Caught My Eye - 09/01/08

Internet and Stupidity - What's the connection?

This discussion seems to be the buzz right now - Is the Internet making us stupid or not? I tend to believe not as I explained in the earlier post on the same topic.

The Critics Need a Reboot. The Internet Hasn't ...
On the contrary: The explosion of knowledge represented by the Internet and abetted by all sorts of digital technologies makes us more productive and gives us the opportunity to become smarter, not dumber.

I agree completely.

29 Marbles / The internet doesn’t make people stupid…

If we do find ourselves in a new dark ages, it won’t be caused by the internet. It will be caused by people. (Of course, the internet will be there to document it all ;-)

These lines capture it the best! :)

Turning Diaries to Blogs.

Here are two interesting blogs that document the diaries of people from a different era. They are both posted in real-time, with just the year changing. What also seems interesting to me is that one of them is a World War I soldier's experiences, while the other one is George Orwell's experiences and thoughts, who was a political commenter during World War II!
Do you know of more such diaries that have been turned into blogs?


WW1: Experiences of an English Soldier

This blog is made up of transcripts of Harry Lamin's letters from the first World War. The letters will be posted exactly 90 years after they were written. To find out Harry's fate, follow the blog!

This blog is a collection of letters Harry Lamlin wrote to his siblings. I've just started reading it, and it seems to be very interesting, more like a story than a collection of essays.

About « THE ORWELL PRIZE

Orwell’s ‘domestic’ diaries begin on 9th August 1938/2008; his ‘political’ diaries (which are further categorised as ‘Morocco’, ‘Pre-war’ and ‘Wartime’) begin on 7th September 1938/2008.

I have to confess, I haven't read Orwell's work before. The domestic diaries are a little dull. I'm sure the "political" ones will be the ones to watch out for.

Language Pointers

Language Log » Hillary unwavers?

If a desert island is uninhabited by humans, it doesn't follow that humans uninhabit it. Likewise, if half the money was unaccounted for, that doesn't mean that anyone unaccounted for it. And you can say that someone's support was unwavering, but you can't say that it unwavered.

It's easy to fall into these traps. There have been several instances when I've commented or changed something a writer has written, but haven't been able to exactly describe why it is wrong. You know the the times when you know something doesn't read right, but you're not sure why? These "un" words used as verbs fall into that category for me. And this article has thrown some light on the why.

CJR: Comma Suture
“Seldom has the distinction between a restrictive and a nonrestrictive clause been more important,” wrote Dean Mills, who happens to be the dean of the University of Missouri School of Journalism.

I'm someone who struggles with getting the commas in the right place everyday. And I sometimes feel that it's much ado about nothing (well almost). I mean how much of the audience cares about a serial comma. It should be okay as long as the meaning is clear. But this, evidently, is an instance where the humble comma makes all the difference.

What an IDEA!

I just love the Idea ads for Mumbai! I’ve heard the radio ones and seen the print ones. They have the right touch of satire, and they echo the sentiments of (dare I say) most Mumbaikars.

The recent vitriolic comments against out-of-state people who have made Mumbai their home were getting too hard to digest. I am a third-generation Mumbaikar. My roots are here, in this city. I cannot call any other city my home. But, my family’s roots do lie somewhere else in the country as well. How does that make me any less loyal or true to this city where I’ve been born and lived all my life?!

Sure, migrants may be causing infrastructure issues here. But, to insinuate that “non-Maharashtrians” are “taking away” jobs from “locals” is pretty stupid. Mumbai has always been known as the land of opportunity in the country. Anyone from anywhere with the right amount of talent and dedication can make a mark for themselves here. So, what is holding the so called “sons of the soil” back?

Of course, most people know that these are all political gimmicks. Raking up long-dead and pseudo-patriotic issues is an old ploy. If there are no issues, rake up something! The sad part is that these non-issues are affecting our image as a global cosmopolitan city. They’re beginning to damage the city’s social fabric.

What happens if one day, fed up with the constant bickering and turmoil, the Tatas, Ambanis, Birlas, Bachchans, Khans, Chopras, et al decided to get up and leave this city. Or people like them, who have the potential to transform the economy of the country, decide not to come here anymore? Do they really think Mumbai will continue to be the vibrant economic hub of the country? Aren’t we a country first? Shouldn’t the country’s progress come before all else? What happens if every city, every state decides that out-of-towners cannot live or work there? Where will we as a nation stand then?

