Make sure you read: BLACK FRIDAY VERSUS CYBER

MONDAY

THE FALL SEMESTER WAS ONLY THE BEGINNING

BLOGGER PENELOPE TRUNK

BIOMIMICRY

UPCOMING EVENTS

BLACK FRIDAY VERSUS CYBER MONDAY

1

BIOMIMICRY: INNOVATION IN TECHNOLOGY AND NATURE

3

WHY YOU ALREADY KNOW WHAT TO DO NEXT

4

KEEPING IT REAL: STUDENTS GIVE BACK THROUGH SER-VICE LEARNING

5

THE FALL SEMESTER WAS ONLY THE BEGINNING

6

THE EAGLE TRAIL: TAKE A STEP BACK

7

UPCOMING EVENTS 8

This month in ITSO:

December 2009 Volume 3, Issue 4

M A R Q U E T T E U N I V E R S I T Y

ITSO GOOD

Previous speakers presentations are available http://www.mu.edu/~owt/mana124.html

Black Friday Versus Cyber Monday Call it Black Friday, post-Thanksgiving sales, or even mass hysteriaeveryone will recognize the day. Stories of elderly women being trampled and guns being drawn make Black Friday sound more like a bloody mle than a happy shopping day. Since I have never truly immersed myself in the infamous deal-grabbing ritual, I decided that, being a frugal and fiscally responsible college student, this year I would give it a shot. After experiencing the traditional post-feast food coma, I decided to plan out my early morning expedition. My mother tossed me a newspaper full of ads, but I thought better to check the Internet for some tactical planning. While websites such as Dealnews.com publish a Black Friday strategy guide containing the best deals and tips to snatch up low prices, user-driven forums like Fatwallet.com compile up-to-the-minute deals for different groups of con-sumer products. I stuck to the forums of Fatwallet to get veteran shopper opinions on what deals would be flops and which deals would be steals. After thinning out my list, I decided to shop for a grill, a 1-TB hard drive and an SD-card for my digital camera. Armed with a battle plan, I set my sights on a local brick-and-mortar Target. Determined to make the best of an ob-scenely early morning, I headed out to wait in line at Target nearly an hour be-

fore the 5:00 a.m. door opening. When 5:00 a.m. hit, I wasnt sure what to expect.

Being in the middle of the pack, I darted through the doors and made a dash to-wards the kitchen area to find my grill, thinking it was the better deal of the three. Something strange happened though - when I walked toward the elec-tronics department the entire crowd fol-lowed. While I picked up my SD card and hard drive without much conflict, and I went to check out, each and every per-son I saw had a cart full of electronics. Mothers, fathers, and even the elderly had copies of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, digital cameras, and HDTVs filling their carts. I was hardly surprisedstores seem to offer greater discounts on electronics each year. I bided my time until the next deal dayCyber Monday. Cyber Mon-day is a neologism for the Black Friday of online shopping. While it is not the biggest cyber shopping day of the year (that day is reserved for December 12th), many online retailers such as Ama-zon.com are claiming the day as their own holiday cyber shopping kick-off. After already buying my fill, I decided to pass on Cyber Monday, but I was still curious about the cyber retail giant Ama-zon would offer.

(cont. on p. 2)

ITSO GOOD

Page 2

After waking up to at least fifteen Cyber Monday related emails, I took a peak at Amazons site. They offered all-day deals; one highlight included a heavily discounted previous generation iPod Touch. Amazon also offered upcoming mystery deals and upcoming deals, in which sales were timed and users were given a time when the deal would begin. Most interesting to me were the lightning deals, in which products were heavily discounted (sometimes up to 90%) for a very short period of time or until stock ran out. After the stores were stocked out and the deals were done, I was curious about the damage my fellow consumers and I did. According to CNN Money, results were disappointing for retailers, with Black Friday brick-and-mortar sales down 1% compared to the previous year decrease of 3.4%. However, on a more promising note, the number of shoppers out and about increased by approximately six million, from 128 million to 134 mil-lion. Cyber Monday sales seemed much more encouraging, according to CNN Money. An amazing 4.3 million shoppers per min-ute visited various consumer sites, spend-ing more than 14% more than last years Cyber Monday sales. And with a de-crease in Black Friday sales for the sec-ond consecutive year, and Cyber Mon-day sales showing prom-ise, its no sur-prise that re-tailers are looking for more methods to reach con-sumers during the holiday season.

