San Diego Becomes gets Exposure as “Smart” City in National Geographic Documentary

San Diego is being filmed as one of the “World’s Smart Cities” creating international buzz for innovation, craft beers, coastline, parks, and management. The program will be aired internationally on the National Geographic Channel and raises public awareness of the benefits to live, work and invest in San Diego. 

Modern cities are known for their local industries and lifestyles. For example Seattle and coffee, Detroit and cars, and Cancun and vacation are tied together in consumer minds. Once these associations become embedded they will influence consumer impressions in a way that leads to choices and in turn greater economic activity. 

Documentaries not only help solidify those images but also raise awareness of other local industries. San Diego may have great beaches but it also has a budding bio-technology industry that would benefit from greater international exposure. That exposure can lead to greater awareness of local investment opportunities.

San Diego draws mental associations of beaches, military bases, and palm trees but it has much more to offer.  A documentary on the advanced scientific industries in the area, craft beers, and parks adds to that image and creates new information for people to recall when they think about the city.

Consider a person in Europe watching the program that knows little about San Diego but is planning on adding a new investment to their portfolio. After watching documentary on the city and learning about the rapidly growing scientific community they decide to explore promising investment opportunities. 

The same can be said for viewers in Brazil who may be planning their next family vacation. After seeing the images of parks, beaches, craft beers, and restaurants they may just opt make San Diego their next vacation destination. A single thought or feeling stemming from the images leads to purchasing behavior.

Documentaries such as this are only the tip of the iceberg. Once viewing the program people will search out information related to their interests. Typing “San Diego” into Google recalls pages on travel, city government, parks, and hotels. A similar search on “San Diego Investment Opportunities” draws a Hodge Podge of real estate unrelated websites leaving potential investors confused.

Capitalizing on new exposure opportunities requires the ability of people to find the information they need to make decisions that are beneficial to the city. Encouraging greater search engine ranking of San Diego opportunities will rely on public conversation in the form of video, text, websites, music, etc… that draw more visitors and rank higher in search engine rankings. 

As public awareness about the city grows it takes on a form of marketing that can lead not only to additional tourism but also to more investment capital. This all spells growth for the city as that money makes its way into the local hotels, restaurants, start-up businesses, and existing industry clusters. Promoting San Diego promotes our economic opportunities. Getting in the conversation can make all the difference.

Documentary: The Worlds Smart Cities. 8PM, April 25^th, May 2^nd, National Geographic Channel

The Ocean View-San Diego's Beach Culture

Few things offer more tranquility than the blue ocean front and summer warm beaches. San Diego has some of the world's best beaches where Tommy Bahama umbrellas and sandals are part of the natural landscape. La Jolla, Pacific Beach, Ocean Beach, and Imperial Beach offers distinct feel and vibe. Each has their own community built up around the beach culture.

What is the beach culture? Beach culture is very laid back where few things in life seem to matter. Time stops for those in it. Many adherents spend hours in the beaches and parks sitting on the tables, spread out on a blanket, surfing, and eating in many of the local restaurants. It is a culture where one lives in the moment and cares little for the normal motivations in life.

If you spend some time in these communities you come to find that they have distinct groupings of people in the beach enclaves where they live. They often know each other by name and see the same faces beyond 5:00pm when most of the outside beach goes go back home. The locals have their places to eat, bars, and social gatherings that create a beach community.

The majority of beach areas are not particularly fancy and can be a little run down. Old cars, rusty railings, simple housing, counter culture cafes, and whiskey bars. People feel more comfortable in shorts, t-shirts and second hand attire than anything elegant. The streets are lined with VW buses and sun faded Ford escorts. Bikes are locked onto fencing and street signs; an easier mode of transportation.

People flock to these beaches to escape the normal fears and worries of life. As a popular vacation destination San Diego draws approximately 34 million visitors a year (1).  For those people I know in Michigan, San Diego is a vacation mecca they dream about visiting on a regular basis. Attracting a fascination of locals and visitors San Diego beaches are likely to draw visitors for a long time.

