Flavian Napoleon Diary

By Dennis D. McDonaldWe’re beginning to see more social media and networking case studies and discussions of “best practices.”Maybe this is evidence of a classic adoption curve. People are more willing to talk about successes. We don’t necessarily know about the projects that are stillborn, still on hold, or the ones that are outright failures. Folks are less willing to talk about those in public, obviously. But early adopters are beginning to talk more publicly.
I’m beginning to see at least four different adoption models that describe how social media and social networking are taken up by organizations:Top downBottom upInside outOutside inTop down

In the “top down” model the organization’s leaders implement and lead the adoption of tools and techniques such as blogs, wikis, social networking systems, shared bookmarks, and podcasting. Staff may be brought along gradually but eventually they “get it.” After a while viral adoption and word of mouth take over. If the leader is smart, he or she will fade into the background as “best practices” evolve.
Bottom upIn the “bottom up” mode the workers start blogging, using wikis, and social networking systems to advance their jobs. They do this initially using free tools and without the blessing of senior management. Eventually a critical mass is reached, enough people “get it,” and

File this one under creepy emerging sci-fi tech: super-crazy cool, with more than a hint of big brother paranoia. It seems Harvard University microroboticist Robert Wood, who’s surely smarter than he should be, has crafted a 60mg robot fly with a three centimeter wingspan. According to robotbloggers at waziwazi, it mimics the flight of a real fly and is “constructed from carbon fiber and electroactive polymers that change shape with an applied voltage.” That last bit should sound all too familiar for fans of the last Batman flick.

Of course, this uncanny little bugger is being funded by the military tech folks at DARPA, not by a vengeful Bruce Wayne. And it’s got a ways to go: It can currently only fly in one direction, and is tethered, because at that size and weight they haven’t found an on-board way to power it yet. Still, those hurdles seem surmountable, considering what Wood and his teem have accomplished thus far. Look for this thing to autonomously buzzing about in years to come, increasing the paranoia from here to Baghdad and beyond. The one thing I want to know is if any similarly smart people are working on robot bug spray, you know, just in case.

Clicky clicky for more pictures and a video of the wing in motion.

[Image via waziwazi]
Post by Matt Safford

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