How funny was the short story A Logic Named Joe, written over sixty years ago??? At first I found the narrative a little difficult to lumber through (okay not just at first but for the entire ten pages). Perhaps due to the red-necky accent this Logics Company maintenance man was supposed to have? I kept thinking: come on Sir, speak properly! I guess I expected a very charming and maybe somewhat formal style of short story writing for 1946. Also, during the first few paragraphs I was a little confused thinking: wait wait wait, this vision-phone connection...isn't that the same thing as Face Time? Or Skype? What the...did they have that in the 40's?? Okay though, before you think me incompetent and a bit daft, just know that it was certainly by the end of the first page, MAYBE the beginning of the second page that I finally saw the irony: that ol' Logic named Joe is GOOGLE!
It was very interesting for me to read how someone sixty plus years ago would describe what we take for granted every day, the internet. They sure did describe it quite spot on though wouldn't you say? Okay so yes it was on a bit of a grander and more ambitious scale, helping every day people with magnificent and outlandish inventions that would go on to make them millions, but all I saw in good ol' trouble making Joe was OUR good friend Google! Joe would be way more awesome simply for the fact the he delivers the number one best answer, fact checked and everything, no need to scroll through needless advertisements cleverly camouflaged as credible websites. But the idea was the same, all the information you could ever need just at one stop: your marvelous little computer, err...logic!
I did stop to ponder the prediction of it all ruining civilization though. I think that was either just written that way for entertainment value, or the author of this short story had a very negative view on modern man and modern societies. But actually, as I wrote that last sentence I realized the author is most likely entirely correct. If we could have a computer give us very simple instructions for how to counterfeit money, lie to our spouse, rob a bank, of course more people than not would do it! Haha what was I thinking!? So I will just be grateful that we seem to have found a happy balance with Google. We can still get all sorts of information, from counterfeiting money to ancient cannibalistic tribes, but we can have it all without it ruining society and destroying our personal lives. And sorry Mr. Maintenance Man's wifey at home: we DO live in a world where our neighbors can all Google us and find out our real age, and our husband's high school exes and other former flames do indeed contact him (thanks Facebook), but I will take those cons in exchange for all the pros that such a vast amount of information sharing brings us via the internet.
Hopefully the internet will never evolve to a catastrophe like Joe was, because we would have the same problem. Our modern society now completely relies on it! I realized just how much we would miss our modern technologies this past month when I bought a new car that wasn't compatible with my iPhone 5 and I went about two weeks before pleading for help over Facebook and finding out (from MY high school ex, hahaha) that there is an adapter! Just imagine my pain: I spent two whole weeks with only 1 CD and the radio!!!!
Saturday, March 28, 2015
Saturday, March 21, 2015
Module 9
Before beginning this IST 1100 course and reading The World Is Flat I honestly had NO IDEA that Dell computers and laptops were made to order. I had just assumed that just like every other PC you were able to just saunter into a Best Buy and pick one up. Knowing that Dell is in other words special order, I can already tell you that it is not the computer for me. I always need immediate satisfaction and I barely have the patience to wait for any of the items I purchase online. What makes Dell unique is it's supply chain management and it's built to order approach. Dell delivers individual PC's that are configured to the customer's specifications. I can see the appeal in that approach, and I suppose I could manage to wait if it meant I was getting a laptop with a custom design made specially for me!
In order to provide efficient service and production of goods, Dell uses multiple suppliers for most of the key components that go into their products. All you have to do as a consumer is pick up the phone or jump online and start your order. You choose exactly what you need and depending on the inventory levels of certain components you just might get discounted upgrades on extra memory for example. Just like the text says: "today memory might be on sale, tomorrow it might be CD-ROMS". Dell has remained a very efficient company because it only produces based on the demand, which is a valuable skill to have in a business based in technology, especially with how rapidly it changes.
Does Al-Qaeda have a supply chain? Indeed they do. After googling the question I saw in a few different places that Al-Qaeda is nothing but a "mutant supply chain", and the sad part is is that it is fueled in part by the purchase of illegal drugs like heroin here in America. Al-Qaeda raises money, recruits victims, and brainwashes them into thinking they are doing good by becoming a candidate for their suicide missions.
Because oil is not abundant for all countries the curse of it lies in the fact that it is a highly valuable resource that is fought over. If countries and powers are fighting over it now imagine how bad the fighting will be when the oil supply dwindles down to almost nothing.
In order to provide efficient service and production of goods, Dell uses multiple suppliers for most of the key components that go into their products. All you have to do as a consumer is pick up the phone or jump online and start your order. You choose exactly what you need and depending on the inventory levels of certain components you just might get discounted upgrades on extra memory for example. Just like the text says: "today memory might be on sale, tomorrow it might be CD-ROMS". Dell has remained a very efficient company because it only produces based on the demand, which is a valuable skill to have in a business based in technology, especially with how rapidly it changes.
