Electronic Tattoos

Your online life, permanent as a tattoo

      Juan Enriquez thinks and writes about profound  changes that genomics will bring in business, technology, and society. He is a futurist.

     A broad thinker who studies the intersection of science, business, and society, Juan Enriquez has a talent for bridging disciplines to build a coherent look ahead. He is a former CEO of Mexico City's Urban Development Corporation and Chief of staff for Mexico's secretary of state, Enriquez played a role in reforming Mexico's domestic policy and helped negotiated a cease-fired with Zapatista's rebels. He is a Managing Director at Excel Medical Venture, a life science venture capital firm, and the chair and CEO of Biotechonomy, a research and investment firm helping to fund new genomic firms.

Why you should listen him:

    In his inspiring talk, Juan Enriquez delighted his audience using kind of fine humor, wit, and incisive logic, along with the analogies with tattoos, Greek myths and Jorge Luis Borges. At the beginning he brings on stage four subjects, big data, tattoos, immortality and the Greeks,  that are the main ingredient to develop his personal opinion about digital footprint.

My own opinion

    According to Juan Enriquez, we the people living in the digital era, each of  us, tattooing ourselves digitally whether we like it or not. Our behave, tweets and our images online make up what Enriquez postulate is a potentially type of immortality.

    This data is part of the sea of big data that is growing exponentially every year. Connecting a stream of concepts , Enriquez asks, "What if Google equals immortality? -forms of digital tattoos?.

    A fundamental questions is formulated by Enriquez in his comparison between tattoos and our electronic interaction. What happens if Facebook, Google, Twitter, Foursquare, LinkedIn  cellphones, GPS,  Yelp, Travel Advisor, all these gadgets you deal with every day turn out to be an electronic tattoos? And what if they provide as much information about who and what you are as any tattoos ever would?

        

     A clear result has come out, our anonymity  has been modified for our online life, and privacy is part of the past and we should be prepare to be accountable for our actions, which in this case, is expressing and voicing our opinions, thoughts and pictures. We should be ourselves yet be responsible for any disagreeable seen by someone of authority in our current life or future and be put on risk of employment, opportunities, etc. We will not even talk about what other digitally put out there about us. To be or not to be myself? To share or not to share, has become the questions I ask myself.
  
    To summarize, I would say that a traditional tattoo is something that you willingly choose to display as a visual image that represent your life, your electronic tattoo is something that seems to be chosen for you. 

   

The Golden Age

Laura Carstensen: Older people are happier

I have watched a TED Talk by Psychologist Laura Carstensen that demonstrates that as people get older they become happier, more content, and have more positive outlook on the world. Dr. Laura Carstensen is the Director of the Stanford Center on Longevity, and has studied extensively the effects on well-being on extended lifetimes. She is best known in academia for social-emotional selectivity theory, a life span theory of motivation. She is also author of A Long Bright Future. An Action Plan for Lifetime of Happiness  Health and Financial Security.

  

In her Talks, Dr. Laura Carstensen captives audience by using an affable and courteous tone that make "Older people are happier" Talk's conference engaging. Moreover, she uses a hand gesture to express her thoughts, emotions, and to reshape the pyramid of life expectancy. With a very well articulated use of the language, Dr. Carstensen fascinates her listeners and delight them through show, and make conference easy to assimilate. Statistics, survey and studies are used to support talk's argument that clearly reinforce the topic on how older people lives a happiest life.

The TED Talk embraced  statistical data, survey results, and studies to evidence circumstances that make older people to be happier than younger people. Audience did not bring up question about her conference, yet questions are used  as a mechanism during her talk to expose point by point facts proving what makes older people to confront with confident last stage of their life.

 At the beginning of the conference Dr. Laura Carstensen was very competent,  while she read off  all the studies that supported her opinion about why older people face life with happiness and less stress than people that is on first stages of life. Then, gradually with use a fine sense of humor she makes audience laughing  as well herself. From my point of view, the  exposition style she uses accomplishes her goal because once she did set down  her topic over, she switched her professional path style to  have some fun time making jokes.

"Older people are happier" TED Talk emphasize clearly that older people can assimilate life's avatars more comfortably since they use their past experiences to face current issues. What is more, when people has reached a certain age, then they recognized that they could not stay live for ever. Then, at this stage life ask them to make baggage less heavy. As a consequence, life becomes less stressed and older people handle in a different way their feelings. Therefore, they face life in a new mode, using their social, emotional, and cognitive experiences to adapt to life circumstances as they age. In sum, they learn to appreciate life, by being more forgivable and gracious of their time while alive.

