The Way to Fail in San Jose
August 19, 2013
When reading the San Francisco Gate’s article, “San Jose State Suspends Online Courses” our immediate reaction was “ouch!” Many public universities in the US offer online courses as an alternative to traditional face-to-face education. San Jose University offered five online classes and more than half of the enrolled students failed them. In response, the university suspended classes for the time being to reevaluate. This does not mean San Jose University will stop offering online courses; it will just stop classes from Udacity. The failing classes were part of the “Massive Open Online Courses” strategy that incorporated major public universities to increase their online class offerings. These five failures set the plan back, but it is not deemed a waste:
“Despite the high failure rate, Sebastian Thrun, a researcher at Stanford University and Google Inc. who launched Udacity said valuable data and experience were gained from the effort, which will help improve future classes. ‘We are experimenting and learning. That to me is a positive,’ Thrun said. The school and Udacity plan to look into providing more information about the syllabus at the beginning of the class, so students are better informed about the requirements before committing. Officials also want to look at whether the online semester should be longer than traditional school terms to provide students with more flexibility.”
Most of the students in these classes were non-traditional students, working a job and little college experience, which is probably why they failed. It was a learning experience for both students and the university. Both are learning from their mistakes.
Whitney Grace, August 19, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Data Mining is Part of Online Experience
August 8, 2013
How much are we revealing of ourselves online? Every day we are hearing new information about how even the safest internet users are most likely wide open to spying. It’s hard to say what NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden thought would happen, but the world’s reaction is probably pretty close. The NSA isn’t the only one peeking, as we learned in a recent TIME article, “This MIT Website Tracks Your Digital Footprint.”
According to the article about a program called Immersion:
Much like the government phone-surveillance programs, Immersion doesn’t need to access the content of communications. Instead, by gathering information about the senders and recipients of all the e-mails in an inbox, it can create a detailed portrait of the user’s social connections. Each person’s picture on Immersion is as unique as a fingerprint, but much more informative.
While, sure, we treasure our privacy as much as anyone, this news and the NSA fiasco isn’t really much of a bubble on our radar. Much like the President said it’s not really a huge deal. If anyone who spends a lot of time online thinks they have anything resembling privacy, we have a bridge we’d love to sell them.
Patrick Roland, August 08, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Free AIDS Research Available Online
July 12, 2013
The articles available on Taylor & Francis Online under the heading Highly Cited AIDS Research offer substantial insights into the most current AIDS knowledge. The journals cover everything from timelines, prevention information, geographical breakdowns of the spread of AIDS, studies on the perceptions of those diagnosed with AIDS in all different parts of the world, and even support, like the study titled Is It Just Me? Experiences of HIV Related Stigma. An example from one study titled AIDS Fatigue and University Students’ Talk About HIV Risk states in the abstract,
“Drawing on a qualitative study that included 20 focus group discussions with male and female students at an urban-based university in South Africa, this article reports on perceptions, attitudes and reported behaviour with respect to HIV and AIDS and safer sex in the campus setting, with an aim to better understand how young people are responding to the challenges of HIV and AIDS in contemporary South Africa. The findings demonstrate the gap between reported HIV-prevention knowledge and safer-sex practices among a group of young and educated South Africans.”
The difficulties surrounding AIDS treatment in developing countries has been well documented already, the daily schedule being thought insurmountable in places where the general population does not know the exact time throughout the day. Sharing information can only lead to more breakthroughs in the ability to treat victims of the disease and perhaps lower the social stigma as the world recognizes the extent of the infected population.