Many retailers are looking to-wards yet another shopping holiday, called Mobile Tues-day. Being that the Tuesday after Thanksgiving is a particu-larly slow shopping day, a mo-bile marketing company called Mobigosee is launching an ad campaign in which coupons are sent to consumers who sign up sent via text message. Similar to an online banner ad, the provider is only paid if the offer is redeemed. Nearly 18,000 fellow shoppers have signed up to extend the unoffi-cial deal season by one more day. Con-sidering this holiday season is the inaugu-

ral year for Mobile Tues-day, its hard to know if the day will thrive or fizzle. Regard-less of the re-sult, it is clear that the retail world is dying to connect us in every possible way that they can. The advent of

Mobile Tuesday and the proliferation of Cyber Monday could certainly cut down the bottom line for companies in addition to the aforementioned top-line growth. The cost of designing, producing, and distributing the heaping amount of paper ads must be astronomical. By embracing the E-commerce side of the shopping season, organizations could cut costs by

simply sending out emails rather than paper ads. With solely email ads, the environmental benefits are ex-tensive. One has to wonder about the amount of trees downed for the sole purpose

of a shopping day. With the rapid growth of Cyber Monday and the emergence of Mobile Tuesday, Black Friday seems like a relic of the pastan established tradition that is as essential to the holiday season as cookies and eggnog. As online retailers perfect the Cyber Monday experience, it may leave Black Friday in the same closet as your ugly Christmas sweater. If Mobile Tuesday takes off, that iconic image of children peering into a toy store window could turn into children huddled around an iPhone running an Amazon.com app. And whats nextPager Wednesday? We can only imagine. ~ Eric Wendorff

Black Friday (cont.)

Did you know that you can post job openings in muitso.org? http://www.muitso.org/

jobs.html

Volume 3, Issue 4

Page 3

I've heard creativity and innovation described in many ways. One of my favorites is to apply existing solutions in new areas. This occurs frequently in technology as innovators find new uses for technology beyond what it was designed for. Building on this trend, some companies have started to apply nature's solutions to address their problems. And why not?Solutions in nature have been perfected by millions of years of evolution. Nature has created many solutions to problems, now it is up to us to apply nature's solutions to the problems we face and the problems we've created. One company that is doing this is Sharklet Technologies. Tony Brennan was researching how to keep barnacles from sticking to ship hulls when he recalled that sharkskin has a unique ability to resist microbes. He then came up with the idea to produce thin sheets of plastic imprinted with a raised, sharkskin-like pattern. The company is now selling SharkLet SafeTouchTM to hospitals to be adhered to germ-prone surfaces to prevent bacteria from settling for up to 30 days, keeping hospitals cleaner and safer. Sharklet Technologies reminded me of a web start-up I learned about a few months ago: AskNature.org. AskNature, a project of the Biomimicry Institute, has the potential to become an invaluable resource as it puts 3.8 billion years of nature's design brilliance at your disposal to help you solve some of your most pressing problems. It is still a young project in beta, but it has enormous potential to grow as it is an open-source project. Biomimicry, in short, is a design discipline that seeks sustainable solutions by emulating natures time-tested patterns and strategies, recognizing that nature

has already solved many of the problems we are grappling with. When you next find yourself making a tough decision, you might want to ask: What would nature do? What would nature do to find a way to make a low-power, electronic display screen? Qualcomm's mirasolTM display technology was engineered by biomimicing one of nature's most remarkable innovationsthe butterfly's wings. The cuticle on the scales of butterfly wings selectively cancel out certain colors through wavelength interference while reflecting others. Qualcomm has created high-performance electronic color displays by actively varying the interspatial distances of light-interacting layers, which can change colors rapidly, remain vibrant under low-light conditions, and require less energy than other electronic display methods. What would nature do to keep your computer from getting too warm when resting in your lap? The Thomson Gazelle's carotid rete, a unique configuration of blood vessels

that allows the Gazelle's brain to stay cool while running up to 50 miles an hour from predators in the heat of the East African savannah, could soon be used to design a better cooling system for computers and electronics. What would nature do to remove the glare or reflection on your monitor

that can make it hard to see what you are doing on your computer? Moths have unique sub-wavelength structures coating their eyes which dramatically minimize light reflection over a much broader range of wavelengths than conventional anti-reflective coatings, allowing them to evade detection by predators in

moonlight and maximize light capture for seeing in the dark. Soon computer screens could use a coating similar to moths' eyes that eliminate the irritating glare and reflection on computer screens in certain settings. These are only a few of the ways that we can use nature to inspire innovative solutions to our problems. However, while using biomimicry, there is one rulewe always must operate within the laws of nature. An example of this is human attempts at flight. Ancients would strap feathers to their arms and flap with all their might, but were not able to fly. It wasn't until we understood the laws of nature that we were able to build airplanes and other objects capable of flight. Once we understand the laws nature, we can do anything we want as long as we operate within them. Just as most of our best ideas don't come to us when we are actively problem-solving or brainstorming, but instead when we are relaxing, some of the most impressive technology in the world has nothing to do with electronics but is instead discovered in the wonders of nature. Even when you get busy with school or work or life, remember to take time to enjoy nature, it might just be the inspiration for your next great idea. ~ Chris Jeske

