Emerging Pedagogy Tools: Origami

Origami, your textbook goes here! This device [link] combines your laptop, textbooks, paper notepad, iPod, and just about everything in your backpack but your lunch into one 5x9 package. How much does it cost, must be expensive? Try $600, (yes including WiFi and Bluetooth.) Do I want one, you betcha! This is also a great podcasting and VoIP tool. In short, this is killer for education. Biggest question, can they evangelize this? If so, watch out Apple.

Technorati Tags: pedagogy, San Jose State University, SJSU, CSU, Tablet PC, California State University, ssloansjca

Skype and security: SJSU useage considerations?

Some folks consider Skype a security threat
I am not trying to take a position on the matter, just point out what is a matter of conversation.

Traffic over the Internet uses a protocol (definition link) aptly named Internet Protocol (IP definition link). Protocols, like IP, often have sub-protocols. Protocols, like this, that link and work together are also known as stacks of protocols. There are several of these for IP. Two of these sub-protocols are of note for this conversation (regarding network traffic that is transmitted using Internet Protocol.) The first is Transmission Control Protocol (commonly called TCP) and the other one is User Datagram Protocol (commonly called UDP.) When you hear the term TCP/IP, this is what the term means. For this conversation the differences between TCP and UDP are not important. Most services over the Internet have numbered "ports" assigned to them that can are used to identify and potentially block related traffic. There are TCP ports and UDP ports. What a firewall does is block all but a few of these ports. For example web traffic uses TCP port 80.

Skype is different
Skype, a peer-to-peer voice, video, file sharing and instant message service [Link], does not have a numbered Internet Protocol port assigned to it. Instead what Skype does is it port hops. Skype is like those birds that reproduce by laying eggs in other birds nests. Skype is like a network virus in that it searches for open ports then uses those to get through a firewall. Skype will try UDP and TCP. Most firewalls have port 80 open to allow employees to gain web access. If so, Skype will use that. It is hard to block Skype. It is also hard to detect Skype.  This port hopping nature makes it appear as different types of traffic on the network.

Skype is peer-to-peer
Some networks, specifically in academic settings, have specific acceptable use policies that restrict the use of peer-to-peer networking. In a peer-to-peer network individual computers talk to each other and exchange data. This is different than typical client-server networks where data resides on a central server that is typically administered by a server administrator whom is accountable for content on the server. Skype, like many peer-to-peer technologies, can be used to distribute content in violation of copywrite laws. Though it has not happened, some folks allege that because of its ability to evade firewalls, if the Skype application was compromised by a virus, Skype itself could be used to attack networks and the computers on a network.

Reference:

• P2P Apps Pose Significant Security Risks [Link]
  Very concise and informative blog post on the subject by David Pollak
• IT warned against Skype hype [Link]
  Very recent TechWorld post on Skype security concerns.
• Best Practices for Controlling Skype within the Enterprise [PDF]
  A Blue Coat (r) white paper that explains how Skype works, potential threats of Skype and how Skype could be blocked
• SJSU Network Acceptable Use Policy [Link]
• End User Guidelines for SJSU Wireless Network [Link]

Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, SJSU, skype, CSU, California State University, sjsuhelpdesk, ssloansjca

Slides no longer rule Winterail

All digital Winterail
Except for the three favorites, and a few slides put on the screen to salute some icons of railfanning like the recently deceased Will Whitaker, this was the first all digital show. Only one slide projector was set up and its roll was not critical for any of the shows. For years, up until my sister's cancer, my roll was central. I ran the slide projectors. But, I had to be away. The last show I did in 2003 was the last all-slide Winterail.

Now I am back, now it is digital, now I am peripherial. My shirt no longer says "projectionist." It now says "roadie." That is okay, the shows are better now. Some things that were once major issues in the past, like slides jamming and tray changes, are now not issues. Slide registration is now perfect. Time lapse sequences are no longer a major pain to project.

Has the show lost some of its theatrical awe? No longer is the audience greeted by a huge bank of slide projectors up on a podium. It is more work-conference like.

As I sat up by the one remaining projector I was often reminded of what it must of been like when dirty and hard to work with steam engines were replaced with diesels. The job got done a lot cleaner with diesels than with steam. With diesels the job could get done quicker with less people. But, for some it was never the same. Will next year be the start of three favorite jpegs replacing three favorite slides? Stay tuned for Winterail 2007, March 10, 2007

SJSU Help Desk pita party

Help desk training and lunch day
Yesterday we had a morning training and a noon lunch together. We have such a great crew and I am so proud of these young people. Over sixty percent of all the trouble tickets that came into San Jose State tracking system were closed by our team. These students each work half-time or less. The other, less than 40 percent of the tickets, are closed by all the remaining full-time staff employees. In short, these kids rock! For all but one of them, this was the first time they ever had a Pita. We had a great time.

GWI statistics for Feb. 2006
This screen shot shows the percentage of trouble tickets closed at SJSU within the University's ticketing system. Over 60% of all the tickets in the system at the university this month were closed by the Help Desk Staff made up of myself and our seven half-time student assistants. All of the students who work here are from India and they are a close hard working group. I am very proud of them.

Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, SJSU, CSU, California State University, sjsuhelpdesk, ssloansjca

Podcast: Staff Union Meeting Mar. 04

CSUEU Board of Directors meeting, March 4, 2006
These conversations were recorded at the CSUEU Board of Directors, SEIU Local 2579, meeting in Sacramento, California. It is about 45 minutes long. It is made up of three seperate recordings.

1. CSUEU President Pat Gantt's president's report to the board.
2. A recorded conversation with CSEA President J.J. Jelincic.
3. J.J. Johnston SEIU's California Area Director's presentation on the International's review of local jurisdictions in California.

