Saturday, January 24, 2009

The Dark Side of the Web -Internet Malware

Did you know that there are scammers who specialize in scamming the scammers? (Maybe this would be the Light-Dark Side of the Web? or would it be the Dark-Dark Side?).
These 'scam-baiters' often compete to see which one can exact the most elaborate revenge upon the scammer, such as convincing a scammer to carve an exact replica of a computer out of wood, or even to write out the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy by hand:(http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200706/cyberscam).
Scam-baiting affecionados often participate in online 'trophy rooms' where they proudly display their victories, for example http://www.419eater.com/.
Please note that while I don't advocate this sort of electronic-frontier revenge, I confess to finding it of anthropological interest.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Life Long Learning 2.0

This topic (Life Long Learning 2.0) strongly appealed to the pragmatist in me. One reason is because life long learning is so integral to the library institution. Yet another reason is the idea of using virtual technology to accomplish real-world goals like earning a degree or fixing a car.
I am always impressed with the scope of content available from e-how and how-stuff-works. These sites are especially useful because you can scan the text quickly (or slowly) to pull out the concepts that you need. I have found everything from answers to home-improvement conundrums to delicious recipes.
And while instructables and 5-min-lifeopedia do not have as broad a scope and are not as easy to scan, I appreciate the benefits that 'seeing' can add to the learning process, especially when learning something entirely unfamiliar. Learning to change a tire, for example, could be befuddling if you have no idea what a lug nut, jack, or tire iron look like. In such cases the extra visual is worth much more than 1000 words.