UWM OneWeb Day Videos

Even though you might not have been able to view UWM's OneWeb Day live, the recordings are below. Each is thought provoking and covers a different aspect of the Web.

Palin e-mail hack

ArsTechnica has another good bit of information on the Palin e-mail hacking case. If you are not aware of the newest updates, it is a quick read to catch you up.

Which brings me to my thought of the hour/day. Why is this such a big deal? If this were any other person, the FBI would surely not be 'raiding' an apartment already. Sure she is a governor mired in controversy and a vice-presidential candidate, but why all the hub bub, bub?

Now I can understand that this case might be of concern because she is a governor and there could be some very sensitive information in her e-mail account. However, no one is questioning why she was using an e-mail account other than her state e-mail account. The old cliche of you get what you pay for probably applies in this instance. What if, instead of Yahoo, Palin had been using GMail. Since GMail scans e-mails for advertising purposes (not a jibe at Google) conceivably Google would be going to the fighting ring. *side note: Which would be interesting since Google still has not been charged with copyright violations stemming from digital scanning operations*

This is case is incredibly whimsical in my mind. If this had happened to anyone else there would not be such an urgency to prosecute or rectify the situation. If, instead of Palin, a CEO or other higher up in an organization had use Yahoo for official organizational business they would have been fired by now. Maybe this is another way of showing there are two sets of laws in the US, one for the elite and another set for the rest of us which go unenforced. Most importantly this entire escape shows two things.

First, the US needs to implement better privacy standards for Internet users. When insurance companies are selling anti-identity theft insurance, you know the government has failed to protect 'our' personal information by lack of legislation.

Second, it shows that if you are important enough in some one's eye, the entire resources of the federal government will come to your aid. On a less satirical note, this shows that the tools are present for catching such privacy violations. It remains unclear how willing the government is to prosecute, but my guess is that since this is such a famous case, the defendant will be made very unhappy.

OneWebDay!

It has finally arrived, OneWebDay. Billed as Earth Day for the Web, the day will have multiple events around the world speaking about the Web. Many of these events will also be broadcast online.

I wanted to call attention to this

There is an interesting report from ArsTechnica about a bill that could potentially reverse the open access the NIH just mandated last year.

Discussing higher education

A recurring theme that my fellow students and I return in our doctoral seminar class is whether or not online, distance education, is suitable for doctoral level education. Though I am a product of one completely online masters program and another hybrid program, I must say that working towards a doctorate online would not be for me.

First, the synchronous interaction that I have with my fellow classmates is extraordinary. Sadly for our professor/moderator, we usually end up taking up the entire time discussing the topic of the day. Of course at this level of study the time for lectures should be at an end. It should be up to the students to drive the learning experience.

Second, being on a campus presents wonderful opportunities not afforded to distance students. Most doctoral programs provide some source of income for their students. Usually it is some sort of assistantship for teaching, research, or both. The key is that this experience exposes and familiarizes the student with academe. How well this can be accomplished online is still open to future technological developments, however at this point in time, I cannot see the online programs holding up against on-site programs. At least for me anyway.

Fascinating book

My first assignment for my new program was to read an item by Ernest L. Boyer Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate.

What a good book. Even though the publication date was a decade ago, the book is still very much relevant to higher education. If you have a few hours one dreary day and are interested in higher education, read this book. It is extremely fast to read and very understandable.

Break time is over

So for the past two months I forced myself to not blog. It was actually much easier than I had thought. As the new school year approaches, there is some news to report.

1) I graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a MLS from the School of Library and Information Studies.
2) I have begun to work on a PhD in Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
3) I am playing catch up to the blogosphere...two months off and stories are the same, but with some differences.

That is it, yes what a wonderful life.