One of the problems with having such a broad range of interests is that there’s not enough time in the day to thoroughly explore and expand upon those interests. For example, over at TopSecretWriters, I write a fair number of articles on technology or science. Additionally, we cover a lot of scientific claims related to to Ufology and the Paranormal over at RealityUncovered.net.
More recently, I wrote an article titled Top 5 Websites To Research Weird Science Claims over at MakeUseOf. When it comes to looking for accurate and sane articles on technology or science, especially in the realm of fringe scientific claims - the websites mentioned in that article are the absolute first places anyone should go.
The label “skeptic” has always had very negative connotations. It has been a field dominated by atheists and outright non-believers. However, the term no longer applies to only stringent non-believers. A new “type” of skeptic is emerging - the “open-minded” skeptic.
Articles on Technology or Science for Open Minded Skeptics
For a true skeptic, a glass is neither half empty or half full. The first question is whether the glass is truly even there to begin with. Skeptics question everything. And in the case of open-minded skeptics where they are willing to entertain the weird and wild areas of paranormal claims - questioning everything becomes absolutely critical.
In yet another of my blogs (which I have very little time to keep up with - but I try!) called Invisible Articles, I try to focus on many of the hauntings, possessions and ghost activity reported from around the world in a critical minded and “skeptical” way. Again, writing articles on technology or science in the paranormal field is not easy.
Self Proclaimed Skeptics
Unfortunately, many outright believers have taken to calling themselves skeptics. The label is fast becoming a positive thing within the paranormal - and people who are not at all critical thinkers or even sane are calling themselves skeptical.
I once interviewed a psychic who claimed her powers were very powerful, but that she was also a skeptic and pursued all of her predictions in a manner where she could verify them in a “scientific way.”
I didn’t ask her to elaborate what her definition of a scientific way was, because she’d already failed the litmus test of being a skeptic. She’d already drawn the conclusion that her experiences could be explained by her own psychic powers, before exploring all of the other possibilities.
Toward the end of the interview, I performed a test. I asked her to tell me about a major event in my life that had just occurred. There was a recent death in my family - a significant event that a true psychic could easily pick up on. Unfortunately she described a positive celebration - I could tell she was guessing a wedding or a birthday of some sort, proving to me that she wasn’t at all psychic (and I’ve yet to meet a true psychic yet - for that matter).
How to Write Articles on Technology or Science
If you are considering exploring the areas of science such as those that are covered by the websites I wrote about at MakeUseOf, I highly recommend a careful series of study sessions first. Take the time to read articles at each of the websites I mentioned in that article. Take time to understand the process of opening your mind to new possibilities without opening your mind to being scammed.
The careful, deliberate and analytical process exemplified by the websites that I highlighted in the MakeUseOf article are exactly what the paranormal field needs if any answers are ever going to be uncovered. If you have an interest in the Paranormal, I highly recommend doing your own research in the field with the scientific approach of the “open-minded” skeptic.
As the holiday season approaches and we’ve all finished gorging on a Christmas ham (only to turn around and gorge once again on a New Year’s feast), I’d like to take a moment to talk a little bit about writers and a sedentary lifestyle.
One of the hardest things about being a write is the fact that 100 percent of your job consists of you sitting on your backside, and the only part of your body that’s moving is your fingers. Sure, you’ll end up with some pretty dexterous fingers, but I can guarantee that your midsection won’t turn out quite as well.
Yes, being a writer involves a lot of sitting, but that doesn’t mean you have to end up three times you’re optimal body weight and with a waistline the size of Texas. As you enter the new year, you know that you’ll be faced with the same writer demands and deadlines, but I’d like to offer a few very effective tips that you can use to maintain your health while also maintaining your schedule.
Effective Writers and Sedentary Lifestyle Changes
Sitting for many hours a day is probably more hazardous to your health than the coffee you drink, the cigarettes you smoke, the fat-laden steaks that you eat, or how fast you drive. Every hour that you sit there not using most of your muscle mass, you are burning almost the least possible number of calories you can.
While your brain may be getting all of the exercise in the world, the container that supports your brain is going to start falling apart. There are several important things you can do to maintain (and even strengthen) the parts of your body most negatively impacted by a writer’s sedentary lifestyle.
