Tweeting During Conference

In October this year I took the opportunity to user Twitter during General Conference. It was my first time sending live tweets during any kind of conference, but this was especially significant as the information I was sharing was of a religious tone. I do not often share things through Twitter or Facebook about religion. The time I spent on Twitter was somewhat distracting from the actual messages of conference itself, so I limited how long I spent doing it. What I did see during that time though was a very inspiring amount of twitter posts from other users with the same #ldsconf hash tag. I felt like part of a greater community and enjoyed seeing that there were others out there who shared my beliefs and shared the desire to post those to Twitter.

I don't know if I'll be sending tweets again during the next conference, but I do know that there are many people out there who diligently share that information. Overall it was a good experience to use Twitter during conference.

Virtual Reality

One of the most drawing allures in video games is the feeling that you, the player, have accomplished something great. Nothing could be further from the truth. While your virtual character has been performing mighty deeds and slaying monstrous beasts, you (a non-virtual character) have been sitting in a chair for some number of hours doing nothing but moving your thumbs. Certainly there is nothing wrong with using video games as a form of entertainment, but when play time starts getting measured in hours-per-day we start to see negative impacts from gaming. "Moderation in all things" is the most important guiding principle here. There are better things we can do with our time. Why spend time playing video games when you could use that same time to learn how to make video games (as in apps for mobile phones). There are many things that can give the same feelings of accomplishment as playing the video games and also improve on that feeling by providing something meaningful in return.

Position Statement: Women in Computer Science

Today I will be sharing a video I made that establishes my position on Women in Computer Science.  Specifically I am expressing my opinions about why so few women major in Computer Science.

To any concerned with the length of the video: My video is only 1:56 long. It is not 2:01 long. The last 5 seconds were put in by the company Xtranormal as an advertisement for their site.

Women in Computer Science

Group Formation in the Digital Age

I joined Facebook in 2005. At that time it was still limited to college students and required you to use an e-mail address ending in ".edu" in order to sign up. What I found on "The Facebook" (as it was called then) was an entirely new form of connecting with friends. First and foremost I was able to talk to friends from back home in a way other than e-mail. I was also able to add friends that I was meeting at college. My roommate and I would get excited any time a girl was the one to send a friend request to us. One of the best parts though was being able to join Facebook groups. I was soon in groups ranging from my high school or my apartment complex, all the way to groups focused on common interests such as video games. These groups provided a key interaction that could not be found through former media such as e-mail or blogs.

Social networking sites give us more than just an opportunity to connect with friends and family. They allow us to form groups around common interests or causes. In the book Here Comes Everybody, Clay Shirky describes how social networking groups have caused revolutionary changes in our society. In the past there has been a large overhead cost in the creation of groups. Today the cost is virtually nil as it becomes easier and easier to from groups over the internet.

We need to remember that the internet is a tool. It can be used for good or bad and groups formed via the internet can be created for good or bad purposes. Shirky shared an example of teenage girls forming a group of anorexic youth. The group included tips on how to hide your anorexia from parents and displayed pictures meant to show to the need to be anorexic. On the other hand there have been groups created to bring about changes for good. We should always be mindful of the groups we are engaging in on the internet.

A Knowable Difference

My roommate downloads hundreds of MP3s onto his computer throughout each year. He knows about copyright laws, and he knows that artists don't get paid when he downloads their MP3s for free. And yet he still does it without shame or guilt. There are thousands of other individuals who do the same thing: they download music they never paid for. The difference between my roommate and most others is that he uses these MP3s to know which bands he should buy music from. After listening to a few MP3s from a CD my roommate knows whether or not he wants that CD, whereas before he didn't even know what that band sounded like. There is a knowable difference between someone who downloads all the MP3s they can get their hands on, and someone who uses MP3 sharing as a way to know whether or not they want to buy a CD. Those who download to know which CD to buy are supporting the industry, while those who download without ever paying are hurting it.

The Real Bias

I once asked someone, a girl I was failing to flirt with, to name the nerdiest major offered at Brigham Young University.  Without much difficulty she responded "Computer Science."  It was a good joke to then inform her that that I was enrolled in the nerdiest major on campus.  Needless to say she never went on a date with me.  This story may be simple, but it does bring up a good point:  Computer Science has a reputation of being interesting mostly to nerdy male students.  This reputation is what drives many people away from majoring in Computer Science. Occasionally stories appear that accuse technical majors of encouraging some kind of gender bias which drives women away.  I claim to the contrary that the departments have no gender bias, but that the individuals themselves are the ones who have the bias.  Male and female students alike will usually avoid a major that has what some perceive as a negative connotation unless they are truly interested in that subject.  The departments aren't doing anything to discourage women, in fact we even have a t-shirt specifically for female Computer Science students.  The discouragement is created from bias that other students have of nerdy majors.

Engaging Teenagers in Family History Work

Improvements in technology have led to great improvements in efficiency of genealogical work.  Despite these changes, teenagers and young adults (age groups that are generally experienced with computers) are usually not participating in family history work.  Two major design aspects will encourage teenagers to use these family history programs.  First, users need to have positive experiences from the very moment they start using the program.  A good interface that gives blatantly obvious positive feedback when the user does something right will cause them to enjoy their experience.  The second design aspect is sharing the program on social network platforms.  Given a genealogy program recommended on Facebook by a friend, or a genealogy program recommended on a church website, most teenagers are going to be exposed to the program posted to Facebook.  Social network posts about the program will encourage more teenagers to use the program.  Both of these points (good user interface and easy social network sharing) will encourage teenagers to put their technology skills to good use in the world of family history.

