Reading & Activity #5

To me, privacy means being able to live my life in peace without fear of intervention from the government unless I am doing something that would potentially harm others.  I believe that a person should not have to worry about the government or private organizations being able to look at their personal belongings (including email, and cyber information) unless that person is doing something illegal.  I believe that many policies that are currently enforced by the government are outdated, and they do not cover many of the new technologies that are integrated into today’s society.  This makes it easier for the government to look at people’s personal information legally.  I believe that privacy of private personal information is very important, and that many governmental policies should be reevaluated and updated with our quickly changing society.  The article, “Facebook & your privacy” talks about this “privacy.”  It reveals how truly available all our personal information is when we don’t limit what we put on different social media.  The article ranges from talking about keeping social media limited to people over the age of thirteen, all the way to employers viewing people’s Facebook pages when making job decisions.  The article goes through how to work Facebook’s privacy settings to show users how to better protect their information.  This is helpful because the article also talks about how there were numerous instances were users did not have their posts protected, and they said where they were going for the day, and their houses were robbed.  When describing my views of privacy, I talked about a very quickly changing world and how policies have to be updated in order to compensate for all the new technology.  This article is a perfect example of this due to the new problems that these new changing technologies have given rise to, such as cyber-bullying, false identities, and having access to too much data about people.  These are problems that are not addressed in today’s policies, so we must make changes in order to protect citizens privacy and livelihood.

News Report #5

Title: “Google: 'Government surveillance is on the rise'”

Author: Heather Kelly, CNN

Date: Wednesday, November 14, 2012

URL: http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/13/tech/web/google-transparency-report/index.html

After the David Petraeus-Paula Broadwell scandal that has been the highlight of the new for the past few weeks, it has become increasingly obvious to the American people how easy it is for the U.S. government to have access to emails and personal information.  The FBI requested access to Paula Broadwell’s personal g-mail account earlier this year, and this request was only one of 7,969 similar requests from the government just in the first half of 2012.  Google released the statement that they provided access to the government for approximately 90% of the requests.  Google also informed the American people that the count of requests was 18,257 in 2011, and has increased to 20,938 in 2012 and counting.  Little do many people realize, but Google doesn’t only have access to your email, but also they can tap into your IP address to obtain your location, as well as personal information like credit card numbers.  It is widely accepted that the law that went into affect in 1986, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act protects these types of privacy breeches, but unfortunately this act is so outdated that there are many loopholes that the government uses to access the information without warrants.  For example, in the 1986 draft of this act, e-mails, cellphones, and information stored on the “cloud” were not included 26 years ago.  Clearly, there needs to be some sort of update to this act to make the guidelines for accessing citizens personal information, but the United States Department of Justice has made it clear that they are opposed to any further updates to the process of obtaining warrants for these types of things.

News Report #4

Bionic Boomers: New Advances In High-Tech Medical Devices

Author: Mark Baard

The Huffington Post

URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/09/medical-devices-new-advances_n_1659319.html

Great advances in medical technology are being made for multiple different sectors of the human body.  These advances include areas dealing with sight, joints, and hearing.   Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is a disease that affects approximately 1.6 million Americans over the age of 50 years old.  AMD steadily deteriorates a person’s sight until they are unable to do every-day tasks such as read and write.  Until recently, there was no cure for AMD, but at Wills Eye Institute in Philadelphia, they are now implanting tiny telescopes in patient’s eyes with AMD.  Ed Nungesser, one of the recipients of the surgery has claimed that the size of his vision is now doubled, and he has been able to see his granddaughter for the first time.  For those who need any joint replacement, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have developed a microchip that operates off radio frequency identification with an antenna to be implanted in orthopedic implants.  These microchips monitor the temperature, and the bacteria levels within the replacements so they can catch infections before they become detrimental.  Not only do the microchips aid in preventing infection, but they also can hold data about the patients’ medical progress or problems.  For patients with hearing loss, there are also new medical technology improvements.  These new discoveries are called cochlear implants.  Unlike hearing aids, which can be large and bulky, the only think about the cochlear implant that is noticeable is a small disk and cable attached to the skull behind the patient’s ear.  

Reading & Activity #4

When I begin researching for a paper, my starting place usually depends on what kind of class I am writing the paper for.  Typically, if it is one of my math classes or a science based class, I will start with “JStor” through the library website.  They have a vast amount of scholarly articles on a wide variety of topics.  If the paper is for a philosophy or English paper, I typically start with “google” to get ideas, and then I progress from there.  Usually, the library resources I use are all online.

            In the article "The Infodiet," by Steven Bell was focused on the interface of the online library databases.  Bell talked about how easy google is to use, and how that draws the students to use it.  The term “infobesity” is used to compare the usage of google to search for information to eating fast food; while using the library search engine was like eating a salad.  Bell says that students are drawn to the fast food (e.g. google) when it would be more “healthy” for them to eat salad (e.g. library).  Then the suggestion is given to “googlize” the library card catalogs.  The overall goal would be to make the library card catalog’s interfaces more user-friendly, and as a result students would be more inclined to use them as opposed to using google to do research. 

            In the second article “How Students Evaluate and Use Information in the Digital Age,” by Alison Head and Michael Eisenberg, the authors speak on students abilities to evaluate and apply their research to their classes and assignments.  A few of the major findings included that students are more likely to ask their family or friends about the validity of information relative to asking instructors or librarians.  Also that 84% of students surveyed for Head and Eisenberg’s research said it was sometimes difficult getting started on a research paper.  They also found that students were more likely to use google than a scholarly database to find information for their research; which goes along with the point that Bell was making in his article "The Infodiet."

            Going a long with my statement about my research process; if I am researching something that does not require a heavy mathematical/scientific resource, then I am much more likely to begin my research with a search on google.  The interface is much easier to use, and you are more likely to get a larger range of resources.  

Reading & Activity #3

To transform Randall into the ideal library in 2012, I definitely think there should be more study rooms, especially in the upstairs of the library.  Often times, I have trouble, even in the “quiet section” of the 2^nd floor, finding a place that I can get work done with some peace and quiet.  I believe there is an adequate amount of personnel at Randall.  I have never had an issue finding anything or getting help when I had a question.  It wouldn’t hurt to add a few more accessible desktop computers or tables because during exams it can be difficult sometimes to find a table. 

            The Library Learning Terrace at Drexel University in the article “Tomorrow's Academic Libraries: Maybe Even Some Books” by J. Howard is a perfect example of what many libraries are morphing into.  Drexel University built a space in the heart of the campus’s residential area.  This area is open 24/7, and it has technological resources, as well as spaces for students to congregate and talk.  The option is available to students to set up appointments with librarians to receive help with research projects, or finding information on the library website. 

            The second article “Honor Your Campus Library,” by M. S. Stewart focuses much on the library staff.  Stewart talks much about the accessibility of library staff, and how knowledgeable they are on a variety of different subjects.  She informs the readers that most librarians have two master’s degrees and some have even more education than that.  Luckily all students have librarians have accessible to them to help them, and give them a better understanding of how to best utilize the library. 

            Taking some architectural ideas from Drexel University, in combination with a better use of the resources that are available (e.g. Library Staff) we can make Randall Library a much better learning environment.