I am interested in emerging technologies. Currently my interests are in the following broad topics. But I am starting small in each area.
- Data Analysis and Mining
- Cloud Computing
- Social Computing
- Mobile Computing
- Internet of Things
- Learning Technologies
- Robotics
Data Analysis and Mining
My interest stems from the fact that our products deal with a lot of data. We track web pages, aggregate RSS feeds, collect Twitter streams etc. There has to be a better way of consuming these large amounts of information. So any technologies that summarize, mine, connect, extract useful information is of interest to me.
Currently, I use some simple Python tools and dabbling in R programming. Related to Data Analysis, there are different overlapping topics – Data Science, Data Mining, Machine Learning, Predictive Analytics, Big Data, Visualization. It is an exciting field to dabble in.
Cloud Computing
My interest in cloud is very elementary. But to process big data, you need to understand many aspects of scalable computing and cloud presents some interesting options. I want to research challenges and opportunities in the Cloud Computing Space and as I dig deeper and find out more, you will learn from them. I am far more interested in the Applications related to Cloud computing than the technologies. Since they are related, we will cover a bit of both in future posts.
Social Computing
Social computing has many aspects with Social Media and Social Networks being the most visible. Social computing is interesting from a technology point of view. The impact of Social technologies can be used to reach out and engage with prospects, customers, partners and peers. As more uses of Social Computing become evident, the apps and technologies will co-evolve. This will be an interesting area to watch and learn.
I am currently dabbling in a few apps to mine Twitter using Python. We will certainly try to talk about how to leverage tools of Social computing to build a business, market products, interact with customers, track competition etc.
Mobile Computing
Mobile Computing is another one of those big waves that will have a lot of disruptive power and lots of opportunities. There are murmurs that mobile apps may make web irrelevant. I don’t believe that it will happen in the near term (next 3-5 years).
Mobile computing gives rise to App Economy and there are lots of interesting technologies to watch in this space. Mobile may also bring new life to Sensor networking and accelerate the movement towards the Internet of Things.
Internet of Things
One of the best starting point is this article from Read Write Web on Tim O’Reilly Explains the Internet of Things
My interest in Internet of Things is related to the work I do at Innovation Cell (at KCG Tech). It is one of those areas where students can work on different autonomous projects with a broad theme and a big picture.
Learning Technologies
Most of my work with colleges is focused on improving innovation and learning. With the advent of Touch Computing and a variety of devices it spawns, there are lots of opportunities for innovations in both learning and teaching. The best way to build these technologies is the iterative model. Build a bit, let students and teachers use these technologies and iterate. I can’t think of a better way to innovate than letting students come up with ideas for these tools, build them and improve their learning and improve the tools.
Robotics
Of all the topics I listed, Robotics is the one, about which I know the least. My interest is very specific to building small teaching/learning robots for children. I feel that these inexpensive devices can impact education a lot, especially in rural areas. I am coaxing a few students to work on these. I will come back and report about these explorations as we learn from them.
As I learn about each one of these topics and my knowledge about each increases, I will come back and share my learning with you.
Meta:
Cross posted from my Tech Blog