The Pew Internet & American Life Project surveyed Americans’ use of a variety of information sources that help them seek answers to common problems that could in some way be related to government agencies and programs. The survey evaluated how Americans seek information on

1. dealing with a serious illness or health concern
2. making a decision about school enrollment
3. financing school
4. upgrading work skill
5. dealing with a tax matter
6. changing a job or starting a business
7. getting information about major programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid

The survey’s major findings are

1. The internet is a go-to source
2. Searchers usually end up satisfied
3. Libraries meet special needs
4. Digital divides matter
5. Government documents should be created and delivered in all shapes and sizes
6. E-government is not an option, it’s a necessity

Like most Americans, I grew up using public libraries. My parents were often willing to drive me to the major public library in my hometown. When I was old enough to ride my bicycle more than just a few miles from home, I started spending time at the local college libraries. This respect for and love of library resources continues in me today. If it were not for the inclement weather, I would be spending this lazy Sunday afternoon at the public library.

The Pew report introduces the role of libraries, “For generations, public libraries have played a central role in providing a vast range of information to Americans. From the stacks of non-fiction books, to racks of newspapers and magazines, to shelves of reference materials and government documents, libraries have been the place to go to find answers to questions.”

Over the last decade and a half, the internet has offered a challenge to libraries’ dominance of reference resources. Most popular magazines publish the same content material in digital format as is published in the print format. Dictionaries and encyclopedias, including those with which most Americans are familiar, are available for free or a nominal annual fee on the internet. Now, with the popularization of e-book readers, such as those from Sony and Amazon.com, books can be easily delivered in digital format, no longer requiring avid readers to physically travel to the library. In fact, my local public library offers a wide selection of digital materials through its internet portal, including streaming music, music downloads, and books, which may be checked out for three weeks, just like a printed book.

However, as the Pew report identifies, this flexibility of accessing published data is only available to those with broadband internet access. Dial-up users are more restricted in accessing online resources, and are more likely to use their physical library resources for research.

Pew Internet & American Life Project report: Information Searches that Solve Problems.

I have been recommending Kojo Nnamdi’s radio interview with Ryan Watkins and Michael Corry to online faculty for three years. My faculty peers found the interview illuminating and helpful in developing their computer-mediated facilitation skills. You, too, may find the interview helpful in developing your skills, whether you are a faculty member or student. I suggest that you will, at least, better understand the value of a computer-mediated, asynchronous learning environment.

The interview is available in RealAudio format at WAMU.org’s Web site, Tech Tuesday: E-Learning.

Watkins and Corry and a supporting Web site at E-learning Companion.

I suggest that you read Peter Kump’s book, Breakthrough Rapid Reading. I have been recommending this book to students for many years, and I receive more hugs of thank you at commencements for having made this recommendation than I receive for my teaching abilities. ;-(

I initially bought the book for my brother-in-law, Ben, when we were preparing to attend law school together. Ben, an electrical engineer, is a competent digital systems designer and project manager; however, at the time he and I were preparing for school, he claimed to not have read a book since his graduate school days. After I had interviewed the faculty and administrators of a few law schools, I had a good feel for the expectations that Ben and I would face. One of the expectations was that we would read the equivalent of four text books a week (for three and a half years). When I reported this minor detail to Ben, he threw his hands in the air and convinced himself that he never really wanted to study law in the first place.

I suggested that I could help him increase his reading speed and comprehension, just as my parents and teachers had done for me. I found Kump’s book as a starting resource. After a month, Ben had increased his reading speed from 200 to 600 words per minute (wpm). Although comprehension is difficult to measure accurately, Ben judged that he had also significantly increased his reading comprehension. I then read Kump’s book and increased my reading speed from 600 to 3,000 wpm. I was now able to meet one of my lifetime goals: being able to read a book a day.

To completely absorb Kump’s suggestions takes about three months; however, everyone to whom I have recommended the book has noticed some degree of improvement in reading speed and comprehension within a few weeks of following Kump’s advice.

I suggest that you read Peter Kump’s book, Breakthrough Rapid Reading, now. Give yourself the gift of improving your reading skill, so that you can reduce the duration of effort that you must put into your academic work and enjoy your educational journey.

BTW, Ben and I eventually decided that we would postpone attending law school together, not because we feared the reading load, but rather as a commitment to our families. Once our families were older–our daughters out of the house and on their own, we will likely attend law school and spend four evenings a week in class and weekends in the library. By that time, our wives (who are sisters and very close) may be ready to enjoy a bit of peace and quiet or continue their own graduate studies.

Passive voice risks confusing the reader (or listener) as to the identity of the subject in a sentence. When the object of the sentence precedes the verb, the object may be incorrectly identified as the subject. Plain and simple, that is all passive voice is. Yeah, I know, that description probably sounds like so much English grammar gobbledygook.

I will start by defining the common components of a complete sentence:
Subject: this is the actor, the element that does the action of the sentence.
Verb: this is a description of the action
Object: this is the element upon which an action is taken.

In American Standard English, the order of the elements of a sentence should be Subject - Verb - Object. This is called active voice. It will require fewer words and will place emphasis on the subject, as this comes early in the sentence. Children and most adults recognize active voice from our elementary school primers (i.e. See Dick run; See Dick and Jane play together.)

Passive voice places the object before the subject and may allow the subject to be wholly omitted.

Example One
The boy kissed the girl.
Subject: boy
Verb: kissed
Object: girl

Example Two
The girl was kissed by the boy.
Subject: boy
Verb: [was] kissed
Object: girl

Notice that in both examples, it is the boy that did the kissing, and it was the girl who received the action (was kissed).

Example One places the sentence in Subject-Verb-Object order (boy kissed girl); this is active voice.

Example Two places the sentence in Object-Verb-Subject order (girl was kissed by boy); this is passive voice.

Problem With Passive Voice

I have been discussing active-passive voice since the mid 70s, and I rarely–I cannot recall an instance–hear a scholar tell me that the subject of the second sentence is boy. We seem to quickly jump to the conclusion that since girl comes at the beginning of the sentence, it is receiving the emphasis normally reserved for the subject; therefore, it is the subject of the sentence. By the way, I often teach public school teachers during my train-the-trainer classes, and they get this wrong, too…so it is no wonder that so many of us speak and write in passive voice!

Additional Examples of Active & Passive Voice

Active: The committee wrote the report.
Passive: The report was written by the committee.

Active: The batter hit the ball.
Passive: The ball was hit by the batter.

Passive: Outsourcing sales and marketing was expected to have an eventual detrimental effect on the business based upon the risk factor.

In this sentence the subject is omitted (as is a necessary comma before the terminal phrase).

Try this on for size…
Active: Based on the risk factor, management expected outsource sales and marketing efforts to have a detrimental effect on the business.

