Briefly describe the main point or contribution of the article
Sherry Turkle has studied how technology effects our communication process day-to-day. She plans to speak to attendees at the University of Arizona about the advancement of technology with the recent generation growing up with cellular devices and what that has done to communication. Turkle discusses the new world people grow up in that has virtual reality systems like social networking and more young would rather spend time typing out letters on a cellphone for a text message than speak face-to-face to an individual. Technology and its role in communication characteristics not only engulfs public conversation, but influences business interactions as well. In Turkle’s book, “Reclaiming Conversation,” she confronts how new forms of technology, whatever kind it may be, has been studied to affect human values towards empathy.
How is it related to the class and topics we have discussed?
Turkle’s analysis and lecture on technology and its incorporation into everyone’s daily lives is a problem that every student today will encounter. For MIS relation, the latest topic about use cases can define business’s actions as to how employees interact with other workers and users using technological negotiations. For example, in Module 3 the Cool Cuts receptionist may have a list of expectations and exceptions to stop a particular path. If a customer was scheduling an appointment for a haircut the receptionist had expectations of what can be offered over the phone as it possibly differs from what the receptionist writes in a standard email message.
How is the information is helpful?
Conversation has been infiltrated by technology to form digital conversation and poses a problem for future generations for parents to children must reclaim the reputation of physical communication. Whether each of us pursue a career in MIS or not, the criticality of communication culture and its affiliation with technology is one of several missions all of us challenges to prevent overthrow standard contact. If not, the English language will lose more power to a new language which began from lazy acronyms and misspellings in text messages.
Opinion
The rise of technology in the past few decades inadvertently conflicts everyone worldwide as to the threat it carries. Currently, the parents from the baby boomer generation strain fighting for real and not virtual realities. As new millennials, the youth ascending to parent their children will need to see technological devices as an ally, not an adversary. Parents should allow their family to use devices, but inform others that there are certain times, like while at dinner, for each individual to forgo virtual communication while face-to-face with others.
Posted below, is a recent news event reported this morning on US national news casts. After much debate on security and for Apple to release information to view public data, the FBI has found a way to penetrate system files. This correlates to Turkle’s research as she has focused on communication in the realm of technology, but this article shows how another focus for the future will be cybersecurity.
http://money.cnn.com/2016/03/28/news/companies/fbi-apple-iphone-case-cracked/index.html
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Tech Musing #3: Snowden, the NSA, Privacy, and Other Related Topics
Regardless of how you feel about what Ed Snowden did, you should understand what he revealed, and what it means as citizens of the U.S. and globally. You now have an amazing (although not unbiased) ability to stream this amazing event that took place on our campus at https://web.sbs.arizona.edu/privacy. I'm going to offer some previews to get you started. You can watch in any order, or you can listen to the entire stream, watch the entire movie, or learn how it all happened after 9/11 by watching the two-part Frontline series, "United States of Secrets."
First. Part One of Frontline. Introduction to Laura Poitras, Glenn Greenwald, and how they met secretly with Edward Snowden in Hong Kong. It's pretty riveting, and I'll show this in class to give you a taste.
Second. "CitizenFour" (HBO Documentary, link to preview). This documentary shows the full accounting of how the movie was made and how it was kept secret. It won an Oscar for best documentary. Below are some snippets from the movie (from 4-7 minutes).
Third. Below, I include a snagged video from the UA stream to get you thinking about this issue. I really encourage to watch it, you can move through it, but Noam Chomsky is brilliant, as are the other speakers. Again, here is the link to the streamed event.
The moderator, Nuala O’Connor, president and CEO of the Center for Democracy and Technology, says early in the discussion, "There is no privacy ensconced in the U.S. Constitution,…so what is privacy?" Glenn Greenwald begins by questioning that assumption.
Fourth. Noam Chomsky worked on this documentary, "Requiem for the American Dream, for over four years. The movie is no longer playing at the Loft, however, here is a link to the 10 principles of oligarchy, which he went over in great detail in the movie.
Optional. And then there is John Oliver's irreverent interview with Edward Snowden in April, 2015 (explicit, 33min).
Use the Tech 3 Musing to post about:
First. Part One of Frontline. Introduction to Laura Poitras, Glenn Greenwald, and how they met secretly with Edward Snowden in Hong Kong. It's pretty riveting, and I'll show this in class to give you a taste.
Second. "CitizenFour" (HBO Documentary, link to preview). This documentary shows the full accounting of how the movie was made and how it was kept secret. It won an Oscar for best documentary. Below are some snippets from the movie (from 4-7 minutes).
Third. Below, I include a snagged video from the UA stream to get you thinking about this issue. I really encourage to watch it, you can move through it, but Noam Chomsky is brilliant, as are the other speakers. Again, here is the link to the streamed event.
The moderator, Nuala O’Connor, president and CEO of the Center for Democracy and Technology, says early in the discussion, "There is no privacy ensconced in the U.S. Constitution,…so what is privacy?" Glenn Greenwald begins by questioning that assumption.
Fourth. Noam Chomsky worked on this documentary, "Requiem for the American Dream, for over four years. The movie is no longer playing at the Loft, however, here is a link to the 10 principles of oligarchy, which he went over in great detail in the movie.