Mormon.org

Technology is not inherently good or bad.  It is a platform with which people can do either good or bad things. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints has developed a website called Mormon.org.  As a member of the church I was able to create a profile on Mormon.org and see it get published.  Creating a profile allows you to answer questions from the FAQ, share experiences in your life, and post information about yourself.  I answered the question "What is a ward/stake/branch?"  It was neat to see it included in the list of answers for the question.  If you haven't made a Mormon.org profile I encourage you to do so.  If you are not a member of the church, I encourage you to visit Mormon.org to learn more about the members and beliefs of the church.

The Price of Software Piracy

Downloading commercial software without paying for it (software piracy) is not truly free.  Software piracy is not new either.  It didn't start with Napster, Kazaa, or Bittorent, and it is certainly not limited to music, movies, and video games.  In February of 1976, Bill Gates wrote a famous message titled An Open Letter to Hobbyists in which he accused software-sharing communities of stealing his products.  Gates pointed out that hobbyists who didn't pay for Microsoft's commercial software were preventing future products from being developed.  As a software developer of the present day I will echo his words yet again:  downloading commercial software without paying for it hurts the software development company and prevents better products from being created.  If you truly enjoy the software (or music, movies, games) you download for free, you would spend the money to purchase them legally.  You can pay the price its worth now, or you can pay the price of lower-budget, lower-quality products in the future.



External Link:  An Open Letter to Hobbyists
Download: Microsoft's official version of the letter.

Cyber Security: What's the number for the Cyber Police?

The Internet needs more heroic users.  In the book titled The Cuckoo's Egg, Cliff Stoll finds a way to catch an elusive hacker who has been stealing classified information.  His key actions that stopped the wrong-doer were his persistent effort and his contacting the right authorities.  Although we might never run across hackers doing malicious things on the websites we use, there are many situations that we can get involved in to help make the internet a better, safer place.   What should we do if we see bullying happening on someone's Facebook account?  What should we do if we find mature topics posted on forums intended for a younger audience?  What should we do if we notice someone using a school computer to view inappropriate content?  The best solution is to follow Stoll's actions and report the person to the correct authorities.  Whether its parents, forum moderators, or school employees there is some authority that we can find to inform of the situations we've discovered.





Book inspired post: The Cuckoo's Egg.

What happens on Facebook stays on Facebook... for everyone to see.

Once again Facebook has shown blatant disregard for their user's privacy.  In a move to increase their ad revenue, Facebook has made it even easier for others to know each and every thing you do.  This new sidebar ticker feed means that every post you make, every comment you leave, every 'Like' button you press is broadcast to all of your friends in real time.  Do we really need this level of publicity in our lives?  We already have the standard news feed that displays things we are most likely to be interested in.  I don't want to see all the minutia of my friends' lives, and I certainly don't want to have everything I do broadcast to my friends in real time.  This news feed has turned from what was already a pressure washer into a fire hose of information.  We must always be careful how much we are willing to post and share with the Facebook community, especially as it becomes more and more visible to those around us.


Current event for September 27th, 2011:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44677285/ns/technology_and_science-security/

Don't Throw Away Your Wallet

Google has officially released its digital payment service as an app for smart phones. With this new technology a person can pay for just about anything by just waving their phone next to a near-field communication credit card terminal. It sounds intriguing, but looking at it closely reveals that this doesn't fill any need, doesn't provide any further safety, and is really only usable by a small fraction of the population. What are people gaining by being able to wave their phone around instead of using a credit card? The time it would take to start the app is not likely to be any faster than pulling a credit card out of your wallet. And heaven help you if your phone's battery dies right before you need to make a crucial payment. No, this technology doesn't present anything good to society other than a new toy for the rich and the lucky.

(Current event for September 20th:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/09/google-wallet-opens-for-business-visa-gets-onboard.html)

Computer Generated Everything

It comes as no surprise to me that computers are now being made to automatically generate news stories. What does surprise me is the high quality of the content delivered by these computers. If a computer can generate such a well written article for such a low cost, then why do we need humans writing news stories for such a high cost? Sure, the programs might only be able to write baseball stories now, but how long will it be before they are writing stories to compete with the big-name-news corporations? This is really nothing more than a new form of industrial competition. In this case its human writers competing against computer programmers who have made low cost computerized writers. It will be a long time before the competition really gets fierce, but when it does--to the victor belong the spoils.

(Current Event Article: Will Computer-Generated Articles Replace Human Journalists? http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2392870,00.asp)

Technology Defines Culture

Entrepreneurs of technical products define our culture, even if by accident.

Technologies throughout all time have redefined the culture that created them. As Neil Postman said, "After television, America was not America plus television." It was a new America. Computers and mobile technologies have had a similar effect on cultures throughout the world. The people who brought these products into the marketplace did so to make a profit. Changing society was usually not their goal. We should remember that not all technologies are guaranteed to improve our lives -- some are only guaranteed to fill the wallets of capitalists.

Hello, World!

This will be a blog dedicated to technical news and events, especially those related to computers in our everyday society. I will also post on book reviews, and other computer related subjects. I look forward to passing along interesting things that I find and the thoughts I have on them. See you all when I publish my first real post!