Unit 7, Article 34: Iran’s Twitter Revolution? Maybe Not Yet

Reference:

Schectman, J. (2009). Iran’s twitter revolution? Maybe not yet: Some Iranian election protesters used Twitter to get people on the streets, but most of the organizing happened the old-fashioned way. In P. De Palma (Ed.), Annual editions: Computers in society 10/11 (pp. 154-155). New York: McGraw Hill.

Summary:

This 2009 article talks about what media has been referring to as a “Twitter Revolution” in Iran. The author points out that while Twitter has been used to a small extent in Iran, most of the revolution, which consisted of protests in the streets, was organized by people going door to door, making phone calls, and sending SMS messages on their cell phones. There are just over 8,500 Twitter users whose profiles indicate they are from Iran – not enough to form the kind of protests that took place. Moreover, the Iranian government blocked Twitter so the actual number of users that took the effort to get around the blockage are probably not that big.

The reason why it seems like a Twitter revolution from the outside is that most of the information that the international media has been able to get about what is happening in Iran has come through Twitter. There are some people on the ground in Iran who have been able to send messages. Their messages are not necessarily intended for other Twitter users in Iran, but intended for the international media to get a hold of. The fact that they are using Twitter makes a nice story, and so does the content of the Tweets.

Reaction:

Twitter is an interesting concept for me. While I have never used it, I can see the advantages it has for social networking and distribution of small pieces of information. People who want to publish information about themselves or any topic of their choice can do so from their mobile phones – they do not even need access to a computer. The concept of a Twitter revolution is interesting to me. I agree with the author that there would not be enough people using Twitter to actually organize a revolution. I don’t even think there are enough people in the U.S. on Twitter to organize something to the scale of a revolution. I can see the advantages of Twitter for getting information into the media.

From an educational standpoint, I think this is a great lesson for students in believing what the media is telling us or looking deeper at the research behind popular ideas. I had heard rumors about Twitter revolutions in third-world countries before I read this article. However, after looking at the research of how many users in the country were account holders, I find it hard to believe that any country is having a “Twitter Revolution”. It is more likely that it is being used by a few people on the ground to get the word out to the rest of the world.

Unit 6, Article 26: A Growing Watch List: Data from both U.S. citizens and foreigners flow from a massive clearinghouse.

Reference:

De Young, K. (2007). A growing watch list: Data on both U.S. citizens and foreigners flow from a massive clearinghouse. In P. De Palma (Ed.), Annual editions: Computers in society 10/11 (pp. 121-122). New York: McGraw Hill.

Summary:

This brief article talks about how technology is being used to compile and manage a database of people, both foreign and U.S. citizens, who may pose a terrorist threat to the United States. The database is called TIDE, Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment. The list is stored securely by the federal government and parts of the data are shared, on a need-to-know basis with law enforcement officers, border patrol, airlines, and others whose job it is to keep the U.S. secure. The list is populated by bits and pieces of information that are sent to TIDE by various intelligence agencies both inside the U.S. and abroad. Information is screened by TIDE management; often the pieces of information are incomplete and vague - sometimes even incorrect.

Incorrect and/or vague information is one of the problems with the TIDE database. Information in the database can cause people to be detained at airports, banned from flying, and in some cases taken to prison. If someone is unfortunate enough to have the same name as a person in the TIDE database, they will continuously be delayed and searched at airports. Generally, there is nothing a person can do about this but carry a letter alerting airport authorities that authorities will have to call TSA to verify the person’s identity.

Reaction:

I found this article to be very interesting. The TIDE database makes a lot of sense from a national security standpoint, but it is too bad it cannot be more accurate. I have to have faith that the managers TIDE are trying their hardest to keep the data organized and accurate in the best interest of the country. I would rather be searched every time I get on an airplane or cross a boarder than worry about possible security threats every time I fly, but I see how it could make some people extremely upset.

I can also see how this may be a big problem for international students, foreigners, and people who come from countries where everyone has similar names. For people who do not understand English well, it could be very scary to be searched and interviewed in the airport. It would be a horrible welcome to America. I just hope the security personnel, law enforcement, and border patrol officers who screen people are good representatives of America as they go about their interactions with people.

Unit 5, Article 24: Wikipedia in the Newsroom

Reference

Shaw, D. (2008). Wikipedia in the newsroom: While the line “according to Wikipedia” pops up occasionally in news stories, it’s relatively rare to see the user-created online encyclopedia cited as a source. But some journalists find it very valuable as a road map to troves of valuable information. In P. De Palma (Ed.), Annual editions: Computers in society 10/11 (pp. 108-110). New York: McGraw Hill.

Summary

This article, which was written for American Journalism Review, talks about varying viewpoints of the use of Wikipedia by journalists. Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia that can be edited by anyone with internet access. Erroneous edits can be deleted by Wikipedia staff, but not everything is caught which means that the information found in Wikipedia is not necessarily accurate. According to the article, most journalists do not see Wikipedia as a viable source for information. Some journalists, however, agree that Wikipedia is a great place to go to find ideas. Many articles are full of good information and liked to credible sources.

Most often, when Wikipedia is cited by someone as a source it is because the user does not fully understand Wikipedia. Wikipedia is open about the fact that the information found inside is not necessarily accurate. Their online disclaimer includes the words “please be advised that nothing found here has necessarily been reviewed by people with the expertise required to provide you with complete, accurate or reliable information”. Students often cite Wikipedia when they write because it is the first thing that comes up in the search engine. Likewise, reporters who have never heard of the source may use it erroneously.

