Presenting Kirsten Anne Marie Erlandson

We're pleased to introduce our daughter, Kirsten Anne Marie Erlandson. She was born at 12:42AM, Wednesday, July 5, 2006. Weighing in at a healthy 7 lbs., 11 oz. and measuring 20 inches in length, she is truly a sight to behold. You can't see it in this photo, but she actually has more hair than I do...I guess that's not all that remarkable, though, considering the fact that I've become follicly challenaged the last few years.

Both she and her mother are doing fine, although it was a difficult delivery. Laura is on her feet, but I think she's going to be in the hospital for another day or two so the doctors can monitor her recovery.

There will definitely be more photos on the way, but I wanted to make sure everyone had a chance to see just how beautiful our baby girl really is. She is the greatest of God's gifts.

Futuretech Part IV: Interactivity

The Bluetooth Laser Virtual Keyboard article that Maree Michaud included in her scrapbook serves as a reminder of how practice shapes process ala Brown and Duguid. While a device such as this would certainly makes input easier, especially within the constraints of mobile computing, why are we still typing?

In Orwell’s novel 1984, Winston Smith has to rewrite history every time the official party line changes – the ultimate information management challenge. He does this by simply speaking into a device called a speakwrite and the official party version of history is changed.

In any case, I’m looking forward to the day when typing will be optional, mostly because I’m a lousy typist, as anyone who’s read my online entries can attest to.

Another article Michaud include in her scrapbook outlined a plan for a new search model based on histograms (I didn’t know what a histogram was until I looked it up on Wikipedia.) It allows the user to manipulate a graphical representation of search results, which, ostensibly, will make it easier to locate web content when completing an assignment such as this.

The demonstration included in the scrapbook led me to believe it would be easier to search this way as opposed to the current text-only search results output.

However, the 3-D model described in this article was more appealing. It would be even better if it were integrated with virtual reality hardware such as visors and/or gloves (refer to the 2002 film Minority Report) and an actual 3-D projection in which objects could be physically manipulated.

Futuretech Part III: Computing

The article from CNN.com about DNA computing that Loren Maki included in his scrapbook suggests that the central paradigm of new media – digitality – may be supplanted by DNA computing models. It implies that the digital paradigm could be replaced by quaternary designs based on the four letters A, C, G and T that represent molecules that make up a string of DNA.

Commonly understood and accepted notions of information may be challenged by such models as well. The notion that cells store “information” certainly diverges from information principles and concepts we’ve studied in this class. My wife is a biology professor, and while she concedes that DNA might be thought of as information, suggesting that it’s of the same order as spreadsheet data or HTML code requires a stretch of the imagination that’s only easy for the ethically challenged to make. Understanding DNA as mere information that may be manipulated to serve our needs will pose serious threats to the entire humanist worldview.

The fact that these implications aren’t even considered in the article speaks volumes of ever-widening gap between technology and philosophy.

Futuretech Part II: Cell Phones

Kristen Palmo’s scrapbook items regarding future cell phone capabilities brought a few interesting points to mind.

The page describing future plans for delivering television content to cell phone made me question the value of watching anything on a two inch screen for all but the most TV addicted. The article suggests there would be demand for such capabilities among business travelers who wouldn’t necessarily want to wait to see a sporting event. Personally, I’d prefer to listen to such an event than try to make out what’s happening on a tiny screen. Speaking from experience, I obserbved that many business travelers reserved the time they spent in airports and on flights for reading books. I'm only noting this here because I recall one of my undergraduate professors predicting in 1995 that no one would be reading hardcopy books in ten years.

On the other hand, Palmo’s item about the cell phone video projector (above) was particularly intriguing. The article doesn’t indicate how much such capability would cost, but it will undoubtedly become the next craze among business travelers, just as flash drives were a few years ago.

Futuretech Part I: RFID Tags

Although the use of RFID tags in identification documents, such as the new United States passport (left) may provide a higher degree of security for the bearer of the document, some critics argue that the technology can be manipulated in a variety of ways that may threaten travelers. Some of these possibilities were particularly disturbing, especially the example of passport RFID tags functioning as bomb detonators (refer to 2.4 Information Disclosure.)

