you have to meet the students where they are – and they are on Facebook! The negative impact of the internet at my workplace is that staff and faculty regularly play games while others could be drowning in their work. Administrators are aware of this issue – yet nothing is done to ensure faculty and staff do not abuse the internet.

Web-based tools can improve communication in that people from all over the world have a means to send and receive information like never before – email, Skype, FaceBook, and instant messaging. These are just a few of the ways communication lines have been adapted to meet the needs of the people of the world.

Work flow and productivity can be enhanced by the internet and web-based tools if the job requires these tools. One way I have seen web-based tools/internet improve workflow in nursing is through electronic documentation. Charting an assessment in the computer takes much less time than writing it out by hand – that is, once you have mastered how to chart in the computer!

The internet has changed us – forever. It is up to us all to adapt to the changes and let them enhance our work rather than defining it.

Friedman, T.L. (2007). The world is flat: A brief history of the twenty-first century. Farrar, Straus & Girous (Ed.). New York, NY: Picador.

The Triple Convergence

What is the Triple Convergence?

Convergence I: Merging software with hardware to create a beast of a machine or product – blending technologies to better empower the individual to make a greater impact on the world.

Convergence II: Flattening our thinking and collaboration from vertical to horizontal “because vertical thinking often requires you to start by asking who controls the system, now what is the outcome or effect you want to create” (Friedman, 2007, p. 209-210). Taking control out of the picture and instead focusing on an outcome helps foster collaboration and a sense everyone is in it together rather than working against one another.

Convergence III: Evening the playing field by allowing more players to be on the field at any given time (Friedman, 2007, p. 211). “Giving so many people access to all these tools of collaboration, along with the ability through search engines and the Web to access billions of pages of raw information, ensures that the next generation of innovations will come from all over Planet Flat” (Friedman, 2007, p. 211).

The Triple Convergence has a direct effect on knowledge management as more and more individuals are allowed the information, technology, and supplies to better equip them for their jobs. Individuals from Kansas to Bangalore, Washington to Russia, California to Japan are allowed to collaborate and be innovative using horizontal collaboration – prompting the people of the world to share their knowledge with one another – to provide a more diverse and dynamic education in all corners of the world.

The Web has impacted knowledge management in many ways with perhaps the most important being:

 1) An increasing amount of individuals worldwide are exposed to technology

 2) The Web allows individuals the capability to connect with people thousands of miles away, obtain information for research or reports, and to stay connected to entertainment, educational opportunities, the news, and their faith.

Knowledge management has evolved as a direct response to the increasing capabilities with the Web and information housed in it. While individuals might have had to wait in the past for two weeks to receive a letter from across the world now the moment someone hits send ‘you’ve got mail.’ The web allows individuals to gain valuable knowledge with the click of a mouse or the touch of a screen. The Web makes knowledge management possibilities endless – learning and the gaining of knowledge are now a reality for people who once could only dream of it.

Role of the Leader

If knowledge is socially developed the role of the leader in knowledge management is to be honest, provide the most current information, and play an active role in providing knowledge and education to her followers. As Friedman (2007) points out, leaders can no longer keep issues quiet if they are to be solved – as solving them could mean the need to share information with individuals all across the globe! The walls which in the past stifled collaboration have been demolished – making room for open collaboration with individuals from all over the world. Friedman (2007) states that “individuals who never dreamt they could work together, and jobs no one ever dreamt could be shifted from country to country, are suddenly on the move, now that many traditional high walls are gone” (p. 231). As leaders we must seek to create change through dissemination of knowledge to our counterparts in the next office, a building down the street, or at the other end of a computer screen half a world away. 

Friedman, T.L. (2007). The world is flat: A brief history of the twenty-first century. Farrar, Straus & Giroux (Ed.). New York, NY: Picador.

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2012: The iPad

The iPad: What is it?

Steve Jobs believed in the innovative capabilities of the iPad which he worked some 27 years to create (http://lifelibertytech.com/2012/10/02/the-lost-steve-jobs-speech-from-1983-foreshadowing-wireless-networking-the-ipad-and-the-app-store/). The iPad, sold and marketed by Apple, is a computer in tablet size and form which utilizes software and apps bought in the App Store (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPad). 

Through the use of the iPad the world is literally at our fingertips. It mobilizes people so that they can be a part of their lives happening around them yet connected to technology and the world with just the touch of a screen. 

With icons housed on the opening screen for ease of access the iPad user is capable of checking email, browsing the web, or utilizing an app. These icons can be changed or removed through the use of the touch screen technology. iPad’s use Wi-Fi which allows for ease of use nearly anywhere these days. 

I personally am not one to use Wikipedia for my information but the website does have an interesting comparison of the different generations of iPad’s in case you are interested in this data (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPad). 

According to JD Power and Associates Apple ranked “Highest in Customer Satisfaction with Tablets” (http://www.apple.com/ipad/why-ipad-retina/). Interesting facts from the Apple website are:

•      81% of tablet web traffic comes from iPad
•      95% Fortune 500 companies are piloting or deploying the iPad
•      65% U.S. school districts are piloting or deploying the iPad

With more than 300,000 Apps, a 10 hour battery life, up to 128 GB of storage, face time, video recording, wireless capabilities, and Siri as your assistant – the iPad can allow you to work from home, keep your kids busy, or become your personal assistant all with the touch of the screen (http://www.apple.com/ipad/features/). Apple “focused on the big picture, but never lost sight of the details” which is a concept important to most people who invest in a tablet or computer (http://www.apple.com/ipad/design/).

The iPad has 5 generations and the “latest iPad cements its position at the head of the tablet pack” (http://www.reviews.cnet.com/ipad-3/). As someone who has often contemplated whether or not to invest in an iPad, after reading the reviews I am still not completely on board with the iPad.

