New Google Tools

Today's "Google takes aim at Microsoft with new Web editing ( http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/02/28/google.websites.ap/index.html )tools" CNN article describes a brand new service from Google that allows people to quickly set up and update a Web site featuring an array of material, including pictures, calendars and video from Google Inc.'s YouTube subsidiary. This will compete with Microsoft's SharePoint software.
The new service is called Google Sites and does require users to sign up for a free Google Apps account. The advantage of big advantage here is that Google's tools are free, accessible from any Web browser, and the content doesn't expire when a class ends or a student graduates.
Details can be found at: http://sites.google.com/

Google Sites offers:

• easy page creation and templates for common types of pages
• allows you to upload files up to 10MB in size. Each Google Apps account
• receives at least 10GB of storage in Google Sites. Google Apps Premier and Education editions get an additional 500MB for each user account.
• can insert videos, docs, spreadsheets, presentations, photo slide shows, and calendars
• permission settings let you designate owners, viewers and collaborators (meaning they can edit pages) for your site.
• And you can make your Google Sites available to just a few people, your entire organization, or the world

(From Professor Mike Gibson, CIT, Athens State University)

Presentations

This week, many of my students are presenting their project progress to the class. Sharing these projects gives us the opportunity to learn from other students and get valuable feedback on our proposed software solutions. There is a lot of preparation required for a successful presentation, so, here is a link to another professor's article "How to Give a Terrible Talk" to help you avoid common mistakes as you organize your presentation:

http://www.cs.uah.edu/~delugach/Courses/Common/How%20To%20Give%20A%20Terrible%20Talk.pdf

Also, just for fun, those of you, like me, who are getting up there in years can appreciate this. Ever thought about all of the things you learned how to do that are now obsolete? Well, visit this site for a few

http://obsoleteskills.com/

HCI Resources

This semester we've been creating a bibliography for HCI and MIS. By doing this, we have learned to use the wiki tool in Blackboard and many important concepts that we are studying in class.

Here is a similar website created by HCI Professionals. Take a look.
http://www.hcirn.com/

Data Security News

These past couple of weeks, we have been studying about ethics and data issues. A colleague forwarded this email to me which is timely considering our discussion of these topics. Please be careful with your personal data, and particularly, your financial records! Take a look at this:

CNN article on the use of phishing e-mails to gain usernames and passwords to bank accounts.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/02/12/cyber.thieves/index.html

Usability Testing Tool

Historically, usability testing has been a critical part of the software development process. Allowing users to "test drive" a new software system led to valuable redesign of user interfaces to address usability issues. This has been a human-intensive process requiring designers to be present at each usability test to observe participants interaction with the computer system.

Now, there is a software system to monitor usability and report statistics. Check out Morae by Tech Smith. Morae is software for usability testing and user experience research that helps you identify site and application design problems and share them with stakeholders. With the insight Morae provides, you can make critical design changes that will improve sales and conversion rates, boost Web site traffic, and increase customer satisfaction. Improve application and Web site usability today!

http://www.techsmith.com/morae.asp

IT News of Interest

A fellow faculty member shared these with me and I thought you might find these recent stories interesting. They all involve information systems and technologies that we are studying in our courses this term.

$1 Billion for FBI Biometric Database
The FBI is expected to announce in coming days the awarding of a $1 billion, 10-year contract to help create a database that will compile an array of biometric information -- from palm prints to eye scans. See: http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/02/04/fbi.biometrics/index.html

Post offices try to stamp out digital losses
As discussed in Chapter 2 of the text, organizations face business pressures from new technology and must adapt to survive. This CNN story discusses how technology is changing postal services around the world. See: http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/02/04/mailinthe.digitalage.ap/index.html

Internet failure hits two continents
Damage to two undersea cables resulted in a widespread Internet failure affecting parts of Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa. Read the full story at: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/01/31/dubai.outage/index.html


FYI - a third undersea cable was cut the next day (Friday).

Notes on the SmartPen
The smart pen that Wired Campus flagged back in May was unveiled last week at a technology conference in Palm Springs, Calif. The company behind it, LiveScribe, has been aggressively marketing the device to college students with the slogan “Never miss a word.” It’s basically a combination recording machine and camera. Users take notes while a minirecorder, embedded in the pen, records whatever is being said. Later, to clarify the written notes, the user can touch the pen to a specific passage and listen to a recording of the instructor speaking those words. A tiny camera links what is being written to what is being recorded.


http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/2110/inventor-targets-colleges-students-with-smart-pen

Evaluate Web Site Content

Even though I continue to be excited over the possibilites I see for uses of social networking software like wikis and blogs in education, I offer a word of caution. In this world of collaboration, where we work together to create web content, it becomes crucial that we ensure our sources are reliable and scholarly. This blog is evidence that anyone can say anything on the internet, yet, as a student and soon-to-be professional, you must make sure that your sources of information are valid and truthful. Otherwise, you can make some important decisions based on poor knowledge and inaccurate facts.

And, by all means, give credit to the people from who you have borrowed ideas! In my research work, just this week, as I read about Web 2.0 and social software, I have literally read the same paragraph at least 3 times! Yes, I mean the exact same paragraph, with the exact same words, in three separate publications, without a citation! I don't know who to give the credit to! In this e-world of cut/paste/copy/paste, this is easy to do, but, just as easy to correct - either "quote" the author with reference or paraphrase the content and reference.

This information from UCLA library is a very concise guide for evaluating web content. http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/college/help/critical/index.htm

For a more detailed list of resources, visit the Cornell University Library website. This site has an extensive list of resources to help you learn how to validate your web resources. Please visit this link http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/webeval.html and keep these in mind as you select links for your research work. Specifically, as you find related links for your wiki pages, make sure they are solid academic sources, or current professional business literature.