Kelly's FIT Blog : )

Fluency Milestone 11: The Turing Test

2006-11-19T20:23:00.000-05:00

While I read chapter 23 in Snyder, I didn't achieve my "aha!" moment of the week until the FLAG presentation on Thursday. After re-reading the section on The Turing Test, the concept of whether or not computers could think became somewhat clearer to me. The book's description of the Turing Test made me realize that we are the "judge" when we use a website like turinghub.com. At first, I found it hilarious to ask the computer (or human) stupid questions like "Do you think you're sexy?" After the 14 year old in me got a kick out of the answers I received, I finally decided to take the test again, and attempt to actually judge whether I was talking to a computer or a human being on the other end. Using turinghub.com to perform the Turing Test, I realized that starting out with a simple statement like "Hey there buddy" could help me make this decision rather quickly. Whether or not this works for everyone, it works for me! The answer I received twice in a row by first stating, "Hey there buddy" was "You have my full attention. 'There you go again -- Reagan'" which led me to believe that this was a robot automatically responding to "Hey there buddy." Then again, maybe it's a human who responds to all initial messages that way, it's up to us, the "judge" to make that call!

If we are deceived by the turinghub.com test, it is then said that the computer is intelligent, according to Snyder. Ever since the FLAG presentation on Thursday, I have found myself lured into taking the Turing Test over and over again, as it is highly stimulating. It challenges us to decide whether or not computers are intelligent; if they answer our witty question in a witty way, does that mean we are speaking to a witty human, or perhaps an intelligent, yet witty robot?

Digital Governance Nugget 11: Zune was a bad choice.

2006-11-19T18:59:00.000-05:00

As the holiday season is quickly approaching, the electronics world is busy launching new products in hopes to make a significant profit during this year's season of shopping. Microsoft's response to the ever so popular Apple iPod, Zune, is one of the latest products to be released to the public, hoping to be come the hit "toy" this season. However, it seems like Zune is going to end up being a dud, and Apple will not have to worry about a loss in sales this year.

I was reading a blog posted on InfoWorld.com discussing Zune. Paul Roberts, the writer of the blog, made an inference to Zune becoming the next BOB for the gadget world. For those of us who may not remember BOB, Roberts informs us that in the mid 1990s, BOB was a "disastrous effort to change the whole desktop GUI metaphor to something more cute and family friendly...Bob didn't go over so well and the project, plus its "shoot me in the forehead, please" smiley face logo have become synonymous for ambitious Redmond projects that flopped."

After reading this man's blog, as well as some of the comments left by other readers, most of whom regret purchasing Zune, I couldn't help but think that this product really was a dud produced by Microsoft. Being that we discusssed the topic of PC vs. Mac on Thursday, this blog by Paul Roberts is quite relevant and for the first time this semester I am blogging about a blog!

iPods are hip and trendy, they come in many colors and sizes. You can buy a nano which fits 500 songs or you can buy a nano which fits 1,000 songs. This nano can be green, pink, black, white or blue. You can buy a regular iPod with different storage sizes and I believe these come in either black or white. According to the blog, Zune is only available in Brown, Black and White and its slightly larger size (compared to the regular iPod) makes it hard to fit in a pant's pocket. While all electronic products run into some technical problems, including iPods, recent Zune buyers have already complained a lot about the problems with their recent purchase. Going back to the blog, one of the biggest problems/mistakes made by Microsoft is that "Zune players do not work with the Vista Operating System, Microsoft's next version of Windows, which is due out to consumers in January. So far, Microsoft is just saying 'check back for updates' on Vista-Zune compatibility. The lack of a clear upgrade path for an OS that's already out the door is just NUTS."

And it is NUTS. Yeah, I'm biased. I have a Mac and a green iPod mini (which I still cherish even though it's 2 years old and considered outdated compared to the nano) AND I LOVE THEM BOTH! However, before I crossed the bridge to the "other side" 2 years ago, I purchased a Sony MP3 player and faced numerous problems which led me throw that pathetic waste of money to the back of my closet to gather dust. I plug my iPod mini into my computer and it automatically updates it in seconds. No need to download additional software, convert file formats or anything. iTunes and iPod just seemed so easy to manage.

It will be interesting how Zune's sale are this "Black Friday," as well as throughout the holiday season. Hopefully, InfoWorld Tech Watch will provide me with updates, even if it is via Paul Roberts' blog!

