Posts tagged IBM

Mellalieu’s Kekule dream episode 2: next steps

Ecological analysis of CO 2 in an ecosystem
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I certainly find my dream is a ‘galvanic’ call to action. To create a long- lived organization like IBM or Apple … Or even St Peter’ church!

These options suggest themselves to me:

  • Grow Enterprise GreenWorks. Next step: publish launch article. Create Art of the Start (Kawasaki) plan and pitch
  • Recreate a faculty of business so that industrial ecology is the key leitmotiv driving its recreation. Begin application for a Dean’s position. Consult with prospective mentor. Next step: use Mann’s book as the Bible for the strategy. Tidy up my online presence.
  • Create a resource ‘bible’ (book, library) for teachers of applied industrial ecology that compliments/applies the experience of Samuel Mann especially for the teaching of business, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

Next steps

  • Re-blog to trumblr previous references my students and I have made to Kekule’s dream - DONE!
  • Post Peter Senge’s industrial metabolism model on tumblr, and my wall.
  • Book review Mann’s book, from the perspective of the above smorgasbord of options.
  • Take a walk whilst this warm winter’s day continues (a sunny 19 C here in Waitakere, New Zealand - and it’s nearly mid-winter! Roll on global warming!!!! :)
  • Finish and send draft request to my mentor
  • Get ready to FOCUS!

Related articles

On starting and preparing a Kawasakian pitch

Kawasaki, G. (2004a). The art of the start: the time-tested, battle-hardened guide for anyone starting anything. Portfolio.

Kawasaki, G. (2004b). The art of starting. The art of the start: the time-tested, battle-hardened guide for anyone starting anything (pp. 3-26). Portfolio.

Kawasaki, G. (n.d.). Art of the Start - website. Retrieved September 30, 2009, from http://www.guykawasaki.com/books/art-of-the-start.shtml

The Art of the Start. (2006). . Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3xaeVXTSBg&feature=youtube_gdata

Applied Industrial metabolism

Anderson, R. C., & White, R. (2009). Confessions of a Radical Industrialist: Profits, People, Purpose - Doing Business by Respecting the Earth. St. Martin’s Press. [ nearly finished reading. Inspirational]

Bourg, D., Erkman, S., & Chirac, J. (2003). Perspectives on Industrial Ecology. Greenleaf Pubns.

Braungart, M. (2002). Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things (1st ed.). North Point Press. [finished reading ages ago]

Cover of
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Chertow, M. R. (2000). Industrial Symbiosis: Literature and Taxonomy. Annual Review of Energy and the Environment, 25(1), 313-337. doi:10.1146/annurev.energy.25.1.313

Mann, S. (2011). The green graduate: Educating every student as a sustainable practitioner. Wellington, NZ: NZCER. [started reading]

Senge, P. M., Smith, B., Schley, S., Laur, J., & Kruschwitz, N. (2008). The Necessary Revolution: How Individuals And Organizations Are Working Together to Create a Sustainable World (1st ed.). Doubleday Publishing. [Partly read]

NZCEE: What is Ecological Economics? (n.d.). New Zealand Centre for Ecological Economics. Retrieved January 24, 2011, from http://nzcee.massey.ac.nz/about_nzcee/whatis.html

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Market capitalisation of several information technology companies Source:  IBM: 1100100 and counting. (2011, June 9). The Economist. Retrieved June 16, 2011, from http://www.economist.com/node/18803123 The firm’s centenary is an occasion to reflect on many things digital, but one question stands out: why is IBM still alive and thriving after so long, in an industry characterised perhaps more than any other by innovation and change? This is not just of interest to business historians. As IBM enters its second century in good health, far younger IT giants, such as Cisco Systems, Intel, Microsoft and Nokia, are grappling with market shifts that threaten to make them much less relevant. Note the slow, but steady and recent climb of Apple and Google.Related articles HP is still trying to be the next IBM (money.cnn.com) IBM turns 100 (cbc.ca) It’s IBM’s 100th birthday: How it survived and prospered (oregonlive.com)

