My survey might finally be posted to the internet where people can go out and fill it in and I might get the results. It only took three different attempts and finally writing the survey and capture code by myself.
Initially I was going to use an open source product called Lime Survey that Dr. Pfaffman has set up for us. This cumbersome piece of software looked like I might be able to use it until 2 hours later I finally made it to the part of my survey with a semantic differential. For those that don't know, that is a question with a word on both ends and you select the choice that is closest to your feeling for example,
I think this blog post is:
Brilliant 1 2 3 4 5 Stupid
A good source of information 1 2 3 4 5 A bad source of information
etc...
Anyway, Lime Survey won't do that. We have this group of people in OIT that are dedicated to statistics. SPSS makes a program called MRInterview. Since SPSS is the leading statistics software package one would think that their survey software would be superb. NOPE! It was slightly less cumbersome than Lime Survey, but I was left at the point where I e-mailed back and said: "My survey is now ready for you to finalize so I can use it. Please let me know what else needs to be done."
Apparently MRInterview doesn't do S.D.s either. I thought this was a standard survey item type, but I must be wrong about that. They need to apply a template that was written by one of the people that use the software... that's in limbo at the moment.
SO.... I wrote my own form in PHP which is SIMPLE and laid it out how I want it. Then I wrote code to capture the results which ended up being easier than I anticipated. The only problem I encountered was skipping a page when someone indicates that have never participated in a webcast. Then I had to generate a userid for each person. I was going to have a file with a number in it, but I used the date function to generate the number instead.
Of course the HOURS I spent with Lime Survey and MRInterview were all complete wastes of time and one would think that with all these people out there doing research and putting surveys online that there would be a simple solution that would include at least the general survey type questions that are dicussed in most overviews of quantative research!
Ok, I'm done... take the box away. I'm going to work on my paper now.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Rethinking thinking
I really enjoyed the article I read for this week. It had plenty of good ideals in it. The only issue I took with it is that it kept implying that online collaborative learning needed to be studies from a developmental research approach, but never quite suggested how one would go about taking that approach.
It does highlight a key problem with the transition from face-to-face classrooms to online learning. Basically with all the power of technology to supposedly enhance online learning, it is the goal of many institutions to simply replicate the face-to-face environment online.
This goes back to the ideal that things are done the way they have always been done. Teachers are not inclined to learn a new way of teaching in addition to learning new technology to teach. Those that are forced to will learn how to use the technology to teach in exactly the same way they have always taught...
How do I deliver a lecture online? How do I allow the class to ask questions while I deliver my lecture? How do I post lecture materials where the class can find them? How do I examine the class using the technology available?
Teachers have simply tried to use the technology to replicate what they do in the classroom without having the classroom in front of them.
The article points out that part of the reason is that faculty are not given sufficient time, training, or support for properly transitioning, but "perceive the primary problem as an inability of academic staff and instructional designers to think "outside the box" when it comes to developing online courses"
One other note of particular interest was in describing changes that would need to be made to meet the "vision" of online collaborative learning, "Educational researchers should be rewarded for participation in long-term developmental research projects and their impact on practice rather than for the number of refereed journal articles they publish."
Not sure I agree with the first part, but I agree 100% with the second part of that statement. (The part after rather than).
This goes back to some of the things that we have been touching on the entire semester. How do you change a system that has been in place for so long? At what point do you try to change the system. This paper obviously calls for a change not only to the way course materials are designed and taught, but to the way the higher education functions in general.
If colleges begin to change the way they “teach” students, then how does primary education (elementary, middle, and high school) adapt to prepare students for this modified learning environment? Will students begin to attend high school classes online from the comfort of their home? Does this get pushed down into the middle and elementary schools? Is a better vision to hold class in the classroom, but use the technology as if the classroom were virtual?
We have talked about a pedagogy change multiple times this semester, but I am still trying to figure out where that change would occur. At what level does the educational system need to be modified (or does it). Is the whole thing not working or do we just have a modified vision of what the educational system should be doing? I guess the question is what exactly is the problem that is created by the current educational system and where does that problem occur?
It does highlight a key problem with the transition from face-to-face classrooms to online learning. Basically with all the power of technology to supposedly enhance online learning, it is the goal of many institutions to simply replicate the face-to-face environment online.
This goes back to the ideal that things are done the way they have always been done. Teachers are not inclined to learn a new way of teaching in addition to learning new technology to teach. Those that are forced to will learn how to use the technology to teach in exactly the same way they have always taught...
How do I deliver a lecture online? How do I allow the class to ask questions while I deliver my lecture? How do I post lecture materials where the class can find them? How do I examine the class using the technology available?
Teachers have simply tried to use the technology to replicate what they do in the classroom without having the classroom in front of them.
The article points out that part of the reason is that faculty are not given sufficient time, training, or support for properly transitioning, but "perceive the primary problem as an inability of academic staff and instructional designers to think "outside the box" when it comes to developing online courses"
One other note of particular interest was in describing changes that would need to be made to meet the "vision" of online collaborative learning, "Educational researchers should be rewarded for participation in long-term developmental research projects and their impact on practice rather than for the number of refereed journal articles they publish."
Not sure I agree with the first part, but I agree 100% with the second part of that statement. (The part after rather than).
This goes back to some of the things that we have been touching on the entire semester. How do you change a system that has been in place for so long? At what point do you try to change the system. This paper obviously calls for a change not only to the way course materials are designed and taught, but to the way the higher education functions in general.
