Technology changed in the past 5 years? What are the ways it remains the same?

In the last 5 years, technology has changed the way classes are being taught, Student's taking note, communicating with one another etc... Things that were once difficult are now so simple no one thinks of them. With technology, online education was possible. Students with busy life can take online classes 100 miles from the campus, They can easily contact their instructor, even get all their text books electronically.
Our learning environment has change with technology, campus are posting lecture podcast on their website so student can download it and listening at his leisure.Everything can be digitize, student have their class on the "go".

Despite all the change, face to face meeting still important and had an impact in learning.

What are our responsibilities as merchants of change?

It's not the progress I mind, it's the change I don't like. —Mark Twain

As increasingly advance computer systems are designed, and implemented, IT professionals have to update their skills to stay current. These changes are happening every year with the release of new OS or version of OS, applications, hardware etc...the changes are not only effecting IT professional but, they inevitably affect larger groups of people. In turn, the major challenges to a new system implementation success are often more behavioral than technical.

Over the years, I lead new projects to implement or migrate to a new system. Successfully implementation of such systems into complex organizations requires an effective blend of good technical and good organizational skills.

Unfortunately , there are People who vigorously resist its implementation and can bring a “technically best” system to its knees.Resisting to change is in human nature, people feel that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", and beside, they spend all these year mastering the application, now you are making their skill irrelevant.

As professional , whatever position we hold, we are end up being blame for the pain the users experience.Your name will be on the failure even your deliver the technology, if users resist the change, your design must be the problem. This is the nature of our business when it comes to implement a new system.

Communication Technology and Security

In a recent weeks, The Pentagon has concluded that computer sabotage coming from another country can constitute an act of war.This is raising question about the security our nation computer network and its communication system. According to Pentagon officials, more than 40.000 files have been stolen from a defense contractor computers. Information security and communication are in front and center in every nation defense system.

In the brief 2008 war between Russia and Georgia included a cyber attack that disrupted the websites of Georgian government agencies and financial institutions. The damage wasn't permanent but did disrupt communication early in the war. Another instance of the cyber war is the destruction of the Iranian nuclear centrifuge by infecting its computer by a virus that destroy the communication.

I choose the angle of cyber security and technology to illustrate how important and communication technology and security are key to a nation protection against its enemy.Our basics need is control by a network system, the power grid, subway system, airline control communication can be shut down down and bring the economy to a stop. The attack is constant fortunately, cyber security is also a growing filed to defend against these attacks .

IT professional we have to be always a head of the game. Our industry is under a constant attack. Information is power, so people in quest of the information will always develop tools to steal that information. We have to prevent and that is a challenge to IT professionals.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304563104576355623135782718.html#ixzz1SFIza5Yh

Security and Information Technology

How did your specific experiences inform you in your practice of securely using technology for communication?


As IT professional, I am very concern about the security of the technology we used to communicate. On one hand, technology made communication very convenient and easy to use, Faculty members are using skype to teach their classes while away, they shared important research document and other sensitive information over our network channel of communication.On the other hand, It securing your communication line can be costly. Post 9/11 has created a different environment in IT department all over the country.Email, phone communication can be intercept under the "Patriot act" without a prior authorization. You don't know who is listening or tampering with the email . I have to use extra security tools to prevent any hacking or intrusion to our system.
For our patient health information data (PHI) ,federal regulation(HIIPA) prevent us to use insecure communication to transfer data. With the social media phenomena, privacy is a huge issue. We are more expose to the virtual world and taking measure to secure the data is a must.

I do not personally use the social media(Facebook, mySpace).It is disturbing how much personal info is out there. I ma not really sure if average user realize how expose they are on the web.

Generational Influences&Technology

What are some of the generational influences and implications for embracing technology that is used for communication?

Every generation had at some point their lives impact by some kind of the technology. Our grand parents and great grand parents used telegraph, snail mail to communicate, When it comes to our parents generation,the technology has change and it was very advance for their area, telephone was widely use in homes, fax machine in offices etc... During the 90 the exponential explosion of the DOT COM companies had speed up the discovery of newer and more sophisticate method of communicating. Children of that era were more apt to use the internet and all new technology to communicate than their parents and grand parents.

