Reflective Post

This class has been an experience that I have never had before. I have never been completely in charge of my own learning, never had a blog, and never was required to write in my blog or other people's blog. I had and still have very high expectations for this course, and I have loved it so far!

Giving us the ability to consume, create and connect on our own is a revolutionary idea! In my previous blog post I shared a video that basically explains Digital Civilization. In the end, they show that with all the technology updates that we have, we have to rethink the way we learn. we have to rethink education, connection, and even ourselves.

I think that this first part of the semester has been a great learning experience for me. I learned about Pascal, I discovered a Christian Blog that spoke of Happiness and Pascal, I even facilitated a discussion on languages through my post.

All that being said, I don't think I have gotten the most out of this class. Having a daughter halfway through this midterm period really threw a wrench in my ability to stay caught up with my blog posts. I have found it MUCH harder to fulfill the create requirements for the class, when it comes to writing posts and responding to others.

However, recently I have found an increased ability to consume in my self directing learning. I mentioned a few of the examples above, included Randy Alcorn's blog and Michael Wesch's videos. I started using Diigo (about a week after it was introduced), which has been an amazing tool for this requirement. I definitely see a difference in my self-directed learning when I am able to consume more information from different sources on the internet.

Finally, connecting has been a breeze with the introduction of the Digital Literacy Lab groups. Well, connecting within the class. I was able to meet others in the class and put names and faces to blogs. Having an RSS feed for my fellow bloggers has helped me to connect to others in the class. Meeting with students outside of class for sharing of the Digital Literacy Labs is just as helpful.

Unfortunately, as mentioned above, it has been difficult for me to connect with people outside of the class. Only recently has this become easier and more natural. I know that in the coming months these areas that I am currently lacking will be ironed out. I am beginning to connect and consume outside of the class; I am just disappointed that it has taken me this long. But, as I said, as much as I love my daughter, she really has made it difficult to stay afloat in my classes. Don't worry, this isn't the only one that I am lacking in...

Above all, this class has been great! I absolutely believe that I have learned more from this class than I would have learned from a normal humanities class. Hopefully this post satisfies the reflectiveness...can't wait to meet with you both today!

The purpose of Digital Civilization

So I just found this video that I LOVE! I think it explains the purpose of this class better than the initial video we watched the first couple days of class:

It's done by the same professor that I just posted a video of his on Diggo. It is similar in concept, it shows how youtube has shaped our society and how revolutionizing youtube and web 2.0 in general is. Check it out at Diggo!!

Open Source vs...the world?

While I was gone, there was much discussion pertaining to open source software.

Eric spoke in his post about open source encryption algorithms, Jake wrote about free software, even Professor Zapalla talked about open source science.

I'm going to try and make this post as unbiased as possible....but I make no guarantees.

So, I think that the majority of people care about open-source because its free. Microsoft charges hundreds for their Office Suite, people complain and turn to Open-Source for solutions.

People claim that open source is better because there is much more people looking at the code and making changes. But isn't that a disadvantage as well? So if there is an issue with the software, you have to wait for someone else to find the solution in their spare time!

Now don't get me wrong, I think that open source has its place. Most of the web pages on the internet are being served on Linux machines. For such a wide-use product that is necessary, open source may be the best bet. The configurability of linux servers makes their use for webpages ideal. But for a product, like Office, that provides business and personal solutions, why wouldn't you charge?

Maybe I don't fully understand economics. But if we keep going towards free products, especially free computing products, won't this affect our economy severely? If Microsoft goes out of business, if the second wealthiest person in the world goes out of business, won't everyone feel it?

At Pascal, well, I'm number 1

Blaise Pascal. Inventor of the computing machine. To whom all computer scienctists owe their jobs, knowledge, and lives to. Okay, maybe not that much.

"Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed. The entire universe need not arm itself to crush him. A vapor, a drop of water suffices to kill him. But, if the universe were to crush him, man would still be more noble than that which killed him, because he knows that he dies and the advantage which the universe has over him, the universe knows nothing of this.
All our dignity then, consists in thought. By it we must elevate ourselves, and not by space and time which we cannot fill. Let us endavour then, to think well; this is the principle of morality"

It seems like he was more than just a mathematician, but a philosopher too. After a near-death experience and an encounter with God, he abandoned math and science and became a Christian Philosopher.

Not to mention quite a hairdo

I found a nice blog post from a Randy Alcorn speaking of finding happiness and Pascal's philosophies. Check it out! I'll end with another Pascal quote:

All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves. (Pascal’s Pensées, thought #425, edited by Trotter, 113).