If colleges begin to change the way they “teach” students, then how does primary education (elementary, middle, and high school) adapt to prepare students for this modified learning environment? Will students begin to attend high school classes online from the comfort of their home? Does this get pushed down into the middle and elementary schools? Is a better vision to hold class in the classroom, but use the technology as if the classroom were virtual?
We have talked about a pedagogy change multiple times this semester, but I am still trying to figure out where that change would occur. At what level does the educational system need to be modified (or does it). Is the whole thing not working or do we just have a modified vision of what the educational system should be doing? I guess the question is what exactly is the problem that is created by the current educational system and where does that problem occur?
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Worthless Research
Since I will not be in class on Thursday to give my thoughts and reflections on the reading assigned for this week, I decided to present my findings in my blog. So, to recap the study:
Purpose:
This study examines the extent and causes of digital inequality, or differences in IT access and use, between natives and immigrants in the United States, with a particular focus on the role of English Language Skills.
Data:
Data was collected from the Current Population Survey and the 2000 U.S. Census. 402,778 observations were made from the CPS. The data collected from this survey was used to indicate computer use and ownership. Because the CPS does not adequately cover the variable, on English Speaking ability. For this reason, the researchers attempted to combine data from the US census with data from the CPS.
Results:
The results indicate that immigrants are substantially less likely than natives to use IT for every measure of IT that was examined.
Individuals living in Spanish-speaking households are generally much less likely to live in a household that owns a computer and to use IT.
Other interesting things pointed out in the article:
“Our consistent finding that immigrants are less likely to use IT than natives is in striking contrast to results for Australia reported by Chiswick and Miller (2005). They find that immigrants there are more likely than comparable natives to use computers.”
“Immigrant households tend to be poorer and less educated than households headed by a U.S. native.”
“The vast majority of Internet sites are in English, with 68 percent of the web pages in English and only 3 percent in Spanish in 2000.”
My thoughts and conclusions:
I don’t know the person who conducted the study, but it seems to me like this is a case of “REALLY?? Wow… who didn’t know that?”
Let’s see… people that immigrate to the US (and the concern was with Latin Americans) tend to have less money than people already in the US. Therefore they don’t have the money to purchase and use technology. If they didn’t use it in their native country, why would they start using it in the US?
Of course if the majority of the webpage’s on the Internet are in English, use of the internet is going to be tied to your ability to speak English.
I’m going to design a study… I’m going to show that there must not be a problem with immigrant using IT… see, I am going to a country that doesn’t speak English and I am going to interview people that immigrated there from the US in the last 5 years and find out what percentage of them have access to and use computers. I bet my findings will be more in line with the study in Australia than the one done in the US.
I guess part of the reason this seems to be such a waste to me is that I understand that computers belong to a younger generation. Use of a computer implies extra money and free leisure time. An immigrant to the United States from another country will not typically have extra money or leisure time. They will also be older (since the CPS concentrated only on people aged 18+) and will be less likely to have grown up in their own culture using computers.
So my problem would be to figure out how we convince people that if they want to be part of the American culture part of which is this large adoption of technology that one of the things they have to do is learn how to speak English. I’m not going to go over to Russia and complain that I can’t use Russian technology because all the instructions are written in… Russian!
The study from Australia used “comparable natives”… so if the study really wanted to prove something, it should have compared immigrants to natives within the same socio-economic status.
But that’s beside the point. The purpose of this paper was to show that the ability to speak English influenced immigrants usage of technologies that the primary language for is English… DUH! If I can’t read what I am using, I can’t really use it, can I?
Purpose:
This study examines the extent and causes of digital inequality, or differences in IT access and use, between natives and immigrants in the United States, with a particular focus on the role of English Language Skills.
Data:
Data was collected from the Current Population Survey and the 2000 U.S. Census. 402,778 observations were made from the CPS. The data collected from this survey was used to indicate computer use and ownership. Because the CPS does not adequately cover the variable, on English Speaking ability. For this reason, the researchers attempted to combine data from the US census with data from the CPS.
Results:
The results indicate that immigrants are substantially less likely than natives to use IT for every measure of IT that was examined.
Individuals living in Spanish-speaking households are generally much less likely to live in a household that owns a computer and to use IT.
Other interesting things pointed out in the article:
“Our consistent finding that immigrants are less likely to use IT than natives is in striking contrast to results for Australia reported by Chiswick and Miller (2005). They find that immigrants there are more likely than comparable natives to use computers.”
“Immigrant households tend to be poorer and less educated than households headed by a U.S. native.”
“The vast majority of Internet sites are in English, with 68 percent of the web pages in English and only 3 percent in Spanish in 2000.”
My thoughts and conclusions:
I don’t know the person who conducted the study, but it seems to me like this is a case of “REALLY?? Wow… who didn’t know that?”
Let’s see… people that immigrate to the US (and the concern was with Latin Americans) tend to have less money than people already in the US. Therefore they don’t have the money to purchase and use technology. If they didn’t use it in their native country, why would they start using it in the US?
Of course if the majority of the webpage’s on the Internet are in English, use of the internet is going to be tied to your ability to speak English.
I’m going to design a study… I’m going to show that there must not be a problem with immigrant using IT… see, I am going to a country that doesn’t speak English and I am going to interview people that immigrated there from the US in the last 5 years and find out what percentage of them have access to and use computers. I bet my findings will be more in line with the study in Australia than the one done in the US.
I guess part of the reason this seems to be such a waste to me is that I understand that computers belong to a younger generation. Use of a computer implies extra money and free leisure time. An immigrant to the United States from another country will not typically have extra money or leisure time. They will also be older (since the CPS concentrated only on people aged 18+) and will be less likely to have grown up in their own culture using computers.
