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For immediate release
For more information contact Setta McCabe 413/755-4475
March 10, 2006
Springfield, Massachusetts ---- Each Friday evening, Gordon Snyder, professor of Electronic Systems Engineering Technology at Springfield Technical Community College (STCC), settles in at his computer in a comfortable corner of his living room, pulls the microphone closer, and begins a conversation over the Internet with Michael Qaissaunee, department chair for Engineering and Technology at Brookdale Community College in Lincroft, New Jersey. The two are recording weekly podcasts on information and communications technology that will be downloaded by listeners worldwide.
Both Snyder and Qaissaunee have strong technical backgrounds, with Snyder serving as executive director of the National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded National Center for Telecommunications Technologies (NCTT) located at STCC, and Qaissaunee as director of the NSF-funded Mid-Atlantic Institute for Telecommunications Technologies (MAITT), a regional partner of the NCTT.
Their conversations cover new and emerging technologies, and subjects range from Security 101 – What every Employee Should Know, to Broadband Technical Update, to Cash Mice: How E-Commerce is Going Micro.
Since mid-January, when they started the weekly sessions, Snyder and Qaissaunee have reached over 1000 listeners, a number that grows daily as the podcasts become better known. “Our goal,” said Snyder, “is to present technical topics at an introductory level, and grow our listener base.”
Snyder and Qaissaunee use Skype in recording their podcasts, which can be downloaded free, or subscribed to by using an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) application found at sites such as my.yahoo.com. The podcasts can be played on an iPod or through a personal computer at any time that’s convenient for the user, something Snyder and Qaissaunee refer to as time-shifting. And with an iPod or any other mp3 player, the podcasts can also be played at any location, from a car to the backyard. The podcasts are available free at Apple iTunes and at www.nctt.org/podcast.NCTT, founded in 1995 at STCC through a multi-million-dollar grant from the National Science Foundation, is charged with “leading a national collaborative of business and education partners to develop and disseminate an always-relevant, industry-driven curriculum to teach and train tomorrow’s information and communications technology technicians and technologists.”
In 2001, Snyder was selected as one of the top 15 technology faculty in the United States by Microsoft Corporation and the American Association of Community Colleges. In 2004 he was selected Workforce Development Leader of the Year by the Boston-based Massachusetts Networking and Communications Council.
Snyder has been writing a weekly blog since last June, also available on the NCTT website. “I have tried to outline similar technical content along with industry trends and political issues such as the Telecom Act of 2006, that affect our work. Mike and I are currently working to incorporate the blog content into our weekly podcast,” he said.
Descriptions of recent podcasts include:
Instant Messaging in the Workplace: Concerns, Technology, and Solutions
Instant Messaging or IM, once the domain of generation X and generation Y, is quickly becoming a mainstream business application. While this technology has been a great boon to business, increasing productivity and streamlining efficiency, there is a dark side. Chief among potential corporate headaches are manageability, security, interoperability, and records retention. This podcast reviews IM history, usage, trends and vulnerabilities, and suggests future solutions.
Cash Mice, or How E-Commerce is Going Micro
E-commerce has quickly become a mainstream business application, transforming the way business is done, opening up global markets for local and regional sellers as well as individuals, and providing new revenue streams for corporations. However, there’s a disruptive new technology on the horizon, called micro-commerce. This allows vendors to sell low-ticket items at a profit, allowing for value-added content, and providing new business models for online sellers. One need only look to Apple’s iTunes as evidence that micro-commerce has already become big business. By offering products, information, or services for a small subscription or a one-time fee., many businesses see potential for phenomenal growth. Online retailers aren’t abandoning the cash cow that e-commerce has come, but they’re paying a lot more attention to micro-commerce’s potential to become cash mice.
Desktop Search Engines: Indispensable or Intrusive?
How many times have you saved a file on your local machine and, a few days or weeks later, wasted time trying to find that file? Modern operating systems have search capabilities, but most are not very user friendly, and they are typically slow. Today, third party desktop search engines are adding new features and functionality, funding their way onto business and personal machines. These tools work similarly to the popular Internet search engines, only they allow you to search your own personal computer. Well-known companies such as Google and Yahoo, and some other not-so-well-known companies are making inroads onto our computer desktops.
To Open Source or Not to Open Source, That is the Question
Though not as memorable as Hamlet's question, a critical decision now confronting many companies concerns adoption of Linux and other open source software. Originally developed and used by individual enthusiasts for Intel 386 microprocessors, Linux and two subsequent generations of open-source software have gained support from IBM, Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, and Novell. These products are used in servers, and have been successfully deployed in virtually all popular computer architectures, ranging from embedded systems (routers, mobile phones, Private Branch eXchanges [PBXs] and personal video recorders) to PCs and supercomputers. With increasingly competitive economic environments and continued pressure to cut costs and streamline operations, many organizations find the issue of open source adoption a vitally important question.
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of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the National Science Foundation.
 This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number DUE 0302548. |
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