11.14.2008

Book Discussion - The Future of the Internet

Donna Beck, your friendly Engineering Librarian, hosted the Science Libraries' first ever Book Discussion this Wednesday at Maggie Murph Cafe. We had a lively (and sometimes on-topic!) discussion of The Future of the Internet--And How to Stop It, by Jonathan Zittrain, with student representation from Computer Science and Human-Computer Interaction.

Highlights of the discussion:
  • We discussed Zittrain's point about the fight between generativity and control; there's a worry that because of problems with open platforms (viruses, spamming, etc.), people will move more and more away from general-purpose computers to appliances with strict control and little opportunity for customization (examples: the iPhone, the Wii, TiVo). On the other hand, we talked about the Wii as a tethered appliance and instances of people successfully hacking the Wii controllers--including CMU's very own Johnny Lee's low-cost Wii-mote smartboard.

  • Privacy (p. 231) – Data is being centralized, and we can't monitor which applications are capturing which data about us. Do we just need to “get over it” in regard to invasion of our privacy? It seems to us that more and more (younger?) people are more willing to share their data. This bothers the librarians in the group, who have always been taught to keep patrons' data private.

  • Security - is the Internet as dispersed as we believe? Will it be easier to compromise large amounts of PCs?

  • Empowerment through technology - People in Tunisia are creating maps of prison locations using Google Maps so that prisoners' families can find and visit them.

  • Democracy and the Internet - There's concern that people won't be properly informed; they'll get the news they hand-pick for their RSS reader and only opinions they agree with, resulting in an "echo chamber" effect. As a counter example, following the recent election on Twitter gave an idea of how the "Twitterati" felt about various news items, and you couldn't filter by opinion.

  • Convenience vs. Security – People love Google Docs, Gmail, and other networked applications. But what would happen to your records if Google stopped offering these, or the Internet goes down? The convenience is great, but local backups are worth having.
We also have a matching game with terms from the book. If you're itching to know the answers, send an e-mail or leave a comment with your contact information!

Thanks to everyone who came out to discuss this book! If you'd like to get a head start for next time, we'll be reading Genetic Witness: Science, Law, and Controversy in the Making of DNA Profiling by Jay Aronson, a faculty member in our History department. The discussion will happen in early February.

11.12.2008

New books!

The E&S Library has several exciting new books! Here is a sample of what we have; come in and take a look, to find out what else is available. You can also find these and our other new books in Cameo.

Process Engineering Problem Solving: Avoiding "The Problem Went Away, But It Came Back" Syndrome, by Joe M Bonem

Introduction to Plastics Recycling, by Vannessa Goodship

Ultra Materials: How Materials Innovation is Changing the World, by George M Beylerian, Andrew Dent, and Bradley Quin

Environmental Microbiology, by Raina M Maier, Ian L Pepper, and Charles P Gerb

11.11.2008

Welcome!

Hello, this is Coral, your friendly Information Assistant, and I'd like to welcome you to the CIT Blog! We--the librarians and information assistants who support CIT's engineering departments--will use this blog to post items of interest to faculty and students. Posts will generally include information to help you with your research, announcements of new books and programs, and fun engineering-related links.

Also, as you may already know, the new Library website is up for early evaluation and comments. Please check it out at http://eps.library.cmu.edu, and tell us what you think!