Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is using the Internet or cellphones to intentionally harm or harass others.
It has become more and more common among teenagers and schools are now trying to educate students and parents about Cyberbullying to help try to control it. According to the New York Times article I read Girls Suicide Points to Rise in Apps used by Cyberfullies a 12 year old girls Rebecca Sedwick committed suicide after being bullied in text messages and on the Internet. Despite her families awareness and attempts to correct the situation Rebecca started using social media apps that weren't as popular or apparently not as sophisticated in addressing the possibility of cyberbullying. There are so many different applications, technology and methods of social media that it is hard to know exactly who is doing what.  Cyberbullying can be negative comments on facebook or texts, sending pictures that show others in a bad light with the intention of bullying them. People should definitely be accountable for their actions via social media or in person. I'm glad that the schools are involved in educating our children however it is the parents responsibility to teach their children right and wrong and accountability.

AI & Robotics

As technology advances it is clear that robots too are advancing in their ability to do what humans can do. According to the article Would you take orders from a robot? a survey was done to see if people would complete the tasks assigned if they were taking orders from a robot and 46% completed them even though they complained they still did what the robot asked. Some psychologists interviewed suggested this was due to the fact that humans are raised to obey orders. I think this and other factors can play some role in the response but it is still alarming that so many didn't just walk away from the robot.

Another article When robots kill who is to blame  talks about the fact that military funding is behind almost all robotic research whether the scientists want to admit it or not. Robots can be given a kill list and be programmed to kill based upon their own decisions. This reminds me of the movie Elysium where an elite group of humans programmed robots to control other humans and make decision that affected their lives. The idea of a robot having autonomy is frightening. The military should not be controlling our future and advancing technology to suit their needs they should be looking for alternatives to war.

Since humans are the ones who program robots they are definitely responsible for the errors or decisions that the robots would make. Even though their are jobs that robots would be well suited for that would greatly benefit humans we need to take a very careful look at the motivations of the research and use these advances to benefit society. Terminating a robot because it killed someone by mistake does not bring that person back and does not punish the person who designed it to kill in the first place.

Legal and Ethical Issues

The article from Technician online discussed Open access research, a movement to make tax-funded research available to the public.  According to the article open access started gaining public attention in the 1990s and when the National Institute of Health requested the research it funded be made open access, attention grew. Now researchers who don’t meet these obligations may jeopardize future funding.

Aaron Swartz was the one who brought open access to the public’s attention.  He was an MIT student and a supporter of open access. Swartz protested closed-access research and was charged with fraud, millions of dollars in fines and potential lengthy prison time. He ended up committing suicide as a result.

From the information I read it seems like the Legal and Ethical issues addressed in common law do not always translate so easily to Cyberlaw.  The Internet brings its own unique challenges relating to rights and wrongs; most of which seem to be addressed  only as they arise. I feel like the anonymity of the Internet may also play a role in a person’s decision to do the right thing. In my opinion laws need to be very clear in defining Internet rights and responsibilities without limiting its ability to expand knowledge.

Internet Security and Privacy

According to an OpEd piece in the New York Times and frankly many other news articles our privacy is being compromised and we don’t even know it.  Google, Facebook and other widely visited Internet companies collect information about us and sell it to other companies without us being aware of it. Data brokers, like Acxiom, have highly sophisticated software tools that run blindly as we surf the web to allow them to gain access to our personal information. They know everything about us; our health, food preferences, sexual orientation, finances, you name it and they probably already know it.  This industry is currently unregulated despite efforts by President Obama to pass legislation to put some controls in place. Data brokers have become pirate like in their efforts, taking what is not there's and doing what they they want with it. It is imperative that we spread the word to bring the much needed urgency to this issue. We need to stand together to make sure our rights and privacy are not being violated  and demand legislation that helps protect the private citizen.

World Wide Web

 An article from the July 2008 issue of Technology News entitled Cloud Computing explains how Data and programs that used to be accessible mainly on desktop PCs, laptops and corporate server rooms are now installed in “the cloud”. Cloud computing; also known as on-demand computing, changes where users access software and save data by relying on a third party service provider for these functions. With Cloud Computing major components of the software reside on unseen computers; potentially located around the world.

I can see the appeal of this type of computing for some individuals in alleviating the burden of purchasing, installing and updating individual computers however I don't think this is a one size fits all solution. There are definitely users that won't embrace these advances and will find that the cons far outwhey the benefits for them.

Software vendors also face pros and cons of shifting their products to the cloud. Some benefits are their ability to choose which platforms their products will run on instead of having to cope with a huge variety of operating systems. Vendors will also be able to offer software fixes and updates relatively quickly and easily.  Some challenges may be on  the server side software with difficulties being able to interact with a variety of clients.

Some companies are already paving the way of the future of Cloud computing. Google has developed Google Docs programs; a word processor, spreadsheet and power-point like program available on the web. Adobe has also acquired Buzzword; a web based word processor, and Photoshop Express online image processing. Amazon Web Services offers data storage priced by the gigabyte-month and computing capacity by the CPU hour. Both resources are contracted according to the users need. With many other companies beginning to follow suit.

Not only are there design and functionality issues that face the developers of web based software and operating systems, they are also faced with questions of privacy, security and reliability. None of these obstacles appear to be small tasks to overcome. Since there are many well-established technology companies who currently have an interest and some who are already competing in this market,  I do not doubt their ability to overcome these roadblocks to bringing this technology into market dominance in the foreseeable future.

Networks and Communication

I have always been personally inspired by those who have the ambition, courage and ability to think outside the box and follow through on the  implementation of  their ideas. An article on the Huffington Post "The Power of Skype to Inspire a New Generation of STEM" is an amazing example of how people can inspire others through innovative ideas.

STEM education is an acronym for the fields of study in  science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The term is  used to address education policy and curriculum choices in schools from kindergarten through college to improve competitiveness in technology development.

The Huffington Post article talked about how teachers are using Skype to bring unique learning opportunities across all fields and  from around the world to the classroom. Skype gives students the ability to personally interact with Marine biologists, Soldiers,  mystery guests, you name it. Combining creativity, technology and education is a brilliant way to open the eyes and minds of students and educators. This hands on type of learning can be used to compliment the classroom lessons and cannot compare to the singular focused learning methods for inspiring the student to seek out more information about what they just learned.

It is great to see the learning and sharing of ideas across the fields of study. Combining creativity and innovation is a powerful tool. It will be exciting to see the future of possibilities.

Utilizing Web 2.0 in the Classroom

I believe that an education course can effectively integrate blogs, twitter and other current technologies to benefit the students and teacher. We have already been exposed to many benefits that technology has brought through the use of email and online course studies allowing test taking, videos and communication without the need to be in the classroom solely listening to lectures or reading powerpoint presentations.

Now with the implementation of blogs and Twitter educators can expose their students to these new forms of technology in addition to the face to face communication already given in classrooms.  According to The Daily Orange article Classroom Technology Effective when used as Additional Tool educators have concerns about students seeing the advancements in technology as a way to justify not needing to come to class as often. I would look at these advancements in technology as a modern teaching tool and another method to use for reaching more students.

Communicating through discussion boards and blogs is a way to share ideas and opinions that you may not have had the opportunity to do in class or may have not felt comfortable or even have thought of at the time. It can keep the learned classroom material at the forefront of  the students thoughts and really get some interesting comments and feedback from others on different topics.

Just from the limited participation in this class I can say that people should embrace this change and figure out even more ways to use these tools.

Laura Johnston