Information Technology in a Global Society

Communications: A Primer

Help me try out a new Let’s get warmed up for the new year. In order to participate in this exercise, you must create a login. In order for me to monitor who did the exercise, and how well you did, I would like you to use your BSGE login as your username.  Thank you. Madeline

As we study databases this term, the question of reliability and privacy will be  major issues.  Many databases, such as traffic violations and criminal recoreds are just a click away.

 ”Once upon a time, people in search of this data had to hire private investigators to navigate byzantine courthouses and rudimentary filing or computer systems, and to deal with often grim-faced legal clerks” 

-Brad Stone NYTimes 8/3/08

How would you feel if your name was mistakenly in an online criminal database? 

 ”Thousands taking the New York State Bar Examination this week are using their laptops for the essay portion. But not Mac users. The exam software does not run on their machines.” –April Dembosky Link to the NY Times

The issue about the Mac access is less important than other problems this article raises. Recommended article for portfolio.  Please remember, you must have proposal approved before proceeding on portfolio writing. (See posting on Portfolio Articles: Intro)

 ”A faulty encryption device caused the widespread breakdowns of MetroCard vending machines on Monday and Tuesday, New York City Transit officials said.” -Ray Rivera, Link to the NY Times

Recommended article for portfolio.  Please remember, you must have proposal approved before proceeding on portfolio writing. (See posting on Portfolio Articles: Intro)

This year, BSGE students of ITGS must submit portfolio proposals before embarking on portfolio writing. Proposals will be returned within one week and marked accordingliny:

• NOT-approved (you need to find a new article)
• NOT-approved (proposal is in need of further development–please resubmit)
• APPROVED

ITGS students need to be searching for their own articles. But, last year I think one of the problems students encountered with writing could  have been prevented by better article selection. So, when I find an IT article that is clearly a good choice for further investigation as a portfolio item, I’ll post it here. See the following protocols for postings that will help you find these articles easily.Protocols for Posting:

• Subject line starts with:  Portfolio Articles: 
• Category: portfolio.
• Tag: portfolio

The name of this article is 9/11: Birth of the Blog

The author is Robert Andrews

“When the world changed on Sept. 11, 2001, the web changed with it.

While phone networks and big news sites struggled to cope with heavy traffic, many survivors and spectators turned to online journals to share feelings, get information or detail their whereabouts. It was raw, emotional and new — and many commentators now remember it as a key moment in the birth of the blog.

When four planes were hijacked on a sunny fall morning, easy-to-use blogging services were still few and far between. Yet many who witnessed the horror of the attacks firsthand took to the keyboard to talk with the world.

Horrified Americans used e-mail, instant messages, any available communication tool. But weblogs meant large audiences, not just friends and family, could read those stories from the scene.”

This article spoke about Grassroots video and its influence through new media such as podcasts or on a larger scale  - the web.  Using the media is faster than the paper- here this article talks about how from the first hits of the plane in the building people were using the internet to spread the news. This type of power that the internet has- is it really something that has become too much or a freedom. Grassroot video is determined to now post their controversial films in the internet to have the same influence as the interent does whenever someone posts something up for ALL to see. This way there is a 100% chance of their voice getting heard and  opinions getting across to those who would normally not recieve the important messages they have to say. 

“Privacy experts say the case treads the line legally but crosses it morally.” Anick Jesdanun

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14791788/

Looking at that quote alone probably does not spark much excitement or awe, at the very least it leads an uncaring response. But now add to it that a man on Craigslist, was able to gather vulnerable information of fellow Craigslist users, and exploit them in imaginable ways to the public. What Jason Fortuny did was more than immoral, and I find it unfair that the government is becoming unable to keep their grips on protection of the people, and consequences for those who violate that anonymity. It seems unfair that a man can exploit a number of human beings, and take their personal information (including sexually explicit photographs) and show it to the rest of the world. It’s scary that these new It systems are forcing law enforcers to have less authority over the public. Clear social and ethical issues include privacy and anonymity of users, and people and machines. When is enough, enough? Is technology going to surpass man kind so that our own government does not have authority over our own innactions? I hope not.

“From Prince Harry in Afghanistan to Tom Cruise ranting about Scientology and footage from the Burmese uprising, blogging has never been bigger. It can help elect presidents and take down attorney generals while simultaneously celebrating the minutiae of our everyday obsessions. Here are the 50 best reasons to log on…” http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/mar/09/blogs 

This was an interesting news article/advice article posted on the guardian.co.uk website. It was an article called, “The world’s 50 most powerful blogs” and indeed, it gave a brief summary of blogs that seemed to be quite powerful. I first took interest in this article because it spoke about what makes people want to read blogs, something that all of us belonging to his blogspace would like to know!

Some of the things that I noticed in all of the blog descriptions were that people love to respond to blogs that ask for their opinions. Blogs such as “The Huffington Post” allowed readers to feel as if they had the power to provoke action, something that we know always works to motivate. Another podcast, “Techcrunch” presented people with the ability to bid, or invest on online sales. This is another way to make people feel like they are needed. 

 Nonetheless, I have decided that blogs are best when they provoke the opinions of the people. Furthermore, I have noticed that blogs that present surveys or questionnaires whose results will go to a good cause (such as a project, or to prove a point that a blogger agrees with), most always get a response. Thus, these are things to pay attention to bloggers! 

” The site, set to launch Tuesday, wants to help politicians and voters talk to one another, increase political participation, empower grassroots movements — all the while making money, said co-founder David Chiu.

“The commitment is to improving democracy,” said former White House spokesman Mike McCurry, one of Grassroots’ high-profile advisers. ” - Lakshmi Chaudhry

I am going to participate in creating a wiki with people that I do not know and have never ever met or seen before. What we are going to be working on is the topic of GRV, or Grassroots video. This article I have chosen is about a development that is recently happened in this topic, now there is a website created for people to go to and view political issues that are controversial and the viewer, visitng the website now has the power to send a letter, create a group, or sign a petition from the chair in their bedroom, or the desk at work. With this website those activists out there that do not usually get involved or participate in rallies against injustices within or out this country can now take participate is productive activitism and that it truly what the purpose of GRV is in my opinion after reading the article, in fact, the website is refered to in the article as  an improvement in democracy.