Market capitalisation of several information technology companies

Source:  IBM: 1100100 and counting. (2011, June 9). The Economist. Retrieved June 16, 2011, from http://www.economist.com/node/18803123

The firm’s centenary is an occasion to reflect on many things digital, but one question stands out: why is IBM still alive and thriving after so long, in an industry characterised perhaps more than any other by innovation and change? This is not just of interest to business historians. As IBM enters its second century in good health, far younger IT giants, such as Cisco Systems, Intel, Microsoft and Nokia, are grappling with market shifts that threaten to make them much less relevant.
Note the slow, but steady and recent climb of Apple and Google.

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IBM: 1100100 and counting. (2011, June 9). The Economist. Retrieved June 16, 2011, from http://www.economist.com/node/18803123 THE long passage that connects the two wings of IBM’s headquarters in Armonk gives a new meaning to the expression “a walk down memory lane”. From punch cards to magnetic tapes and disk drives to memory chips, every means of storing information since the advent of modern calculating machines is on display, either as an exhibit or as a photo. Other relics of computing can be found in the building, an hour’s drive north of New York City. Near the boardroom sits a desk-sized calculator with hundreds of knobs. Visitors can also wonder about a tangle of wires connected to a metal plate—an early form of software called a “control panel”. My first contact with IBM Mellalieu, P. J. (1972). August Holiday Programme [in Electronic Data Processing at IBM Auckland]. In J. Cogswell (Ed.), Cambridge High School Magazine - CHS 1972 (p. 16). Cambridge High School. Retrieved from http://pogus.tumblr.com/post/3304735044/during-the-august-holidays-i-rested-myself-from Related articles 100 Years of IBM: Milestones (pcworld.com) IBM celebrates 100th birthday (news.blogs.cnn.com) Therese Poletti’s Tech Tales: Tech behemoth IBM turns 100 years old (marketwatch.com) U.S. computer pioneer IBM turns 100 (canada.com) IBM at 100: Ten Companies That Radically Transformed (moneyland.time.com) IBM 100: New talk of a CEO shakeup (csmonitor.com) IBM expands in India with new Coimbatore office (seattlepi.com) IBM Turns 100: The Company That Reinvented Itself (npr.org) IBM reaches its 100th anniversary (i-programmer.info)

IBM: 1100100 and counting. (2011, June 9).

The Economist. Retrieved June 16, 2011, from http://www.economist.com/node/18803123

THE long passage that connects the two wings of IBM’s headquarters in Armonk gives a new meaning to the expression “a walk down memory lane”. From punch cards to magnetic tapes and disk drives to memory chips, every means of storing information since the advent of modern calculating machines is on display, either as an exhibit or as a photo. Other relics of computing can be found in the building, an hour’s drive north of New York City. Near the boardroom sits a desk-sized calculator with hundreds of knobs. Visitors can also wonder about a tangle of wires connected to a metal plate—an early form of software called a “control panel”.

My first contact with IBM

Mellalieu, P. J. (1972). August Holiday Programme [in Electronic Data Processing at IBM Auckland]. In J. Cogswell (Ed.), Cambridge High School Magazine - CHS 1972 (p. 16). Cambridge High School. Retrieved from http://pogus.tumblr.com/post/3304735044/during-the-august-holidays-i-rested-myself-from

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Course manager and learning partners at August holiday programme in Electronic Data Processing at IBM Auckland, 1972 I’m the lad with the slide rule, front row. Described in: Mellalieu, P. J. (1972). August Holiday Programme [in Electronic Data Processing at IBM Auckland]. In J. Cogswell (Ed.), Cambridge High School Magazine - CHS 1972 (p. 16). Cambridge High School. Retrieved from http://pogus.tumblr.com/post/3304735044/during-the-august-holidays-i-rested-myself-from   

Course manager and learning partners at August holiday programme in Electronic Data Processing at IBM Auckland, 1972

I’m the lad with the slide rule, front row.