Chomsky explains how concentrated wealth creates concentrated power, which legislates further concentration of wealth, which then concentrates more power in a vicious cycle. He lists and elaborates on 10 principles of the concentration of wealth and power -- principles that the wealthy of the United States have acted intensely on for 40 years or more.You can discuss any of the principles, and there is further writing about this, if you want to Google Chomsky and 10 principles. The link I provided above here is from Alternet.org, providing Alternative News and Information. (It is a good source of progressive news, which is usually where you'll find writings from Chomsky.)
Optional. And then there is John Oliver's irreverent interview with Edward Snowden in April, 2015 (explicit, 33min).
Use the Tech 3 Musing to post about:
- Your thoughts on what was said and your take on it. Consider examples of your own behavior or others that changed as a result, OR
- Post a relatively recent article related to this topic and write about that and provide a link.
- The articles you are posting on Facebook, are good examples to blog about here, as they are related to the general topic of privacy and security.
- You can also comment on other posts based on articles you read or videos you saw.
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
Tech Musing 2- No More Voicemail
http://techcrunch.com/2016/03/02/no-more-voicemail-is-an-app-that-kills-voicemail-so-callers-have-to-text-you-instead/
This article is about how an app takes away your voicemail. They do not do it through the carrier but they simply have the call get sent to a random number and the app states that the call will forever keep ringing, and hopefully get the person to text you instead of voicemail. This is cool because it is a way to take out voicemail without having to contact your carrier. It says in the article that the app was downloaded once and it did not work, then it was downloaded for the second time and worked pretty well. The user said that the phone call disconnected after a little, but the small bugs were tolerable in regards to what the app was doing for the user. In todays day in age we do not need to be sending voice mails. On the majority of phones there is the option of sending a voice message through text. The idea of voicemail is entirely outdated and this app is cool because it takes a step in a progressive direction.
Overall, I will for sure be getting this app because I believe voicemail is not needed what so ever. I remember reading that some big named company disconnected their voicemail for their employees and saved millions and millions of dollars. Realistically, every big named carrier needs to take away voicemail and have a program that directs the person making the call to the conversation between the caller and the receiver of the call. I believe doing this will result in a big cut in spending and also will eliminate meaningless jobs at places like Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T.
Overall, I will for sure be getting this app because I believe voicemail is not needed what so ever. I remember reading that some big named company disconnected their voicemail for their employees and saved millions and millions of dollars. Realistically, every big named carrier needs to take away voicemail and have a program that directs the person making the call to the conversation between the caller and the receiver of the call. I believe doing this will result in a big cut in spending and also will eliminate meaningless jobs at places like Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T.
Tuesday, March 1, 2016
Musing#2 4 Things Software Engineers Can Teach You About Project Management
This article mainly talks about how managers can focus and motivate teams to get projects completed on schedule using the following four suggestions. There is an example talked about Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs could manage Apple successfully because he used the reasonable methods.
The first method is “Creating Structure”. This article mentioned that Apple uses a schedule to make sure when annual product releases and when software needs to update. Using this schedule can keep projects move forward on time, and team members can innovate new ideas. Moreover, regular meeting can save time and avoid redundancy. Deadlines can push teams go forward and complete work on time.
The second method is “Don’t just listen—Understand”. Listening and understating are two different things. Project manager should understand everyone and team members also need to understand what the manager wants them to do. Team members must understand what they need to do so that everyone is on the same page, then the project can move forward.
The third one is “Don’t underestimate inspiration”. Inspiration is a vital part of an effective and efficient project management. Trying to make employees brainstorming and get some inspiration idea will help the entire team go forward.
The fourth one is “communicate”. It is the best way to make sure what your team already did and the entire team can reach the goals together. Communication becomes more important in this point. The project manager needs to know what his employees think about their projects, and what they wish to achieve in the future.
It is important for our MIS students to know how to success in the project management. Although we are students now, we will face those problems in the future. Also learning how to use the correct method to manage the project is a big problem for us. As a conclusion, we are best to catch those things in this point.
http://www.businessinsider.com/4-things-software-engineers-can-teach-you-about-project-management-2014-6
The first method is “Creating Structure”. This article mentioned that Apple uses a schedule to make sure when annual product releases and when software needs to update. Using this schedule can keep projects move forward on time, and team members can innovate new ideas. Moreover, regular meeting can save time and avoid redundancy. Deadlines can push teams go forward and complete work on time.
The second method is “Don’t just listen—Understand”. Listening and understating are two different things. Project manager should understand everyone and team members also need to understand what the manager wants them to do. Team members must understand what they need to do so that everyone is on the same page, then the project can move forward.
The third one is “Don’t underestimate inspiration”. Inspiration is a vital part of an effective and efficient project management. Trying to make employees brainstorming and get some inspiration idea will help the entire team go forward.
The fourth one is “communicate”. It is the best way to make sure what your team already did and the entire team can reach the goals together. Communication becomes more important in this point. The project manager needs to know what his employees think about their projects, and what they wish to achieve in the future.
