Norita's Cube

Wish I could...

2011-03-04T00:44:00.000-08:00

A student of mine made a very good remark the other day..."There's nothing new on your blog...you don't write anymore?" I never stop writing actually...I write every single day but not on my blog. I got so busy with my academic writing that I totally abandon my blog.

Welcome Fall 2010 students

2010-10-15T06:31:00.001-07:00

Welcome all...look forward to a fun & productive semester.

MIS 201 Spring 2010

2010-02-09T07:58:00.000-08:00

I would like to welcome MIS201 students (sec 01, 02 & 06) Spring 2010 to a productive semester. Hopefully we can get the most of this course. Look forward to seeing all of you here.

Remember, you can use blog as part of your project journal :)

MIS201 Emerging technologies presentation

2008-10-25T23:15:00.000-07:00

Good job class! I'm pretty happy with your work. I hope you did learn something from doing this class activity. You might want to try some of the technologies yourself, for example, you can start blogging now.

Also don't forget to cast your vote - I would like to know which group do you think did the best job in your class.

So how do you like it here?

2008-10-04T03:45:00.001-07:00

I started my new endeavor at the American University of Sharjah (AUS) about a month ago and I can proudly say that I'm loving it so far. I wish I could say that everything's just wonderful but this is LIFE..nothing's perfect. I'm still adjusting and learning my ways here - creating my own life, consciously and joyously.

"Now it’s you who are changing, and in ways you’d never imagined possible. You take chances on new places, on people you’d have found intimidating and, most of all, on caring about something or somebody with a passion that, previously, you’d have found far too risky. Now it is part of your new life." ....The year of reckoning, Shelley von Strunckel.

It's been a while

2008-10-03T01:47:00.000-07:00

Wow...it feels like ages since I last wrote here. Too much to write anyway. I'm just glad to be back. Same old me with new adventures ahead... Moved to Sharjah, UAE from Exton, PA about a month ago. I'm teaching at the American University of Sharjah. The campus is so beautiful. People are so nice and friendly here but nothing compares to Penn State Great Valley. I really miss my friends, my students and everything there.

Good job everyone!!!

2007-12-13T21:38:00.001-08:00

I am very pleased with everyone's work tonight. Thanks for your hard work.
Job well done!!!

See you tonight

2007-12-13T11:56:00.000-08:00

We'll have class as usual. See you tonight!!

Tonight's class

2007-12-13T07:44:00.000-08:00

As of now, school is operating on time, but in case the weather gets worse & class is canceled, we should plan for a contingency plan for tonight.

If the class is canceled, let's meet at Penn State Isle in SL.
What do you think?

Keep checking my blog for updates.

Paper submission...

2007-12-12T11:59:00.000-08:00

Please be informed that I've already created the final paper drop box in Angel so you can submit your paper anytime when you're ready. Submit your paper individually. As for the presentation materials (for Thursday) you can submit it as a group - one per group.
Good luck. Look forward to seeing everyone on Thursday.

Keep the spirit up...

2007-12-06T09:58:00.000-08:00

I know it's almost the end of the semester & everyone is in the holiday spirit so spread the joy!! Check out Diana's blog to bright up your spirit or go to Cindy's for some good/informative reading or if you need a laugh go to Juan's. Jim & Eric have something interesting too.

I'll see you tonight - bring some "new technology" with you!!!

Emerging Technology

2007-12-03T08:49:00.000-08:00

Class activities for Thursday 12/06/07:
We're going to talk more about emerging technologies - their potential, capabilities, IT-enabled trends, and their impact on business and society. You can work on this in group. You're not restricted to only one technology - so you can talk about as many technologies as you want. It's good to have some backups though - to avoid duplication.

Global Sourcing challenge

2007-11-28T18:02:00.000-08:00

We'll talk about global sourcing challenges tomorrow so please come with some ideas for discussion. I would particularly love to hear about your experience if you're currently or were involved in any outsourcing or offshoring activites at work. Also things to think about - try to relate SL to global sourcing activities. What can we learn? Anything special that we can do?

Reminder...

2007-11-26T14:50:00.000-08:00

Welcome back!!!! I know that everyone is still in the holiday spirit but we have to keep going...Please read your case #5 & post any questions or comments that you have either in your blog or mine.
Also, I would like to remind you that Wed (11/28/07) is the third talk in our Engineering Division Lecture Series so please try to attend.

Speaker: Dr. David Russell
Title: Online Reconciliation of Inventory and Collected Data in a High Volume Manufacturing Operation
Date: 11/28/07
Time: 5:00 – 6:00 PM
Venue: 228 MAIN

See you there!

