Initially the personal computers at home where independent and solitary, never socializing with any other computer around. So floppy drives were created so that files created on one PC can be carried onto another. Floppy drives eventually evolved into laptops so that it's not just the individual files that are carried around but the whole PC. Then networks, including large ones like the internet cropped in. But as time goes along, people request for information to be delivered as close to what they are naturally used to, to what their body permits. People want realtime videos through the eyes, dolby audio through the ears, touch with the fingers and balance with the body.
We are getting very close to our senses. Great scientists have managed to reproduce vision, hearing, touch, direction and balance but are still missing on Taste, Smell, Acceleration, Temperature, Kinesthetic sense, Pain and Other internal senses usually present in babies or sensitive individuals. For vision we get high quality videos, for audio we get surround systems; as far as touch, balance and direction are concerned, robotics are getting real close and our mobiles and digital cameras do know whether they're facing north or south and were the floor is.
But these digital files like video files (mov, divx, wmv, flv etc...) and audio files (wav, mp3, ogg etc...) are large in terms of bits and bytes. We are talking of hundreds of megabytes and to carry them around in USB drives, DVDs or external hard disks is becoming impractical. One can lose a pen drive, break it, infect it with a virus, forget it at work etc... Take my personal scenario:
I have a laptop and a home PC; I also have a PC at my mum's home being only recently married; I also have a computer at work and a smartphone. My files are scattered all over these computers. I have a full-time job at MCAST were I save lots of files and stuff about work and notes etc... I also study for a post-graduate certificate in VET and I keep a soft copy of all the notes I take in class and assignments etc... Further to that I am a software development freelancer obviously having lots of stuff to save and to showcase. Sometimes I work on MCAST stuff at home, I study for PGC both from home and work and if I'm waiting at the doctor I also review some stuff whilst waiting in queue with my smart phone. How do I manage never to lose my work? My solution is simple. It is called dropbox and if you watch this video you can understand better. After all keeping yourself organized is an important skill required for success in education.
Dropbox is great for saving and also sharing big files, and yes I agree that external hard disks and other storage systems are becoming impractical. Many of my students lose their work because their external drive decides to stop working. In reality, one needs to have two external hard disks if they want some extra space for their work, one with the files, and another one with exactly the same files, which would serve as a backup disk.
ReplyDeleteAside from this, students who work in media and have massive files with raw video footage need much more space, and one 1TB would probably hold raw footage and video files for just one film. Of course if you want to backup this film you'd need yet another hard drive.
I continuously encourage my students to upload their work to keep a copy of it just in case something happens. With Graphic Design, Media and Interactive Media, once you lose your soft copies, you have essentially lost all of your work.
Hopefully one day we will all have enough space to store everything online and we wouldn't need external storage devices anymore.
This is a very interesting post. From now on I will start using Dropbox as I do not want to lose more important stuff. I agree also with the unreliability of both pen drives and external hard disks. Finally we are now provided with a solution.
ReplyDeleteWhile I was reading more on Dropbox, it transpired that it does not only function as a storage service, but it also focuses on synchronisation and sharing. Anyone that uses Dropbox and deletes a file, it can be recovered from other synchronised computers.
An important issue that one needs to consider is that Dropbox has reserved the right to delete or remove any file from users' accounts if it violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Dropbox also discourages its users from uploading pornographic, racist, and defamatory content.
The Senx machine
ReplyDeleteAt one point Aaron mentioned how smell cannot be transmitted over the Internet. This reminded me about an article that I once read which relates smell to an increased number of sales. Smell is one of the most primitive senses that human beings possess and people seem to buy what smells good to them (even if the quality might not be the best). For instance, a student who goes to the MCAST library might not consciously be thinking about getting any food from the canteen. All of a sudden, the smell of pastizzi, sausage rolls and other “unhealthy” food reaches the nostrils of the student who is suddenly compelled to buy something from the canteen. The same reasoning applies to several other products and services, not just food. Here's an article that discusses this fact http://www.neurosciencemarketing.com/blog/articles/smell-better-sell-more.htm). Therefore, incorporating smell to the Internet would certainly leave an impact on the sales that are made over the Internet.
Over the years there have been several attempts to transmit smell over the Internet. One of these experiments is The Senx machine. Once the Senx machine becomes as widely distributed as the printer, it will change many things for business studies/management teachers. Marketing strategies and tactics would surely need to be reviewed once again to accommodate what will in time become a new reality. Tomorrow's students will just wonder how previous generations managed to survive without a "Senx machine". Today's business studies/management lecturers will need to adapt their notes and teachings to incorporate this new phenomenon. And who knows, in a few years time we might even have a new role in corporations – “the smell designer”, just as today we have “graphic designers”… Changes in technology also bring about changes in jobs and the education system will in turn need to respond to these new derived demands.
