Thursday, February 10, 2011

Spaces

I was interested to hear about spacing after periods in class today, so I decided to look even further.  I was disturbed to hear that one space after periods was expected in the Internet.  Luckily, I have a way out.


According to APA style (6th edition), one should "Use two spaces after periods instead of one. More space in between sentences allows for easier reading and comprehension".


However, MLA says differently. One should "Leave only one space after periods or other punctuation marks (unless otherwise instructed by your instructor)".


And Chicago also agrees, saying "that there is no reason for two spaces after a period in published work". Chicago does go on to say that some people prefer two spaces, however.


I think that it is a matter of personal preference, or which style guide we are using.  So, as someone who is writing exclusively in APA (thank you, Faculty of Education), I will stick to two spaces.  Besides, I won't have to re-learn anything!


-Matt N.

Fonts.

Fonts.  I didn't know that I had to worry about which ones that I used before today - I just thought that as long as it was easily readable, then it is OK.  Apparently I'm wrong.

Here's an idea that I got from reading JPod (by Douglas Coupland):

These sentences are 60% more boring when read in Courier New.

Baby videos (Times New Roman)
Baby videos (Courier)
Baby videos (Helvetica)
Baby videos (Trebuchet)

Death-defying leaps through flaming polar bears
Death-defying leaps through flaming polar bears
Death-defying leaps through flaming polar bears
Death-defying leaps through flaming polar bears

Cause of death:  acute trauma to the occipital hemisphere.
Cause of death:  acute trauma to the occipital hemisphere.
Cause of death:  acute trauma to the occipital hemisphere.
Cause of death:  acute trauma to the occipital hemisphere.

Optimum dryness factor:  27%
Optimum dryness factor:  27%
Optimum dryness factor:  27%
Optimum dryness factor:  27%

Clearly the most boring font is Courier New, followed by Times New Roman.  Helvetica and Trebuchet are both not too bad.

-Matt N.

Technology...good or evil?

The question posed to the class today was,

"Is technology value-neutral"?

This is a very interesting topic, partly because there are so many types of technology. A spear could be technology. Microsoft Office could be technology. An atomic bomb could be technology. We attach values to these things, but I wonder if we are attaching the values to the use of the technology, rather than the technology itself.

Google's informal corporate motto is "Don't be evil". This, along with being funny, suggests that technology is, in fact, value-laden. Google is one of the first things that comes to most people's minds when they think of a technology corporation. They (Google) aspire to "not be evil". I think, however, that they are referring to what they do with their technology.

Techology refers to things, not actions. You don't "technology" something, you use technology. Lifeless items are in of themself neutral - it's how they are used that gives them value. Even things that are seen to be evil - say, an atomic bomb - only are evil when paired with an intent or a use.

In conclusion, technology itself is neither good nor evil. There are, however, many good or evil actions associated with technology that need to be taken into account when figuring out how one should use technology for the betterment of the world.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Usage-Based Billing

The uproar this week on the Canadian interwebs has been about UBB, or Usage-Based Billing.  UBB, for the uninitiated, means that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) will give you a small cap, say, 25 gigabytes, and then charge you per gigabyte of data that you download over that.

Here's the CBC story.

Now, most ISPs already do that.  The big difference is that the upper limits we have now are huge - say, 200 GB that most users, even heavy ones, will not hit.  What people are upset about is that the CRTC gave lower limits as its guideline, so people would essentially be paying the same price for less.

An analogy was given online - what if you were told that from today on, you could only buy 50 litres of gasoline at today's price per month, and for every litre over that, you would pay $500.  People would revolt, and the automobile industry would collapse again.

The analogy is not so far off.  $500 per litre of gas may seem ridiculous, but imagine paying $1.12 per gigabyte.  This is a ridiculous price inflation.  The CBC quotes Rocky Tetrault, president of TekSavvy (an independent ISP) as saying, "The rates are absolutely atrocious. How the hell are we doing above one dollar for extra usage?...It's in the thousands of multiples beyond what the costs are."

Canadians reacted violently to this news, starting petitions and posting information all over social media sites.  One petition, "Stop The Meter", was posted widely over Facebook, and it is believed widely that this site helped generate over 200,000 signatures to a petition against the UBB ruling by the CRTC.

Luckily, the grassroots movements seem to have made the government take notice.  As of this morning, Feb. 3rd, word came from the government that "the prime minister and the minister of industry will reverse this decision unless the CRTC does it itself".

It appears that the Internet is safe in Canada, for now.  I was worried that with the implementation of this ruling, we as teachers would have our access to the Internet either limited or completely denied.  The Internet, and especially some of the higher-bandwidth sites like YouTube, are excellent resources for teachers, and one of the better ways to connect with students.

In celebration of free Internet, here is something from AutoTune The News.



-Matt N.