Fluency Milestone 10: Strategies for Building a Database

2006-11-12T21:21:00.000-05:00

I'm sure I'm not the first in the class to admit that I don't know a lot about databases. Learning about them can be overwhelming at times, however, Snyder offers strategies that can help you build a database on the design for the HAI! Adventure database which can be applied to database design in general. Thus, my "aha!" moment came while reading chapter 16, and I found the first step of the strategies to be very important as well as making the most sense to me.

The first step in the general pattern when constructing a database is performing a needs analysis. Before typing in information and data, Snyder states that it is important to "list the kinds of data the users will input into the database as well as the kinds of information the database will output to the users." Say I was working for a mayoral candidate's campaign (which is going to be happening soon here in Pittsburgh!). My job was to create a database which would include supporter's mailing addresses, telephone numbers, as well as the district they lived in within the city. First I would list the kinds of data that would be entered into the database: Names, Addresses, Zip Code (numerical), Telephone Number (numerical), and district (numerical). I would then make sure that I note what kind of output I would want to see as well. Horizontally, I would like to see: District, First Name, Last Name, Address, Zip Code, Telephone Number. By performing this needs analysis, according to Snyder, I would be able to understand the goals of the database design.

Digital Governance Nugget 10: E-polling problems in 2006 election, surprised?

2006-11-12T10:56:00.000-05:00

As the 2006 election has come and gone, we can now reflect on the use of the e-polling machines nationwide. Computerworld.com wrote an article describing the various problems these new e-voting machines caused across the United States on November 7. It seems as though many polling places throughout the country had to stay open later due to the fact that there was a polling machine problem earlier in the day.

According to a story reported by Aaron Saykin of WTAE - Channel 4, "Common Cause, a nonpartisan election watchdog group, said it received more complaints from voters in Pennsylvania than any other state -- and it ranked Allegheny County the sixth most problematic county in the nation for Tuesday's election, with many of the complaints claiming poll workers were not familiar enough with the new electronic voting machines."

It makes sense. Allegheny County has the 2nd highest elderly population next to, I believe, Dade County, Florida. The elderly population tend to be the ones who work at the polls, atleast here in Western Pennsylvania; and how tech savvy are 75 year old ladies? 98% of them probably have never touched a computer before, so it isn't a surprise that many of the complaints claimed that poll workers were not familiar enough with the new machines.

Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato fired back at Common Cause, stating that the electronic voting process was a success despite the fact that there were a few errors in the morning hours of the election on Tuesday. "It went relatively smooth and compared to the lever machines, it wasn't a big problem," said Onorato. "Common Cause didn't tell you that yesterday in the press conference."
"There was some human error at the beginning of the day. There was some technical, turning-them-on issues," Onorato said. "But overall, it worked -- and it worked very well. In comparing to the old machines, it was much better of a day."

Perhaps there should be a younger generation helping these elderly volunteers work the polls. Afterall, how are these elderly who have been used to the lever machines for the past 30-40 (maybe even longer) years expected to know how to run an electronic machine when they've never even touched a computer before? It will take some time to get used to the new process, but indeed the transition was necessary for our region, and our nation, to use 21st century technology. Maybe some younger folks can help out at the next election to try to make this transition a little smoother each time, we shall see.

On a side note - does anyone miss voting behind the curtain and pulling the lever as much as I do? : )

Fluency Milestone 9: Don't Even THINK About Redundancy!

2006-11-04T14:12:00.000-05:00

While I don't know much about databases, if there is anything that I learned from reading Chapter 15 in Snyder, it is that redundancy, or duplication, in databases is "very, very, very" bad. Thus I had my "a ha!" moment of the week - duplication IS really bad for many reasons. If you have someone's address in one database, and then they move so you have their newer address in another database (or even the same one), how do you tell which entry to use if you need to send a mailing out? Oh no! Your inconsistent data then becomes what Snyder calls "garbage" and this is actually worse than having no data at all.

In my future at a non-profit organization somewhere, I expect to be working with databases a lot - perhaps involving volunteers or board members, maybe even a mailing list of those interested in more information about our organization. As difficult it as it may be at times, Snyder has taught me that I will need to make the time and effort to go through my databases and check for inconsistencies. If it has something to deal with two different addresses or two different phone numbers, I will then have to search a recent phonebook or online resource for the most current information. Then my database can be the most up-to-date, accurate master database available at the organization and I will be one amazing employee! : )

Digital Governance Nugget 9: Republicans Outnumber Democrats Online

2006-11-04T13:40:00.000-05:00

In an article posted by govtech.net on November 3, Nielsen/Netratings showed that Republicans outnumber the amount of Democrats who are online accessing the Internet. The findings showed that 36% of U.S. Adults online are Republican and 30.6% are Democrat. This recent finding doesn't seem to surprise me that much, as Republicans tend to be from the more wealthy side of the economic spectrum. However, what does surprise me is that I haven't found many political ads jumping out at me on the Internet. With the election coming up on Tuesday, you would think that Republicans (and Democrats) would be heavily advertising their campaigns on popular websites. I can safely say that I haven't been targeted by any political ads while surfing the Internet (unless I went to a candidate's campaign website, obviously). Television, well that's a totally different story.