Does Al-Qaeda have a supply chain? Indeed they do. After googling the question I saw in a few different places that Al-Qaeda is nothing but a "mutant supply chain", and the sad part is is that it is fueled in part by the purchase of illegal drugs like heroin here in America. Al-Qaeda raises money, recruits victims, and brainwashes them into thinking they are doing good by becoming a candidate for their suicide missions.
Because oil is not abundant for all countries the curse of it lies in the fact that it is a highly valuable resource that is fought over. If countries and powers are fighting over it now imagine how bad the fighting will be when the oil supply dwindles down to almost nothing.
Saturday, March 7, 2015
Module 8
I remember when I got my first email account, tannith@rocketmail.com (remember rocketmail!?). I was twelve years old and we had recently moved to Utah from South Africa. My dad was working in the IT department at BYU, and he set it up for me and I'm sure gave me a short tutorial on how to navigate through rocketmail, although I don't remember exactly if he did or not. The best part about having an email account was that I could communicate now very easily with my ONE friend in South Africa who had email, Nicki Pillay. Back then (we are talking twenty years ago people), the emails were very few and far between, with neither one of us being too enthralled with this new way of communicating. In fact I am fairly positive that I still sent her snail mail communications too. Although my very computer savvy father was responsible for my first exposure to computers, I fortunately had a computer course in my 7th grade year, at Dixon Middle School in Provo, and this was the beginning of my very limited education on computers.
I say limited because I have always felt that I was just ahead of the digital explosion. For example: I know many people right around my age that are NOT that computer savvy (much like myself), but it is almost impossible to encounter someone just a few years younger who does not know at least all the basics. I used to always be so impressed with my friends that were just three or four years younger than me when it came to their digital skills, and I would ask them how and when they learned such amazing proficiency! The answer was always: I had a class in middle school and high school, didn't you? No sir I did not! I feel robbed because I certainly never had the privilege of learning all these necessary digital techniques in my younger years, when it was FREE! Buuuuuuut let's focus on what I DID learn I suppose...back to my 7th grade computer class...
I should be grateful for that class, it's the only reason I can type the 40+ wpm that I am always fortunately able to putter across the finish line with, no matter how long I have been away from a keyboard. The only thing I actually remember learning is typing, we had these hefty wooden boxes that slid over our keyboards to prevent cheating, and we were taught the basics of where to place our fingers as a home base, and the computer screen had an animation of our hands showing us which digit to use for the next entry by lighting it up. (Oh it's all coming back to me now, memories!)
After middle school I somehow made it all through high school without any computer classes, well...wait a minute. I think I did have one, but high school is when I learned I could just take off in my car and play hooky instead of going to class, so that would explain why I don't remember any other digital courses. Oh how I regret so much of my academic youth! So, fast forward a decade, almost two, and I have fortunately gleaned enough skill to get by in this digital age. True it takes asking for help quite often, and that reminds me: I need to register for a computer class next semester!
I say limited because I have always felt that I was just ahead of the digital explosion. For example: I know many people right around my age that are NOT that computer savvy (much like myself), but it is almost impossible to encounter someone just a few years younger who does not know at least all the basics. I used to always be so impressed with my friends that were just three or four years younger than me when it came to their digital skills, and I would ask them how and when they learned such amazing proficiency! The answer was always: I had a class in middle school and high school, didn't you? No sir I did not! I feel robbed because I certainly never had the privilege of learning all these necessary digital techniques in my younger years, when it was FREE! Buuuuuuut let's focus on what I DID learn I suppose...back to my 7th grade computer class...
I should be grateful for that class, it's the only reason I can type the 40+ wpm that I am always fortunately able to putter across the finish line with, no matter how long I have been away from a keyboard. The only thing I actually remember learning is typing, we had these hefty wooden boxes that slid over our keyboards to prevent cheating, and we were taught the basics of where to place our fingers as a home base, and the computer screen had an animation of our hands showing us which digit to use for the next entry by lighting it up. (Oh it's all coming back to me now, memories!)
After middle school I somehow made it all through high school without any computer classes, well...wait a minute. I think I did have one, but high school is when I learned I could just take off in my car and play hooky instead of going to class, so that would explain why I don't remember any other digital courses. Oh how I regret so much of my academic youth! So, fast forward a decade, almost two, and I have fortunately gleaned enough skill to get by in this digital age. True it takes asking for help quite often, and that reminds me: I need to register for a computer class next semester!
Saturday, February 21, 2015
Essay 6
The United States of America has a hugely important foundation in trade. It was one of the reasons our country was settled, and it is one of the reasons our country has thrived. Although trade has evolved over the years (Boston Tea Party anyone??), the fact still remains that trading is a key element to American life and American traditions. Free trade took over mercantilism with the American Revolution and the free trade policies that our country still follows today resemble the policies that began to take hold back then.
