First and foremost, thank you for taking the time to read this small contribution to InfoEdge. A bit of an introduction is probably in order (some of you know me well, some of you know me a little and some not at all). My name is Dwayne – my charter at InfoEd is fairly straight forward: I oversee technology (development and systems). My contributions will be mostly technical in nature (but don’t let that scare you). Future articles will cover how to utilize the “e” in eRA (Electronic Research Administration). I firmly believe that technology can (and must) be understood at any level of any organization. So, although I could toss around acronyms and abbreviations and technical jargon…I probably won’t (at least not without explaining what they mean). In this first article though, I would like to take a minute and discuss a more philosophical topic with regards to technology. This is more to let you know where I stand, and what I believe.
Technology is a tool: an accelerator of business if you will. Technology in and of itself knows no right or wrong, and knows not good nor bad. Therefore, this acceleration could be positive, or negative. As with any tool, it’s all about how it is utilized…how it is applied. Historically, there have been many movements in opposition to advancements in technology. From Ludd to The Buggles, we yearn for the ‘simpler’ days navigate to this site. Well, folks – we are where we are. Nielsen’s Law observes that effective bandwidth doubles every 21 months; Kryder’s Law observes storage capacity doubles about every 12 months; Moore’s Law states that the power of our chips doubles about every 18 months. These are all pretty widely known. But is THIS the ultimate future of technology? Is this the only place we see advancements? Arguably, these are all means – the end being the application of technology in such engrained manners that we actually forget their presence (or omnipresence). I don’t think twice when my car tells me to take a left. MY CAR TELLS ME TO TAKE A LEFT! And it doesn’t even register as being ‘wicked cool’. It doesn’t even register at all. I just take the left. Our next monumental advances in technology will be those we accept without question and treat as if they did not exist at all. However, let’s not forget the wonderfully flawed creatures that created these things of un-noticed grandeur. Us – humans – people. We are the greatest capital in the world. To this, I say – you can’t find me on Facebook, I don’t have my own BLOG and I have never tweeted a single thing in my life. I have a limited number of words I can type in my lifetime, so if you get an email from me…I spent that time and keystroke dedicated specifically to you. And even that is a push. If you talk to people here at the office, they will tell you I am pretty much always ‘about’ – I like face to face discussion. I utilize email because it’s an easy asynchronous communication method (and cheaper than postal mail).
Friends – shake at least 5 hands today – give up the hard plastic keys for humanity.