So my problem would be to figure out how we convince people that if they want to be part of the American culture part of which is this large adoption of technology that one of the things they have to do is learn how to speak English. I’m not going to go over to Russia and complain that I can’t use Russian technology because all the instructions are written in… Russian!
The study from Australia used “comparable natives”… so if the study really wanted to prove something, it should have compared immigrants to natives within the same socio-economic status.
But that’s beside the point. The purpose of this paper was to show that the ability to speak English influenced immigrants usage of technologies that the primary language for is English… DUH! If I can’t read what I am using, I can’t really use it, can I?
Research Project
Based on our discussion at the end of class last week, I decided that I would post my research project for the class here. That way you can guys can look over it and make comments or suggestions at your own leisure.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Research Question:
What factors influence the adoption of webcast technologies among college students?
Webcast Definition:
Any LIVE broadcast over the internet that allows the user some type of interaction.
Theories:
Roger's Diffusion of Innovations identifies 5 characteristics of an innovation that will determine its adoption. They are: Relative Advantage, Compatibility, Complexity, Trialability, and Observability.
The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) developed by Davis predicts that Perceived Ease of Use (PEU) and Perceived Usefulness (PU) will indicate a user's attitude toward a technology and that attitude will indicate acceptance of.
Based on definitions given in the texts for Perceived Ease of Use and Complexity, it is seen that the two concepts measure roughly the same thing. Additionally Perceived usefulness and Relative Advantage are seen to be approximately the same.
Therefore, TAM and Diffusion can be combined into a single study that measures 5 variables and uses them as an indication of a person’s attitude toward a technology and the likely acceptance / adoption of that technology.
Target Population:
Both Graduate and Undergraduate students at the University of Tennessee
Method:
A survey containing likert scale questions has been developed which in prior studies has been shown to be reliable in measuring the 5 variables. The survey will be hosted online and participants will be solicited through e-mail, classroom announcement, and hopefully through the snowballing effect. Data will be analyzed using SPSS.
For this Class:
My hope is that I will get 25 participants to take the survey for this class. That will give me some data so that I can run the factor analysis and reliability tests on the data to ensure that my measurements are correct.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
If anyone has questions or comments on the design of my study, I would love to hear them. This is my first research project ever and I am still learning most of this stuff. An understanding of any of the concepts or constructs that aren’t clear to my classmates would help indicate what I need to look for when I complete the study and attempt to write it up.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Research Question:
What factors influence the adoption of webcast technologies among college students?
Webcast Definition:
Any LIVE broadcast over the internet that allows the user some type of interaction.
Theories:
Roger's Diffusion of Innovations identifies 5 characteristics of an innovation that will determine its adoption. They are: Relative Advantage, Compatibility, Complexity, Trialability, and Observability.
The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) developed by Davis predicts that Perceived Ease of Use (PEU) and Perceived Usefulness (PU) will indicate a user's attitude toward a technology and that attitude will indicate acceptance of.
Based on definitions given in the texts for Perceived Ease of Use and Complexity, it is seen that the two concepts measure roughly the same thing. Additionally Perceived usefulness and Relative Advantage are seen to be approximately the same.
Therefore, TAM and Diffusion can be combined into a single study that measures 5 variables and uses them as an indication of a person’s attitude toward a technology and the likely acceptance / adoption of that technology.
Target Population:
Both Graduate and Undergraduate students at the University of Tennessee
Method:
A survey containing likert scale questions has been developed which in prior studies has been shown to be reliable in measuring the 5 variables. The survey will be hosted online and participants will be solicited through e-mail, classroom announcement, and hopefully through the snowballing effect. Data will be analyzed using SPSS.
For this Class:
My hope is that I will get 25 participants to take the survey for this class. That will give me some data so that I can run the factor analysis and reliability tests on the data to ensure that my measurements are correct.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
If anyone has questions or comments on the design of my study, I would love to hear them. This is my first research project ever and I am still learning most of this stuff. An understanding of any of the concepts or constructs that aren’t clear to my classmates would help indicate what I need to look for when I complete the study and attempt to write it up.
Friday, February 20, 2009
WAY TOO MUCH WRITING
So, I must admit that I have been slacking off in my blog posting for the last two weeks. In my defense, that is becuase I am truly learning the definition of too much writing. I have spent the last three weeks doing a literature analysis so that I could write a research proposal for one of my classes. Excpet, it wasn't just a research proposal... it was a proposal and a midterm all rolled into one. So rather than simply writing the proposal, we had several questions that we had to incorporate in depth answers for into the proposal. All told, the proposal was a little over 3000 words, but the reading and citing and all of that made it so much harder to complete than a free-thought piece of the same length. So the 500 word a week blog posting seems like a piece of cake after cranking that thing out! Also, the proposal was turned in yesterday afternoon, so I have some free time to catch up on the blogging that I have been slacking on lately.
I think I am starting to see where the ideal of this class is going...
There are only a few basic concepts that a person MUST know to function in society.
In my opinion, a person must know the language, that includes the ability to speak, read, and write. A person needs to have some concept of the four basic principles of math, addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication. If for no other reason than to deal with currency. Decision making, certain ethics, more social skills that are harder to teach are obviously desired, but not absolutely required. Other than that I can't think of anything that EVERYONE needs to know.
The problem is that I started learning things I didn't need to know (and have never used) when I was in 4th grade. In fourth grade, I didn't know that I was not going to live in Michigan for the rest of my life (that came about in 6th grade) and I was an aspiring author. I didn't decide to going into computing until my Sr. year in high school.