Doing a google search of free trade led me to the following definition: free trade is a policy in international markets in which governments do not restrict imports or exports. Some governments however do use the practice of protectionism with the intent of promoting local employment. I am in favor of free trade with minimal protectionism which to me is just another way that we can be forced to follow the rules and regulations. And I rebel against all the rules and regulations!!! I love all things foreign, so I don't understand how anyone could NOT want the entire world practicing free and open trade every day! I think free trade is important because it drives competition. Without free trade and without competition I could see us becoming lazy and complacent.
In order to continue to compete in this ever increasingly flat world you have to have the skills of what Friedman refers to as "The New Middlers". These are the new middle class jobs in which you will need certain skills that are suited to the flat world. Among those skills are playing well with others, you have to be able to communicate well and collaborate well with people of all different cultures and backgrounds, in addition to being able to adapt to change easily. In this digital world where sometimes it seems like great change occurs just overnight, it will not benefit you if you are inflexible and incapable of adapting to change. Also on Friedman's list were synthesizers, leveragers, explainers, orchestrators and passionate personalizers, and of course all of these skills must be displayed while being green. We have learned nothing if we have not learned by now the importance of sustaining our planet!
This brings us now to CQ+PQ>IQ. Directly translated that means: Curiosity Quotient plus Passion Quotient is greater than Intelligence Quotient. On this I could not agree more with Friedman. Passion has the capability of being infectious and motivating. What easier way to make yourself marketable than if you were working in a field in which you felt passionate about? I recently got a job at a plasma donation center and I could not for the life of me figure out why my husband was being so negative about my new position as a phlebotomist. He kept saying things that indicated he did not expect me to last for more than a week. Finally it hit me: it was because HE could NEVER do the job of a phlebotomist, so in his mind he didn't see how anybody could! Fortunately for me the human body is one of my PASSIONS and something I have a great CURIOSITY about, so I felt incredibly LUCKY to have this job offered to me! I couldn't wait to start digging around in people's veins! And because of that I have been enjoying every minute of my new position, looking forward to moving up and progressing within the company. Living in a world where there are so many educational tools right at our fingertips, curiosity is an increasingly valuable trait to have.
Doing a google search of free trade led me to the following definition: free trade is a policy in international markets in which governments do not restrict imports or exports. Some governments however do use the practice of protectionism with the intent of promoting local employment. I am in favor of free trade with minimal protectionism which to me is just another way that we can be forced to follow the rules and regulations. And I rebel against all the rules and regulations!!! I love all things foreign, so I don't understand how anyone could NOT want the entire world practicing free and open trade every day! I think free trade is important because it drives competition. Without free trade and without competition I could see us becoming lazy and complacent.
In order to continue to compete in this ever increasingly flat world you have to have the skills of what Friedman refers to as "The New Middlers". These are the new middle class jobs in which you will need certain skills that are suited to the flat world. Among those skills are playing well with others, you have to be able to communicate well and collaborate well with people of all different cultures and backgrounds, in addition to being able to adapt to change easily. In this digital world where sometimes it seems like great change occurs just overnight, it will not benefit you if you are inflexible and incapable of adapting to change. Also on Friedman's list were synthesizers, leveragers, explainers, orchestrators and passionate personalizers, and of course all of these skills must be displayed while being green. We have learned nothing if we have not learned by now the importance of sustaining our planet!
This brings us now to CQ+PQ>IQ. Directly translated that means: Curiosity Quotient plus Passion Quotient is greater than Intelligence Quotient. On this I could not agree more with Friedman. Passion has the capability of being infectious and motivating. What easier way to make yourself marketable than if you were working in a field in which you felt passionate about? I recently got a job at a plasma donation center and I could not for the life of me figure out why my husband was being so negative about my new position as a phlebotomist. He kept saying things that indicated he did not expect me to last for more than a week. Finally it hit me: it was because HE could NEVER do the job of a phlebotomist, so in his mind he didn't see how anybody could! Fortunately for me the human body is one of my PASSIONS and something I have a great CURIOSITY about, so I felt incredibly LUCKY to have this job offered to me! I couldn't wait to start digging around in people's veins! And because of that I have been enjoying every minute of my new position, looking forward to moving up and progressing within the company. Living in a world where there are so many educational tools right at our fingertips, curiosity is an increasingly valuable trait to have.
