Transcript Ch9 Broader Issues - University of Southern Mississippi

Ch9 Broader Issues
4/15/02
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Community or Isolation?
Many people feel that the impact of computers
on community, social, and interpersonal
interaction is negative and will get worse.
Will on-line shopping kill real stores and
eliminate the need for community-based
professionals?
Will the effluent pull back on support for local
schools and public services?
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Community or Isolation?
Will the ability to do so many things from home
(shop, vote, bank, etc.) cut down on people to
people interaction and result in a de-emphasis
in the importance of community?
Are there factors other than technology that
offer greater threats to the concept of
community ?
Have these other factors already killed the
sense of community?
11/12/02
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How Do You Measure
Community?
It has been suggested that a good measure
of “community” is the number of organizations
that people join and are active in.
Unlike studies of the early 90’s, recent
studies tend to indicate that this is not a
problem.
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What About Isolation?
There was a real concern about what the
impact of the telephone would be. It was feared
that it would negatively impact peoples ability
to talk face to face.
Many people are reporting that e-mail
correspondence has allowed them to keep in
touch with the modern dispersed family.
11/12/02
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Computer Addiction
This is a real problem. Computer games
have knocked more than a few students
out of college.
You might have noticed that old-timers
tend to get hooked on Solitaire. (or e-bay)
Probably won’t kill you but can sure mess
your life up.
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Two decent articles
“How Computer Addiction Works”
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/computer
-addiction.htm/printable Valid 10/03/08.
If not still on the web a copy of the article can
be found on the class website under
“HowstuffworksComputerAddiction”
10/3/08
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Two decent articles
“When games stop being fun” Published:
April 12, 2002. I couldn’t find a copy on-line,
so I’ve put a copy I made years ago on the
class website under the name
“GameAddiction”
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Who gets hooked?
Studies have reported that Internet addicts
tend to have the personality that leads to
addiction and it is probable that if they
were not addicted to the Internet then there
would be addiction to something else such
as gambling, drug abuse, etc.
Our focus should be on an understanding of
addiction that leads to avoidance and/or
treatment and not simply on computer
related manifestations.
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Who gets hooked?
If you look at the traits associated with
an addictive personality you will probably
note that “many of the traits can be found in
anyone. It’s often a matter of degree that
determines whether or not these traits drive
us to seek relief through a drug of one sort of
another.”
“Willpower’s Not Enough” by Washton and Boundy
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Blaming Others
The person who blames others rather than
take responsibility for his own actions
is particularly prone to addiction because
this forfeits the power to change the situation.
“Willpower’s Not Enough” by Washton and Boundy
[If you are going to be a professional then
there
are going to be times when you are simply
wrong. You need to be able to acknowledge
that when it happens or you will never be able
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to
clean up the mess
you
Cybersex
Stanford study published 4/99 in “Professional
Psychology: Research and Practice”
9 million people a day log on to the Internet for
sexual pursuits.
8% were determined to be sexually compulsive
because they spent more than 11 hours a week
on cybersex and felt it interfered with their lives.
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Cybersex
60% admitted to lying about their age.
40% admitted to lying about their race.
47% were married.
The three “A”s of the Internet:
affordability, accessibility, and anonymity.
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Problems with Stanford Study
1. If all of these people admit to lying then at
least that number does. Why believe them now?
2. Since when does not feeling you have a
problem mean that you don't have one?
3. Arbitrary selection of hours needed to be
addicted.
4. Sample size not given or details on how data
collected.
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Information Haves and
Have Nots
A family with a college education and earning
over $50,000 is five times as likely to have a
computer as one with non-graduates earning
less than $30,000.
Over half of the children of college graduates
use a computer at home while only 17% of
children in homes where the parents have
high school education or less do.
Are colleges with poorly supported computer
labs even playing fields?
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Additional Information
70% of children in the US between the
ages of 7 and 17 have access to
computers (Child Trends 2003;
DeBell and Chapman)
4/8/09
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Communications Act of 1934
Under the universal service guarantee found in
the act, telephone companies are required to
provide telephone service to poor people at low
rates, subsidized by other customers.
Do we need to extend this principle to the NET?
CPSR argues that in an information-driven
society the answer is yes.
