IMA 502 First Assignment (landing on our feet)

Technology is the leader today in entertainment, business, education and most importantly learning.  Students today are using the disruptive technology of mobile devices like the iPad, android, netbooks with technologies like Youtube, Twitter, Google and Facebook.  It is critical that educators and students embrace these disruptive technologies in order to communicate and learn.

This is why the idea of creating a Posttuttor.com site is ideal to the needs of educators but most importantly students.  In the era where students are teaching and tutoring each other, we must create a portal that is similar to Youtube or Facebook but encourages learning.  Posttutor.com will embrace this disruptive learning environment, in order to keep students focused on learning and keep away the distractions that Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and Google create.  In addition the site will be supported with the expertise of the professors.

As a developer using programming languages like Java, C and Objective C, which are the language of Applications (Apps), we can create Apps for posttutor.com that encourage students to tutor each other through a client from their iPad or mobile device while in touch with their site.  Perfect examples of this are the apps created today by Twitter and Facebook that allow people to communicate through their iPhone using the Twitter and Facebook apps.

There is no question that this project is very ambitious but than again it seems like it was yesterday people were dialing up to the Internet through a 14,400 bts modem.  Like the movie Field of Dreams “if you built it they will come”.

Let’s the Games Begin

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/03/technology/03game.html?th&emc=th

IMA 505 Paper #1 Past, Present and Future

How the Abacus, ENIAC and War games led to Second Life and Cloud Computing.

Abstract:  The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how the history of computing influences and supports the path where the world is today in regards to the Internet and where the world is heading.  In the future everyone will be connected and information will travel flawless throughout the Internet at tremendous speed.  Failure to embrace these changes will create chaos within countries from all aspects of life economical, cultural, health, environment, education and how countries do business.

Introduction

Throughout history scientists and engineers have always tried to find products in order to provide solutions to some of the most difficult problems human beings have encountered.  The English philosopher Alfred North Whitehead wrote, “The future is big with every possibility of achievement, and of tragedy.”  This possibility of achievement came with our answer to compete with other countries.  It was the competition with Russia that motivated President Kennedy to have a vision and stated the following mission statement: “this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth.”  Another answer to this type of competition with the results of WWII and the fear of WWIII also know as the Cold War created the Internet.  The Internet has transformed every aspect of human life: our medical care, our food, our health, our entertainment, our economics, it has created our big world small and our small world big.  The big question is where did all begin?

Past (Abacus, ENIAC, War Games)

The Abacus

Calculation according to the Oxford English Dictionary is a “mathematical determination of quantity or extent.  An assessment of the risks or effects of a course of action.”  Throughout history calculations have been part of a human being’s life from the beginning of time when first transactions were being made.  The question is of course how these transactions were being made.  Who was keeping track?  How do human beings add the amount money from the amount of goods being purchase?  The answer to these questions was the Abacus.  It was one of the early inventions.  The Abacus (figure 1), some consider as one of the earlier stages in the history of computing.  It has been around since 1000 B.C. and basic mathematical calculations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) can be performed.  Today the Abacus can be found across the United States in elementary schools with different type color wires and of different sizes.  It is part of a children’s early childhood education starting in Pre-k, where children learn how to count, subtract and add.  According to the book Basics of Computer Science by Rajiv Khanna the Abacus it is still being used today “Many shopkeepers in Asia and “Chinatown” in North America, still make use of it for calculating the total payable amount for the articles sold by them.”

(Figure 1, The Abacus).

Eniac

This 20 feet long and 40 feet high computer created by the scientists of Pennsylvania University was also created from a result of competition.  According to Khanna “The defense department of the United State of America was supposed to design advanced weapons, missiles and aircrafts.”  Because the problem was complex to calculate the scientist wasted a lot of time and made a lot of errors in solving these complex problems.  The scientists came up with the solution creating a machine that “was capable of doing more than 5000 additions, subtractions or 350 multiplications and divisions in a second.”  So, in 1946 the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was born.  According to Lisa Nocks the author of “The Robot: The Life Story of a Technology.”  The model for the ENIAC was “conceived by J.P. Eckert and John Mauchly from The Moore School of Electrical Engineering, at the University of Pennsylvania’s ,” which was an improvement on Vannevar Bush’s the author of the notorious essay “As We May Think,” differential analyzer and could produce 20,000 multiplications per minute.  It is arguably the first step towards the modern computer also know as the PC.