I don't know that I have an answer to the question that Jay keeps asking about "How do we prepare someone for a job when we don't know what that job will be?" My instict is to say that educators have been doing that for years and years... but then I remember that most of us don't like the education system.
So then my next question is... if everyone else can see this and everyone else is all for changing this, why don't educators see this and what is preventing the change? Are politics too involved in education? Is there something that the people in charge of deciding how education works know that we are not aware of? All very perplexing.
Of course teaching a student how to learn rather than what to learn creates massive burdens in itself. How do you teach someone how to learn rather than teaching them specific topics. How do you determine (measure) that a student has in fact learned how to learn?
In my master's program I took a class and the students freaked out over the first assignment. The directions for the assignment were given in two short sentences. As the students probed the instructor for more information about how to complete the assignment, how to format the document that would be turned in, etc. The instructor continued to reply... whatever you think is best. Finally she said to pretend she was your boss and that he gave you this as a work assignment to complete and is too busy to answer your questions.
I REALLY enjoyed that class and the freedom to complete the assignments anyway I wanted to. It didn't matter what the answer looked like as long as the process I took to come to that answer was supported. It didn't even matter if the answer was wrong. If I supported my process and came to the wrong conclusions, then I was given instruction as to where my logic was flawed or where I might have made a mistake. My grade wasn't penalized for it since it was a learning process.
It drove the majority of the class insane. They wanted step by step instructions on how the task was to be completed and a big long description of what the final paper was supposed to look like. They couldn't fathom that they were free to choose how to complete the assignment. So to me, that is a better learning environment and closer to what I think the point of this class is (of course I could be wrong... it happens)
I think I am starting to see where the ideal of this class is going...
There are only a few basic concepts that a person MUST know to function in society.
In my opinion, a person must know the language, that includes the ability to speak, read, and write. A person needs to have some concept of the four basic principles of math, addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication. If for no other reason than to deal with currency. Decision making, certain ethics, more social skills that are harder to teach are obviously desired, but not absolutely required. Other than that I can't think of anything that EVERYONE needs to know.
The problem is that I started learning things I didn't need to know (and have never used) when I was in 4th grade. In fourth grade, I didn't know that I was not going to live in Michigan for the rest of my life (that came about in 6th grade) and I was an aspiring author. I didn't decide to going into computing until my Sr. year in high school.
I don't know that I have an answer to the question that Jay keeps asking about "How do we prepare someone for a job when we don't know what that job will be?" My instict is to say that educators have been doing that for years and years... but then I remember that most of us don't like the education system.
So then my next question is... if everyone else can see this and everyone else is all for changing this, why don't educators see this and what is preventing the change? Are politics too involved in education? Is there something that the people in charge of deciding how education works know that we are not aware of? All very perplexing.
Of course teaching a student how to learn rather than what to learn creates massive burdens in itself. How do you teach someone how to learn rather than teaching them specific topics. How do you determine (measure) that a student has in fact learned how to learn?
In my master's program I took a class and the students freaked out over the first assignment. The directions for the assignment were given in two short sentences. As the students probed the instructor for more information about how to complete the assignment, how to format the document that would be turned in, etc. The instructor continued to reply... whatever you think is best. Finally she said to pretend she was your boss and that he gave you this as a work assignment to complete and is too busy to answer your questions.
I REALLY enjoyed that class and the freedom to complete the assignments anyway I wanted to. It didn't matter what the answer looked like as long as the process I took to come to that answer was supported. It didn't even matter if the answer was wrong. If I supported my process and came to the wrong conclusions, then I was given instruction as to where my logic was flawed or where I might have made a mistake. My grade wasn't penalized for it since it was a learning process.
It drove the majority of the class insane. They wanted step by step instructions on how the task was to be completed and a big long description of what the final paper was supposed to look like. They couldn't fathom that they were free to choose how to complete the assignment. So to me, that is a better learning environment and closer to what I think the point of this class is (of course I could be wrong... it happens)
Friday, February 13, 2009
This "Thing" called the Internet
I know you all missed my blogging for the week since I been overwhelmed by sickness (sinuses) and work. So, here it is just a day late and a dollar short... but maybe that means I'll post twice as much this week... who knows.
So, this thing called the internet seems to get lots of people up in arms over the things that seem to pop up out of no where and without anyone's permission. What you use to do, you can now do faster, more efficiently, and much cheaper. I understand that and I agree that those are all benefits of the technology. My question is, do you do anything that you didn't do before because you couldn't do it before?
The example I go back to in class is the payroll information. Of course you can access that information with a few keystrokes and the click of a mouse and of course you couldn't do that before, but although the method has changed, the end result is still the same. You accessed the information. What did you do with the information you accessed?
I like the phrase:
Technology is the art of convincing people that they can't live without and item that was invented just yesterday.
How did people ever drive anywhere before GPS? How on earth did settlers track across America without cars and without a GPS system... So we can do it quicker, more efficient, and for (relativly speaking) less money. So when is the last time you got in your car and drove across America?
The bottom line I guess is with the ability to do things quicker, more efficient, and with less cost, are we more productive? Do we produce more things of value every day than we did before or are we creating more and more garbage and enjoying more and more wasted/free time?
Are we getting dumber? Are the majority of people arrogant enough to think that learning is obsolete. I don't need to know anything because the internet knows everything. Except the internet knows everything because collectively the people that built it know everything... and I wouldn't need to use the internet if I didn't want to know something I didn't already know...
Okay, it is scary, but that almost makes sense. And since I like to make sense, I am going to quit rambling now before I produce even more un-educated non-sense.