In the active sentence, the subject [actor] (management) is stated and it precedes the verb, expected.

I realize that asking you to eliminate passive voice from your verbal communication may sound draconian; however, if you are a business management or information technology major, and you do not have sufficient credits left in your degree program for me to spend the requisite time to explain when passive voice is appropriate (like right there), then it is prudent to always write in the active voice. I hope that you will one day be able to attend the writing seminars at Johns Hopkins or Iowa; until then, banish the passive, write in the active, and be understood.

I have posted a number of articles on this topic in the writing section of my student resources site. I also suggest that you read Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style. This simple, little book will make your verbal communication snap.

Please note that I use the word verbal in its full sense, which includes both oral and written communication.

The crux of the concern most folk share is how can we use computer technology without having personal experience with the system’s construction and design. The distinction between the household appliances that I mentioned and our computers is that the appliances have a well-developed user interface, while our Microsoft Windows computers, because of a profoundly difficult user interface, put the responsibility for understanding the system upon the user, rather than allowing the user to seamlessly interact with the system, as the Apple products do.

I do not own an Apple computer; however, I see a significant difference in the facility of managing my podcasts since I changed from my Sandisk Sansa digital audio player and Juice podcasting software to an iPod Nano digital audio player and iTunes software. I was able to pick up the iPod and install the iTunes software without reading any manuals: transferring my podcast subscription list from Juice, and listening without any emotional consternation.

E-business majors who are not well practiced in the self-learning process of acquiring new software skills are often challenged by the act of creating a well-designed e-business Web site. One of the questions that I address in my latest book, Digitalis Americana, sections of which you may read on my personal blog, SaysDave, explores why it is still so difficult to create Web sites. Google has made the acts of creating documents, spreadsheets, and blogs, as well as instant messaging and VOIP conversing simple. Just recently, Google began offering a Web page creation tool; however, it is as limited in its capabilities as all of the other Web-based Web page creation tools. If the Internet, and by extension the World Wide Web, is to be the preferred communication medium for business, we must have a user interface that makes sense to novice Web page creators. Until products that meet this need are available, I expect that the majority of folk will find Web publishing, just as they do using Microsoft Windows, a daunting experience.

I found Alan Cooper’s book, The Inmates Are Running The Asylum, particularly elucidating to understanding this conundrum. I suggest that you read Cooper’s book.

Large Hadron Collider

While the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s largest high-energy particle accelerator, was not expected to come online and be available for research activities for another six months, this information-transfer process was tested during the system’s post-installation efficacy evaluation process (PIEEP). The LHC resides within a 27 km circumference underground tunnel that ranges in depth below ground level from 50 to 150 meters.

The telecommunications network, which requires no physical interstitial points of transmission, will allow transmission bandwidth of at least 100MB/s between endpoints. Owing to the quantum distribution properties of protons and the availability of unused geosynchronous satellites currently in orbit, terrestrial endpoints may be located anywhere and airborne endpoints may be located to a maximum altitude of 150 miles above the surface of the Earth.

Technology Background

A proton is a subatomic particle with a positive electrical charge of one fundamental unit (1.602 x 10-19 coulomb). The CERN scientists, led by Dr. Albus Luminare, were able to store 8 bytes of quantum data within a single photon of pure white light. Using light photons, which travel through a vacuum at 299,792,458 meters per second, the scientists were able to effect the high bandwidth data network, creating multiple individual channels of data between two end points at near fiber-optic speed.

The current research demonstrates that data transmission does not have to be limited to a single transmission medium, such as a fiber-optic cable. Rather, multiple independent transmission streams may be effected through the use of quantum entanglement, and directed focus mirrors, which allow the digital data to be transmitted without the need of physical cables. Data endpoints may transmit and receive data between cellular and internet endpoints using satellite-based mirrors, literally reflecting the multiple data streams off mirrors in geostationary orbit, 22,500 miles above the surface of the Earth.

Dr. Luminare, chairman of the Worldwide System Hardware Language Infrastructure Systems & Technology Symposium (WiSHLISTS), has announced that the charitable organization will license—at no cost–the new technology, called the Proton-based Information System (PIS), to nations willing to offer free nationalized cellular and internet service to citizens, without restriction.

Dave’s Opinion

The PIS network sounds the death knell for terrestrial telephone and broadband providers. My sources confirm that the symposium’s services will be available before the end of the year, and I expect to see a plethora of new mobile digital devices that will take advantage of this high-speed data network.
It is fortunate that Dr. Luminaire’s team of scientists conducted their research during the LHC’s PIEEP phase, as CERN reported earlier this week that the LHC suffered a failure of its three quadrupole magnets.

Call for Comments

What do you think? Leave your comments below.

References

CERN
LHC Magnet Test Failure

Critical thinking is not just analysis or clarity of thought. Critical thinking is the application of the Greek model of logic to the evaluation of available data. We cannot divorce ourselves of our assumptions and emotions; however, we can recognize these human attributes and disallow their affecting our application of logic.

If we seek to write as we speak, it is incumbent that we must first speak well.

You may find it helpful to listen to podcasts that focus on language (oral and written), especially those from erudite sources such as…

1. Grammar Girl’s Quick & Dirty Tips to Clean Up Your Writing
2. A Way With Words
3. Just Vocabulary
4. On Words with John Ciardi
5. PublicRadioFan.com (a selection of language-related podcasts)
6. CogitoVeritas (from yours truly)
7. LSAT Logic in Everyday Life (While unrelated to language per se, it is an excellent addition to your study of critical thinking! The LSAT is an examination of pure logic.)

Each of these hyperlinks points to the Web site from which the podcast or additional resources may be accessed.

Today, I drove our youngest daughter to the orthodontist. On the way from school to the dental office, we talked about our day’s activities. On the way home, we listened to three recordings from Just Vocabulary. Kathleen, who is 12 years old, and I had a blast challenging each other to see who could more quickly respond to the vocabulary questions that the podcast posed!

I am a huge fan of podcasting, as it allows us to continue our lifelong education, even while doing other tasks, such as driving, cooking, and waiting. I am writing to you and listening to one of the three dozen podcasts to which I subscribe. I suggest that you start listening to podcasts that will help you in those subjects that you desire to improve and a few other topics that are just of interest to you.

However, in reading many assignments, I have noticed a pattern in your writing.

1. passive voice
2. comma faults
3. misspelling
4. punctuation errors

These grammatical and compositional errors are, in the big scheme, minor, and I do not think that they reflect negatively on our abilities. I think that if these are the only errors that we make, we can be proud of ourselves. However, I often judge people on their ability to polish their work. I ask myself, especially when evaluating employees and job applicants, whether I could expect a level of attention to detail that will ensure all portions of a task assignment are completed.

