doug - off the record http://dougpete.wordpress.com Thoughts and comments as the mood hits Sat, 11 Jul 2009 12:01:17 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ en hourly 1 http://www.gravatar.com/blavatar/a909e87a56f409007048cbe697438709?s=96&d=http://s.wordpress.com/i/buttonw-com.png doug - off the record http://dougpete.wordpress.com The Case for Email Literacy http://dougpete.wordpress.com/2009/07/11/the-case-for-email-literacy/ http://dougpete.wordpress.com/2009/07/11/the-case-for-email-literacy/#comments Sat, 11 Jul 2009 11:53:13 +0000 dougpete http://dougpete.wordpress.com/2009/07/11/the-case-for-email-literacy/ ]]>

The image below is deliberately blurred as there are some terms in there that are offensive and this high quality blog doesn’t use potty mouth.  <grin>

It’s Sunday morning, and I’m doing some cleanup and maintenance on various accounts and things that I use so that things are relatively organized to make my time online productive.  Part of this means cleaning out mailboxes.  This seems like a never ending task but it’s necessary.  If you don’t, you can easily reach storage limits and have your account suspended or even worse.In this case, I’m clearing out my Hotmail account.  What’s unique about this free account is that I don’t share the email address with anyone – it’s not on a website, blog, or any other resource.  I don’t use the account for general email; it’s just an area where my family can send me email and I can log into Windows Live services like Bing.And yet, the spammers and garbage senders from the web have found this account.

The content filter has correctly identified the garbage above and appropriately files it in the Junk box.  Thankfully, content filters stop these type of messages from clogging up the main mailbox but they are kept around just in case a message gets flagged inappropriately.  It’s good practice to take a quick skim through the messages periodically in case something gets targeted inappropriately.

The spammers have tried their best to avoid the filters – replacing the letter i with the digit 1; replacing the letter o with the digit 0; misspelling words so that they won’t get caught in a dictionary check and yet you still recognize what the word is.

Windows Live Mail
Image by niallkennedy via Flickr

So, I do my quick skim and was about to blow them all away when I started to think about what a student would do.  From the email address, you’d have no idea if I was me, or a business using this account, or a 12 year old student.  Spammers don’t really care – they just want their message delivered and if you’re naive enough, for you to open it and click on a link because your credit card has been compromised or you have a health problem that needs fixing or you’ve got contact from a long-lost relative or you’ve won some sort of lottery.  While it may be amusing at one level, it can be very serious at another.  For all of the millions of pieces of junk mail navigating the internet, the goal is to get a couple of people to get curious and click through to get taken advantage of.

How does education handle this?  Often, quite badly.  Use a content filter to block or filter this stuff so that it’s not visible and therefore doesn’t exist.  Don’t give students email accounts so that the opportunity doesn’t present itself.  Run a simulation to show what “might” happen.  All of the techniques might have some educational value but how effective is it?

Students go home to the family computer and go online real time.  With real email accounts and accepting real internet traffic, they deal with these issues on their own.  A simplistic solution is to say “Where are the parents?”  “Why aren’t they supervising online activities?”  These are very simplistic, passing the buck solutions and don’t really address the situation.  Parents aren’t experts – many did not grow up with email and may be just as naive as their children.

Education has taken on some very serious societal issues in the past.  Sex education, addressing drug use, bullying, etc. are now an accepted part of the curriculum.   Progressive educators are finding ways to incorporate email and other online literacies in the classroom.  It’s time that this become a serious topic covered in all classes, every year, so that we raise literate online citizens.