It is important for our MIS students to know how to success in the project management. Although we are students now, we will face those problems in the future. Also learning how to use the correct method to manage the project is a big problem for us. As a conclusion, we are best to catch those things in this point.
http://www.businessinsider.com/4-things-software-engineers-can-teach-you-about-project-management-2014-6
Tech Musing #2 (Find My Friends)
Find My Friends is an application that is developed by apple and is accessible through iOS on their customers’ iPhones as well as on the web with iCloud. The application requires iOS 5 and allows users to find people they know by using the geolocating device on their iOS devices. When the application is used the user can access a worldwide map just as if they were using the map application on their iPhone. Every time they open the map they can press the refresh button and the location of all their friends is sent directly to their iPhone and appears on the map, no matter where they are in the world. The location pin point is within a 10 foot radius of their actual iPhone.
The application allows people to share their location with anyone in their address book, either indefinitely or for a short time period. This location becomes very useful for people when they want to keep track of their family members or friends to insure safety. It also makes it easier when picking someone up from somewhere. The security aspect is probably the most important problem that the application is trying to solve. Parents are able to track their children and make sure nothing happens to them. People can find friends when they are in trouble or lost. It can also be used to find the iPhone if it is lost.
http://www.macworld.com/article/1162969/apple_releases_find_my_friends_for_ios.html
The application allows people to share their location with anyone in their address book, either indefinitely or for a short time period. This location becomes very useful for people when they want to keep track of their family members or friends to insure safety. It also makes it easier when picking someone up from somewhere. The security aspect is probably the most important problem that the application is trying to solve. Parents are able to track their children and make sure nothing happens to them. People can find friends when they are in trouble or lost. It can also be used to find the iPhone if it is lost.
http://www.macworld.com/article/1162969/apple_releases_find_my_friends_for_ios.html
Tech Musing # 2: Apple Pay officially launches in China
Apple Pay has landed in its fifth country, one that offers great opportunities but some significant challenges. Apple announced the launch of Apple Pay in China on its Developer page as well as through the Weibo account of CEO Tim Cook. Chinese consumers will now be able to use the service to purchase items at supported retailers using their iPhones and Apple Watches. But actually the service to let customer pay for goods through a smartphone has been around for years, especially in China. Apple Pay is already being used in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. To gain more of the market, the service needs to expand to more countries. China is the world's largest smartphone market and Apple's second biggest market in terms of revenue. Apple Pay faces key challenges of winning over Chinese consumers. Many of them have already started to pay for items via their phones using services provided by China's two major online companies called Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group. At the end of last year, 358 million Chinese had been paying for goods via their smartphones and created about 1.5 trillion dollars GMV.
Apple Pay requires retailers to equip their point-of-sale terminals with NFC, or near-field communications technology, which communicates with a similarly-equipped iPhone or Apple Watch. Alibaba's Alipay and Tencent’s Wepay system can conduct transactions by scanning the QR (quick response) codes, which can be read by more phones even with Android devices.To compete with Tencent and Alibaba group, Apple has partnered with UnionPay which is a bankcard association that dominates China’s credit and debit card processing market. Apple Pay is also supported by 19 different Chinese banks and lenders once it decided to open Chinese online payment market. So the service can work with about 80 percent of China's credit and debit cards.
According to the report citing unnamed sources, Apple only gets around 0.07 % per transaction to get the deal and support with Chinese banks compared to approximately 0.15 % which is the rate it charges banks in the US. From my opinion, I think this is not the only reason why Chinese bank unions support apple pay. The way that Alipay and Wepay operates is that the customer has to transfer their money from the bank to their Alipay and Wepay accounts in order to use it. So the Alibaba and Tencent are actually major competitors of Chinese banks. PayPal has been trying to open the Chinese market for years but it has never made any progress because it supports the same service and ask too much transaction fees. I think Apple pay service is actually a disruptive force to Chinese online payment market because it simply offers a platform for trading transitions and does not hold any customers’ real property. As an MIS student, to have the sense to identify what is the real contradiction for a system between upper and lower users is extremely important, also when developing systems such as collective or information sharing applications, we need to think differently to make it disruptive to the current market since we are facing an online service booming market. A lot of nowadays developers explore the market by offering methods among multiple market groups not just traditionally satisfy a fixed target group.
http://www.techtimes.com/articles/134152/20160217/apple-pay-officially-launches-in-china-this-week-but-wechat-and-alipay-will-give-it-a-hard-time.htm
http://9to5mac.com/2016/02/22/apple-pay-china-bank-fees/
Apple Pay requires retailers to equip their point-of-sale terminals with NFC, or near-field communications technology, which communicates with a similarly-equipped iPhone or Apple Watch. Alibaba's Alipay and Tencent’s Wepay system can conduct transactions by scanning the QR (quick response) codes, which can be read by more phones even with Android devices.To compete with Tencent and Alibaba group, Apple has partnered with UnionPay which is a bankcard association that dominates China’s credit and debit card processing market. Apple Pay is also supported by 19 different Chinese banks and lenders once it decided to open Chinese online payment market. So the service can work with about 80 percent of China's credit and debit cards.