Case #5

2007-11-21T18:47:00.000-08:00

Questions for Case#5 are now available on Angel. Let's continue the case discussion online either through my blog or yours.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Let's discuss our case study here...

2007-11-15T15:20:00.000-08:00

Since most of you were not here tonight (due to road traffic/road condition), let's talk about the case here. Use the questions that I posted in my previous posting as the starting point. I'll post the question for the case write-up early next week.

Class activities for 11/15/07

2007-11-13T13:03:00.000-08:00

We're going to discuss MedNet.com Confronts “Click-Through” Competition case study this Thursday so please read the case. Also, think about the following questions of discussion for this case:
1. What does an advertiser want? Sales, leads, brand awareness? What are the best metrics for
measuring these?
2. What specific consumer behaviors determine whether or not a business model produces the
results an advertiser wants?
3. What is the best argument Heather Yates can make to justify charging Windham
Pharmaceuticals for impressions instead of click-throughs? Does she have acceptable
alternatives?
4. What value to the consumer does a general interest site contribute that a niche site can’t?
Which is the more defensible business model?
5. What steps can MedNet take to address emerging competitive threats?

CNN in SL

2007-11-12T11:31:00.000-08:00

Check this out when you have time.
http://secondlife.blogs.cnn.com/

Weather Channel Island in SL

2007-11-08T14:47:00.000-08:00

Today, I visited the weather channel island again. I was hoping to see new things there but I met new friends instead. One thing about SL is that it is SO easy for you to meet new friends. Everybody is go friendly there. Anyway, back to the island - it serves as a headquarters for The Weather Channel, and it also hosts an extreme sports park like skiing and mountain biking. It is highly interactive as well so turn you speakers on. See some of the pictures that I took today

My Life as part 2

2007-11-07T19:25:00.000-08:00

We'll do part 2 of "My life as ..." in class tomorrow (first half). We'll do the follow up of emerging technology (persuasive speech) in the second half.

Our speakers are:
1) Cindy Lopez
2) Jim Kimmel
3) Jaha Juma
4) Melissa Persaud
6) Dave Weber

Sightseeing in Second life

2007-11-06T18:16:00.000-08:00

I haven't been spending that much time in SL lately so last Friday I spent a couple of hours meeting some old & new friends in SL. I had a lot of fun!! I also spent some time visiting some new places & guess what? I went to Africa - the SLURL is (193,137,27). Wow!!! I even got to ride a giraffe - cool huh!!
There are many interesting spots in Africa - the best way to view it is from the hot air balloon - you can hear the flames & the wind blowing. I met some new friends during my ride & trust me you'll have more fun when you have someone to talk too (just like in the real world).

Have fun exploring!!!

My life as ...

2007-11-02T07:11:00.000-07:00

The class went very well last night - great speakers & interesting topics. I had a lot of fun & I hope all of you had fun as well. One thing for sure, it was a very informative session. May be we should do part 2 of "My life as...". What do you think? I'm sure each of you have something unique to share so let me know if you're willing to do that next week.

Also next week, we'll do a follow-up class activities on emerging technologies (we can do this during the second half of the class). Remember the persuasive speech that we did on 9/27/07 on the following?
1) Blog
2) Twitter
3) SL
4) Facebook or MySpace

Now what I want you to do is to present your most recent achievement/progress using the technology of your choice (for example, Kungfu Krew on SL; Marcus, Jeff & Michelle on blog). Keep the following questions in mind:

1) What goal are you trying to achieve now?
2) What attitudes and beliefs are you trying to change?
3) What other appeals might you use (that you did not use before)?

Second Life tutorial

2007-11-01T11:15:00.000-07:00

Has anybody visited SL lately? Please keep up exploring & don't forget to update your story in your blog. I am particularly interested if someone could write a short tutorial on SL or just some interesting stories about your SL adventure. I'll try to give more updates on SL when I have a chance.

Anyway, if you're interested in CSI check out the CSI-SL. I heard they have a lot of interesting stuff going on there. You have to download a separate client for it though. (CSI-SL & the regular SL are connected but somehow they require different client - at least that's what I heard). Will spend some time looking at it this weekend.

Happy Halloween

2007-10-31T17:58:00.000-07:00

Your graded proposal is available on Angel now. Case#4 should be ready by tomorrow.
We'll talk about "My life as ..." tomorrow so to all presenters please come ready. To the rest of the class, have fun!!!

Our guest speaker for tomorrow is Mr John Gorman, head of the Information Services Dept at PSGV. He'll talk about his job supporting IT needs here at PSGV.

Midterm evaluation

2007-10-29T11:51:00.000-07:00

By now you should have received your midterm grades & the survey questions. We will talk more about your grades in class this Thursday. As for the survey, you can return it to me using any of the following methods:
1) Email
2) Drop it in my mail box
3) Bring it to class.

