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May 03, 2003
Technology in the Community
In a world where things are changing faster and faster everyday it is important to embrace technology that has the potential to empower the individual. Technology today is about bringing people together to work on a wide variety of things and being driven by business to expand the potentials of communication in the workplace. Has a distinct and definite ramification for the community. The community has to move forward with the technology adapting to change at the speed of business and this requires a focus that does not let technology get confusing the community has to rely on institutions and the individuals who are making these changes. In a society where everybody is part of the community it is not a far stretch to attempt to allow the individuals within the community to use there skills to not only advance technology for business but to use those same skills to help the community move forward.
Sometimes the community just thinks about business in terms of the financial contributions that are made to the community. However this is short sighted and is not adapting to the changes in innovation and technology. It is time for the community to think about the amount of innovation business can bring to the community in the form of expanding how people interact. Further, using that distinct background in emerging technology will help the community move forward. Because without a strong community, the business is losing out on the ability to actually improve the place where their workers come from. From the business perspective it could be said another way that strengthen the community helps develop a stronger labor pool and a better business in general.
Community leaders have to have the perspective to take a step back and acknowledge that they do not have a comprehensive understanding of emerging technology. That it could be net beneficial to utilize resources within the community to expand the ability to really use technology to benefit community. When leaders within the community really start seeing technology as an advantageous in recruiting people and spreading information in a way that was not possible before. This perspective will really define communities that are able to move forward in a progressive way and it will cast a shadow on those communities that do not utilize the capacity to bring people together. Every community needs to be focused on bringing individuals together without that level of focus then it is impossible to every get anything meaningful accomplished within the community. Action has to be taken and it needs to be made in a way and with a direction that will really benefit the community as a whole.
The assumption when thinking about what is possible in terms of thinking about technology is that utilizing technology can benefit the community. It is accepting the assumption that anything that can help bring individuals together is going to be net beneficial to society as a whole. Being very to the overall message of the civic honors program is the idea that as technology develops it will make it easier to get individuals to work together. Decreasing separation at all times is important to the community because it means that the assumptions behind the action are based on believing in the future. This is important to assist the community in integrating new technology into the community. That integration of technology will help develop a clear path for the future it will allow the community to build momentum at the speed of technology. Thinking in terms of the future bringing success is always going to be a positive message.
When thinking about technology it is important to think in terms of solutions to real problems. It is possible to brainstorm a list of problems and then think about them in term so how to apply technology to the solution. When technology is applied within problem solution framework the power of change can be unlocked. It is also important to think about technology in terms of looking at what technologies are developing and brainstorming a list of what is possible in technology then applying what has been applied from that exercise. It is important to look at every possible scenario and think about what is possible understanding the potential and the limitations will allow the problem to be identified. Once the problem has been truly identified and broken down it is only a matter of time before technology presents solutions to that problem. Looking at solutions is the beginning of understanding the problems in its entirety.
If the future is not planned around the development of technology or at least thinking about the potential role of technology full potential will be achieved. When the future is not framed from the idea that without using technology, it will be difficult to break the cycle of some problems. Ideas that some problems are so entrenched within the community that it would take something new to develop a successful strategy for strengthening the community. The idea of using advancements in technology to help guide the community’s strategy for dealing with problems is not new but it is important. Being willing to strive to be on the very edge of what is possible to push the limitations of what is possible and attempt to really create the potential for something special to happen. When the focus is on the upper bound of what is possible for the community it really raises the bar for expectations of what can be achieved. It also allows individuals in the community to see a vision of the future and what can be achieved if individuals come together to accomplish something.
Now is the time to think about what is possible so much has changed over the last few years and will continue to change within the community. It is important to understand that if the community does not rally around technology and make it a cornerstone of the future of advances in what is possible if the community does not begin to grasp this potential it will loose if technology does not become a part of the revival of civic participation. If leaders do not take control of emerging technologies it is possible that the potential to introduce them into the mainstream message of community will be lost. If technology is only used by small groups and some organizations it will have lost the potential for mass mobilization and that is what using technology in the community is really about being able to bring a large number of individuals together in a way that is efficient and effective.
1101 words posted by nels lindahl at 01:51 PM
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