A recent ENR headline caught my attention: “Structural Engineers Learn Lessons From Failures Through Digital Databases.” The article by Nadine Post discussed a new digital database—similar to YouTube, SharePoint and Wikipedia—being developed by structural engineers to “harness knowledge” to avoid future loses.  

As noted in Post’s article, “[w]ith global engineering research, knowledge and failure

Last year around this time, I blogged about a new report indicating that half of the construction industry was using building information modeling (BIM) on their projects.  Last week, the BIM community lit up in response to an article by Nadine Post, which was featured in both Engineering News-Record and Architectural Record.

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Earlier today, outgoing Governor Phil Bredesen spoke at the final 2010 membership lunch of the Exchange Club of Nashville.  Bredesen addressed numerous successes over the past eight years as governor, including conservation efforts to set aside 350,000 acres of land in Tennessee, economic development opportunities such as landing a new Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga

Two weeks ago I attended the Mobile Healthcare Technology Summit sponsored by Smith Seckman Reid, Inc.  in Nashville, Tennessee.  The healthcare industry is one of the most regulated ones in the nation, which can present some special challenges for design and construction. 

Although the summit focused on mobile technologies in the healthcare industry, I walked away

I am involved in the ABA Forum on the Construction Industry’s initiatives to bring various social media to the forefront of our group’s marketing and development activities. This past week, leadership asked us to develop and draft a “best practices protocol” for our work on this issue. After reviewing our charge, I am more and