On the surface, this seems more like the stuff of a Hollywood thriller (refer to the opening scene in the 1999 James Bond film The World is not Enough in which an RFID-style transmitter in a lapel pin is used to detonate a bomb) than anything that would be likely to occur. An intelligence or security professional might assess this possibility differently, but acts of terrorism such as the one envisioned in this example are executed almost daily using far less sophisticated means, such as the improvised explosive devices (newspeak for bombs) currently being used again American troops in Iraq that are remotely detonated using cellular phones. In any case, there would have to be some kind of incentive to exploit RFID technology in this way, which, again, is difficult to imagine what that might be.

Based on the research I conducted for this assignment, the jury is still out as to whether the infrastructure underlying the widespread implementation of RFID technology is secure. It will be rolled out in such a way that makes use of existing technologies, such as the Internet and PC computing, neither of which were originally designed with security in mind.

However, this example led me to conclude that the technology is probably more secure than the researchers in question would have us believe. This article implies it was a relatively simple task to compromise the pay-at-the-pump RFID technology, and it assumes a common thief will be motivated to acquire the technical acumen required to commit such a crime. The same thing can be done now by means of identity theft, which requires no advanced knowledge of mathematical theory and electronics. The researchers, on the other hand, had these advantages when they set out to expose vulnerabilities in this technology.

Web Observations Terms Module 3

Digitality

The inclusion of this image in this blog entry, It’s a Girl!, illustrates how digitality enables the distribution of photographs on the web. It is a sonogram of my daughter that was taken at University Health Care Center in Syracuse, New York, on February 14, 2006. My wife, Dr. Laura Weiser-Erlandson, scanned the printed image and saved it as a jpeg file on a flash drive. I plugged the flash drive into my PC and uploaded the file to my blog entry. This chain of activity was made possible by the fact that the image was digitized.

Theoretically, the image could have been saved in digital format when it was created, sent to me directly via e-mail and uploaded to the blog from the PC, thereby eliminating any physical manipulation (scanning) of the original image. Furthermore, this could have been done on any PC with web access in any location.

Hypertextuality

The concept of hypertextuality is represented in this Reuters story, Iraq FM urges cautious government formation, by the pull-down menu next to the first word, Iraq, in the story. Clicking on the down arrow next to the word displays a list of related sources, news stories, etc., all of which are accessible due to the hypertext links included in the list.

Interactivity

My father-in-law, James Weiser, sent me an e-mail on Saturday, February 18, 2006, containing a link to a game, Target Practice for Deadeye Dick, that is accessible on the web. It is a first-person shooter game in which the player is acting as Vice President Dick Cheney. The player is required to shoot numerous quail flying over the head of Texas attorney Harry Whittington without hitting him. Requiring the player to adjust their aim and deciding when it is safe to fire at the birds characterizes the interactive nature of this and other web-enabled games.

Dispersal

Reuters published another story online, Cartoon protestors defy ban in Pakistan, regarding the latest developments in the cartoon jihad in Pakistan and included a link to a video clip related to the story. Uploading digital video footage of such an event to a computer server with web access enables both large media outlets like Reuters and individuals to distribute coverage on a global scales within minutes of an event taking place.

Virtuality

Information Design and Technology 507-35 offered ay SUNY IT in Marcy, New York, illustrates how the web embodies virtuality in learning pursuits. This course is taught online and students are required to submit their assignments to Dr. Steve Schneider by summarizing the results of their research through blog entries and posting links to these entries via the virtual classroom. The virtual nature of this arrangement precludes the necessity of having the participants travel to a central location to attend lectures or conduct research. Virtually everything required to conduct or participate in this course is provided by web-enabled computer hardware and software.

Web Observations Definitions Module 3

New Media, Internet and World Wide Web (WWW) Scrapbooked Definitions

Web Observation Definitions Module 3

I collected the definitions by conducting Google searches for each of these terms. Then I selected definitions from the results of the Google search and categorized them according to their intended audiences, the concepts they embodied or the degree to which each definition was fundamentally operational, i.e. describing technical infrastructure and/or usage.

The audience-specific definitions provide information about each of these terms as they relate to particular environments. For example, the Wikipedia definition for New Media describes it as an academic discipline. Similarly, the University of Evansville Libraries Glossary of Library Terms identifies the Internet as a service the organization provides to its users to make use of library resources.

