It’s no secret that Facebook distracts students. Being able to interact with your friends at the click of a button is not conducive to hard-core study. And thanks to Spotted pages – university-wide Facebook pages where members can post comments about people they see in the library– it’s not just students’ close friends who are interrupting their studies. Naturally, to the progressives, this expression of ideas and opinions is the…
…you just don’t want to say it out loud: A new obstacle to scientific literacy may be emerging, according to a paper in the journal Science by two University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers. Oh, really? In an experiment mentioned in the Science paper and soon to be published elsewhere in greater detail, about 2,000 people were asked to read a balanced news report about nanotechnology followed by a group of invented…
…at least, for the progressives: In these posts, teenage girls – and sometimes boys – criticize certain body types or wardrobe choices, often being ruthless in the process. Oh noes! Criticism! That means…judgement! That means…not ‘celebrating the choices of others’! Oh, quelle horreur! So, what sort of comments are we talking about? In one such post, a blogger writes with accompanying pictures: ‘Hey girls, uhm did you know – open books,…
Story 1: A school which gave out iPads to every pupil in hope of improving their education has admitted that just a year later half the costly devices have been broken. Pupils said in some of the younger classes, around half the class had broken their tablet at least once, and some as many as three times. Despite the threat of confiscation after three tablets, ultimately none were taken away…
My post on Henry Porter’s article about privacy concerns emanating from the development of technology garnered a lot more comment than most. And I was reminded of that post when reading Anna Minton’s article on the SBD award: Not long ago, I was shown around an award-winning housing estate in east London, which was the proud recipient of a Secured by Design (SBD) award. The housing on the gated estate…
…but Henry Porter seems to be too afraid of the downside to ever consider their might be an upside: At what point will the British public realise that its privacy and freedom is in mortal danger? His concern is due to the rise in ‘high-definition and facial-recognition technologies in CCTV systems’ and the potential privacy concerns they will raise. Wherever you go, someone will be logging your movements – whether…
The police should be given greater powers to hack into private computers in their efforts to combat cyber crime, according to a concept briefing for parliament… What..?! … by justice minister Ivo Opstelten. Oh. Whew! No need to worry that Inspector Barnaby will be typing away in his office, two-fingered, tongue poking out of the side of his mouth in concentration, trying to find his way through your folders. It’s…
Car maker General Motors says it is working on a smart phone application that will let cyclists and pedestrians automatically warn a driver once they get close. Ummm…? According to GM, the Wireless Pedestrian Detection Technology is based on Wi-Fi Direct, a computer networking standard that allows smartphones to swap information without needing a wireless hotspot to connect them. Yes, it clearly requires the driver to either be operating his…
John Kampfner provides it in this superlative CiF post: A tweet is more pub talk than publication. But what about the argument that it provides the oxygen of publicity that the school playground or the bar stool at the local does not? Oh, indeed. We’ve heard that one quite a lot over the last few days. It does, but only if you encourage it. Bingo! Imagine you stumble across some…
Beware social media the printed page! … during a hearing at Hull Magistrates’ Court yesterday, it emerged Miss Roberts and former head teacher Debbie Johnson – who was also accused of being involved in the conversation – had been cleared of any wrongdoing during an investigation by Hull City Council. Yes, this is the now-infamous case we noted here. The original story turns out not to have been one of…
Two former teachers who quit their jobs after posting derogatory comments on Facebook will face court. Notice that they are referred to as former teachers. After the incident, they were (rightly or wrongly) summoned for the dreaded interview without coffee and persuaded it was not in their best interests to remain as teachers at that school. And there, the matter should have ended. But this is the Brave New World…
Back in February I wrote a very angry sweary blog post about airport scannersand about how the Australian federal government had decided that they’d be installed at all Australian international airports, and I explained, not for the first time, how that would influence my travelling decisions in the future. PASSENGERS at airports across Australia will be forced to undergo full-body scans or be banned from flying under new laws to…
Children are still exposed to the same level of junk food advertising despite tighter regulations, research suggests. Eh? Are companies breaching the regulations, then? Newcastle University academics said 6.1% of adverts seen by children were about junk food before the ban – the figure was 7% after the ban. It’s gone up! Albeit in a statistically insignificant rise. So, they must be, surely? Well, no. Of course they aren’t. The…
The BBC wets its knickers about trolling on the Internet. A snippet of video from Panorama, dramatically titled “Panorama Confronts an Internet Troll” (oooer!) gives us an insight. Apparently someone called Cher (not the Cher) has been subjected to online bullying and is now afraid. Okay, so I understand what it’s like to be on the receiving end of bullying – not the trolling on the interwebs, the real thing. My…
I have always eschewed Blogger. It really didn’t appeal to me. Not least, being something of a control freak, I wanted absolute control over my content, the look of the site and various add-ons and plug-ins. And, should there be any blowback over content, to be the one making the decisions about compliance with a take-down request or to fight it. But that’s just me and I have to pay…
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