The great image above comes from the University of Illinois. It shows a series of exercises that you can do to maintain your spine posture and keep a healthy flow of circulation through your arms and legs. And speaking of circulation, don’t forget the tender tendons that channel through your wrist.
At about thirty years old, I had carpel tunnel syndrome. I seriously thought my life was over - I live on the computer. In my twenties I figured I was invincible and such things would never happen to me, but if you aren’t careful, you can pinch the tendons and nerves within your “carpel tunnel” by not taking care of how you hold your mouse. Using a soft soft cushion like this can help tremendously.
If you’ve never tried yoga, this is a great time to start. By taking a break every 30 minutes to an hour, getting on your yoga mat and going through a few yoga exercises. You’ll find yourself not only losing the weight you gained through your sedentary lifestyle, but you’ll also find yourself feeling more energized and stronger than you ever did before.
While it might take time out of your schedule to do these exercises, in the long run it will give you more time because you’ll feel more energetic, refreshed and awake.
Finally, I wanted to save the best for last. The device above is called an exercise ball chair. Want to get transform your body out of that sedentary lifestyle the fastest? Give this baby a try.
All you do is use it instead of your regular office chair. Sounds simple right? It takes some getting use to. The balance required to sit on this ball forces your body to make the necessary weight changes using almost every muscle in your body to maintain equilibrium. These subtle changes, over time, keep your body in a constant state of energy and balance - so while you’re writing, your body is building it’s core strength…it’s like the best of both worlds.
With that said, while the FitBall Exercise Ball Chair will definitely be one of your most effective weapons against weight gain from your writing, it will definitely take some getting used to. No more slouching for you!
I hope some of these ideas can make a change for the many writers and sedentary lifestyles that they maintain. I know that I’ve made it my New Year’s resolution to get back to the healthy young lad that I was only ten years ago - and I know that you can too!
Come back and let me know how you do with your health goals in the comments section below!
In the process of doing some search engine research tonight to come up with some new interesting topics for my blogs and clients, I decided that tonight I’m going to finally expose a level of idiocy that I’m constantly coming across on the Internet. Unfortunately, it’s one of the most annoying and irritating symptoms of how search engines work today. I call the phenomenon, “Promising Roses and Delivering Stink Bombs.”
The first thing I’d like to say is that this particular post is not SEO optimized. I couldn’t be bothered because this behavior is just too urgent and needs to be exposed this very moment - no need to SEO optimize my vent, it will speak for itself.
SEO Fools Writing Useless Web Content Just for Search Engine Traffic
This is how it works. There are countless guys and girls out there who recognize that once you can identify certain keywords and them use them in a particular pattern, a particular number of times and using very particular rules - you can place your website and your article on the very first page of Google results. That’s the approach of the SEO expert and that’s how the system works, and it works well. But you know what else?
That’s pretty much where 90% of the SEO experts out there finish their efforts. When you arrive at their website, guess what you discover? Half the time it’s one paragraph jam-packed with gibberish - a collection of keyword phrases and a few lines or two of semi-coherent writing. The page is nothing more than an absolute, one-hundred percent, useless and idiotic waste of space. Therefore, I’ve decided in this particular post to run through a few high value SEO keywords to point out some of these brainless twits out there that take part in this kind of behavior.
Keyword Phrase: World Wide Web History
This is a huge, highly-searched keyword phrase. So, let’s take a look at the top Google results.
Now, listings one and two make perfect sense. Obviously Wikipedia and W3.org are excellent resources on the history of the world wide web, but let’s take a look at the third major listing on the first page of google - IdealFinder.com (no, I’m not going to link to it and make matters even worse.)
Aside from the page format and coloring that’s horrid enough to make your eyes bleed, take a look at the first paragraph:
World Wide Web (WWW), system of resources that enable computer users to view and interact with a variety of information, including magazine archives, public- and university-library resources, current world and business news, and software programs. The WWW can be accessed by a computer connected to an internet, an interconnection of computer networks or through the public Internet, the global consortium of interconnected computer networks.