According to the report citing unnamed sources, Apple only gets around 0.07 % per transaction to get the deal and support with Chinese banks compared to approximately 0.15 % which is the rate it charges banks in the US. From my opinion, I think this is not the only reason why Chinese bank unions support apple pay. The way that Alipay and Wepay operates is that the customer has to transfer their money from the bank to their Alipay and Wepay accounts in order to use it. So the Alibaba and Tencent are actually major competitors of Chinese banks. PayPal has been trying to open the Chinese market for years but it has never made any progress because it supports the same service and ask too much transaction fees. I think Apple pay service is actually a disruptive force to Chinese online payment market because it simply offers a platform for trading transitions and does not hold any customers’ real property. As an MIS student, to have the sense to identify what is the real contradiction for a system between upper and lower users is extremely important, also when developing systems such as collective or information sharing applications, we need to think differently to make it disruptive to the current market since we are facing an online service booming market. A lot of nowadays developers explore the market by offering methods among multiple market groups not just traditionally satisfy a fixed target group.
http://www.techtimes.com/articles/134152/20160217/apple-pay-officially-launches-in-china-this-week-but-wechat-and-alipay-will-give-it-a-hard-time.htm
http://9to5mac.com/2016/02/22/apple-pay-china-bank-fees/
Tech Musing 2: Life Science Firms and Cloud Based Learning Management Systems
Life science firms have been using learning management systems based around the cloud. This new system has let these firms move passed older methods that were much less effective. New electronic signing systems allow companies to do paperwork electronically as long as they follow Title 21 CFR Part 11, “which specifies how validation is handled to make sure inputs are not manipulated and audit trails are available” (kmworld, 2016). For life science firms, it is necessary to link to multiple parts of the organization, including human resource and content management systems. Karen Bigelow-Varney, a training executive with a global contract research/ manufacturing organization, recalls how service request were done. “Before the company used the LMS, they used to have to go through personal portfolios for each employee by hand and that was nightmarish”, said Bigelow-Varney. This resulted in a multitude of human errors, and was much less efficient. I believe that Learning Management Systems could be applied to other companies as well, and help reduce human error at other companies as well. Automation is key to being successful in the digital age.
http://www.kmworld.com/Articles/Editorial/Features/Life-science-firms-rely-on-cloud-based-learning-management-systems-to-address-compliance-109330.aspx
http://www.kmworld.com/Articles/Editorial/Features/Life-science-firms-rely-on-cloud-based-learning-management-systems-to-address-compliance-109330.aspx
Human Error Remains the Biggest Problem for Technology
Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/02/technology/apple-and-fbi-face-off-before-house-judiciary-committee.html
The NY Times just reported that the entire reason for this standoff between Apple and the FBI is because a mistake was made in the 24 hours after the attack. Specifically, an FBI agent thought that if he reset the iCloud password, they would be apple to access the content on the phone. Of course this locked the iPhone and triggered the encryption.
This news article reminds me of something that I learned in an MIS elective that I am taking concurrently. What I learned is that almost all PII (Personally Identifiable Information) that is compromised by federal employees is caused by internal user error.
As technology continues to take over aspects of our lives and essentially improve our standard of living, we realize that there is an increased risk of our information being stolen. I agree that we are at a greater risk, but I think that it is unfair to blame technology. The reason I feel that we are at more risk is only because there are more PIIs for us to protect.
The NY Times just reported that the entire reason for this standoff between Apple and the FBI is because a mistake was made in the 24 hours after the attack. Specifically, an FBI agent thought that if he reset the iCloud password, they would be apple to access the content on the phone. Of course this locked the iPhone and triggered the encryption.
This news article reminds me of something that I learned in an MIS elective that I am taking concurrently. What I learned is that almost all PII (Personally Identifiable Information) that is compromised by federal employees is caused by internal user error.
As technology continues to take over aspects of our lives and essentially improve our standard of living, we realize that there is an increased risk of our information being stolen. I agree that we are at a greater risk, but I think that it is unfair to blame technology. The reason I feel that we are at more risk is only because there are more PIIs for us to protect.
Tech Musing 2 - Uber in India
Given how much we have been talking about Uber in class, this article seemed interesting. Uber has been operating in India since 2014, and while it is not the country's largest share riding service (that belongs to a local company, Ola) it has quickly taken up 40% of the market, becoming the third largest market for Uber behind the United States and China.
While Uber has been operating in many different countries with widely different cultures and mobile infrastructure conditions, India has proven to be one of the most challenging. The company has made several changes to the app to deal with the spotty mobile connections and significantly higher data charges. For example, the app estimates rate calculations during times when signal is weak and updates whenever a stronger one is acquired and rather than streaming driver locations to customers as they wait for their drivers, the app will send text messages instead to avoid the data costs. The Indian market has also allowed for the application of other business techniques it has already learned abroad, like allowing customers to pay with cash and still collecting its cut from drivers.