One of the things that I learned as a business owner is that the details matter. I may have had this thought instilled in me while I was in the military–that is one organization that operates on details–but I compare my actions with my clients to the errors that I made with those that did not hire me or my companies. Those that did not hire me often did so because of a minor detail: a proposal delivered an hour or a day late, phone calls not returned promptly. Seemingly minor details that derailed our efforts to secure new business, all because of the negative perception that I or we left in the prospective client’s mind.

On the other hand, I know that our clients hired us because they judge we will keep our word and do everything well. My employees and I have been complimented on the quality of our professional and administrative services. We have had clients call us to thank us for thinking to send handwritten holiday and congratulatory cards. In this day and age, who handwrites any longer? Those who value communication and rapport. How well we communicate is vital to our success, both personally and professionally. I fervently want you to be excellent in your professional work. I do not want you to be just good, I want you to be great. One of the ways that you can set yourself apart from the mass is to write well.

I do not ask you to become proficient at prose (let alone poetry!), but I do ask you challenge yourself to properly compose the words that you choose. Do not let your words take control of your message, use your words to control your message. Follow William Faulkner’s advice, "Kill your darlings," and Samuel Johnson’s admonition, "Read over your compositions, and wherever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out." Write what is necessary, punctuate it so that you demonstrate your attention to detail.

Handwritten notes may no longer be in vogue for business correspondence. That is sad. Life goes on. We now use computer-mediated communication modalities, but Standard English remains. Even in your e-mail messages, write well. Show off…just a little bit. Demonstrate that you earned an education, not just a degree.

‘Nuf said.

Murdoch explains, “When a crystal is manufactured, it has a clock skew, and it’s different for each crystal (throughout its) lifetime.” Tadayoshi Kohno, now an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington, has shown that computers on the internet can be identified by their clock skews, by tracking the timestamps of each machine’s transmitted packets. Clock skew, however, yields up to only 64 separate identifiers, making it an incomplete confirmation tool.

Clock skew has long been a concern of engineers of synchronous network, as it causes the clock signal for system components to arrive at different times; however, Murdoch is the first to take advantage of this hardware fallibility. Murdoch attacked The Onion Router, Tor, an anonymizing network that allows unregistered users to access web sites without identifying themselves. Tor network encrypts web traffic, through multiple servers, creating layers of anonymizing packets, none of which may be decrypted by another node on the Tor network.

Murdoch tested his digital attack by setting up a Tor network server and causing the server to warm up by executing intensive processes. The increase in system temperature caused minor changes in clock skew.

Dave’s Opinion

To understand how clock skew can be used to affect the security of anonymity networks, such as Tor, I think that we must first understand how Tor works. I suggest reviewing the audio recording or transcript of Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte’s Security Now! podcast. Episode 70 of this podcast explains in clear, lucid detail how the Tor network creates anonymity for web users.

Kohno’s theoretical work and Murdoch’s proof of concept attack does not bode well for network security systems, including the GPS and other national digital assets that require precise timings to function properly.

Call for Comments

What do you think? Leave your comments below.

References

Steven J. Murdoch’s notes, Detecting temperature through clock skew – Hot or Not: Defeating anonymity by moniToring clock skew to remotely detect the temperature of a PC

Steven J. Murdoch’s University of Cambridge website

Electronic Frontier Foundation Tor Network

Tadayoshi Kohno’s paper, Remote Physical Device Fingerprinting

Tadayoshi Kohno’s University of Washington website

Steve Gibson & Leo Laporte’s Security Now! Podcast, Achieving Internet Anonymity (episode 70)

Why Are We Receiving More Spam?

Spammers are not giving up; in fact, they are getting smarter.

One of the reasons that we are lately receiving more spam is that spammers are diligently working to get past our antispam filters by embedding their messages in graphic images. Antispam filters are effective at reading the content of incoming messages and detecting common telltale word patterns, image spam gets past the keyphrase filters because it does not include ASCII text, only a graphic image. Since last year, the amount of image spam has increased 400%, it now represents almost up to half of all unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE) messages.

BotNets

Spammers also hide their identities and locations by using botnets, remotely-controlled personal computers that have been infected with a malware application and used to transmit the spam messages to their final, intended recipients. An article in Wikipedia states that spammers send 80% of UCE via botnet, sending transmitted 55 billion spam messages each day. While these numbers are unconfirmed, e-mail users generally agree that they get too many spam messages a day.

There Is No Legal Protection

U.S. e-mail users took heart in the federal Can-Spam Act of 2003, which requires UCE senders to properly identify their content and allow users to opt-out of future transmissions; however, much spam is coming from outside of the United States, and the spammers are not beholden to the U.S. law.

What Can We Do?

IronPort offers ten tips to help prevent and reduce the amount of spam that we receive.

1. Don’t open messages from someone that we do not recognize.
2. Don’t respond to spam messages.
3. Don’t click on hyperlinks included in the spam message.
4. Don’t buy from spammers—ever!
5. Don’t use a primary e-mail address; create a secondary e-mail address when submitting an online registration.
6. Don’t believe everything we read.
7. Do use a temporary or one-time-use credit card.
8. Do read security policies.
9. Use an antispam filter, either through our ISP or a standalone application.
10. Do use common sense.

Dave’s Opinion

I receive over 1,000 spam messages to one of my e-mail addresses, alone. If it were not for effective antispam filters, I would be afraid to open my inbox.

Call for Comments

What do you think? Leave your comments below.

References

IronPort Systems Offers the “Do’s and Don’ts” to Avoid Spam Deluge During Holiday Season
Wikipedia, Botnet
Wikipedia, E-mail Spam

Knowledge is power, when it is wielded to advantage. I came to consider this caveat a few months ago, when my wife challenged me with the question, “What are you going to do with all of the books that you read?” What was left unsaid in her question was, what would I do with the knowledge that I gained from reading the books?

Listen to the podcast at Internet Archive.

I have been pondering that question since last autumn, and I do not yet have an answer. Last June, when the Discovery Channel ran the special Krakatoa: Volcano of Destruction, I reserved a Sunday evening to watch the show. During the two weeks leading up to the show, I read every book on Karatoau and volcanoes that were in my county library, which is ranked first in the nation among great public libraries. Since then, I have had a simmering interest in geology, and I have read a few dozen more books on the general subject. This behavior is not unusual for me…I frequently find a topic piquing my interest, and I delve into it obsessively.

But, so what? What will I do with my broad introductory knowledge of geology and volcanism? I do not yet have an answer. My family and friends invite me to be on their team, when we play Trivial Pursuit, and I win our annual family vacation game of Who can state the most esoteric fact?…although, I have a wife and sister-in-law who give me a run for my money!

