John Lawlor

This interesting and very cleverly done video had had over 70,000 views since being posted in the past few days on YouTube. It is also generating the usual mix of light and heat in the accompanying comments.

Whatever one’s personal views about Social Media, I think it would be foolish to ignore the reality and the potential (for good and bad) of these new means of communication. In both my work and personal lives, the use of many types of Social Media has become a daily reality and, in some cases, a virtual necessity. I share the privacy concerns of many people and also share their aprehension that these media could be used for ill-intentioned purposes. But these concerns – particularly about badly intentioned uses – could apply to any technology. Should that stop us from using them? I suggest not.

The arguments in the YouTube comments about some inaccuracies in the video are, in my view, irrelevant. Although most of the content has been published in different formats before (see, for example, the excellent slideshare presentation by Hareesh Tibrewal of Social Wavelength that covers much of the same material), what is important is that the video sends a very powerful message that Social Media are increasingly important phenomena in our work and personal lives.

On 20th May next, I am giving a talk to CIOs in Dublin (see Upcoming Events on the top right) on how Trinity College is implementing and using a variety of Social Media tools for teaching, collaboration, sharing, promoting the College, etc. Why not come along if you are in Dublin? Further details are available from Cio Connect. I’d love to see you there.

What are your views on the use of Social Media? Are you an enthusiastic adopter or a sceptic? Can you see only good, only bad, or a mix of benefits and drawbacks? If you have experience of using Social Media in a personal or work context, why not share your thoughts here by leaving a comment?

I went along this evening to a pretty full lecture theatre in Trinity College’s Science Gallery to listen to Venky Narayanamurti of the Harvard Kennedy School speaking on the subject of science, technology and society. He is a man clearly passionate about his topic and spoke with conviction, vigour, animation and not a little humour. Venky spoke about the great inventors – Edison, Watt, Einstein, Pasteur- and how invention and innovation come from applied science, research, experimentation, use cases and what he termed “grand challenges”. He spoke passionately about the need for an understanding of science among our leaders and hailed Obama’s commitment to the sciences in his inaugural speech:

“We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do.”

Vekny spoke about how innovation does not always have to come from inventing something new, but can also come from finding new and imaginative ways of using something that already exists. He cited the case of Ushahidi, an open source, ”crowdsourcing” system that uses simple mobile technology, such as phone, SMS, and web, combined with geolocation and mapping software on the Internet to track emergency and crisis information. Ushahidi is a fantastic example of how collaboration and innovation, coupled with existing technology, can come together to solve real world problems. It was used in Kenya to map incidents of violence and peace efforts throughout the country based on reports submitted via the web and mobile phone after the 2008 elections. It was used in India to monitor elections and it was used in Washington DC to deal with the aftermath of their snow this year. It is now being used to monitor the crisis in Haiti after the earthquake.

In question and answer following his speech, Venky’s answer to one question stuck with me. Asked about invention and about how and whether people should focus their efforts, Venky said, ” You can’t be everywhere, because then you are nowhere.” How true.

It was a wonderful evening in the Science Gallery and I look forward to attending more lectures there. The lecture was recorded, so I hope it will find its way to YouTube or iTunesU.

If you were at Venky’s lecture and would like to add your thoughts, please leave a comment and add to the record.  If you have used Ushahidi, or know about the application, I’d also love to hear from you. And, finally, if you have had experience of crowdsourcing, please share your thoughts and experience here.

I read this very interesting review of Siri Assistant on Mashable, one of my favourite Social Media guides and review sites. Siri Assistant is a personal assistant on your iPhone and can help you find restaurants, movies, etc; book taxis; discover events in your area, and much more. It uses voice recognition technology to interpret your commands and turn them into intelligent web searches and services. It can find services based on your location and also uses the context of your current search to bring you other relevant information. If you have already subscribed to services that Siri partners with, it can use your credentials with those services to offer you tailored solutions. It looks very impressive indeed.

I really like my iPhone and was very anxious to download the application. However, I was disappointed to discover that the application is not yet available in the Irish App store.

It appears that it is not available in other App Stores either, including Australia and Canada, so at this stage it must only be available in the USA. I tried to open an account in the USA store but needed a credit card with a USA billing address. Since I didn’t have one, I was brought back to the Irish App Store – back to square one!

Siri Assistant works with over 30 partners in the USA and I expect that this is the reason that it has not been rolled out in other countries yet, while parter agreements are being put in place. With the Irish market being so small, I wonder when we will see applications like this available here.

The application looks very powerful and here is a short Youtube video that demonstrates its features.

If anyone knows how to get the App for an iPhone in Ireland, I’d appreciate your help. Or if you know of other similar applications, why not leave a comment and let me know.