Wednesday - Mar 30, 2011
Learn the Net has made its content freely available in multiple languages to schools and universities all over the developing world since 1996. But without a way to access the Net, what good is instructional content?
Last year, I donated an HP laptop to the Manlapay National High School in the province of Cebu, Philippines. Although the laptop was less than a year old, it didn’t have the computing power I need to do video editing. What to me was antiquated, has become a window on the world for the teachers and students at the high school. (I have to admit that I feel a bit guilty about foisting Windows Vista on them; hopefully, they will upgrade to Windows 7.)
One laptop is a start, but it only goes so far. Many more are needed. If you have a serviceable laptop and are interested in making a donation, email me so I can put you in touch with the organization that can facilitate the donation. The smiles on their faces say it all.
Wednesday - Mar 23, 2011
A hallmark of democracy is the ability to voice your concerns to public officials. Unfortunately, most city councils schedule meetings during the day, making it very inconvenient for citizens who work or are in school to testify. Sure, you can take some time off if you feel strongly enough about an issue and want to have your say. But is there a better way?
Yes, according to Reset San Francisco, a local organization that wants to open up local government. It’s a simple idea: Since almost everyone these days has access to the Internet and a video camera, let citizens submit video comments to public hearings via YouTube.
To prevent hearings from turning into mini film festivals, organizers have proposed some ground rules:
“We think the videos should be submitted by San Franciscans only. They should be two minutes. And at the beginning, we should have ten minutes of YouTube Testimony to see how it works.
We could make it social. So if more than five videos are submitted, then the videos with the most ‘likes’ would be played.”
Reset San Francisco is in the process of gathering signatures on a petition, which I assume will be submitted to the Board of Supervisors, San Francisco’s version of a city council. Although the city prides itself on its technological progressiveness, politicians, being who they are, will undoubtedly find some fault with this idea. After all, this is a very contentious city.
What problems do you foresee with this plan? Do you think video testimony would work in your town? Would you submit a video to a hearing?
Wednesday - Mar 16, 2011
For centuries, humankind has searched for a way to live forever. To my knowledge, only vampires have discovered the secret to eternal life–until now. As more of our lives are lived online, we’ve created a type of digital immortality on the Internet.
Have your searched for yourself on Google lately? Are you surprised by what turns up?
If you’re like most people, there’s a trove of personal information about you–educational background, employment history, relationships with friends and family, photos, videos and a whole lot more. As I wrote recently, college admissions officers and employers search the Web to find out about you. There can be a price to pay for unflattering material about you.
What if you’re unhappy with what you uncover? Can it be erased? The answer is yes, but it’s not easy.
If you have a website, you can always edit or delete biographical information. The problem is that search engines like Google cache the data. Even if you remove it, it can still be found and accessed from Google’s servers.
To complicate the problem, someone may have copied the material and posted it on another site or emailed it to a third party. The bottom line is that once the genie is out of the bottle, you may be out of luck.
Still, if you’re concerned about your reputation or privacy, it’s worth a try.
If the offending material is on your Facebook page, it’s easy enough to remove it yourself. But if it’s on someone else’s page, you will have to contact the person or organization and ask them politely to modify or remove the content.
You may find that you appear in a photo taken without your knowledge. Maybe you were an innocent bystander at a beer blast. An alternative to removing the image is to have your name removed from the caption or tag. At least it will make it harder to find you!
If the offending content is on a website or blog, try contacting the site owner or administrator. Many sites sport a “Contact Us” page with an email link. If you can’t find one, use the Whois database to look up the contact information for the site admin. Email your request along with a credible explanation of why the content should be removed.
Even if you manage to get the content successfully deleted, there’s that pesky cache to contend with. Try Google’s removal request tool. It’s an online form you can submit to Google requesting the removal of content that violates Google’s criteria.
Going forward, monitor what’s being said about you online by setting up Google Alerts. When your name or any any other topic you request are indexed by Google, you’ll receive an email, along with a link to the content.
Finally, don’t become your own worst enemy. Think before you post online or face the consequences, as this student from UCLA found out the hard way.
