Japan to Open G-Rated Virtual World

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/09/28/virtual.tokyo.ap/index.html

Japan's "meet-me" is a virtual world that is designed to be "orderly, pornography-free, and safe for children."

Is User Education Pointless?

While this question sounds like it is from technology staff having a really bad day, it is actually the main question for an older article posted on C/Net. The issue is:

"Might it be so that we use the term and concept of user education as a way to cover up our failure?" he asked a crowd of security professionals. "Is it not somewhat telling them to do our job? To make them be a part of the IT organization and do the things that we are bound to do as a specialized organization?"
In Gorling's view, the answer to those questions is yes. In corporations in particular the security task belongs with IT departments, not users, he argued. Just as accounting departments deal with financial statements and expense reports, IT departments deal with computer security, he said. Users should worry about their jobs, not security..."I don't believe user education will solve problems with security because security will always be a secondary goal for users," Gorling said. "In order for security to work, it must be embedded in the process. It must be designed so that it does not conflict with the users' primary goal. It can't work if it interferes."
Security expert: User education is pointless | CNET News.com

I can certainly agree that technology security needs to depend less on the user and more on the security process/infrastructure. But it is important to note the final point above: "It must be designed so that it does not conflict with the users' primary goal. It can't work if it interferes."


Too often IT security measures are implemented in the name of "protecting" the user from himself/herself. Unfortunately, the user many times finds the solution a hindrance to their work, primarily because it is impossible for tech staff to know the impact of their security measures on all users' needs. Often IT staff don't even know how these measures are a hindrance as there is no natural feedback loop when implementing security. An increasing number of educators complain silently because they believe tech staff are unresponsive.

Education must do more to provide a process for dialog between educators and technology staff. There is growing dissatisfaction from educators statewide, particularly over filtering and locking down (or "managing" as many IT staff wish to call it). Many practices are interfering with the users' primary goal: educating students. Tech staff need to avoid turning a deaf ear to the hindrance issues in the name of security, and educators also need to better understand the security ramifications of opening systems for their education needs.

So, back to the original question: Is user education pointless? No, rather it is a poor question; it assumes a communication flow in one direction only: tech-->user. Rather, the question should be:
"Can we develop a dialog between technology staff and users that is responsive to both security needs and education needs?"
If we do not, tech staff and educators will continually find themselves at odds rather than working on solutions together. It is in everyone's best interest to develop a better, more responsive feedback loop to the IT security process.

And soon.

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Senate bill aims to address web safety

I just read a great article from eSchool News Online and was thrilled to see a new view on social networking and communication in schools. I would like to share a few exerpts from the ISTE discussion of the new legislation. Hopefully, this will generate some good discussion:
On August 7, 2007 a new Senate bill requires schools receiving federal eRate funds to educate students about internet safety and block students' access to social-networking web sites or chat rooms unless supervised.

Under the bill, schools receiving telecommunications discounts would have to educate students about appropriate online behavior, such as how to interact properly with others on social-networking sites and in chat rooms, and how to recognize and respond to cyber bullying.

"We now see a bill that asks schools to take their proper role in teaching safe and responsible use of the internet, rather than trying to block emerging communication and social-networking systems with great potential for positively engaging students and improving learning," said Don Knezek, CEO of the International Society for Technology in Education.

"One of a school's primary functions is to ensure safety and build responsible citizens, and trying to block every threatening activity that goes on in society is not a formula for effective education."

The complete story may be found at: http://www.eschoolnews.com//news/showStoryts.cfm?ArticleID=7298
Marcia Torgrude

Google Earth Adds Astronomy Feature

With this new feature, users can now view heavenly objects, including stars, constellations, galaxies, planets and the Earth's moon within Google Earth (GE), based on the user's current location on earth within the software. GE also provides additional visual/text information within the Layers panel, including Constellations, Backyard Astronomy, Hubble Showcase, The Moon, The Planets, User's Guide to Galaxies, and Life of a Star.

Considering the cost (free), Google Earth is an amazingly robust educational tool--a tool that can be used with just about any content area, particularly social studies and science. Tech coordinators around South Dakota should make this tool an absolute must-install for all educational computers.