Proposal

2007-10-24T08:25:00.000-07:00

Just want to remind everyone that your proposal is due tomorrow. Each one of you should send me an individual proposal (not as a group). Sample proposal & final paper template are available on Angel.

Case 4

2007-10-23T05:29:00.000-07:00

Case 4 assignment is a free flow. I just want to hear your opinion/comments on this question, "Should Fred hire Mimi despite her online history?"

Remember, no class this Thursday! We'll do a midterm evaluation. Case 4 & proposal are due this Thursday as well.

Class activities for 10/18/07

2007-10-16T17:08:00.000-07:00

We'll talk about internet as a collaborating tool & we'll also do case #4 this Thursday so please read "We Googled You" article. Please answer the following questions as well:
•What emerging technologies will have the most significant influence on how people collaborate?
•How will identity and presence change the ways humans collaborate?
•What skills do IT managers need to have to support evolving collaboration requirements and technologies?

Follow up discussion

2007-10-16T08:41:00.000-07:00

We have some very interesting discussion on The Decision to Trust (check my previous posting on this topic). Please join the discussion if you haven't done so. The discussion somehow reminded me of the following:
1) Gut feelings - an important decision making factor. How do we know when to follow our gut or intuition?
2) Cultural or religious background - another important decision factor for most people.
3) Personal value. When does it matter the most?

Now, I would like to see how everyone rank the following factors when you have to make an important decision.
1) Friends
2) Family
3) Money
4) Culture
5) Religion
6) Status

Please bring your answer to class on Thursday. We're going to have some discussion on this.

More on HW3

2007-10-11T07:00:00.000-07:00

A few students asked if they could work in pair. The answer is YES! Only for HW3!!

Where's everybody???

2007-10-10T08:10:00.000-07:00

I know it's almost the end of Fall 1 semester - some of you are busy wrapping up projects, studying for exams, etc if you're taking a 7 week class. But it doesn't mean that you don't have to do anything for this class - yes, some of you are doing HW3. What about the rest of you? I would like to see some discussion on our topic of the week so please contribute. I don't see group discussion or updates on projects either (except for KungFu Krew, Bobbi & Eric). Are you spending too much time on SL???

The Decision to Trust

2007-10-09T09:22:00.000-07:00

Our case of the week is "The Decision to Trust" by Robert F. Hurley. You are required to read this article & discuss about it. No written assignment for this case though (we're doing HW3 instead - Exercises on Tradeoff).

Some points to discuss
*What is the main focus of this article?
*Why is trust an issue?
*How do you relate trust to communication?
*What do you have to say about Sue & Joe?
*What would you do if you were Joe?
*What would you do if you were Sue?
*Why is it hard to make a decision when trust is involved?
*Based on your own experience:
- Do you find it harder to trust your colleagues with personal or work related issues?
- How do you decide when to trust or not to trust your colleagues (your boss)?

Decision Making

2007-10-08T09:42:00.000-07:00

Let's recapture some of the things that we talked about last Thursday.

Basic Definition
Decision-making is a process of choosing among alternatives (or options) in order to attain goals and objectives. Without alternatives - you have nothing to choose from. Without goals/objectives - why bother?

Decision-making is at the core of all managerial levels. We learned that planning (in class we looked at planning for a wedding), involves deciding what should be done? Why? When? How? Where? Who?

We talked about many emerging technologies in class & how fast technologies change. Today's technology might be a history tomorrow so how do we know what technology to adopt? We have a rich decision-making process to do. Decision-making is the very foundation of any enterprise that want to be on top!

Tradeoffs

Another important aspect of decision making is making trade-offs (a difficult aspect of decision-making). That's why I want you to focus on trade-offs in your HW3.

Decisions become difficult when they involve several objectives. The greater the number of objectives the more complex the decision is. But, with practice, it shouldn't be too hard. Try those exercises in your reading for HW3.

Computer Upgrade

2007-10-08T08:03:00.002-07:00

The upgrade is done! East Lab is now ready for use. You'll get better experience when you log in to SL. As always, let me know if you have any problem when using SL from the lab computers.

What is due on 10/18/07?

2007-10-06T21:14:00.000-07:00

We will not have "real life" class on 10/11/07. I will create a discussion thread instead for us to discuss case 3 & activities for the week.

So what's due the next time we meet (10/18/07)? You have to hand in HW3 (replacement for case3). Answer either Question 1 or Question 2 NOT BOTH.

Homework #3

2007-10-06T13:50:00.000-07:00

Please be reminded that you need to read the HBR article "Exercises on Tradeoffs and Conflicting Objectives" for HW3. You can answer either Question 1 or Question 2.

