The attention of a goldfish?
Internet and Everyday Life
Cyber Insecurity
If I tell friends and colleagues that I am working on a ‘cybersecurity project’, I can see them mentally move along to other topics. In sounds technical and only technical. Arguably, most internet users and ordinary people generally see cybersecurity as a technical field – one that is likely to be impenetrable or uninteresting … Continue reading Cyber Insecurity
The Right to Send Anytime, Anywhere, All at Once
I respect the right of anyone to choose when and how they reply to an email. The person receiving an email has the power to delete, ignore, read, respond immediately or respond whenever they choose. They can even have an automatic response, say over their holiday or weekend, that they are away from work and … Continue reading The Right to Send Anytime, Anywhere, All at Once
A London Forum on Histories of the Internet
AIT Forum on the Histories of the Internet: Call for Papers Archives of IT (AIT) is organising a one-day academic-practitioner forum on the Histories of the Internet in January 2024. The forum is designed to: foster more critical, multidisciplinary perspectives on the history of computers, telecommunications, the internet, and related digital media; illuminate how people, … Continue reading A London Forum on Histories of the Internet
Oral Histories of your Family
Oral Histories of your Family: Questions I Failed to Ask With age, I’ve become more aware of the questions I should have asked my parents and grandparents. Like many others, I was interested in my family’s history. For example, I have long treasured my “Aunt Ann’s” family bible with key dates and events recorded in … Continue reading Oral Histories of your Family
AI Hype
AI HYPE: A Commentary by A. Michael Noll March 29, 2023 Copyright © 2023 A. Michael Noll The 1968 movie “2001: A Space Odyssey” by Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick frighten us with the computer “HAL” that reads lips, makes decisions, kills, and ultimately goes berserk. Decades later around 2011, IBM introduced its “Watson” … Continue reading AI Hype
Confidentiality Online?
In the UK, over 100,000 WhatsApp messages between a former health secretary and government ministers during the COVID-19 pandemic were leaked.[1] The former health secretary, Matt Hancock, shared his WhatsApp messages with a journalist, Isabel Oakeshott, with whom he was collaborating on his book entitled Pandemic Diaries (Hancock with Oakeshott 2022). They essentially co-authored the … Continue reading Confidentiality Online?
The Myth of an AI Leisure Class?
The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is real and significant. But AI is not new albeit in 2023 it is more focused on machine learning than programming. On a recent trip to Singapore, the rise of robots was clear, cleaning the floors of the airport and moving trays around restaurants, for instance. That said, the … Continue reading The Myth of an AI Leisure Class?
Working from Home and Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity Problems: Before, During, and Post-Pandemic William H. Dutton and Patricia Esteve-Gonzalez Global Cybersecurity Capacity Centre (GCSCC), Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford Has the shift in working patterns in response to the pandemic caused more problems with cybersecurity? Along with colleagues at the GCSCC, we interviewed a set of experts on cybersecurity to get … Continue reading Working from Home and Cybersecurity
Stay-at-Home Workers
Stay-at-home Workers: The Global Rise of Hybrid and Online Working from Home Bill Dutton and Patricia Esteve-Gonzalez The impact of lockdowns and working from home initiatives during the COVID-19 pandemic has been substantial on such issues as who works from where. Our global survey of 7,330 respondents spread across 133 countries found that hybrid work … Continue reading Stay-at-Home Workers