Biomimicry: Innovation in Technology and Nature

ITSO GOOD

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Why You Already Know What You Should Be Doing Next

Do you want to know what you should do right now? Do you want to know what your best bet is for your next career? Look at what you were doing when you were a kid. Nothing changes when you grow up except that you get clouded vision from thinking about what you SHOULD do to be rich, or successful, or to please your parents or peers the possibilities for should are endless. When I was a kid, my brother and I went to Hebrew school every Tuesday and Thursday. It didn't take me long to real-ize that the classes were absurd. Parents didn't make you do your homework, and teachers just kept teaching the same thing week after week. At some point I realized that all kids would get bar or bat mitzvahs as long as we showed up on a regular basis. So I stopped paying attention. Except for the best class ever. That was the class when my teacher told us to close our books and she described her time in Auschwitz. She talked in a thicker Ger-man accent than usual. And she showed us the number the Nazis tattooed on her arm. I remember every second of her story. The second best day of Hebrew school was when I convinced my younger brother to ditch with me. I had to sell him on the idea: First that we wouldn't get caught. (I had a plan to be back in time so that we could walk to the parking lot with the other kids.) Second I had to convince him that we would have a good

time. (I brought money to buy ice cream at the store five blocks away.) He was really not happy about the idea. He kept telling me that it wasn't so bad to go to Hebrew school and that it was over in an hour, and in that one hour you could ask to go to the bathroom two times. I prevailed. This is what's true about me in my He-brew school story: I have no patience for group learning. I love a good story. I enjoy trying to convince people to see things my way. I'm a risk taker. And all those things are true of me to-day, as well. That's why I think that you can figure out who you are and what you should be doing by telling yourself the stories of your childhood. In fact, in almost every story I can think of, I'm try-ing to convince someone to do things my way. Here's another thing you can do to figure out what you should do with your life: Close your eyes and think of a great memory of childhood Do you have it? In my own, haphazard studies of this test, you can always learn something from the moment you pick. The first time I did this

exercise, I thought of playing in my grandparents' huge front yard. Of course, I was telling all my younger cous-ins what to do. Probably telling them why croquet was a great idea and I was going first. Something like that. But the bigger thing I learn from the story is that I am connected to space and nature and running around. All still true for me now, but it took me years of living in big cities before I could figure that out. It's nearly impossible to eradicate our life of SHOULDS, because we all want to make the right decisions. But I think I could have figured out right decisions for me a lot faster if I had realized how much we reveal about our true selves when we're young. (reprint with permission) Penelope Trunk the author of the book Brazen Careerist: The New Rules for Suc-cess. She is a career columnist and her syndicated column has run in more than 200 publications. Read her blog at http://penelopetrunk.com

Look at what you were doing when you were a kid. Nothing changes when you grow up except that you get clouded vision from

thinking about what you SHOULD do.

Close your eyes and think of a great memory of childhood Do you have it?

Volume 3, Issue 4

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With Christmas upon us and in the spirit of giving, Marquettes Introduction to IT students can officially say theyve given back to their community this semester. The commitment to the Jesuit traditions of faithful service and leadership is exem-plified through Marquettes development of men and women for others, not only during Christmas, but throughout the en-tire year. Service Learning provides an opportunity for Marquette students to utilize the material they learn in the classroom while simultaneously providing some form of aid to their surrounding community. It crosses curriculums and is practiced in all of the various colleges, though the College of Business Admini-strations Service Learning takes on a form of its own.

On the first day of the semester back in early September, Professor Ow informed his classes of the semester-long Service Learning project wed be taking on. We were to divide into groups of five and find an organization for which we could implement a database. The rules? One girl per group, maximum of one IT major per group, and mandatory approval of the organization by Professor Ow him-self, who would assess the complexity of the requirements they set forth for us. And off we went, nearly 100 Sopho-more, Junior, and Senior students on a mission to find real organizations who really needed our help. Some of the

organizations-in-need were provided the Service Learning Program and the rest were sought out by students. Database implementation takes time, money, and skills that many businesses dont have, which is why the project was perfect for us. As we began, no one realized just how large the project was or the chal-lenges it would bring, which is now very evident that the semester has ended. Similarly, none of us realized the amount of experience wed gain or how grateful the organizations would be for our assis-tance as miniature-consultants.

