Shift Happens

My father sent me this video which had been forwarded around his office (small semi-strugling Christian publishing firm). I think it helps convey the changing state of the world in terms of the economy and the strong up-and-comers in the world (China and India). It's also especially relevant to me today, as I write this from Germany struggling with the super weak dollar to the record-high strong Euro. The United Kingdom was the greatest, most powerful nation in the world in 1900... the United States has held that position for much of the 20th century... but shift happens and who knows how long the US can hold that dominant position. Maybe we should all start learning Chinese?



Check out the wikisite: http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com/

Or Not

Forgive me for this, because it is really creepy but I feel the need to share.

So two weeks ago I wrote about how teens are protecting their privacy online, right? Well, hahaha.

I was reading the Washington Post online at work today and came across a nice article about military blogging from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Very well written article about how soldiers blogging helps relieve a little of the stress of war and about the military's fight to control that release of information. So I was just going to write about that tonight. Then I saw this article, also about military blogging, where it mentioned that the author of the first article, Nikki Schwab, was an AU grad student. Of course, I went to facebook and... her profile was open access. So I can see all 292 photos of her, date of birth, hometown, where she went to undergrad, that she supports Hillary Clinton for President in 2008, and her cell phone number and home address, complete with apartment number!

I'm not going to post that information here, because this is slightly more open than Facebook but is she serious?! So lets say someone didn't like her recent article... bam, great stuff for bad people there. Come on Nikki, limit at least some of that information!

Study: Teens protecting their profiles

Spent the day at work with CNN's homepage open... finally something good came up: "Study: Teens protecting their profiles"

Basically, a Pew survey shows that 2/3 of teens don't post their personal information online or use privacy controls to limit public access to their profiles. All I can really say is IT'S ABOUT TIME!!

Even if all these teens think that they're just preventing Internet predators and perverts from getting to them, that's great. Let the fall-out help prevent these same teenagers from getting screwed over by potential employers.

Now, if only Facebook and other SNS would change their privacy structure from an opt-out to an opt-in structure. Instead of having to select each "friend" individually to put on a limited profile access, the system should automatically place friends on limited access and then allow the user to grant more access to specific friends. It would take a bit more work for the users but would provide significantly improved privacy controls. (It may also limit the "fun" of Facebook stalking... but I guess that's the price you pay for privacy and getting a job!)


EDIT: Two YouTube videos of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children's Think Before You Post TV commercial series.

Using SNS to Get a Job? Really?!

I may just be acting simple-minded but I really can't see myself getting a job through Facebook or even LinkedIn. I can see its usefulness in maintaining or rekindling contacts with former business associates and coworkers but I don't see it getting me a job. However, I'm not looking for business jobs that are filled by 40+ weekly hour computer users. Something about criminal justice system jobs and Facebook seem unlikely to mesh. Maybe because many of my friends in the law enforcement and corrections fields aren't too comfortable with computers, let alone the Internet!

Things are changing but even over the next few years those face-to-face connections will remain the key to success. Which reminds me, I need to send a note (paper!) to someone I met at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility on a field trip last week... gotta solidify that connection with him, make him remember my name. And I can't just add him as a friend on Facebook. :)

SNS & Virginia Tech

To second Jordan's thoughts on SNS and the Virginia Tech tragedy, I also noticed the quick rise of groups, events and changed profile pictures on Facebook. What I noticed in particular was the power Facebook offered to people seeking information on their friends. The group "I'm ok at VT" was created within a few hours of the shootings for people who survived the attacks to let others know that they were okay. It has evolved into a message board for people still seeking information on loved ones, a list of the confirmed victims and as a general posting board of condolences offered from other, non-Virginia Tech Facebook users.

Another VT connection with this class' topic is the earlier post I'd written on main-stream media "blogs" versus "amateur" bloggers. Virginia Tech's Collegiate Times student newspaper maintained a constantly updated information list on its website about the shootings while the attack was occurring. The site is still being updated with information as it becomes available and has been a source widely used by the mainstream news outlets seeking information. And these obviously aren't journalists with degrees (yet).

How many bloggers does it take to plug in a president?

So I heard a quick reference on the radio this morning about the Ford CEO apologizing for making a joke about President Bush almost blowing up a hybrid car. Sounded interesting enough and I did a quick Google News search. Then I found this article about how the joke didn't actually match any of the actual events of the day and bloggers had simply blown the joke out of proportion. The author (Todd Lassa) wrote on the MotorTrend magazine's editorial (blog?) that "the media, including car magazines, are being led around by small-time bloggers who have never signed up for a journalism class, let alone stayed awake during one. And they're running every stupid little rumor extant without checking up on them."

Seems like he doesn't take bloggers too seriously. Just because many of the "famous" ones lost their day jobs because of blogging. Or because blogs are often used as electronic diaries by teenagers. Maybe he should take our class, learn a little about the benefits of social networking tools and business. But Todd might figure it out himself since some of those bloggers he's talking down on left comments pointing out how the auto blog websites are competitive with MotorTrend and (possibly) have larger user bases.

And I never would have cared about this issue until I took this class... I guess now I'm a blogger. :)

LinkedIn

Just in case that last blog post doesn't make sense, I was also thinking about the LinkedIn assignment we just completed (or are quickly finishing). This morning, I imported my Gmail contacts into the website and found an old high school teacher on LinkedIn. I requested a connection with her and personalized the request with a short explanation that I'd joined as a class assignment.

She accepted me and wrote me back this evening. She'd looked over my previous employers and pointed out a non-LinkedIn connection we had, other than my being a former student of hers. She was my high school's mock trial teacher and for the past few years the professional advisers had come from the Public Defender's office--where I worked last summer and am returning this summer. Without using LinkedIn as a form of quick resume and "life summary", I never would have realised that we knew some of the same people from those different contexts.

Also, I was wondering what was up with Professor Melander not my connection...?