So, this thing called the internet seems to get lots of people up in arms over the things that seem to pop up out of no where and without anyone's permission. What you use to do, you can now do faster, more efficiently, and much cheaper. I understand that and I agree that those are all benefits of the technology. My question is, do you do anything that you didn't do before because you couldn't do it before?
The example I go back to in class is the payroll information. Of course you can access that information with a few keystrokes and the click of a mouse and of course you couldn't do that before, but although the method has changed, the end result is still the same. You accessed the information. What did you do with the information you accessed?
I like the phrase:
Technology is the art of convincing people that they can't live without and item that was invented just yesterday.
How did people ever drive anywhere before GPS? How on earth did settlers track across America without cars and without a GPS system... So we can do it quicker, more efficient, and for (relativly speaking) less money. So when is the last time you got in your car and drove across America?
The bottom line I guess is with the ability to do things quicker, more efficient, and with less cost, are we more productive? Do we produce more things of value every day than we did before or are we creating more and more garbage and enjoying more and more wasted/free time?
Are we getting dumber? Are the majority of people arrogant enough to think that learning is obsolete. I don't need to know anything because the internet knows everything. Except the internet knows everything because collectively the people that built it know everything... and I wouldn't need to use the internet if I didn't want to know something I didn't already know...
Okay, it is scary, but that almost makes sense. And since I like to make sense, I am going to quit rambling now before I produce even more un-educated non-sense.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
No such thing as privacy on the Internet
Ok, you guys liked the questions so here are some more before I get started on my latest rant.
1. Have you ever "googled" yourself?
1a. If so, when is the last time you did so?
1b. How often do you "google" yourself?
2. Google yourself now... MAKE SURE YOU PUT YOUR NAME IN QUOTES
2a. How many results are you?
2b. How many are not you?
3. What is the most interesting thing about you that you discovered?
4. If an employer, potential employer, or educational institution that you applied to (such as UT) decided to "google" you as part of the application process, would you be in trouble?
Feel free to answer the questions in your responses to the post, or simply keep them to yourself.
So why the pop quiz? Because the short survey I read for class this week talks about internet privacy and it focuses on bloggers. Many bloggers during the study admited to getting into some kind of trouble over something they posted in a blog. This was either with friends and family or with an employer or potential employer. In light of the fact that 59% of the respondants had attended college, another 26% had a masters or professional degree, and another 5% had PhDs (read, over 90% of them were educated) I wonder how dumb educated people really are.
In case you're not one of the brightest educated people out there... Anything you put on the Internet is 10 times worse than if you call up the News Sentinal and place it in a classified ad. At least with an ad, it has the potential to go away and most people won't read it. If you post it to the internet it is permanent (think alltheweb) and it can be recalled with a few quick key strokes by anyone anywhere anytime. (Let that sink in for a minute as you write your blogs for this class!)
Now of course you would have to use your name (55% of the respondants used their real name in their blog postings) and have a fairly uncommon name / background association. What I mean is if you post your name and your occupation and your education (think Myspace, Facebook, Classmates.com) you're going to be easier to identify than writing as Joe Smith.
Unfortunantly, you can't control what other people post about you either, so you might want to be prepared for that. I'll post my results in another post so this one isn't too long.
1. Have you ever "googled" yourself?
1a. If so, when is the last time you did so?
1b. How often do you "google" yourself?
2. Google yourself now... MAKE SURE YOU PUT YOUR NAME IN QUOTES
2a. How many results are you?
2b. How many are not you?
3. What is the most interesting thing about you that you discovered?
4. If an employer, potential employer, or educational institution that you applied to (such as UT) decided to "google" you as part of the application process, would you be in trouble?
Feel free to answer the questions in your responses to the post, or simply keep them to yourself.
So why the pop quiz? Because the short survey I read for class this week talks about internet privacy and it focuses on bloggers. Many bloggers during the study admited to getting into some kind of trouble over something they posted in a blog. This was either with friends and family or with an employer or potential employer. In light of the fact that 59% of the respondants had attended college, another 26% had a masters or professional degree, and another 5% had PhDs (read, over 90% of them were educated) I wonder how dumb educated people really are.
In case you're not one of the brightest educated people out there... Anything you put on the Internet is 10 times worse than if you call up the News Sentinal and place it in a classified ad. At least with an ad, it has the potential to go away and most people won't read it. If you post it to the internet it is permanent (think alltheweb) and it can be recalled with a few quick key strokes by anyone anywhere anytime. (Let that sink in for a minute as you write your blogs for this class!)
Now of course you would have to use your name (55% of the respondants used their real name in their blog postings) and have a fairly uncommon name / background association. What I mean is if you post your name and your occupation and your education (think Myspace, Facebook, Classmates.com) you're going to be easier to identify than writing as Joe Smith.
Unfortunantly, you can't control what other people post about you either, so you might want to be prepared for that. I'll post my results in another post so this one isn't too long.
Continued
So what happens when I google my name? Well first of all let me explain that in 1993 I was informed that 6 other people in the United States shared my exact name, even the spelling. (I learned that when I had to get my SSN fixed) so my name is not as uncommon as you would think. So if you Google me, I am not on facebook under Los, Angeles CA, I am not a pbase artist (whatever that is) nor did I post to CNN's political Ticker
Results will vary with each search, but here is what I found about me:
My first result was the 7th link on the page. There people will learn that I am a member of IBM Ring 58 (International Brotherhood of Magicians) so I will not be teaching at any school that has banned the Harry Potter books.
I don't show up again until page 3 for a research paper a professor of mine was nice enough to include my name on, and page 4 where people will learn that I am a member of the UT Martial Arts club.