I think all of this is significant for two reasons. The first is that it shows how far Uber has come in such a short amount of time. To be honest I still haven't had a chance to use the service but constantly seeing it in the news makes it difficult to ignore. The second significance is the implications this has on IT in India. The country has long been known as a source of cheap technology outsourcing rather than as an explicit market for it, and I think it will be interesting to see how both American companies continue to invest there as well as what kinds of domestic IT companies form.
http://www.wired.com/2016/02/ubers-india-learn-rule-rest-world/
While Uber has been operating in many different countries with widely different cultures and mobile infrastructure conditions, India has proven to be one of the most challenging. The company has made several changes to the app to deal with the spotty mobile connections and significantly higher data charges. For example, the app estimates rate calculations during times when signal is weak and updates whenever a stronger one is acquired and rather than streaming driver locations to customers as they wait for their drivers, the app will send text messages instead to avoid the data costs. The Indian market has also allowed for the application of other business techniques it has already learned abroad, like allowing customers to pay with cash and still collecting its cut from drivers.
I think all of this is significant for two reasons. The first is that it shows how far Uber has come in such a short amount of time. To be honest I still haven't had a chance to use the service but constantly seeing it in the news makes it difficult to ignore. The second significance is the implications this has on IT in India. The country has long been known as a source of cheap technology outsourcing rather than as an explicit market for it, and I think it will be interesting to see how both American companies continue to invest there as well as what kinds of domestic IT companies form.
http://www.wired.com/2016/02/ubers-india-learn-rule-rest-world/
Tech Musing 2 - Insurance a Critical Component of Cyber Defense Strategy
http://www.informationsecuritybuzz.com/articles/insurance-a-critical-component-of-cyber-defence-strategy/
Cyber insurance is very important for businesses, but many businesses to not take part in or are just not aware of cyber insurance policies. Cyber Essentials is a checklist of the key things that organizations need to get right before they can be securely protected from cyber threats. Cyber insurance does pretty much exactly what it sounds like it would do, it insures your company from possible cyber security breaches to hopefully recoup some of the losses that might have occurred. This is very important because this will most likely be the fastest growing emerging insurance.
Currently only 11% of organizations have a cyber insurance policy, with 39% were planning on obtaining one in 2016. This growing phenomenon is going to benefits companies on both sides of the policies. The obvious benefit for the purchaser of the policy is the monetary insurance, but what's even more important in this is the Cyber Insurance companies make check to make sure that the company is up to date on all cyber security policies and programs, otherwise they wouldn't issue the policy. This is a step in the right direction, which is for all companies to have detailed cyber security policies and procedures. While this insurance might be widely common in 5 to 10 years, the most important part will be companies changing to make themselves more secure.
Cyber insurance is very important for businesses, but many businesses to not take part in or are just not aware of cyber insurance policies. Cyber Essentials is a checklist of the key things that organizations need to get right before they can be securely protected from cyber threats. Cyber insurance does pretty much exactly what it sounds like it would do, it insures your company from possible cyber security breaches to hopefully recoup some of the losses that might have occurred. This is very important because this will most likely be the fastest growing emerging insurance.
Currently only 11% of organizations have a cyber insurance policy, with 39% were planning on obtaining one in 2016. This growing phenomenon is going to benefits companies on both sides of the policies. The obvious benefit for the purchaser of the policy is the monetary insurance, but what's even more important in this is the Cyber Insurance companies make check to make sure that the company is up to date on all cyber security policies and programs, otherwise they wouldn't issue the policy. This is a step in the right direction, which is for all companies to have detailed cyber security policies and procedures. While this insurance might be widely common in 5 to 10 years, the most important part will be companies changing to make themselves more secure.
Tech Musing #2 - Net Neutrality Is In More Danger Than Ever
One year ago the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted the Open Internet Order. Discussed frequently in class, this order theoretically ushers us into the age of net neutrality. In other words, Internet service providers are not able to discriminate against certain types of traffic or charging more for content to be funneled through "fast-lanes". However, the battle is not over. According to the article in Wired, "The FCC's decision has catalyzed the forces that oppose government-enforced net neutrality. Regulators may be pushing for a more open Internet, but its prospects are in greater danger than ever".
These threats can be seen in recent Presidential campaigns. Last month, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio participated in the proposal of a bill that would overturn the FCC decision; "The Restoring Internet Freedom Act". The act would nullify the FCC's net neutrality rules and prohibit the agency from passing similar rules in the future. Ted Cruz referred to net neutrality as the "Obamacare for the Internet", and Donald Trump claimed that net neutrality will somehow "target conservative media" even though they have no power to interfere with conservative websites. This types of involvement and statements are working. Eighty-five percent of self-identified Republicans opposed internet fast lanes. As compared to a later polling in 2015, the number had dropped to 63%, displaying an effect of the presidential campaign propaganda.
Another threat to the Open Internet Order is a lawsuit to be filed on behalf of the telecommunications industry. The US Telecom Association is challenging the FCC's authority to enforce net neutrality regulations. The case is being deliberated by the US Court of Appeals' District of Columbia Circuit. The previous version of the Open Internet Order was struck down because broadband providers were not classified as common carriers. The FCC has reclassified them as common carriers now. However, telecom industry is challenging FCC's decision stating that "The order represents and unprecedented transfer of regulatory power to the FCC without a clear warrant from Congress".