What is also interesting about this article is that the top three sights accessed by U.S. adults who are Democrats were BlackAmericaWeb.com, AOL BlackVoices and BET.com. I am wondering who exactly Nielsen/Netratings polled for this survey, it seems to me that a majority of those U.S. adults who were polled were African American. I was surprised that CNN.com (accused of left-wing political associations) as well as the New York Times websites weren't among the top three. The Salt Lake Tribune, a news paper from the predominately conservative Salt Lake City ranked in the top 5 among websites visited by Republicans. Thus it is surprising that a more liberal publication didn't make the top 5 for Democrats. This article makes me want to know the details of the study: How many were in the sample? How were these people selected? Where were they selected from? One city? One state? Several states? While the article continues on to state that the New York Times is a favorite online newspaper of choice among Democrats, I am surprised it is not a top website accessed by Democrats.

This article is an example of how details of polls like this one should be given along side of the statistics. It makes it seem like all Democrats are African Americans when indeed there is more diversity among the political party. Perhaps the article could have been more in depth in regards to what Democrats and Republicans search for on the Internet, or if they use the Internet to connect to others in their party. While the most frequented websites accessed by Democrats were a surprise to me, I was not surprised to find that Republicans outnumber the amount of U.S. adult Democrats online.

Fluency Milestone 8: Operations on Tables

2006-10-29T13:03:00.000-05:00

While there are several operations that one could perform when working with databases, in Chapter 14 of Snyder I found the "union" operation very useful. I work at a non-profit organization in Oakland and although I don't use databases all the time, I found that the union operation would be a great way for me to create a new volunteer database sometime in the near future. According to Snyder, the union operation combines two tables if they have the same attributes.

At my organization we have several volunteer databases. These databases include volunteer name, email addresses and the date they volunteered. At each event that we organize, we make the volunteers sign in with their names and email addresses. Thus there is a database for each event. If I wanted to make one large master database of all the volunteers we've had for the past two months (September and October), I would be able to use the union operation to combine the various databases for anything between 09/01/2006 and 10/31/2006.

The operation might look something like this:

Master = September + October

I would then be able to send a mass email out to our most recent volunteers to encourage them to return next month for more exciting volunteer opportunities!

Digital Governance 8: "DVD Jon" Strikes Again!

2006-10-26T07:20:00.000-05:00

In an interesting article written by May Wong at the Associated Press, computer hacker Jon Lech Johansen, also known as "DVD Jon," has claimed to have find a way around iPod and iTunes restrictions. These restrictions were put in place by Apple so that any music purchased from iTunes (which is a LEGAL way to download music) will only be able to be played on iPods, not on other mp3 players.

Famous for creating software that unlocked the CSS (Content Scrambling System) which protected DVDs from being copied illegally Johansen has an incredible talent, and he somehow finds the ability to get away with his illegal behavior. While he was charged in Norway for "data break-in" after the film industry complained, he was later acquitted. If indeed his iTunes hacking software becomes a widespread success, and Johansen sells the license of his software to others, will Apple let him get away with it? Will any charges pitted against him eventually be acquitted?

As an avid user of iTunes and iPod (I have a green Mini from 2004 that is already outdated), Johansen and his hacking abilites scare me a little; once again my security is threatened. The way the article was written it seems like Johansen can get away with whatever he does. If indeed he does sell his software license to others, will they be able hack into my iTunes program or tap into my iPod while I'm updating it? Granted, the software appears to be used only so that one could put iTunes-purchased songs onto Sony (or any other brand) mp3 players. However, this doesn't prevent someone out there from taking DVD Jon's software to the next level and tap into iTunes and iPods to steal music and install viruses or spyware. Why can't Johansen be stopped...RIGHT NOW? Twelve-year olds downloading Spice Girls (or whatever their modern day equivilent is) and college students downloading movies and music get sued thousands of dollars all the time, yet the whole world could know about Johansen's behavior and nothing is done to punish him. Then again, who has the authority to do so? Johansen is from Norway, but now he lives in California. Apple iTunes and iPod are used globally. Could Apple even stop him? Once copies of the software are made, different versions could be created and they could spread across the globe almost instantly.