Then one that I find most interesting every time I do this (about every 2 years) Is result number 40 in which I get credit for solving the Math Forum POW for October 9-13 of 1995!! That was 14 years ago. Talk about permanent!
I show up again on page 6 of the results I was honored for five years of service to the university in June of 2006.
Here is something else you need to be careful of. ListServs are archived. When I got to page 9 of my results, a message I sent to the UTMA list serv popped up. Don't send anything to a listserv that you wouldn't have printed in the newspaper!
Two other searches to try... Your name without quotes and your formal name that is LastName, Firstname in quotes. You'll get different results and if an employer is going to research you, they will probably use all three methods.
Closing thoughts in a third post...
Results will vary with each search, but here is what I found about me:
My first result was the 7th link on the page. There people will learn that I am a member of IBM Ring 58 (International Brotherhood of Magicians) so I will not be teaching at any school that has banned the Harry Potter books.
I don't show up again until page 3 for a research paper a professor of mine was nice enough to include my name on, and page 4 where people will learn that I am a member of the UT Martial Arts club.
Then one that I find most interesting every time I do this (about every 2 years) Is result number 40 in which I get credit for solving the Math Forum POW for October 9-13 of 1995!! That was 14 years ago. Talk about permanent!
I show up again on page 6 of the results I was honored for five years of service to the university in June of 2006.
Here is something else you need to be careful of. ListServs are archived. When I got to page 9 of my results, a message I sent to the UTMA list serv popped up. Don't send anything to a listserv that you wouldn't have printed in the newspaper!
Two other searches to try... Your name without quotes and your formal name that is LastName, Firstname in quotes. You'll get different results and if an employer is going to research you, they will probably use all three methods.
Closing thoughts in a third post...
Contiued Again...
So here's the take home message. What you post to the internet creates a permanent record of your thoughts and feelings. That record can be recalled by anyone, anywhere, at anytime. People seem to feel a certain amount of safety when posting to their personal blog, their personal homepage, their myspace, or facebook page. Despite the fact that there are many instances each year of people getting in trouble for something posted online, people still don't get the message. If you would not send it to the news sentinel, you probably shouldn't send it in an e-mail, write it on your blog, or post it on your homepage.
Ask Wade Gilley how private your e-mail messages are (former UT President who's affair was exposed when his e-mail was leaked).
Google "School Teacher Fired Myspace" for a whole list of cases of Myspace getting people fired. When you're tired of MySpace, try Facebook in the search. Everything you post to the Internet is subject to search.
Everything can (and in many cases will) get you fired or prevent you from getting a job. With great power (the power to publish anything you want for free) comes great responsibility (don't do it, get a real life with real friends!).
Don't let your friends post pictures of you in "questionable" situations. Don't post them yourself, and don't blog about them. In fact... you're better off not using the internet at all... I'm sure of it.
For more see:
http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2008/10/teacher-fired-for-inappropriate-behavior-on-myspace-page289.html
http://tallahassee.com/legacy/special/blogs/2007/01/teacher-fired-over-myspace-page_25.html
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/education/story/1291477.html
Ask Wade Gilley how private your e-mail messages are (former UT President who's affair was exposed when his e-mail was leaked).
Google "School Teacher Fired Myspace" for a whole list of cases of Myspace getting people fired. When you're tired of MySpace, try Facebook in the search. Everything you post to the Internet is subject to search.
Everything can (and in many cases will) get you fired or prevent you from getting a job. With great power (the power to publish anything you want for free) comes great responsibility (don't do it, get a real life with real friends!).
Don't let your friends post pictures of you in "questionable" situations. Don't post them yourself, and don't blog about them. In fact... you're better off not using the internet at all... I'm sure of it.
For more see:
http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2008/10/teacher-fired-for-inappropriate-behavior-on-myspace-page289.html
http://tallahassee.com/legacy/special/blogs/2007/01/teacher-fired-over-myspace-page_25.html
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/education/story/1291477.html
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
The internet is destroying us
In his book "The cult of the amateur: How today's internet is killing our culture" Andrew Keen spends the first chapter ranting about how the internet is causing people in traditional media outlets such as the news, music industry, and movie industry to lose money and jobs. He mentions multiple times the issues craiglist has caused for newspapers in lost revenue due to free classified ads. He talks endlessly about the untrained ametuers posting their opinions and media and the untrained ametuers viewing the information that has been posted.
Well, WELCOME TO THE DIGITAL AGE. Keen suggests that consumers should pay for a product simply because the people that are charging are the people who have been doing it the longest. You should pay the newspapers for circulating news and for classified ads. His reason why, they are the experts at it. They deserve to be paid huge sums of money for their expertise. Well, the internet has proven that it doesn't take huge sums of money or experts to produce content that is of interest to millions of viewers.
Keen's argument is the equivalent of saying that we should never have adopted cars as a mode of transportation. Just think of the millions of people that were out of business. The lumber jacks that cut the wood to build buggies, the farmers that bred and fed the horses to draw the buggies, the people that fixed the buggies when they broke. The invention of the car ruined the transportation industry! The spread of the internet is in the same way destroying the media industry!
According to Keen, content on the internet is created by monkies then consumed by the same monkies that are creating it. Internet publications lack the trained professonalism of an elite group of media generators. Any Joe-Smoe can be a movie critic, a news reporter, or a movie star. My response:
1. I have never had any professional training, yet for the past two years I have been hired as a sports reporter and photographer for a local newspaper. Does that make me a professional journalist? Does that make me qualified to be a sports reporter or a blogger? At what point do I cross from Amateur to professional?
