In an effort to help keep students connected to the fast-paced technological world, BYU-Hawaii's School of Computing invited Ivan Lumala, a Microsoft corporate representative, to inform students of some exciting internet developments. While doing so, Lumala explained the advantages of Web 2.0 and introduced one of Microsoft's latest innovations.
"It [the Internet] is changing somebody's life, it is enhancing one's experience, and that is what people are after," he said.
Lumala's first point of recent discussion touched on Web 2.0 technology, "a blend of ideas…shaping next-generation Internet services and business plans." The service allows users to create a Website containing a collection of Web services, package it, and make it available for other people to use, he said. He also stated that Facebook and Kayak are examples of sites utilizing Web 2.0, or the "blend of ideas and technologies shaping next-generation Internet services and business plans." Web 2.0 is the Internet, advancing and changing, Lumala explained. For more information about Web 2.0, click here.
Next, Lumala introduced BYU-Hawaii students to one of Microsoft's newest Web sites, Popfly. "Popfly is a web experience that makes it possible for people, ordinary people, to actually create experiences using components that are out there on the Web that other people have built and then come up with an experience which goes beyond what Microsoft had planned in the first place." On Popfly, one can do everything from creating a blog and webpage, to seeing any point on earth from a satellite. Microsoft is hopeful that Popfly will create some serious competition for Google, according to Lumala.
In 2007, Popfly was recognized by PC World as one of the top 25 new technologies for its many services and creative programming. The relative simplicity of the ‘new technology' created excitement and interest among some students. "I really liked seeing how Popfly worked! I thought it was interesting, making a new application of your own out of other people's stuff. You don't have to do all of the nasty core programming for it, that's really cool!" said Scott Milbury, president of BYU-Hawaii's Upsilon Pi Epsilon (UPE) chapter on campus.
BYU-Hawaii's School of Computing showed their appreciation of Lumala's visit by making him an honorary member of the BYU-Hawaii chapter of Upsilon Pi Epsilon, the international honor society in the computing and information sciences. Ivan Lumala's enthusiasm for the topic connected to the students, as he gave them the information to help them connect with the rest of the world.