Napster was shut down, so KaZaA and Ares came along. Once these programs slowly started shutting down, Limewire was created. What will be next?

According to the article:

Fred von Lohmann, a staff attorney at the privacy-advocacy group, Electronic Frontier Foundation, said Mr. Johansen is treading carefully this time, consulting with lawyers, but is not necessarily cleared from a legal fight over copy-protection laws.

"There is a lot of untested legal ground surrounding reverse engineering," he said.

Once again, it all boils down to inadequate laws pertaining to technology, specifically "hacking" software (which includes Johansen's creation as well as spyware). Legal cases of this kind have not been tested as often as other kinds of cases. Thus there is a need beef up our laws, but the United States should not be the only ones doing so; there is a need to protect online security and copyrights around the world. It will be interesting to see what Apple does if indeed Johansen's iTune-hacking software is a success.

Little Jon Lech Johansen circa 1986... he's not as innocent as he looks!

Fluency Milestone 7: Excel at Managing Your Money!

2006-10-22T20:29:00.000-05:00

Upon reading Chapter 13 in Snyder for class this past Thursday as well as learning from the lab presented, I discovered that my finances could easily be managed by using an Excel spreadsheet. One of my best friends got married last year and she swears by the financial software, Quicken. However, I neither have the time nor the money to invest in such a product to track all of my purchases as well as other finances like rent, food, and utilities. Since I am familiar with Excel now and the basics of spreadsheets, I've learned that I need not purchase additional software to track finances when I have a very useful tool sitting right infront of me which can do the same. Simple commands like SUM, as well as adding and subtracting are all I really need to know in order to organize my spendings. I can also color code each category! Green for rent, blue for utilities, red for social spending, etc. This tool will help me to learn how to control the amount I spend on the weekends as well as how much needs to be set aside per month for fixed costs such as rent. I am actually excited to be using Excel for once, because I know it will help me in the future when I have certain finances like mortgage payments as well as health and life insurance after graduate school is over. Indeed I will "excel" at managing my money!

Digital Governance Nugget 7: Myspace - the new place to find online predators

2006-10-18T20:26:00.000-05:00

Everyday I enjoy watching Good Morning America as I get ready for work and/or class. This morning I was excited to see a story that would inspire me to write my weekly IT Nugget. Thus, I found the story on GMA's website about convicted sex offenders being busted on Myspace. It surprised me that authorities haven't used the social network to catch these online predators sooner. According to the article, Wired senior editor Kevin Poulsen used the names and addresses of convicted sex offenders on state registries, the editor designed his own computer program to cross-reference that information with profiles listed on MySpace.

Poulsen's use of the social network site is a brilliant idea. The State of Pennsylvania's Megan's Law Website allows anyone to search for sex offenders by county, city, name, or zip code. Technically I could find any one of the thousands of sex offenders who have been convicted of child abuse, go to Myspace and search their name for a profile. Through his use of Myspace to search for pedophiles and online predators, Poulsen found one man who had many young boys as friends on Myspace and also made comments to these boys using sexually explicit material. While anyone can put any information they want about themselves on the Myspace website, even if it isn't true, the social network could allow authorities to easily track suspicious activity and users. Perhaps a system could be established where if men between the ages of 25 and 60 ask a 14-17 year old child to be their "friend," their account could be watched for explicit messages, photos, etc. and then that information could be turned over to authorities for further search. It wouldn't be a bad idea. This is a great way that the Internet and social networks can be used to track down criminals.

Digital Governance Nugget 6: More Security Needed to Protect Students Using Campus Networks

2006-10-11T18:38:00.000-05:00

In an article posted on techweb.com, K.C. Jones explains how campus administrators have provided insufficient funding to help protect students using online campus networks to connect to the Internet. According to the article, "Eighty-four percent of respondents said IT security was a one of their top five priorities, while less than half said that college administrators do not make IT security a high priority." This raises the question, if universities place the physical safety of their students as a top priority, why wouldn't they place such high priority when it comes to online security?

Think about it. If Pitt didn't have a police department, enrollment wouldn't be anywhere close to where it is at the present time. Universities protect their students from criminals on the streets and in the dormitories, securing building with guards which have to swipe an I.D. card for entry, yet they place little value on protecting their students from malicious online criminals. These criminals can steal identities and trace your every move through spyware and phishing, yet little is done to educate students on how to protect themselves from online theives. I feel that it will take a severe online threat or virus that affects thousands of students before college administrators realize how serious of an issue online security has become. The article offers several suggestions: "Colleges also should improve policies regarding authorization and access to reduce external threats, manage and monitor the increasing number of devices linking to their networks and consider investing in technologies for access control, according to the report. They also should increase funding for security training and awareness and mandate training for all network users, according to CDW-G."