SL mystery...

2007-10-05T05:14:00.000-07:00

I talk about SL all the time even with my friends so one of them tried to explore the world himself recently. He called me up & was so excited to tell me that he was in. "I'm in SL now so what do I do now?" Simple...stop asking question, just start exploring!!! So he wandered around the orientation island, talked to a couple of strangers & flew around the island with them. After an hour he stopped to take a break and called me again. "Hey, it was fun! I'm going there again later." Ok...just don't get too addictive. Later that night he called again "I need help, I really do. I'm a woman now. Who changed my avatar???" Hahaha..I couldn't stop laughing.

Well...who changed his avatar?? Do you have any ideas???

Tonight's lecture

2007-10-04T07:24:00.000-07:00

We're going to talk about decision making tonight. No prep necessary. Lecture notes are available on Angel.

Writing Styles & Research

2007-10-03T12:46:00.000-07:00

Since most of you have started working on your project, I would like to remind everyone about the importance of writing styles & what do I mean by research.

1)So why should you use a style format?
i)Allows readers to cross-reference your sources easily
ii)Provides consistent format within a discipline
iii)Gives you credibility as a writer
iv) Protects yourself from plagiarism

Works cited
Most citations should contain the following basic information:
i)Author’s name
ii)Title of work
iii)Publication information

When Should You Use Parenthetical Citations?
i)When quoting any words that are not your own
- Quoting means to repeat another source word for word, using quotation marks
ii)When summarizing facts and ideas from a source
- Summarizing means to take ideas from a large passage of another source and condense them, using your own words
iii)When paraphrasing a source
- Paraphrasing means to use the ideas from another source but change the phrasing into your own words

Where to find help?
Our library provides a list of style guides that you can choose from.

2) What is research
“Systematic investigation towards increasing the sum of knowledge”
(Chambers 20th Century Dictionary)

“an endeavour to discover new or collate old facts etc. by the scientific study of a subject or by a course of critical investigation.”
(The Concise Oxford Dictionary)

Two categories:
i) Applied research is goal-oriented. The researchers have a specific goal in mind, and must produce it in a fixed amount of time. Success is measured by how well the goal is achieved.
ii) Basic research is free-form and serendipitous. Investigators look into problems that they find professionally interesting. Success is measured by how interesting the discoveries are.

What type of information do you need?
i) An overview on the topic so you can identify key issues?
ii) Statistical data to back up your arguments?
iii) A definition so you understand your main concept?
iv) A review of recent debates?
v) The latest research?

What is a "Literature Review:?
It means the works you consult in order to understand and investigate your research problem.

Why write a review?
i)It is a critical look at the existing research that is significant to your project. ii)It allows you to evaluate what has already been done, show the relationships between different work, and show how it relates to your project.
iii)It is not supposed to be just a summary of other people's work.

ASK if you need help.

Quick update...

2007-10-01T07:27:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone had a nice weekend!

Last Thursday, we had great discussions on Blogs, SL, Twitter & Facebook. Each group was asked to give persuasive speech on each topic listed above. I’m very impressed with all of you. Please vote – “Which group do you think did the best job?”. Here are the groups again:
Dave & Jaha: Facebook
Cindy, Diana & Fabian aka KungFu Krew: SL
Jeff, Marcus & Michelle: Twitter
Biju, Eric, & Juan: Blog

I was able to capture the session on SL during KungFu Krew’s presentation. We had some problem with the speaker – we’ll try again next time so we could record our presentation in SL. Good effort!

I’m giving you a break this week so no class activities. Our topic for the week is decision making so I’m giving a lecture on decision tree & decision making. Most of you had never taken a similar course before so this topic would be very interesting & important.

Where to find case#2 assignment?

2007-09-28T12:38:00.000-07:00

Don't panic if you cannot find questions for case study #2. It was posted on Angel not here. Anyway, I'll post it here as well so you don't have to go there.

Case #2: Blogs at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein
Due: 10/04/07

Questions:
In the face of accelerating external pressures, corporate often view Blogs as both a threat and a potential enabler. How do we resolve this dilemma? Should Corporate Blogs?

Reminder:
Please cite your references properly. For more help on styles, click here.

How to move around in SL

2007-09-27T07:58:00.000-07:00

A few students asked me to give some tips on how to control their movements in SL. Here are some tricks that some of you helped me to discover. If you have additional tips, feel free to share with the rest of us.

1. Hot keys
By now you should be able to walk around in SL already using the arrow keys. Here are the keys (in addition to the arrow keys) for moving around Second Life.