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]]> http://dougpete.wordpress.com/2009/07/11/the-case-for-email-literacy/feed/ 0 dougpete Windows Live Mail Reblog this post [with Zemanta] links for 2009-07-10 http://dougpete.wordpress.com/2009/07/11/links-for-2009-07-10/ http://dougpete.wordpress.com/2009/07/11/links-for-2009-07-10/#comments Sat, 11 Jul 2009 05:03:43 +0000 dougpete http://dougpete.wordpress.com/2009/07/11/links-for-2009-07-10/ ]]>
]]> http://dougpete.wordpress.com/2009/07/11/links-for-2009-07-10/feed/ 0 dougpete Images http://dougpete.wordpress.com/2009/07/10/images/ http://dougpete.wordpress.com/2009/07/10/images/#comments Fri, 10 Jul 2009 10:57:05 +0000 dougpete http://dougpete.wordpress.com/2009/07/10/images/ ]]>

There were big happenings yesterday at Google over its new addition to image search.  My buddy, TheCleverSheep was all over it immediately.  Just announced on the Official Google Blog was the inclusion of a filter to allow you to quickly identify images by type.  Of interest to bloggers and web developers are images that are released under a Creative Common license with permissions to use the images in a variety of ways.

Often, you’re looking for that perfect image to demonstrate a concept in a post or for a presentation.  There are great ways to do it.  TheCleversheep even produced this presentation and spoke about the concept and resources at an Ontario Educatiors’ Meetup.  Until now, you needed to use the search at the Creative Commons website, Compfight (the Sheep’s favourite), or The Flickr CC Search Toy (my favourite).  More recently, I’ve been using Zemanta for this sort of the thing.  The integration into ScribeFire makes this functionaity so useful.

Now, the filter addition to Google lets you have control over the use of images right into Google Search.  Make sure that you’re using the Advanced Search and it’s one feature that’s there among a number of others.

For those who are Photoshop lazy, there are also options for the size of graphic file or the file type.  Need a photo that has a face in it?  How about clipart as opposed to a photo?  All of these are options that let you zero in of the exact type of file that suits your needs.

Upon returning to the results, there’s another interesting feature.

Often, you’ll need an image with particular colours or shading to them.  By clicking the “All colors” option, an additional filter narrows your results to images that have a particular colour to them.

To test this out, I did a search for “Detroit Tigers“.  As you might suspect, what you get is a potpourri of images and graphics and it comes as no surprise that most of them include the Tigers’ logo which is navy blue and orange.  However, if you’re going a green themed post or presentation, can you get results that have green as a predominant colour.

It should come as no surprise that the results now include a lot of photos of the diamond itself.  What could be more green at Comerica Park than the grass itself.All of these features make for expanded functionality of the Google Search facility.  Let’s hope that people explore and use them rather than doing a simple search and compromising with the first result returned.
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]]> http://dougpete.wordpress.com/2009/07/10/links-for-2009-07-09/feed/ 0 dougpete From a Post to Trending http://dougpete.wordpress.com/2009/07/09/from-a-post-to-trending/ http://dougpete.wordpress.com/2009/07/09/from-a-post-to-trending/#comments Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:07:32 +0000 dougpete http://dougpete.wordpress.com/2009/07/09/from-a-post-to-trending/ ]]>

Yesterday was a massive blogging day in response to Google’s announcement of the future of an operating system they’re calling Google OS.  A lot of hacks with keyboards (including myself) threw their two cents worth of thought into the fray.  I spent a lot of time reading thoughts and comments that ran the entire spectrum from this is a great concept, to this is stupid, to do we need another Linux, to will Chrome OS be better than Ubuntu to …  I did a lot of reading. It was good reading.  Insightful, funny, futuristic, negative.  For every keyboard, there was an opinion.

How do we ensure that this will make a difference?  Google, after all, has “Beta” splashed over many of their products and have been known to drop some of their products, including Google Notebook.

There are some things that give confidence that this will be a good thing.


Image via Wikipedia

First of all, Google has promised to open source the code.  This is great news as it has the potential of attracting some of the great programmers to the cause.  Secondly, and there’s no discounting this, the Google Brand is absolutely huge.  There are arguably better web apps in some of the areas that Google is a player, but Google puts it all together as a total package.  There’s a great deal of confidence in that.

However, what put me over the top in terms of confidence was this report from the BBC.  In the article, they list hardware developers who will work with Google

  • Acer;
  • Asus;
  • Freescale;
  • Hewlett-Packard;
  • Lenovo;
  • Toshiba.

That’s a pretty powerful list of vendors.  There are a few names missing – Apple, Dell, Gateway, Sony, … but it’s still early and nothing has been delivered to our knowledge yet.