With the needs of our community in mind, we found a multitude of institutions that lacked the organization and technology necessary to build or maintain a com-puter database. Some of these groups included St. Mary Parish School, a Catholic grade school in Meno-monee Falls, Pro-ject RETURN, which helps ex-convicts find em-ployment and housing to pre-vent recidivism, the AIDS Re-source Center of Wisconsin, Knights of Columbus and Pen-tecostal of Wisconsin; all non-profits with inspirational missions but very limited resources. In the case of St. Mary and

Project RETURN, infor-mation had been kept via paper forms filled out by hand and then stored in binders. The manual system did not allow for rollover from year to year, making it hard to search or up-date the information. There was not a system-atic way to compile reports based on the

information provided. After meeting with the organization leaders to find out what they wanted in their respective data-bases, we got to work with our end goals in mind; goals that became clear once we started learning the course material that went with them. As John Thomas, member of one group who worked for St. Mary, said about the project: It used

everything we learned in class and applied it to a real world situation.

We mastered how to create E-R diagrams in SmartDraw and build the database itself from scratch in Microsoft Ac-cess. We yielded phone calls from our organiza-

tions asking for last minute additions, met deadlines for four reports indicative of our progress, and sent hundreds of emails (sometimes per day) back-and-forth between our fellow group mem-bers. Effective communication suddenly became mandatory and all group mem-bers were forced to add to the project in order to complete it on time; this wasnt a group project someone one could get through with minimal input. The Straz computer lab became like a second home and we found ourselves checking our eMarq and D2L accounts for report and database updates more frequently than Facebook. (cont. on. p. 6)

Keeping IT Real: Students Give Back Through Service Learning

While we definitely learned the technical aspects of database implementation, the experiences we gained in communication,

teamwork, leadership and time management greatly outweigh any query, form, or report

Access helped us generate.

ITSO GOOD

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The Fall Semester Was Only The Beginning - A Note From ITSOs President It has been a difficult, but rewarding task to be ITSO president. This past se-mester has come with many challenges, but many opportunities to network and go to speakers such as Xavier Helgesen and Kelly Fitzsimmons. They provided motivation and encouragement to ITSO members and the Marquette Community through discussing entrepreneurship and social causes, which can be achieved through IT. BizNet was a great experience, joining forces with the Organization and Supply Chain Club in early October, to create an occasion for IT and OSCM majors to

meet and network with business profes-sionals on mutual and relaxing terms. Although printing and making so many name tags and resume books was a chal-lenge, with the help of fellow ITSO board members, we were happy to ac-cept since it was for the betterment of our members. I would like to extend a thank you to all my fellow board members who have worked very diligently this past semester, whether it was writing articles for ITSO Good to working on the ITSO website. However, our work has only just begun, and we look forward to an exciting sec-

ond semester with speakers from Google and Ebay as well as our annual Java and Jobs networking event. I wish the IT winter graduates congratu-lations and the best of luck in their future careers. To all underclassmen and May graduates, continue to work hard and embrace what Marquette and the IT department have to offer, including ITSO. We thank the current active mem-bers for your support and participation and hope to see you next semester. En-joy your holiday break! ~ Mary Catherine Smith, ITSO President

Our group had a fairly intricate data-base to create, and with time and a lot of team effort, we were able to produce a streamlining system that should help Project RETURN increase their productiv-ity, said Chris Noorian, a member of one of three groups who worked with Project RETURN. Cesar Belmontes said that the most rewarding aspect of this project was helping the ARCW to im-prove its operations and focus its atten-tion to helping those tragically infected with the AIDS virus. Arthur Orville added that with more time to dedicate to pre-vention; any improvements that we made for the ARCW are potentially lifesaving.

This makes all meetings and sleepless nights worth it.

Because of the time and effort we put into our projects, the results were fantastic and the institu-tions were both im-pressed by and grateful for our professionalism as young business students. While we definitely

learned the technical aspects of data-base implementation, the experiences we gained in communication, teamwork, leadership and time management

greatly outweigh any query, form, or report Access helped us generate. Re-wards from a class are usually seen through the achievement of a good grade, but in the instance of Introduction to IT, the rewards stretched much further. We werent forced to know the material inside-and-out simply for an upcoming exam, but so that we could positively impact our group meetings and the final project for our institutions. The knowl-edge weve gained in correlation with the service weve provided to the Mil-waukee community will not only result in a grade, but also an addition to the to the Relevant Coursework portion of our resume. The best part of it all is that weve given back to the Milwaukee com-munity - a real world setting - and been challenged while doing it.

