IT Workers in Great Shape During Downturn

Believe it or not, across the nation (and probably the world), the current economic downturn has affected IT workers least. From the article, Overall technology employment is up in America and the wages associated with it are up. This is a good time to be in the IT field, and its a great field to direct our student toward. Of course, the skills needed in IT change quickly, so those in the field are the ones who continue to learn. Read the full September 5, 2008, AP article at http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/ECONOMY_TECHNOLOGY?SITE=DCUSN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Internet Coming Soon to a Refrigerator and Toilet Near You

Welcome to the Internet of Things. Cisco and 25 other companies have formed a consortium to develop standards for IP-accessible appliances for homes, hospitals, schools, and businesses. Imagine your home thermometer alerting your doctor when you have a fever, or your refrigerator placing an order at Wegmans Online to replace your milk, or your sump pump sending you e-mail reporting water in the basement. Read the Cisco press release and check out the IPSO Alliance website at ipso-alliance.org. Add RFID tags to schoolbooks, basketballs, grocery items, and we get a system. ... Good system? ... Bad system?

The Legality and Morality of Surveillance of Ordinary Citizens

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a watchdog organization for our electronic rights, has filed suit against the US Government, accusing it and its leaders of illegal surveillance against innocent American citizens. Similar issues occur in schools with surveillance cameras, locker searches, and other practices that are commonly used by adults, but that may students think are unfair. The lawsuit brings this issue into the adult world: does an institution have the right to routinely invade the privacy of citizens claiming that such surveillance is necessary to protect us. Check out the article at http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/09/17-0. (If you don't know about the EFF and it's work, you should!)

$200,000 Copyright Infringement Damages against Individual Thrown Out

The first jury awarded Capitol Records over $200,000 in damages against a woman who did illegally download some music, but with no intent to damage the company or to profit from her copyright infringement. A judge ruled that the making available argument, a key RIAA-promoted issue, is not applicable. Read the very clear explanation of the issues involved on this Recording Industry vs. The People blog post. This is what schools, parents, and teachers fear, and it's important that they both understand the issues and also the motivation behind potential legal action. Here's the link to the specific September 24, 2008 post: http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/#6666659042120040719

Evolution of a Candidate's Technology Position

Follow the link to see the evolution of Barak Obama's position on technology issues. Notice two specific changes. The first is the addition of science so that the new position statements cover science and technology. The second is the elimination of net neutrality as a stated position. Here's the link: http://versionista.com/diff/JAS9LMr5qU7q8BSroV8KzQ/. (note: this implies no endorsement of any political party, position, or viewpoint.)

Preparing Network Services for the Pandemic

Responsible institutions have disaster plans to keep mission-critical operations functioning in the event of a disaster. A global pandemic is expected at some point even though no one knows when it will strike and how severe it will be. Federal recommendations tell schools to expect to be closed for up to four months in a mandatory quarantine scenario. Responsible schools in the far east, middle east have plans to continue school online during extended closings. Southern U.S. states like Louisiana have been working on this model ever since Hurricane Katrina. Here's an article that shares how telcos and ISPs are planning to keep their IT operations working when the worst happens: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/091808-telcos-pandemic.html?hpg1=bn.

Computer Voting Machine Problems

After the "hanging chad" election disaster in Florida in 2000, the Supreme Court was needed to resolve a close and still-disputed presidential election. The U.S. Congress rapidly passed a law that required all elections to use electronic voting machines. As the systems were designed and purchased by communities across the nation, security experts were raising concerns over the reliability and security of these proprietary systems. In the election of 2004, the critics were proven correct in their concern that the voting computer systems were not well designed and were not secure. As we approach the election of 2008, these problems remain unresolved even though computer security experts long ago pointed out the problems and suggested reasonable solutions. Read a recent article on the problem at: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/18/voting.problems/index.html?iref=werecommend. To see the problems yourself, check out this YouTube video by Princeton researcher posted in 2006: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZws98jw67g.

Computer Games May Help Teens Be Better Citizens

According to a recent study (PDF) by the Pew Internet & American Life project, playing computer games can provide benefits to teens. No serious negatives were found in teen's game playing. This is good since 97% report playing computer games; 75% playing at least once a week. Check out a brief MSNBC report of the study at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26726230/. The report closes with a positive message, “If we’re careful, we can harness young people’s interest in video games, and use them to connect them to a range of valuable experiences.”

Gigabit Wireless Networking On the Way?

A Network World article (9/11/08) reports on the formation of an IEEE group to develop a specification for gigabit wireless ethernet. This comes as the IEEE is finalizing their 100 megabit/sec standard, called 802.11n. A source for the article suggests that we may see gigabit wireless ethernet products in about three years. This kind of information is very useful to consider for long-range plans. While the information and dates are not really accurate, the general direction and trend of the technology often is very helpful to the planner. Read the article at http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/091108-ieee.html?hpg1=bn

Crowdsourcing Excerpt and Video

The Internet has given people the ability to collaborate on scales never before imagined. A new book, Crowdsourcing, by Jeff Howe, discusses how this is changing the model for some businesses. It is possible that this could also change the model of education (following the theory of Paolo Freire, and educational writer from the 70's). Here's an article, 3 minute video, and excerpt ... http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/news/2008/09/crowdsourcing_excerpt

5 Years of RIAA Copyright Lawsuits

The RIAA are the "music police" who have made online file sharing (of copyrighted music) into a national issue that impacts every high school and college. Here's a one-page summary of the questionable status of the RIAA's crusade at ... http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/09/proving-file-sh.html. This is an important issue because it addresses intellectual property rights and individual privacy rights against a backdrop of centuries of copyright law that NEVER targeted personal uses of copyrighted material. This will be a hot topic for years to come!

Which Candidate Has an Education Agenda?

Listen to a very short plea from the founder of an American technology company for a national priority to prepare our kids to compete globally. It's short and to the point at ... http://www.bigthink.com/features/726

Candidate Positions on Technology Issues

Where do Obama and McCain stand on issues of interest to techno-geeks (like us)? Here's an Ars Technica article that presents statements and voting records of both candidates. In a technology-empowered world, these are very important issues that don't receive TV coverage (but they will affect the future of you and your children). Vote for the future that you believe in!

US No Longer World's Internet Hub?

The U.S. developed the Internet, but more recently, the U.S. government has acknowledged that it intercepts and analyzes Internet traffic that moves through its networks (we call this spying). Users in other nations increasingly are routing their Internet traffic around the U.S. to protect the privacy of their communication. This seems to be another example of the unintended consequences of government action that appears to be arrogant to outside observers. Read the Slashdot reference and article on this change in pattern in Internet traffic.

The Future of DRM

Digital Rights Management technologies have been praised and cursed as a solution to copyright enforcement. In practice, computer and media users have found that they are restricted in how they can use the media they have purchased or licensed. This can also be an issue for schools. Here's a Slashdot reference to an article that chronicles the failures of DRM and suggests that it may pose less of a problem in the future.

Scripting Languages in 2008

Most computer science classes teach either Java or a variant of C, both industrial-strength languages used by full-time programmers. Scripting languages like javascript, python, perl and ruby, are a class of languages that may be easier to learn, easier to use, and many be useful for small, everyday tasks of non-professional programmers. From CIO, here's an article on the state of scripting langauges in 2008. Some educators think that students can learn a scripting language as an introductory language; they can graduate to a full-fledged computer science language if they wish to continue.