Teaser for post on encyclopedias

Here's a good video to hold my readers over until I finish my post on encyclopedias...

Meetups and Alerts

I finally got to meet with my group for the Digital Literacy Labs---even with my hectic schedule due to a new daughter--have I mentioned how cute she is?

Anyway, I met with Megan and she showed me all about Meetup, a site where you say what your interests are, then 'meetup' with other people who share your interests. Similar to Facebook groups, but far superior.

With Meetup, you can specify where you want to meet and about what topic. So, if I'm heading back to MD for a couple weeks, but I want to find people to watch the BYU football games with, I have a medium to find those people! Pretty cool huh? The only downside is it costs 12 buck a month to host a meetup. I think this explains why there aren't that many people on the site hosting meetups, but a TON of people who are trying to join some.

I had the chance to look into alerts. Alerts are a pertty sweet way to stay on top of what the internet holds. I chose Google Alerts, although there are alerts for various library databases and news sites.

A google alert will check the internet (using a google search) every so often, and will send you an alert, by email or RSS feed, when something new is posted. Since the content on the Internet is ever-changing, this feature is essential when doing research for a class, or when you're just trying to stay on top of news for a particular topic.

Here's what you need to do to use Google Alerts:

1. Go to alerts.google.com
2. Enter your search text you want to use.
3. You can narrow your search down more to what type of content you want. Options include: News, Blogs, Updates, Video, and Discussion.
4. Choose how often you want the alerts. Once a day, once a week, or as it happens.
5. How many results to post in an email (if you choose email).
6. Your email address. If you are signed into Google, you can also post the results to your RSS feed. This is what I did, so I can read them with all my other updates I get from around the web.

Its that Easy!!

You just have to be careful as to what you search for, and what type you search for. My search of BYU football with Everything as the content has pulled almost 1000 results in just 10 days! The more specific you search, the more meaningful content you receive.

Where have I been?

Many of you probably haven’t noticed, but I have been absent from my blog for about a week!

I hope that the professors can forgive me, but I have had my hands somewhat full with…

MY NEW DAUGHTER!!!

Ruby Lea Twining was born on September 14, 2010 at 11:17pm.

Needless to say, I have been trying to catch up on sleep, but I fear this challenge (sleep deprivation, not my daughter) will continue for years to come.

Today I am hoping to play catch-up with my posts, so please don’t get mad if I fill your RSS feeds with Notes from a Nerd.

Just remember Ruby, and you can’t be mad because seriously, isn’t she so adorable?

Martin Luther and Open Source pt2

I think that Martin Luther's story is very similar to modern times with the battle over open-source code. Open Source means that the code for a program, the nuts and bolts about how it runs, is available for everyone who wants it. Linux is an open source Operating system that is extremely popular among many computer scientists due to its complete configuration ability. Since the entire code is available, people can manipulate the code to do exactly what they want it to do, and not have to worry about pre-configured systems.
On the other hand of open source is closed source. You can probably guess what this means; the code is hidden from the public eye. It's copyrighted and protected from viewing and manipulating. Microsoft Windows and Office, Adobe CS4 Suite, and many other programs are examples of closed source.

There are even software packages that are a combination of closed and open. Mac OS (Apple's Operating System) is this type. It has many open-source base components with some design concepts and code proprietary

We talked today in class about open government, and I thought of this correlation between open, closed, and a combination. In my mind, a combination is the way to go! (I can't believe I'm giving props to Apple...) Having some portions of the government hidden and secret is essential to the security, privacy, and well being of its citizens. But, as citizens, we should be entitled to know some of the inner workings of the government, and not just be consider ignorant.

Martin Luther and Open Source pt1

Before the early 1500's there were mainly two religions for all Europeans to align with. The Catholic Church, and the (Greek) Orthodox. These two churches relied on a mainly authoritative sovereignty. What the leaders of church declared, interpreted, or read was what the congregations believed and understood.

Suddenly, things began to change. With the invention of the printing press, suddenly books, scriptures, and all manner of literature became available to the average churchgoer. People became more literate and more open-minded. They began to read about the classical traditions of the past, and began to think freely for themselves.

The Man of the 1500's

Martin Luther was one of those people who took charge of his beliefs. He read scriptures, interpreted them for himself, and realized that something needed to change with the current religious situation in Europe. He wrote his 95 Theses, his beefs with the Catholic Church. He was persecuted and prosecuted by the Church for speaking out against their beliefs. He stood firm, defying them even while on trial.

"I neither can nor will recant anything, for it is neither safe nor right to act against one's conscience...Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. So help me, God. Amen."

Here's a trailer for a really good movie about Luther's story. The trailer doesn't do it much justice, but here it is anyway!