I am filled with questions, and I create new questions to be answered, throughout the day. I write my questions and queer tidbits of data in a small notebook that I carry in my backpack; here are a few examples:

1. Orthography: writing system
2. Orthoepy: pronunciation (phonology)
3. Out of a group of 23 people, there is a 75 percent chance of two sharing the same birthday.
4. There are an estimated 100 billion stars in a galaxy, 100 billion galaxies in the universe; the universe is 13.8 billion years old.
5. A. Einstein wrote, "Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen."
6. Galileo’s principle of relativity: So long as one is moving at a constant velocity, there is nothing one can do to measure the speed of motion–or whether motion exists at all.
7. Coins (money) have milled edges to prevent counterfeiters’ clipping off edges to make new coins.
8. There were 250 individual languages and cultures in North America at the time of Columbus’s landing.
9. Stochastic resonance is the physical noise from solar variations. Stochastic resonance is also used as background noise to improve faint signal reception in both electronic and audio transmission.
10. Fluctuations in the height of the oceans may explain the 10,000-year periodicity of Earth’s ice ages.

I have created a world for myself in which I can explore topics that have immediate interest; however, I have not yet figured out how to put the knowledge that I gain to advantage (other than by making interesting dinner conversation and winning at a board game).

On the other hand, I also delved into the learning and thinking about the application of information technology, specific digital technology, with the same passion, and I was fortunate to build two businesses from this knowledge (and eventually return to academic teaching).

I encourage us all to be passionate about learning and to constantly seek applications for our knowledge.

Like the term surfing the net, which refers to one’s following hypertext references to new and unexpected destinations, just as a surfer must follow the direction and flow of an ocean wave. Although the wave surfer knows that he or she is headed in the general direction of the shoreline, the wave constantly changes height and form, yielding a dynamic environment on which to surf.

Be sure that you control your research; do not let it control you. Make an hypothesis, find supporting or contradictory data, create a conclusion, and develop a theory; stay focused.

I want us–students and faculty–to emulate sound business composition techniques in our classes. During the course of my work, I do not want to read long, rambling reports; I am too selfish of my own interests and time to put forth the effort to figure out what authors are trying to say. I am well known in the IT industry for sending letters and reports back to authors with a note at the top, "Rewrite for clarity and succinctness, if you want me to read your work."

Mark Twain wrote, "I’m sorry this letter is so long, but I did not have the time to make it shorter."He was paraphrasing, Blaise Pascal’s comment from The Provincial Letters of 1656, "Je n’ai fait celle-ci plus longue que parceque je n’ai pas eu le loisir de la faire plus courte" (I made this letter rather long, because I did not have the leisure to make it shorter). If you want to gain my attention, make it easy for me to attend to your work; about this, I am adamant. I think that our academic classroom should model the behaviors that will make us successful in business (and personal life). Succinct, clear writing is one of the skills that will lead us toward success.

In addition, I see no learning objective that is met by requiring a minimum number of words in a paper. So long as the writer is able to demonstrate command and application of the material at hand, let the paper stand short.

Listen to the podcast at Internet Archive.

I have invited only a few business acquaintances here…my corporate accountants and my insurance agent. I think that I have had two clients into this office. Rather than inviting acquaintances here, I travel to their offices or schedule meetings in a private meeting facility (often a private room in a restaurant, so we can share a meal). I created my office specifically to facilitate my work style, and I have no intention of ever returning to a corporate office space.

To facilitate sharing networked data, I created a virtual private network with my coworkers, who also work from their homes, on four continents, and I have no intention of ever returning to a physical headquarters again. We talk, chat, and e-mail one another throughout the 24-hour day (because of time zone differences), and we are much more profitable in this new work environment. Because we’re more profitable, I was able to return to part-time academic work, an avocation that I had to leave in the 1980s, because I was so busy managing a physical office.

This physically-dispersed environment works well for coworkers who are motivated and can focus on the tasks that need to be done (I say this tongue in cheek, because I am notorious for procrastinating and letting postal mail pile up on my desk, unread). However, I flourish in this flexible work environment, as I keep my plate full…I always have a project waiting to be started, just as soon as I complete my current task.

I think that it is fairly common, within the IT industry, to create geographically-flexible workspaces for professional staff members. I caution that the vital characteristic is motivation. Employees who do not share a passion for the organization’s success will not, in the long run, do well without close supervision.

——————————————————————————–

*I dislike the term virtual office, as the workspace physically exists. The common term does not grasp the inherent flexibility of private workspaces.

Most large ISPs cache popular Web pages, only updating them a few times a day, this lowers the telecommunication costs that the ISP incurs in connecting to its upline provider (often a national telecommunications company that charges by the number of bits of data transmitted). You may have noticed the problem of caching while trying to get the most current scores from ESPN.com. Although I am not an avid sports fan, I have seen the scores delayed not because ESPN was slow to update its site, but because the ISP cached a stale copy of the site, sending the stale copy to users who linked into ESPN.com.

Regarding e-mail, the speed of delivery of e-mail is dependent upon three things:

1. The performance of the e-mail server (which is the machine on which the e-mail mailbox is stored and which is not necessarily the same machine on which the site’s Web site is hosted)
2. The available bandwidth of the user’s connection to the e-mail server (the slowest point in the connection is the bottleneck, whether it is a public connection on the Internet, the connection from the user to his or her ISP, or the user’s home network). Users who pay extra for a high-speed broadband connection of 16Mbps (Megabits per second), yet have a 10Mbps Wi-Fi network in their home are wasting money. Since the bottleneck is the Wi-Fi network, the extra speed of the broadband connection is never tapped.
3. The user’s computer (affected by the amount of RAM, CPU speed, and efficiency of the e-mail application).

Regarding Wi-Fi networks. Users can be duped into thinking that a 10Mbps (802.11g) router provides 10Mbps of one-way bandwidth. Actually, a Wi-Fi router splits the available bandwidth by two, reserving half for upstream and half for downstream traffic, plus there is a bit of overhead involved. So, a single user connecting to a 10Mbps Wi-Fi router will actually only download data at about 4Mbps (I’ve rounded the numbers for clarity). If two users were concurrently downloading data from the same Wi-Fi router, the bandwidth is split again, in half.

However, to access data on most Web sites, dozens of connections must be made, each of which could be a bottleneck.

A traceroute between my home and the Web server in Lansing, Michigan indicates 19 hops were made, this evening. If I were to run this traceroute again, the number of hops may be a bit greater or fewer. There are thousands of routes a request for data can take, that is the essence of packetized data transfer and the inherent strength of the Internet. Files are broken into small packets, each of which is transmitted in the fastest manner to its destination…any given number of packets do not have to each follow the same path.

According to a report published by the Pew Internet & American Life Project this week, 12 percent of internet users reported downloading at least one podcast; however, only 1 percent download on a typical day.