W (or Up Arrow): Move Forward
S (or Down Arrow): Move Back
A (or Left Arrow): Turn Left
D (or Right Arrow): Turn Right

You can use these keys to "Run", "Fly", "Swim", or even drive most vehicles.
Some of you might prefer to "Fly". "Flying" is very common in SL. You can fly in almost every places in SL. As you've already discovered, some places don't even have stairs or "elevator" for you to go between floors. So you should definitely learn how to "Fly".

E (or Page Up): Fly Up
C (or Page Down): Fly Down

To start Flying, just click "Fly" on the menu bar or press "E" to go up. Once you are off the ground, you can use the regular movement keys (W, S, A, D) to move around. To stop flying, you can click "stop flying" on the menu bar or click "C" or page down until you land.

2. Position or camera control
In SL you see everything through a "Camera". Normally, this "Camera" is pointed at the back of your avatar. So you can't really see your face (just like in real life, you can't see your own face). However, you can move this "Camera" around to look at other things, or zoom into something for a closer look or even to look at your face.

Here's how you control the camera:

i. Press and hold the [Alt] key: your cursor will change to a magnifying glass with a "plus" sign in the middle.

ii. Left-click and hold on an object you want to look at(or your own avatar): the "Camera" will center itself on the object. Be sure to keep both the [Alt] key and the mouse button pressed!

iii. You can move the mouse forward to zoom into the object or move the mouse back to zoom away from the object.

iv. Move the mouse to the right and left to rotate the "Camera" around the object.

v. You can combine zooming (Step iii above) and rotating (Step iv above).

vi. As long as you are holding the [Alt] key down, you can focus on another object by Left-Clicking on a new object, and repeating Steps 3 and 4 above.

vii. If you want to go back to the regular view at any time, just press the [Esc] key.

More tips to come...

Second case study - Blog

2007-09-25T14:40:00.000-07:00

Please read Blogs at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein case study for Thursday. When you read, think about the following questions:

1. Should Rangaswami (the CIO) initiate internal blogs within DrKW? If so, how? How about externally facing ones? Who, if anyone, should be encouraged to set up an external blog?
2. In what ways is the blogosphere chaotic? In what ways, if any, is it not?
3. Imagine you were the CIO of DrKW. How might blogs be useful to you? To the managers and knowledge workers in your organization?
4. How can you trust blogs’ content? How can you ensure that what you read in a blog is accurate, authoritative, up to date, etc.?
5. How do you find what you’re looking for in the blogosphere?

Class activity for 9/27/07

2007-09-24T09:54:00.000-07:00

Persuasive Speech Exercise

Plan and present a 5-10 minute persuasive speech on the use of the following topics (one topic per group):
1) Blog
2) Twitter
3) SL
4) Facebook or MySpace

Let me know your preference - first come first serve. Since Melissa, Mike & Jim won the debate last week they don’t have to participate in this activity. Dave would have to join Bobbi & Jaha for this activity.

You should consider the following:

1. What goal are you trying to achieve?
2. What values, attitudes, and belief might you encounter in the audience?
(You should have some clue about your audience by now)
3. What attitudes and beliefs are you trying to alter?
4. What action or non-action do you want your audience to take?
5. What type of reasoning will you use?
6. What other appeals might you use?
7. How will you convince your audience that you know what you are talking about?
8. How will you begin and end your speech with strong arguments?

-Based on the article by Jay Liebowitz, IT Pro Jan/Feb 2004-

We'll talk about "Blogs at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein" during the second half of the class. All of you should read the case study.

CFA professional event

2007-09-22T07:08:00.000-07:00

I followed my husband to the CFA 4th Annual Professional Development Day yesterday. They had great speakers scheduled for the entire day. Some highlights:

1) The first speaker was Mr Roy Cohen, Executive coaching from NYC. We missed about 90% of his talk since we arrived late. He was talking about negotiation skills when we arrived To summarize: "We should always formulate our strategy for negotiation in advance. Look at all conditions for satisfaction such as salary, bonus, severance, title, office space, etc., and know which items we are prepared to compromise on."

I was surprised that we were not given the opportunity to ask questions - may be they want to keep things on time. So after the talk, I went to talk to Roy. Interesting conversation. I asked him if we should negotiate about working from home & his answer was a big NO NO! Not in finance!!! Not in the next 5 to 10 years. Financial institutions value face to face more than anything in the world. Good to know!!

He also mentioned something that I agree 100% - never negotiate by phone (or email) and always be prepared to negotiate in a non-confrontational way.

2) Keynote speaker was Tom Gallagher, CFA, Sr. Managing Director, ISI Group. Well respected in the field. He spoke about US economy & politics in general. Something that I'm not qualified to talk about here :)
Anyway, attendees were supposed to get a copy of his talk but FedEx failed to deliver the documents on time. Otherwise I'll share a copy with all of you. It makes we wonder though, why can't we get an electronic copy of the talk? With all the technology in the world....We should always have a backup plan...remember this when you're presenting your project ok. Things could always go wrong so be prepared.

