Free ebook on personal branding and social media for researchers

I finally have my first ebook ready and I am giving it away for free. The ebook is a compilation of articles/ tutorials on online personal branding and using social media for research, which I wrote for the Wolfson Research Exchange, University of Warwick.

Download the ebook in either Microsoft Word or PDF format by clicking the links below:

90KB

916KB

Do not hesitate to contact me if you have any comment or suggestions.

3D Printing

By Malik Arman Morshidi

2D computer printing has been around for quite some time - since 1953 when the first high speed printer was developed by Remington-Rand for use on the Univac computer. Since then, more and more advances have been made in computer printing technology such as dot matrix printers, inkjet printers followed by laser printers. Now 3D printing is set to revolutionize the computer printing technology. This technology is not new and in fact has been around since 2003.

ZPrinter® 650 from ZCorporation®

At the beginning, the cost of a 3D printer was was exorbitantly high with the ability limited to printing monotone and not so smooth 3D objects. As the technology evolved, researchers and engineers are competing to build 3D printers that are fast and can create smooth 3D object surface with the latest feature being able to produce colour in subpart of the 3D object. The latest 3D printers can print virtually any object and not only that, they can print a complete 3D object with internal movable parts, such as bearings, engineering parts and virtually any complex working models in single print operation and in one piece. This means that we can forget about the traditional process of printing the different subparts of a model separately which later will have to be assembled manually. One of the companies in this revolutionary field is the Z Corporation.

Actual 3D models from ZCorporation® website.

3D printing technique is used in the rapid prototyping industry to automatically construct physical objects using additive manufacturing. It starts with a blueprint of a virtual 3D object normally from a computer aided design (CAD) program. An alternative way of producing a virtual 3D object is to scan the object using a 3D scanner, for which the facet (surfaces) of an object being scanned is slowly reconstructed bit-by-bit from the view angles to where the 3D scanner is scanning.

ZScanner® 600 from ZCorporation®

The 3D printer works by successively applying material layer-by-layer . The end product is the exact replica of the virtual 3D object from the CAD drawing.



At the moment, 3D printers are available to be used only in large scale industries. In few years to come, we will soon see 3D printers become available for home use.

Benefits

There are many benefits that can be gained from this technology. In businesses and industries, product prototypes such as shoes, furniture, etc, can be produced almost instantly. Feedbacks from the prototypes can then be used to refine the designs and can be reprinted over and over again, until the product is perfected. In the field of education, subjects such as engineering and architecture can benefit from actual object design visualization for more effective learning process. 3D printing has also attracted great interest in the medical field. Biotechnology firms and academics are actively researching the so called process of organ printing, bio-printing and CAD tissue engineering. Other possible uses of 3D printing include fossil reconstruction in palaeontology, ancient and artefacts replication in archaeology, body parts reconstruction in forensic pathology, and evidence replication in crime scene investigations (CSI).

The processes of reconstruction and replication mentioned above involve the use of 3D scanning. 3D scanning is a non-invasive approach which has lots of benefits. No moulding is required to replicate any physical object. This can be particularly useful for palaeontologists, archaeologists, pathologists, and CSI investigators for which most of the objects they handle are vulnerable to human physical contact.

Issues

Just like the software industries that commonly become the victims of product infringement, same goes to any hardware product with the arrival of 3D printers. Michael Weinberg in his paper “It will be awesome if they don’t screw it up”, talks about intellectual property issues that arise as the result of 3D printers. However, viewing this scenario from a different perspective shows us how this technology could potentially open up more opportunities for innovation and creativity.

The Warwick Rescue Robot Project

A team of engineering students at the University of Warwick is currently developing a rescue robot controlled via Microsoft's Xbox Kinect.

According to reports, the Xbox Kinect is much cheaper and has many advantages as compared to the laser-based equipment which was used to control earlier versions of the robot.

The students are supported and assisted by two PhD students, three University academics and they along with some technicians make up the Warwick Mobile Robotics team. They won the first place and best in class for mobility in the RoboCup Rescue German Open 2010 in Magdeburg, Germany.