More men who are online, 15 percent, have downloaded a podcast, compared to 8 percent of online women. Users who have been online for more than six or more years are twice as likely as those who have been online for three or fewer years (13 vs 6 percent).

Dave’s Opinion

I have been listening to podcast recordings of my favorite news and conference recordings for six years. I used to carry a Sony MiniDisc player; now I use a SanDisk Sansa flash drive media player. I subscribe to 49 feeds, most of which are published by national news services or universities. The flexibility of timeshifting my listening has freed me to keep up with my preferred news sources. I carry the media player in the car, plugging it into the vehicle’s audio system, and when I exercise.

I am surprised that more folk do not listen to podcasts. The value of timeshifting makes podcasting one of the most useful digital applications.

Call for Comments

What do you think? Leave your comments below.

References

Pew Internet & American Life Project Report: Podcast Downloading

Listen to the podcast at Internet Archive.

Who Manages Domains?

A domain is managed by a registrar, such as GoDaddy.com or Network Solutions. Annual registration fees for .com domains typically range from $6.95 to $25. The registration cost varies, based on registrar’s desired profit margin; however, the higher-priced registrations usually include a private data record, which hides the registrant’s contact information and reduces the opportunity for spammers to collect the data.

Who Hosts Websites?

Small and medium-sized businesses contract their Web hosting services to a provider (such as my company). The hosting company is responsible to provide storage space for the Web site’s files as well as e-mail services. Services for site hosting and e-mail range from $5 to $500 per month; however, in the ranges below $25 per month, the service will likely be unreliable, as the hosting company has a business model built on high volume, and the company is willing to accept consumer accounts. In the range of $25 and up, the hosting company probably serves only business clients, and is willing to invest the effort and equipment to ensure that fail-over systems (live backup servers) are available, so any given Web site or e-mail account will not go offline during routine maintenance or an individual server’s failure.

How Does E-mail Work?

Incoming e-mail messages to a specific domain, such as dsmurphy@xyz.com–is received by the Web host’s e-mail server. From there the incoming message may take one of three paths:

1. Individual messages may be filtered transferred to a specific e-mail account on the host’s server.
2. Individual messages may be filtered and transferred to a specific e-mail account on another host’s server (i.e. gmail.com, yahoo.com, hotmail.com).
3. All messages may be transferred to another e-mail server (i.e. a corporate Microsoft Exchange server). This option is controlled through the use of an MX record, which automatically forwards all incoming messages to another e-mail server.

Who Routes Outgoing E-mail?

Outgoing e-mail messages may be handled by either the user’s ISP (the company providing Internet connectivity) or the hosting company that handles the Web and incoming e-mail traffic. There are pros and cons to both alternatives; however, I usually recommend to my clients to use my SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) server for their outgoing e-mail messages, as does not require any software modifications when notebook computers are moved from one ISP to another (as happens when one uses multiple public Wi-Fi hotspots). If a corporate users transmits e-mail through a Microsoft Exchange server, this user will likely have to reconfigure his or her notebook computer, when traveling, unless the corporation has also included access to the Microsoft Exchange server through a VPN (Virtual Private Network). This is common, but it adds a level of technical overhead that can reduce performance.

What about a Virtual Private Network?

Both in my office and when I travel, I send e-mail through either my corporate or personal Web sites (or the UOP e-mail servers). I use my VPN access solely to access files on my network file servers. BTW, I use the Hamachi VPN software, because it offers the highest available security through digital encryption, and it works with all Wi-Fi hotspots, including those at UOP onground campuses.

While I will hold e-mail messages for my clients, if they do not have a Microsoft Exchange server, it is a big responsibility, and I have invested many hundreds of hours each year and wheelbarrows of money to make sure my e-mail servers have redundant systems and at least three OC-3 telecommunication lines. It is by not means a cheap proposition to host e-mail accounts. Most companies can accept that their Web site is offline for maintenance, but if the e-mail is disrupted…I cannot imagine what would happen!

Listen to the podcast at Internet Archive.

I may have missed comments regarding Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), in other DQ responses; however, I thought that I would introduce the topic because CSS is now the standard for controlling the design elements of HTML Web Pages. CSS can be used to control type attributes, paragraph layout, columns, headers, and footers. Literally, all of the page design functionality of a Web page is managed by the CSS code.

A Web site may contain a few or thousands of individual Web documents (Web pages). To ensure that all pages have the same appearance a unique CSS file may be referenced by each of the pages. To change the site’s appearance, only the single CSS document needs to be changed.

You may look at three of my blogs to see how CSS is applied.

These two blogs use similarly-constructed CSS files:
http://cogitoveritas.com/blog/
http://itrain.org/itinfo/

This blog uses a different-format CSS file:
http://saysdave.com/

Since the first two blogs that I mentioned use the CSS files of the same content, the blogs appear visually similar. The third blog, my personal site, suggested by my children after they were tired of hearing me complain about poor service in restaurants, has a CSS file that specifies a different page layout and color theme.

In all three cases, the blog’s content is generated by MySQL with identical database structures…only the content of the articles varies.

You probably have seen the advertisements for VOIP (also called digital voice) on television; however, the company’s that advertise overcharge for their services. I suggest that you consider purchasing VOIP from other providers, one of whom sells the service at less than 10 percent of the cost of the television advertisers!

I converted my office phone to VOIP last spring using BroadVoice, and I reduced my monthly per-line bill from an average of $40 to about $14. I am considering switching to Skype, which charges $3 per month for unlimited service to the United States and Canada.

I allowed the technology to mature for a few years, using Skype solely for personal calls and business calls to my vendors and clients abroad. However, as VOIP now offers quality at least equal to the landline connections, I see no incentive to remain with the old technology.

I use the Eraser software application to securely remove data from my systems. I run Eraser at least once a week, to prevent deleted (including temporary) files from being reconstructed, and I use it or PGP Wipe, which came with PGP Desktop Home to ensure that the disks I am donating to charity or giving to someone else cannot be used to reconstruct any of my data.

Every computer that I have helped set up for a charity that was donated from a commercial corporation contained sensitive data files. Some were deleted and easily undeleted, others were still in native form, ready to be accessed. Do not allow data to leave your control: encrypt it while it is under your control and securely delete it before relinquishing control of the computer.

I have tested the backup process of DriveImage XML, a freeware application; however, I have not tested its restoration functionality, so I am hesitant to recommend in lieu of Norton Ghost, which I have used to restore hundreds of failed systems. If anyone has a backup Windows XP computer and the time to test DriveImage XML, I would like a disinterested review. Most of the reviews that I have read of the product are positive; however, I prefer to know the tester, before I trust his or her judgment.

If your computer has only one partition (C: drive) on its internal hard disk, it is a simple matter to use Norton Ghost (and DriveImage XML) to place the backup images on the USB-connected hard disk. You do not need to go through the process of repartitioning your internal hard disk, as I do to my systems.