Unlike their parents, the new generation embrace technology quicker and are always looking for the next best "thing". People who are inventing the technology are themselves consumer and belong to that generation. They cater to their own generational needs.

That need is now front and center of new tools of communicating .. The baby boomer generation can only watch and trying to just keep up, in contrast the X&Y generation are more incline to learn every new technology that is available to them. They used it to live their life differently than their previous generation. They bank online, never write a check, shop online talk and will have the world at their finger tips.

Social Selves

Consider yourselves as users of technology: What do you think are the implication of using technology for the purpose of communicating our ‘social selves’?


Communication is the most important factor shaping human destiny. Our existence would perhaps be meaningless without the ability to communicate since it is through communication that we understand self and others, our environment, our behaviors and actions, and are able to describe our purpose, feelings, and view of the world.

Humans have been communication through different means throughout centuries, It is only the end of 20th century theses means have been completely transform by technology.
In the 1980, the fax machine "wow" the business communities, It allows them to communicate with their partners at the others side of the world in a minute. Then came the email system which make the fax machine almost obsolete. From that point on, technology has revolutionize the human communication.

In my day today work, I used heavily the web 2.0 technology to communicate, it is become a necessity to use technology for communication. Our Jobs are no longer static. We became more mobile, staffs are working on the field outside the office, there is an increasing and constantly evolving demand for speed – and our technological advances are in mass emergence dedicated to meet this demand.
The invention and development of the mobile Phone, instant messaging, text messaging, tweet and other forms of telecommunications networks and systems have made easy both for individual personal and business organizational to use for their fast communication.

All these technology had somewhat a positive impact on business and the economy and have serve us well. But the use of theses technology and the very nature of who and what we are become is sacrificed in the process – social interaction which is develop mainly through communication as the most instrumental form humans contact is disappearing. We tweet. we facebook, and WE hide our emotion behind the wall of social networking. No contact necessary to do or say what ever is in your mind......... and you are rarely hold accountable .

Published on The Root (http://www.theroot.com)

Home > What Libya and Côte d'Ivoire Have in Common

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What Libya and Côte d'Ivoire Have in Common

By: Sunni M. Khalid

Posted: March 12, 2011 at 12:55 AM

Both countries are on the brink of civil war and held hostage by ruthless rulers who refuse to step down. Both countries have seen thousands of innocents slaughtered. So why are the media ignoring what's happening in Ivory Coast?

Here's the scene:

An illegitimate leader thumbs his nose at the international community and sends his security forces and armed supporters into the streets to gun down mostly unarmed opponents, who are demonstrating on behalf of democratic rule. Tribal and regional fault lines give way. Allegations of widespread human rights abuses grow as tens of thousands of displaced people seek refuge in other parts of a war-torn country, or seek safety across international borders.

No, we're not talking about Libya, where the ever mercurial Muammar Qaddafi has unleashed loyal army units to quash a grassroots rebellion against his 41-year rule. All eyes in the Western media have been turned to this conflict, which has all the signs of turning into a protracted, bloody civil war.

But the earlier scene depicted is not along Libya's Mediterranean coast but along West Africa's Atlantic coast, in Ivory Coast. There, in the former French colony, President Laurent Gbagbo continues to defy the United Nations, the African Union and regional organizations' demands to cede power. Three months ago, he lost a presidential runoff election to former Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara. Yet the Ivorian crisis commands scant media attention, at least in North America.

"The American media has historically paid less attention to Francophone Africa," says Reed Kramer, chief executive officer and director of allAfrica.com, headquartered in Washington, D.C. "But I'm puzzled about the lack of coverage on Ivory Coast, because the U.S. government has been very vocal about developments there, and a lot of press coverage usually follows policy."

Kramer founded Africa News, the precursor to allAfrica.com, nearly 40 years ago, in part to provide media coverage that mainstream organizations lacked. "It's very difficult to cover both situations with limited resources, but we do our best to keep it on the front page."

