Research, Surveys & Forecasts


Seeking Systemic Change: Higher Education in a Digital, Networked Age

Campus Technology 2012 keynote George Siemens says, "The changing way we create and share knowledge is at the core of what's driving education. It's not the fact that we have mobiles and the Web that requires education to change, but rather that we are using these technologies to begin circumventing existing knowledge processes. And what we do with knowledge determines the types of institutions we need." Here, Campus Technology asked Siemens for his perspectives on the groundswell of change apparent in higher education.

Linux Leads Server Growth

While worldwide expenditures on server hardware declined in the first quarter, physical server unit shipments actually increased, led by double-digit growth in Linux-based systems. HP, IBM, and Dell were the dominant players, according to two reports released in the last week.

MIT Launches Big Data Initiative, Becomes Home to Intel Science and Technology Center

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) will be home to the Intel Science and Technology Center (ISTC) for Big Data. CSAIL will also launch a new initiative called bigdata@CSAIL to study "data collections that are too big, growing too fast, or are too complex for existing information technology systems to handle," according to information released by the school.

World Science Festival 'Innovation Square' Showcases Science and Technology Research

Children and adults get to test drive the latest innovations in robotics, multiplayer gaming, and education technology at this year's World Science Festival.

Intel To Invest $40 Million in Global Research Communities

Intel will invest more than $40 million over the next five years to launch a network of research communities, dubbed Intel Collaborative Research Institutes, in partnership with universities around the world.



Report: Digital Use Up Among College Students

A survey conducted by CourseSmart and fielded by Wakefield Research has found significant use of technology and social media by college students.

Caltech Borrows NASAs GALEX To Continue Study of Galaxies

The California Institute of Technology has signed a first-of-its-kind agreement to borrow NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer and continue the satellite's mission using private university funds.

SIIA 2012 Ed Tech Survey Deadline Nears

The Software & Information Industry Association is calling on educators to participate in its 2012 Vision K-20 Survey, part of the SIIA's Vision K-20 initiative that focuses on developing a technology-based educational framework for K-12 schools, colleges, and universities.

Researchers Add Sound-Based Gesture Recognition to Commodity Computer

A small team of Microsoft and University of Washington researchers are developing a technology that will allow ordinary computers--and eventually mobile devices--to detect gestures and motions in order to control them. SoundWave, as it's called, uses the speaker and microphone already built into most computers to sense in-air actions, such as a wave of the hand to specify an action like, "scroll the screen up" or "scroll it down."

iPad Drives Tablet Growth While Android Tablets Slump

Worldwide shipments of tablets increased significantly in the first quarter of 2012, driven by strong sales of Apple's iPad. But owing to a slump in Android tablet sales, overall growth was weaker than expected. Meanwhile, on the smart phone front, Apple dropped to second place as Samsung more than tripled its unit shipments in the quarter to land in the top slot.