Has this guy ever heard of grammar? How about writing a sentence that at least makes sense? “system of resources that enable computer users to view and interact with a variety of information” - what the hell does that even mean? I’ll bet this guy went out and paid a team of foreign guys sitting in a cube in some third-world countries a dollar an article for this garbage. And every day that passes, more and more of this horrendous excuse for content continues to pollute the Internet. Okay then, let’s continue on to the next site that follows this one on Google’s top 10 listing for this search term - Elsop.com. Let’s take a look.
Okay, this appears like a legit site that provides links covering the history of the world wide web, right? Good enough. The page itself doesn’t contain an article, but at least you can click on each link to read the information that you came looking for, right? Right??? “CLICK”….
Well that’s odd - broken link. Let’s go back and try another. “CLICK”…
No, it’s not a fluke. Almost all the links are broken, and there’s no decent content whatsoever to make a visit to this site at all worthwhile - yet there it sits as the 4th item on the first page of Google as though it has any value. As an SEO guy myself, I know the reasons why - but it’s unfortunate. Because, by making search listings so completely automated as Google has, it encourages the proliferation of complete trash on the Internet which exists only for the sole purpose of drawing in traffic, not to provide valuable and useful content for visitors.
Have you come across the many “traffic traps” that exist on the web, just like these? Share your own experiences and opinions in the comments section below.
If you’ve ever considered writing your own nonfiction book, this video of a talk offered by Dan Poynter is one that you must watch. Dan is the owner of Para Publishing. He started Para Publishing in 1969 in North Quincy, Massachusetts in order to publish his own non fiction books on parachute design safety and skydiving. In 1974, he moved to Santa Barbara and started publishing a number of other books on many other subjects by Dan as well as several other authors.
Today, Dan is recognized as a well established and successful publisher. He not only publishes, but also travels around the world to offer his insight into the publishing industry. Self-Publishing Guru Dan Poynter explains and educates new writers on how to write publish and promote their first book. He personally fell into publishing because he believed in his book and believed that there would be an audience for it (and there was!).
In an impressive example of work-ethic and drive, Dan both writes and publishes his books - a total of 76 so far. His books are nonfiction - obviously making him the nonfiction expert to go to for your own insight into how to write your nonfiction book. Dan’s is no fly-by-night publishing company - his books sell tens of thousands a year. His best-selling one sold over 100,000 in one year. In fact, his company is a perfect example of business entrepreneurship and how someone with the drive to succeed and a passion for a product can make it independently.
Please enjoy this fantastic video of this awarded writer and publisher on how to write your first nonfiction book.
When you’re done listening - share your own opinion about Dan’s talk in the comments section below!
I was very pleased to discover the the website of Ardan Michael Blum - Yahoo SEO expert who volunteers his expertise and time to assist senior citizens in Geneva with taking advantage of the Internet. Who better to profile than this guy? Ardan Michael Blume, Yahoo SEO consultant and owner of the Blum Advisory, is one of those few industry powerhouse figures who serves prominently behind the scenes, yet seeks out very little publicity for what he does. In this article I’m going to provide a profile for this SEO leader and detail the amazing work that he’s been doing in Geneva, Switzerland.
Ardan is not one of those self-proclaimed SEO “experts” who promise website owners the world in the form of traffic, deliver “fake hits” for a short period, and then leave website owners high and dry with no real additional traffic and, even worse, negative marks against the site in the eyes of Google and Yahoo. Ardan, on the other hand, uses his expertise to make the world (and the Internet) a better place.
Ardan Michael Blum - Yahoo SEO Consultant for Senior Citizens
At first glance, it isn’t immediately obvious how an SEO expert can use his services to help older folks get on the Internet. However, Ardan Michael Blum does just that. You may never have heard of Ardan, because his website for Blum Advisory is based in Geneva and written entirely in French. However, thanks to Google Translate services, I was able to learn a little bit more about this amazing fellow and his generous service to the elderly of Geneva. While he earns his living through is consultancy, Ardan devoted a great deal of his time and resources to create and manage a wonderful website called Geneve - 1910-2010.