To listen to this podcast, click on the podcast button immediately below this text, Podcast here:

Lookout world, here comes Origami

The move to mobile pervasive computing is about to take a big leap with the announcement of Origami [Link]. An awesome portable computing platform by Microsoft.

Thinking of the passing of my sister

Thinking of passings
The following started out as an E-mail to a friend who lost a loved one and ended up as this blog post:

With today being the one-year anniversary of the passing of my sister Lura, I have been thinking about the passings that we all have in our lives. I have been there at the beginning and at the end of life in this world. What I keep coming back to is the transience of much of what, in the moment, seems so important and the preciousness of what, in the moment, seems so expendable. We spend so much of our time focused on our work and tasks we let take precidence of how we spend our time. Yet, the most precious commodity is the time we spend with those we love. Too often we let that slip through our fingers thinking we can get it back "later."

The most important aspect of life is love and precious moments lost can never be recaptured.

Protest at SJSU

Faculty, students and staff rally for higher quality
Today at SJSU a group of faculty, students and staff spoke out on issues related to quality education at our university. They spoke in opposition to higher fees, reduced class availability and more crowded classrooms and in favor of better wages and working conditions for faculty. It seems amazing to me that in a flat world where our citizens are having to compete on a global scale that we are cutting education and making it more inaccessible. It seems to me we should be going in the other direction. The group of about 75 marched on the office of SJSU President Don Kassing.

Emerging Pedagogy: Emerging Technologies of Importance for SJSU

Emerging and Disruptive Technologies
Emerging technologies represent a new paradigm that at first grows on the edge in relative obscurity and often seems to be of no threat or even of little utility to users of the sustaining technology. Then through development of new features and unexpected capabilities relative to the previous paradigm, the new emerging technologies disrupt and supplant the existing technologies. These kinds of technologies are called disruptive technologies and their utility makes them impossible to avoid. Preparing for these new technologies is the key to making the best use of them.

• RSS, (Really Simple Syndication)
  
  Positives:
  • E-mail is broken
  • E-mail is insecure, RSS is a trusted source
  • Combines push and pull technologies
  • Client centric packaging and consumption
  Negatives:
  • E-mail is ubiquitous
  • RSS has an adoption curve ahead
  • Requires act of subscription
  • Requires client software (aggregator) and configuration
    
    
• Podcasting
  Really a subset of RSS & Blogging. Can be thought of as audio/video blogging.
  
  Positives:
  • Video or audio
  • Puts human voice and/or face to university
  • Allows for conversations
  • Capture of oral history
  • Bandwidth forgiving
  Negatives
  • Requires either a fast or a pervasive Internet connection to move files
  • Not indexed
  • Time consuming
  • Production considerations


• Blogging
  (Duplication is intentional)
  
  Positives:
  • Hierarchies based on time
  • Conversational
  • Hyperlinks subvert hierarchies
  • Eases publication of web content
  Negatives:
  • Hierarchies based on time
  • Conversational
  • Hyperlinks subvert hierarchies
  • Eases publication of web content


• Portable device technologies
  A whole range of technologies associated with affordable portable devices:
  • Camera Phones
  • Text messaging
  
  Positives:
  • Puts the power of documentation in our students, staff and faculty members hands
  • Enables instant access
  • Can group send information
  • Smart Mobs
  • Smaller, cheaper devices than computers
  • Extends reach of Internet
  Negatives
  • Requires having, charging and using portable devices
  • Small devices easy to lose
  • Time consuming and learning curve
  • Generation gap with this technology
    
    
• OPML (Outline Processor Markup Language)
  
  Positives:
  • Hierarchies can be linked, mapped, imported/exported
  • OPML files can be linked to form a tree of information
  • All kinds of things relate to hierarchies
  • With an intuitive taxonomy it is easy to find information
  • Can share & import lists of RSS feeds
  Negatives:
  • Hierarchies need to be intuitive
  • Not clear that symbolic links are supported
  • Grafting and pruning issues
  • Very new, spec subject to change
    
    
• VoIP (Voice/Video over Internet Protocol)
  
  Positives:
  • Can allow personal video and/or audio conferencing
  • Clients like skype are free
  • Can save us gobs of money in travel expenses
  • Collaboration is greatly enhanced
  Negatives:
  • Human interaction critical
  • Initial cost a barrier to entry
  • Considered a peer-to-peer technology may violate acceptable use guidelines
  • Can be bandwidth intensive
    
    
• Other Web 2.0 technologies
  The web as a platform
  • Social Networking (FOAF, XFN)
  • Wikis and other collaboration software
  • Mapping

In conclusion
Most core technologies that we now use and consider part of our daily lives were once "nascent" and were considered emerging technologies. For example, 100 years ago the steam powered passenger train was the primary mode of interstate travel and automobiles and airplanes were nascent technologies. The same can be said for the telephone, the personal computer, the Internet and the Web. In time these technologies evolved and the previously existing paradigm was disrupted and devolved. This is the lesson of history. The advantage goes to the person and the institution who sees the change when it is on the horizon and is prepared to timely apply the new technology.

Technorati Tags: pedagogy, San Jose State University, SJSU, CSU, California State University, ssloansjca

Emerging Pedagogy: Web 2.0

What is Web 2.0?
Web 2.0 is a term you are going to hear more and more. It is an important concept and I urge everybody interested in technology, pedagogy or the future of our university to follow this link to an explanation by Tim O'Reilly of what Web 2.0 is. To summarize:

The Web As Platform
Like many important concepts, Web 2.0 doesn't have a hard boundary, but rather, a gravitational core. You can visualize Web 2.0 as a set of principles and practices that tie together a veritable solar system of sites that demonstrate some or all of those principles, at a varying distance from that core.

Technorati Tags: pedagogy, ssloansjca