Described in:

Mellalieu, P. J. (1972). August Holiday Programme [in Electronic Data Processing at IBM Auckland]. In J. Cogswell (Ed.), Cambridge High School Magazine - CHS 1972 (p. 16). Cambridge High School. Retrieved from http://pogus.tumblr.com/post/3304735044/during-the-august-holidays-i-rested-myself-from 

 

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During the August holidays, I rested myself from the rigours of school by taking part in a course in Electronic Data Processing (EDP) in Auckland. The week, held by International Business Machines for 7th formers, was an introduction to the workings of the computer industry.

Our classroom, with all sorts of modcons such as whiteboards, air-conditioning, big, soft swivel chairs … contained our course manager (teacher), ten other males, and four young ladies from the upper-part of the North Island. We were certainly a mixed bunch: from the fanatic mathematician who had “swallowed” a book on programming, and who wrote computer programmes all day, to scholars of French and Geography. (A survey in the United States indicated that people with University Degrees in Latin or Music make the best programmers!).

Work began straight from nine o’clock Monday on an informal basis. Our mental and physical capacities were exercised in many ways: eating chocolate biscuits and drinking coffee, for example, as well as less important items such as theoretical and practical programming experience; looking at these MACHINES (intelligent morons), and their entourage of systems controllers, operators and engineers in operation; flow charting; the business aspect of the industry; a couple of films; and careers.

I enjoyed the week very much - there was a lot to keep me occupied. I came away with a five centimetre thick wad of computer printout from my programmes. (Free wall paper!) The people were a gay [!] lot. One person was rather upset when he found the words:

You’ve Boobed Again You Idiot

in his computer printout. (Remember the fanatic who was sitting next to me?) One of the girls received a prize for the most concise summary of the week:

What a Load of Rubbish

Other people devised programmes which would not stop until the embarrassed operator had answered in a particular way to such questions as:

I love the Programmer? Yes or No

The computer industry is a young industry: a rapidly enlarging and changing industry. Contrary to most businesses, two hundred million dollars today buys a lot more than it did yesterday. A computer engineer spends a fifth of his time learning and relearning about his work. Programmers, the people who tell those machines what to do must continually revise their skills as faster, more effective and efficient machines are developed. A person who goes into EDP will certainly not find a ceiling to his potentialities, nor a routine syndromic job, lacking in stimulation.

Considering myself, though, I cannot fit the job into my way of life. I’m a more come-and-go as I please type of person.

Electronic data processing in the Volkswagen f...
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Mellalieu, P. J. (1972). August Holiday Programme [in Electronic Data Processing at IBM Auckland]. In J. Cogswell (Ed.), p. 16. Cambridge High School Magazine - CHS 1972. Cambridge High School. 

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Tools for the mind: Tektronix 4052 microcomputer graphic workstation (circa 1982)

I loved the Tektronix personal computer. It cost my employer about three times my annual salary whilst I completed my doctor of philosophy in operations research at DSIR.

I programmed the microcomputer to produce graphic outputs displaying the optimal milk allocation from clusters of dairy farms to factories. The programming language was a highly-featured variant of BASIC.

The optimal solution was calculated using an out-of-kilter network optimisation algorithm (Ford-Fulkerson) on an IBM 370-168 computer. The IBM - in Wellington - was coupled to the microcomputer - in Hamilton - by a 2400 baud fixed line. Initially, we used a 300 baud acoustic coupler! That’s 30 characters per second, folks!

The Tektronix system was purpose-selected to quickly download coded data from the IBM mainframe, and produce the graphic outputs using purpose-written graphical programs. The digital plotter produced a colour hardcopy. No colour VDUs around in these days!

Mellalieu, P. J. (1982). A Decision Support System for Corporate Planning in the New Zealand Dairy Industry (Doctor of Philosophy in mathematics, statistics and operations research). Victoria University of Wellington. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10063/568  

Mellalieu, P. J., & Hall, K. R. (1983). An Interactive Planning Model for the New Zealand Dairy Industry. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 34, 521-532. doi:10.1057/jors.1983.119 

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