The website is actually the online face of the charity organization called “Living with the 3rd Age,” which Ardan founded. The organization seeks to help the elderly in the region better access the Internet and computers in general. The organization is not a fly-by-night group - they work with some impressive computer industry names, such as Compaq, Logitech and even Microsoft, to provide free software and computers to nursing homes, senior citizen clubs and even the Geriatrics Cantonal Hospital in Geneva. The website is part of the group’s effort to provide the elderly at these locations with Internet access and, in effect, providing those who might otherwise be considered “shut-ins” with access to the outside world.
This website is an amazing collection of photos, histories and other accounts of the wonderful lives of these senior citizens. As you preview the images and stories - you can’t help but smile at the wisdom, strength and the beautiful effects of time and experience upon the lives and faces of these elders. The entire website is in french, but I highly recommend taking a look through the site using Google’s translation services.
About Ardan Michael Blum
So who is this impressive SEO expert who founded one of the most innovative charities in Geneva? Ardan Michael Blum promises that he can help your business achieve top ten Google placement. Being involved in the SEO industry myself, I can tell from the wording and the personal activities of Ardan, that he’s one of the few legitimate SEO professionals who can truly accomplish what he promises.
Although he was born in Switzerland and currently lives in Geneva, this fellow came to the United States to attend Bennington College in Vermont before heading back to his homeland to make use of the skills that he learned in Vermont. He approaches a decade of SEO experience, and his efforts with his senior citizen Charity is a testament to his drive, his character, and his ability to accomplish great things. If you’ve never heard of Ardan, and you’re looking for an SEO expert within or around Switzerland, I highly encourage you to contact Ardan at his website and sign up for his SEO services.
Not only will you achive success with your own website through effective SEO optimization techniques, but you’ll also be employing the services of a man of high character who deserves the business.
This week, I’d like to share a great video interview with one of my favorite writers of all time - Stephen King. Mr. King was born and raised in my home state, and he has always served as an inspiration for young Maine writers. In this interview, Borders interviews Stephen King on writing short stories, writing scary stories and much more. It’s a very enjoyable interview - check it out!
Stephen King points talks a bit about the importance of the short story in the story writing process, and how in his case many of his early short stories ended up evolving into novels, such as Carrie. He points out that about 22,000 word pieces are too long to be a short story and too short to be a novel. This is only a partial interview - to see the entire interview you have to visit Borders Media.
With that said, while I respect the man for his rise from the ashes into fame for his horror novels, I also have to say that being a long-time fan for many years, I also noticed that he’s quite arrogant. A friend of our family worked as a security guard at UMO and had an interaction with Mr. King while trying to enforce University safety rules, that ended in King making a statement to the effect of, “Do you realize who I am?” Apparently King thinks very highly of himself, and apparently forgets that it’s the fans that make a successful writer, not simply a name.
Another example of this was his comment about rising writer Stephenie Meyer, where during an interview he was asked about J.K. Rowling and Meyer, and his response was, “The real difference is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can’t write worth a darn. She’s not very good.”
While I’m not particularly a fan of the Twilight series, I found Stephen King’s comments very hypocritical in light of his words in his book On Writing, where he even mentions this sort of elitist attitude among published writers, especially when you’re getting started in the business. The fact that she sold 29 million books in 2008, making her the best-selling author of the year, is a testament to the fact that she’s a brilliant writer who can command the attention and interest of a significant audience. Yes, that means in 2008 she sold more novels than Stephen King. Money talks, Mr. King.
Then again, if Stephen King is simply alluding to the fact that a writer can sell millions of novels while not having the foggiest notion of decent grammar, punctuation or how to avoid a plot line that isn’t some boring cliche used millions of times in other novels…maybe he has a point and should consider examining his own humble beginnings.
Today, while I was going about my online business at work, one of my buddies approached me and congratulated me on my article that got highlighted on LifeHacker. I’ve been in such a fog lately, racing to finish so many articles by the end of the month, that I never stopped to take a look at the aftereffects of the articles I’ve already written this month. I remember a brief email from the editor over at MakeUseOf about something over at LifeHacker, but I think I was in the middle of a caffeine coma toward the tail end of another late-night writing binge, so it was a blur.