Using the iPad in My Leadership Position

While I am the team leader for a group of instruction my leadership mostly surrounds being a leader for my nursing students. The iPad could be used in nursing education as a resource for students in terms of medications and procedures – such as Lippincott’s newest app which allows for procedures and skills to be accessed without the use of Wi-Fi (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ipad-app-lippincotts-nursing-procedures-133000874.html).

Instead of having to carry (or drag) a bag of books to and from clinical and class students could utilize the iPad to download their books through the use of iBooks or as a download from the book publisher. In doing so the students would not only have the books in one place but the iPad’s compact size would help to save their backs from injury – an issue which plagues the nursing profession.

For me the iPad would likely be useful in keeping my schedule and tasks all in one specific place. I find myself going between my paper planner and my iPhone calendar to mark important dates rather than using one method and in doing so I run the risk of missing important meetings or deadlines. With an iPad I could sync my calendars between it and my iPhone. The iPad is more mobile and could prove to be useful in team meetings to display charts, graphs, or other items for discussion.

Downsides to the iPad

The downsides in terms of my students utilizing the iPad is the dependence factor – using the iPad for the internet or Apps related to healthcare does not necessarily teach the student to think critically on their feet. However, it does allow them to find answers to virtually any question they might come to ponder. For instance, if while in the clinical setting a student needed to research the effects of a drug on the body he could access that information through the use of an iPad.

For students who learn better by physically holding a book in their hands and highlighting information – those who need more tangible and less mobile – an iPad may be detrimental to their learning. I am one of those students who prefer to hold the book in my hands, highlight key areas to return to, and write notes in the margins. For me, a tangible book is important. With my increasing dependence on the web for school, work, and life the switch to the iPad is becoming more of a reality by the day.

Only apps from the App store can be purchased for use with the iPad (http://gizmodo.com/5458382/8-things-that-suck-about-the-ipad) which is similar to the Kindle Fire for which apps are bought exclusively from Amazon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kindle_Fire).

Possibly the biggest downside? Price. For the newest version you could spend $500 or more for an iPad. While the pros seem to outweigh the cons money can be hard to come by these days. Even if your budget did allow for the $500 or greater expenditure you would need to be sure the iPad is the right fit for your technological needs (http://www.geekosystem.com/ipad-pros-and-cons-specs-features/).

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2012

In reviewing the “Top 100 Tools for Learning 2012” YouTube and Prezi resonate most with me (http://c4lpt.co.uk/top100tools/). YouTube is used daily by my nursing students whether to review a clinical skill or to be entertained with a nursing rap or catchy tune. As ‘Death by PowerPoint’ continues to loom all around us I see Prezi stepping in and taking over as a fun and creative way to teach didactic content. Research could be done utilizing the same information from a PowerPoint presentation in a Prezi presentation to see if the content is comprehended in the same manner with either form of presentation. Students and faculty could be surveyed on their usage of YouTube and whether they see it as an effective tool for learning in nursing.

Is the world flat or spiky?

According to Friedman, the author of The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty First Century, over time the world has become flat. You must believe me to be crazy – first I create a title about searching for magis and now I am writing about the world being flat. Bear with me – the concept is quite interesting. The world is becoming flat as new innovations and technologies are introduced causing the world’s “playing field” to “be leveled” (http://www.thomaslfriedman.com/bookshelf/the-world-is-flat) In his article, Florida argues “on the contrary, our world is amazingly spiky” (http://www.creativeclass.com/rfcgdb/articles/other-2005-The%20World%20is%20Spiky.pdf). So which is it? Flat or spiky?

Friedman’s explanation of a flat world can be easily understood – as jobs or tasks are outsourced to different parts of the world the world becomes more flat. People, in other words, from all over the world can stay in their country of origin at a financial gain rather than moving to America (Friedman, 2007). The world then becomes less spiky and more flat as people from all over the world are given the opportunity to excel in the same ways. Florida’s argument centers around “the explosive growth of cities worldwide” which causes the geographical landscape to take a spiky appearance (http://www.creativeclass.com/rfcgdb/articles/other-2005-The%20World%20is%20Spiky.pdf)

My view is that our world is progressing towards a more flat appearance. Sure, there are countries which are booming at an alarming rate – India is one of those countries. However, India’s booming economy is only helping it to be on a more even field with countries such as the United States or England, hence the flattening of the world. Florida is referring to the world being spiky in relation to the money and power brought about by economic changes. Conversely, Friedman’s reference to the world being flat relates to everyone having an equal chance in the economic landscape. Both the article by Florida and the book by Friedman continue to be relevant in today’s world despite the gap from time written to now.

My preconceived notions in regards to the impact of the web on my world are that the web provides a way for me to be connected with friends, attend school, and teach. On the contrary I often think perhaps I have become too dependent on the web in my daily life. The impact of the web on my world is huge – finding a balance is the key! With the web the world is at our fingertips! We can see glimpses into other parts of the world at the touch of a button and connect with humans from across the globe. We are learning all the while – about ourselves, about the world, and about humanity.

Welcome to my blog! You may be asking yourself: what is magis? And why am I in search of it? The Jesuits use the Latin term 'magis' which means more. Attending a Jesuit university I am now on my quest for magis. I must say it has been an interesting journey so far - and the future looks very bright. This blog is a part of my Technology and Leadership class. 

What will begin as a blog about technology and leadership will transform into a portrait of my life. Snapshots of my quest for magis! Always seeking more. Never settling for less. Steadfast in faith. All Glory to God!

Each week throughout my Technology and Leadership class I will be posting some food for thought. My hope is to keep updating this blog long past the last assignment for my class. Writing is an excellent outlet for creativity. Enjoy - be inspired - seek more!