Online Education Encourages Stronger Scholarship Cultures

One of the greatest advantages of traditional education is its ability to create knowledge based cultures through face-to-face communication.  It is believed that on-campus social interaction creates norms, values, and expectations that lead people to higher forms of scholarship.  This is not always the case when negative cultural influences restrict the ability of students to be successful.  New research shows that online courses help to enhance the scholastic nature of colleges by countering some of the destructive norms in society that limit intellectual growth.

When people interact and socialize with each other they create social expectations that can either lead to more scholastic behavior or lessen that behavior. For example, cultural norms can encourage greater research and knowledge sharing or it can socially restrict the transference of knowledge. When negative cultures are developed in face-to-face environments they can be extremely difficult to reverse. Online education offers the opportunity to create egalitarian learning networks not based in preconceived notions.

A paper in the International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning discusses how online education with Saudi Arabia female college students not only enhanced their learning but also encouraged positive pro-learning environments (Hamdan, 2014). Online education offers an opportunity for socially restricted individuals to own their education and contribute to their respective bodies of knowledge in a meaningful way.

This issue is not restricted to Saudi Arabia alone and can impact American students as well. Consider how cultural norms may subtly restrict minority students from speaking up in class, become highly educated, or contribute to scientific discovery in a meaningful way. The process of exclusion can occur between genders, in/out groups, people who are different, those who have higher intelligence, minorities and social class.

Online education creates an environment where people can speak freely without all of the subtle cues that leave some with the impression their opinion isn’t worth as much as others. Because of the nature of posting to other students, a natural activity among the younger generation, negative social norms don’t hold as much sway. Professors and students may be completely unaware of the race, religion, gender, or status of the other people in the class unless they self-reveal.

Where people may be naturally dissuaded from engaging in class activities in one setting may actually find themselves thriving in an online environment where they start on equal footing with others. Classmates know students by what they think and post versus their social status. The process of bringing forward various opinions into collaborative learning environments raises the transference of knowledge and the potential for scholarship.

Hamdan, A. (2014). The reciprocal and correlative relationship between learning culture and online education: a case from Saudi Arabia. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 15 (1).

Water Shortage? Simple ways to Save Our Most Precious Asset

Water, the worlds most precious resource is in short supply in San Diego. The prolonged drought has impacted cities and farmers across the region leading to higher costs and loss of crops. As the drought continues each of us has a responsibility to use water more sparingly and make small adjustments that lead to higher conservation rates.

We can all do something that allows us to reduce water consumption. Small savings here and there add up over time and create sustainable patterns of behavior.  Most of the water we use and waste is based on habit and is not really related to necessity. There are a few places that are easy for you to make changes that can have a big impact.

-Shorter Showers: Showers are relaxing and we can spend a half hour or more just letting the water run. It is better to have either a shorter shower or shut the water off between wetting and rinsing.

-Fix Faucets and Running Toilets: Even if there is a small leak the gallons will keep on accumulating. Making sure everything runs properly is necessary.

-Buy Bottled Water: Drinking water is a popular purchase. You can consider purchasing healthy bottled water and cut back on your faucets a little. Most imported water is from other places.

-Use Full Laundry and Dish Loads: Laundry Machines and Dishwashers take a lot of water. Making sure that you are maximizing by filling the machines up saves lots of water.

-Upgrade to More Efficient Products: As you upgrade your appliances work on finding water efficient products. Water efficient products will have increasing appeal so don't be afraid to invest in the new model when timing is right.

Doggie Play Hour at Ocean Beach

Ocean Beach Dog Beach is a place where dogs can roam free to enjoy the water and each other's company. I have gone a couple of times to this beach and it seems that most dogs get along just fine. Owners walk their animals along the water front, throw Frisbee and let them socialize. The amount of different types of dogs may amaze you.