Turns out it’s true, over at LifeHacker they posted a highlight of the article I wrote for MakeUseOf on turning your PC into a Wi-Fi Home Surveillance system.
To say I’m honored would be an understatement. LifeHacker is the premier spot on the Internet where all tech geeks hang out and get the latest news and their techno fix. To get featured on the site is a very cool experience.
In fact, the topic itself was a blast to write. Wi-Fi technology presents so many opportunities for people to get creative with gadgetry in a way that wasn’t even possible only a few years ago. Even the layout described in my article has a number of variations. With a bunch of wi-fi cameras (ideal ones that you can assign their own IP, without the need for a PC) - you can create:
A home surveillance system for when you’re away
A monitoring system for haunted hot-spots (if you’re into that kind of thing)
A perimeter around your property to monitor the schedules of your local wildlife
A camera at your driveway to trigger an alert on your computer when someone arrives
The possibilities really are endless. And dreaming about them certainly makes for easy writing. A huge thanks to LifeHacker for highlighting the article, and as always a thank you to MakeUseOf for hiring me on in the first place!
This is a test for an article I’m writing on MakeUseOf about VzoChat, a pretty cool application that lets you not only stream video from your mobile phone to your computer, but you can conduct conference calls with any PC or camera-enabled mobile phone across the Internet. Not only that - if you want to, you can even allow people who visit your blog to call you up and have a video chat with you right from your blog!
I have to say, that’s pretty slick. Video conference call anyone?
It happens to the best of us - the day when you’re faced with the issue of dealing with criticism. Maybe you’ve spent hours researching and writing up your work of word-art, yet within the first few days of it being posted and online your comment area is inundated with both constructive and hurtful criticisms. Maybe you messed up a point or two in your article, or maybe you just completely missed the plot. If this has ever happened to you, I’m going to offer a few tips for bloggers out there on dealing with both kinds of criticism on your blog in a way that displays healthy maturity, but also in a confident and non-confrontational way.
Dealing With Criticism On Your Blog
Author criticism is something that many people on the Internet are not very good at. As a professional writer, you may be used to the sort of criticism you receive in college level courses where the professor or your peers lay out both the good points and the bad points of your writing, and then offer helpful tips on how to improve. While you sometimes get such mature and helpful feedback on your blog posts, just as often you’ll also receive comments along the lines of, “This post sucks, you didn’t do your research” or, “This is complete garbage.” It’s not exactly helpful, and the comments themselves are garbage - but since you’re the professional blogger here, you need to approach such comments in a way that validates the good commentators and invalidates those that are useless, irritating and immature (also known as “angry troll” comments).
Tip 1: Reward thoughtful and helpful criticism.
A perfect example of the various types of critical comments you may receive was a recent post I made on MakeUseOf, a large computer and technology blog that I write for. The post was actually a very simple topic - how to tweak Vista so that your Internet connection works better. The motivation behind the post was related to issues I had when I purchased a new Vista laptop that couldn’t communicate with my Linksys router. I decided to share some of my lessons learned with MUO readers. Let’s just say that when you’re writing for a technology crowd and you plan to do an article on tweaks, you better be ready to lay out the evidence for whether your tweaks work. Here are a few examples of the sort of comments I received. After the comment I’ll show you how I responded. This first comment was critical, but at the same time it was very positive and polite - clearly an emotionally balanced and kind individual.
Now, while the comment is pretty critical of the article, the commenter at least provides solid and valid points and does so in a non-confrontational way. Dealing with criticism of this type isn’t difficult, in fact it’s helpful. You’ll notice the last paragraph even offers some great advice as to how the article could have been better. In response to this comment I countered each of the points listed, however I absolutely took that last paragraph to heart - it was useful and true advice. It’s important as a blogger to take this kind of input and incorporate it into your future posts. Everyone makes mistakes and everyone has a bad day when it comes to articles - don’t let the mistakes get you down. Read these sort of comments carefully and use them to improve your future articles.
Tip 2: When a know-it-all commenter tries to make you look stupid, turn it around.