I guess...I'll email the organizer, may be she has a copy of the talk.

3) Another interesting talk was a panel event by Independent Research. Jason Trennet Managing Partner/CIS, Strategas & Rich Leggett, CEO/Board Member, CFRA Online were the panelist. They talked about everything from what they do to what it takes to be successful in their field (finance).

My favorite part: The panelist said they spent most of their time on the road - meeting clients. I raised my hand at the end to ask question but again, we ran out of time. Tried to catch the panelists but they were in rush to leave. Should have used twitter for the section so we could all ask question. Is "finance" so different than any other field? Why can't the panelist use some virtual tools to cut down some traveling time? I'm sure that not all meetings required face-to-face. What a waste of time & money. I don't know....what is so special about "the wall street guys"?

One thing worth mentioning here, I won a free ipod nano...yea!!! Never had any luck with lucky draw before so....I am LUCKY after all.

Good job class...

2007-09-22T06:35:00.000-07:00

Thursday's class was a good one. The first half was dedicated to SL. Alexia (PSGV SL lead) gave a great overview of SL & even took Charlee KungFu (Cindy) & MasterPo KungFu (Jim) for a tour in SL. They even met up with Brett (our PSU SL lead). Alexia answered a lot of questions that the students had on SL - some students are very interested to know that they can earn some money in SL by working (there just like in FL). A lot of tricks were thought & students seemed to be more enthusiastic now. Thanks Alexia.

After the break, we continued with our planned class activity - a class debate: “Are face-to-face interaction better in business collaboration than virtual interaction?”. We randomly selected the groups for pro, con, judges & floor members.

•Marcus, Jeff & Michelle were in the pro (face to face).
•Mike, Melissa & Jim (who volunteered to replace Dave who were on a business trip) were on he con side (virtual).
•Cindy, Diana & Fabian became the judges & the rest of the class were the floor members.
•The pro presented first for 10 minutes,
•Then the con side presented for 10 minutes,
•Each side then challenged each other with questions & examples from their experiences.
•About 10 minutes later, the debate is open to the floor where the rest of the class were given an opportunity to ask questions to the debaters.
•The judges were given the opportunity to ask questions to the debaters at the end of the open session (judges were free to comment anytime during the debate). The judges then went into deliberation for 10 minutes to decide the winner and present their reasoning and verdict for 10 minutes.
•Even though both sides presented very well, the con side (virtual) was selected as a winner for one big reason. They used statistics & references to support their points.

So class remember, no data no talk :)

I would like to encourage all to participate in Dave's blog since he is discussing about this very important issue.

Guest Lecture

2007-09-20T14:48:00.000-07:00

Alexia Hudson (SL: Donna Upshaw) is joining us tonight. She'll give some overview on SL & will also share some of her experience as a SL infoisland librarian. Time to remove all doubt out of your head - ask questions!!!

Please join us if you're free today

2007-09-19T08:01:00.001-07:00

"A Look into the Future of Industrial and Systems Engineering"
Featuring: Dr. Richard A. Wysk, Leonhard Chair in Engineering
The Pennsylvania State University
Wednesday, September 19 • 5:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Penn State Great Valley, Main Building, Room 228

SL Orientation & help Island

2007-09-19T07:33:00.000-07:00

Good to know that you're still exploring SL. It's a never ending journey - too many things to do there :) I would really appreciate if some of you could start writing some tutorials on how to get around SL. I would also like to see you sharing your experience in SL with each other. Keep a SL journal on your blog.

Anyway, I received a couple of emails from students asking how to go back to the orientation island. Well, for whatever reason, if you ever need to go back to the Orientation Island, click on the "Help" option from the top menu bar, select "In-World Help", click on "Orientation Island Public". When the map appears, click on the "Teleport" button.

If you have some SL questions, check out the Help Island! Click on the "Help" option from the top menu bar, select "In-World Help", click on "Help Island Public". When the map appears, click on the "Teleport" button.

More tips to come.

Some highlights

2007-09-18T07:48:00.000-07:00

Please take note of the following:
1) Click here if you're interested to go to the KungFu Krew. (I gave the wrong link the other day. I've corrected that though. Thanks KungFu Krew!)
2) Check out Jim's blog for some great discussion. He's our student rep for Penn State Faculty Senate. He's your voice!!!
3) Jim also reminded me about the blog that PSU is launching very soon.