Just as a student wouldn't want to go to a college where there is little or no security on campus, so should that same student not want to go to a college where their is little or no security on campus networks. Students of all ages need to be educated of the threats that could affect their online usage and security.

Fluency Milestone 6: Read Before You Accept!

2006-10-11T18:03:00.000-05:00

As part of reading chapter 17 in Snyder for both this week's class and my IT group presentation, I came to realize that there is more to managing spyware than just downloading anti-spyware software or avoiding file sharing progams such as Limewire and KaZaa; It is also important to read the privacy statement of any type of software program that you download. Why? Because hidden in the privacy statement (which many of us never read and just click "accept") may be an acceptance to allow spyware to enter your computer and trace your every click and keystroke. This knowledge may have been helpful to me when I was a young undergraduate at Pitt and a downloading maniac. If I would have known that those statements that I kept clicking "accept" to were actually spyware, my computer may not have crashed twice in the next two years.

While you don't have to read privacy statements verbatim, it is important to skim the sections for unusual wording that may be an indication of malicious activity by the software company. I have learned that is also important to make sure you are downloading something from a legitimate source. If you are downloading from a company that allows the actions of peer-to-peer file sharing, obviously you are at high risk for spyware entering your computer.

Be careful what you download, and when in doubt, read before you accept something malicious!

Fluency Milestone 5: First, Ask Yourself a Question!

2006-10-02T14:15:00.000-05:00

Snyder explains in chapter 6 that it is best to search for information after you come up with a research question that will help guide you along and target what exactly you want to find from online resources (this also works for the old-fashioned way of book research too!). Often times I find myself just going to Google and typing in random words that have something to do with the topic I am interested in researching. However, Synder says it is best to "think about the question before searching" (172). He lists two principles that can help us find what we are looking for:

"(1) determine what kind of information will answer the question, and
(2) look where that type of information may be found" (172).

So if I were to write a paper about online security, just typing in "online security" at google.com would bring up hundreds of thousands of results, but where do I go from there? If I were to form a question around my subject, this would help determine exactly what information I need to find. Thus, I would ask something like, "How is the government handling the increasing need for online security?" Then I could proceed to google.com and type in words such as Government AND Online Security, etc. Although it seems like a pointless task sometimes, targeting the information you want to find by asking a question will really help narrow your research and save time looking at unnecessary search results.

Digital Governance Nugget 5: Virus writers slow their pace to increase effectiveness

2006-10-02T13:56:00.000-05:00

One would think that if virus writers wanted to be more productive in attacking personal computers, they would speed up the pace so they would not get caught. According to an article written by the Associate Press and posted on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's website, the opposite makes virus writers less likely to get caught doing the malicious activities that they do. Virus writers are now interested in making as much money as possible, and surprisingly, by taking a long time to complete a job, they will make more money. According to the article, taking more time to spread viruses actually makes it less likely to be blocked. The virus writers slowly find their way around the virus blocker software and into personal computers via spam email and spyware. If they were to throw their viruses out there very quickly, protective software blocks it right away and it is harder to get viruses.

The article explains this very well,
"Network worms such as 2004's "Sasser" exploited flaws in Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system, automatically scanning the Internet for computers with the vulnerability and sending copies of themselves there. But the rapid spread also triggered rapid-response alerts among security vendors and prompted network operators to prioritize applying fixes to the Windows flaws.

High-profile threats, often more an annoyance than an effort to set up armies of rogue computers, are typically contained within a day or two.

By contrast, botnet computers can stay active for months."

Many people think that they are protected with their Anti-Virus Software, however, this article proves that virus writers will take their time, make more money, and find ways to get into your system no matter what.

Digital Governance 4: Antispyware Legislation

2006-09-24T13:13:00.000-05:00

Antispyware groups are urging United States Congress to pass legislation to help protect consumers from spyware invading their computers at home and work. Even though there has been a slight decrease in the amount of spyware invasions, the type of spyware that invades the keystokes of users is on the rise. Thus, groups like Center for Democracy and Technology as well as Badware.org are teaming up to make sure that consumers are protected and that their privacy isn't invaded.

With so many different programs and free software available online to help protect your computer from spyware, consumers are unaware of what works, what doesn't, and who to trust. The reality is that people aren't doing enough to keep their computers and identities protected. Antispyware groups want legislation to pass that would help spread the word of the correct way to protect your computers, as well as requiring many software programs collecting personal information to get permission before doing so.