Especially if/when you are writing for a technology/computer audience, you’re going to be dealing with a lot of folks who think they know everything. I’ve been working in the computer industry for over 15 years now, and I’ve yet to work anywhere where at least 50% of the professional staff doesn’t consist of guys (usually) who think they know everything about everything - and they’re never wrong. Inevitably you’ll get some of the most spiteful and annoying comments from these folks. Nine times out of ten, they’ll also be wrong. Dealing with such comments is simple - turn it around on them. Go after the simplicity or error of their comment - and they’ll most likely leave you alone. From the same article above, here was such a comment.
Here, you’ve got a guy who clearly has all of the answers, and starts drawing conclusions without having all of the facts or information. In the computer field, this can be fatal because you spend 90% of your time convinced that one aspect of a program or system is what’s failing, and you fail to search through and verify all of the other points because you’re so convinced that it can’t possibly be that. Here was my reply.
Was it too harsh? It simply pointed out the error in the logic and the points that the commentator didn’t even consider in his quick dismissal of all of the hardware/software issues that can cause communication problems between old network hardware and newer computer systems. So long as you aren’t too harsh or confrontational - this approach is fair toward these kind of commentators.
Tip 3: Don’t feed the trolls.
Finally, you’ve got the trolls. Beware of the trolls. Or, the more common saying is this - “Don’t Feed The Trolls!”
This sort of comment is best described with an example. You’ll get these sort of comments no matter how well you write. In fact, sometimes the better you write, the more likely you are to get attacked by such anonymous trolls. You have two options - just make good use of your blog’s delete key. Or - have some fun. Here was a troll comment received in the article example provided above.
Isn’t that a riot? Is it possible that a grown man or woman would sit at their computer and, feeling protected by the anonymity of the Internet, type such silly and immature drivel? Personally, I doubt it - this was likely a teen or pre-teen just going off half-cocked and without thinking. While such a comment would usually get deleted, you could also just have a little fun, like this.
Unfortunately, this is called “feeding the trolls.” But sometimes, it’s just such a perfect setup that it’s very hard to resist. Gauge your responses to your blog comments upon what your general readership is like and what they can tolerate. While you don’t want to alienate your readers, you should also keep in mind that most of them are just as annoyed by the trolls as you are - so while you probably shouldn’t go at it with them all the time, every now and then a zinger or two can be fun.
How do you handle especially spiteful or immature comments on your blog? I’d love to hear your opinion!
I recently wrote an article for MakeUseOf titled “How to Bypass Firewalls & Get Into Blocked Firewalls in School or At Work With FreeProxy.” The article generated a significant flurry of comments that I only partially expected. What I didn’t expect was the significant emotional response from many of the IT administrators who found the article. They bring up a question that demands an answer - should you learn to bypass firewalls and proxy servers?
Some of The Background
I should provide a bit of background for writing an article on how to bypass firewalls and proxy servers. My own IT career is an interesting one. I started out as an Electrical Engineer - at least that’s my chosen, “credentialed” profession. However, through high school and college, I was always heavily into computers - to the extent that I gravitated towards, and was promoted by, each of the computer-related employers that I worked for during and after college. So, what does a guy end up doing who has both Engineering and Computer experience? That’s easy - computer automation of manufacturing machinery.
Being a person in such a position, I have a unique view of both the people who work in the offices and on the factory “floor,” as well as a good overview of the “background” IT that runs the computer systems. Also, being an applications programmer, I have the unique perspective of being an IT professional with a need to install software and modify PC settings to suit the needs of automation software packages. However, what I’ve noticed over the past few years is that IT security, not only where I work but also across the entire IT industry, appears to be taking the issue of IT security to a ridiculous extreme.
Does IT Security Require Folks to Bypass Firewalls and Proxy Servers?
Whenever I search for articles to write on MakeUseOf, I look for topics that are provocative, informational and current. I also search for what a majority of people are hunting for on the Internet. To my amused surprise, I discovered that every month thousands of students are searching for how to bypass firewalls and proxy servers. Does this mean that there are thousands of students who are out to hunt for porn or other sites that could be harmful to network security?
To answer that question, let’s get back to my scenerio. I work with a number of other IT applications folks who have to deal with IT security “patches” constantly breaking our applications. We have more problems with IT security than we do with any of the viruses that occasionally come out. To put it in perspective - my computers at home are protected by the weakest security imaginable. I don’t even bother with Wi-Fi security. If some dude wants to drive out to the middle of nowhere in hicksville, Maine just to use my Wi-Fi connection, you’re welcome to it!
