Evolution of ID Theft

Identity Theft didn't start with the internet... but it sure made it easier.

I was reading this article on the history of identity theft-- like, back when if you wanted someone's identity you had to kill them for it.

But actually, even without that sort of extreme, photo-ID-less model, you used to be able to steal important information from dumpsters on via over the phone scams. So, like a lot of the other things we've learned about, internet ID theft is an old thing that has adapted itself to new technology.

Erik Hanberg and the Spaghetti Model

Once, at an awards show, I watched a red-carpet interviewer ask why a particular actor had become so successful.

He responded that if you keep throwing Spaghetti at the wall, eventually something's going to stick.

I couldn't help but think of this as Erik Hanberg talked about Black Swans. Sure, he was referring more to unpredictability than persistence. But with that cam the idea that, if you keep putting things out there and trying new ideas, eventually (hopefully...maybe in the future...) you will succeed. After all, the Internet is a big place and there's lots of room for new concepts and new voices-- too much room, maybe.

It seems kind of pessimistic to say it, but while you might succeed... you might also fail.

Scavenger Hunt

Just the other day an acquaintance was commenting that, in spite of the fact that there are pages and pages on just about anything you'd ever want to know on the internet, she gets bored with it.

Today's Online Scavenger Hunt reminded me once again about how deep that internet rabbit hole goes... and also of the power of google. I'll be honest: I had no idea what a tag cloud was before I started. And yeah, okay, that means it took me two searches to get to the answer instead of one (one on "tag cloud" and the other on the site I needed the tag cloud for), but I still had a quick, easy way to get to the answer literally at my fingertips.

In the end the Scavenger Hunt concept made me search for things I might never have known were out there if I hadn't been directed to find it.

Paying for the news.... again

According to a blogger for The Guardian, a recent study revealed that 48% of internet users in the UK and Britain are willing to pay for the news online... but Americans maxed out at $3 a month. Right now, that's about the price of one copy of the NY Times.

Here's my question: where do the other 52% expect to get their news? And will those sources be hiring?

Student Journalism Projects

From Moscow State University in, well, Moscow, to UWT, a few student journalism projects I've worked on finally went live. Here they are:

UWT/MSU Journalist (Convergence Site)

UWT Student Journalism Project

Converging Worlds

According to the handy-dandy online edition of Merriam-Webster, Convergence is:

1: the act of converging and especially moving toward union or uniformity; especially : coordinated movement of the two eyes so that the image of a single point is formed on corresponding retinal areas
2: the state or property of being convergent
3: independent development of similar characters (as of bodily structure of unrelated organisms or cultural traits) often associated with similarity of habits or environment
4: the merging of distinct technologies, industries, or devices into a unified whole

If you asked me, though, I'd say it's even more than that. Trite as it may be, I think Convergence is the wave of the future. The concept of combining different industries and techniques is popping up everywhere-- from the technology industry to journalism.

Everything today is multi... something. In fact, I'm in this class because of the need for multi-media skills in journalism today. It seems that the world has decided it's silly to use things separately when you could combine them. My phone receives e-mail, the online editions of print publications include video...

Like it or not, it's the things are. Or rather, the way things are becoming.

Digital and Physical Documents

I spent a chunk of this last weekend in a time-honored tradition: flipping through family photo albums with my mom. We have pictures-- real, physical pictures-- going all the way back to the 1950s... which, at times, seems like ancient history.

While I was feeling all nostalgic, I started thinking: what will my kids do when they want to see old pictures of me? Friend me on facebook? Double click on an old slideshow? And while physical documents have never been 100% safe (there is, after all, always the possibility they could burst into flames or be ruined in a flood or...), some sort of computer failure seems far more likely.

I guess it comes down to this: digital documents are easy to edit, easy to share, easy to store (my laptop takes up so much less space than dozens of old albums)... but also potentially easy to lose. And if we lose our photos, our letters, journals-- in short, all the bits of paper that mark our lives-- what will be left when we're gone?