Network loopholes also pose another threat. Internet providers are implementing a practice referred to as "zero rating". Through this, providers are exempting certain apps or website from data limits. It makes it more expensive for subscribers to stream videos and use certain websites than others. Instead of a fast lane, they have enforced a toll road for the Internet. While it is unfair, it is not specifically banned by the Open Internet Act. As mentioned in class, T-Mobile has been the most famous face of zero-rating services with its Binge On offering. It downgrades speeds for all videos connections, however, it will not count data streaming from certain providers against their customers data limits. T-Mobiles system is different from those like Verizon and AT&T in that they do not charge companies to allow users access to zero-rated data. There is still some controversy as T-Mobile violates the FCC's general conduct rules and is indeed illegal. The FCC reserves the right to ban zero rating on a case-by-case basis, but has yet to take action towards T-Mobile.
Net neutrality and the controversy that surrounds it is not only interesting but something that MIS professionals and students should be aware of and keep up with. While it will continue to be debated, the Open Internet Order or the Restoring Internet Freedom Act may cause a major shift in the way we use the Internet. As students who use the Internet every day for more than just streaming Netflix, we need to stay informed.
Reference:
http://www.wired.com/2016/03/despite-fcc-net-neutrality-danger-ever/
These threats can be seen in recent Presidential campaigns. Last month, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio participated in the proposal of a bill that would overturn the FCC decision; "The Restoring Internet Freedom Act". The act would nullify the FCC's net neutrality rules and prohibit the agency from passing similar rules in the future. Ted Cruz referred to net neutrality as the "Obamacare for the Internet", and Donald Trump claimed that net neutrality will somehow "target conservative media" even though they have no power to interfere with conservative websites. This types of involvement and statements are working. Eighty-five percent of self-identified Republicans opposed internet fast lanes. As compared to a later polling in 2015, the number had dropped to 63%, displaying an effect of the presidential campaign propaganda.
Another threat to the Open Internet Order is a lawsuit to be filed on behalf of the telecommunications industry. The US Telecom Association is challenging the FCC's authority to enforce net neutrality regulations. The case is being deliberated by the US Court of Appeals' District of Columbia Circuit. The previous version of the Open Internet Order was struck down because broadband providers were not classified as common carriers. The FCC has reclassified them as common carriers now. However, telecom industry is challenging FCC's decision stating that "The order represents and unprecedented transfer of regulatory power to the FCC without a clear warrant from Congress".
Network loopholes also pose another threat. Internet providers are implementing a practice referred to as "zero rating". Through this, providers are exempting certain apps or website from data limits. It makes it more expensive for subscribers to stream videos and use certain websites than others. Instead of a fast lane, they have enforced a toll road for the Internet. While it is unfair, it is not specifically banned by the Open Internet Act. As mentioned in class, T-Mobile has been the most famous face of zero-rating services with its Binge On offering. It downgrades speeds for all videos connections, however, it will not count data streaming from certain providers against their customers data limits. T-Mobiles system is different from those like Verizon and AT&T in that they do not charge companies to allow users access to zero-rated data. There is still some controversy as T-Mobile violates the FCC's general conduct rules and is indeed illegal. The FCC reserves the right to ban zero rating on a case-by-case basis, but has yet to take action towards T-Mobile.
Net neutrality and the controversy that surrounds it is not only interesting but something that MIS professionals and students should be aware of and keep up with. While it will continue to be debated, the Open Internet Order or the Restoring Internet Freedom Act may cause a major shift in the way we use the Internet. As students who use the Internet every day for more than just streaming Netflix, we need to stay informed.
Reference:
http://www.wired.com/2016/03/despite-fcc-net-neutrality-danger-ever/
Tech musing 2
I've come across multiple articles (one attached
below) about how our phones are dominating our lives. Our smartphones do
enable us to communicate with friends or family and stay organized, but now
we are dependent and addicted to our phones. Not only are they making our
conversations in person weak, but now they are sucking the creativity out of
our lives. Since our phones supply an endless amount of entertainment we never
get bored. People are dependent on their mindless relationships to their phone.
Boredom is the seed that stimulates creativity. When the brain senses boredom there’s
a sudden urge to daydream or engage in a creative activity. If we could take a
break from our phones long enough to become bored our conversations would
possibly not be so "pedestrian" and we could regain our
creativity.
http://www.wnyc.org/story/bored-brilliant-project-part-1/
Tech Musing 2: Agile Culture Shock
According
to new businesses, the hard about implementing lean and agile methodology
enterprise wide is understanding the nuts and bolts of the actual methodology.
Nextgov reports that there are numerous cultural shifts that occur when implementing
agile development. The first change is that agile development is a team sport. Your
team is your lifeline in agile development. They are the members the results
depend on. According to Bill Haigh, former CIO, he said that, "A good term
can take a bad idea and fix it... and a bad team can take a good idea and screw
it up." I agree with this statement because I can relate personally to
this quote. Over the summer, I worked for a healthcare company in their
technology department and our objective was to solve a healthcare mobile
application problem and find a solution.
I was on a hard working team that consisted of one project manager, a
systems analyst, and 3 developers. Because
I was on a good team with a lot of hard workers, we were able to fix a bad
idea. In addition, I immediately had to learn how agile worked because by the
end of the summer because we had to finish a mobile application that we made
through agile development.