Viewing the Sky - Google Earth User Guide

UPDATE:
It has been reported that the latest version of Google Earth has a flight simulator easter egg that is accessible by pressing Ctrl-Alt-A.

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IT Advice

eWeek has published a brief but timely article that is applicable to our work in education:

10 More Stupid Things Smart IT People Still Do

Here is a sampling of easy trappings they recommend you avoid:

• Cast a jaded eye on emerging technologies and modes of delivering technology.
• Ignore investment in training and professional development.
  
• Look at security purely from a technical standpoint.
  
• Don't let vendors set the technology timetable, but also don't
  stay informed about forthcoming updates and their potential benefits.
  
• Don't make time for reading news and analysis, especially for reading industry and peer-driven blogs.
• Let your disaster recovery plan lie dormant.
  

You can view all ten items of advice at eWeek.

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To Hack or Not to Hack

Last spring I visited a laptop school in South Dakota. The kids were very open about their attempts to work around the system in order to access the information they want. The tech director agreed that it was a constant battle to keep ahead of the game. I wondered about the learning that was occuring through the attempts to work around the system. In Everything Bad is Good For You, author Steven Johnson proclaims that students are actually getting smarter because of their contact with computers, computer games, complex television shows and movies.

My laptop school experience came back to me this week when I heard about the iPhone hacker. Apparently a teenager did some fairly simple re-engineering and created a work around for the new iPhone. It allows it to function outside of the AT&T's wireless system. Perhaps all the practice he was getting at school paid off and now he will be recruited by engineering schools and cell phone companies. Now others are coming on the scene (as referenced in the linked article above) with more solutions for the iPhone.

So is it a good thing that our kids are learning to "think outside the proverbial box" or are we just spinning our wheels by trying to block them from what adults believe to be non-educational content? Can we expect students to learn the same way we do? Is our time better spent teaching them about responsiblity and proper usage of the internet or devising new ways to shut them down?

A computer in your Bic?

The evolution of technology is staggering, especially when you consider the short time frame. Twenty years ago, cell phones were not a standard. Today, almost everyone has one and is using it for communication, internet access, storing music, and watching videos, just to name a few. Can computers get any smaller? In fact, they can. The digital pen is a little-known tool that has been around for a while, but it simply has not been perfected enough to be popular in the mainstream.
In the article, "Is the Digital Pen Mightier?" it seems there is new hope for the digital pen. Don't throw away your Bic just yet, but be patient.

IPv6--When's the right time to get ready?

The current system of IP addresses is slated to run out of addresses as early as 2010, so IPv6, the next generation of IP addressing, is gaining more attention. As noted in this PCWorld article, training for network administrators is growing in importance.

PC World - IPv6 Requires Learning Curve for Network Admins

The concerns were over the implementations and not the actual IPv6 protocol, she noted. "It's not intuitive to an administrator what's IPv6-capable and what's not, and what supports what, so we had to walk [the testers] through the process," she said. "That's not going to work and can slow a person down many days." She cited as an example one administrator who was setting up a file server with IPv6, a process that took about a month. The implications for businesses include the fact that IT managers need to do an inventory of what network nodes will remain on IPv4, and what will be implemented on IPv6 as a business grows, Johnson said. In addition, human resources departments need to be prepared for added training costs to prepare network engineers. "We got a lot of questions on how you set this up. We had to step back and say there's definitely a learning curve here," Johnson added. IPv6, the emerging IP networking standard, offers businesses worldwide the promise of a seemingly infinite number of IP addresses, and that will help make it possible to network the explosion of new servers, laptops, phones and printers.

When is the appropriate time for education tech coordinators to focus
on this standard and the implications? Because of the complexities of
mixing and converting to this standard, it may be prudent to acquire
awareness levels of reading and training now in preparation
for implementation down the road. Ideas/suggestions for where and how would be welcome here.