Since I did not know what dropbox was, I did some research and this is what I found:
ReplyDeleteDropbox is one of the easiest way to store, sync and share files online. There is no complicated interface to learn. This is operated by Dropbox Inc. which uses cloud computing to enable users to store and share file and folders with others across the internet. Cloud computing is internet-based computing, where shared resources, software and information are provided to computers and other devices on demand.
A dropbox client enables users to save (drop) any file into a particular folder, and this is automatically synced to any of the user’s computers and devices. Drop box users can also upload files from the wed. This method is an alternative to other traditional forms of file transfer such as e-mail attachments.
Whilst the main function of dropbox is as a storage service, it also facilitates sync and sharing. Files deleted from a dropbox folder may be recovered from any of the synced computers.
Dropbox also gives the possibility for more than one person to edit and repost files without losing its previous form. This is possible since it helps the user know the history of a file that they may be currently working on.
To save bandwidth and time, if a file in a user’s dropbox is being changed, dropbox uploads only the sections of the files that are being changed. The client has no restriction on individual file size, however files uploaded via the internet have a limit of 300MB max per file.
The following is only a couple of minutes long but it might help to understand this dropbox further: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFb0NaeRmdg
"But as time goes along, people request for information to be delivered as close to what they are naturally used to, to what their body permits."
ReplyDeleteIn reality, we're not too far away from The Matrix becoming a reality and while this may be desirable, there are several risks as well. Recently I read about a man who got himself infected with a computer viruse. This man deliberately infected his body with a computer virus. (Click here to read the full story or here to watch a video interview by BBC
Such virii can also be passed on from one human being to another. Furthermore, computer viruses can very easily be installed with pace makers or any other microchips installed in the body.
Can you imagine a situation where we implant knowledge chips in our students and then they would "simply" be required to come up with critical thinking and creative solutions? We would all become walking dictionaries and we would not need to sit for exams testing knowledge any longer. Instead we'd need to come up with creative solutions in each and every exam. Students would need to be scanned for microchips in their body before entering the examination room to make sure that only the microchip prescribed by the person who set the exam paper has been installed. We'd also need to ensure that the WiFi ingrained in their microchip is turned off to disable access to additional information. I'm not too sure whether this is heaven or hell...
Maybe I should just stop dreaming about future educational environments, after all the physical classroom is still dominant in most courses.
That would be definately be hell. Our brain is a living organism, or rather mechanism which needs training if we are to improve our mental capabiities. Just think about it....how many phone numbers do you know by heart? How many did you know before we started using mobile phones to store numbers? I still remember phone numbers I used to dial 10 years ago, but have no idea what are the mobile numbers of my closest friends. We automatically use a calculator when we need to do a simple sum, thus making our brain lazy.
ReplyDeleteWe need to train our brain and keep it active. My question now is: Are we spoon feeding our students with too much information such that we leave them no eagerness to dwell and research further on the subjects we are teching them?
Hello Everyone.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that this eLearning thing is really helping in cross-fertilising our ideas and our methods of working and teaching across MCAST. Eventually we should find a way how to keep it going, at least to post our ideas and working methodologies.
I had never heard of Dropbox until I read Aaron’s and Moira’s contributions to this blog. I find it very interesting and it will surely be helpful in my work. I will definitely start using it.
I agree with Aaron. Files are getting larger and larger, internet speeds are increasing, storage capacities are increasing but we never seem to have enough. Luckily the Internet is proving a stable and reliable system, at least up to now. As things stand, it does not make sense to store your data across PCs, laptop, Pendrives, external HardDisks etc etc but rather have it available on the Internet. You would then be able to access it from anywhere.
The only problem is reliability of the Internet in future.
What will happen the day the Internet stops or really gets attacked, hacked or whatever?
What would we do then?
Ahh.. cold shivers down my spine….
“Can you imagine a situation where we implant knowledge chips in our students and then they would "simply" be required to come up with critical thinking and creative solutions?”
ReplyDeleteMy horrified reaction to this scenario would be “that would be the end of mankind”. We would become robots with the ability to churn out what has been inputted into our brain. Is this the future of the human race? In any case, would there still be a need for schools or even an educational system? I agree with Haber that we need to train our brain in order to sharpen our thinking and analytical skills. The human being is an evolving creature which needs to be continually stimulated in order to grow mentally sound.
I have found this blog very informative as like some before me I have never heard of Dropbox before. The more I read about it, the more interesting and useful it seems. It will most probably become more widespread in the future. More companies will probably come up with other similar improved products which will reduce the costs of using such a service.
Louis Aquilina’s reflection on what will happen on the day that the internet stops/is attached or hacked is indeed worrisome. I guess panic will reign all over the universe, as everyone will be affected in one way or another. Upon further reflection I find it somewhat sad that we have come to depend on the internet to such an extent.