Chelsea Kerwin, July 12, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Not Safe For Work: How to Avoid Getting Caught Creeping Online
June 12, 2013
The article How to Navigate the Internet At Work on Daily Infographic explains the acronym NSFW (Not Safe For Work). You might have seen those letters in the past, they are used to caution against risqué links to websites and images that you might prefer to not be caught looking at (at work, or in public). With a handy dandy infographic, the article explains the circles of NSFW, like the rings of hell in Dante’s Inferno. Pornography, of course, sits at the center, as the least possible NSFW material. The article explains its logic from there,
“It can be a slippery slope of discretion as to what is safe. This infographic aims to alleviate that confusion. The center represents the heart of NSFW…pornography. Moving outward from the center the NSFW-ness declines with each ring. Outside the circle you have the IRS website and Propublica (a news source). Seemingly a little too ‘SFW’? Not too sure; but the rest of the infographic has a nice gradient from the boring to the time-suckers to the WTF kind of websites. “
Have another browser tab ready’ for quickly switching away from Youtube or tumblr is an example of the jocular circle titles. But what we still have questions. Will this type of search behavior have the desired effect? Will using these methods trigger scrutiny? We don’t know, and and the article is not telling us.
Chelsea Kerwin, June 12, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Furthering Free and Online Education
June 5, 2013
The Washington Post reports on a hot topic in education these days: online education. No, this recent article does not simply feature a rundown of online education courses, it delves into the next step: free online text books. The headline reads: “Coursera to Offer Students Free Online Textbooks, with Conditions.”
Coursera, of course, is one of the online providers offering free educational courses online. Textbooks are a logical next step. The have struck a partnership with several publishers to enable students to use certain textbooks for free while they take the courses. Publishers include Cengage Learning, Macmillan Higher Education, Oxford University Press, SAGE and Wiley will be available through e-readers provided by Chegg.
The article states:
“Koller said the agreement will help instructors who felt restricted in what they could require students to read. She also said it will help publishers market full versions of their books to those interested in buying them. Coursera, based in Mountain View, Calif., launched in April 2012, and the company has more than 3 million registered users. Along with edX and Udacity, it is one of the most prominent MOOC providers in a fast-emerging market. Cynthia L. Selfe, an English professor at Ohio State University, said the textbook agreement will benefit thousands who are taking a MOOC on Coursera that she teaches with a group of faculty.”
Does this article suggest that there are more challenges for traditional publishers or is this an opportunity for companies trying to grow and running out of options? The jump from $500 million to $1 billion is a big job.
Megan Feil, June 05, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Quote to Note: Digital Versus Paper
June 1, 2013
The Week section of the Wall Street Journal presents information which is amusing and up to the highest standards of journalistic accuracy. In the short piece “Paper, the Technological Tiger?” the juxtaposition of dead trees, endangered animals, and technology caught my attention. (A link to the digital version of the story is here, but it may be gone in a sort of self fulfilling and self documenting bit of newsiness.) Tucked into the write up which appeared on page C4 of the June 1, 2013, edition of the newspaper was this quote:
Paper documents can last hundreds of years, after all, but there’s still no proven way to preserve digital data beyond a few decades. The new research suggests that someday paper may become so smart that it won’t need any words at all.
What happened to the tiger? The Library of Congress is working on saving tweets. Isn’t that a promising sign?
Stephen E Arnold, June 1, 2013
Daily Voice: There Is Twitter
May 12, 2013
I read “Daily Voice Bankruptcy Is a Setback for Hyperlocal News.” The key is “hyperlocal.” The idea is that people in a locale want news and information about that particular area. Sounds good and makes sense. I live in Harrod’s Creek, Kentucky, and I don’t know what’s going on at the local college. After the fact, I might learn about a lecture or a musical event.
Monetizing good ideas is tough unless a person or an institution just gathers the information and posts it on a Web page which few may see. Hyperlocal doesn’t work where folks don’t read all that much (rural Kentucky) or where there isn’t much news because there is no local college (again Harrod’s Creek). But New York and Connecticut? Slam dunk. Smart people like those who work at Bloomberg and Goldman Sachs and similar outfits. Lots of real universities.
According to either Fortune or CNN Money:
Tucker blames the bankruptcy filing on a lawsuit filed last year by some former reporters who claim they were incorrectly classified as “exempt” from being paid overtime. The company, formerly known as Main Street Connect LLC, “does not have the financial wherewithal” to continue fighting the lawsuit,” and that it is scaring off potential investors, Tucker said in court papers. The company says its legal costs are already at $500,000, and that it is relying on debt to finance operations. Tucker says he has lent the company $250,000 of its $550,000 of secured debt. Its total debt is $867,000, and its assets are worth less than $400,000. Its remaining local sites drew about 437,000 unique visitors in March, for an average of less than 11,000 each.