Movable Type of the 20th Century

The year is 1450.
Johannes Gutenberg revolutionized the world with his invention of the printing press. With this invention, literature, scriptures, and knowledge in general was made readily available to anyone and everyone.

From the Introduction of our reading:
"Printing not only preserved the great works of the past but opened minds to new ideas." (link)

In 1999, A&E Network ranked Gutenberg at the top of their "People of the Millenium." It is impossible to describe the impact this man and his invention.

The Man and the Beard!

How does this invention compare to the modern times? Funny you should ask....

Aww...No beard?

The year is 1969 (approx).
Larry Roberts revolutionized the world with his invention of the Internet. With this invention, literature, scriptures, and knowledge in general was made readily available to anyone and everyone. (See a trend?)

Larry didn't really invent the internet as we know it.
"During the Cold War, many more mainframes were brought online to accomplish more complex and sophisticated tasks. It became necessary to find a way to enable these mainframes to communicate with each other by means of a less cumbersome process than mailing magnetic tapes between computer centers. In response to this need, the Department of Defense's Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA) began examing the feasibility of a redundant, networked communications system to support the military's exchange of information. Larry Roberts developed the project from its inception." (link)

So Larry created the Internet idea of having computers networked together. This ARPANET became more and more popular during the 70's and 80's. In the mid-80's Tim Berners-Lee invented what we consider the World Wide Web. Tim was the inventor of HTML (Hyper-Text Markup Language). Basically, the ability to associate a word, link, or picture with another website, essentially linking everything together in a big web.

So there you have it! A short short history of the internet (no, it wasn't invented by Al Gore!) The printing press made information much more available several hundred years ago, and the Internet makes EVERYTHING available now.

Programming Languages

Its amazing when you consider the evolution of a language. Take English for example:

You can't talk about Hamlet without having a skull picture!

Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1:

"To be, or not to be? That is the question—

Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And, by opposing, end them? To die, to sleep—

No more—"

Translates to:

"The question is: is it better to be alive or dead?
Is it nobler to put up with all the nasty things
that luck throws your way, or to fight against all those troubles
by simply putting an end to them once and for all?
Dying, sleeping—that’s all dying is—" (link)

Translates to:

"2b or no 2b...." (just kidding, I would never try to translate this!)

People always complain about modern talk jargon on the internet (LOLs etc), but seriously, how is this different from the evolution of shakespeare to modern english? People probably said the same things we did, "My! I dost not believe Mary! How can she simply drop the -st on dost?!?! Do? Is that even a word?"

Anyway, the topic of my post is programming languages. Here's a bit of nerd for you:

http://oreilly.com/news/graphics/prog_lang_poster.pdf

That link has a poster of The History of programming languages. It all began with a single language in 1954 called Fortran. Every programming language (at least in this graph) is derived from Fortran. What is interesting to note is the MASSIVE evolution of languages. All of the active languages in modern day didn't even exist 20 years ago! Putting it in different terms, all of today's programming languages will be obsolete in 25 years.

Hopefully this gives you a little more insight into how hard it must be to be a computer programmer today. We are constantly changing, updating, and trying to stay afloat in the every changing programming world. All the languages I program in for my job didn't exist when I was born!

AI and chess....an unlikely combination

Brother Zapalla wrote and discussed Artifical Intelligence in class and in his blog post earlier last week. I wrote a short paper on this topic a year or so ago, and thought I would share it with everyone...

In the past 20 years, as the Information Technology realm has developed, technology has grown by leaps and bounds. In 1981, the first IBM personal computer was launched. It had a whopping 4.77 m Hz processor and anywhere from 16-256 KB of RAM. Now, a little over 20 years later, one can buy a computer for a thousandth of the cost of the first IBM computer that is a thousand times more powerful. The more you learn about machines and computer, the more you wonder how far will the power, capabilities, and intelligence of a computer be pushed. In Abu Dhabi, there lies a computer...rather a network of 64 computers, each with 3.06 G Hz processor and with over 512 GB of RAM called Hydra. These computers all work together for one purpose: Checkmate.



Every since the computer's inception, there have been people trying to code strong chess programs to see how “smart” a computer can be. However, these programs coupled with the speed and available memory of the given computers proved to be no match for the human brain. In as early as the 1960's humans would play computers and would win by a landslide. International Chess master David Levy made a wager of 1250 pounds that no computer could beat him in 10 years. He won that bet, as every computer to come his way was met with defeat over the chessboard. However, technology did catch up with Levy, as he lost his first game to a computer in 1989. Since then, the computers have reigned supreme.

