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Opinion
It's Not Easy Being Red
6/7/2007
Smart Dust concept that I've written a few times about. Only in this case, instead of scattered dust-like particles, we have scattered human beings with sensor-packed cell phones.Picture being able to scatter hundreds of tiny sensors around a building to monitor temperature or humidity. Or deploying, like pixie dust, a network of minuscule, remote sensor chips to track enemy movements in a military operation.
Now, if you're like me you find this kind of stuff so exciting that, reading about it, you might be quivering like a dog waiting for its human to release the Frisbee. However, everyone is not like me.
A few weeks ago my office held its annual retreat. The primary exercise involved staff members receiving and then exchanging small cards with statements about themselves. Once we each had time to exchange the cards to get ones that we felt described us, we were told that the colors of the cards had something to do with grouping us in four different categories that relate to working styles. It's likely that you've done something like this before. There are a variety of different such systems out there.
To no one's surprise, in this system I am a "Green." I like to start things, not finish them; I value creativity and innovation over order. When we staffers gathered by colors in the four corners of the space we were in, we Green Folk were diametrically opposed to the Red Folk. In my own personal interpretation of all this, the Red Folk are the people who have to spend time trying to keep Green Folk somewhat under control. You know: Have you turned in your credit card receipts yet? Are you up to date on your time tracking.
Poor Red Folk! How can they even read the newspaper or browse websites? Every day brings new revelations of how more and more information is getting free and out of anyone's control. I recall one Red Person I worked with years ago who was so outraged that the was speechless for minutes and minutes the first time that I showed her that it was possible to get a--at that time quite fuzzy--view of the roof of her house.
Of course I am being a bit specious here, looking at people through only one of many filters. When it comes to their personal information, Red People definitely want to control others from having the information. On the other hand, the Red Folk/Green Folk categorization is often a matter of context, and I suspect that many campus-based environmental health and safety people staff are certainly Red Folk in their jobs. (I'm not just guessing about that; one of the many lists I am on is for those people and they definitely have a red streak.) Imagine their delight if they could have all of the patients, students, staff, and faculty in a large teaching and research medical facility carry these "Cell-All" devices!
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