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TOP STORIES FOR MONDAY, APRIL 11, 2005 Poking Holes in Microsoft's Grammar Checker Computer Application Grades Essays Program Teaches Hacking to Raise Awareness U. of Mississippi Web Page Showed Personal Data POKING HOLES IN MICROSOFT'S GRAMMAR CHECKER Sandeep Krishnamurthy, associate professor of marketing and e-commerce at the University of Washington, is so incensed with the grammar checker in Microsoft Word that he has taken to posting examples of what he sees as the checker's failings on his Web site. He has also called on Microsoft to improve the checker. Citing egregious grammar mistakes that the tool does not question, Krishnamurthy said that although it might be helpful for above-average writers, it actually impedes below-average writers' efforts to improve their writing skill. Krishnamurthy said Microsoft should modify the tool to allow users to select the level of help they need, from basic to advanced. For its part, Microsoft said in a statement that the tool is not intended to find or identify all errors. Instead, it is designed "to catch the kinds of errors that ordinary users make in normal writing situations." Chronicle of Higher Education, 15 April 2005 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/prm/weekly/v51/i32/32a02902.htm COMPUTER APPLICATION GRADES ESSAYS A professor at the University of Missouri has developed a computer application that grades papers and offers advice on writing. Ed Brent, professor of sociology, created the application, called Qualrus, using a $100,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. Qualrus evaluates papers based on the structure of sentences and paragraphs and on the flow of ideas. Instructors can specify which factors of an assignment are most important, and Qualrus incorporates that information into the scores it provides. Brent claims the application improves students' papers and estimated that it saves him more than 200 hours of grading per semester. The tool has been approved for use across the university, but so far Brent is the only instructor using it. Brent is also looking for ways to distribute the tool to other universities and to businesses. CNET, 7 April 2005 http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-5659366.html PROGRAM TEACHES HACKING TO RAISE AWARENESS The University of La Salle in Barcelona has begun a program to raise awareness of computer hacking and to teach teens how to protect themselves. Sponsored by the Institute for Security and Open Methodologies (ISECOM), the Hacker High School invites students from local high schools to the La Salle campus to expose them to the ins and outs of hacking. Pete Herzog, managing director of ISECOM, said the program shows participants how computer hacking is accomplished so that they can understand the concepts behind what computers do, how to clean them, how applications can compromise computers, and the implications for personal privacy. According to one official from the program, the goal is to provide experiences for students to learn how hacking happens so that they will become "ethical hackers, good hackers, knowing what they do and what the limits are." School officials believe having skills as an ethical hacker could be beneficial when students go looking for jobs later. BBC, 8 April 2005 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/4423351.stm U. OF MISSISSIPPI WEB PAGE SHOWED PERSONAL DATA Officials at the University of Mississippi have removed files from their servers that included names and Social Security numbers for about 700 students after being notified that the files were available to anyone on the Web. The files were not linked from other pages, but they had been indexed by search engines. As a result, an individual identified only as Jay who was searching the Web for an old friend stumbled on the files. According to Jeff Alford, assistant vice chancellor for university relations, the files were posted by someone who no longer works for the university. That person likely posted them in late 2003, but university officials are not sure why he did so. "For some reason, he saved the information as a backup file on the university (Web) server," said Alford. "It is a clear violation of our privacy policy, and a serious violation." MSNBC, 6 April 2005 http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7407401/ ***************************************************** EDUPAGE INFORMATION To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your settings, or access the Edupage archive, visit http://www.educause.edu/Edupage/639 Or, you can subscribe or unsubscribe by sending e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To SUBSCRIBE, in the body of the message type: SUBSCRIBE Edupage YourFirstName YourLastName To UNSUBSCRIBE, in the body of the message type: SIGNOFF Edupage If you have subscription problems, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***************************************************** OTHER EDUCAUSE RESOURCES The EDUCAUSE Resource Center is a repository for information concerning use and management of IT in higher education. 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