~ Colleen Osborne and Elise Chapman

Colleen and Elise are currently sophomores that have declared IT as a major. Colleen worked with the St Marys Parish School Project while Elise worked with Project Return.

Service Learning (cont.)

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The Eagle Trail: Take A Step Back Can you believe its already December? It seems like just yesterday that it was Syllabus Day. As Mary Catherine mentioned in her blub, we did a lot this semester and as you can see by our upcoming events, weve got a lot planned for 2010! So this break, when youre away from textbooks, blue books, and late night study sessions at Raynor, take a step back. Realize what you have, what youve accom-plished, and more im-portantly, how youve grown this semester. This past semester wasnt easy for many of us, but one way or another, we got through it together. All those group assign-ments, papers, projects theyre behind us. Some groups worked and some, un-fortunately, did not. Regardless, we all gained experience in the methodology of teams we know what works, what doesnt, and maybe even who to avoid working with next time around. The important thing, in my mind at least, is to take a step back and look at the finished product. If you are truly proud of what you accomplished, then you should feel triumphant. If you wish that you had done things a little differently (I can think of a few projects that fit into this category for me), then think of what

went wrong. Try something different next time, and maybe youll be in the other category. You may not be able to learn something new if you dont first experience failure. We have about one month until classes once again begin, so please make the most of it. Spend some time with your

families and friends who have come home for the break as well. For all you seniors, I can guarantee that things will change after graduation. The job market is a very different world, and no longer will we be part of the seem-ingly safe haven

known as Marquette University. Well have to be stronger, even more deter-mined, and take on the world knowing that our instilled Jesuit values are there to guide us. No matter what religion you are, have faith in your abilities. Have faith in your knowledge, your network, and most importantly, yourselves. Perhaps that, more than anything else, is what we are to walk away with after graduating. We learn basic skills in ele-mentary school, develop them in middle school, and learn the right way to study and gain the knowledge that will en-hance our career opportunities in high school, but we find ourselves in college. We find out who we are, what types of people with which we work best, and what we truly want out of life. That last part isnt so easy especially with pres-sures from family, friends, and economic. points of view. What is important, though, is that we discover ourselves and what we stand for. Our career choices only enhance that. This is the best time to realize who we are, when we have so much experience under our belts and time to reflectbut please dont spend too much time think-

ing about such serious matters. To all the current Marquette students, enjoy your break! To those who have graduated, congratulations. You should be proud of yourselves because it wasnt an easy feat. To the professors of Mar-quette, a sincere thank you. If you dont challenge us, well never succeed. No matter how much we complain, keep pushing us to our limits. Lastly, to the professional partners of ITSO, thank you for all your support this past semester. We wouldnt have such a strong student organization without you, and there are no words that would truly express our gratitude. Please have a wonderful, safe holiday season. ~ Julia K. Smith

Volume 3, Issue 4

Who didnt have a group project this semester?

Look back and recall the times spent with friends both old and new. Theyll be behind

you when you need them.

A special congratulations to Marquette University IT graduates!

Please keep in touch with your fellow ITSO members. We cant wait

to hear your stories of success!

2010

Upcoming Events:

Executive Board (2009-2010) Mary Catherine Smith: President John Knoll: Vice President Julia Smith: VP of Communication & Chief Editor of ITSO...Good John Kendzior: VP of Finance Eric Wendorff: Editor of Publications Chris Jeske: VP of Publicity Lukas Sparks: VP of Website Allison Free: VP of Programs

Suggestions: Do you have any ideas for articles you would like to see in ITSO Good? Write to julia.smith@mu.edu.

Thinking of joining ITSO? Sign up today! Just fill out the online application (see muitso.org) and bring it to the next ITSO meeting along with a $15 check made out to ITSO.

Recruiting Zone: This space is available for job or intern-ship postings. Please contact Julia Smith at julia.smith@mu.edu for more informa-tion.

ITSO GOOD

March (TBA) Guest Speaker: Chad Greene, Ebay, San Jose, CA.

March (TBA) Ronald McDonald House Wauwatosa, Contact allison.free@mu.edu

February 16th Java and Jobs AMU 8 - 10 AM.

Were on the Web! Check out muitso.org

February 11th Guest Speaker Jim Laudon, Head of Google - Madison, WI.

Announcements: ITSO is pleased to announce that Jim Laudon who manages the Google Office in Madison, Wisconsin will be our feature speaker in our next ITSO meeting in the Spring Semester.

Contact terence.ow@mu.edu for more information.

April (TBA) Hunger Clean Up Contact allison.free@mu.edu