In addition, if you are diverted to another website while browsing the Internet, the Securely Protect Yourself Against Cyber Trespass Act will ask for your permission before doing so. The SPY ACT also outlaws the act of taking over a computer in order to send unauthorized information or code. If passed, the act would fine up to $3 million for spyware-like activity.

The government really needs to crack down on Spyware. It nearly destroyed my old laptop (twice!), and I had no clue what the problem was until the second time around. Perhaps my computer wouldn't have crashed shortly there after if the legislation was already in act to protect me. Antispyware groups should continue to speak up and make their reasons for the desired legislation known. I feel that fines of $3 million dollars would be enough to scare me away if I were a spyware hacker. Then again, regardless of legislation, hackers will probably find a way around the law and come up with a new way to destroy our computers and steal our personal information.

Fluency Milestone 4: Testing a Website's Legitimacy

2006-09-24T12:24:00.000-05:00

I found Snyder's Two-Step Check to detect whether a website is legitimate or not very helpful while reading chapter 5. While I wrote several research papers in my undergraduate career, I mostly used books from the library or from credible online journals through the University's online library search. However, in graduate school I may need to view various news and politically based websites to write reports and papers. I will need to make sure that these webpages are legit before inserting quotes into a research paper. Therefore I will be engaging myself in Snyder's two-step process to test the site's publisher to make sure it is legit. With so many people posting their take on news stories in blogs and even online newspapers, it is important to make sure the source is credible. Snyder suggests first going to the InterNIC site and typing in the domain name( for example, postgazette.com). The WhoIs Server will tell you who owns the domain. In this case, it is Network Solutions, LLC. If you go to the WhoIs Server site and type in the domain address again, you will receive the owner's name and physical address.

The last thing you want to do when writing a research paper is to quote from a source that is not credible. Snyder's Two-Step Check for the Site's Publisher is a great way to test the legitimacy of a website before using it as a resource.

Digital Governance Nugget 3: Tickle Me EXTREME! Prepare yourself for a flashback to '96!

2006-09-21T09:05:00.000-05:00

Even though the holiday season is still months away, people are already lining up outside of Wal-Mart to purchase Fisher Price's newest and hottest toy. The toy, "Elmo TMX" is an updated version of the extremely popular "Tickle Me Elmo" doll from the 1990s. Fisher Price has used the latest technology to create a toy which will likely cause parents to have nightmarish flashbacks of being tackled outside their local Toys R Us or Hill's Department Store (remember Hill's?).

With computers, video game systems and iPods becoming the hottest "toys" for the holidays in recent years, toy companies like Mattel (which owns Fisher Price) are struggling to generate the enormous profits they once had with Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and the original Tickle Me Elmo from 1996. Thus, they spent 18 months developing Elmo TMX, which is basically just a more obnoxious version of the original, except this time he doesn't just vibrate. Elmo can now roll around, sit, rock back and forth, slap his leg, roll around some more and then stand up again. Cnn.com provides a video along with the story to show you exactly what this Elmo TMX does, and it's pretty incredible that the technology is out there to make a doll do that.

I envision super moms and super dads (and brave super grandmas) stampeding to Wal-Mart and Target stores already. Ten years ago, when the original Tickle Me Elmo doll came out, eBay wasn't in existence. Thus parents had to flock to local bulletin boards and classified ads to find out what financial burden they will face to buy little Johnny or Jenny their dream toy. Now with the technology of the Internet including eBay, as well as other online auction sites and discussion boards, it will be interesting to see what these dolls will be going for once the holiday season comes around and the supplies are extremely limited. The story provided by CNN states that quick thinking consumers have already put their newly purchased Elmo dolls on eBay at double the retail price ($39.99).

I'm sure parents across the country will be thanking technology for creating such a fabulous toy.

Fluency Milestone 3: Discovering Anchor Tags, Where Have I Been?

2006-09-21T08:48:00.000-05:00

Upon reading chapter 4 in Snyder titled “Marking Up with HTML,” I indeed had an “a ha!” moment which will help me immensely, especially with my IT blogs as well as postings on our class discussion board. I had always known there was a way to highlight text with a hyperlink, and then by clicking that word you would be taken to the relevant webpage. However, instead of researching online or in an IT book to learn how to perform this task myself, I just tried playing around on my computer hoping that I would be able magically link a word to a website. This occurred just the other day while creating a post for our IT discussion board on courseweb. I really wanted to link our Attorney General’s name, Alberto Gonzalez, to the article I was discussing. Since I couldn’t figure out to do it, and didn’t feel like spending time learning how, I just copy and pasted the web address to the end of my posting. Talk about a “Plain Jane” discussion board post.

