There are questions around at the moment as to whether we need a different, more regulated Internet. I see this question in the wide context of "gated societies" - not that I really want to believe in throwing up walls. I've been living on the edge of a rough estate for a few years and it is pretty bad. My work takes me away, but I'm deeply concerned at the lack of community and the presence of considerable crime and nuisance. The Internet is increasingly problematic and I'll start here and add bits if we develop anything.
I built a new PC last week and installed Vista 64. The frustrations were horrible and Microsoft customer service piss poor until a rather lovely Asian woman stepped up to the mark on a phone line other than the advertised one. She was at least able to help get my system running. I've no doubt the answers to my problems were out there on the Net somewhere, but all kinds of dross got in the way. I'm sick and tired of this - from advertised prices being incorrect (low) in order to get me to visit, through all kinds of free offer promises than aren't and on to the virus meddlers. In a way it's not unlike having journeys on public transport ruined by jerks with mobile phones, foul language and threatening behaviour. We now routinely check student work for plagiarism and lots of it turns up - almost all of it from those who don't really show in class and don't take much part if they do. Strangely, I get less of this from those students I only teach on line, though it remains a problem. The real answer to this would be to test students through other than essay writing and with more dialogue - but innovation in education is now as likely as flying pigs against the sunset. Without going on, the point is that the Internet and much community could be a whole lot better, but we would have to take on quite a lot of regulation and moderation to get improvements. I like the idea of a much freer, more informed life - but it seems that a variety of scammers and anti-social crooks get in the way across the board. Questions of balance arise here and we are not usually good at balance, ending up too often with red tape and jobsworth bureaucracies. I think this issue could be used to discuss wide social change - not least how we might better share knowledge and thus be better able to benefit from recorded success. In a sense groups like this are a start, though our use of them probably only scratches the surface. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Minds-Eye?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