All said and done, knowing the spirit of Mumbai, politically-motivated strategies like these will not affect us. What will affect us are ads like these. Congratulations to Lowe and Idea Cellular for the brilliant campaign!

What Caught My Eye Today

How I Stole Someone's Identity: Scientific Amer...
The author asked some of his acquaintances for permission to break into their online banking accounts. The goal was simple: get into their online accounts using the information about them, their families and acquaintances that is freely available online

Pretty scary. Although some commenters did mention a few loopholes in this "experiment", I have to go and figure out my weak links now!

Gmail Account Automatic Hacking Tool Presented ...
A tool that automatically steals IDs of non-encrypted sessions and breaks into Google Mail accounts has been presented at the Defcon hackers’ conference in Las Vegas.

I'll use https:// from now on...

The world's largest English dialect

Is it Indian English? Perhaps, but Chinglish is a close second, and may already have overtaken the language of the angrejiwallahs (which actually consists of several dialects).

Check out the colossal blunder link on this post!

What Caught My Eye Today

If You Use the Web, You May Have Already Been E...
"We are getting people to help us digitize books at the same time they are authenticating themselves as humans," von Ahn says. "Every time people are typing these [answers] out, they are actually taking old books or newspapers and helping to transcribe them."

Who knew that we're working even while we're logging into a website! I have to admit that this is a novel and obviously a very productive idea. But, I don't think completely understand how this works. Aren't they supposed to be validating what we enter? And if that is the case, shouldn't someone or a computer have already "decrypted" the letters??

Is Google Making Us Stupid?
And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.

I agree to this, but only in part. Very rarely do I take the trouble of reading every word of a resource online. I'll first scan to see if it has what I want or interests me. Then, I may or may not give it a second or third read. But, does that mean it's making us stupid? We're processing far more information faster. We don't need to spend hours poring over a book to realize that it's not what we were looking for. We can search for exactly what we want, get much more information, filter the information faster, and (I believe) process the information better. I believe that the Internet has played a large and effective role in enhancing self-learning. Sure we generally skim through the surface, but the important point is that if something really catches our interest, we make it a point to read it through completely. We'll bookmark it, add our own comments, go back to it when we have more time or when we need the information again. The point is if the Internet was only about skimming through stuff and not analyzing and understanding the information we really want to, this post wouldn't have generated so much discussion in the first place.

Andrew McAfee
I don’t see why everyone shouldn’t be following in our footsteps. We’re amused when we hear about companies banning sites like Facebook at work. You hear things like "it is a distraction to workers", so are you banning cell phones because Facebook has a great app that resides on mobile devices, what’s stopping them from accessing it there? Often we hear, "aren’t you concerned about confidential information being put on Facebook (or the internet in general)?", our response is "if someone wants to release confidential information about your company maliciously they will find a way to release it". Ironically, since people tend to use their real names on Facebook posting confidential information is the least of our worries, it doesn’t take much to track who posted what and when. We also hear "aren’t you afraid that if all your employees are on Facebook that recruiters will start poaching your best talent?", our response is "if you create a corporate culture that embraces the fact that your employees are people and gives them numerous ways to not only contribute but help shape both the direction and the image of the community they are part of then we trust that we will always have an engaged workforce." We started this off by saying every employee in our company is a PR person, a marketer, a developer, etc.., We want everyone that wants the opportunity to get involved.

Facebook as a company intranet? That's very interesting. But, does it work for Serena only because of the way their company is structured? I know there are organizations where not only will the management consider it to be a waste of time, but the employees themselves probably won't want another "task" added to their workload. But, it could just be a matter of time. Once people realize the benefits and the need for Web 2.0 implementation, the use and participation will grow further. The managements will benefit from the "free" marketing, while the employees will benefit from developing closer friendships and support groups at work. As far as "wasting" time goes, it's hard enough to find enough time to finish your work for the day, will someone really spend hours doing this stuff for fun if they have other more pressing tasks to complete?

I'm registered on a few social networking sites. And I don't really get the time to log in or message my friends that often. But, I will NEVER delete my account on these sites. Simply because these sites have put me back in touch with a number of my long-lost friends. I still dont keep in touch with them regularly, but if I feel like talking to any of them at any time or if they want to get in touch with me, we know there's a way for us to do that...wherever in the world we might be.