January 5, 2015 - Building Automation
by Ken Sinclair
Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) or self-education is the act of teaching oneself about a subject or subjects in which one has had little to no formal education. This word accurately describes the how, why and what we have all self-learned in 2014, and what our focus for 2015 needs to be. As IoT propels our entry into interactive social media as an input and output of our buildings we need to rapidly self-educate ourselves in an area that we all have no formal education.
Of course, this autodidactism is now rapidly spreading to self-learning being part of our devices and cloud-based services. Our survival depends on our ability to embrace and achieve our self-education of this brave new world.
Our authors have done an amazing job of capturing subject matter that we all need to better understand. We hope that this publication and our AutomatedBuildings.com will be part of your autodidactism. I love that this word contains these three words: Auto. Did. Act. This provides us an easy way to remember this unusual word that is becoming our future.
I am looking forward to using this word in encouraging the attendees of our free education sessions at AHRExpo 2015 in Chicago to keep on the self-education theme. Please drop in and join us at these sessions that explore the idea of how the Internet of Things (IoT) is changing building automation.
1. Jan. 26, 9:00 am, at AHRExpo 2015 Chicago: “Growing the Building Automation Industry Younger" with Internet of Things (IoT), open cloud, and collaboration.
A summary with discussion of significant BAS industry changes since the AHRExpo in New York in January 2014. It will include how to keep powerful cloud services open; the impact of new LED lighting systems, complete with their own control networks; plus how to attract new talent to our industry. Will also add insight from AutomatedBuildings.com’s 15 years in the collaboratory with significant events that shaped our industry. Jim Sinopoli, Brad White, and Ken Sinclair discuss these trends and directions that are rapidly changing our industry.
The following articles will provide some insight into this session:
"Standardizing the Internet of Things: Boiling the Ocean" - Jim Sinopoli, PE, LEED AP, Smart Buildings LLC.
"Knowledge Sharing to Drive Learning." If you can hire good people, train them well, and ensure they continue to learn throughout their career then we will see our whole industry, from the operators to the engineers, achieve the potential we all know is there. - Brad White, P.Eng, MASc, Principal, SES Consulting, Inc.
2. Jan. 26, 1:30 pm, at AHRExpo 2015 Chicago: “Addressing the Skills Gap.” Understanding that people are our only asset.
To help grow our only true resource, our people, younger, by reaching out to youth with messages about our vibrant, vital, and rewarding industry. Organizations need to attract talent before they graduate; whether working on a two or four year degree, students need to be introduced to this field early on. Through internship programs, they can gain an understanding of the field and whether this is right for them. The knowledge shift required for the IoT will be discussed.
Paul Oswald Environmental Systems, Inc., Jim Sinopoli, our contributing editor, and Ken Sinclair will discuss the problems and skills needed to address the skills gap.
The following article will provide some insight into this session:
"Addressing The Skills Gap." It’s time we as industry begin to focus our efforts on investing in the people necessary to properly apply all the great technology we have in order to deliver quality solutions that provide real value to end users. - Paul Oswald, President, Environmental Systems, Inc (ESI)
