I’ve blogged about Photosynth before and toyed around with the idea of an Allsynth platform, the convergence of multiple technologies and sensors for human rights monitoring and disaster response. The idea would be to “stitch” pictures and video footage together to reconstruct evidence in multi-media 3D type format. What if we could do this live and in networked way though?
The thought popped into my head while at the Share Conference in Belgrade recently. The conference included a “Share by Night” track with concerts, live bands, etc., in the evenings. What caught my eye, one night, was not on stage but the dozens of smart phones being held up in the audience to capture the vibes, sounds, movements, etc on stage.
Below I am sharing an important email from Bill St. Arnaud, as received.
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At the this weeks spring Internet 2 meeting there was a major announcement on Internet 2’s new Open Science, Scholarship and Services Exchange (OS3E) initiative. This could be a real game changer. OS3E embodies the concept of “software defined networks” where users (or network operators) can configure their own network topology and architectures using OpenFlow as the underlying enabling technology. For those who are familiar with the technology will recognize many of the same features and capabilities in CANARIE’s UCLP. “UCLP is a software system that allows end-users, either people or sophisticated applications, to treat network resources as software objects and provision and reconfigure lightpaths within a single domain or across multiple, independently managed, domains. Users can also join or divide lightpaths and hand off control and management of these larger or smaller private sub-networks to other users. “
What is exciting to me about OS3E, and one of the original drivers of UCLP, is the fact that it may fundamentally change the future of R&E networking globally.
WARNING: Do not click on source with other programs open. Between Amazon's cloud collapse and high interest in this document, Firefox is crashing every time as of morning of 21 April 2011.
Have you ever thought about how completely irrelevant structured learning is? Indeed. “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read or write, but those who cannot unlearn and relearn.” – Alvin Toffler. The video below advocates a change in how we learn – network-centric, personal, based on your context, not based on some institution’s agenda. (Thanks to Judi Clark for sending me the link to this video.)
Burkhard Bilger in The New Yorker profiles David Eagleman, a brilliant researcher who’s studying the brain, consciousness, and the perception of time. At a personal level I’ve spent a lot of time in recent years studying and trying to comprehend my own degrees and levels of consciousness and perception. We think of our “conscious experience” as a constant, and our unconscious as inaccessible… but through attention we learn that there are gradations in the range of conscious to “un-” or “sub-” conscious experience; that perceptions can vary with context; that memory is selective and undependable; that our perception of the world is generally incomplete though we do a good job of filling the gaps. When David Eagleman was a child he fell from a roof and realized that his perception of time had changed as he was falling. Now he’s doing evidence-based research to determine how people experience the world, what are the variations, how does the brain work and how does the mind work? Read about it here. If you know about similar studies and writings, please post in comments.
I came across the attached sample from a recently published e-book, highlighted on a Competitive Intelligence (CI) blog I regularly follow.
This Eric Garland is on the Phi Beta Iota wavelength — I clearly see where the threats and developments he is most concerned about segue very closely to your own. Additionally, his analyses are very grounded — and although I am not a CI-professional myself, having served as a government intelligence professional for the whole of my career, I can confidently say that his analytic approach and reasoned insights represent the best-in-class in intelligence analysis, something I have rarely — if ever — observed while serving in the public sector (to our shame).
His sarcastic and somewhat sardonic delivery of these so-called “tips” are entertaining, educational, and unfortunately all-too disturbingly accurate in their portrayal of the decision making process (if you could even call it that) of our senior leadership.
I highly recommend this sample for reading. I found it both enjoyable and meaningful — and best of all — its simplicity is it's greatest strength.
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WORLD FAMOUS FUTUROLOGICAL PREDICTOLOGIST Dr. P. Hughes Egon, who shows us 25 “sure-fire” ways to “predict the future and win” (while in reaiity, these are traps to avoid):
Below the line Codeword OSCAR SIERRA. The US Air Force will put you in JAIL if you dare to click and read….
Houston grandmother Leticia Aguirre began hosting what's believed to be the nation's first residential “Super Wi-Fi” hot spot this month. Super Wi-Fi, a long-range, wall-piercing version of Wi-Fi that is broadcast on unused TV channels, could be a boon for both rural and urban residents who lack broadband access. Credit: Jade Boyd/Rice University
When the Federal Communications Commission worked out the rules last fall to convert unused TV channels for a new long-range, wall-piercing version of Wi-Fi, Houston resident Leticia Aguirre had no way of knowing that she'd host the nation's first residential “Super Wi-Fi” hot spot.
“We have federal support from the National Science Foundation to develop this technology in an open-source way,” said Rice's Edward Knightly, professor in electrical and computer engineering, whose research group built the prototype Super Wi-Fi equipment that Aguirre is using. “Ultimately, we want to develop this technology in such a way that it benefits the most people by accessing the right spectrum for the right users. Having Mrs. Aguirre as our first user really shows the potential benefits for people who've been underserved with traditional broadband.”
Here is the TFA homepage. They received $9.6 Million grant from the National Telecommunications
Infrastructure Administration (NTIA) September, 2010. I wonder who really owns and controls TFA…
Phi Beta Iota: Universities in the USA have prostituted themselves to commercial interests in the past two decades, but in recent years there has been a discernible return of ethics to some of them. The first to break back were those inventing pharmaceuticals and insisting on holding the patents open for generic exploitation in the Third World (one reason the US pays 100X more, Congress mandated “no negotiation” of price, a corrupt decision if there ever was one). Now we see innovation in the public interest in wireless. This is a very good thing. Free Internet access–and an Autonomous Internet–are essential to creating a prosperous world at peace.
The Central Intelligence Agency today declassified the United States Government’s six oldest classified documents, dating from 1917 and 1918. These documents, which describe secret writing techniques and are housed at the National Archives, are believed to be the only remaining classified documents from the World War I era. Documents describing secret writing fall under the CIA’s purview to declassify.
“These documents remained classified for nearly a century until recent advancements in technology made it possible to release them,” CIA Director Leon E. Panetta said. “When historical information is no longer sensitive, we take seriously our responsibility to share it with the American people.”
Among other obstacles, “the CIA’s resistance to declassifying documents that are already in the public domain presents a severe challenge,” the Committee said. But CIA is not the only obstacle. “The Departments of Defense, Energy, and Justice (including the FBI) have often been as [culpable] if not more culpable than the CIA for the delays.”
Phi Beta Iota: Panetta must be senile, or signing releases without reading them. We don't make this stuff up. This particular foolishness was checked three times to ensure it was not a spoof. CIA is not normally this inane, but here it is….an accurate history of foreign relations cannot be written because CIA refuses to comply with legislative and executive mandates on declassification, but here we have Panetta being made a fool of over 1917 and 1918 declassifications. Whoever put D/CIA in this position should be sent to Khost and put in charge of gate security.
