Does It MATTER?

WEEKLY REVIEW

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (I.T) & SOCIETY

Featuring Poll Everywhere

Editorial

     It is impossible to ignore the impact of information technology (IT) on virtually every aspect of society.  It appears that the realm of IT has no respect of principality or dominion. Today, whether it's a fortune five hundred company; a non-profit religious organization; the day care center down the street; the school on the hill; the health clinic that specializes in geriatrics; college and professional sporting events including the recent 2013 MLB World Series (GO BOSTON!); political campaigns with specific focus on current U.S. President 2008 presidential campaign; the revolution of the music industry with gadgets for debuting singles, albums and downloading music; it appears that the field of information technology is here to stay.

     The constant  pursuit to ascertain quicker, better, more efficient, robust means of manifesting the reception, acquiring , dissemination, presenting, displaying and sorting of information has made a lasting imprint on the workplace; home; school, community thus society as a whole.  This has augmented the spawn of endless technological tools whereby fostering the world of innovation. 

   From MonkeySurvey, Khan Academy, Wordle, Doodle, eLearning Art to Poll Everywhere, the worldwide web has empowered ingenuity and entrepreneurship.  The days of needing a business proposal, a business plan and potentially a small business loan to launch an idea to the market place is becoming less of the norm.  The internet makes it possible for girls and boys across the world to compete with the idealist perception of the businessman with the MBA.

   The twenty first century has creates a new platform form consumerism, the digital community, altering the way we once viewed business.  The early days of Microsoft and Apple seem primitive to the world of IT we know today.  With so many gadgets – 2013 Top 100 Tools of the Internet - to accelerate the sharing and gathering of information, I wonder if society is  losing its sense of relevance or are we trying to find ways to become more relevant?  More specifically, has the world of information technology (IT) lost an element of relevance? 

     My focus for this week is to move beyond featuring Poll Everywhere, but to examine the technological devise as well others within a larger contextual analysis.  Nicolas Carr is my feature author for this week’s review.  In his book, Does it Matter? Carr presents thought provoking views on how IT has played a multifaceted role across multiples disciplines.  Carr is a Pulitzer Prize finalist whose works makes cross-disciplinary connections. See more about Carr's views on the State of Information Technology (IT) on cross sectors of society.

Including his video, The Dark Side of Information Technology (2011)

http://www.nicholasgcarr.com/index.shtml

In addition to Carr’s work, consider reviewing a variety of books on the impact of information technology across multiple disciplines.  See Technology and Society Book Reviews at

http://www.techsoc.com/natsec.htm

POLL EVERYWHERE...and OTHERs

Have We SHATTERED the (IT) "TECHNOLOGICAL" Glass Ceiling?

    

Poll Everywhere

During my review of the Top 100 Internet Tools, I was attracted to the technological tool, Poll Everywhere.  At first glance of the tool, I thought of the possibility of sorting or arranging data for analyzing the results of my qualitative dissertation research study.  I envisioned a robotic machine with the capacity to aggregate and disaggregate data in meaningful ways for interpretation.  It is fair to say prior to knowing much about what Poll Everywhere presented, my expectations were high.  After researching the history of Poll Everywhere and similar counterparts, learning of how such a devise could be used to process information across multiple sectors of society, I attempted to make sense of just what did all of these technological tools meant in the larger scheme of society.  So, just what is Poll Everywhere?

Origin

         Poll Everywhere is a company headquartered in San Francisco, California.  Established in 2007 as an online live audience service response system, founders Jeff Vyduna, Brad Gessler, and Sean Eby wanted to create a mechanism to keep audiences actively engaged in live presentations.  In 2008, the company was a semifinalist in the Michigan Institute of Technology (MIT) $100 Entrepreneurship Challenge. In the same year, Poll Everywhere was accepted in Y Combinator, a financial seed organization for startups around the world.  In 2012, Forbes Magazine named Y Combinator as the number one startup promoter across the globe.

    After five years of existence, Poll Everywhere gained a competitive edge in the audience response industry affording it to acquire two of its competitors, ClassMetric and TextTheMob.