Some argue that there is no excuse for news from Libya to be covered to the exclusion of Ivory Coast.

"On every issue, the situation in the Ivory Coast is worse," says I. William Zartman, professor emeritus at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C. "It's probably not as [bad compared to] the number of victims in Libya, but it's worse in terms of the coarse brutality, with unarmed women being shot down in the streets of Abidjan."

Zartman, who has written several books about Africa and conflict resolution, says that the crisis in Côte d'Ivoire is a greater threat to international law than the situation in Libya. This is partly because of the presence of 9,000 peacekeepers with the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI). They are protecting Ouattara, who is holed up in a hotel in Abidjan.

The Blue Helmets, as the U.N. peacekeepers are called, have recently come under attack from Gbagbo supporters. They were recently fired upon while attempting to investigate violations of an arms embargo. Gbagbo forces also prevented officials of the world body from investigating the site of two alleged mass graves. The Ivorian army, loyal to Gbagbo, has increasingly clashed with Forces Nouvelles, armed supporters of Ouattara. About 2,000 additional U.N. troops are being deployed to prevent the country from sliding further into civil war.

"The U.N. is not present in Libya," says Zartman. "The international community has condemned Qaddafi, but not as formally and broadly as Gbagbo. Qaddafi may not be legitimate, but he is not illegal. Gbagbo is not only illegitimate; he's illegal. He's been illegal for six years. He hasn't legally been president since 2005. Now, since he lost elections last year, he's doubly illegal."

Ivory Coast is a big story in the European media, particularly the French media. Over the years the BBC, Radio France International and others have maintained a strong commitment to covering the world, which is easier and more cost effective for them because they are closer to many hotspots than their American counterparts.

But the coverage of the conflict in Ivory Coast has been eclipsed by Libya in recent weeks, Zartman says, for two primary reasons: proximity and oil. Libya is a member of OPEC, and much of its oil is sold to European markets. Like many other North African countries, it is also a jumping-off point for African immigrants attempting to land in Western Europe. Ivory Coast, meanwhile, is a small producer of oil.

But Zartman faults the Western media, specifically American outlets, for not doing more reporting on the crisis in Ivory Coast and elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa. "One of these conflicts is in Africa south of the Sahara," he says. "There's the perception that there are no democratic systems down there and that they're always killing each other. [Western media] may not be any more favorable toward the Arabs, but there has been an unprecedented movement for democracy."

Mark Quarterman -- senior adviser and director of the Program on Crisis, Conflict, and Cooperation at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. -- says that many American news organizations, amid shrinking budgets, have a hard time covering more than one international crisis at a time.

"I think to a large extent, there's a follow-the-leader mentality that causes many of them to focus on a single event, to the exclusion of others," he asserts. "Events in the Arab world are extraordinary. Libya falls in line with that. And many of the reporters there now are coming from Egypt, where they were sent to cover the recent revolution."

Still, Quarterman says, it is "shameful" that major U.S. media outlets "cannot apparently multitask in covering two similar situations." American audiences, he says, are being poorly served with blanket coverage of the Libyan crisis, while the escalating crisis in Ivory Coast is virtually ignored.

Sunni M. Khalid, the managing news editor at WYPR-FM, has reported extensively throughout Africa and the Middle East.

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CNN REPORT

6 killed as army opens fire in Ivory Coast; African Union panel arrives

We hope the killing will stop and this panel will bring a good new to the Ivorian people who are tired of all this killings .

New Proof of IvoryCost vote killings

RUKMINI CALLIMACHI
Published: Feb 15, 2011

In this photo dated Sunday, Jan. 16, 2011, pictures of various people who were allegedly maimed and killed for being suspected supporters of opposition leader Alassane Ouattara, lay strewn on a desk at the mayor's office in the Abobo district of Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Morgue records obtained by The Associated Press in Ivory Coast provide new proof of mass killings after the country's disputed November 2010 election. As of Tuesday, Feb. 15, nearly three months later, at least 113 bodies are allegedly still being held and have not been released to grieving families, and the Associated Press was refused access to five morgues.(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) - The entrance to the morgue is like a mouth through which comes an awful smell. It hits you as far back as the parking lot and makes your eyes water. From a dozen yards away, it's strong enough to make you throw up.