The current team is looking forward to retaining the top position in this year's Robocup Rescue German Open 2010/11 as well. They are also working on a second robot along with the Computer Science Department in the University, to programme the autonomous robot.

The Warwick Mobile Robotics team are trying to raise sponsorship for the project so that they can make it to Istanbul for the Robocup Rescue World Championships in July.

3D Technology Research

By Malik Arman Morshidi

3D technology is now becoming an active area of research in recent years. Like it or not, more and more devices, state-of-the-art gadgets are embracing this technology. A good example is the 3D movies.

 While you may think that people might not like the idea of wearing any stupid looking glasses while watching a movie. But, guess what, more and more people are flocking to the cinemas showing 3D movies and even willing to pay more, with probably a single reason, which is to bring the motion pictures’ fantasy closer to reality.

Mimicking Nature

 

All this while, we have enjoyed stereo sound technology. We can see the success of how the sounds from the actual filming scenes are brought into the cinema. Believe it or not, both technologies -the sound system and the 3D technology are based on the research that mimics our own senses namely the pair of ears and eyes. 3D imaging is basically based on the simple idea of how we perceive the real world. By using two cameras and having them arranged just like our eyes, we are going to have a pair of pictures for every scene viewed on a slightly different angle. But the trickiest part is to have them reprojected back into the viewers’ eyes, so that they get the feel of the 3D vision.

My following posts will cover the research on 3D technology and the benefits.

Malik Arman Morshidi is an entrepreneur who loves technology. He is currently researching 3D object tracking at the School of Engineering, University of Warwick, Coventry.

My chapter in an academic book

I am really over the moon. A chapter which I co-wrote with my supervisor has been published in the "Handbook of Research on Digital Media and Advertising: User Generated Content Consumption". It is published by IGI Global and edited by Matthew S. Eastin (University of Texas at Austin, USA); Terry Daugherty (The University of Akron, USA) and Neal M. Burns (University of Texas, Austin, USA).

The Handbook of Research on Digital Media and Advertising: User Generated Content Consumption" bridges the gap between professional and academic perceptions of advertising in new media environments through defining the evolution of consumerism within the context of media change. Containing findings from international experts, this Handbook of Research provides coverage of practical issues related to consumer power shifts, economic issues related to media exposure, and definitions to understand the dynamics involved with consumerism.

The handbook costs $265.00 for the print version on the IGI Global site. However, you can get it slightly cheaper on the Amazon site here in the UK for £150.38 (approx. US$234.878522). Just follow the link below:
Handbook of Research on Digital Media and Advertising: User Generated Content Consumption

Survey Closed and preliminary findings

My online survey collection is now officially closed and right now I am in the process of cleaning and arranging the data.

Here are some preliminary findings:

A total of 491 respondents started the survey. However, only 427 actually completed it. My target was 500 respondents but I guess it will have to do. I am sure the number will go down further as I go through the data to clean it up. For example, one respondent put eBay as his favourite blog.

It is kind of interesting because out of all the respondents, 306 of the respondents or 71.3% were actually ladies. I have to find out why this was the case, though I have some theories why.

Watch this space for more results and also the announcement of the various prize winners.

Data collection woes and unsolicited mails

Like a lot of other people out there, I hate receiving unsolicited emails. unfortunately, this time I am the one that has to send them. This was due to the fact that I still have not reached my targeted number of respondents even after an extension on the deadline (Now's it's the 31st of December 2009. I guess, sometimes in life, you have to do things you hate to achieve your goals or targets.

So for the past week I have been sending out emails to bloggers and blog readers all over the UK via email addresses gleaned form their blogs and elsewhere while cringing every time I press the send button. It was quite risky as well considering that some bloggers can be quite nasty to people and stuff they don't like. I am quite surprised that I have so far received only one email asking me to remove them from the mailing list.

However, I have no choice as my entire PhD research is at stake and I am just hoping that these people would look kindly at this poor PhD student and the fact that this is purely an academic research. Hopefully the holiday spirit will help as well.

