Reflections on Session 4

There was a general consensus that Twitter was mindless chatter or it was a breach of security to the brink of stalking. Frankly, I sort of feel the same way. I've had a Twitter account for several months now and I don't really get it. I find it tedious to keep tweeting and I guess because I am not into texting on my cell. However, I do follow Rob Pegoraro, the techie columnist from the Washington Post, and has gotten some good info from him.

One concern I have with this close is that I suspect some of my students need to have an open mind about technology. Several of the students already decided that they hated Twitter even before trying this. This is dangerous. It's okay to be skeptical but one should be willing to accept new ideas even though it does not impact them directly. One example is FaceBook, where lots of folks thought it was a waste of time (and still do). But some folks found it to be a new communication channel so that they could talk to their kids or locate old pals.

So, please keep an open mind when investigating these technologies. You may end up having to manage them some day! :)



Reflections on Session 3

There were many interesting comments on Zillow, the focus of our last mini-project. The database behind the system reflects many issues facing other databases -- data integrity (accuracy) problems, interface issues and security/privacy concerns (should people know how many bathrooms I have?). It impacts people's professions sometimes for the better and sometimes not. Oh, the power of the database!