Tech Reflect: 10/22

Tech Reflect: If we fell asleep a thousand years a go and woke up today, what would we do to catch up tot he technology of the times.

Well, considering that we would still be educated and could read, the place to start would be to read books, possibly how to books, on how to use technology. Its obvious that one would also need to consult someone from the technological age to teach the basics. Once one has picked up the basics on how to use a computer, internet, etc, they can go online and access even more resources with would explain how to use any other technology. There are many websites that offer step by step instructions and "how to" videos. There are also documentaries one can watch on TV and so on. nce one can use technology that provides access to even more resources and information, they can pick up on any technology they want to in no time.

What inspired Alan Kay? What did he accomplish?

Since he was a child, Alan Kay was trying to invent things. He composed his own music and built a harpsichord. In college, as his PhD project, he invented the first microcomputer. After seeing a presentation where Engelbert showed a demonstration of the first personal computer, Kay was inspired to create one of his own, a personal computer with even more benefits. He created a computer called the Alto and tried to improve it, but it still hadn't reached his vision of what a personal computer can be. So he continued to work in the world of technology, being hired by apple and then working at Disney. He then started to focus on creating kid friendly software and was awarded the Kyoto prize for his efforts.

Tech Reflect: 10/21

Do you think educational games are good ways for students to learn in schools? Give examples that support your arguments.

Yes, i think educational games are a good way to learn in school. SOmetimes learning through games creates a sense of competition, and students are more likely to study for the game so they can win. Games also keep students more awake in class, and more liekly to participate, especially if there is a reward for the winner of the game. An example that i've done in many classes is jeaporday, which makes me as a student participate more, becasue its more interesting and engaging.

b- What about other games, such as this one?
I don't see how this game is particulary educational, although it may sharpen thinking skills, because it involves stategic thinking. It may be a good warm-up to a class, becasue itll get students into "thinking mode".

Test 1 Study Guide

Review Questions:
1- Write the URL for your blog.

http://areebasblog.blogspot.com/

2- What is a domain? Where does it appear in the URL?

The domain is the "dot something" that appears at the end of a website URL. It classifies all URLs based on content, or website type. Examples include: .com, .edu, .org, etc. On my blog URL, "blogspot.com" would be the domain.

3- What is Boolean logic? How can you use it to find a passage of Beowulf in Old English?

Boolean Logic is a system that helps one give more precise commands in search engines. If one wanted to find Beowulf in Old English via a search engine, they'd use boolean logic to type in "Beowulf" AND "Old English" to specify that they wanted both words to appear in the article they were looking for.

4- How is using the search engine helpful in different classes? Math? Arabic?

The search engine can be used to find information on virtually anything, be it math or Arabic. One can find necessary equations online, and find online textbook resources via search engines for math. For Arabic, one can find articles in Arabic itself, online translating services, or even simplified lessons published online.

5- What is the purpose of a network server?

A network is a server that provides computers connection to a network of computers. Its purpose is to offer those connected to other computers access to various resources,databases, etc.

6- Pros and cons of USB drives?

An area of impact that a USB greatly effects is education.
Pros include: you can store assignments and easily transport them without relying on the internet. Its easier to share files.

Cons: There may not be enough space on the USB you are using to transport files and you may lose the USB in which case you could lose many files.

Podcast Reviews

1)Discover Spanish
This is a series of podcasts that teaches one how to speak spanish " in just fifteen mintutes a day". Each lesson opens with a catchy tune. =P It also has a corresponding website where one can follow along with lesson plans and activities. In each lesson, the instructor, Johnny "spnaish", teaches key words and phrases based on themes. The first podcasts taught phrases related to greetings and conversation starters. Johnny spanish says each word.phrase with translation, and repeats them a few times, with a co-host repeating them as well. Each is fifteen minutes long and is aimed at teaching spanish to a wide audience in a few minutes a day.

2)MuggleCast
This podcast was interesting, becasue it had advertisements in the begining. Than,it moves on to the "mugglecast". Its about an hour long, and has about 182 podcasts in the series so far. In each episode, mugglecast discusses Harry potter books and movies. In this segment, which was released October 6th, discussed a chapter from the book Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. it also related the chapter to its protrayal of the movie. After the discussion, they bring up any updates related to Harry Potter. Its a regular show and has multiple hosts who lead the discussions and segments.

