Thursday, January 27, 2011

my favourite sustainable and disruptive technologies

A couple of sustainable technology I use frequently is on my car (in the picture to the right). I modified my car to replace the hood with a carbon fibre hood, as well the rims have been replaced. These modifications reduce the weight of the car, the carbon fibre hood is lighter and the rims are lighter. The modifications are considered sustainable technology as they do not replace my car but help make it more efficient and effective. The less the car weighs the less gasoline it has to burn to go the same speed compared to the car without the modifications.

A disruptive technology that I use on a daily basis is my ipod, or I suppose the disruptive technology would also be considered as MP3s. The introduction of this technology completely wiped out the compact disc industry, people were not buying as many cd's and cd players. The portable ipod that could hold thousands of MP3s was convenient, as you don't need to carry a bulky cd player with a bunch of cds just to listen to music anymore. I currently own a 3rd gen ipod (released in 2003 in the image to the left), which I believe is the best one they ever made. I also use my blackberry on a daily basis, of course the blackberry was the introduction of smartphones to the mobile industry. This I believe is also a disruptive technology as we no longer see many cell phones that don't have smartphone characteristics included. The need from consumers to be more efficient and effective with their time have converted to a smartphone and is wiping out any cellphone that is not up to par with this technology.

my business process

The business process consists of 4 components, as follows:
  • Activities - this is the transformation of resources and information from one type into another.
  • Resources - are items of value.
  • Facilities - are structures used within the business process.
  • Information - is the knowledge dervied from data.
I believe that one of the business process that I am currently participating in is attending Sheridan College. The activities include registering, applying for college. The payment of tuition so that I can be enrolled as a student. The resources are the professors, students, the bookstore, the learning commons etc. The facilities would include the actual buildings, chairs, tables etc. The information is what we learn, the application of data to real world situations.

my IS day

The information system I utilize on a daily basis would include Facebook, online shopping sites and this blog.

Each of these activities involved information system, here is how they each break down to the individual components of information system:

Facebook - requires hardware (the computer), software (the networking software, search engines), the data would include all the profiles and information of each individual, procedures would include you logging in with your login and password, making links, adding friends and people would be the users of facebook.

online shopping - requires hardware (the computer), software (the checkout, the customer recognition, search engines), the data would be customers information, the selection of item to be purchased,  the procedures would include you logging in, entering your payment information, shipping/billing information, and people would be all the consumers.

this blog assignment - requires hardware (the computer), software (this posting processing software, search engines), the data would include all the posts and information of each blogger, the procedure would be logging in, making posts, following other blogs, and people would be people posting blogs.

my community involvement

My family and I moved into our new neighbourhood some odd years ago, my sister and I were not pleased as we were not aware that we were moving. We were moving away from the familiar to the unfamiliar and further away from where our friends lived. However, now that I look back, the move to our new neighbourhood is one of the best things to happen. I love our neighbourhood, it is probably the most friendliest place around, at least compared to my old neighbourhood. I never knew what it really felt like to be in such a neighbourhood. This being said, I do not involve myself in the community as much as I would like. I definately help out our neighbours whenever possible, we shovel eachothers driveways (well they have a snowblower, so I shovel and they snowblow).

When I look back at the university life, I regret not getting more involved. It is also more difficult in the university atmosphere because it is so large. Due to this reason, I try to involve myself more in the Sheridan College community, I volunteer during the first few weeks of school to hand out agendas and assist students unfamiliar with the student health plans. I volunteer also to assist in the Sheridan concerts during frosh week. I do enjoy my time here at Sheridan and am pleased that I am able to help out other students.

my personal goals

As of this moment my personal goal is to study well and maintain a 4.0 GPA when I graduate from Sheridan College. I would very much like to find a career that I will enjoy and be happy with, who wouldn't right? I would also like to see myself enjoy life as it is and to not take it for granted. I would love to travel to Europe and Asia in the near future. There are many things on my bucketlist, those not necessarily my personal goals, just things I would love to do in my lifetime. So in a sense, I guess fulfilling the bucketlist would be a personal goal. In the end, I think becoming a better person (quite subjective huh?) is my goal.

my educational achievements

Sadly, I must confess that I enjoy learning and studying. I am attending Sheridan College to pursue a career path that I have swayed away from in my earlier years of life. I am an alumni at the University of Toronto, having graduated from the university with an Honours B.Sc in Psychology. During the studies of psychology, I very much did enjoy the neuropsychology side of it. It is fascninating how resilient and amazing the human brain is. However, that was not what I enrolled into university to study for. I was originally in the business program but had to change streams due to a lackluster 1st year. No regrets, as I am quite pleased with my educational achievements thus far in my life. I definately would love to add a diploma from Sheridan College to my educational achievements as well.

my career goals

My career goal is to be employed in the financial industry. I am currently attending my 1st year at Sheridan College in the Business Administration - Finance (Co-Op) program. I believe that being in the co-op program will assist me greatly as a stepping stone into the business world. I will have experience and the knowledge when I graduate to find a career in the financial industry that I can enjoy.