For the reason that I'm 53, I have being deeply touched for her Talk  thath highly symbolize the entire meaning of walk through this stage of life, when people can takes advantage of their knowledge and share with loves ones.

Consumers synergism

“Today people don’t trust in companies. One of the things marketers want to do is humanize their brand. What better way to do it than put a live person in from to them”. Jackie Huba.

According to Jackie Huba Social Media is shifting the old style companies marketing their products. This powerful tool has integrated people as a real part of the market, listening and allowing them as part integral of their  business culture, not  just having them as a final consumer without any active participation in their brand.

Since I consider myself as an outdoor fanatic person, I have researched two outdoor gear/sporting goods companies such as Recreational Equipment Inc (REI) and Sierra Trading Post, both state to have a high commitment to support the environmental  conservation efforts through dedicated teams of volunteers, members, customer and employees.

REI and Sierra Trading Post Facebook pages are very similar. Both companies use background pictures to encourage fans to experience outdoor activities, encouragement that consequently stimulate their fans and customers interest on  its sporting goods. As business strategy, REI and Sierra Trading Post promote outdoor events through Social Media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, Google +, G+1 to engage and have direct interaction with clientele. Sierra Trading Post has its own Social Hub Blog.

They have put together two strong marketing concepts, Social Media connectivity and effort to reduce environmental footprint. Those are two unquestionably components  that need to be present in corporate values for companies  competing for market niche in the business world. By encouraging clients to use online tools  they are reducing significant amount of printing paper, and saving thousands of dollars as well.

Sierra Trading Post has implemented a business Social Media  strategy using Facebook as a hook, “give us a Like and get 20% off”, method that has increased Facebook’ page visitors and therefore its sales revenues. Another tactic that Sierra Trading Post has set up to attract new customer is a referral program to invite friends to shop with them, that gives to new customer a coupon.

There are so many clear  reasons why these two outdoor/sporting goods companies have implemented and increased Marketing Social Media strategies, below some of them:

• To open new doors for business.
• To engage with customers and answer their questions.
• To have direct access to fans and clients and cut marketing intermediary.
• To get direct feedback about products from customers.
• To amplify their message.
• To gain trust through human-to-human interaction.
• To make Social Media part its corporate culture.
• To integrate communities into its environment protection philosophy.
  
  

On how they are using this touching communication Social Media, I have found on REI and Sierra Trading Post  the following tactics:

• They are getting direct knowledge from fans and customers.
• They are catching relationship  with followers.
• They are creating  a direct-to-consumer mode.
• They are maintaining blogs to grab attention of customers. Usually posting topics directly related to their product/service.
• They are listening clients instead of doing all the talking.

Social Media interaction have done what marketing business could not make for years.It has integrated final consumers in business stratagem. The real stick point of this effect is synergy between companies and users.

Matc Journey: My Matc Journey after 50's

Matc Journey: My Matc Journey after 50's: My MATC Journey began at Indian Community School of Milwaukee's Open House in April 2011, while I was working on second shift as a Facilitie...

My Matc Journey after 50's

My MATC Journey began at Indian Community School of Milwaukee's Open House in April 2011, while I was working on second shift as a Facilities Personal (Janitorial, Custodian) and MATC Advisers where there engaging students and community to enroll in their programs, circumstance that propelled me to start thinking in going back to College after 10 years of hard work  and facing a new culture as an immigrant.

Later, during my break time I met them to ask about what would be the requirements to register in IT Program. After a short interview they handed out to me all flyers, and scheduled an appointment to attend a introductory meeting.

Finally, after a tedious  procedure I submitted all documentations (transcripts, diplomas) High School and University from Colombia, South America, and I was accepted in MATC classes conditionally due to my low score in reading, writing and math tests.

Once I was conditionally admitted,  I have working hard on my weakness to improve them, as well making room to advance in my program technical classes. Besides, my full time job consumes a big portion of time. More over, I'am a marathon runner, physical activity that require me to set up  time to do my workout. What's more, being a grandfather of tow boys, older one is 5 years and the youngest  one and half, so, this relationship calls for additional time to share and spend time with them.

I.T. Network career has been  present in my work experience for 23 years, so that was the main fact that has motivated me to enroll back in a this program, after more than 20 years that I got my first diploma as a I.T. Specialist. Base on this assessment , and my background I have made the decision to sign up to refresh my knowledge and learn new technology leading current I.T. field.