Armed with Science | Tag Archive

STAR-TIDES, a Medium for Public-private Cooperation During Humanitarian Emergencies

Filed under Technology by Carla Voorhees on November 22, 2011 at 1:55 pm {no comments}

Van Barker is an intern for the STAR-TIDES (Sharing to Accelerate Research-Transformative Innovation for Development and Emergency Support) research project at the National Defense University. Van is sophomore at Georgetown University in the School of Foreign Service.

Vinay Gupta probably did not expect to serve as an inspiration for a DoD research project. As a programmer, master of Nepalese magic, editorial staff-member at the Rocky Mountain Institute and, most recently, the founder of the Hexayurt Project – where he promotes easy-to-assemble shelters for disaster-stricken communities – Vinay’s background doesn’t smack of a strong connection with the U.S. defense community. Regardless, in his work with Hexayurt, he has approached disaster-relief with a “6 Ways to Die” model, which argues that humanitarian aid is most effective when targeted at the 6 top causes of human death: extreme heat, cold, thirst, hunger, illness, and injury. Little did he anticipate that it would help inspire the STAR-TIDES project (Sharing to Accelerate Research, Transformative Innovation for Development and Emergency Support) at the National Defense University, and guide our efforts to assemble a searchable database of low-cost, sustainable technologies for a variety of missions.

Photo of hexayurt from TIDES' 2010 Technology Demo at Fort Lesley J. McNair (Photo by Lou Elin Dwyer)

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National Defense University Press Launches Online Scavenger Hunt

Filed under Challenge, Education & Culture by Armed with Science on December 14, 2010 at 11:21 am {one comment}

Joey Seich is the Internet Publications Editor at the National Defense University Press (NDU Press), located in Washington, DC. NDU Press leads the National Defense University Enterprise in publishing and disseminating vital and complex defense and national security scholarship in a variety of media to inform and influence defense and policy decisionmakers, as well as the joint professional military education community and interested public.

“I want to do a holiday scavenger hunt,” I stated matter-of-factly to my boss over coffee. It was 8 A.M. Monday morning in October. My boss laughed; I didn’t.

He quickly realized I was serious and I went on to explain, “I want to do a holiday scavenger hunt on our Web site. I want to hide holiday graphics across the site. A company did it at a conference I went to and it increased their web traffic by over 600%. I want to try it.”

“You do realize we work for the Department of Defense?” he questioned. I nodded. He shook his head knowing I wouldn’t drop the idea, “Put together a proposal, we’ll take it to the Director.” I quickly agreed.

Fast forward two months and the proposal had somehow made it through the Director, Legal, and the Front Office. I was still in shock when the paperwork landed on my desk: APPROVED.

Now December, NDU Press is launching a Holiday Scavenger Hunt.

The scavenger hunt occurs in two phases. The first phase kicks off Tuesday, December 14 at 12 p.m. from our NDU Press Facebook page. This part of the contest is modeled after the Social Media Scavenger Hunt that the National Archives hosted back in April. On each site, there will be a KEYWORD and a clue leading the user to the next site in the hunt. The first 10 people to send all the keywords in the right order to a provided e-mail address will win a prize. This part of the contest will conclude at 12 p.m. on Thursday, December 16.

The second part of the contest will take place over 10 days. During this part of the Scavenger Hunt, virtual “easter eggs” will be hidden throughout the NDU Press Web site. Some easter eggs will only be viewable from specific browsers, adding to the challenge. Other easter eggs will highlight experimental CSS techniques pioneered by developers such as Andy Clarke and Eric Meyer. Those participants that find an easter egg will win a prize.

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Educate, Inform, Connect: A Success Story

Filed under Cyber Security, Education & Culture, Technology by John Ohab on June 10, 2010 at 8:55 pm {one comment}

Brenda Roth is the Assistant Dean for Curriculum at the NDU iCollege located at Ft. McNair in Washington, D.C.

Colleges and Universities routinely sponsor events like symposia, colloquia, seminars, and conferences. These events create environments where like-minded individuals come together to discuss topics, issues, and problems and collectively work together for greater understanding and problem-solving. Almost everyone likes to attend these events with their keynote speakers, breakout sessions, and bottomless cups of coffee. This is education and networking on a grand scale. But symposia must have a return on investment (ROI) for the sponsoring organization in order for the events to have value.

In 2008, the National Defense University’s Information Resources Management College (NDU iCollege) celebrated its 20th anniversary by creating a series of Information Leader Symposia for the purpose of bringing together diverse groups of government leaders to solve mutual problems and connect in creative and meaningful ways. The topics for 2008 included Cybersecurity, Privacy, and Government 2.0, and in 2009, the College hosted a Cloud Computing Conference keynoted by Vivek Kundra, the first Federal Government Chief Information Officer. All of these events were highly successful and they highlighted the College’s educational goals of crossing boundaries, building communities and transforming organizations.

In 2010, the iCollege took it to an entirely new level by planning and hosting several international regional symposia with the first being offered in Singapore, July 13-14, 2010, at the Shangri-La Hotel. The event, Regional Collaboration in Cybersecurity: Securing the Cloud, Web, and Virtual Networks, brings together key components of today’s technology while answering the challenge of information security. (more…)

Podcast #9: Social Software and Security

Filed under Podcast, Technology by John Ohab on April 1, 2009 at 1:27 pm {no comments}

Dr. Mark Drapeau, Associate Research Fellow at the National Defense University’s Center for Technology and National Security Policy, discusses the role of new social technologies for information sharing within government agencies, and for interacting with outside partners including the public.

Listen to the interview!

Read transcript(pdf)

Visit MarkDrapeau.com
Visit National Defense University’s Center for Technology and National Security Policy

National Defense University Press Launches Online Scavenger Hunt

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