Yep, staff and readers – definitely a potential problem. A setback for sure.
My view? There’s Twitter.
Stephen E Arnold, May 12, 2013
Sponsored by Augmentext which is not a two way service like some real information systems headquartered in the same region as the Daily Voice
Information: Dark Sides and Bright Sides
April 9, 2013
I find the information revolution semi-bright or semi-dark. I read “Are We Paying Enough Attention to Information Technology’s Dark Side?” My first reaction was, “Nah.” Most outfits are worrying about revenues. Google has to deal with the shift from the money Gold Rush of the desktop era to the lower revenue per click of the mobile world. Microsoft has to worry about the economic impact of its initiatives to nowhere. Smaller outfits in search have either been crushed like Convera or squished like Dieselpoint, mired in controversy like Autonomy and Fast Search, or just unable to make ends meet, deliver a product which works, or get their act together long enough to close a deal.
Paradise Lost may help illuminate the dark sides and bright sides of information. A happy quack to Lapidary Apothegms for reminding me of this phrase.
The concern of the “Dark Side” write up is broader. The big issue is Big Ideas. With references to high profile information luminaries like James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, and governmental issues. Here’s the quote I find interesting:
While the idea of lumbering bureaucracies adapting quickly may seem unlikely; it’s entirely possible they’ll adapt just fast enough to remain in place for awhile yet. And instead of quick change, the classic definition of the state will twist and wither. Whether its successor proves good or ill remains to be seen—but if history (and Marc Goodman) is any guide, it’ll be some of each.
The future is the semi-bright and semi-dark situation.
With regard to information, flows of information, data, and knowledge can erode certain structures. In an organization, as information moves more freely, the old chokepoints are bypassed. The notion which has gripped managers and bureaucrats is that flowing information has more of luminescence than cutting off that flow thus casting shadows.
In my experience, information is not neutral. Digitization has its own motive power. In one talk I gave years ago, I pointed out that information breeds more of itself. The image I used in my lecture was a sci-fi decision maker surrounded by Tribbles. Tribbles just kept on making more Tribbles. Bad news were Tribbles in the confines of a starship.
Even though I have worked in information centric businesses and government agencies for decades, I am not sure I understand information. I do not have a clear grasp of its behaviors. Over the years, I have formulated some “laws”, which I describe in some of my writings and talks. A recent example is Arnold’s Law of Vulnerability. In a nutshell, the “law” reports data from our research that says, “As the volume of information increases attack surfaces expand.”
The implication of this “law” is that digital information disconnects from the factual and becomes the propaganda described by Jacques Ellul. A software program which crashes a system or more importantly modifies it in a manner unknown to the system developers is a growing problem.
Conflating political movements, digital data, and next generation systems increases complexity. In short, as informationizing operates, clear thinking becomes more and more difficult. Thus, we now have to navigate in a datascape in which:
- Facts are not facts, even the results of a scientific experiment can be falsified or, more troubling, placed in an “objective journal” as an advertorial
- Systems have minimal ability to detect falsified data from sensors, SMS messages, or data streams which contain signals to which the smart software responds in a Pavlovian way
- Humans accept outputs of systems as though those outputs were a reality which corresponds to the actuality of a single individual.
Work needs to be done in the space between the bright and dark of information. Much remains to be done and not by failed webmasters, azure chip consultants, search engine optimization experts, and unemployed journalists. Perhaps Google’s smart software can just take on the job
Give A Hand For Old Fashioned Journalistic Bribery
March 26, 2013
A top news story used to either make or break a reporter, though it can still do so today, the old channels are mostly closed and monitored by the Internet beat. Reporters used to have to bribe sources and the best information continues to come from the source. In a throwback to the old days, The Guardian says, “Wall Street Journal Blames Beijing Troublemaking For US Bribery Probe.” The accusation is that the Chinese Wall Street Journal office bribed government officials with expensive gifts for information. The US Justice Department was already conducting an investigation on the Journal’s parent company News Corporation under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
News Corporation believes that someone only wants to make trouble for the Journal and they are upset over the allegations. They also believe a Chinese government agent tipped off authorities. In an internal investigation, News Corporation did not find anything wrong.