Throughout
the internship we had to have scrum meetings as well as ideation sessions. In
addition, we had meetings designated specifically for completing the user
stories and backlogs. The company was
currently in the process of changing over from Waterfall to Agile so all
employees had to adapt quickly to the implementation. Secondly, staying on task and remaining
relevant is the key to success when requirements writing. As soon as the
requirements writing begins to veer off the straight line, not only do you lose
the attention of employees but you also waste resources and time. The article
talked how strong communication outweighs good documentation. Read says that,
"Magic happens when you get the developers in the room with the customer.
Because [the users] can see and interact with [the project] on an iterative
basis, communication goes through the roof and allows you to track happiness
instead of requirements.” Furthermore, deadlines are extremely important but
not set in stone when using agile development.
Statistics show that 84% of projects do not meet their on-time
deadlines. Lastly, the government contracts need to change however, it only
comes in time. Governments want
companies that work in agile to move extremely quickly but the government wont
work fast for the companies.
Source: 5 CULTURAL SHIFTS AGILE BRINGS TO AGENCIES
Tech Musing 2: Net Neutrality Is in More Danger Than Ever
Net neutrality is the concept that all data on the internet should be treated the same. This principle states that internet service providers can not discriminate based on user, website, content, or platform. Currently internet service providers reserve the right to stifle internet speeds if a user uses too much data. The user may not even know why their internet speeds are suffering, the internet service provider will simply slow that user's speed.
The net neutrality debate has been a hot topic in politics recently. Last year the FCC enacted the "Open Internet Order." The purpose of this order is to make a push towards net neutrality. The Open Internet Order prevents internet service providers from discriminating users who use too much data, or charging users more for faster internet. The FCC is facing lawsuits from the telecom industry regarding this order. They argue that this order represents an overreach of power from the FCC, and that allowing net neutrality is a breach of freedom. This lawsuit will soon be decided in Federal Court, and is expected to be a split decision. This is a very important lawsuit because if the telecom industry wins, the FCC will be prevented from passing any similar orders in the future.
Also in recent news, 8 Republican senators including Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio drafted a bill that would overturn the Open Internet Order. The bill is titled "The Restoring Internet Freedom Act." The bill argues that the internet service provider's freedom is being violated by the FCC. This bill would make net neutrality a thing of the past. Similar to the lawsuit, the bill would prevent the FCC from passing any orders regarding net neutrality.
I personally think that net neutrality is a good thing. I pay way too much to Cox Communications for sub par internet speeds. Internet service providers abuse their customers and my wallet definitely feels the abuse. I think that the argument that an order, such as the Open Internet Order, is a limit of internet service providers freedom is not true at all. The order is in place to prevent the abuse of internet customers. In this day and age everyone needs access to the internet. I may be unhappy with Cox Communications, but I truly have no other internet service provider options. Net neutrality is very important because a person like me, with no other options, can easily be abused by an internet service provider.
http://www.wired.com/2016/03/despite-fcc-net-neutrality-danger-ever/
The net neutrality debate has been a hot topic in politics recently. Last year the FCC enacted the "Open Internet Order." The purpose of this order is to make a push towards net neutrality. The Open Internet Order prevents internet service providers from discriminating users who use too much data, or charging users more for faster internet. The FCC is facing lawsuits from the telecom industry regarding this order. They argue that this order represents an overreach of power from the FCC, and that allowing net neutrality is a breach of freedom. This lawsuit will soon be decided in Federal Court, and is expected to be a split decision. This is a very important lawsuit because if the telecom industry wins, the FCC will be prevented from passing any similar orders in the future.
Also in recent news, 8 Republican senators including Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio drafted a bill that would overturn the Open Internet Order. The bill is titled "The Restoring Internet Freedom Act." The bill argues that the internet service provider's freedom is being violated by the FCC. This bill would make net neutrality a thing of the past. Similar to the lawsuit, the bill would prevent the FCC from passing any orders regarding net neutrality.
I personally think that net neutrality is a good thing. I pay way too much to Cox Communications for sub par internet speeds. Internet service providers abuse their customers and my wallet definitely feels the abuse. I think that the argument that an order, such as the Open Internet Order, is a limit of internet service providers freedom is not true at all. The order is in place to prevent the abuse of internet customers. In this day and age everyone needs access to the internet. I may be unhappy with Cox Communications, but I truly have no other internet service provider options. Net neutrality is very important because a person like me, with no other options, can easily be abused by an internet service provider.
http://www.wired.com/2016/03/despite-fcc-net-neutrality-danger-ever/
Declaring Anonymity
http://www.wired.com/2016/02/visual-anonymity/
In the recent years our society has begun to encorporate more and more personal videos to the internet. With apps like Youtube, Facebook and Snapchat, every second can be documented and shared to hundreds of different connections. With this ability though comes the problem of anonymity. Many are seen in these videos even if they had nothing to do with the actions taking place or friends post videos without other people's knowledge which can tarnish a name on the internet. Without an easy tool to make anonymity possible, everyone risks being portrayed in videos they were not planning on being public. This all may change though with the recent blurring tool that Google just announced.