Listen to the podcast at Internet Archive.

WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) is the current state-of-the-art of consumer encryption for Wi-Fi networks. Computer experts consider a WPA-encrypted wireless signal that is encrypted using a pseudo-random 63-character passphrase to be uncrackable, by today’s computing standards.

WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) is an earlier standard of Wi-Fi encryption; however, it is a simple matter to crack a WEP encryption code.

Pinging is the transmission of a short message from one computer to another to confirm that the addressed system is online. One machine transmits a ping, the other responds with a pong.

Here is an example of ping-pong messages between my notebook and my student services Web server, which is in my data center in Fort Worth, Texas.

###
C:\>ping cogitoveritas.com

Pinging cogitoveritas.com [208.65.60.103] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 208.65.60.103: bytes=32 time=42ms TTL=42
Reply from 208.65.60.103: bytes=32 time=42ms TTL=42
Reply from 208.65.60.103: bytes=32 time=41ms TTL=42
Reply from 208.65.60.103: bytes=32 time=36ms TTL=42

Ping statistics for 208.65.60.103:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 36ms, Maximum = 42ms, Average = 40ms
###

The pongs (responses to my pings) came from the computer at IP address 208.65.60.103, which is my Web server, and the mean transmission time (after four tries) between Maryland and Texas was 40ms, which is not bad.

Listen to the podcast at Internet Archive.

For example…

1. Data files must be backed up to a separate device (FileBack PC)
2. Data files must be encrypted on a notebook PC and should be encrypted on a desktop PC (TrueCrypt)
3. Microsoft Windows XP volumes (partitions) must be defragmenter (Diskeeper is more efficient than the crippled version included with Microsoft Windows XP, Disk Defragmenter)

Now, to throw salt on the wound, I also recommend Ad-aware and Spybot Search and Destroy, the combination of these two applications will remove most known boot net and advertising-related malware from a Microsoft Windows XP system.

If one would like a system that runs well and requires no maintenance, even after years of use, he or she should use a Linux distribution–I prefer Knoppix Linux; however, If one were to stay with Microsoft Windows XP (or Microsoft Windows Vista), he or she must assume the maintenance responsibilities that come with using an operating system that is designed to be almost all things to all people–and becomes perfect at nothing. ;-(

Installing and uninstalling applications will reduce the performance and stability of a Microsoft Windows XP system. I recommend choosing a balanced approach: only install necessary applications, including those that are designed solely to improve the system’s performance.

I backup all of my data files that are stored on my notebook to the network server and to my external hard disk 20 or 30 times a day, using FileBack PC.

All data files are stored in a TrueCrypt encrypted file which is on my D: drive. They are absolutely secure from unauthorized access so long as I put my notebook into standby, hibernate, or power off mode, when I walk away from the computer. These data files are duplicated on my network server and an external hard disk during each data backup process. The data files are also duplicated on another computer, but this is only because I am so rigorous in my procedures, that I want three available backup copies of my data files.

By keeping my Microsoft Windows XP swap file and all data files on the D:, my C: does not fragment very much. However, I still defragment all of my drives at least twice a week using Diskeeper. This application was written by the folk who created Microsoft Windows defragmenter utility, and it is a much more efficient defragmenting application.

Norton Ghost will make a digital image of every file on the partition being backed up, not just data files. The Norton Ghost backup images are sufficient to recreate the partition, even if the hard drive were replaced.

BTW, the partition being backed up does not have to be in standard Microsoft Windows XP format: NTFS. It can be formatted for DOS (FAT16 or FAT32), Linux, or Solaris.

My notebook hard disk has three partitions:

C: - an NTFS-formatted partition on which the Microsoft Windows XP operating system and all applications are stored
D: - an NTFS-formatted partition on which I store the Microsoft Windows XP swap file, a 16 GB TrueCrypt encrypted file, and a few gigabytes of other random files (such as short-term files that I have downloaded from the net)
E: - a FAT32-formatted partition on which I store the DOS version of the Norton Ghost application and the images made by Norton Ghost of the C: drive (the primary partition)

I use Norton Ghost to backup C: to E:\, here is the DOS batch file that I use to execute this command. Do not be confused by the DOS command, “c:,” because when I boot my computer using DOS, the NTFS partitions are not visible, and the FAT32 partition (E:) appears to be the only available hard drive partition, so DOS temporarily gives it the address, C:.

###
@echo off
c:
del \av1*.gh*
cd \ghost
ghost -clone,mode=pdump,src=1:1,dst=c:\AV100000.gho -z9 -split=640 -auto -sure -pwd -rb
###

This command splits the backup files into 640MB portions, so I can fit 7 of them on a single DVD (640MB x 7 = 4,480 MB, just about the capacity of a 4.7 GB DVD).

When the backup is complete, Microsoft Windows XP reboots and I copy the imaged files to another computer, external hard disk, network server, and DVD. I then carry the most recent copy of the image files on my notebook’s E: drive and on DVD, in my backpack. The older DVDs are store in a secure historical file, in the office.

I follow this process for each of the computers in my office and home. Every time a new software application has been installed or the monthly Microsoft security patches are released (on the second Tuesday of each month), I backup the machines. Because my notebook is so important to my work, I back it up at least twice a week, even if I have not installed a new application.

Two applications that I use to keep my system registries in shape are Crap Cleaner and RegCleaner 4.3, an early version of Jouni Vuorio’s jv16 PowerTools 2006. I run each program at least once a day to clean temporary files and the registry…all stays well.

The limitation came about because the device was used as a first-tier storage device for a portable Microsoft Windows installation. The swap file was continually writing and erasing temporary data files, and after six months, the media gave out.

See the Limitations section of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_memory.

I use a fax-to-email system, efax.com. Incoming faxes are received as a digital file, which may be viewed, printed, and stored.

For outgoing individual faxes, I use fax1.com; for bulk faxing, which I do for one of our church volunteer activities, I use jBlast.

In the last year, I received 13 faxes, almost all were confirmation letters from the retreat facility that I rent for my monthly train-the-trainer class. All of my other business acquaintances have transitioned to e-mail. Gone are the days that I waited for the FedEx, UPS, and Mail carriers to bring me contracts and checks.

Listen to the podcast at Internet Archive.

On a positive note, the most common forms of successful attacks are those that begin with an infected attachment to an e-mail message. The second most common attack scenario involves a user’s visiting a Web site that installs malware.

Please, encourage safe computing in your organizations. Require users to delete e-mail attachments that they are not expecting to receive.

Do not use Microsoft Internet Explorer as a primary Web browser. Use Mozilla Firefox and learn to secure this alternative browser. A good first step is to install the NoScript add-on, which will prevent JavaScript code from executing without explicit user permission. Unless Java and JavaScript applications are controlled, the user has left his or her computer open to attack, when visiting a nefarious Web site.