War Games

The computer typed in the monitor “Shall we play a game?”  The young man anxious and with a grin on his face from his bedroom typed in the computer “ahhh… love to,” he than asked the computer “how about Global Thermonuclear War.”  Even though the computer suggested in playing a game of chess the young men insisted to play the nuclear war game.  In the end the young man prevailed.  This was the beginning of his nightmare because the computer whizz accidentally connected through his computer with the United States’ defense super-computer that has control over the United States’ nuclear weapons.  At the beginning of game when the young kid picks the Russians to fight against the United States played by the super-computer, it initiates the countdown for World War 3.   Perhaps today hacking into a computer or mainframe doesn’t sound shocking, but in 1983 during the Cold War it was frightening.  The scene above is a description of the movie War Games starring Matthew Broderick, directed by John Badham.  During this movie it was the first time that the PC played a big role in a Hollywood movie.  It was during a time where the name hacking and hackers was coming out to life.  It was also the time during the 80’s that young programmers like Steve Wozniak co-founder of Apple Computer was hacking into telephone companies with his invention of a blue box and it was just for fun.  This was the beginning of things to come, of young men affections to computers, of modern computers appearing in bedrooms, living rooms and schools across the United States.  It was also the first time that people started using a box and with the telephone’s handset it started a connection by placing the handset on top of the box.  The box was called a modem.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecPeSmF_ikc&feature=related

Present (Second Life and the Virtual World)

The Internet has shrunk this world and games revolutionized it.  Today educators and parents are wondering how is it possible that a kid can spend five hours playing video games but not even half an hour doing homework.  Because of these concerns, scientists and technologists are at it again, trying to solve the problem.  Second Life is a virtual world environment that students interact by using a computer and creating an Avatar.  It is very similar to playing a video game in a 3d environment.  Anyone can connect around the world as long as they have a computer and Internet access.

The Future (Cloud Computing)

The Future is already here and it is called “Cloud Computing”.  According to Professor Aievoli’s book “On enterFrame” content is king and “It all depends what is on the disk.  Somebody figured out how to make the better mouse trap.”  Today it all depends what is on the internet and information “content” is going to be like our shoes, we wear them, use them and pay as we go it doesn’t matter where they make them (Taiwan, China, India, Taipei).  Every time we need space we are going to go and get it.

Bibliography

Aievoli, Patrick. On enterFrame: The Who, Why and How of Interactive (Multi)media Development. New York: Whittier Publications Inc, 2008. Print

Barnes, John. John F. Kennedy on Leadership: The Lessons and Legacy of a President.  New York: AMACOM, 2005.  Ebrary. Web. 2 Apr. 2010.

Friedman, Thomas. The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005.

Hopkins, Tom. Selling in Tough Times: Secrets to Selling When No One is Buying. New York: Business Plus, 2010.  Print

Khanna, Rajiv. Basics of Computer Science. New Delhi: New Age International, 2007. Ebrary. Web. 2 Apr. 2010

Nocks, Lisa.  The Robot: The Life Story of a Technology. Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2007. Print

Four great articles that came out today in the NYtimes.

1)       the beginning of the end.

Networks Wary of Apple’s Push to Cut Show Prices

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/22/business/media/22itunes.html?ref=technology

2)      I know that cable companies were trying to do this for years and they never got around to it, no worries to the user;  Like Friedman mentioned in his book “The world is flat.”

Selling a Celebrity Look

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/22/technology/internet/22celebrity.html?ref=technology

3)     iPad…..

Textbooks That Professors Can Rewrite Digitally

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/22/business/media/22textbook.html?ref=technology

4)      In the book  world is Flat Friedman mentioned in his book how a journalist managed to take his picture and do an interviewed on the spot on the street and posted online.

“The panel that administers the George Polk Awards, based at Long Island University, said it wanted to acknowledge the role of ordinary citizens in disseminating images and news, especially in times of tumult when professional reporters face restrictions, as they do in Iran. The university said it had never bestowed an award on an anonymous work before.”

Honoring Citizen Journalists

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/22/business/media/22polk.html?ref=technology

IMA 501 12/01/09 Marketing Plan

Marketing Plan

*Niche Penetration

Market Characteristics

Large Potential demand (online learning), Fragmented market, Short adoption process.

Product Characteristics

Many sources of supply (internet, global market).

Relatively simple production process (cloud computing and internet).

Competitor Characteristics

Many potential competitors (University of Phoenix, MIT Opencourseware, AUI online).

Some potential competitors have substantial resources and competencies (University of Phoenix).

Firm Characteristics

Limited product (online courses, online lesson plans).

Insufficient financial or organizational resources  to build capacity in advance of growing demand. (start-up)

Limited marketing skills and resources (start-up).

Short term objectives

Maximize number of triers, users, and adopters in target segment; limited investment to build volume and hare in chosen niche.

Advertise in Bookstores, High Schools and Community Colleges.

Intermediate-term objectives

Maintain leading share position in target segment even if some sacrifice of short-term margins is necessary.

Long-term objectives

Maximize ROI.

Strategic objective and tasks

Increase customer’s awareness and willingness to buy

Heavy advertising directed at target segment to generate awareness.