Saturday, February 14, 2015
Module 5 Essay
Living in the age of technology which increases in leaps and bounds with every passing year I often think to myself: how on earth did we survive without this!? With the mention of airline traveling in our text let's use that as an example. Think of buying an airline ticket before the internet and computers. You probably had to travel to the airport first of all just in order to make a reservation! The triple convergence took all the latest and greatest technological advances of our time and combined them together to create more convenience, more productivity, and even more innovation, or as the book states "multiple forms of collaboration". Education is at the fingertips of computer owners across the world, research too. Entertainment is supplied very easily to bored housewives all across America because of the convergence of media and technology. But I sometimes wonder, is all this increasing dependence on technology hurting us? The more we use the computers for every little thing in our day to day lives, the less human interaction we have. And the less human interaction we have the less likely we are to make meaningful connections with actual people and the more likely we are to become more and more dependent on our laptops and tablets. I can't help but wonder: is that maybe harmful for the future of humanity? Wait a minute...are we slowly being conditioned to become robots!??? I'm kidding, I'm kidding (kind of!).
In the whole India/Indiana debacle all I left with was a reinforced hatred of politicians! What a travesty it was to let stupid politics get in the way of a venture that was to be beneficial to both the tax paying residents of Indiana and the hard working citizens of struggling India. In regards to that I would say that both India and Indiana were exploited, and they were exploited by the politicians who used the situation to gain support for their own shady agendas. I do not see or understand the problem of outsourcing and saving 8 million dollars of tax payer money? Why shouldn't the Indians be rewarded for their hard work in getting the best education available to them and trying hard to provide for their families? Why shouldn't the best value be applied and why should the tax payers be forced to apply more funds for the exact same type of work, but done by only Americans? It is ridiculous and bad business practice.
Intellectual property is exactly what it sounds like: ideas. Just like you would patent an idea or invention, the issue of ownership is arising for your innovative technological ideas. Advances in technology are being counterfeited and ideas are being stolen. So, with more and more innovation emerging from open-source collaborations and communities, intellectual property law has to adjust-or else we as a society will not get the benefits or be protected from the drawbacks of a flat world.
Saturday, February 7, 2015
Essay 4
These days you can barely even swing your Fendi purse without knocking over ten computer nerds, so fortunately completing the homework for your Digital Society class is a breeze! I reached out to my younger brother, Stuart Jakins, who has worked at a company called SecurityMetrics as a Technical Support Specialist for the past five years.
According to Wikipedia, SecurityMetrics is "a multinational merchant data security and compliance company headquartered in Orem, Utah" that fields "over 132,000 calls a month and employs nearly 400 employees". The company is a Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS) vendor that also qualifies as a PCI Forensic Investigator, which I thought was quite interesting. If I had to work there that is the department that I would request!
Stuart spends his shift on the computer as well as on the phone with customers who are typically business owners and merchants. Technical support includes and covers the set up of firewalls and security for the computer networks that run the business. Storage of credit card numbers on the merchant's computers requires documentation of the processing and due to the sensitive and private information, proof of antivirus software and firewalls is a necessity. Also, if a merchant is trying to process credit cards through an IP address or a website, then SecurityMetrics first scans the IP address and website to verify the safety and security. Stuart summarized his job detail as explaining security measures to merchants and business owners to ensure their compliance with the standards that the credit card companies enforce.
Hmm...sounds quite boring and confusing to me! After further reading online about SecurityMetrics I learned that it was started in 2000 by a man named Brad Caldwell. The goal of the company was to test website security, soon becoming officially certified as a security assessor for the four major credit cards in the United States: Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express. Okay so now it made a bit more sense to me: a security assessor. After reading that I understood more completely than I did from interviewing my brother. (Sorry Stu!)
According to Wikipedia, SecurityMetrics is "a multinational merchant data security and compliance company headquartered in Orem, Utah" that fields "over 132,000 calls a month and employs nearly 400 employees". The company is a Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS) vendor that also qualifies as a PCI Forensic Investigator, which I thought was quite interesting. If I had to work there that is the department that I would request!
Stuart spends his shift on the computer as well as on the phone with customers who are typically business owners and merchants. Technical support includes and covers the set up of firewalls and security for the computer networks that run the business. Storage of credit card numbers on the merchant's computers requires documentation of the processing and due to the sensitive and private information, proof of antivirus software and firewalls is a necessity. Also, if a merchant is trying to process credit cards through an IP address or a website, then SecurityMetrics first scans the IP address and website to verify the safety and security. Stuart summarized his job detail as explaining security measures to merchants and business owners to ensure their compliance with the standards that the credit card companies enforce.
Hmm...sounds quite boring and confusing to me! After further reading online about SecurityMetrics I learned that it was started in 2000 by a man named Brad Caldwell. The goal of the company was to test website security, soon becoming officially certified as a security assessor for the four major credit cards in the United States: Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express. Okay so now it made a bit more sense to me: a security assessor. After reading that I understood more completely than I did from interviewing my brother. (Sorry Stu!)
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