We must also require our IT departments to keep our employee’s computers up to date with Microsoft’s security updates. Malformed graphic images can also be used to launch attacks against computers, as was recently witnessed on MySpace.

I again suggest that, regardless of your interest in information technology, that you learn to secure your most valuable digital resource, your personal computer, by following Steve Gibson’s SecurityNow! podcast. Start with episode one, and either listen to or read all episodes, they build upon one another.

If you must keep track of multiple passwords or other sensitive text on a Microsoft Windows PC, you may find LockNote helpful. This free software application creates a single password-protected file that can be saved on any digital media (i.e. hard disk, floppy diskette, USB thumb drive, CD-ROM).

Multiple LockNote files may be stored on the same media, using different filenames.

Listen to the podcast at Internet Archive.

I use an example from the university’s plagiarism tutorial to demonstrate the difficulty that we (as scholars) can face. The tutorial gives an example of common knowledge facts; however, I am willing to bet that most of us aren’t able to correctly answer one of the questions posed as an example. In fact, I rarely meet folk between the age of 10 and 40 that can correctly answer the example question…

What is the mean distance between the Earth and the Sun?

I will post the answer in a moment, just in case you want to test yourself. If you were to including this data in an academic paper and you had look up the answer, you should include a citation/reference to your research source. However, the university’s tutorial explains that this is common knowledge and does not require a citation/reference. For about a year, I have been quizzing students and other adults that I meet…so far, only a couple of folk (out of many hundreds that I have asked) have known the correct answer. The correct answer is: the mean distance between the Earth and the Sun is 93 million miles.

It is incumbent on all of us to be academically honest. I confirmed my data at NASA’s Web site.

Common Hardware Firewall - NAT Router
The type of hardware firewall that we are most likely to see and touch is the wired/wireless router that we use to connect our broadband connections to our home networks. Units like the popular Linksys WRT54G serve not only as a router, which connects our home computers to a single Internet connection (our broadband, DSL or cable, link) but also serve as an excellent firewall. This router incorporates firewall capability through NAT-T (Network Address Translation & Traversal).

NAT allows the router to temporarily assign network addresses (IP–Internet Protocol–addresses) to each computer on the home network, usually in the form of 192.168.1.X, where X is a number between 1 and 255. Each computer on the network communicates with the router and receives a unique IP address that is valid for one day; however, the address may automatically renew when it expires. Since the address that each computer receives is not routable on the Internet, literally, it is not a valid address for Internet resources, the addresses form a private network. This is an important first step in protecting the home computers from attacks coming from the Internet-side of the router (the DSL/cable broadband connection).

When one of the computers on the private network (the computers in our homes) wishes to connect to a Web site, send e-mail, open an instant messaging chat session, or connect in any other way to a public Internet resource, the router kicks into NAT mode by automatically intercepting the workstation’s request, say to visit cogitoveritas.com. The router…
1. keeps track of the workstation’s IP address, say 192.168.1.2
2. forwards the data request to cogitoveritas.com
3. receives the Web page from cogitoveritas.com
4. looks up which workstation requested the data
4a. finds that it was the workstation at IP address 192.168.1.2
5. sends the Web page to the workstation
6. the user at the workstation sees the Web page displayed in his or her Web browser.

All six steps take place literally in the blink of an eye, and it is no slower than if the workstation were connected directly to the broadband connection (without the router’s being in the middle of the connection).

The neat security benefit of the NAT (network address translation) is that cogitoveritas.com thought it was router that made the request for the Web page. So, if I were running malicious software on my site, and I attempted to attack (crack into) the computer that requested the data, I would actually be attacking your router, which is programmed to reject all data requests that were not initiated from the private network. This is the firewall benefit of using a NAT router on all broadband connections (even if only one computer were installed in the home).

Common Software Firewall
Software firewalls do not offer NAT services, but rather act as a block to most of the common malicious attacks that may be directed to a PC (installation of a remote control software, key logging software, and worms).

Software firewalls, such as those from Symantec, McAfee, and Computer Associates (the last being my favorite), usually work with their sister programs that offer antivirus and antispam protection to block access to the computer from the network to which the computer is connected.

My Recommendation
I strongly recommend that broadband users, use both a hardware and software firewall, as the combination will protect a Microsoft Windows XP computer from all but the most tenacious and talented attackers. I do not know of any reliable attack methods that can be assured of working against a NAT router that do not involve the home users’ interaction (such as opening a malicious e-mail attachment). NAT routers are, for all intents and purposes, still considered secure. However, since malware can be distributed by e-mail and by visiting, yes–just visiting, a Web site, the software firewall is needed to protect against malicious software that has now passed through the NAT router (because the user downloaded the e-mail or visited the affected Web page).

Whew! Did I explain it to you in plain-enough language?

If you would like to become a digital security expert, I suggest two references, although it will take you a bit of time to cull through all of the material. I have posted a long list of digital security-related articles on my student resources site. Start your research here. I also heartily suggest reading Steve Gibson’s interviews on the Security Now! podcast. Recordings and transcripts are available on his site. New podcasts are released every Thursday afternoon. Of the 50 podcasts to which I subscribe, this is the one that I never miss…I may skip some of my New York Times book reviews and my Scientific American podcasts, if I am short of time, but I never miss Steve Gibson’s talks…they are, literally, the best source of digital security for consumers and businesses available today.

In the 70s and early 80s, before PCs were widely installed at the government agency at which I worked, I used a shared computer terminal that was linked to mainframe and super computers in the basement of my building. I could input data at the terminal; however, reports were printed in the computer room and delivered to me by a courier, the next day. I look back on the analysis that I was doing at that time, and I think of how much more efficient I could have been if the requested data and reports were available immediately.

My wife works at the same agency, as a computer network administrator, and she is often called in to work in the middle of the night to oversee the repair of network systems, because employees now expect data and reports to be immediately available. So, which came first, the change in technology or the change in expectations?

Description: Free - Commercial
Office productivity Suite: OpenOffice.org - Microsoft Office
Web browser: Firefox - Microsoft Internet Explorer
E-mail: Eudora - Microsoft Outlook Express
E-mail: Thunderbird - Microsoft Outlook Express
HTML Design: HTML Kit - Adobe HomeSite

These are five that first come to mind. Sadly, many of the IT administrators that I have met are not broadly talented; they may be competent at managing the assets currently under their purview, but they may not have a broad knowledge of available software applications, so I only occasionally see free software applications installed in commercial businesses. On a positive note, I often see free applications installed by volunteer consultants at nonprofit and charitable organizations, and I judge the distinction is that these companies seek outside assistance (volunteer consultants), and benefit from the breadth of knowledge that these independent consultants bring to their work.