Offer free trial, liberal return, or extended warranties (services) policies to reduce target customers’ perceived risk.

Extensive introductory sales promotions (free cloud computing) to induce trial, but focused on target segment.

Extensive salesforce efforts focused on potential customers in target segment.

Increase customer’s ability to buy

Penetration pricing, or bring out lower-priced versions in anticipation of competitive entries.

Offer engineering installation (online videos), and training services to increase new product’s compatibility with customers’ current operations.

*Walker, Boyd, Larreche “Marketing Strategy: Planning and Implementation” 1999, pp. 229-233

Return on Investment

The return on investment will be based on how many users use the site.

ROI= (Gain from investment – Cost of Investment) / by Cost of Investment

This means that if we have class online $500 and we register 15 students total of $7500

and the professor charges $1500.00 per class and it cost $500 to run.

ROI = (7500-2000)/2000=2.75 or 275%

There are going to be return investment base on advertising (technology companies) and fees on mentors teaching online while using our site.

IMA 501 11/17/09 Production Timeline

Production Timeline

Release Date May 2011

Number of Developers

1 Project manager

6 Programmers

8 Artists

2 Designers

1 Quality assurance

1 Sound and music engineer

2 Salesforce

Length of Development

Project Initiation 30 days

Project Planning 90 days

Project Execution 90 days

Project Close down 60 days

18 months

Gantt Chart

Production Budget

Project manager $85,000

Assistant Programmer $65,000

Programmers (5) $250,000

Assistant Artist $55,000

Artists (7) $315,000

Assistant Designer $55,000

Designer $45,000

Quality assurance $45,000

Sound and music $45,000

Salesforce $80,000 plus commission

Technology $150,000

Hardware $30,000

Total $1,220,000

Development Team Duties

Project manager — Will oversee the whole project from beginning to end.

Assistant Programmer — Will work very closely with the project manager and manage the programmer group.

5 Programmers — Will work under the Assistant Programmer and will execute the code needed to create the product.

Assistant Artist — Will work very closely with the project manager and manage the artist group.

7 Artists — Will work under the Assistant Artist and will create the art that is needed to produce the product. (1-Artist Flash, 1-Artist Photoshop, 2-Artist Film, 3 Artist Web Designers, 1-Artist storyboard and illustrator).

Assistant Designer — Will work very closely to the project manager and will manage the designer group.

Designer — Will work under the Assistant Designer and will design the product’s website and functionality.

Quality assurance — Will work very closely with the project manager and the groups assistants.  In addition it will report on the project’s pros and cons.

Sound and music engineer — Will work very closely with the project manager and the groups assistants.  In addition will support the projects’ sound and music demands.

2 Salesperson — Will work very closely with the project manager and groups to learn the product.  Will create awareness of products to potential customers.

IMA 501 11/10/09 Production Statement

Production Statement

Our Organization Bringeth Forth Technologies

Bringeth Forth Technologies gives the birth and support to online learning.  It is a comprehensive technology website.  It operates 365 days out of the year 24 hours a day.

Vision

To teach is to learn.  Bringeth Forth Technologies website is the students, mentors and faculty dream website.  Together they are going to teach and going to be taught by the students, faculty and mentors.   It is the learners dream website.

Mission

Our mission is to bring technology forth to the ideas and needs of the users students, faculty and mentors.

Values

Bringeth Forth Technologies is fresh style website that promotes online learning.  Bringeth Forth Technologies provides a welcoming environment for teaching and learning where the core values are compassion, respect, encouragement, motivation and the pursuit of excellence.

Operations

Bringeth Forth Technologies is a website that uses the latest technologies in order to run efficiently.

Cloud Computing–Storage for the amount of online video content and lesson plans.

WordPress–This is an ad-free tracking options, plug-0s and templates that now includes CMS.  It also excels in the range of traffic tracking options.  Leader in blogs.

Joomla–Huge number of add-ons, excellent interface.

Drupal–Highly scaleable, excellent default templates and themes.

Second Life–A virtual environment place where students, faculty and mentors can learn.

Macbook pros- website designers and programmers

IMA 501 11/03/09 Flow Chart and Design Samples

Flow Chart
“A flow chart is a graphical or symbolic representation of a process. Each step in the process is represented by a different symbol and contains a short description of the process step. The flow chart symbols are linked together with arrows showing the process flow direction.” from FlowBreeze

“Illusion is Everything: A 3-D appearance gives the impression of a functioning real-world device, such as a real, pressable button. The term for such an effect is isomorphic correspondence.” from Visual Design for the Modern Web by Penny McIntire

Design Samples

Interface 1

http://blogs.cisco.com/news/comments/first_cisco_on_stage_telepresence_experience_demonstration_in_africa/