2. If someone can and will do it for free, then PLEASE do it. I for one hate having to pay someone hundreds or thousands of dollars for their expertise when my car breaks. I know lots of people that are frustrated with the money they spend every time their computer breaks. If people wouldn't charge outrageous amounts for their services in the first place, there wouldn't be a push to find the means to provide the same service cheaper or for free.
3. You will never be able to go to dinner online. You'll never be able to obtain physical merchandise online (you can buy it there, but it still comes from someone somewhere). It will be impossible to fuel your car on the internet. So there are many goods and services that the internet can't possibly destroy people's ability to make absurd amounts of money from.
4. I prefer the advice and opinions of people that are not paid for their advice and opinions. I have found that I don't like the majority of films that are highly praised and given awards at the Oscars each year. The expert opinion is rarely my opinion so why would I PAY for an expert opinion?
It isn't up to the world to put an end to the digital age so that we can continue to pay outrageous prices to the people that have monopolized the industry and profited for years off that monopolization. It is the industries' responsibility to adopt to the fact that their model no longer works. After getting something for nothing, few people are going to readily go back to paying the kind of money Hollywood and the RIAA charge or even the small fee charged by the newspaper company.
It is a digital age. The horse and buggy are now novelties as soon might be printed newspaper and high dollar movie and music distribution.
Well, WELCOME TO THE DIGITAL AGE. Keen suggests that consumers should pay for a product simply because the people that are charging are the people who have been doing it the longest. You should pay the newspapers for circulating news and for classified ads. His reason why, they are the experts at it. They deserve to be paid huge sums of money for their expertise. Well, the internet has proven that it doesn't take huge sums of money or experts to produce content that is of interest to millions of viewers.
Keen's argument is the equivalent of saying that we should never have adopted cars as a mode of transportation. Just think of the millions of people that were out of business. The lumber jacks that cut the wood to build buggies, the farmers that bred and fed the horses to draw the buggies, the people that fixed the buggies when they broke. The invention of the car ruined the transportation industry! The spread of the internet is in the same way destroying the media industry!
According to Keen, content on the internet is created by monkies then consumed by the same monkies that are creating it. Internet publications lack the trained professonalism of an elite group of media generators. Any Joe-Smoe can be a movie critic, a news reporter, or a movie star. My response:
1. I have never had any professional training, yet for the past two years I have been hired as a sports reporter and photographer for a local newspaper. Does that make me a professional journalist? Does that make me qualified to be a sports reporter or a blogger? At what point do I cross from Amateur to professional?
2. If someone can and will do it for free, then PLEASE do it. I for one hate having to pay someone hundreds or thousands of dollars for their expertise when my car breaks. I know lots of people that are frustrated with the money they spend every time their computer breaks. If people wouldn't charge outrageous amounts for their services in the first place, there wouldn't be a push to find the means to provide the same service cheaper or for free.
3. You will never be able to go to dinner online. You'll never be able to obtain physical merchandise online (you can buy it there, but it still comes from someone somewhere). It will be impossible to fuel your car on the internet. So there are many goods and services that the internet can't possibly destroy people's ability to make absurd amounts of money from.
4. I prefer the advice and opinions of people that are not paid for their advice and opinions. I have found that I don't like the majority of films that are highly praised and given awards at the Oscars each year. The expert opinion is rarely my opinion so why would I PAY for an expert opinion?
It isn't up to the world to put an end to the digital age so that we can continue to pay outrageous prices to the people that have monopolized the industry and profited for years off that monopolization. It is the industries' responsibility to adopt to the fact that their model no longer works. After getting something for nothing, few people are going to readily go back to paying the kind of money Hollywood and the RIAA charge or even the small fee charged by the newspaper company.
It is a digital age. The horse and buggy are now novelties as soon might be printed newspaper and high dollar movie and music distribution.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
What to believe
Many people have a problem with the information generated on the internet due to the fact that it allows anyone to say anything they want with no citation to empirical evidence. Many professors and teachers shrink in fear at the idea of students using a source as un-academic as wikipedia and believing most of what they read on the internet without questioning where the information came from.
To this I say BAH! In America, information is CRAMMED into our heads from the time we are five years old. Information that has no more grounding in fact than much of the information available on the internet... Don't believe me? Try this on...
1. Quick, who discovered America?
2. Who discovered that the Earth was round?
3. How many planets are in our Solar System?
Did you answer Columbus to number 1? If Columbus discovered America, then where did the native Americans come from? What about the Vikings that knew it was here long before then? Columbus landed in a place that Europe was not aware existed. Where does pre-colonial American history come from? Europe. The fact is that Columbus lays claim to being the first European to step foot on American soil and thus is credited with the "discovery". American history, however, does NOT teach this, still today we celebrate Columbus day and the discovery of America.
Did you also answer Columbus to number 2? In fact Columbus did NOT sail around the world. Columbus sailed half way around the world then turned around and went home. He did not make it to India. Why then was I educated less than 20 years ago to believe that it was Columbus? Because that is European (England and Spain) history.
Did you answer 9 to number 3? Remember that recently Pluto was de-classified as a planter. Ever heard of planet X. Astronomers believe that there may be as many as 12 bodies that act like planets in our solar system.
Finding the "truth" and using only "reliable" sources is not a problem that is new to the internet. All scientific "fact" is simply a best guess and all history is slanted to the perspective of the person that recorded it. This problem of best guesses and false information is illustrated in the fundamental ideals that every American child learns in elementary school. How can we expect to teach children how to search for "reliable" "trustworthy" sources when the very books used to educate them continue to present false hoods and best guesses as known facts?