3) Ummahfilms
The popular youtube vlog is also a podcast series with all of the videos in an easy to download format. =)
The format of the show itself is simple, just a guy trying to educate the general muslim public on simple matters. Theres no standard format follwoed, it varries from podcast to podcast, but thats what keeps it interesting. All of them involve some comedy via the protrayal of sterotypical characters anss jokes.

Internet Censorship

Country : Ranked Least Access to Most
Cuba
Cuba has the lowest ratio of computer and internet access per citizen. There are certain locations where the internet can be accessed and they are government controlled. Websites and internet activity is blocked there via IP blockers. Cuba also arrests journalists who post any information against the government

China and Brazil
China blocks any articles related to politically sensitive material, or anything against the government. It also bans any websites with child pornography, and other inappropriate material. Chinese search engines aren’t allowed to display information on these topics. A total of 18000 websites are banned in mainland china.

Brazil restricts freedom of expression online, especially if content is racist or culturally offensive. Any person who publishes online cannot remain anonymous.

Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia filters all internet traffic by sending it through “King Abdulaziz’s City for Science and technology. Here, all internet traffic is filtered of anything offensive to the government, politically sensitive, racist, or against moral values.

India
India completely blocks about seventeen websites it finds inappropriate for its citizens.

France and Japan
France is under the process of passing a blacklist of websites that show any displays of adult content, especially any that shows explicit content involving a child. . Also, any internet user who is caught stealing copyrighted material from the internet, their internet access can be taken away temporarily.
Japan uses filtering software to remove information it deem harmful. It also has procedures to find any messages sent or received involving potential attacks and suicides.


United States
The United States does not filter any internet content, although some content is illegal and can be taken off the web, mostly any websites including child pornography.

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I think that the idea of banning certain websites is good, but some countries take it to far. Since most countries seem to agree on certain things, maybe an international law regarding websites with inappropriate content should be created.When it comes to political information, that should be left online, because even if it is banned, citizens will find ways to access it; blocking it is a waste of time and money. All countries should allow for the freedom of expression online, and people shouldn't be arrested for the publishing of their opinion.

October 9 Review

1- Why is file compression important on the Internet?


2- What new services are available as a result of the commercialization of the Internet? What new problems are arising as a result of that commercialization?
With the commercialization of the internet, more and more services are available to internet users. One can do almost anything, from checking the weather,to reading articles, researching, watching live video, sharing files, to online shopping, to communication in many different ways.
With the rise of internet use, there comes a set of social.ethical issues. One of the most important is that of Privacy and anonymity. There are websites that can track ones virtual footprint, and people can learn information about others very easily.Security is also an issue, identity theft is more common via internet and hackers can hack your online accounts/computer. Through file sharing, people also violate the idea of intellectual property because they are in a sense stealing from the people responsible for the files.

3- Residents of the People’s Republic of China can have their Internet access blocked for a period of time if they attempt to access banned sites. Do you feel this is an effective way for the Chinese government to control people’s behavior on the Internet?
It seems a bit extreme to do something like this, especially because too much restriction from something can lead to the person being restricted wanting it even more and finding other ways to get what they want.Banning at a national level may not be as effective, because there are too many people to keep track of. If its done at a more local level, and the punishment isn't as harsh or controlling, they may be more effective in achieving their goal.

SMS in Kenya

What is SMS?
SMS (short message service) is basically text messaging from a phone to another phone, or in this case, to a database.

How is it used in Kenya?
In Kenya, SMS is being used to help record information concerning the malnutrition of children. Malnutrition is measured based on the circumference and length of a child's upper arm. This is simple enough, but recording the data, especially when dealing with thousands of children can be tricky and error-prone. In order to creat a more efficient and quick means of recording the information, health workers use SMS to send the information of each child from their phones to a medical database.This way they may know if there is someone too malnurished and need sudden attention, they can get it quickly.

Social/Ethical issues:
Privacy and Anonymity: The personal medical information of each child can be at risk of being revealed if the SMS is accidently sent to the wrong phone or database.
Reliability: If the health worker recording the information is in a zone where they can't recieve the cell-phone service with which to send the SMS, the news will be delayed, and they may resort to wrting out the information which could lead to mistakes because tis a tedious process.