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Multi Touch User Interface

If any of you are David Pogue fans like I am, you will recognize this as a blatant re-telling of his Circuits email article on the same topic. Still, it's way cool, and if you haven't thought much about digital whiteboards, this brings an entirely new emphasis to that medium. While these nifty new devices are not yet available to the average Joe, unless you happen to be the average Joe with a new iPhone, the fact that they are currently being marketed to businesses means it is only a matter of time before they trickle down to the educational markets. So, for quick look to the future of interactivity, grab your favorite candy bar and a beverage and take 5--watch this four minute video from Popular Mechanics (it might take a minute to download) and enjoy the show.

SD ranks near bottom in bandwidth speeds

South Dakota is 2nd to last in a state by state ranking of bandwidth speeds, and the US came in 16th for rankings with other nations in a report by SpeedMatters.org. David Warlick posted this blog about the reports:
2¢ Worth » State-by-State Bandwidth Ranking

eSchool News online quotes that large gaps exist among the average download speeds of various states as well as nations.

A pair of reports form speematters.org:

Broadband Mapping and Data Collection
Testimony of CWA President Larry Cohen before the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

ViewDocument (PDF 40 kb) May 17, 2007 | Category: Data, Defining High Speed, Need
for National Policy

The Broadband Fact Book
This publication, from the Internet Innovation Alliance, presents a wide array of information
about broadband in the U.S.--user demographics, data on speeds and availablity, and statistics ono the growth of the internet.
View Document (PDF 2.7 mb) June 1, 2007 | Category: Data, Economic Growth

Interesting quotes from the factbook:

Less than 25% of rural Americans have
broadband connections By the end of 2005, 24% of rural Americans had high-speed Internet connections at home compared with 39% of adult Americans living elsewhere. In 2003, 9% of rural Americans had
broadband at home, less than half the rate (22%) of urban and suburban Americans. For overall Internet use (by whatever connection from any location), the penetration rate for adult rural Americans lagged the rest of the country by 8% at the end of 2005 (a 62% to 70% margin). This is about half the gap that existed at the end of 2003, Pew Internet & American Life Project reports.

Japanese can get 8.5 times the speed for
one-twelfth the cost U.S.
consumer pay more for slower speeds. In the U.S., DSL generally reaches speeds of up to 1.5 — 3.0 mbps at a price averaging $30-$50 per month (not including fees) while cable modems generally reach speeds of 3-5 mbps for $40-$50 per month. In Japan, the cost of an average connection with the speed of 26 mbps costs about $22.
The contrast is even more striking when expressed in terms of cost per 100 kbps. The top speed generally available in Japan is 51 mbps at a cost of $0.06 per 100 kbps. The top speed generally available
in the U.S. is 6 mbps available at a cost of $0.72 per 100 kbps. In other words, the Japanese have 8.5 times the speed at 1/12 of the cost.

Broadband telework – time savings equivalent
to 4 weeks of vacation a year A survey conducted by Sage Research offers further evidence of the benefits of IP communications. 100 organizations that have deployed IP communications reported an average benefit of 4.3 hours per week (or 28 days a year) for each remote worker.

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NECC 2007 - Keynote

NECC 2007 - Keynote

Click the link directly above to view the entry in the TIE Lead blog...

NECC 2007 - Google Earth

Staggeringly Good Things Integrating Media and Google Earth

Click on the link directly above to view this entry in the TIE Teach blog...

NECC 2007 - Virtual Worlds

How Virtual Worlds Help Real Students: The River City MUVE

Please click on the link directly above to read this entry in the TIE Teach blog...

NECC 2007 - Assessing Students' and Teachers' Technology Skills: NETS as Benchmarks

Mila Fuller of ISTE hosted a panel session
Assessing Students' and Teachers' Technology Skills: NETS as Benchmarks
Three organizations shared their resources for assessing technology skills:
Certiport | Home - Microsoft certification in basic computer skills
Nita Brooks, K12 Solutions
662-621-8948 nbrooks@certiport.com

TechLiteracy Assessment : measures and reports technology literacy for elementary and middle school students
Laia Jackson, Market Manager
800-580-4640 direct 503-517-4445 ajackson@learning.com

PBS TeacherLine | PBS
Tim Lum, Director of Marketing
tdlum@pbs.org

My notes from this session can be found at:
LS Notes: Assessing Students' and Teachers' Technology Skills: NETS as Benchmarks

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Warlick's Nuggets

Reporting from NECC 2007:
At the beginning of David Warlick's workshop he acknowledged there would be points in the workshop when we might mentally "check out" because he might be covering information with which we are already familiar. At these times he invited us to explore some Web 2.0 nuggets listed on his wikispace. He invited us to become experts on one of these nuggets and report to the group later. What a great instructional strategy for a group of diverse learners.