The operational definitions tended to focus on the technology itself as opposed to its usage. The sources I included in this category provided definitions that focused on hardware and the means by which hardware operates.

The conceptual definitions were more consistent with the substance of our assigned reading. These definitions tended to be very broad and attempted to describe these terms as subjects of study.

It's a Girl!

I kind of looks like she's smiling, doesn't it? It was a big - no, HUGE - relief to find out she was OK. The only time I ever prayed that much before was on a plane that that didn't seem like it was going anywhere other than straight into the Atlantic Ocean.

She's our first child, and although she won't be arriving for another four months, I remain speechless at the thought of having a child. It is awe-inspiring and frightening, and yet I can't remember ever looking forward to somehting with this much anticipation.

Thumbs up!

It's kind of hard to make out, but here's an ultrasound image of our child's hand, giving us thumbs up. The technician who performed the ultrasound tried to convince it was a different finger, but I knew the kid wasn't old enough to be giving us that kind of attitude...

To the untrained eye, many of the images look like something out of a Tim Burton film while the ultrasound is being done, so it was a big relief to know that everything was where it should be.

Web Observation Module 2

Basic Defintions

The basic definitions tend to focus on providing a simple, yet specific, understanding of the term information technology. They may be geared toward a specific audience, but are general enough to apply in most circumstances where they would be used. With the exception of the second entry for the dictionary.com definition, this type of definition does not extrapolate on the manifold applications of information technology.

Expanded Defintions

The extended definitions of this term attempt to impart a very focused, limited understanding of the physical objects, processes and capabilities that comprise information technology. The intended audiences appeared to be organizational rather than individual i.e., government agencies and business management communities. The emphasis varied, however, from the existential aspects of information technology to its intended applications.

Organizational Definitions

These definitions appear to circumscribe the term’s meaning in organizational contexts. Arguably, some of the expanded definitions might be included in the category as well, but the selected terms seemed to imply that they be applied under very specific circumstances, such as in a purchasing arrangement or in achieving organizational objectives,

Please click on this link to view my scrapbooked web observations for module 2:

Web Observations Module 2

The are two links for each defintion. The first link is the original source, and the second link is the annotated version.

Another one of el nino

Can you believe this animal? He weighs in at around 60 lbs. and thinks he can sit on my shoulder like he's some kind of parrot...arrrrgghh, shiver me timbers!!!

Textbook Purchasing Scrapbook

This really took much longer than it should have...

Textbook Purchasing Scrapbook

Textbook Purchasing

I purchased the required texts, The Social Life of Information and New Media: A Critical Introduction, from Amazon.com. Since I have not had to purchase textboooks since 1997, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the books were not inordinately expensive. My wife and I have purchased several books through Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com, so this was a familiar experience. The only obstacle I encountered was that Amazon deactivated my account, and, therefore, I had to purchase the books using my wife's account.

There was no difficulty in creating the scrapbook containing the links in the course assignment using the Firefox extensions Linky and Scrapbook. I saved the scrapbook folder as an html file but was unable to transfer it to the website on ftp.sunyit.edu. I uploaded the file but was unable to identify or establish a link to it that I could include in this posting in order to satisfy the assignment requirement.

Scratch that last comment. With the help of my lovely assistant, I was able to upload the file and create a link.

Textbook Purchasing Scrapbook

Erlandson: The Next Generation

Last but not least, the newest addition to the family... OK, maybe I'm jumping the gun a bit, but our first is due on July 4, 2006.

The next baby picture I post here will show the child's gender, so The Scribe's Journal may lose its G rating if the FCC, CIA or Salvation Army find out.

Let's just keep this under our hats, shall we?

Sirius the amazing circus dog

I wanted to name him Blue Tongue when we got him, but my wife won the coin toss and we named him Sirius after the Harry Potter character Sirius Black.

American Gothic redux

OK, so this is me and the family doctor (my wife is a professor) in front of our house shortly after we bought it. Our own little piece of the American dream...but wait, there's more!!!

Feliz Navidad, Scribe

Alright, so here's the first edition of the Scribe's Journal...

I created this web log for a master's course I'm currently taking, so I'm just going to leave it at that.

Check out the pics of my wife, house and dog.