One thing the internet does allow for is a wider range of opinions to be voiced and discovered by those that are interested in learning multiple versions of the truth. Now try a google search to find out what an internet search will reveal in answer to those three "simple" questions.
To this I say BAH! In America, information is CRAMMED into our heads from the time we are five years old. Information that has no more grounding in fact than much of the information available on the internet... Don't believe me? Try this on...
1. Quick, who discovered America?
2. Who discovered that the Earth was round?
3. How many planets are in our Solar System?
Did you answer Columbus to number 1? If Columbus discovered America, then where did the native Americans come from? What about the Vikings that knew it was here long before then? Columbus landed in a place that Europe was not aware existed. Where does pre-colonial American history come from? Europe. The fact is that Columbus lays claim to being the first European to step foot on American soil and thus is credited with the "discovery". American history, however, does NOT teach this, still today we celebrate Columbus day and the discovery of America.
Did you also answer Columbus to number 2? In fact Columbus did NOT sail around the world. Columbus sailed half way around the world then turned around and went home. He did not make it to India. Why then was I educated less than 20 years ago to believe that it was Columbus? Because that is European (England and Spain) history.
Did you answer 9 to number 3? Remember that recently Pluto was de-classified as a planter. Ever heard of planet X. Astronomers believe that there may be as many as 12 bodies that act like planets in our solar system.
Finding the "truth" and using only "reliable" sources is not a problem that is new to the internet. All scientific "fact" is simply a best guess and all history is slanted to the perspective of the person that recorded it. This problem of best guesses and false information is illustrated in the fundamental ideals that every American child learns in elementary school. How can we expect to teach children how to search for "reliable" "trustworthy" sources when the very books used to educate them continue to present false hoods and best guesses as known facts?
One thing the internet does allow for is a wider range of opinions to be voiced and discovered by those that are interested in learning multiple versions of the truth. Now try a google search to find out what an internet search will reveal in answer to those three "simple" questions.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Thoughts on this assigment / blog
One of the reported problems with the internet is that entirely too much information is being "created". Much of the information on the internet is simply a repeat of information from somewhere else. Additionally, much of the original content is written by people with no academic credibility, designed for a small number of friends within their social group, and not fit for consumption by the general public. While one line of thought is the desire to preserve, consume, and understand the vast amounts of information available from “everyone” that is connected, another line of thought contends that there is very little information of true value on the internet. Of course all of this depends on your definition of value and your purposes in utilizing and or publishing to the internet.
The assignment for this course adds to the ever growing collection of random unchecked thought and information being generated on the internet. Take for example the post that you are reading at this very moment. I have made several broad general statements that many of you will readily agree with. However, just because you agree doesn’t make them true.
Who is it that has “reported” this problem? Who are they to determine what the problems of the internet are?
Why is a duplication of information a bad thing? Would it be better to have the information stored in one place that everyone has access to rather than have the same information posted on a million different websites taking up hard drive space on internet servers all over the world? Or does a multitude of duplication ensure that the information is available and easier to find for all parties interested in consuming the information?
Who exactly is it that thinks that everything on the internet should be preserved? Is it enough that you or I think that way, or should someone more important with the power to preserve the information be convinced of this?
Who thinks that the majority (and again define majority) of information is not worth saving? If some of the information was carefully preserved while the majority was discarded, who then would determine what is “of true value” and “fit for consumption by the general public”?
Depending on what other topics arise during the course of the semester, I may attempt to answer (or at least provide reference to the arguments for and against these statements) some of these questions with my own opinions. OR, I might simply continue to post my own random mostly uneducated thoughts, conveniently passing them off to the general public as solid facts simply because the internet allows me to do that!
The assignment for this course adds to the ever growing collection of random unchecked thought and information being generated on the internet. Take for example the post that you are reading at this very moment. I have made several broad general statements that many of you will readily agree with. However, just because you agree doesn’t make them true.
Who is it that has “reported” this problem? Who are they to determine what the problems of the internet are?
Why is a duplication of information a bad thing? Would it be better to have the information stored in one place that everyone has access to rather than have the same information posted on a million different websites taking up hard drive space on internet servers all over the world? Or does a multitude of duplication ensure that the information is available and easier to find for all parties interested in consuming the information?
Who exactly is it that thinks that everything on the internet should be preserved? Is it enough that you or I think that way, or should someone more important with the power to preserve the information be convinced of this?
Who thinks that the majority (and again define majority) of information is not worth saving? If some of the information was carefully preserved while the majority was discarded, who then would determine what is “of true value” and “fit for consumption by the general public”?
Depending on what other topics arise during the course of the semester, I may attempt to answer (or at least provide reference to the arguments for and against these statements) some of these questions with my own opinions. OR, I might simply continue to post my own random mostly uneducated thoughts, conveniently passing them off to the general public as solid facts simply because the internet allows me to do that!
Purpose of this Blog
Whether you found this blog on purpose or by mistake, welcome to my insane domain of thoughts. This blog was started in January of 2009 as part of an assignment for a graduate course.
For those of you that are not in 695, the ideal behind the project was inspired by a former teacher of the class instructor. This teacher thought it was a good idea to have her students write more than she would ever read. The instructor for the graduate class liked the ideal and assigned it as part of the course. The goal is to blog on a regular basis and thus create more words than the instructor can or will read.
For those of you that are not in 695, the ideal behind the project was inspired by a former teacher of the class instructor. This teacher thought it was a good idea to have her students write more than she would ever read. The instructor for the graduate class liked the ideal and assigned it as part of the course. The goal is to blog on a regular basis and thus create more words than the instructor can or will read.
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