Chapter 4 showed me how to properly make a hyperlink using two things called “anchor text” and the “hyperlink reference” which is the address to the webpage. Readers of your discussion board post or webpage click on the anchor text that is usually blue and underlined. They are then taken to the hyperlink reference that you inserted. However, both the anchor text and hyperlink reference have to be inserted into an anchor tag. For example, if I wanted my IT class to know about the organization that I work for, I would have to insert our hyperlink (http://www.oaklandplanning.org) into a sentence using an anchor tag. After inserting the web address into the anchor tag, I would decide what text I would like to use as anchor text. The reader when then click the anchor text and be taken to the website.

Here is an example where I use the knowledge I have learned:

I currently have an internship at Oakland Planning and Development Corporation. If you are interested in volunteer opportunities in Oakland, feel free to let me know! We have a lot of fun events planned for the school year!

Now I can put hyperlinks all over my blog and within my discussion board posts!

Fluency Milestone 2: Netiqutte - not to be taken lightly!

2006-09-13T19:29:00.000-05:00

When reading Chapter 2, I had to giggle as I read through Snyder's rules of netiquette, "that promote civilized email usage." I never realized that were so many people out there who took email so seriously that they created a new word, netiquette, to describe the proper ways to communicate with one another via email exchange. Granted I always make sure to proofread emails I am sending to professors, bosses and co-workers. However, Snyder's definititions of the rules of netiquette made me realize that there are ways I could enhance these emails to further improve the quality of my professionalism at work and at school.

I found Snyder's fourth rule, to "Answer a Backlog of Emails in Reverse Order" very helpful. Being that I am only working 10 hours a week and spending the rest of my time dedicated to my studies, I am unable to check my work email as often as I did over the summer. When we haven't checked or answered our email in a while, Synder says it is "best to answer email in reverse order of its arrival." If we checked our email in the order that it was received, then we might respond to a question that has already been answered in a more recent email. Thus, according to Snyder, checking your email in reverse order ensures that we will read the "resolution messages before we read the original." So next time I go into work, I will make sure to read the most recent emails first. That way, if my boss says in an email sent today (Wednesday) that he scheduled our staff meeting at 4pm on Friday, I won't answer his least recent email from Monday where he asks, "What is a good time on Friday to have our staff meeting?"

Even though I giggled at first, I have to say that Snyder's description of the rules of netiquette were quite helpful! It could save me from potential embarassment down the road!

Digital Governance Nugget 2: Live TV over the Internet?!

2006-09-13T16:21:00.000-05:00

An article posted on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's website today discusses AT&T's introduction of live TV to subscribers of broadband connections. For as low as $20 a month, users will be able to watch about 20 channels of live television as well as made for broadband content.

Here is a segment of the article written by Bruce Meyerson:

"The channel lineup includes the History Channel, the Weather Channel, the Food Network, Bloomberg and Oxygen. Additional channels will be added soon, the company said without elaborating.

The content is being provided by MobiTV Inc., a company that has specialized in delivering live cable channels to cell phones through wireless carriers such as Sprint Nextel Corp. and Cingular Wireless, which is majority owned by AT&T."

The full article can be found at: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06256/721183-96.stm

I am wondering how many people would be interested in signing up for this service. To be able to watch live TV on your computer is an amazing advance in information technology, however, if a person already has an average of 5 or 6 televisions in their household, why would they want to spend an extra $20 per month to watch Rachael Ray (of Food Network fame) cook 30 minute meals on their computer? Well one advantage is that, according to the article, the TV service will be available through Wi-Fi services found at retail locations. If you are down on Pitt's campus and have 3 hours inbetween classes with nothing to do, you can sit in Schenley Plaza (which has free Wi-Fi access) and watch Rachael Ray cook, get the weather forecast, and remember the Alamo (if anyone is actually alert enough to watch the History Channel). By being able to use the technology wherever there is a Wi-Fi connection, you will be able to get your money's worth each month.

Will AT&T's new service become as popular as podcasts? It is hard to say. Given the fact that my roommate and I currently have the "basic" cable package from Comcast (which give us a total of about 20 channels), I would gladly sign up for the new AT&T service. That way she wouldn't have to pay for the channels that only I watch. Of course this would only happen if MobiTV Inc. would add ABC Family and Nick at Nite to their line up so I could watch Full House as it is my guiltiest of guilty pleasures. : )

Digital Governance Nugget 1: Facebook Fiasco

2006-09-06T17:13:00.000-05:00

It's your guilty pleasure. You can't help but log on to check out who's dating who, what friend left you drunk messages on Saturday night, or if your high school sweetheart gained weight gained weight in college. You leave your friends silly messages and anticipate a reply shortly thereafter. So, did you throw a temper tantrum when your favorite online social network, Facebook, decided to add news feeds to your home page to give you up to the minute information on what your Facebook buddies are up to?

