Security

An article by Shreeraj Shah points out some of the things that concern me about using the internet and downloading applications. In the six weeks we have been learning about integrated internet technology I have been down loading programs left and right. I have signed up for so many services I'm not sure I even remember them all. Each time I download another application I wonder if I just opened my computer up to worms or viruses or security breaches. This article seems to indicate that it is quite possible that I am indeed doing just that.

"AJAX, RIA and Web services are three important technological vectors for the WEB 2.0 application space. These technologies are promising and bring new equations to the table, empowering overall effectiveness and efficiency of Web applications. With these new technologies come new security issues, and ignoring them can lead to big disasters for the corporate world. In this article, the discussion was restricted to only ten attacks but there are several other attack vectors as well. Increased WEB 2.0 security awareness, secure coding practices and secure deployments offer the best defense against these new attack vectors(Shah)."

I have not experienced any noticeable problems other that it takes the computer a lot longer to boot up now than it did before I started this course. But at the same time the applications I have been working with are quite powerful and will be very helpful in my position as a teacher.
My hope is that the providers of these great web applications will be vigilant in protecting the user from security risks. I also realize that it is the users responsibility to be vigilant in keeping virus software up-to-date and not giving to much personal information over the internet.

As a teacher it will necessary for me to warn my students of the risks that are out there when using the internet. Since I am teaching adults what is most concerning to me is the security of their personal information and protection of their computers against attack.


Shah, S. Top 10 Web 2.0 Attack Vectors,
http://www.net-security.org/article.php?id=949

Integrated Web Application

I have been very pleased with the results of using the web 2.0 application InkScape. It is a free vectors graphics program. It is downloadable from the application website. I can see that it would be an excellent resource for my students.

The program is well suited for students in the drafting program. The program is designed to integrate digital photos into a vector graphics tool. For the drafting and design students it would be used for importing images that they have taken or found on the internet and alter the images with drawing tools and text.

An ideal lesson that would integrate this program would be for students to take or find photos of historic building types and use the text editing tools to describe the unique features of the building.

Another type of lesson for the design students would be to add an addition to an existing house by creating the image over a digital photo they have taken. Here is an example; Robin's addition

Students would be able to put the free download onto their personal computers. If they are using UAS computers they are not able to download software. I would encourage our IT department to allow this program to be installed on the UAS server.

The website URL is http://Inkscape.org

Widgets/Gadgets

Google Gadgets

1. To my iGoogle home page I added a gadget for timing things.

This turned out to be less than useful. I thought I might use it to keep me from running over on time spent on projects. You have to be on the google homepage to use it.

1. I also added a gadget with a time of day and calendar.

This is a nice to have on my home page since I don't have any walls to hang a calendar on.

1. I also added a gadget to access wikipedia and You Tube.

Having this feature on my homepage is useful though I don't go to those sources often. With this gadget I don't have to type in a URL to go to the sites they are always there on the homepage.

All of these are part of the Google customizable features for creating your own homepage.

Yahoo Widgets

1. Unit Converter by CalcMatic
"Converts familiar measurements into a scale that you know. Be it metric, imperial, SI, or something from ye olde times, this converter probably has it. It converts between different scale.."

This widget is useful for the work I do in design. I need to convert ares into volumes for grading fill calculations. It's also useful to have a converter on the desktop, where it is installed.

2. Universal Converter by Raja Sha
"This one Widget can convert various measurements to any unit for you. "

This converter is even better. It is more intuitive to use. Seems better designed for the user than the converter mentioned above. It's more compact on the desktop. I'll probably keep using this converter and unistall the other.

3. Time Vault by Laurent Cozic
"Time Vault is a free Widget that will help keep track of the time you spend on any given task. Click the play button when you start and click it once you have finished."

This is a handy tool for me to keep track of time spent on projects. I will use this as I am preparing class material for my AutoCAD classes. If I know how long I have to spend on a project then it gives me an idea how long I can expect students to take on the same or similar projects.

4. Kalculator by Daniel Dickison
"A Widget designed to behave very much like standard issue calculators. Includes trig, square root, exponents, logarithm and inverse functions. controllable by mouse and keyboard. Some useful features are init conversions, displays for memory content and repeated operations, hexidecimal display, and a minimized mode that snaps to screen edges.
Click and hold on the number display for unit conversion, copy, hex, and donations."

Like the converter it is really nice to have a calculator waiting at the ready on the desktop. This is compact and easy to use.

You Tube worth watching

While exploring the You Tube site I found the most remarkable video about bringing water to the desert. I think this is a great example of people making a difference in the world using simple technology and brainpower to find simple solutions to difficult problems. Permaculture in Action - Greening The Desert Uploaded: 8 months ago From: permascience

Loading... Permaculture in Action - Greening the Desert - Geoff Lawton's Ground Breaking implementation of Permaculture in The Dead Sea Valley. This video illustrates how Permaculture design techniques can restore a Salt Ridden Degraded Landscape to a flourishing and diverse Oasis. For more information about Geoff and his Permaculture work please visit; http://www.permaculture.org.au

Adobe Air-Agile Agenda

I have downloaded a free trial of Agile Agenda, an Adobe Air compatible product. The application is designed to do scheduling. One of the classes I teach is Construction Planning and Scheduling so this product seemed appropriate for me to evaluate.