How can this be used in education?
SMS can be used between teachers and students while on a field trip in case the student gets lost. Its might also be helpful for a student to ask the teacher a quesion without disturbing others when in a quiet area.

Net Censorship and Democracy's Fall

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1) DO you think AMericans have a double standard when it comes to free speecha nd censorship? Put another way, do you think Americans hold other societies to a higher standard when it comes to the right of free speech?

There does seem to be a double standard.America seems to be a strong proponet of free speech and privacy, but its clear that theres a lot of behind the scenes snooping of peoples personal information online by government agencies and large corporations. Theres also a degree of censorship, such as the example the author mentioned in the article. At the smae time while all this is going on, America denounces censorship in other countires.

2)Do you agree with Dvorak that "all censorship mechanisms are bad for society?"

Censorship at a national level seems like a bit much, but there are smaller applications of censoship that are useful. For example, the blocking of websites with adult content in schools and homes is good for children.

AOI: This can affect every Area of interaction, because all those areas are involved witht he internet, and censorship can be applied to all.

IT Systems: This mainly affects the systems of the internet and communications.

Socail/Ethical Issues: Privacy and Security- collecting personal information is a violation of privacy on the part of the agencies and government agencies involved, no matter what the cause.

Chapter 9 Review A

Explain how and why the Internet was created.

The computer was initially used to perform calculations,and in order to share information form one computer to another, one had to save the information on a magnetic tape. During the cold war, the US military wanted a more efficient way of sharing data, so they created a network of computers called ARPANET. ARPANET grew and grew until it became an international network, the internet.

Describe the technology that’s at the heart of the Internet.

The technology at the heart of the internet is the TCP/IP protocol. It is used to connect different types of networks in computer systems.It uses a system similar to a postal one, breaking down information into packets and sending it to where it needs to be sent. It also uses an addressing system for the internet, so its clear where all information needs to be sent to.

Describe the technology that makes the Web work as a multimedia mass medium.

Nowadays, web browsers offer plug-ins, which are basically software extensions that add new features. One a person downloads the plug in, they can take advantage of different applications and multi-media available on the web.

Discuss the tools people use to build Web sites.

People use various scripted languages to create webpages, such as HTML, Dynamic HTML, Java, Active X and XML. Websites can be further programmed to include updates, applications, etc with more complex languages such as Perl.

Discuss the trends that are changing the Internet and the way people use it.

As the internet grows, people are finding more uses of it and changing it. There are online businesses where one can purchase items. Most communication is easily accomplished through the internet. There are often live broadcasts of news and live streaming movies. People share movies, music and various other files. As the uses of the internet become more complex. More sophisticated and efficnet websites are designed with more applications and capabilities.

Discuss some of the most important social and political issues raised by the growth of the Internet.

The internet creates a means of sharing information. Sometimes this leads to people sharing files that may be copyrighted and may hurt the incomes of those responsible for the files, such as music artisists and so on. It can be considered teh theft of intellectual property.
Also, because the inteernet isn't centralized, and is more of a global network, it can't be governed over. Any sites that offer inappropriate or offensive material can't be blocked.
There are also lots of privacy and security ciolations due to hacking and identity theft. People are also scammed in "get rich quick schemes and so on by con artists online.

Describe various ways that governments restrict access to the Internet.

Because the internet isn't centralized, its difficult to censor information or set guidelines for the internet. Some countries try to control the internet by routing the internet through a centralized control center. Here, technicians attempt to block any information they have been ordered to, before it reaches the person trying to access the internet.

October 7 Review: Boolean Logic

Review: What is Boolean logic?
Boolean logic is a sort of system that makes web searching more efficient.It uses words such as NOT, AND, OR to simplify your web search in search engines.

October 7 Tech Reflect

TechReflect: How easy/difficult is it to use RSS? Find 2 online applications that display feeds. How difficult is it to use RSS (can a clue-less web browser figure out how to use it)? Post a picture of the icon used for RSS.

RSS ( really simple syndication) is a form of push technology that makes it easy to receive regular updates on blogs and websites.It makes it easier for people to share data and attract readers to their blogs by sending regular updates to their subscribers.If one simply subscribes to a blog or an application, or even if they use social networks, they are using RSS technology. It's not very difficult for the average web-user to utilize; chances are they're suing it without realizing.
Social Networks such as Facebook and Myspace use RSS
Any blog services also use it

HTML VS PUBLIISHER: Which is better in regards to creating a webpage?