Ross reports a number of world-champion Grandmasters who have lost the battle to computers. Most of them, in fact. Britain's Mickey Adams(ranked 7th in the world), Uzebekistan's Rustam Kasimdzhanov, both fell to computer in the same week. What has caused this change in power? Ross states that “First, the best humans now playing are simply not as good as the former. . . Second, the machines are getting smarter. Their programmers are learning how to counter anti-computer strategies.”(link) These programmers are doing what was unthinkable in the 1960's: programming the computer to think like a human.

The human-computer interface and the idea of AI is a newer part of the Information Technology field, but it is a part nonetheless. The human-computer interface has been relevant for a number of years. However, being able to program a computer that deep and specific is one thing, but going through with it and doing it is something else. A matter of ethics comes into play when this in introduced. Is the human brain just a computer? Can it be simulated? Should it be simulated? These are just a few questions that may arise when facing this decision. This is not an intent to persuade one way or the other, but rather to inform of the sides of this controversy. People may say that technology hasn't gone that far yet. However, Mickey Adams said that, “Hydra plays very well indeed. Very often it plays human-style chess, which is strange.” Also, Bulgaria's Veselin Topalov(ranked 3rd in the world), had this to say after losing to new model of Fritz(a popular program like Hydra), “What have you done to Fritz?”

Hydra (Part 1) - Funny home videos are a click away

For those of you interested....

Utopia?

So, I learned at class that these posts should be posted before class. Oops. Well, I'll get ahead of the game from now on...

Utopia has been the talk of philosophers since Thomas More coined the phrase in 1516. Although More did not intend to create a 'perfect' society, the word has been used to describe such in modern times.

Many people write about the possibility of Utopia. Kevin, in our class, discusses possibility of Utpoia in his blog post. I would rather want to pose the question: Should Utopia be possible?

The Giver by Lois Lowry has been one of favorite childhood books. It begins by introducing the reader to a utopian society with no feelings, no color, and seemingly perfect harmony. This tends to be the underlying theme of all utopian fiction. It might seem perfect, but it is far from ideal.

Since I LOVE movies so much, I turn to cinema for how society has portrayed cinema. There are several utopian movies that I have seen, but each has a catch. Gattaca, Logan's Run, Wall-e, The Stepford Wives, Blade Runner, Minority Report, Equilibrium all have elements of utopia, but all have the flaws of utopia as well.

In this technological world, we have the ability to create utopias for ourselves. Second Life, The Sims, and World of Warcraft all provide a (possibly) utopian virtual world for us to escape to. These levels of Virtual Reality can only take us away from the real world around us. (See Lawnmower Man for a perfect example of getting too caught up in the unreal).



Kevin pointed out in his post that "If there are no challenges and problems, how could we progress?" I would go further to say that 'if there is no evil, how would we know good?"

A utopian society may be successful for the Millennium, but until then, I will take my flawed world. In all actuality, a flawed world is a perfect world.

All About Me!

Growing up, we always had a computer in our home. My dad was constantly trying to stay on top of the latest technology trends to help manage his electrical business. We had one of the 486 computers from the early 90's and almost everything since. I grew up learning to use a Word processor called WordStar. All it was a blue screen with white text and 3 basic menu selections....ahh those were the days of MS-DOS based games and basic windows.

The best game EVER!!

(for about 6 months before A Link to the Past was released)

Even though I grew up with computers all around me, I wasn't the most proficient in programming or changing hardware or computer hacking skills. I felt that I still had a life outside of computers, and I think that's why I didn't end up a CS major. (Sorry Professor!). If it helps, I do have a CS minor...

I started BYU in the fall of 2003. I had NO idea what I wanted to do with my life at ALL! But, after a few years of taking classes, having fun, and getting married, I finally settled on IT as a major. I think of IT as the jack of trades with computers. We do some programming, some hardware, some project management, some database administration, basically, a little of everything. Plus we have people skills (Sorry again Professor!).

So here I am, about to graduate BYU in 'just a shade under a decade'(brownie points if you know this movie) and I'm just taking my second civilization course. I really am glad I waited this long, because this class is going to be awesome! How many times can I take a humanities class from a CS professor? (Does this make up for my jokes, Brother Zapalla?)


Fast Facts:
Born: Salisbury, MD
Raised: Salisbury, MD
Graduated HS: Salisbury, MD
Met my wife: Salisbury, MD (See a trend?)
Mission: Budapest, Hungary 04-06
Married: November 30, 2007
Expecting: a Girl on September 21st (or whenever she wants to come!)
Graduating: April 2011
Major: Information Technology
Minor: Computer Science