One thing that has always fascinated me about email address sucking virii, is the implied connections they make.  For example in the latest MyDoom outbreak I received an email that appeared to be from someone at CBS.  The message hit my personal account and the CBS address appeared legit.  Neither address turns up on the web in any easily found spot essentially ruling out addresses sucked from a web cache.  That leaves address books.  Someone out there has my address and this other address in their book, creating some masked Kevin Bacon effect.

Social software systems are the current rage, offering the ability to connect you to some vast network of potential colleagues.  But in reality the networks often get large and unwieldly and take too much care and feeding to maintain.  I think this sort of netwokr already exists in address books.  Suppose the capability existed to post your book in a secure spot.  It is then scanned and email is sent to the folks inside letting them know that this was happening and giving them the opportunity to opt out.  If they opt in, they are given opportunity to do 2 things: upload an addressbook, and search for links.

The links in this case would be between listings in a given addressbook using the owner as an introduction.  By opting in to the network I would have access to addresses in books in which I appear and by getting added to more books, my links would increase.  Neat.

10:23:56 AM    comment []  

WikiTravel. Yup. Just what you think it is. Check it out. [Lessig Blog]

WikiLaw anyone?

9:37:15 AM    comment []  

Xplana:  In your experience, what is the biggest obstacle to the further
integration of technology into education?

JS: We often get ourselves stuck when we try to retrofit a new technology into a conventional way of doing things. When the Internet is used only for disseminating information, you end up asking yourself why it wasn't just put on a CD-ROM. When distance education is implemented as a broadcast of someone lecturing, with some minimal Q and A at the end, we're left with a feeling of, "Oh, is that it?" By not venturing out of the box, we end up disappointing ourselves and subsequently giving up. Instead of blaming ourselves, however, we often blame the technology instead.

[PubSub: "distance education"]

This is a good quote.  Lots of DE or classroom tech efforts are simply attempts to stuff old methods into a new bag with the tech blamed when it fails.  The to tech in education is to use it ot expand and change the way learning takes place.  In legal education, for example, don't just beam a talking head into a room half way across the country.  Use the tools of the web and the net to bring together students from remote locations and give them unfettered access to the materials they need to learn to be better advocates.  Teach them how to find and organize the information, track down new sources. 

8:55:22 AM    comment []  

Security firm warns of new IE flaw. A security services company points out a new vulnerability in Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser that could allow Web surfers to be tricked into downloading malicious files. [CNET News.com - Front Door]

This appears to be the same flaw discovered some three years ago but not yet fixed.  Combined with the flaw revealed last year but not yet patched, a bad guy could trick you into visiting a site that wasn't what you expected and get you to download a file that you don't want.  Not good.

7:38:27 AM    comment []