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CPSR & Universal Access
According to CPSR, Universal Access requires:
1. A place where everyone can go to get access.
2. Easily used equipment.
3. Training in the use of hardware and software.
4. Affordable access.
5. Access to the full range of features.
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"Larry Irving: Digital Divide Lives, Few People
Care"Newsbytes (04/18/02); MacMillan, Robert
Speaking at the ACM sponsored Computers
Freedom and Privacy 2002 conference in
San Francisco, Privacy Council chief
strategist and former U.S. Commerce
Undersecretary Clarence "Larry" Irving
accused both the federal and private
sectors of indifference in bridging the
digital divide between the Internet haves
and have-nots. He noted that 60 percent
of African-Americans and 70 percent of
Hispanic-Americans lack Internet access.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176000.html
4/21/02
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The Market's Role
Competition and technical developments have
combined to really drop the price. Initially new
technology carries a very high price tag.
The rapid drop in price is allowing libraries and
schools to set up computer labs. Companies
and foundations are now donating new
computer equipment to provide support to the
public.
Have Nots are in fact Have Laters and the trend
is4/28/09
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become
Haves.
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Can They Do This?
Technology Review (02/04/09) Talbot, David
India has unveiled a prototype laptop,
called Sakshat, which will reportedly
cost $20 and provide a way to deliver
online educational materials to students
throughout the country. The Indian
Education Ministry says the laptop has
two gigabytes of random-access memory,
wireless and fixed Ethernet connections,
and consumes only two watts of power.
2/5/09
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Loss of Skills and Judgment
I have a spelling checker.
It came with my PC.
It plainly marks four my revue,
Miss steaks aye can knot sea.
Eye ran this poem threw it,
I’m sure your pleased to no.
It’s letter perfect in it’s weigh,
My checker tolled me sew.
-Jerrold H. Zar- “Candidate for a Pullet
Surprise”
12/1/02
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"Considerate Computing"
Digital gadgetry's propensity to interrupt
users with alerts is not only a source of social
embarrassment, but of declined productivity:
Studies support the idea that interruptions in
normal routines slow people down and make
them more likely to commit errors. "If we could
just give our computers and phones some
understanding of the limits of human attention
and memory, it would make them seem a lot
more thoughtful and courteous," notes
Microsoft's Eric Horvitz…
Scientific American (01/05) Vol. 292, No. 1, P. 54; Gibbs, W. Wayt
1/24/05
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Are Computers Hurting
Education?
An extensive study of both home and school
use of computers by the Educational Testing
Service (ETS) of more than 6,000 fourth-graders
and 7,000 eighth-graders, concluded that home
use of computers has a positive effect, but
“the net effect of school computer use is
negative.”
Haim Baruh, “Last Word”, ASEE Prism. Oct 2001, p68.
11/18/02
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Are Computers Hurting
Education?
A growing number of teachers are expressing
concerns about the decline in student
performance in classes while standardized
test scores indicate stronger students.
Students seem to think, learn, and visualize
differently than their peers of earlier years.
“Independent thinking has been replaced by
double clicking.”
Haim Baruh, “Last Word”, ASEE Prism. Oct 2001, p68.
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Are Computers Hurting
Education?
UCLA professor Patricia Greenfield analyzed
more than 50 studies on learning and technology
and concluded that critical thinking and analysis
skills decline the more people use technology.
One study found that college students who
watched "CNN Headline News" without the news
crawl on the bottom of the screen remembered
more facts from the broadcast that those who
watched with the crawl. Greenfield believed this
study and others like it demonstrate that multitasking prevents people from obtaining a deeper
understanding of information. UCLA News (01/27/09)
2/4/09
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Are Computers Hurting
Education?
1/10/05
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Encouragement to not Think
The loan officer plugs in factors and then
decides to approve or disapprove a loan.
Doctors will find it safer to go along with the
advice of a computer than to exercise
independent judgment when treating a
patient.
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Shades of Big Brother
Your word processor will probably caution
you if you use a word that “it” considers
offensive.
Microsoft has pulled potentially offensive
words (including one of my favorites –
“Blockhead”) from at least one Thesaurus
and I’ve had at least one student with a
name Microsoft found offensive.
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Political Freedom
The case for more: what happened in Russia,
Tiananmem Square, etc., electronic newspapers
and relayed e-mail, full text of bills available.
Counter examples: Government of Iran avoiding
"cultural contamination" from U.S. television.
Singapore doing similar with the web. China
using firewalls to block certain Internet sites.
Viet Nam keeping certain political thoughts out.
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New Technologies and the Future
A phone call from the east coast to the west
coast, when it first became possible, had a
cost that was approximately one weeks
salary for a three minute call.
