Final Assignments

Thank you everyone for your fine work.

Your second PodCasts were very interesting.

For students who have not handed in one or both PodCasts, you must send them to me ASAP or you will not be able to pass this course. Go to www.kansaitech.com to contact me. Use the contact page.

Sensei

Class Podders

Dear Class,

I am very happy with your efforts and your creativity. I see some very interesting ideas for companies on your pages. Thank you so much.

Now our class moves into the final stage. You are to discuss your proposed web site with your partner and create the MP3 file for your PodCast. One person is the interviewer and will ask you questions about your companies and how it is unique.

Let's PODCAST !

Sensei

Freedom in the Information Society

In the "WAR" between people who think all information should be free and those who think you should pay for every copy of a book, movie or song, ... Who do you agree with?

Should all information be free? How much do you think is a resonable price for a movie? Do you buy music online? Do you think it is expensive?

Now after a couple weeks of learning about computers and safety, do you think that it is too complicated for most people to understand? Too much trouble to learn all this? Many people do.

In Japan, do you think that people know about these things that you have learned in class?

What did you learn? What information do you think is most useful? What is most difficult to understand?

Sensei

...

Internet Hassin B - The 2nd part of the course

Welcome Back!

Hope you had a great summer. It was a hot one here in Japan.

We begin the semester talking about Information Society. What is it? The first topic we are going to look at is Free Software.

Now why would a anyone put so much time and money into developing software and then just give it away for free? Well, you might be surprised at the answers we come up with.

Sensei

Discussing Safety

There are so many issues in safety that it would be impossible to talk about them all. So for last week's class, I allowed students to choose an article by themselves from a website called safekids.com - then write about it in their blogs. I am happy to see that a variety of topics were chosen. I look forward to the face to face exchange this week.

Now you need to summarize what you have learned for your last class. You will give a short presentation on what you learned this semester. What do you think are the most pressing issues and how should Japan deal with them. We have discussed many possibilities, now it is your turn to make your recommendations.

Good luck everyone.

Sensei

The High Tech Generation Gap

The gap that exists between generations concerning computer technology varies according to the country you look at. Three interesting examples are Japan, the USA and China.

In the USA, parents are often surprised at how quickly young people are to share personal information on the world wide web. Services like MySpace are very popular and are cause for great concern for parents who want to protect their kids from harm, but at the same time want them to learn about technology. Balancing the freedom and protection of youth is extremely complex.

In China, many youth now have joined the blogging movement and are challenging traditional authority figures. So quick are they to pass on information and so willing to take risks that the government now considers them a serious threat to their central control. Even email is now falling under central government control. All email services must be licenced by the communist party. Not even Google has been able to resist the party. But the youth blog on...

In Japan, the spread of the internet has been slower. Perhaps the relative convenience and ubiquity of cell phones has allowed youth to text message each other and communicate without the need for a home PC. What do you think? In addition, the older generation that tends to control all aspects of life in this very hierarchichal society has been very reluctant to learn this new information technology. I wonder why that is. Is Japan not a high tech country?

Our Class BLOGGING Begins

Our first topic is the question of Freedom vs. Responsibility on the Internet.

There are so many sides to this question, you could choose almost anything. We talked about a few of them in class, but your choices are not limited to those.

In the early days of the Internet, there was much freedom and there was a sense of honesty amoung the people who used it. Perhaps people realized how important other's data was and felt that if I hurt someone else, someone might just as easily hurt me. Almost a feeling of "We are all in the same boat." There was a sense of responsibility. A simple morality that came out of an understanding of how much time and effort went into creating something. "Don't touch what does not belong to you." Is it so hard to believe? Well, think of how it is in Japan even today with lost personal items. Believe it or not, last year in Tokyo 90% of lost cell phones were returned to thier owners. Some say that Japanese can imagine how it would feel to be in that situation. It was that way too in the early days of the Internet.

Sadly those days are gone. Hackers are now split into the white hats and the black hats. Just like an old western movie. Even sadder is that it seems that the black hats are winning at times. It really is like the old west out there. Highway robbers everywhere, ambushing any unsuspecting traveler. Or in this case; "surfer".

It may have all started as pranks played by teen geeks druck with their new found power. Like being the invisible man walking anywhere in the world and no one can see you... But now it is serious business. The bad guys out there are really bad.

Not only is it rouge cowboys. You are just as likely to get highjacked by a highly organized scam run by mafia types. And the worst part of it is, they get away scot free since there are no laws to control the activities of such criminals across international borders in a global wild west.

So beware, the Internet is no longer a friendly community of geeks who understand each other. It is a place where anything goes. Anything !!!