Cisco launches virtual, 3-D site for resellers, developers

2007-09-18T07:33:00.001-07:00

Matt Hamblen
Computerworld

Updated: 14 Sep 2007
Cisco Systems Inc. launched a virtual online 3-D world based on a trade-show motif Thursday to enable its 40,000 global channel partners to meet and exchange information with application providers and device manufacturers.

While the new Cisco Industry Solutions Partner Network (ISPN) is loosely based on the animated look and feel of Second Life and related sites, channel partners don't need to pick an avatar, download a desktop application or trade in Linden Dollars, a Cisco spokeswoman said.

In fact, the company has run industry events for several months for resellers on the well-known Second Life site in a simulation called Bandwidth Amphitheater, where each participant had to create and name an avatar to attend. However, Cisco's new ISPN will give it control of the virtual world and will encourage interactions more easily, said Andrew Sage, senior director of worldwide channel marketing.

The new Cisco site will be accessible through Cisco's Web site, but it is not open to the public. The ISPN was designed and housed on servers owned by Unisfair Inc. in Menlo Park, Calif., Sage said. Visitors to ISPN will be able to click on buttons to navigate as they move through trade show halls and booths, a meeting hall and a lounge, along with various "shadow people," without the need to pick attire or facial characteristics as in Second Life. However, they will be able to chat with one another in ISPN to compare technologies. In coming weeks, Cisco plans to allow voice communication between ISPN participants through WebEx and Skype, he said.

A big difference between the two sites, at least for Sage, is that the ISPN site won't allow users to "fly" as in Second Life, he said. "About six months ago, we hosted an event in Second Life for 40 or so channel partners, and in the midst of making a presentation, I accidentally hit the 'fly' button and flew away right in front of everybody. It took a while to navigate back. So, no, we didn't put in a fly button in our site."

There won't be any "Chambers" dollars, either, named after CEO John Chambers, or buttons that allow an avatar to disrobe in one click, he confirmed. Users won't be required to load an application onto their desktops as in Second Life, either, Sage said.

It took Cisco about three months to develop the site with Unisfair with a "relatively modest start-up cost," but Cisco envisioned using the site for many other purposes and provided a "significant" infrastructure to support it, Sage said. He didn't say what other purposes it might serve, however.

The initial purpose of ISPN is to "introduce channel partners to the whole world of application developers," Sage said, so that a channel partner could investigate new applications or even those under development to be able to sell them with more knowledge to customers. About 30 independent software vendors are already on the site, including Salesforce.com Inc.; QM Group Ltd., a queue management provider in the U.K.; and Nomadix Inc., an access gateway provider in Newbury Park, Calif.

Relying on the concept of Second Life makes sense for serious business needs, Sage added. "It's about the ability to collaborate, and having avatars walking around is fun," he acknowledged. "To be honest, it's more engaging than other online methods."

In a statement, Cisco said the ISPN will also support channel partners with industry training and Web 2.0 collaboration tools. Product discounts are already offered to channel partners when they collaborate with developers on new software applications through Cisco's Solution Incentive Program, and the company hopes the new ISPN will expand on that initiative, a spokeswoman said.

Noting that such collaboration is important to providing new applications to customers, she said that Digitel Corp., a Cisco channel partner, and Cistera Networks Inc., an application services provider, collaborated in the real world to provide an event alert and notification system for the city of Opelika, Ala. "That's the kind of thing we're hoping to promote with ISPN," she said.

Class activity for 9/20/07

2007-09-17T07:11:00.000-07:00

Here's a list of things that you need to prepare for our next class.

Your task is to prepare oral arguments for both the affirmative (pro) and the negative (con) sides on the resolution, “Are face-to-face interaction better in business collaboration than virtual interaction?”

You must be prepared to argue each side. We'll do this as a group, each member of the group must speak, and the group should provide a coordinated approach. I'll randomly pick to see which group will argue the pro side, con side and be the judges.

Key Issues

•How will people’s work behaviors and perspectives change over the next 10 years?
•How will identity and presence change the ways humans communicate and collaborate?
•How will global and economic trends affect worker behaviors and motivations in the next 10 years?
•How must business and IT leaders prepare to maximize the characteristics, skills and innovation of future workers?
•What skills do IT managers need to obtain to support evolving collaboration requirements and technologies?
•Where and how does IT augment employee performance at the individual, team and enterprise level?
•What are the best work practices, tools and methodologies with which to enhance workplace performance?

Have a nice weekend...

2007-09-14T18:31:00.000-07:00

Here's our list of "things to do":
1) Case #1 (if you decided to write about Facebook). Please see Angel for details.
2) Group project: You should already have a topic for your group. I would like to see some activities on your group project next week. Each one of you should take turn to lead the weekly discussion. Check out KungFu Krew group (Cindy, Diana & Fabian) for some ideas.
3) I'll post your assignment for an in-class activity (for next Thursday) soon.