Podcasting from NECC

To read a post about podcasting from NECC, please visit the Teach Blog

New National Student Technology Standards Released

See this post in the TIE Teach Blog
click the link above to read more about the new NETS standards.

Backup storage cartridges and Hi-Def video cameras

David Pogue of the New York Times explains and reviews a variety of technology products via articles and podcasts. He recently discussed the advantages and disadvantages of Data Storage Cartridges for backup storage, and also warns about marketing hype of the emerging market of HD cameras:



David Pogue

David Pogue, The Times's personal technology columnist, reports weekly on new technology.


NYT: David Pogue for 06/08/2007
This week: Hi-Def video cameras.


NYT: David Pogue for 05/31/2007
This week: Data storage cartridges.

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Vista, IE patches to note

eWeek repoorts:



Critical IE, Vista Flaws Patched

June 12, 2007


Internet Explorer is suffering from six vulnerabilities, five privately reported and one publicly disclosed, all of which are addressed in security bulletin MS07-033. Microsoft officials said June 12 that all but one of the IE flaws could allow system hijacking if a user were to visit a malicious Web page. One of the flaws allows spoofing and also requires a malicious Web page visit.

In all cases of possible remote code execution, users who have configured IE to have fewer user rights could be at less risk than those running IE with administrative rights. For one of the vulnerabilities—the spoofing problem—user interaction is required.

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Keeping up with federal laws on storing school electronic communicaitons

In December federal law mandated that schools/organizations keep all digital communications and files produced by employees. An informal survey by a data management company finds many schools are not yet meeting the demands of the requirements. According to eSchool News online

CommVault says the results of its informal poll show a marked disconnect between school leaders' awareness of the issues surrounding FRCP compliance and their preparedness for a lawsuit. By not appropriately managing their electronically stored information according to federal rules, administrators are exposing their districts to potentially costly legal action, the company says.

"The new federal rules represent an urgent call to action for educators and school information technology officers to understand how information that is sent and received on school-owned equipment might be used in litigation," said Mike Ivanov, senior director and head of CommVault's Archive Center of Excellence.

"The cost of litigation can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, potentially draining public school districts of valuable education funds. To reduce the impact of such threats, school technology leaders need to become students of these new rules themselves and take stock of their eMail policies and existing technologies to ensure compliance," Ivanov added.

To keep tabs on eMail, instant messages, and other digital communications produced by employees and students, school leaders should reevaluate their digital storage technologies and how they search through and retrieve information, he said.

"What makes it more challenging for schools is their budgets," Ivanov said. "Budgets are so slim in the first place that it's hard to carve out significant dollars." Still, he added, the money invested in a storage solution likely would be less than the money spent if a school district did not have a solution and had to address a legal issue.

The legislation puts the impetus on schools to not only store the data, but implement ways to retrieve it as well. In December eSchool News online reported:

An expert on issues concerning technology and the law, Lindsay has called prematurely deleting or copying over eMail documents a matter of "virtual shredding."

Lindsay says the rules will require schools and other organizations to think about how and where they store digital information in advance of potential legal skirmishes. Schools, for example, might want to conduct technology inventories to better understand what types of eMail storage and data backup systems they have in place; establish guidelines for the kinds of information that must be saved and for those that can be deleted; and decide where to store critical data, so the information is easily accessible in the event of a problem, he said.

The new regulations don't constitute any major changes to the law per se, Lindsay said, but by noting that electronic communications should be preserved with the same care and diligence as other business-related documents, the High Court ruling forces managers "to recognize this distinction up front," giving schools, businesses, and even individual users an opportunity to be proactive in efforts to secure relevant computer-based information.

Law changes like this can be disconcerting, particularly in trying to determine what is truly required of schools. For most, there are more questions than answers. If any of our readers have information or sources that better explain what is required, please email or post them here.

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