It was predicted that the phone would become
so important that every city would need one.
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Food Production and Increased
Life Expectancy
In 1901 the average family spent 47% of income
on food. That dropped to 12% in the late 90’s.
IN 1662 ONLY 25% of the people in London
lived to age 26.
In 18th century France the median age for
death was lower than the median age for
marriage.
11/18/02
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First Spam
The first recognizable e-mail marketing
message was sent on 3 May, 1978 to 400
people on behalf of DEC - a now-defunct
computer-maker. The message was sent
via Arpanet - the internet's forerunner and won its sender much criticism from
recipients.
BBC News, 2 May 2008
4/21/09
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First Commercial Spam
April 1994 saw another pioneering moment in
the history of spam when immigration lawyers
Canter and Siegel sent a commercial spam
message to more than 6,000 Usenet discussion
groups.The Canter and Siegel e-mail is widely
seen as the moment when commercialization
of the net began and opened the floodgates
that led to the deluge of spam seen today.
BBC News, 2 May 2008
11/17/08
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"War on E-Mail Spam Ratchets
Up in Courts, Legislatures"
Christian Science Monitor (4/18/2) P. 1; Marks, Alexandra
Much effort is currently underway to control the
proliferation of spam, including federal
legislation, new blocking technology, and a
federal crackdown on illegal spammers. States
have lead the way in the fight against unsolicited
email, as businesses in the 20 states that have
already passed anti-spam laws have filed dozens
of cases against spammers. Experts estimate
that billions of dollars are lost due to spam,
since it takes up computer server space and
employees' time in deleting the messages.
4/21/02
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"Spam to Overtake Real E-Mail
in 2003"
Unsolicited commercial email will outnumber
real email in 2003, according to an annual
report from email filtering firm Message Labs.
The report calculates that one in every 212
emails sent this year contained a virus.
Furthermore, Sunner indicates that spam has
started to exhibit virus-like traits.
http://www.acm.org/technews/
articles/2002-4/1213f.html#
11/1/03
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"Spam to Overtake Real E-Mail
in 2003"
This October saw the release of
"Friendgreeting," which is spam disguised as
a greeting card that, once opened, transmits
copies of itself to everyone in the recipient's
address book. Spoofing, in which spammers
fool recipients into opening their emails by
pretending to send a note from an uninvolved
third party, is also on the rise.
http://www.acm.org/technews/
articles/2002-4/1213f.html#
Note: Spam for 2008 greater than 97%
4/17/09
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Anti-Spam Law is Unconstitutional
--US Supreme Court Lets Stand Ruling that
Anti-Spam Law is Unconstitutional (3/30/09)-The US Supreme Court will not reinstate
Virginia's stringent anti-spam law. Instead, the
court will let stand a Virginia Supreme Court
ruling that declares the law unconstitutional
because it forbids political, religious and other
types of messages in addition to unsolicited
commercial messages.
4/17/09
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Spam Profit Margins?
By hijacking a working spam network,
computer scientists from University of
California, Berkeley and UC, San Diego
(UCSD) concluded that Spammers are
turning a profit despite only getting one
response for every 12.5m e-mails they
send. While a big spam operation can
turn over millions of dollars of profit per
year the tiny response rate suggests that
spammers may be susceptible to attacks
that make it more costly to send junk mail.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7719281.stm
4/13/09
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McAfee Looks at Spam's Damage
to Environment
The McAfee study found the global annual energy
used to transmit, process, and filter spam is
33 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) and that spam
produces the same level of green house gas
(GHG) emissions as 3.1 million passenger cars
using 2 billion gallons of gasoline. 80 percent of
the energy consumption related to spam was
found to come from end users deleting spam and
searching for legitimate email.
eWeek (04/16/09) Eddy, Nathan
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Predictions are Iffy
"I think there is a world market for maybe five
computers." (Tom Watson, Chairman IBM 1943)
80,000,000 PC’s delivered 3rd quarter 2008.
"Computers in the future may ... only weigh
1.5 tons." (Popular Mechanics, 1949)
"There is no reason for any individual to have a
computer in their home." (Ken Olsen, President
DEC, 1977)
10/20/08
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Predictions are Iffy
“No one will need more than 640K of memory.”
(Bill Gates, 1981)
"Two years from now, spam will be solved.”
(Bill Gates, 2004) A Microsoft security report
states that spam for the second half of 2008
was at 97.3% down from 98.4% for the first half
of the year.
4/8/09
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