How did this happen?
“The newspaper believes the bribery allegation came in relation to the Journal’s reporting of events in Chongqing, the province in which disgraced Chinese official Bo Xilai once had a power base.”
and:
“The report also comes in the wake of claims that China has hacked into the systems of US newspapers – allegations that are denied by Beijing.”
The proper authorities are conducting further investigation, while the US, England, and China argue back and forth, name-calling and the like. The new Chinese premier Li Keqiang even made a statement that everyone should forget this event and concentrate on preventing further cyber attacks. Only in a perfect world or if something bigger comes along, like North Korea gaining an atom bomb.
Whitney Grace, March 26, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Cengage: Time to Disengage?
March 25, 2013
Thomson Reuters in “Cengage Learning Hires Restructuring Advisers” reported that a former Thomson property is arranging a modest infusion of cash. “Modest” in this context is about $430 million, which is nothing when compared to the cost of a modern text book. (“See Textbook Prices Are Inflating Even Faster Than Tuition Prices: New Boston University Classifieds for Students Makes Buying Textbooks More Affordable.”)
Cengage used to be Thomson Learning, a sprawling collection of publishing companies. Some of the firms had traditional textbooks; others had combinations of traditional textbooks and electronic versions. My recollection is that the technical infrastructure of the original Thomson Learning was quite diverse. “Diverse” publishing infrastructures in the same organization add significantly to the costs of doing business. “Diverse” is also a stuck brake on innovation because repurposing content is time consuming and labor intensive. Prior to spinning off Thomson Learning to Apax Partners and Omers Capital Partners, Thomson’s senior management were focusing their considerable talents on cost efficiencies. . I assume that the technical infrastructure issues have been resolved.
Debt can be a burden as this illustration from Shape Home Loans suggests?i Does debt enhance agility or is it a financial play disconnected from structural changes such as those described in my “Gadzooks, It’s MOOCs: The Fuss over Open Source Learning” article?
One item in the Thomson Reuters news release caught my attention:
…the company said it had borrowed $430 million, almost all of its remaining credit facility to ensure its businesses have the cash they need. Stamford, Connecticut-based Cengage has a $1.5 billion term loan that matures next year and a total of $5.3 billion of debt as of Dec. 31.
Several observations:
First, this type of cash crunch in publishing is likely to become more common. I wrote a story for Online Searcher about the impact of online learning. There is also a chorus of “if you are smart, you can skip college” echoing around Kentucky. What if the online learning and the “you don’t have to go to college” blend? Companies depending upon the traditional purchasing patterns in education may find that new revenues are not sufficient to keep up with old revenue losses.
Second, the spillover from a Cengage-type of problem will have cascading effects. Examples which come to mind are revenues flowing to such organizations like Ebsco Electronic Publishing, ProQuest, and Wolters Kluwer. These companies are in the education food chain. If Cengage flu becomes contagious, these firms will face some additional financial challenges.
Third, the authors who provide content to the textbook giants have to be paid. With the shift to online courses, some of these authors may take their “fame” and their content and go a new direction. It is now possible for some textbook superstar authors to try to become celebrities. If Google needs knowledge, the company just hires the superstar. Won’t the same approach become possible in the online learning space? Maybe an existing textbook company will corner this market? I am not sure traditional textbook companies have the agility necessary to pull off a slam dunk.
Fourth, the online services like Thomson Reuters’ WestLaw and Reed Elsevier’s LexisNexis may also feel the impact of a shift. On one hand, these systems could gain new content from disaffected textbook publishers and, therefore, more revenue pulling information. On the other hand, traditional online services have been caught flatfooted by the surge in online educational content and may be too late to ride the new revenue train.
Net net: Is it time for customers of Cengage to disengage? A larger question is, “Will the professional publishing and professional online services be able to adjust to yet another sapping of their life blood?” Changes are coming. Many of these shifts will not be gentle, kind, or slow I fear.
Stephen E Arnold, March 25,2013
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