In July this year EA launched the Applied Internet of Things Engineering Community as a vehicle to facilitate collaboration amongst users and implementers of IoT systems. Membership which is open to all is now over 500 and growing steadily. The community is part of a pilot program and is likely to lead to more online communities within EA as a vehicle for member engagement and service delivery.
The community’s initial focus has been the running of an ambitious program of weekly webinars each Tuesday at 12pm eastern time, on a wide range of IoT related topics to suit IoT experts, developers, adopters and users. The webinars are free to members of EA, ACS, IEEE and IET, and as well as streaming live, are recorded and made available via EA’s web site for later viewing. The webinars have proven popular, with average attendance in excess of 100. Flattering comments have been received from several EA groups, about the wealth of continuing professional development material available.
We have barely scratched the surface of what the community can offer. The online forum, blog and discussion facilities offered by the online platform provide an effective information-sharing and collaboration mechanism, and use of these facilities will increase as community membership grows. Over time, the community will accumulate a substantial body of knowledge accessible online, including a wiki, the webinar library and a wealth of information resources about what is happening with the IoT.
I would like to encourage all EA members to join the community. In particular, we are looking for core members who can assist with running the community. The opportunity exists for those with a passion for the IoT to present one of the weekly webinars. All users can access information on the web site, view webinars and participate in forums and blogs.
Looking to the future, members are also encouraged to provide feedback on the online community concept as a means of engagement; and the use of webinars as a method of delivering CPD.