The cost of a single license for the full application is $109. which for scheduling software is extremely reasonable . The developer is currently offering a discount for the product to the first group of users($89). There are also price breaks for multiple licenses. The application is still being developed and claims it will include more features as it continues to evolve.

The program was easy to install. It is easy to use, if familiar with scheduling programs. I think it would be intuitive for anyone to use even if unfamiliar with scheduling programs. It has great graphics that make sense. It's very easy to modify everything that has been written into the schedule as it is being created.

It is meaningful and purposeful for my teaching assignment as well as for use in my profession. My hope is that as the developer continues making improvements that the cost of the application will stay reasonably priced.

Mashup

I have found three mashups that I think I'll like using.

Mashup #1
The first is a builders site that has mashed up a RSS feed as well as a link to FlickR to create a site to discuss sustainable architecture. http://www.builderstudiovt.com/ This is basically a website that has included an RSS feed and uses FlickR making it more than just a website. I don't think this is truly in the spirit of what mashups are all about but I did find it going through mashable.com.
The site is easy to navigate and has information that is timely and interesting. The site provides information and discussion which is relevant to my interests and the subjects I am teaching. Contributors to the sites blog are very thoughtful and articulate writers.

Mashup #2
The next mashup is more clearly a mashup than the one described above. As describe in wikipedia it is an aggregator and an application running together to create another application. This is a mashup of a news aggregator and google maps. Each news story is linked to a point on a google map. http://newsmapper.googlemashups.com/
The reason I chose this mashup is that I have to get out my atlas whenever I'm reading world news to pinpoint where the story is taking place. I have always read the news this way and I am thrilled with the idea of not having to lug around an atlas .
The application was easy to install, with no instructions necessary for installation or use. This is a personal application and has no real relevance to my profession.

Mashup #3
The next mashup I found that I liked is the BBC mashup that brings both the BBC world news and the BBC news together in one aggregator.http://bbcfeed.googlemashups.com/
This is very much a personal interest mashup and unrelated to my profession.

Exploring Web Applications

Firefox - web app #1

I have recently downloaded Firefox to my computer. I chose to use Firefox because many people I work with and many other students are using it and seem to like it a lot. I have been using it for about a week and also like it a lot. It has a clean look. It's easy to use. It asks you if you want it to remember your password when you log on to a new site. I like that features as I can never remember my passwords. It's customizable with add-ons. I have downloaded several add-ons to use with Firefox.

The first add-on I loaded was Fast Dial which puts all of my frequently used sites on one tab for quick access. Since installing it I use Fast Dial all the time. It is a great help in keeping me organized and making access to my frequently used websites in one easy to find place.

I also found Zotero and added it to Firefox. It is a research organizing application. As you find things of interest on the internet you can mark them and enter them into Zotero. Access to Zotero is through an icon that is attached at the bottom of the browser screen. It allows you to take a snap shot of a page and easily pastes it into a file folder for later use and reference. You can then add notes and tags. You can create folders and pages within the folders. You can easily attach photos or images from a website or another application into your folders. No more researching for webpages are photos you found while looking up information and resources while searching the inernet.

Luminote - web app #2

Luminotes is the first web2.0 application software I am downloading for the ed693 web applications assignment. I chose this application because I have been using OneNote by microsoft on my work computer and Luminotes is a free application that seemed like it would serve the same purpose. Here is the link to the application https://luminotes.com
Luminotes will allow me to take notes and collect them into notebooks in an application I will then have access to the notes no matter where I am. It is a web based word processing program. Because it is web based your notebooks are available on any computer that has internet access.

Linoit - web app #3

I just uploaded a sticky note application which I think will be useful to help me stay organized. Here is the link to my current page.
http://linoit.com/canvas/rgilcrist/school%20notes
This app was super easy to access, upload and start using.

• You can customize the background and select the color of sticky note you want to post.
• It has a built in spell checker
• You can upload photos as a sticky.
• All the stickies can be moved around on your personal canvas.

I just learned that it e-mails you to remind you of what you have on your canvas. How cool is that?

InkScape - web app #4
I have been using the free graphic program InkScape this week for creation of a project for another class I am currently taking. This has given me the opportunity to really get into the program and evaluate under pressure. It is a vector graphics editing program. It is pretty easy to use. Though it is not really intuitive to use. I have had to spend a lot of time with the tutorials but they are very good. I have created several graphics that combine photos and text. Here is a poster I created for use in the classroom using InkScape.