Scan Monthly No. 030August 2005 |
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Signals of Change
The Malleability of Aging
SoC123
Do ways exist to halt the aging process? Can we reverse it? Biomedical researchers are developing some interesting, as-yet theoretical answers based on recent research findings.
Internet Television
SoC124
The Internet is moving in on television's territory as an increasing number of people access video content on the Web instead of on the TV. Some interesting hybrid approaches are turning up, and advertisers are taking their cues from viewers by putting increasing shares of their budgets into advertising on Internet sites like Yahoo, Google, and AOL.
Biodiesel's Improving Prospects
SoC125
The recent rapid rise in oil prices is creating demand for rapidly implementable alternatives to oil-based fuels. Biodiesel answers the call with its readily available sources (such as used cooking oil) and immediate usability in many existing diesel engines and fuel infrastructures.
Innovative Approaches to Innovation
SoC126
The creativity economy is demanding new approaches to innovation. New metrics, new methods, and new mind-sets are all part of the prescriptions for how companies can supercharge innovation processes.
The Wellness/Lifestyle Balancing Act
SoC127
Animal research indicates that adding abdominal fat can turn off stress responses. Which is a bigger health threat: stress or being overweight? The interplay of diet, exercise, metabolism, and physical and mental health is turning out to be more complex than most people expected. What opportunities exist for helping consumers manage the complexities?
The Next Generation Gap
SoC128
We've all heard time and again that the Boomer generation will produce a dramatically different type of retiree than we're used to. The latest crop of youth appear to be distinctive as well. Will the gap produce unavoidable conflict or will the differences create new dynamism and solutions? The solutions will likely need a little help from corporations and governments that are interested in maintaining growing and prosperous marketplaces.
Insights
| Evolving Concepts of Quality of Life | View full summary |
| D05-2512 | Download this Insight |
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As societies have executed the transition from industrial to postindustrial economies, the metrics for quantifying certain cultural dimensions, such as quality of life, have necessarily evolved. Economists traditionally compared the quality of life in one country to that of another by contrasting the per capita gross domestic product of the two countries. But companies facing increasing competition in attracting consumer attention and custom are looking for much finer measures of quality of life and a much better understanding of just what consumers think will contribute to their quality of life. Not only is quality of life a difficult concept to quantify; it varies from person to person depending on people's psychological profile. This study examines some of the complexities that companies are encountering as they try to deal with quality-of-life issues both for employees and for consumers of the companies' products and services. Author: Carrie Hollenberg, Kermit M. Patton. 18 pages. |
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| Wireless Computing Builds the Back Channel | View full summary |
| D05-2513 | Download this Insight |
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Speakers at conferences, lecturers, and meeting leaders have all noticed that meeting dynamics shift dramatically when meeting participants have access to a wireless network during meetings and presentations. Attendees are using the wireless network and a variety of devices (from cell phones to laptop computers) to conduct what Gardner Campbell of the University of Mary Washington calls back-channel communications with each other as well as with off-site parties and information sources on the Web during the meeting. People communicating through back channels can use instant messaging, Web-log entries, or text messages to talk about an ongoing presentation, research and refute the speaker's data, share pertinent Web sites, and so forth. The phenomenon began at high-tech conferences but is slowly becoming mainstream. This study examines some of the tools that people are using to create back channels and the effects that such social software will have on how we hold meetings. Author: Marcelo Hoffmann. 10 pages. |
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Calendar
Scan™ Abstract Meetings
Scan abstract meetings (in which SRIC-BI [now SBI] staff participate in a free-form discussion of current Scan abstracts) are open for client observation/participation on:
- 21 September 2005 at 9:00 am
- 19 October 2005 at 9:00 am
- 25 January 2006 at 9:00 am
- 22 March 2006 at 9:00 am
- 17 May 2006 at 9:00 am
- 19 July 2006 at 9:00 am.