Thursday, May 5, 2011

The Next New Thing

I'm not sure if my idea exists yet or not but I have a good feeling that someone else may be thinking about it.  I would like to see new media and technology used to improve healthcare.
I'm thinking about an implant of sorts that can be used to monitor mood changes in individuals with emotional disorders.  The implant will track real-time changes in hormone levels and deliver said data to a remote monitoring center.  Medical professionals at the monitoring center can then trigger nanobots that counteract the hormonal imbalance bringing the affected individual to homeostasis.  This can prevent an individual from acting out any of many ill thoughts like hurting themselves or others. 
This implant, which enables the remote monitoring of patients can create a better quality of life for these unfortunate members of society. 
Imagine taking it one step further and having these implants placed in patients that suffer from other chronic diseases.  Let's take patients that are suffering from different forms of cancers.  These implants along with nano-technology can be used to control a metastasizing cancer and help prevent any further spreading of the disease, adding time to the lives of people with terminal illnesses.
Providing remote healthcare is only the beginning.  As the technology advances, it can be used to heal injuries rapidly and diagnose diseases at very early stages.
This use of technology and our ever connected interwebs, does not seem too far fetched.  Slightly fantastical, but very possible nonetheless.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Our Class Wiki - So Far

For our class wiki I will be contributing to two pages, New Media and Social Change and New Media in Music.  I chose these two pages because I find them each particularly interesting.  I have been exploring different ideas for both pages but have not yet settled on anything in particular.  At this time its all brainstorming and collecting information.  I will also be making sure that any existing content is accurate. 
I expect to have all of my material finalized and submitted by the end of next week.  Fingers-crossed that is; with my professional, academic, and family workload I often find myself racing against deadlines.