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12.11
Another Year
By Terrance Malkinson
Another year is drawing
to a close. It’s been a year when the world’s
population reached seven billion, the stock
market declined 14 percent, a catastrophic
triple-core nuclear power plant meltdown
occurred, and the U.S. space shuttle program
ended. It’s been a year when incredible
technological innovations have emerged with ever
shortening development cycles. It’s been a year
where a large number of well-educated and
skilled people are facing unemployment for the
first time in their life. It’s a year when many
of us have lost through death mentors and others
who were important to us.
It would be easy to complain,
blame others for the challenges that we face
daily, and look to the future with despair. Every generation has its difficulties, and yet, when you stand back
and look at the big picture, humanity continues
to move forward in a positive way. It was not
that long ago when we were using typewriters,
communicated with rotary-dial, wall-mounted
telephones, traveled to a bank to do financial
transactions, paid for goods and services with
paper currency, went to a travel agent to get
our airplane tickets and make hotel
reservations, communicated over distance with
surface-mailed, hand-written letters, searched
through cabinets of index cards to locate
library materials, and viewed analogue black and
white television.
In reality, we should be
grateful for the advancements created by
engineers and other professionals, that today we
take for granted. There is still much to be
done. Lots of interesting and important
challenges remain for those who have an
adventurous spirit and desire to make the world
a better place. I am very confident in the
abilities of our youth, who look at the world in
a much different — and, I believe, better — way
than my generation ever did. Those who accept
the challenges will live a good life and leave a
permanent legacy by making the world a better
place for everyone.
From World Bytes, best wishes
for the holiday season and for 2012.
Other Bytes
Here are some of the things
going on in and around the community:
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“What Every CEO Needs of
Know about the Cloud” is an article by
Andrew McAfee in the November issue of
Harvard Business Review [89(11):124-132,
November 2011,
www.hbr.org]. Cloud computing represents
a significant change in the way that
companies use technology. McAfee debunks
commonly expressed concerns about cloud
computing; discusses its benefits and the
three basic categories of cloud computing.
He concludes by outlining how companies can
get started of the path to the cloud.
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A special report on science
in America is the cover story in New
Scientist [212 #2836, October 2011, www.newscientist.com].
The report’s authors suggest that
policy-makers often do not really understand
science and its importance when they make
decisions that affect all of our lives. Very
few people elected to public office have any
background in science. The first report by
Shawn Otto, “Decline and Fall,” [pp. 38-41]
explores the roots of why the status of
science in public life has declined. The
second report by Peter Aldhous, “Don’t Tell
It So Straight,” [pp. 42-45] calls on
scientists to learn to communicate the
importance of their work to policy-makers
and the public.
-
Time Magazine
provides its review of the 50 best
inventions of 2011 in its 28 November issue
[pp. 56-82,
www.time.com]
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“Facebook vs. Google: The
Battle for the Future of The Web” is the
title of an article by Miguel Helft and
Jessi Hempel in FORTUNE [164(4): 115-124,
November 2011,
www.fortune.com ]. The rivalry between
these two technology giants is heating up
into a competitive battle; the outcome of
which will affect the way that we receive
information, communicate, and carry out many
other tasks.
-
The Futurist has
published its annual forecasts for next year
in “Outlook 2012” [The Futurist,
45(6)-9 page inset, November-December 2011
www.wfs.org ]. The editors of The
Futurist are not attempting to predict
the future but rather to “provoke thought
on how we may begin to shape our own
tomorrow’s today”.
-
The theme of the November
issue of Harvard Business Review
[89(11) - pp.66-104,
www.hbr.org] is “What Great Companies Do
Differently.” Four authoritative articles
take a fresh look at the meaning of “good.”
Complementing the research findings are
short profiles of five companies that are
believed to have achieved a level of
goodness by excelling in key areas of
employee relations, community engagement,
supply-chain management, environmental
protection and corporate governance.
-
An IEEE investigative report
on the meltdown of the world’s first
triple-core nuclear reactor is provided in
the November issue [48(11):30-49] of IEEE
Spectrum. A series of articles discuss
its cause, global implications and the
future of the technology.
Terrance Malkinson is a
communications specialist, business analyst and
futurist. He is currently an international
correspondent for IEEE-USA Today's Engineer, an
associate editor for IEEE Canadian Review, and a
member of the editorial advisory board of IEEE
The Institute. He was Vice-Chair of the IEEE-USA
Communications Committee (2004-2010), and
editor-in-chief of IEEE-USA Today's Engineer
Digest (2004-2008). He was an elected Senator of
the University of Calgary and an elected
Governor of the IEEE Engineering Management
Society as well as an elected Administrative
Committee member of the IEEE Professional
Communication Society. He has been the editor of
several IEEE conference proceedings, and past
editor of IEEE Engineering Management. He is the
author of more than 420 publications, and is an
accomplished triathlete. His career path
includes being an accomplished technical
supervisor and medical researcher at the
University of Calgary a business proposal
manager for the General Electric Company, an
associate for Sears Canada Inc. and research
administrator with the School of Health and
Public Safety/Applied Research and Innovation
Services at SAIT Polytechnic in Calgary Canada.
The author is grateful to the
professional support of the Haskayne School of
Business Library at the University of Calgary.
He can be reached at
todaysengineer@ieee.org.
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