I guess that one of the beauties of dogs is that they are innocent like children. To many people there is hardly a difference between the two. They become part of a family and recreational activities can revolve around these animals. Animal supporters should consider donating to places like the humane society to support the protection of animals. You can donate online HERE.

Is There a Shortage of Online Faculty in Traditional Schools?

Traditional universities are inconspicuously eying online education as a potential way to balance budgets but sometimes find themselves short on faculty that have the skills and abilities to teach in this modality. As traditional universities continue to move courses online they have increasing needs for virtually trained faculty to step into these roles. Online universities are blazing trails in this venue and may provide guidance to brick-and-mortar institutions. 

The online market is big and getting bigger each year. In the fall of 2010 approximately 6.1 million students that comprise 31.3% of all students enrolled in an online course (Allen & Seaman, 2011). This is an increase of 6% in just two years making online education a remarkably fast growing modality. Universities don't have enough qualified faculty to fill this need. 

According to a study in the Journal of Online Learning and Teaching there are four reasons why universities don’t have enough online faculty to meet demand (Lloyd, Byrne, & McCoy, 2012):

-Interpersonal barriers,
-Institutions barriers,
-Training and technology barriers,
-Cost/benefit analysis barriers.

Barriers come in many different forms. Faculty in traditional universities are not excited about online education which seems to dwindle their perceived roles in a university. Universities themselves may not be fully open to online education and grudgingly are accepting its benefits. 

As online education grows and begins to match traditional face-to-face modalities they will need to develop their faculty to take over new rolls. With resistance to change among established universities they will find themselves running against the market putting more pressure on their operations. Training faculty, cooling the rhetoric, and looking toward successful online models will make all the difference.

Allen, I., & Seaman, J. (2011). Going the distance: Online education in the United States, 2011. Babson Park, MA: Babson Survey Research Group and Quahog Research Group. Retrieved from http://www.onlinelearningsurvey.com/reports/goingthedistance.pdf

Lloyd, S. Byrne, M. & McCoy, T. (2012). Faculty-perceived barriers of online education. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 8 (1).

Biotech Firm Shows San Diego How New Products Draw Investment

San Diego’s has added another successful business to its budding biotech hub. Start-up firm aTyr Pharma, Inc. drew over $76 million investment capital from Sofinnova Ventures and another undisclosed entity to develop its drug called Resolaris that helps treat muscular dystrophy (Fikes, 2015). Biotech firms like aTyr help encourage greater investment and employment in the San Diego economy.

Every investment opportunity comes with risk and rewards. Venture capitalists diligently assess whether the risks and rewards are worth investing their hard earned capital.  Risk tolerant investors are more likely to get involved in highly innovative startups (Tian & Wang, 2014). In this case, a single patentable and profitable drug can make or break the firm’s long-term future.  

The ability to have exclusive rights to manufacture an important drug can be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Approval of Resolaris for use and testing in the E.U., U.S. and other markets will add significantly to its value. The risks are lower and potential profit higher for companies that already have approvals.

Cities like San Diego have growing biotech hubs that produce more pharmaceutical start-ups than cities with less developed networks. The knowledge needed to invent and produce new drugs come from clusters of like-minded individuals who work within the local pharmaceutical industry. As they act and interact they innovate new drugs, models, and products.

When new start-ups develop they will draw more investors to the area seeking better opportunities to expand their investment portfolios. Successful start ups rely on existing local knowledge learned from communities that encourage an entrepreneurial spirit. As start ups make their way out of the incubation periods and product tangible products investors flock in maximize profits both helping local businesses as well as expanding employment opportunities.

Fickes, B. (April 1^st, 2015). San Diego biotech raises $76 million. UT San Diego. Retrieved http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/apr/01/atyr-76-million-financing/

Tian, X. & Wang, T. (2014). Tolerance for failure and corporate innovation. Review of Financial Studies, 27 (1).