Technology Navigator: A tool for zoning in

Technology Navigator is an online tool, developed by IEEE volunteers, which enables students, faculty and professionals in engineering and the sciences to discover engineering content and events relevant to them, including conferences, publications, standards, and published articles. Tags and related tags, often based on a shared “market language,” are filtered across multiple disciplines and industry sectors. This provides “contextualized discovery” for users to chart their path through the overwhelming amount of resources available through IEEE Xplore. For experienced professionals and volunteers, the Technology Navigator tool is useful in discovering gaps and convergences in areas of interest, which were previously hidden in discipline silos. It also points out opportunities for collaboration in emerging and expanding areas. This paper examines the rationale for this tool and its usefulness to students and faculty in light of ABET 2000 engineering accreditation requirements. It also focuses on the challenges data population and maintenance by IEEE volunteers.