Keep exploring SL & don't forget to update your blog.

Have a nice weekend!!!

Reminder

2007-09-13T07:21:00.000-07:00

Please bring your consent form with you tonight even if your answer is no. Also, please read the Facebook case study and come prepared to talk about it.

We're going to continue talking about SL next week so keep exploring. Update your blogs with any activities that you've been doing related to SL & other class activities. You should also have some ideas about your group project. Get moving!!!

Check this out...

2007-09-11T14:54:00.000-07:00

I've added a link to Julie Meyer's blog (instructional designer at PSGV). Please visit her blog for some interesting info on other social technologies that might be of interest to you. Also, if you have a chance, do visit Melissa's blog. She has some interesting news about SL.

First Case Study

2007-09-11T07:57:00.000-07:00

The case study package is available at the bookstore now - please get your copy.
We'll be discussing the first case "Facebook" by William P. Barnett, Mark Leslie, & Mike Harkey in class on 9/13/07

Your task is to read the case study, do some more research on FaceBook vs. MySpace and be prepared to talk about them in class.
• You should try to create accounts with both FaceBook & MySpace.
• Choose your favorite and explain why.
• Why is one more popular than the other?
• Do some assessment on their capabilities and impact on business and society.
• How will they evolve over the next 5 to 10 years?
• You need data to support your reasoning.

Objective:
This class activity is designed to help you harness the potential of technology advances through a realistic assessment of emerging capabilities and IT-enabled trends, their impact on business and society, and the best practices for managing emerging technology planning.

Students Blogs

2007-09-10T08:22:00.000-07:00

I've created a new link spot for students blogs. If you're still working on your blog please check the links to get some ideas. Also, do send me your SL name as well. You can message me from within SL - send it to Eita Amat.

Keep exploring...

Case Studies

2007-09-08T07:44:00.000-07:00

The case study package is now available at the book store. You need to read the Facebook case for next Thursday. I'll post the activities & the case write-up questions for this case soon. I'll post the questions for the other 4 cases next week.

Also, please continue to explore Second Life and don't forget to send me your username. Thanks MasterPo & JohnDoe for offering me their friendships.

Let me know if you need any help.

Have a nice week end.

Second Life

2007-09-06T12:02:00.000-07:00

We'll be doing a lot fun stuff tonight. We'll take a look at MySpace, FaceBook & Second Life (SL). Since we're going to do more MySpace & FaceBook next week, we'll focus more on SL. It is a good idea if you can do some research on SL so you won't go totally blank when we talk about it tonight.

As a start, read (1) the article about SL featuring our own librarian, Alexia Hudson. (2) A Collegian article on Penn State’s presence in Second Life, and the most important of all - some ethical guidelines on your conducts in SL.

Then,
1. Go to Second Life website (http://www.secondlife.com),
a. Sign up for membership – basic member is sufficient (we’ll do this together in class so we can use the same last name),
b. Check system requirements to make sure your computer can support it, then download the client and start using it.
c. Otherwise, use the SL client at the computer center (only the east & west labs support SL)

2. You can learn how to use SL on the Orientation Island (a place in Second Life for beginners)
3. Once graduated, go to Edunation Island

4. When you arrive on Edunation Island, right-click on the "Guided Tour" and click on "Sit here". You will be taken on a tour of Edunation Island and you will see the StudyCom building.

5. After the tour, walk or fly to StudyCom headquarters to meet other students and teachers.

6. You should also try to visit the “infoisland” – SL Library and the infoisland Website

First assignment

2007-09-05T11:39:00.000-07:00

Your first assignment for INSC539 class is to create a blog if you don’t already have one. You may use Blogger (www.blogger.com) like me or Typepad (www.typepad.com), or any other blogging platform you like. You do not have to use your real identity, and you do not have to keep the blog after class if you don’t want to. Send your blog’s URL to me preferably the day before class or latest by 9/13/07. Thanks to those who have emailed me their blogs URL.

Also, please note that the first lecture (introduction) is now posted on Angel.

Back to School

2007-09-04T10:50:00.000-07:00

Welcome back!! I am very excited to start this Fall semester. I hope you are as excited as I am :)
I am not new to blog but this is my first attempt in using blog as an official communication medium - I will continue to use our university's official tool as well.

Please use the first week of class to get yourselves familiar with all the social technologies that we will be using throughout the semester. The first obvious thing that you have to do is of course to have a blog account since you have to keep track of all your activities here. Please be professional in your writing so nobody will be offended.

Be prepared to have a lot of fun. I'll see you on Thursday.