US Army Utilizes Mobile Tech and Portals for KM
Jan 20th, 2010 | By Gene A. Wright | Category: Breakout Topics, Feature, Information Technology, Innovation, Knowledge Management, TechnologyFrom Government Computer News
Thanks Hugh
Mobile phones are used to access the Army’s portal for soldiers to access information from their Knowledge Online Portal.
“The Army Knowledge Online portal, a repository of online information, distance-learning tools, e-mail and other resources for 2.6 million Army users. The Web-based service is now part of a broader service known as Defense Knowledge Online.”
Mini solar chargers and video goggles are also used.
“Army officials are tapping into the ingenuity of its young workforce and responding to their predisposition for smarter gadgets at the same time by developing an array of Go Mobile devices — new communications and conferencing devices that can fit into a soldier’s pocket while going easy on the service’s pocketbook.”
Sounds like we should all be following in the Army’s footsteps for our firms. What do you think?
IT’S ABOUT TIME!!! As an Army veteran I can tell you first hand the delays to adapt to new technology that the US Army has. Yes, there are some cutting edge technology things that the Army (or any military branch) utilizes, but that only goes to the select few specialized units. I’m especially interested in seeing what they have to offer for distance learning. The fastest way for a service member to get promotion points is for distance learning. However, during the 1990s that wasn’t very easy to do or accessible to all service members. This will be a great way to serve all Army soldiers.
This makes so much sense for companies to implement, especially as more and more employees work from home and don’t get the benefit of traditional work environments. The key here is having all this in one place. Having a device on you when you’re out in the field that can handle email, phone calls, intranet and email would be really handy. I suppose for most of us that’s our cellphone, but perhaps some organizations that are slow to allow cellphone email accounts (like banks) would get on board due to stronger security. I love the idea of having distance learning opportunitities at the ready, too!
Communication is so critical in military operations and the utilization of the technology of today (and technology that the consumer market hasn’t seen yet) gives the US quite an advantage against some enemies. Imagine sweeping a village occupied by an unknown amount of enemy combatants without the ability to communicate with your intelligence sources, your commanders, and your team? Impossible.
Now soldiers can communicate verbally or through email, send data files, take pics, command, control UAV’s, etc with one handy gadget.
This should prove to be most interesting. Knowledge is power, and the smarter your average soldier, the more equipped your force is to deal with any situation. Having served in the Marines, I doubt many of these technologies will be wide spread until the cost to implement them comes down significantly. The equipment I worked on and was used by my unit in OIF was technology from the 1980’s. I think it’s great they have realized the value of technology and that the newer generation has a predisposition/affinity for this technology. I will be sure to be watchful of how they implement these new technologies.
The real question here whether theses communication devices have the security to prevent the data to be misused.
I recently have read some other articles like this, one I thought particularly interesting was that the US Armed Forces was developing iPhone apps. The idea makes sense to me, mostly because its hard/expensive to stay on top when you use proprietary hardware; however, it means that other people have the same hardware. That development seems that it would create a whole new series of security in my mind. I understand that the apps wouldn’t be on the ‘app store’ but either way how can you prevent it from getting out there onto one of the most proliferated devices around.
I’m surprised this Defense Intelligence portal is a new idea. Companies have for years been utilizing portals with mobile access to tap the knowledge of their employees. Without tapping the information from the resources on the ground the strategies developed from the top wouldn’t address many of the issues or take the best strategy possible.
As a veteran army combat medic, this technology would have obviously improved battlefield communication relating to triage, evacuation, you name it. Perhaps the security risk is worth the extra information gained by this new technology.
I believe this would be extremely valuable in improving access to information and communication between army personnel. It would pose a security risk with so much sensitive information in a concentrated place, but there are many benefits here.
I think that this is a great idea! As others have mentioned, this can definitely be used in medical situations, by providing much needed information to medics on the battlefield. Plus, giving them the latest information could definitely save a few of our service people and I’m all for that idea!
I also think that many of our service people put their lives ‘on hold’ while they are contributing to our country and way of life. This may offer one way for them to take one small area and remove the ‘on hold’ situation. They can continue on with their studies, obtaining degrees and certifications while they are doing work in other countries. The military does have resources that are sometimes out of the reach of businesses, but I can see a correlation if this project is successful.
More and more distance learning options are becoming available. Now if we can work out some of the accreditation issues…
Mobile phones have really been showing greater capabilities over the past couple of years. The processing power and user input methods I believe, are one of the main reasons for the increase. Smart phones are actually living up to their name. The devices are actually little computers. It was not that long ago that the power in today’s phones was the cutting edge technology running personal computers.