Use of blogs in organizations

An example of a blog used in an organization would be to write up a report. Work teams can discus what they're going to write about and then split the work. Then they would post them onto the blog so that everyone can look and read the parts and be able to edit the information from their home, instead of having to set up meetings at work all the time.

Blogs can be advantageous to organizations because it can be used to improve things such as, customer relations, promotion and internal communication. Customers Relations can be improved by setting up a blog where customers can complain or comment on certain products that they like or dislike. Internal communication can be improved by letting employees be able to post their projects onto the blog so that all the other employees can read them, especially when the company doesn't want to waste paper or there is just not enough time to print out the report and then make an informed decision.

On the other hand blogs can be at a disadvantage if you are working with people from other cultures. People from other cultures might want to see your face and interact in person face to face, so if you are working over a blog with someone from a culture that likes to do business face to face, blogs are a disadvantage.

Sources:
http://www.iabc.com/rf/pdf/blogs.pdf
http://blogging.compendiumblog.com/blog/blog-for-organizations

Disadvantages of smart dust

The only disadvantage to smart dust is that there is the potential to invade people's privacy. For example, employees might be working out of fear that the boss is always watching them and makes them stressed which leads to them making mistakes more often.

The other disadvantage is the cost of manufacturing smart dust, but this will be solved in time, with time smart dust will become smaller and will eventually be cheap.

At the present moment, smart dust isn't widely applied because of the invasion of privacy and the high cost. Therefore, many investors are unwilling to put smart dust into their buildings or factories that they build. Maybe in the future when smart dust becomes cheaper smart buildings will start to be popular.

Sources:
http://nreionline.com/technology/smart_buildings/
http://www.e-core.org.uk/content/smart_dust/smart.htm

Advantages of Smart Dust

According to Kris Pister's founder of dustnetworks, the 3 benefits for organizations to use smart dust is that:

1. It can reduce systems and infrastructure costs
2. Increase employee productivity
3. Improve safety and compliance in the workplace

The advantages of using smart dust in any business organization for employees is that it leads to job satisfaction. Having smart dust in company improves hygiene factors for employees because instead of always having to remember to turn off the lights or the heating whenever they live their area in order to save costs for the company smart dust can do it for them.

As for the advantages of using smart dust in factories is that it can be used to:

-Monitor productivity so that engineers are able to make machinery more efficient.

-Control the variables in productivity more accurately, for example instead of cooling a machine by the look an feel of the machine you can put in sensors so that it can cool the machine down to acceptable temperatures.

-Minimize the amount of defective products that come off of assembly

The advantages of smart dust are limitless, there is an advantegeous use for smart dust to almost anything the human mind can think of.


Sources:
http://www.innovationwatch-archive.com/choiceisyours/choiceisyours.2006.12.15.htm
http://eetdnews.lbl.gov/nl23/eetd-nl23-2-dust.html
http://www.dustnetworks.com/applications/building_automation

Smart Dust applications

There are many applications for smart dust and the possibilities for the uses of smart dust are endless.

Right now smart dust can be used to detect defects in machinery or an object such as a building. For example, if a building has been greatly damaged after an earthquake. Instead of having inspectors going to inspect the building which takes months the deployment of smart dust would be able to detect problems in minutes.

Another potential application for smart dust would be in the military as a security system. Once soldiers have cleared an area they can leave behind smart dust as a security system. If someone comes into the area with smart dust it will detect the vibrations and notify them that there is unknown people in that area.

A third application for smart dust is in buildings, it can be used to save energy. Because people sometimes forget to turn the lights off at the end of the day or forget to turn off the heater during the winter smart dust will be there to help, if it detects no vibrations for a given time then the lights will turn off.

A really interesting application for smart dust is the future of mobile networking.

Sources:
http://www.uhisrc.com/FTB/Smart%20Dust/Smart%20Dust.pdf
http://www.innovationwatch.com/choiceisyours/choiceisyours.2006.12.15.htm

What is Smart Dust? and What can it do?

Smart dust which are also called microelectromechanical sensors (MEMS), they are able to detect anything, from light to the slightest of movements in a given area. Because of technological advancements, smart dust which can also be called "motes" can be the size of only 20 micrometers. They are able to gather data and compute that data into information and send it using two-way band radio at distances up to 1,000 feet. The components of a smart dust all contain sensors, computing circuits, wireless communications technology and a power supply.

The development of smart dust is always progressing at a very fast pace and millions of smart dust can be released into the environment which could do anything from protecting us to ensuring the efficiency of machines.

For a more in depth understanding of what smart dust is and what it does, please refer to: http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/techexec/2004/0607techexec1.html

Sources:
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-smart-dust.htm
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/79572/Smart_Dust