Established Habits
In prison systems today, the vast majority of operations rely on 20th century paperwork. To this end, Securus Technologies has developed an entirely new line of digital solutions whose facilitation will effectively put an end to most outmoded forms of organization.
But despite this development, and its availability, there are quite a few corrective facilities that have yet to make the change. This is despite the obvious advantage such a change poses. Money is saved, time is saved, inmates are more securely managed and maintained at a positive psychological level through immediate care facilitated digitally—the list goes on. Why not upgrade?
The answer lies in patterns of activity. Any organization, over time, will become entrenched in routine. It’s human nature to gravitate toward repeatable, predictable, “secure” and “safe” modes of conduct rather than focusing on performance enhancement activities. This is the case even when such modes of conduct ultimately put a business—or correctional facility—behind the times.
While correctional facilities have their own difficulties to attend to—namely, upgrading a prison requires a complete inversion of practices, which can be dangerous to cops and inmates—most other businesses don’t have that excuse. An echelon of modernity that is definitely without excuse in this realm is laboratories.
Scientific Breakthroughs Require Cutting Edge Solutions
The nature of science in today’s world definitely has a foothold in technological advancement. Granted, the word “science” basically means “knowledge”, or “to know”. It is a word that describes the act of understanding this clockwork world in which we live.
To that end, science is merely measuring phenomena and determining what that means to humanity as a whole. For example, dropping an apple on the moon and on the Earth demonstrates a different gravitational force. That force can be measured with a simple experiment.
Time the length of fall on Earth, time it on Mars. Measure how far that length is, ensure the object that has fallen is the same. Try this test with a number of objects. By measuring the time differential, you can determine the strength of gravitational force relative to the Earth.
One “gee” is what is described as “Earth-normal”. That’s the default gravitational force we all know and love. Is it the force as averaged throughout the universe? Probably not. However, from this starting point, the moon’s gravitational force is observed to be 1/6th that of Earth. Though science can’t tell what gravity really is, or its abject purpose, through observation truths of existence are revealed.
But it took a spaceship to get to the moon. It took millions of dollars and the concerted efforts of multiple governments. If not for Russia, America likely wouldn’t have jumped into the space race. The same can be said about other countries who followed suit. Technology was a catalyst in determining which country ultimately won the space-race, and for a time at least, the world.
Starting Small
It makes sense to upgrade technology in areas that don’t require complete re-invention of laboratory protocols. A great place to start is with tagging procedures. According to RapidLab.com, mouse tags should be upgraded: “Traditional lab animal tagging techniques, like the standard metal ear tag, are simply inferior to the automated mouse ear tags on the market today.”
Today’s tags consist of a two dimensional barcode “tattoo” that allows you to scan a rat like you scan a can at the supermarket. This saves time, energy, effort, and more. Human error can be diminished, and more experimentation accomplished.
Little measures like these can revitalize your laboratory and give it a scientific edge based in technology. Wherever you can cut out antiquated techniques and replace them with better options, it makes sense to do so.