Honestly, I'm not very familiar with either method of creating a webpage; in fact im not very familiar with creating webpages in general, but its clear that from the two methods i used to create similar pages, Microsoft Publisher was easier to use.
Both of the pages i created were simple. The were each only page, and didn't really have mych information onthem. I was simply trying to create what i could baesed on what i new. HTML was more difficult becasue in order to color the background, or change font types or sizes, i needed to know the code for doing so. Since i didn't really know any ikept th epage simple. I wrote a few words, used headings, and added a picture.
When usuing Publisher, it was much easier. Everything was easily accomplished by the click of a mouse. I simply ha d to select the colors i wanted, selelct the fonts, and even the layout of the page. It was like filling in th eblanks, whereas html was like starting form scratch.

I didn't do anything elaborate on either page. I didn't add sound or animation, just a link to the itgs blog, a few words,,,and a logo. =)

(The pages are saved on my USB)

Latest Technologies in Schools

Technology in Schools

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/05/AR2009100500108.html
Silicon Valley
One school had a full video production studio for announcements and school news, as well as other student project presentations and broadcasting.
LA
On school had a full-time Mac computer lab for video and graphic work
Used for clubs such as yearbook and photography clubs, as well as specific classes sucha s animation.

(based on an article I did a news bubble on recently called “In Pod we Trust”)
Schools in general
Ipods are being widely used for students to record and store information for projects. Some teachers have students start their own podcasts as projects. Other teachers have students upload certain speeches and lectures into their ipods and assign them students to listen to them on hteir way to school as homework. In Orange County they now offer courses for teachers on how to utilize ipods in the classroom.

http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/tech173.shtml
High Schools in Columbus, Ohio
Many schools are considering giving each student tablet computers, on which students can write with their own handwriting and itll be converted to typed writing.it runs on an independent battery and is compact, making it easy to move around and it can connect to the internet.


Based on these articles, here is a wish list for Al-Arqam:

-Equipment for a Video production studio: camcorders, TVs for each classroom, wiring and whatever else necessary for everything to work, etc

-Tablet Computers for each student to use in class

-Ipods for each student to use as a harddrive, recording presentations, etc

-Equipment for a photography lab for developing photos and such for classes.

-More designing and photo editing software for computers in the computer lab.

10/02/09 Review Question

What do email addresses and URLs have in common? (p.310)
Both URLs and Emails are used to locate things on the internet using the domain naming system. A URL helps locate the web server that houses the page one is looking for. With emails, the domain name system helps locate the location of the computer that has the email user's mail server.

10/01/09 Review Questions

a) How does the type of Internet connection influence the things you can do on the internet?
The type of internet connection one has determines when and where they can access the internet as well as how fast we can receive webpages or upload things onto the internet. For example, it one has connection to the internet via a direct connection through a LAN, your files are stored on your computer and you can receive and transfer information much more quickly than other options.Dial-up connections tend to be slower in term of response time.Broadband connections are quick to transfer information, but the biggest benefit is that through this connection you can access the internet anytime.With Broadband connections, you can also access the internet in any place with wireless equipment with the help of a wireless receiver in a laptop.

b) Choose 2 areas of impact to discuss 1-2 (in total 3) social & ethical issues related to internet connections.
3.4 Arts Entertainment and Leisure: often times the internet is used purely for entertainment, such as downloading and listening to movies and music, playing online games, socializing via chatting and networking sites, and just surfing the web in general
Reliability: If one has a slow internet connection, such as dial-up, they
won't be able to download videos and music very quilkly, or if
they chat online, the response time will be slow.

3.2 Education: The internet is often used to research for educational purposes. It may be a large project, or simply looking up the definition of a word. In any case, the internet if often looked to for the large pool of information it contains, as well as for how easily and quickly it can be accessed.

Reliability: Slow internet connections will make it longer to download any
files needed in research.
Equality of Access: If one is taking part in an online
class/seminar, they may not be able to use videos to see the
lecture/teacher because of slow connection.They may also not be
able to pull up large files for research.