You are right to expect technology to continually develop, especially digital technologies; however, at some point we must jump in and solve our problems. I am glad that we switched from film to digital cameras six years ago; I have 4,144 digital images stored on our network server at home. I installed Picassa on each of our five Microsoft Windows workstations, and my family can easily view and print any of the pictures that are stored to the server. When we returned home, Saturday night, I moved the vacation pictures to the server, and my daughters were able to flip–digitally–through them when they woke up, Sunday morning.

I occasionally upload digital photo albums to the Target Photo Center, so my family and friends around the country can share our photos.

I do not mean to try to convince you to buy a digital camera; rather, I am trying to demonstrate how the embracing of a digital technology, even one that is continually developing, has added a significant benefit to my life. Sure, my camera is the hot model, sure, it will only be hot for another couple of weeks. So what? It takes great pictures, it’s easier to use than my film SLR camera, and I can share my pictures with my large group of family and friends on the same day that I took the pictures.

If I had not jumped on this digital merry-go-round, I would still be driving to Target and waiting two hours for my film to be developed and printed. Then I would have to mail the prints to each of my friends and family members.

I also save the PDF versions of the texts to my notebook’s hard drive, so I have access to the material, even if I have left the printed copy at home, this comes in handy for my onground classes.

I am very glad that we have transitioned from print to digital texts. The flexibility of having all my texts (in their most current versions) on my notebook outweighs the hassles we experienced had with DRM (Digital Rights Management) and the need to self-print the books.

Before we moved to digital texts, it was routine to have students arrive to the first workshop or join the first online academic week without having possession of the current text. I have even been assigned a class with a new text and not received my copy until the first week of class!

BTW, if you dislike our digital texts, please feel free partially blame me. I strongly encouraged our university to move from print to digital texts, a few years ago.

This week, we discussed the academic writing process, and I felt as if I were knocked upside my head. All of the students admitted to never using an outline before writing a business report or academic paper. Maybe I need to remind us all of the importance of outlining our thoughts and research before composing the introduction, body and conclusion of our work.

I offer the following as an initial attempt at describing a proper writing sequence.

1. Review the objective and expectations of the assignment
2. State the objective of the paper
3. Research material defense (support) of the thesis and each argument to be presented
4. Apply the hamburger approach to presenting data
1. Introduce the thesis
2. Develop and defend the thesis and each argument
3. Conclude by restating the thesis and offering a call to action or application of the thesis
5. After the paper is drafted, reviewed, proofread, and corrected, compose the abstract (120 words or fewer that describes the thesis and conclusion presented in the paper).

Each paper should be a hamburger (introduction, body, conclusion); each paragraph should be a hamburger (introduction, body, conclusion).

When I originally wrote this article, I was visiting one of my favorite vacation spots in the United States: Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. I am shocked that a paucity of public life line networks the coffee shop down the road from our resort offers free wireless Internet service and the sundry store on the other side of the shopping doubles as an Internet café, selling access for $6.00 a day.

One of the Marriott facilities has a public a spot in the lobby, and that is about it. I’ve run across over a dozen guests with notebook computers; how many more could there be a who haven’t brought their computers down to the pool? What is the facility manager thinking? I wonder if there are 100 or more guests who would jump at the chance to get on the net for a bit–there are four of us, just in my vacation party.

I am disappointed that there are not more public wi-fi hot spots on the island. The hot spot that I found in our resort’s lobby is not really designed to be accessed by notebook computers,rather it is for owners of wireless digital cameras that would like to access the photo printer.
The owner of sundries store in the shopping plaza a half mile from our resort is friendly enough, and he opens the store early in the morning, at 6 o’clock. However, in order to use his wi-fi network to log into my class newsgroups or to check e-mail or the day’s news, I have to either walk with my backpack down to the plaza or jump in the family van and drive off in either case I’m gone for my family for the better part of an hour or two, which is not something that I find appealing while on vacation.

I have spoken with resort manager few times over the last few years asking when wi fi network will be more readily accessible across the complex and I’ve received platitudes and broad promises that next year we should have wi-fi access available in each of the condos. To me, that’s just not a good answer, given the business climate in which were expected to be accessible for at least a few minutes, each day.

At this ski chalet that we visit each winter during Super Bowl weekend, wi-fi access is available, and I am able to maintain a consistent all be at abbreviated work schedule during that vacation. I feel much more comfortable during that vacation—even though I am really up each person—because I can check in with my classes very easily both first thing in the morning and again after dinner, and I stay up with national and international news by leaving my rss feed reader open on my notebook computer.

How does it work for you? Are you able to find wi-fi access when you’re on vacation?

Reliance on digital technology creates a sense of emphasis on keeping busy and productive. The internet and the burgeoning world of e-business allow both geographic and chronologic flexibility. Word, both commercial and personal, may be attended with greater individual flexibility than ever before. No longer are many white collar professional—am I am not sure that this term is any longer appropriate, as casual dress is now encouraged during the entire work week—required to complete work at the corporate office.

Home desktop computers and especially portable notebook computers allow professionals to attend ot responsibilities at locations other than the office or rather, the personal computers enable the “office” to be flexible, as to location. For example, I am writing this article at our vacation beach house on a Sunday morning. I have significant discretion in choosing where and when I write because I am able to easily carry my notebook computer with me…in other words, I can easily carry my workplace with me.

As a full-time academic, my notebook computer has allowed me to change the way that I do library research. I take it with me to the library, use the wi-fi service to access the internet, and search the card catalog—all without leaving my study carrel. My time in the library is more productive, as I save time in physical movement, and I am able to cut and past data from the catalog (or other research reference) into my digital documents, ensuring greater accuracy for my reference citations.

The outcome of this available flexibility is a reliance on the digital technology as an aid to constantly-available work. I often find the I squeeze in work when I would otherwise be at ease or engaged in other pursuits. The always-available work environment intrudes into my life, at times.

I am not sure that most retail associates would be able to calculate the correct change for a $37.63 charge if the customer presented a $100 bill. Retail clerks rely on the cash register to calculate the sales tax and change that should be returned to the customer. Some registers even suggest alternative combinations of bills and coins to hand to the customer so that the proper change is delivered.

Listen to the podcast at Internet Archive.

As a child, I was taught to accurately compute my sales totals, estimate the sales tax, and determine the anticipated change that I would receive for each purchase that I made. I was even taught to do these calculations in my head, without the help of a pencil and paper, let alone a calculator or automatic cash register—not that I would have been able to bring a cash register along in my pocket! To this day, I can quickly do a fast estimation of arithmetic, especially summations. This is a skill that serves me well as I move through the checkout line at the grocery store.

I find it difficult to believe that the proliferation of electronic calculators, spreadsheet applications, and yes, self-to