Throughout the years different projects have been in progress to help solve the issue of no anonymity on the internet. Companies like WITNESS have noticed that now with sites and apps like Youtube, Facebook and Snapchat, many people are tagged or seen in not professional type videos. With the tool that Google has announced, it will allow for anyone to blur faces or inappropriate content in videos. Right now the only company who is really taking action with anonymity is Youtube, but many are hoping that other companies will follow in their footsteps. With this tool people can begin to take back their privacy on the internet.
In the recent years our society has begun to encorporate more and more personal videos to the internet. With apps like Youtube, Facebook and Snapchat, every second can be documented and shared to hundreds of different connections. With this ability though comes the problem of anonymity. Many are seen in these videos even if they had nothing to do with the actions taking place or friends post videos without other people's knowledge which can tarnish a name on the internet. Without an easy tool to make anonymity possible, everyone risks being portrayed in videos they were not planning on being public. This all may change though with the recent blurring tool that Google just announced.
Throughout the years different projects have been in progress to help solve the issue of no anonymity on the internet. Companies like WITNESS have noticed that now with sites and apps like Youtube, Facebook and Snapchat, many people are tagged or seen in not professional type videos. With the tool that Google has announced, it will allow for anyone to blur faces or inappropriate content in videos. Right now the only company who is really taking action with anonymity is Youtube, but many are hoping that other companies will follow in their footsteps. With this tool people can begin to take back their privacy on the internet.
Musing 2 -Has Agile Outlived Its Usefulness?
Since the transition from Waterfall to Agile, Agile has become a predominant approach for enterprises’ development. Although that was a radical shift, the world generally acknowledges that Agile created increasing amount of opportunities for software success. However, the world is driven by software and technology, it is changing at a rapid pace. While most of the enterprises still struggling with transitioning from Waterfall to Agile, the piling up of problems of Agile started to appear.
During the lecture, we were completely aware of the rise of Agile development is because of the product development teams demanded a new way to meet the new requirements such as E-commerce and real-time news update. After the new solution of Agile came up, the comparison between Agile and Waterfall made us realize waterfall is a “deeply flawed” approach. Now, the limitations and complaints about Agile have been persistent for a while, the problems of Agile are as following, but not limited to: not paying attention to software architecture; not caring on reusable code building; no self-organization; no active participation of stakeholders. Additionally, “continuous development” is Agile’s key value, Agile is expected to improve development throughout the organizations continuously but it does not have standards and approaches to the details that lead to the development. So it also causes the problems like bad quality of output product and dissatisfaction of employees.
So if not Agile, then what? In most situations, the answer comes to Lean and DevOps. Lean development is actually derived from Lean manufacturing and Agile, in Lean development the empowered team has to take responsibilities from the beginning to the finish of one product so that it enhance the collaboration between teams, and it is designed to be more adapted to changes and failure.
Agile was expected to realize the breaking down silos of development and quality assurance and it turned out to be a failure, but DevOps should become the best choice to meet this new requirement. DevOps hit the goal of “continuous delivery”. It is hard to say DevOps can completely replace Agile, but it seems a combination of Agile, DevOps and Lean is the answer to the question of “what’s after Agile”.
The information is helpful to MIS professional because in this changeable and software-driven world we have to adapt to series of implementation of software. Since we already knew the convergence of three approaches might be the new revolution in software development, and it absolutely brings more work to do than only one Agile, the question comes to how to deal with the chaos produced by the convergence.
Reference:
Bloomberg, Jason. "Has Agile Outlived Its Usefulness?" Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 11 Dec. 2015. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.
During the lecture, we were completely aware of the rise of Agile development is because of the product development teams demanded a new way to meet the new requirements such as E-commerce and real-time news update. After the new solution of Agile came up, the comparison between Agile and Waterfall made us realize waterfall is a “deeply flawed” approach. Now, the limitations and complaints about Agile have been persistent for a while, the problems of Agile are as following, but not limited to: not paying attention to software architecture; not caring on reusable code building; no self-organization; no active participation of stakeholders. Additionally, “continuous development” is Agile’s key value, Agile is expected to improve development throughout the organizations continuously but it does not have standards and approaches to the details that lead to the development. So it also causes the problems like bad quality of output product and dissatisfaction of employees.
So if not Agile, then what? In most situations, the answer comes to Lean and DevOps. Lean development is actually derived from Lean manufacturing and Agile, in Lean development the empowered team has to take responsibilities from the beginning to the finish of one product so that it enhance the collaboration between teams, and it is designed to be more adapted to changes and failure.
Agile was expected to realize the breaking down silos of development and quality assurance and it turned out to be a failure, but DevOps should become the best choice to meet this new requirement. DevOps hit the goal of “continuous delivery”. It is hard to say DevOps can completely replace Agile, but it seems a combination of Agile, DevOps and Lean is the answer to the question of “what’s after Agile”.
The information is helpful to MIS professional because in this changeable and software-driven world we have to adapt to series of implementation of software. Since we already knew the convergence of three approaches might be the new revolution in software development, and it absolutely brings more work to do than only one Agile, the question comes to how to deal with the chaos produced by the convergence.
Reference:
Bloomberg, Jason. "Has Agile Outlived Its Usefulness?" Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 11 Dec. 2015. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.
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