Lightning in a Bottle

There is a very sobering article on computer security in this week’s issue of InfoWorld. In the last year or so, the major threats have moved from young hackers to professional criminal organizations. The types of attacks are quickly getting very sophisticated. Some of these desperados use hard-to-detect code to infect thousands of computers and turn them into “zombie PCs.” While this isn’t new, what is different is that they are advertising through online chat rooms and renting out access to their vast network of compromised computers on an hourly basis.

That’s just one of the issues discussed in the article. Security experts have even had to coin a new term to describe this new breed of larcenous program code - “criminal ware.” Lovely.

Looks like I was a day early on the $100 laptops. Nicholas Negroponte did presentation at an MIT conference about the project yesterday. There is an blogger Andy Carvin, and a gallery of images of the prototype (thanks to Jeff Allen for the latter two links!)

I sure hope this doesn’t turn out to be vaporware. What a transformational tool! If nothing else, I have to admire the sheer aduacity of the effort. I really like this Negroponte quote from the Andy Carvin blog:

Impossible is a code word at MIT for “do it!”

Last year Nicholas Negroponte and his colleagues at MIT proposed the idea of creating $100 student laptops. The idea seems to have moved beyond pie-in-the-sky and a step closer to reality. Some of the companies that have joined the project include Google, AMD (the chip manufacturer), and Red Hat, which distributes a version of the Linux operating system. In addition, the governments of China and Brazil are working with the MIT group to distribute the machines in their countries.

Now, the governor of Massachusetts joined the party. Governor Romney has proposed purchasing the same computers for middle-school students throughout the state, starting in 2006 or 2007, whenever they become available.

I’ll be really interested to see if they can pull this off. It sounds like they have most of their ducks in a row to make it happen. It has the potential of being a very disruptive technology - especially if they hit their goal of 150-200 million machines in the first two years

Lego robotics time! The 2005-2006 challenge for the FIRST Lego League project is up and ready. This year’s challenge is called Ocean Odyssey.

If you are not familiar with the FIRST Lego League, they run annual events where teams compete with robots built and programmed from Lego Mindstorms kits. The challenge is actually a series of tasks that must be completed by the robots, which must operate completely autonomously.

I can’t describe one of these programs well enough to do it justice. If you can find a local competition in your region, make every attempt to go and spend an hour or two to see these kids in action. You won’t believe the energy level or the sophistication of the devices they can create.

In Washington state, the local competition is sponsored by FIRST Washington, a subgroup of the Seattle Robotics Society. The regional competition will be December 3rd at Highland Middle school. I’ll be there!

Some people figure out ways to create a focal point that combines a variety of disciplines. The artist Bathsheba Grossman is one of those people.

She is a sculptor that uses high-tech devices to create intricate sculptures of mathematical and scientific models. Her metal pieces use created using a 3-D printer (a process she describes here.) She also creates 3-D images in glass of math functions and scientific models using a computer-controlled laser that creates thousands of tiny little fractures in glass (described here. You’ve probably seen similar kinds of displays at the local mall, but this takes it to a different level of sophistication.

I’m referencing this site because it demonstrates how technology can be used to bridge disciplines. It also makes me think about a term someone used in a meeting I was in a few weeks ago. We were talking about how technology can impact kids in schools, and that for some kids technology is the “magic door” that can allow those kids to do things they could never have done before, or engage them in new ways.

Imagine being able to let kids have access to something like a 3-D printer. What could they create? Imagine taking kids in a math class and giving them the option of creating models of math functions, or kids in a science class being able to create models of DNA or the molecule of their choice. How much more engaged might they be? How much more might they learn? Perhaps not every kid would care, but there are some kids out there that would not only care, their world would turn inside out. I hope we continue to use technology to create more magic doors like this for kids to open.

We had a great time this summer with a new program called Digital Photography Bootcamp. The project was sponsored by the Northwest Council for Computers in Education (NCCE), and took place at Pack Forest near Mt. Rainier.

We had two three-days sessions of teachers exploring digital cameras and photo software, and taking thousands and thousands of pictures in the beautiful surroundings. (You can see a few here.) With support from vendor partners Adobe, Troxell, HP and Olympus, we were able to have hands-on work with software, cameras, and color printers to make for a very entertaining experience.

If you’re interested in trying it out yourself, NCCE will be offering the program again next summer. Dates will be by winter and be posted on the NCCE website. We hope to see you there!

Ok, this looks too cool. Mitsubishi has developed an interactive tabletop. It’s basically an interactive whiteboard laying flat and functioning as a table or desk. What’s really creative is that through a rather sophisticated series of antennas and separate receivers (usually in the chairs around the table), the system can tell which individuals are touching the screen, or if a single person is touching with both hands.

I’m sure it will be awhile before we see anything like this in schools, but what a world of possibilities! What could a sharp teacher or a group of tech-savvy kids do with a tool like this?

The World Wildlife Fund has a cool website tracking migrating leatherback sea turtles. Eleven turtles have been tagged with transmitters that monitor their locations, as well as depth, temperature, and other data. For a science program, it is a really interesting way for kids to see real-life research unfolding on a daily basis. It is also, unfortunately, a look into why animals such as these are endangered. One of the original turtles has already been killed, apparently snared in a gill net.

The Milwaukie Journal Sentinel has published a well-written series on technology in schools (simple registration required). It very thoughtfully looks at the questions and issues, in the context of how schools are dealing with the end of a tech spending boom in Wisconsin. Has the technology made an impact? Now that state funding is dropping, is it worth picking up the continuing costs from the local level? Should kids spend more time with real materials and manipulatives instead of computers? I’m not so sure myself some days!

This article really opens my thinking on the use of ePortfolios. It’s written from a higher-ed perspective, and describes a more robust, student-driven kind of system than I have seen so far. (When can we incorporate student weblogs into their portfolios?)

I also like the discussion of teachers maintaining ePortfolios as well - it fits in nicely with the whole professional learning community approach. If you read nothing else, scroll down about 3/4 of the article to read the paragraph about administrators creating and using online portfolios. Now THAT’S radical!