Reaction

Wikipedia is full of interesting information and often very helpful when trying to find quick facts about a new idea or concept. I agree with the article that Wikipedia can be a great place to start when researching. It presents a wealth of ideas and information that can then be researched further and confirmed. I also think Wikipedia can be very tempting for students who are just beginning to learn how to research. ESL students that I have worked with in the past have copied and pasted information from Wikipedia because they didn’t know how to express what they wanted to say in English. I think it is important that instructors address proper use of Wikipedia in their classrooms. Many instructors ask their students not to use Wikipedia as a source at all. I think it would be great if more instructors could teach students how to use Wikipedia as a source for finding credible information that they can cite in their papers. Going to Wikipedia is kind of like asking people you know about a topic before you start researching it. They may give you incorrect facts, but they will probably be able to help steer you in the right direction and give you some things to think about that you hadn’t thought of on your own.

Unit 3, Article 8: National ID: Biometrics Pinned to Social Security Cards

Reference

Singel, R. (2007). National ID: Biometrics pinned to social security cards. In P. De Palma (Ed.), Annual Editions: Computers in Society 10/11 (pp. 40-41). New York: McGraw Hill.

Summary

This article was written in May of 2007 about two immigration reform proposals that were before Congress at the time; the article was published in Wired magazine. The goal of the immigration reforms was to make it easier for employers to identify whether applicants were eligible for employment by improving diver’s licenses and social security cards. The proposed bill would have also severely limited the documents that employees could present to verify their citizenship. A major part of the proposal was to add some type of biometrics to social security cards. Biometrics could include a photo ID, fingerprint, or even an iris scan. Social security cards could even be scanned with a special program on laptop computers to immediately verify people against federal databases. Some people were concerned that if the social security card did become the only card that could be used for employment and if the card could be scanned and compared to a federal database, that we would be creating a new set of problems. Some are worried that mistakes in the federal databases – 17.8 million inaccuracies were know at the time of this articles publication – would prevent some people from getting a job who should rightfully have one. People are also concerned that turning the social security card into a national ID card could lead to widespread document checks and be taken advantage of by more than just employers.

Reaction

Since this article is from 2007, I don’t find it extremely useful in 2010. Since social security cards have not changed since this article, I assume that the proposal did not pass congress. Other articles that I have read have also talked about the need for some type of national ID: something that could be used both online and off-line and would be hard for identity thieves to steal. I assume that some type of new ID system is coming soon to the United States. I also think it would be a great idea (from the national security perspective) to include some type of biometrics in the ID because it would make the ID harder to seal or replicate. I personally feel uncomfortable with so much of my information being stored online and in databases around the country and the world. When I have traveled internationally, I have been fingerprinted and scanned; I wonder who is keeping all of this data about me. How secure is it? I understand that it is my choice to travel. Therefore, I must choose to be scanned and printed or turn around and go home. However, I am not sure I am ready for the federal government to require that I give them biometric information just to live here in my own country.

Unit 8, Article 39: Google and the Wisdom of Clouds: A lofty new strategy aims to put incredible computing power in the hands of many.

Reference

Baker, S. (2007). Google and the wisdom of clouds: A lofty new strategy aims to put incredible computing power in the hands of many. In P. De Palma (Ed.), Annual Editions: Computers in Society 10/11 (pp. 181-185). New York: McGraw Hill.

Summary

Cloud computing is a relatively new concept. Clouds are giant clusters of machines that are all working together over the internet; a cluster could consist of 100 computers or 1,000 – depending on the job that needs done. Clusters of computers working together are powerful because they can handle jobs that one machine would just get bogged down in – and they can handle these jobs with great speed. Clusters are also great because they evolve with changing technology; as each machine in a cluster gets old or breaks, engineers replace single machines one at a time without affecting the ability of the cloud to continue processing data.

Google, with its massive search engines and other applications has learned to leverage cloud computing very effectively. Their algorithms and strategy are largely kept a secret from outsiders since Google’s ability to use cloud computing is a major part of the company’s success. This article talks about one employee at Google, Basciglia, that recognized a need to train college students on the concepts of cloud computing. Basciglia developed a course known as Google 101 to train college students at University of Washington on the concepts of cloud computing. The course was hugely popular and has now spread to other universities. Since the Google cloud is not available to the public, university students have begun to develop a cloud of their own machines where they learn how to develop algorithms and programs that leverage the power of cloud computing. Many of the students who take the Google 101 course have gotten jobs working for Google or other large companies such as IBM after graduation.

Reaction

This article talks about the huge power that we have in the web at this point in time and suggests that in the future we will look back and think that our current concept of the web is “tiny” compared to what it will be able to do in the future. I believe that this is true. The rate at which the volume of information on the internet has grown over the past 10 years is astonishing. Now, more and more people are putting information into the web, not only to we create websites, but each time we click on a link we contribute our choice is saved on a server somewhere which contributes to the vast amount of data that can be accessed via the web. I think the future of the web is both exciting and scary. I am not sure how I feel about other people being able to obtain so much information about me by monitoring what I do online, what I write in my emails, and what other people write or post about me. I am glad that there is not universal ID that I use every time I log into a computer. This, at least, provides some anonymity, but I know that information about most of my life can be found on the servers that don’t belong to me. The web is exciting, though, because of all that we can use it for. All of the data online is great for research and brings a new era to teaching and learning.