Of course there is the fact that a 50p donation will be made to Cancer Research UK for every completed questionnaire plus there's a prize draw for all participants who provide their contact details - an opportunity for you to suggest a donation of £100.00 to a charity of your choice or take the cash prize for yourself (your choice) and 10 other respondents will win Amazon vouchers worth £10 each.

Please feel free to distribute this information to anyone you think may be interested - an email or a mention in your blog would be really appreciated. You can access my online survey here: http://www.surveymk.com//blogs

Thanks and Merry Christmas

Attitude towards blogs - Pilot survey

My doctoral research looks at the factors influencing consumer's attitude towards Blogs and I really need your help.

Right now I am carrying out my pilot study and I would be highly obliged if you could please spend a couple of minutes to complete the online survey.

This survey should take you less than 15 minutes to complete and your answers will be treated as strictly confidential. Please be assured that the data obtained will be used for the purpose of this research only.

Please Click Here to take the survey

If you have any concerns about completing this survey or more generally about my study, you may contact me via email: ahoklah@gmail.com

One lucky winner stands the chance of winning a £10/ Amazon.com voucher.

The winner will be announced here on this blog. He or she will also be contacted by email if provided.

Thanks for your help!

UPDATE

The winner of the £10/ Amazon.co.uk voucher is Tom Monks. He will be contacted by email asap. I used Random.org to pick the winner.

Warwick blogs case study

This a case study of the successful launch of Warwick blogs.

The University of Warwick provides facilities, known as Warwick blogs for all students and staff to set up and publish their own blog. I may be mistaken but as far as I know, the University of Warwick is the only University in the UK that provides such facilities to both students and staff alike. The system was developed by the e-lab, IT Services in the University. They were interested to see how students blog and what they blog about.

This is an amazing initiative and they are also encouraging staff to use it for e-learning purposes. However, I am not really sure how successful that has been as I am not aware of even one lecturer who blogs in the entire Warwick Business School.

Before the service was launched, they carried out focus group studies in February 2004. This was followed by usability studies to ensure that the system was easy to use. They used something called Paper prototype testing, whereby design sketches were used to develop a prototype and evaluated in March 2004. I feel that they got it right as the interface is really user friendly and setting up a blog only takes a couple of minutes.



They finally launched the service accompanied with a publicity campaign using various formats ranging from posters to web banners.

When I last checked there were 5900 blogs with 119095 entries on topics ranging from principles of flight to the Ikea effect.

MarketingSherpa's Landing Page Handbook is AWESOME

MarketingSherpa, a research firm specializing in "what works in marketing", recently launched the 2nd edition of the "Landing Page Handbook: How to Raise Conversions – Data & Design Guidelines" on the 5th of November.



I was quite excited to receive a hard copy of the handbook as it has been three years since they published their first edition of the handbook. The first edition, which was launched in fall of 2004 became a best-seller and literally changed the way online marketers and web designers looked at the impact of landing pages in the success of online campaigns.

For your information, “Landing pages” refer to the pages on your site that visitors land on when they click on a banner ad, link ad, email link or search engine result.

It took me sometime to go through all 273 pages of the book and I have one word to describe it – “AWESOME”.

There are dozens of real case studies along with graphics and statistics. I didn’t count but according to their site, the new edition has a total of 114 sample landing pages. The new edition also has some information about blogs. The information only covers 5 pages but I still found it quite useful – especially the part about email subscription sign-ups. That is something I never even considered.

One feature I especially found interesting was their "eyetracking heatmap" in colour, that shows the high attention zone on a web page.

This book is absolutely invaluable for marketers, web designers, web consultant and SEO practitioners alike.

What do I wish they had included in the handbook?

- More info on blogs
- An index page that would make it easier to search for certain key words.

Other than that, the book was really an eye opener. There are so many small things that is quite obvious but you never thought about. I wish I had come across this book before as I realized the mistakes I had made in the past as a freelance web designer. The book points out simple yet common mistakes we make like not taking into consideration the impact of screen resolution and different browsers – something I learnt through trial and error.

To learn more about the handbook or to purchase a copy, go to: http://www.SherpaStore.com/LandingPageHandbook.html

Thanks Jeanne for sending me a copy.