What lies inside is proof of mass killings in this once-tranquil country of 21 million, where the sitting president is refusing to give way to his successor. Nearly every day since Laurent Gbagbo was declared the loser of the Nov. 28 election, the bodies of people who voted for his opponent have been showing up on the sides of highways.

Their distraught families have gone from police station to police station looking for them, but the bodies are hidden in plain sight in morgues turned into mass graves. Records obtained by The Associated Press from four of the city's nine morgues show that at least 113 bullet-ridden bodies have been brought in since the election. The number is likely much higher because the AP was refused access to the five other morgues, including one where the United Nations believes as many as 80 bodies were taken.

The bodies are being held hostage and not released to families. Morgue workers say government minders are stationed outside to monitor what goes in or out.

A list of the dead that the AP was allowed to see on the laptop of a company that manages three downtown morgues shows the bodies began arriving Dec. 1, the night the country's electoral commission was due to announce that opposition leader Alassane Ouattara had won. The AP also saw legal documents from authorities instructing funeral homes to pick up bodies found on public roads, and the paperwork handed to families.

The names of the dead indicate they are largely Muslim and from the country's north, the demographic that voted in largest numbers for Ouattara, himself a Muslim from the north.

"The overwhelming number of victims of political violence in Abidjan were either real or perceived supporters of Ouattara," said Human Rights Watch senior researcher Corinne Dufka, the author of a report on the post-election violence. "Many were picked up and killed simply on the basis of their family name."

Families have been allowed inside the morgues only long enough to identify their relatives, if at all. They cannot take their loved ones for burial because the government, still controlled by Gbagbo, has not given the go-ahead for autopsies on bodies with bullet wounds. Funeral home directors say the procedure is normally approved within 48 hours.

Diaby Madoussou, 40, has been waiting for two months. She found her husband lying face down on the pavement where he had taken part in a march to support Ouattara, recognized internationally as the winner of the vote. Ouattara now lives in a hotel under 24-hour United Nations protection, its lobby crowded with supporters taking refuge.

Madoussou turned over her husband's body. He had been shot twice in the ribs.

She took off her pagne and used the wraparound skirt to cover him. She waited beside him wearing only her underclothes until the morgue sent a car to pick up the body. They handed her a 'fiche d'entree,' or entry sheet stating that his body would be stored in vault No. 50 in a morgue in the outlying suburb of Anyama.

"They told me that I need to leave the body there. At the morgue. They say I need to wait ... I don't understand. Why won't they let me take him?" said Madoussou, who has five children. She now spends her days on the floor, her back against the concrete wall of her living room, her eyes staring at the other wall.

Many families have only this piece of paper to prove that their loved ones were killed, because police stations are refusing to file police reports. Dozens of victims were seen dragged from their homes and forced into official vehicles.

Gbagbo's government has denied committing any abuses. However, assistant state prosecutor Jean-Claude Aboya conceded that autopsies have not been conducted.

"We're aware of these bodies in the morgues," said Aboya. "The chief prosecutor has told us that there will be an investigation, but he's holding off until things are calmer before proceeding."

Bodies have also been found on highways, freeway medians and trash heaps, and in the lagoons coursing through this palm-lined commercial capital that was once considered among the most stable in Africa.

It has been anything but that since Gbagbo came to power 10 years ago. He signed an alphabet soup of treaties named after the numerous capitals from Lome to Pretoria to Ouagadougou where mediators tried to coax Gbagbo to hold an election. He succeeded in pushing back the election for five years until it was finally held last fall.

In the meantime, a civil war broke out and the country's lagoon-side cafes emptied out. The fighting pitted northerners who wanted Gbagbo out against southerners who supported him.