From the original post on Google’s blog to trending #3 on Twitter as I write this entry, quite a stir has been created in the past 48 hours.  Stay tuned.

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]]> http://dougpete.wordpress.com/2009/07/09/links-for-2009-07-08/feed/ 0 dougpete Rethinking OS http://dougpete.wordpress.com/2009/07/08/rethinking-os/ http://dougpete.wordpress.com/2009/07/08/rethinking-os/#comments Wed, 08 Jul 2009 09:36:39 +0000 dougpete http://dougpete.wordpress.com/2009/07/08/rethinking-os/ ]]>

Do you remember the old saying that an elephant is just a mouse built by a committee?  Each year, we replace computers in our educational system.  It’s always a shame; when the computers that we’re replacing were new, they were the fastest, most powerful boxes in the system.  In their infancy, they were highly sought commodities but towards their later use, they are avoided at all costs.

They just get slower and slower as we add more applications to them.  The applications themselves evolve on newer technology and specifications.  The speeds on replacement computers allow the applications and operating system to run faster but they are still based on a common image deployed to the computers.  It’s interesting and certainly academic to watch machines, side by each, boot and get ready to do their thing at noticeably different speeds.  As applications and security updates are applied, over time, the machines get more sluggish to the point where they become the black sheep of technology.  With current technologies, it’s inevitable.  I dread rebooting my computer and it’s only a couple of years old, running Vista, and pretty powerful.

Yesterday, Google announced the development of the Chrome OS.  Many of us have speculated on a development of this ever since the release of the Chrome browser with its support for Google Gears.  Even though it was labelled a “new browser for Windows”, the Chrome browser does a lot of things differently.  It loads quicker, renders images quicker, and just feels different.  Tear off browsing tabs, incognito mode, are all features of a browser with a more contemporary approach.


Image via Wikipedia

Above and beyond the feel, it affirmed the notion that you don’t need to install yet another application to get more productivity for your computer.  As long as you have internet connectivity, you can be productive using Google Documents.  When you remove the need to install software on your computer, it should always run at roughly the same speed.  Sure, you’ll need to add some plug-ins for functionality, but booting, running, executing, should all remain at the same level of performance.

In its post, the Chrome OS will start running on Netbooks.  These are the lesser powered machines that fly when running Linux today and are designed to perform best when operating with web based applications.  A successful launch there may see it move to the more powerful machines shortly thereafter.  But, couldn’t you already do this with Windows and the Macintosh OS?  In theory, yes.  After all, the web is just the web and there are versions of the Chrome browser already available.  And, Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer browse the web just nicely.  The difference is that the Chrome OS will be free.

Even in today’s market, when you buy a Netbook, there are two price levels for the same product.  Buy it with Linux and you get one price; buy it with Windows and you pay another.  It’s not hard to see where this is headed.  Microsoft will be in for a huge fight to make Windows 7 viable given the other factors.  It won’t go away; businesses still love their Sharepoints and their locally developed and modified applications that require Internet Explorer.  But, if Chrome OS is successful, huge inroads will be made, particularly for the home user.

More options in the operating system market create more options for the consumer.  Chrome OS will evolve as another Linux distribution with the internet giant behind it.  There will be a big following and with web applications getting better and better, the following will be very happy.

We’re going to be in for a fight if this all pans out and maybe that operating system mouse will remain a mouse.

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]]> http://dougpete.wordpress.com/2009/07/08/links-for-2009-07-07/feed/ 0 dougpete The Price You Pay http://dougpete.wordpress.com/2009/07/07/the-price-you-pay/ http://dougpete.wordpress.com/2009/07/07/the-price-you-pay/#comments Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:29:07 +0000 dougpete http://dougpete.wordpress.com/2009/07/07/the-price-you-pay/ ]]>

Since my post yesterday, I’ve really been thinking about the implications of Netbooks in the classroom.  I have lots of thoughts but it’s an interesting technology area.  There are no real experts in this field so you’re pretty much on your own in making some of the decisions.