I couldn’ t help but smile when I read Rachel ‘s second blog, registered on June 14 @ 15:45. I decided to google “genetics and creativity” and came up with the following, among others:
ReplyDelete“Vygotsky (1978) found that the highest level of academic success was achieved when in a nurturing learning setting of peers varying in their abilities, working together in a helpful yet flexible environment. If you look at creativity in this way, an individual may have creative potential as determined by genetics, but the influence of nurturing others and a motivating environment that encourages the development of those traits may impact successful products of creativity”. (Kuszewski, 2009)
Of course there is no harm in dreaming! Nobody can deny the huge beneficial advances that technology has made. However, we also need to stop and consider the ethical aspect from time to time ….
Bibliography
Kuszewski, Andrea Marie, The Genetics of Creativity: A Serendipitous Assemblage of Madness (March 1, 2009). METODO Working Papers, No. 58. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1393603
I agree with Aaron. I'm an avid user of Dropbox, being a disorganised person, having notes and papers scattered everywhere (on my desk at home, on my desk at MCAST, files on my laptop, on my PC at home, on my PC at MCAST, everywhere!!).
ReplyDeleteI've been using Dropbox for a number of months now and since it synchronises with the Dropbox server, I may rest assured that all files I have, can be accessed from everywhere, without the need to keep pen drives with me.
Then the talk goes back again.. are we relying too much on technology? Maybe yes, but I don't want to keep on blogging since it's past midnight and in less than eight hours I have to be at MCAST...
Maybe tomorrow... good night
I think that in today's world, we are definitely relying much more on technology!
ReplyDeleteMost use technology regularly for both work and leisure. For example, recalling the recent power cuts, everything suddenly comes to a halt. Apart from not being able to work, what many people miss most is not being able to log onto their PC's to surf the web in their free time.
Even though I am myself used to this modern system, I don’t think that relying completely on technology is an ideal situation. It is definitely extremely comfortable to do so but failure of a system leaves disastrous effects when one relies completely upon it.
I agree that DropBox is a godsend insofar as having your data accessible from everywhere is concerned, Aaron. I was given a DropBox invite by a friend, installed it, then haven't had much use for it, since my job is undoubtedly not as heavily computer-dependent as yours.
ReplyDeletePersonally, if I need a file to be accessed both from home and from work, all I do is send an email to myself on GMail. This works for me because I don't usually require a huge amount of data to be shared between computers. GMail provides about 7.5GB of space, which is fine for me.
I remember in the past, people used to talk about 'GMail drives' and such; somehow these never caught on, probably due to better programs such as DropBox itself. I still use the idea, however.
Since the beginning of this course I have done some research on effective methods to perform e-learning. Since this is a subject I am quite green on I found myself quite overwhelmed with the availability of software in the market. DropBox have certainly eased data tranfer, acquisition and backup. However for office use I sometimes found it quite frustrating the fact that dropbox is just a file sharing facility and won't allow you to edit any file straight from the server.
ReplyDeleteI have recently been introduce to Microsoft workspace. In media studies we perform quite a lot of activitie, including TV programming, film and other work experiences that need a lot of scheduling. These operations can certainly be fairly accomodated by microsoft office work space in which one can invite and start a community between teachers and students. Administrators are allowed to easily create Excel sheets, word docs, letters and set as templates for other to use and keep standards. The good thing as well about work space is that you have a free of charge allowance of 2 on-line GB, same as Drop Box however you have the facility to inform contributors with any shifts of content orny updates.
Has anyone recently checked on Adobe?
ReplyDeleteAdobe are software developers that cater for any multimedia end-use. I have been very aware in the past of Adobe's graphical packages such as photoshop or after effects. After a browse on Adobe.TV I realised that this brand are focusing quite substantially in on-line interactivity and e-learning. Very good to see one can inetract more actively on line using Adobe Connect. Services of this package are quite effective, now you can conference live between three users, discuss and ammend any PDF or photoshop doc. This is quite revolutionary for media users, however Adobe are implementing as well many of the it s already existing sofware assets in e-learning. I recommend to see it working, you can download a free trial: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobatconnectpro/elearning/
I use dropbox myself occasionally, although it does require a reasonably large amount of memory, especially if other shared users like to post large volumes of data (particularly video and whole photo albums). All in all, it's an excellent sharing resource.
ReplyDeleteOne thing to watch out for is the distribution of data, as what might be fine to show to some may not be suitable for others. So care must be taken as to what to place in the dropbox.
Gmail serves the purpose where the data to be shared is really small and the people variable, while dropbox is mostly suited for sharing with the same people. It's basically building a data library with others.