Yes it was a little irritating to see half the page taken up by numerous messages such as, "your friend Joe is eating right now" and "Liz just added a picture." However, I didn't get the urge to sign a petition against Facebook, or even go as far as boycotting the site. Oh but there are about 38,000 people who have.

The information technology haven, www.techweb.com, has written an article all about this devastating dilemma (http://www.techweb.com/wire/ebiz/192503662;jsessionid=ZDJPRGARD2AREQSNDLRCKHSCJUNN2JVN). I am going to post the article, because I feel that it is worth the read in its entirety, and slightly humorous (well, to me atleast).

September 06, 2006 (3:03 PM EDT)

Facebook Subscribers Protest Site's News Feeds

By Antone Gonsalves, TechWeb Technology News

Tens of thousands of Facebook subscribers are unhappy with the social network's news feeds that keep members up to date on each other's activities, saying the new feature makes them feel like their being stalked.
An online petition has been launched to lobby Facebook to drop the feature, and a protest site is calling for a one-day boycott of the popular site, which gives people the tools to build online communities based on workplaces or schools.

The news feeds, launched Tuesday, are added to a subscriber's homepage to keep them current on the activities of friends and groups. In addition, the site also adds what it calls "mini-feeds" to subscribers' profiles.

While the feature appeared to be a good idea, it made lots of Facebook users uncomfortable.

"If you're a member of Facebook, these mini-feeds are horrible, horrendous, and downright stalker-ish if you ask me, because it says everything about everyone and what they did, where they went,<" Trae McNeely, who claimed to be a senior at the University of Oklahoma, said in an email Wednesday. "It's the biggest mistake ever."

Facebook officials were not immediately available for comment.

The online petition, which had nearly 30,800 signatures and counting, demanded either the immediate removal of the news feeds and mini-feeds, or to allow a subscriber to opt out of having updates to their pages broadcast to other members of the community.

"Many users feel uncomfortable participating on Facebook.com because of the changes to the point that some have deactivated their accounts," the petition said. It also suggested that Facebook "actively communicate and consult with users in a democratic dialogue" before making any changes.

The site calling for a Sept. 12 boycott claimed Facebook had ignored subscribers' complaints on more than 350 anti-feed groups.

"It is becoming blatantly apparent that the powers that run Facebook are no longer in it for the community or the users," the site said. "While we have all appreciated Facebook, it is not a necessary part of our lives. And it is not the only way we can keep track of our friends."

The quick and public reaction to features Facebook believed would serve users better reflects the tightrope social networks walk with subscribers, particularly teenagers and young adults who can be fickle and move to competing sites rapidly. Friendster is an example of an early leader in social networking that fell from grace quickly to competitors, such as MySpace.

As an example of how sites can misread subscribers, Facebook product manager Ruchi Sanghvi on Tuesday said news feeds would let subscribers know when "your crush is single again." That, however, is exactly what some subscribers said they don't want.

"Before feeds, it was already easy enough to stalk anyone at your school, and everyone on your friends list; but with the advent of feeds, it is now nearly impossible not to be stalked or to stalk," the boycott site said.

The latest flap comes as Facebook and other social networks are lining up big advertising deals with search engine providers. Last month, Facebook said it would allow Microsoft to sell and display banner ads and sponsored links. The exclusive deal followed by about two weeks Google's agreement to pay News Corp. $900 million over three years to provide search and distribute advertising on MySpace.

Facebook in May was the third largest social network on the Web, followed by No. 1 MySpace and Classmates.com, according to ComScore Networks.

I mean really, who has the time or the energy to protest Facebook? If anyone (especially you GSPIA students!) has personally protested Facebook, please let me know why. It is interesting though to see how many people use the social network on a daily basis and how a change that the makers of Facebook thought would increase the enjoyment of their subscribers, can leave such a sour taste in their mouth.

In addition, I feel that it was a smart move for Microsoft to jump on the Facebook boat. Millions of high school and college aged students are on Facebook, their profits are going to skyrocket. As if they needed the extra money!

I enjoy Facebook, it's a great way to kill time if you are bored, and an excellent way to postpone studying. I just couldn't believe that Facebook subscribers could be so demanding in what they want out of their Facebook experience. Silly kids! : )