The Internet Has a Long Memory

This is a very interesting account from Scientific American of how a person broke into someone's bank account using only (for the most part) what he found freely available online.  Some of the resources he used were:

• an online resume the victim had posted
• blog postings the victim had made about celebrating her birthday
  
• public DMV records

He lists 7 steps it took him to do it.  I think this is a good reminder that while new web technologies let us connect in all kinds of new ways there is a significant risk to putting so much of our private/personal life into the public arena.  Even that LifeLock guy who had his Social Securoty number pastered on the side of a truck got his identity stolen.

What if someone doesn't know how to properly set up their security settings in Facebook?  What if those old Twitters get looked at by a potential employer?  What if someone finds your resume and old birthday blog postings?

The Internet has created a new social landscape that none of us completely understand.  Some of us go leaping through it like a gazelle.  Some of us go trepidatiously sliding one foot in front of the other wondering where the ice will crack (admittedly me).  However you tread, or however you lead your students through the landscape, remember to look both ways before crossing the street. </soapbox>

Posted by gdkraus ( Aug 27 2008, 01:44:42 PM EDT ) Permalink Comments [3]

Blackboard NG Intro Video

I'm not sure how long ago this "sneak peek" was posted to Blackboard's website, but take a look at this intro video:
http://www.blackboard.com/projectNG/

Does it remind you of any other intros you've seen?  Okay so they ripped off Apple, but I can't blame them for copying the greatest marketers in the IT world.  I doubt we'll see any Blackboard logos on the backs of Honda Elements and Smart Cars any time soon, but trying to be friendlier looking is a good direction for them in general considering the lack of any real support videos, tutorials or any other materials for the last 2 years.

Some interesting points in the video to highlight. 

1. its got some AJAX magic sprinkled in, which is nice.  Dragging and dropping is always easier than a series of clicks and choices (there's my UX adage for the day). 
   
2. chapter 3 talks about the dashboard - and they mention the Moodle/Sakai tie-ins.  This is compelling for a few reasons I suppose, but to me the most important idea here for NCSU is the idea of a centralized point-of-entry for finding all of your online classes in one place.  Right now a student takes online classes in Blackboard Vista, Moodle, WolfWare, WebAssign, Unity space, etc.
   
3. instructor dashboard is kind of intriguing, what with the student performance monitoring page
4. looking at  it as a whole, and particularly chapter 5, "NG" looks more like "traditional" Blackboard than "Vista" (formerly WebCT Vista).  I see the WebCT View option, and that helps, but it's still clearly more on the traditional side.

Anyway, the video is worth taking a look at for all of you following the LMS saga.



-Charlie

Posted by cdmorris ( Aug 20 2008, 08:11:29 AM EDT ) Permalink Comments [1]