Online Privacy

Online privacy must be safeguarded

In the 21st century, technology has become even more intricately threaded throughout our lives. As such, the enormity of Bill C-30’s reach cannot be underestimated. While the bill, "[is] not about surveilling Canadians' Internet habits," (Deputy Chief Murray Stooke of the Calgary Police Service, 2012, cited in The Calgary Herald), one needs to wonder about how this bill might be utilized as an avenue for the surveillance of Canadians' internet habits in the future. Mount Royal University criminologist Doug King notes, "we don't know the privacy implications of the technology we use - at least this bill might put it on the table," (Calgary Herald, 2012). The introduction of, and the subsequent discussion surrounding, Bill C-30 may be the very forum needed in our quest to gain better insight into the complex issue of technology and privacy.

This article also caused me to wonder, at what cost do we sacrifice our privacy for participation? Thomas & Brown (2011) outline that the new culture of learning is about freedom, participation, creating and collectives, all facilitated by a fluid infrastructure. To what extent do we, as a society, perpetuate and allow for our privacy rights to be waived, or quietly circumvented, in an attempt to participate?

The transparency of our lives via social media is evident in status updates on Facebook, photos on a wide range of social media sites/networks, tweets on Twitter “what are you doing?”, Lifelogging, and Youtube videos.

Are we allowing and accepting the loss of our privacy rights through our participation in social media? Or, do we need to reframe our understandings in regards to public vs. private, personal vs. collective, ultimately reshaping what our privacy rights might be/look like within each of those realms?

Cheers,

Theresa

The Calgary Herald (2012). Online privacy must be safeguarded, critics insist. Retrieved February 201, 2012 from http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Online+privacy+must+safeguarded+critics+insist/6178599/story.html

Thomas, D., Brown, J. (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. Seattle, WA: Create Space.

Technology: Reducing Cognitive Load

Globe and Mail: Pinterest

I came across this article in the Globe and Mail last week. I was intrigued by the title, 'Technology: Reducing Cognitive Load' and I wanted to explore this a bit more. Upon further reading, I realized that the article was more or less an advertisement for a website. However, I did find some interesting points about what this specific site has done to reduce their users cognitive load:

• Visual Images - our brains are able to process images easier than text. This site has focused primarily upon the use of images over text

• Curation is creation - basically, this site provides a 'storage space' of information (kind of like hoarding, but virtual and possibly more organized) so that everything you post/like/follow is categorized and easily accessible for future use

• Sharing - finding and following what you like is simplified by the common forum that is created through individual's pinned items 

So, what does this mean for blogging? More broadly, what does this say about the websites we follow (or don't), the degree of interaction that we may or may not have with a site, and the underlying messages and motives that may or may not exist in the sites we choose to read/follow? Do we choose certain sites (consciously or unconsciously) based on the above factors, with sites that have some or all of the ‘cognitive reducing’ aspects more likely to be followed? Again, more questions than answers…


Cheers,


Theresa