Now the shores of the glassy lagoon lap up trash. The few cafe clients left are nearly all men, because those who could sent their wives abroad to shield them from the waves of political violence that crash down on this Italy-sized country every time Gbagbo feels cornered.

A confidential 2004 United Nations report obtained by the AP detailed the rise of government death squads that in 2002 started carrying out 'disappearances' of people seen as threats to Gbagbo. The United Nations obtained a video cassette showing as many as 200 cadavers strewn across the road in one locality.

There was a ripple of hope when the election finally went ahead, especially after Gbagbo promised to abide by results issued by the electoral commission. As soon as results began trickling in, however, foreign TV stations were ordered off the air, and the head of the commission began receiving death threats.

The first bodies to be registered at one downtown morgue were unidentified. They all appear in the morgue's records as 'Mr. X.'

Thirty-eight-year-old Abdoulaye Coulibaly, who worked for a political nonprofit aligned with Ouattara, was in an open-air restaurant when soldiers surrounded it.

"They started to shoot and people started running," said his cousin, who pieced together what happened from other clients. Coulibaly was grabbed along with a colleague and put in the truck. "To this day, there is no trace of him ... We searched everywhere," said the cousin, Moussa Coulibaly.

The death squads made repeated trips to Abobo, a majority Muslim suburb that voted in large numbers for Ouattara. Gbagbo is an evangelical Christian who is accused of having purged Muslims from the armed forces.

The men came to Amidou Ouattara's house early in the morning.

"It was on the 13th of December. At 5:30 a.m. He was coming back from having done his morning prayer, and there were already two cars parked in front. A 4-by-4. And a Mercedes," said relative Mouriba Ouattara. "They surrounded him and put him in the Mercedes. It was gray. No plates.'"

"We looked everywhere. I went to the morgue at Yopougon. To the one in Anyama. Treichville. We turned over all the bodies," he said. "But we did not see his."

The United Nations estimates that more than 100 people have disappeared and at least 296 have been killed, based on calls to a U.N. hotline from family members. They cannot investigate because Gbagbo ordered the U.N. to leave the country after it certified Ouattara's victory.

The hotline also received reports of a mass grave containing between 60 to 80 bodies in the suburb of Ndottre. The U.N. twice tried to get to the site but was blocked by the army, and at one point military trucks chased the U.N. convoy at high speed. Witnesses later called to say they saw the bodies being moved to the morgue of Anyama, which the U.N. was not allowed to enter.

"The fact that we have been prevented twice from conducting a fact-finding mission in Ndottre and Anyama suggests that there may be some truth in the alleged existence of a mass grave in that area and/or deposit of 60 to 80 corpses at a mortuary in Anyama," wrote the head of the U.N.'s human rights division in an internal report leaked to the AP.

The AP attempted multiple times to gain access to the principal morgues, only to be refused entry. On one attempt, the reporter was told she would need an 'authorization letter,' but nobody could say from whom.

Workers at the morgues who agreed to speak were visibly panicked and would only do so away from their place of work. They said the bodies are quickly deteriorating because they have not yet been embalmed, a procedure done after the autopsy. One morgue director said so many corpses are arriving that they have created a 'salle de catastrophe,' or catastrophe room, to hold the overflow.

At one funeral home, a man in plainclothes interrupted a reporter's conversation with an employee to ask why she was there. He loitered until she left, appearing to confirm reports that the facilities are under government surveillance.

With hardly anybody allowed in and no bodies allowed out of the morgue, families are left to grieve however they can.

When the morgue took her husband's body away, Madoussou kept his blood-splattered sneakers. Unable to wash her husband's body, as is the custom before burial here, the widow washes and re-washes his shoes instead.

She has washed them so many times that they are as white as snow.

___

Associated Press writer Marco Chown Oved contributed to this report.

© 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

Ivory Coast's election stalemate - The Big Picture - Boston.com

Ivory Coast's election stalemate - The Big Picture - Boston.com

An Ivorian miracle? - Africa... States of Independence -

An Ivorian miracle? - Africa... States of Independence - Al Jazeera English