Social Networking and how to be safer

With all the social networking options out there to keep us occupied and connected there is something also dangerous about that information being available to strangers. I've begun to think about this quite a bit. I have been using some of these media products and it is slightly disturbing to think that there are malicious people out there looking for ways to steal your identity. It is almost far too easy to have your life stolen by another. I encourage you to read this post, Social Networking Identity Theft Scams on Bruce Schneier's blog. It will make you pause a moment. Think about the information you are posting and always be on guard. Often we are eager to become friendly with people but the lack of personal contact can complicate the ability to build trust in a network friend. We can hide so easily from afar and as we become more willing to share we are also becoming more likely to be targets of identity theft.

Nano-blogging

This is a fantastic parody of the Twitter trend. Check out this clip on Flutter the New Twitter.

Twitter loves Sharks?

Twitter has been all over the news lately. Has it become so over popularized that it has gone out of trend? As in has it jumped the shark? Author Mark McKinnon wrote Twitter Jumped the Shark This Week where he thinks Twitter has become a thing of the past. He makes valid points which encourages me to stop posting so many foolish thoughts.

Some may agree Twitter is on its way out and then again it may just have reached its peak of discovery. Prior to all this media attention Twitter was used by very few, most of which were tech lovers and library professionals, and now it's getting crowded. For some this social media has indeed become useless because it has lost its elitism. Come on now, think about it, think some more. We like elitism especially in DC the land of never ending politics. We like using something few have heard about and even fewer use. Once that shiny feeling fades the next new product is sought. I'm not bothered by this sudden surge of users nor the nay-sayers moving on. Yes it is a distraction yet far less of a distraction than Facebook, MySpace, or even the water cooler gossip. Twitter still remains what it was: a way to communicate briefly. I'm still going to use Twitter. It is my IM connection and there are several others who have done the same. I find it less bothersome than those IM products out there because I am able to chat with folks but not feel like I'm being overwhelmed with the messages. For others it has replaced the chat rooms of the past which to me felt so confined and strange. There are several reasons why this will continue to fascinate people and several reasons to repel people. I am wondering what are your thoughts?

If you use Twitter:

Do you use it often?
What do you like about Twitter?
Why do you use it?

If you have used Twitter and do not anymore, why? What did you dislike about it?

Image finder search engine

I'm behind the times on this but it's still a very useful tool especially for those in the medical professions. The Yale Image Finder search engine is a great way to locate biomedical images. The Bioinformatics article: Yale Image Finder (YIF): a new search engine for retrieving biomedical images explains the reason for its development. David Rothman gives a great brief review of this that you might find interesting.

Electronic Books

I read this article* as well as this related one* and had mixed feelings. Where I understand the incredible fascination with new gadgets I am somehow put off by the almost obsessive desire we have developed for them.

*Articles

Well Read
Feb 12th 2009
The Economist

An iTunes Moment for Readers?
Feb 12th 2009
The Economist

Wikis should think about this

I read an article about an interesting development in the world of Wikipedia. There has come a time when it can't be both reputable and open source. I'll be following this as I am wondering how this is going to shape the nature of other wikis out there.

Article: Doomed: Why Wikipedia Will Fail
Nate Anderson
Ars Technica 2/12/09

Amazon's Kindle

How does Oprah's endorsement of Amazon's Kindle affect the way libraries will provide services? Oprah is a very persuasive person and this show (Oprah's Favorite New Gadget) she devoted to promoting the product will certainly influence people. The hefty price is going to cause many people to not go out and buy it now, though it won't be long until the price comes down. Yet this is going to impact libraries. Where do we go from here? Are we thinking of ways to encourage these and other forms of technology to be used by our patrons? It's something to ponder.

Worlds colliding?

This is a fascinating read about how technology does affect your lifestyle. Getting Found Out, Web 2.0 Style. I wonder how would Ferris Bueller would be able to do what he does with today's teenage usage of technology.

Where is Computer Science Education going?

There has been much discussion about the academic structure of Computer Science Education programs throughout the country. The concern is that the education is not actually producing computer scientists so much as they are making Java programmers. So why the big fuss? The issue at hand is based on the needs of the future. By creating programmer based professionals there has been a big drop in the architectural and theoretical creators, the people that technology users will need. It is true that as more things become computerized the need for programmers to keep our technology functioning will increase. Except that need can never quash the need for skilled computer scientists to create programs to function as we dream. The dreamers have got to get dreaming and we must have hope that there will be more of them to keep our technology going forward.