Month: September 2004

I keep finding out that the Internet has exposed my computers to problems that I did not realize existed. Just as I would like to think I could take some pill to protect me from medical problems, I would like to believe the installation of some software (e.g., an antivirus package) would make my computers immune to everything. Reality continues to intrude on my fantasies.

As a general rule, it is probably better to be aware than naive. Here is good resource – techLearning summary of dangers and solutions to security problems.

The present political process makes a great case for the need to prepare citizens who are “information literate” – who can process information with an understanding of the potential biases of the source.

See CNN analysis of the “flip flop” issue.

The British Library is posting high-resolution copies of some of the earliest versions of Shakespeare’s plays online (see BBC review). Sample texts can be found on the British Library site.

I am very frustrated with Apple today. I recently installed a recommended security fix on my server (the server providing this blog) and lost FTP access. The connection between the FTP problem and the security fix was not immediately apparent and I spent several hours attempting to determine what I could have done or what random corruption had occured. When everything I tried failed, I connected to Apple and searched the discussion lists to see what I could learn. This is when I learned of the connection between the security fix and the FTP problem.

Here is what makes the situation frustrating. I had no role in creating this problem – I took the action recommended by Apple (there is some information about what the fix fixes, but I would guess a very low % of Mac users would know that any of these descriptions would signal a potential problem). I called Apple Education Support and at this point I cannot receive help because I do not have a service contract. In the words of the younger generation – this sucks. Why should I be required to purchase a service contract against problems created by Apple? If the stemmed from third party software I decided to install, a poor decision on my part, etc., perhaps I could understand this position.

The California Open Source Textbook Project is an iniative focused on controlling the cost of textbooks. One idea intends to create a world history resource as a “wiki” and then convert some version of this resource into a printed version.

A wiki is essentially a collaborative authoring project with the assumption that individuals will contribute to expand or correct an existing work based on individual knowledge. This is a very interesting idea and one which has worked in the construction of open-source software. I have searching for a mature wiki in an area I think I know well in order to evaluate what I think of the potential of this approach without much luck. There appear to be some good examples in the “hard sciences” and computer science, but these are not areas I can really evaluate.

Stephen Downs provides a lengthy description of educational blogs. This article is a combination of technical details and project descriptions. The reference section also provides links to many additional articles.

The University of Iowa’s Virtual Hospital offers great images and short videos of human anatomy as educational resources. I happen to be going through brain anatomy in Intro Psychology and found the brain anatomy resources of great value.