Current and future innovators of the world or just curiosity seekers can learn more of Y Combinator and the history of Poll Everywhere by visiting

http://ycombinator.com/

and

http://www.crunchbase.com/company/poll-everywhere

Product

     Essentially, Pool Everywhere is an affordable (free trial offering and paid subscription plans) application for gathering the responses of questions posed to a live audience.  It is adaptable for mobile devices such as cell phones, text messaging, as well as the internet and Twitter.  The devise allows a variety of graphical charts to display real time data.  There are appealing aspects of the tool including the option to embed live pooling within a web or PowerPoint presentation.  Poll Everywhere can be used by classroom teachers; college professors; game shows; live competitions; professional presenters and just about every discipline interested in gathering real time votes from a live audience. 

By following the tutorial steps on its home page, a visitor can experience a test trial.  Try it out…

http://www.polleverywhere.com/

To learn of frequently asked questions such as How does Poll Everywhere work?

“As a poll is displayed to an audience, they submit responses by visiting a specific web site, by sending text messages to our short code number (22333), or using Twitter and indicating the option they wish to select. In the case of text messaging, their mobile carrier routes their text message to our web servers where the vote is counted. Once counted, the vote is displayed in real time on-screen. You can learn more on our how it works page.” 

See http://www.polleverywhere.com/faq#how-it-works

Feasibility

     Not to confuse with similar tools like Monkey Survey, a web based survey developer, Poll Everywhere and similar competitors (i.e., SMSPoll.net, Top Hat Monocle, etc.) mission is to capture real time voting from a live audience.  An element of good business practice is to keep an eye on your competitors.  To evaluate how Poll Everywhere measure-up with its competitors in areas such as pricing, typical pricing, branding, reliability, support services, web/text featuring, poll functionality, polling options and more, See

http://www.polleverywhere.com/vs

 Real World Connections

     As an educational leader investigating methods to foster high school student’s interest in science, engineering, mathematics and science (STEM) fields, the thought of using technology to change the way students look at themselves as inventors and creators is fascinating.  During my research and preview of the 2013 Top 100 Tools for Learning, I began to wonder if we shattered that invisible glass ceiling.  The ceiling often associated with reaching the top of one’s profession or to be amongst the elite and/or very few.  With so many tools available in the market place, I wonder if the field of information technology is over performing at a rate that is tuning out potential customers. Weaving through the Top 100 Tools, I noticed that tools like Twitter and various social media forums that were once cutting edge tools aren’t as exciting as they were let say five years ago.  Generally, a need in the market place assumes that there are potential customers.  I wonder what the consumer rate is for each of the Top 100 Tools.  Just how relevant are these tools to various disciplines and at rate are these tools being used? 

     With this in mind, my approach was to first, identify how I could use specific tools listed on the Top 100 profile within my profession, and second, how could I promote particular tools on the list to inspire new thoughts and ideas from high school students.   I thought of the various needs teachers and educational leaders in urban settings are confronted with daily.  One such need is to integrate Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence and various learning modalities across the curriculum to meet the needs of diverse learners and students at-risk in the content areas of reading, and mathematics.  Another need is to increase student’s time-on-task and overall levels of engagement.     

     I am familiar with the tutorial services provided through Khan Academy.  Yet, I believe I can do more to encourage teachers to visit the web site and identify potential benefits for having students interact with certain tutorials within the instructional day.  Additionally, I can see how a tool like Wordle, which is widely known and used within multiple sectors to display group’s leadership styles highlighting prominent themes, can have an educational value to students.  Why not allow students to use the Wordle tool to build positive relationships and learn of the similar and difference they share.  This is very plausible to implement during computer lab within my educational setting.

     In my opinion, the eLearning and Doodle tools present a wealth of opportunity for expanding students’ ideas for creating new products.  Educators in compulsory education (K-12) are constantly searching for high interest materials.  I envision future innovators taking an idea like eLearningArt and designing an interactive on-line curriculum.   This is an example of creating a tool where there are buyers waiting.   Along with eLearningArt, Doodle is also quite appealing.  It’s no secret that students and professionals lose valuable time due to poor organizational skills.  Advancing a tool like Doodle to assist individuals with becoming better organized thus improving their time management skills is, too, an example of emphasizing relevance in the field of information technology.  I hope to help students move beyond gravitating to tools geared toward social media and/or entertainment and to identify how technology can be used to fulfill other unfulfilled needs in society.

     In closing, have we shattered the IT glass ceiling? If the shear volume of tools available is the indicator then the answer is maybe.  However, if we examine societal needs unfulfilled then I think the answer is No.  I hope the ceiling is infinite, because there is so much more for society to accomplish and learn.

UNT_Denise