In the end, my home PC’s run far faster and more efficiently than any of the computers at work which are bogged down by excessive security software, patches and filtering. I use Facebook, blogs and several IM applications, but I also run a single version of Symantec that’s constantly updated with the latest virus definitions. I’ve never had an issue with viruses - and the occasional adware or malware gets swept up in the weekly scan.
The Controversy of Content vs. Security is a Reminder of IT “Elitism”
Back to the MakeUseOf article. Most of the IT admins who’ve responded are very sincere guys. Some are apologetic, and others are a little more in-your-face regarding the need for stringent IT security. However, what their responses show is that in general the IT security industry feels a calling to protect folks from themselves. Teens need to have content filtered on high school and college networks, that goes without question. But to what extent? Who says what content is appropriate - and don’t people understand the slippery slope that introduces in regards to freedom of speech and expression?
I understand this mentality from IT security folks, because it was the same situation back in the 90’s. I recall back at UMaine when “computing” was essentially a huge IBM Mainframe, and you did your work on a small “dumb” terminal in the computer clusters. There was no such thing as a networked PC computer cluster - those were machines you used to type word or excel files and print. The Internet was not yet fully matured - or even really “born.”
What I recall back then was a certain elitist mentality by the guys behind the glass windows who sat in the Mainframe room. That mainframe was god. The data and traffic that went to and from it was monitored and filtered by those guys. They took their job quite seriously, and they had many of the same sort of controls to prevent email spamming and other abuses. Of course, the “online” population mostly consisted of us computer geeks at the time - but the controls were in place, and those guys who worked with “God” (the mainframe) started to get a taste of what IT Security elitism feels like. You are in control. You say what gets through and what doesn’t. And you “know best.”
IT Security Elitism Today
With the explosion of the Internet through the 90s, and with the advent of the terrorist threat in 2001, you can see the explosion of IT egotism following suit. Many of us who have moved on in the IT field into applications and support are finding that our own jobs are far less productive because the computers that we install our applications on are constantly changing configuration and “breaking” our apps. The answer is always that the “patches” are for the sake of security. In most cases, when we (the apps geeks) look into that security patch, we learn that the danger does not even apply in our specific case - but the patches are applied across the board. Corporate doesn’t know any better, they believe what they are told by the IT security manager - and IT security thrives on the Internet “fear factor” regarding the potential security threat of viruses, malware and spyware.
I ask you - how real is that threat? And how counterproductive is it when your own IT security group is causing more damage to your company’s productivity than any viruses ever would?
Ryan is a professional writer for private clients, Associated Content, LoveToKnow and MakeUseOf. Ryan started FreeWritingCenter to offer insight, news, advice and tools for any person
who wants to earn money by working online. Make sure to bookmark FreeWritingCenter.com and visit often for the latest updates!
More
like this can help tremendously.
will definitely be one of your most effective weapons against weight gain from your writing, it will definitely take some getting used to. No more slouching for you!
I recently wrote an 
Whenever I search for articles to write on MakeUseOf, I look for topics that are provocative, informational and current. I also search for what a majority of people are hunting for on the Internet. To my amused surprise, I discovered that every month thousands of students are searching for how to bypass firewalls and proxy servers. Does this mean that there are thousands of students who are out to hunt for porn or other sites that could be harmful to network security?
With the explosion of the Internet through the 90s, and with the advent of the terrorist threat in 2001, you can see the explosion of IT egotism following suit. Many of us who have moved on in the IT field into applications and support are finding that our own jobs are far less productive because the computers that we install our applications on are constantly changing configuration and “breaking” our apps. The answer is always that the “patches” are for the sake of security. In most cases, when we (the apps geeks) look into that security patch, we learn that the danger does not even apply in our specific case - but the patches are applied across the board. Corporate doesn’t know any better, they believe what they are told by the IT security manager - and IT security thrives on the Internet “fear factor” regarding the potential security threat of viruses, malware and spyware.
