Tech Innovation Days 1 and 2

Ok, so after much delay I'm finally back up and running. Apparently my laptop likes to shut down after overheating due to the fact that the fan no longer works - I need to sort that out asap. Anyway, I will try and reflect on some of the key takeaways from our first two days of this class. Admittedly, I'm not used to taking notes online using a computer - this is something I'll need to work on - so bear with me as i figure all this out.
Anchoring and adjustment - let's anchor this entire blog with an A+ now and just get it out of the way....we can adjust later if necessary.
The notions of viral marketing and using social capital to leverage marketing I found to be particularly interesting given the way I started using facebook....
Also, the use of datamining and analytics, although I'd heard about them before - I never truly understood how valuable they could be for a huge range of applications - directed marketing and advertising in particular.
Web 2.0 was also new to me and as we just touched on the idea of using the web as a delivery mechanism for applications, I think i might look into this a bit further when i've got more time.
The concept of predictive markets was thoroughly interesting, and I see huge potential in this area. Although not entirely new to me - a friend had introduced me to elections predictive markets during the last US election - I'm impressed with how many new areas could be assessed using this tool.
Finally, for day 1 - the introduction of the ASUS eee was not new for me - In fact you can pick up one (or order online) at my favorite computer/technology store in Vancouver for about $299 Cdn. You can check them out at: www.ncix.com

Day 2

The importance of knowledge management....I couldn't help but think back to my time spent in Afghanistan working for a multinational headquarters that had serious IT issues...In fact we now have dedicated knowlege management positions for each rotation and for each unit in that rotation. Without going into too much detail (for obvious reasons).... suffice it to say that we are getting better on how we (for simplicity assume NATO) manage our IT architecture given national differences, different systems and applications and the significant security implications.
I fully agree that the first breakdown is in the knowledge capture part...and there are serious liability and security issues with storage of all of our information these days - risk reduction is hugely important....
I really apprecitated learning how to download youtube videos as well as getting some more info on the history and implications of wikis and twikis. The fact that 50% of all companies will be wiki by 2009 is significant and I appreciated the comment that we don't need perfect information to be highly effective...only highly accurate information.
Finally, the idea of 'search engine optimization' and the use of algorithms that can put websites to the top of lists, while not entirely new to me, I know have a better understanding of how companies can use this to their advantage. If, indeed, 'what people are googling is what they do' then search behaviour is truly a microcausm of real life behaviour....amazing!
More to follow soon!
-S