Summation of Blogging and IT Class

Yay! This is my final blog entry! I must admit that blogging for Planning IT was difficult for me. The fact that our blogs had to relate to information technology, posed a challenge for a person like me who is not knowledgeable of computer technology. However, blogging would have been more enjoyable for me if I could have blogged about social news presently occuring in the US as well as international countries. That being said, it is easier to post blogs about issues one is knowledgeable of as opposed to issues in which one does not fully understand.

It is important to note, being cognizant of the latest technology has never really been an interest of mine. Although, previous co-workers of mine would probably think otherwise. Last year, I worked for the Delaware Alzheimer's Association as a Public Ally. There was a wide generational gap between my co-workers and me. Half of my co-workers were over the age of 60 and two (including myself), were in their 20s. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that my 60+ co-workers were elated having me working alongside them for technological purposes. Anytime a computer or printer was malfunctioning, they would seek my help in fixing the problem. Anytime my co-workers could not determine how to perform things such as mail merges on the computer, they would consult me. I remember constantly telling my co-workers that I am far from a tech savy individual, but they made me feel as though I was a tech genius! However, taking Planning IT reinforced the notion that I am far from a tech genius, let alone, tech savy individual. This was surely confirmed in the class in which we were given a list of computer key terms to know and I could only decipher 4 out of 20. I was amazed at how many terms Kat knew, but it was embarrassing that I only knew a small percentage of the terms. Nevertheless, I now know what DNP, ITP and other computer terms mean.

The two classes in which we focused on individual topics were probably the most insightful for me. Learning about topics such as Viral marketing, the Digg Effect, and Digital Universe definitely opened my eyes towards communication via social networks. Overall, I believe a course such as Planning IT is needed in today's ever changing technological society. Our IT projects shedded gave a glimpse on how organizations are continuously striving to revamp their technological systems in order to function more efficiently and effectively in society.

Why is my computer running so slowly?

My lovely Dell laptop computer has been driving me insane for two weeks. I have had this laptop for six years and naturally believed that it had seen its day. I kept telling myself, it is time to buy a new laptop. However, a couple days ago, I signed onto my old aol account to check my email. Mind you, I had not checked my aol email account in two months. I was sorry that I had not checked it sooner because I had over 50 emails by one person containing the same message. In addition, there were multiple extensions of an email attachment in which I had recently opened. While I was deleting these emails, I began contemplating the likelihood of my laptop being afflicted with a computer virus.

Running down the checklist of computer virus symptoms, my computer had been running slower than usual, frequently stopped responding, crashed and would restart itself every few minutes and weird error messages would pop up. Even though these symptoms are signs of a computer virus, I cannot say with certainty that a computer virus had infiltrated my laptop. According to Microsoft Support, the aforementioned signs could be caused by hardware or software problems that have nothing to do with computer viruses. A possible solution to this problem is to perform a clean backup of my hard drive more frequently. After I cleaned my hard drive, my computer began running properly.

Currently, AOL Spyware Protection and Spybot Search and Destroy are both installed on my computer to protect against viruses. The good news is neither one of these programs detected any viruses within my computer. Yay!

A few years ago, I deleted viruscan from my computer because it appeared to bring annoying pop-ups. After I deleted the program, I didn't have nearly as many pop-ups. However, viruscan appears to be the most commonly used package to guard against computer viruses. I am not quite sure if I am willing to reinstall McCafee viruscan on my computer. However, I am currently looking into installing f-prot from Frisk Software and Thunderbyte from Thunderbyte B.B as antivirus software packages. The website below discusses both f-prot and Thunderbyte software. Feel free to check out the website. http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/virus32.html

New Google Development

In the computerworld.com article titled YouTube lands on Google Earth, by Linda Rosencrance, the author informs us of the recent integration of YouTube into Google Earth by computer engineers. Normally, the extent of international information that US citizens receive comes from the World News or newspapers. However, the integration of YouTube into Google Earth allows people across the world to have a more intimate relationship with what's occuring in other countries.

According to the author, Google Earth users interested in hearing and seeing what's happening in another country, can simply "click on 'YouTube,' under the Featured Content folder and icons will appear all over the globe." Users can pick any YouTube icon they desire, to hear as well as get a glimpse of what's going on in another country. This is definitely a fascinating development in information technology. Check out this article at http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=development&articleId=9042222&taxonomyId=11&intsrc=kc_top

What do you think of the Google Earth linkage to YouTube?

Campus Security & Technology

In the aftermath of the Virginia Tech massacre in this past April, colleges across the United States have been busy revamping campus security. Because many students communicate through technological means, some colleges have chosen to use technology to alert students of danger on campus. Sending e-mails out to students alerting them of danger on campus does not always work. Many students do not check their e-mail before they go to class. Depending on how their classes are scheduled, many students may not check their e-mails until the evening. For reasons such as these, I do not believe sending out 'danger alert e-mails' are effective measures to alert students of danger on campus.

Some colleges have been quite innovative in revamping campus security. On the news, I heard that some colleges are considering sending campus alert text messages to students. Nowadays, it seems like everyone has a cell phone joined to his or her hip. Therefore, sending campus alert text messages to students both on campus and off campus appears to be a sound idea.

In addition, I have heard that some colleges and universities are considering using social networks like MySpace and Facebook to alert students of present danger on campus. Even though I do have friends that check their MySpace and Facebook websites religiously, there still are individuals who do not. That being said, some students would receive the message alert and others would not. Though it appears to be a rarity, not every college student is a member of MySpace and Facebook. So the question remains, would these students benefit from campus alert messages through these social networks? The answer is no.

I think the colleges considering sending campus alert text messages has the right idea when it comes to enhancing campus security. In what ways do you think campus security can be improved using technological means?

E-government

In the book, The Politics of the Administrative Process, the authors Donald Kettl and James Fesler discuss the rise of the e-government movement within the Executive Branch. There's not much doubt that the growth of technology in governmental agencies has been extremely beneficial. Web-based communications, to a certain extent, make civil servants' tasks much easier. Instead of processing information manually, most government agencies have the benefit of electronic processing. In addition, citizens are able to obtain a wealth of information about governmental agencies' services by visiting certain government websites.

It seems like e-government is without cons. Electronic processing definitely saves the government quite a few bucs and paper. However, I worry that we, as citizens, have had our blinders on regarding certain aspects of e-government. Think about it. How safe is the sensitive information stored in the computers of government agencies? Suppose, all the sensitive information is lost as a result of a security breach in the computer system. While the advent of e-government has surely improved the organizational network of governmental agencies, the security of sensitive information stored in computers raises questions regarding the growth of technology in the public sector. What are your thoughts?

Fesler, James W. and Donald F. Kettl. The Politics of the Administrative Process. 3rd Edition; Washington D.C: A Division of Congressional Quarterly Inc., 2005.

How much technology is too much?

As I was turning into my apartment complex this afternoon, I noticed my neighbor's huge television screen embedded into the wall. It was quite an amazing site, however, it made me wonder how technology crazy our society has become. Do these new wall tv's have some type of advantage over non-wall tv's? Your answer is as good as mine. I would love to hear your thoughts.

On another note....

Returning to my original question, ideally, I would have to say that there is never too much technology. Technological advances are usually beneficial to public and private organizations. However, from a practical standpoint, these advances are meanless if workers in the private and public sectors do not understand how to use them. What good is a top of the line computer, if employees don't understand its operative functions?

My questions that I pose to you are related, of course, to technological advancement. What, if any, cons do you associate with technological advances in informational systems? Do you think these cons may be related to too much technological advancement in informational systems?

This is totally awesome!!!