When you make the move to a Netbook, there are prices to be paid.  But, there are also advantages.  In deciding to make the move, it’s a good idea to create your own checklist of features that you use when you consider portable computing and decide what you can live with, what you can live without, and what compromises that you’re prepared to make.

Personally, I put more thought into the physical aspects and usability of the computer before making the leap than I can recall for quite some time.  Some of my observations appear below.  In my case, I was moving from a Lenovo T60p to a Dell Mini 10v.  Here are a few of the things that I concerned and subsequently have learned.

Keyboard

  • Probably the biggest concern for most people.  If you’ve grown accustomed to a particular size, comfort, and arrangement, you will need to compromise on a solution.  In my case, I wanted a keyboard that had a nice tactile touch to it, keys that were in roughly the same place, and no compromises.  There were some compromises – I miss keys devoted to pageup and pagedown but they are there combined with the FN key.  The size is a bit smaller but I became used to it within the first hour.  Not a biggy here and I thought it might have been.  I had played with other Netbooks with some frustration in the past.

Display

  • Laptop screens get bigger and bigger.  My Lenovo, at 1680×1050 gives all kinds of room to have multiple applications open at the same time.  Going full screen leaves a great deal of white space when you visit some websites so I seldom go full screen.  The Dell displays at a smaller 1024×576.  I do a lot more scrolling now.  I guess I never fully appreciated the pageup and pagedown keys until now!

Weight

  • This is the true reason for my going to the smaller unit for some applications.  Rather than lugging around a big computer bag, it’s so much easier to just fold up the portable device and carry it like a book.  2.5 pounds is more easily carried than 6.4 pounds.

Mouse

  • In the migration from DOS to Windows years ago, I recall wondering if this mousey thing would ever catch on.  Now, it’s hard to determine what kind of pointing device is best since it’s an industry all to itself.  The T60p has both a trackpad and a trackpoint.  I use the trackpoint most of the time and so fumble at times with the trackpad.  However, the integrated mouse buttons and scrolling region are nice additions.

Operating System

  • The Lenovo is really a desktop replacement.  As such, it just seems right that it runs Microsoft Vista Business Edition.  I specifically wanted Ubuntu on a netbook and that was one of the determining factors for the Dell.  Ubuntu boots very quickly and wakes from sleep equally as quickly. In an environment where you want to just whip out the computer and use it, the speed to action is appreciated.

Battery Life

  • This really isn’t fair to have in a comparison.  With the consideration given to weight, comes limitations to battery life.  I’m getting about 2 hours on both machines.  This is an elusive quality because I do like a bright screen.  Any limitations in this area can always be resolved with a few bucks more spent for bigger or additional batteries if you’re prepared to carry the extra weight.

Other Niceties

  • It’s not really fair to make a comparison in this area since the machines were bought at different times.  However, with the Dell Mini, I appreciate the bigger hard drive, integrated camera, and integrated digital card reader.  Both computers have the required wireless and wired network connections, USB ports, audio ports, and video out.

Browsing

  • Firefox remains the browser of choice on both machines.  Given the limited display space on the netbook though, I haven’t added the same amounts of add-ons to the browser.  I need the display space.  However, I can’t imagine a world without adblock plus or diigo.

Applications

  • This is an area where there’s a major change in philosophy.  I’ve grown up in a world of applications and programs and they reside on my hard drive.  Over the past couple of years, the Read/Write web has given so much additional functionality as long as you’re connected.  I’m forcing myself for the time being to move everything web-ward that I can.  It’s been a real change in philosophy but I think ultimately will be a good one.

Processor

  • This is the area for a discussion of apples and oranges.  The Atom processor and Centrino Duo are relatives in name only.  You’re not going to buy a small netbook and then expect to get the same rendering abilities for graphics, etc. that you will with a larger machine.  You’re also not going to go for the eye candy and the transparency in menus.  Well, I guess you could but reality will kick in and you’ll turn them off.

In the Classroom

  • With students, I suspect that you throw all of this out of the window.  Kids love technology and will take any technology and make it do amazing things.  They just want access and need opportunity.

So, there are a lot of things to consider and I continue on my journey determining where in my digital lifestyle each fits.

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