CourseCast of the Week
Episode 0086,
01/24/2009
Title/Description: Wikipedia Checks its Facts, Russian Cybermilitia Attacks, and Other Tech News
Welcome to Course
Technology's CourseCast of the week, Episode 85, recorded January 31, 2009. This
is Ken Baldauf bringing you this week's technology news and information. This CourseCast
is brought to you by Course Technology. Check out www.cengage.com/coursetechnology
for innovative textbooks and creative electronic learning solutions.
Story 1 - Wikipedia Checks
its Facts
Wikipedia is the 10th most
popular Web site in the US,
with around 58.3 million unique visitors last month. What makes the site so
unique is that it has experienced phenomenal success without advertising
revenue by relying on its users to create, edit, and maintain its content - an
approach known as crowd-sourcing. Wikipedia has not been without its detractors
however. Some criticize the site's "free-for-all" approach that they
say provides the Internet community with misinformation posted without a formal
editorial or fact-checking process. Recently the flaws inherent in
crowd-sourcing have been the focus of media attention as wiki pages on U.S. Senators
Edward Kennedy, and Robert Byrd incorrectly stated
that the senators had died.
Wikipedia is responding by
experimenting with a new approach called "Flagged Revisions." In this
scenario, edits proposed for pages on some topics will be placed in a holding
queue where a "trusted editor" will approve or reject the change
within a week. Trusted editors are drawn from the community of users based on
the person's past participation on the site. The new system will provide a
cushion that will hopefully reduce instances of misinformation and
embarrassment for the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation.
The use of flagged
revisions, points to a new direction for Wikipedia, an organization that has
historically put its faith fully in the crowd. One can't help but think that
this decision may have been helped along by Encyclopedia Britannica recent announcement
of its plans to open its doors to the wisdom of the crowd. Competition is a
good thing! In this case, it is my hope that competition between Wikipedia and
Britannica will provide us with an online encyclopedia of everything that is
accurate, up-to-date, and trustworthy.
Wikipedia
may add more fact-checking rules [Computerworld]
Britannica
opens up, aims the "literary canon" at Wikipedia [Ars Technica]
Story 2 - Russian Cybermilitia Attacks
A group of hackers being
called the Russian "cybermilitia" have
coordinated a distributed denial of service, or DDoS
attack against the central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan.The
attack has overwhelmed the two primary Internet service providers in the region
effectively knocking the entire country off the Internet. The attack has
occurred at a time when Russia
is pressuring Kyrgyzstan to
oust foreign air forces including those of the U.S..
A similar attack was
carried out by the same group last year against Georgia during the Russian
invasion. Observing the attack, Don Jackson, the director of threat
intelligence at SecureWorks Inc. expressed concerned
over the speed with which the attack was mounted. Jackson told Computerworld that the attacks
"coincide with events that are core to the Russian interest with increasingly
fast response and quick mobilization."
Russian
'cybermilitia' knocks Kyrgyzstan offline
[Computerworld]
And now for News Briefs...
- The Pope now has his own channel on YouTube. It
includes clips of Pope Benedict XVI's addresses
and masses along with news from the Vatican.
The
Pope goes YouTube [Computerworld]
- Hot on the heals of whitehouse.gov's makeover, the fed's Web site, usa.gov
has gone Web 2.0. The redesigned site includes much-improved access to
government information including news feeds and a gallery of gadget
applications.
Feds'
Web site gets Web 2.0 makeover [Computerworld]
- Google has released Gmail software for PCs that
allows users to store and work with email while offline. To access the new
service, click the Labs tab in Gmail and enable the Offline option.
Google
gets competitive, taking Gmail users offline [Computerworld]
- Amazon is expected to unveil the Kindle 2 at a
news conference scheduled for February 9th.
Amazon.com
expected to unveil Kindle 2 Feb. 9 [Computerworld]
- A recent study by a group of universities shows
that the level of technology deployed in hospitals has a direct impact on
the number of lives saved. Not only does IT automation save lives but it
can also reduce costs.
Hospitals
with better IT have fewer deaths, study shows [Computerworld]
- Tired of your neighbors stealing your Wi-Fi
signal? Researchers have come up with Wi-Fi blocking paint. Paint your
exterior walls to keep your Wi-Fi signal from leaking out.
Block
Wi-Fi Intruders with a Secure Paint Job [PCWorld]
- An Israeli entrepreneur plans to utilize
existing open source courseware to establish a tuition-free Internet
university. The nonprofit venture is named the University of the People.
Global
Online College Would Be Tuition-Free [NewsFactor]
- In tech layoff news this week, Philips is laying off 6,000, Sprint Nextel is letting 8,000 go,
NEC plans to lay off 20,000, and AOL 700.
NEC
Plans to Lay Off 20,000 Workers [NYTimes]
Philips
to trim 6,000 jobs, posts first loss since 2003 [Reuters]
Sprint
Nextel to cut up to 8,000 jobs, take charge [Reuters]
AOL
to cut 700 jobs: internal memo [Reuters]
That's it for this week's CourseCast.
Links to this week's stories and many more news and information resources are
provided at the CourseCast Web site at coursecasts.course.com. Email us with
your suggestions for the show at course.coursecasts@cengage.com.
Until next time, have a great week and be sure to take advantage of the Power
-- of Technology!