This case study is very much real world.  Frequently, and particularly when you are speaking of  entry level, clerical positions, there is ample opportunity for advancement up the ranks with the acquisition of basic, computer skills.  As in this case study, a piece of computer equipment has been introduced into the office (office computer, aka PC) that was not there before, and the ability to productively use this piece of equipment is the price one pays for job advancement. 

Were I in the place of this clerical person, I would check the availability of classes at my local community college, e.g., Pierce College, and report back to my boss that the following classes are available and it is my intention to enroll in classes at the next enrollment period:

Keyboard Skillbuilding I & II - These classes introduce and improve one's ability to use a keyboard as an "input" device to a computer.

Introduction to Windows - This course would give a person competence in using the #1 choice of operating system for PCs.

Records & Database Management - Principals & Procedures for records management, including storage & retrieval. 

Professional Office Applications I, II, & III - Introduces the student to features of word processing, spreadsheets, and personal information management software.

Completion of the first course in each of these classes will make a person very capable of assuming office duties using a computer.  Of course, for the really ambitious person, completion of a recognized, documented series of classes leading to a "degree" or "certificate" at a local, accredited institution of higher learning should definitely impact on earnings because the general understanding is that the more education one has, the better one's earning power is.

   May I say that I have learned so much in this class so far, and this is just Chapter 2.  I was hoping to learn far more than I know about PCs et al, and I think I will be more than satisfied with what I come away with.  As I did the research for this question, I found myself laughing out loud and shaking my head and finally saying  out loud (my husband was in the room) "I didn't know that people had so much spare time."

   I went to some of the remotest newsgroups and found some of the most abysmal topics being discussed in "groups".  Here's one, just as an example:  A member of the newsgroup saw a lady with a purse in her out & abouts, and could not get close enough to the woman to ask her the particulars about the purse, so she presented her dilemma to the newsgroups, giving less than an adequate description of the purse and then asking the "groupies" if they had any idea about the "pedigree" of the bag as she liked it so much she would like to have one.

   I went to several-several groups and read their Netiquette guidelines.  I can't tell you how much pleasure it gave me.  I busted out laughing on many postings I read.  I'm coming from ground zero as far as knowing anything about this topic, but after exposing myself to a myriad of postings outlining various groups' "rules" for communicating in the group, I now know more than I ever wanted to know about Netiquette. 

   I found the rules to be superficial,  pompous, and stifling, but, if you can take what you read for "gospel", most of the groups felt that w/o these rules chaos and anarchy reigns-- well, let me just quote one entry which nicely sums up what I found numerous times:   

     "Well, we had someone who did not follow netiquette guidelines on attributing previous posts properly.  The thread soon turned into a free-for-all on netiquette, which effectively drowned out the on-topic part of the thread."

    In all fairness, since I've never been a member of a newsgroup, I realize it is unfair to criticize them and poke fun at their rules and regulations, however, from the outside in, the very thing that they rail against seems, to me, to sum up my initial impression of netiquette: 

      "Oft-repeated sermon: Netiquette is not a bunch of arbitrary rules devised by four-eyed, double-domed savants in ivory towers. It wasn't invented as     a trap for the unwary or as an implement with which to belabor the newbies."

   That's exactly what this newby to Netiquette thinks of the concept.

Tsutomu Shimomura, John Draper, Johan Helsingius, Vladimir Levin, Linus Torvalds, Eric Steven Raymond, Steve Wozniak, and a host of others all "hackers" of the first, or, at the very least, second order.  Once again, new learning has penetrated my frontal lobe. 

This is a prime example of how you have to invest some time investigating things for yourself.  I must admit that I was not aware that any good thing could come from a hacker, but, to my amazement, many of the individuals who are considered to be members of that fairly elite group called "hackers", were directly responsible for good things coming about as a result of their activities. 

The end result for some was the development of computer languages, some caused businesses to tighten up and get serious about maintaining security regarding their records, which is good for us consumers because we don't want our information being accessed by the unsavory.  Some of these individuals felt very strongly the Open Source Movement, which believes, more-or-less, that programmers should be able to read and modify all source code. 

Some were not comfortable with the concept that software was viewed as private property and went on to establish "freeware" software foundations.  Others felt that a cultural infection on the internet i.e., more use by more people, is far and away more positive than the destructive infections brought to the internet by the unsavory.

This was a very revealing and clarifying assignment and as "mature" as I am, it brought home to me a truth I thought I knew, and that is to investigate things for yourself...do not take the media's word as "gospel" on anything.

Here are some helpful links to compliment this internet ethics dilemma:

1.  Who are P.G. Wodenhouse & Bertie Wooster?

P.G. Wodehouse (1881-1975) was the creator of, among others, the original and immortal Jeeves (the archetypal "gentleman's gentleman") and his master Bertie Wooster. Affectionately known as Plum, Wodehouse is widely regarded as one of the greatest humorists of the 20th century, and is read and loved by fans worldwide. His prolific output included nearly 100 novels and collections of short stories, as well as plays, musicals and song lyrics.

2.  What were the top grossing films this w/e?

a.  Wallace & Gromit's The Curse of The Were-Rabbit - $16.03mil

b.  Jodie Foster's Flight Plan - $10.76 mil

c.  In Her Shoes - $10.02 mil

d.  Two For The Money - $8.70 mil

e.  The Gospel - $7.52 mil

f.  Tim Burton's Corpse Bride - $6.51 Mil

3.  Top Stories (per Ask Jeeves) Selection and Summary of the information:

This is the Headline:  Bush: Miers' Religion Key Part of Her Life

The article speaks of President Bush's attempts to put his latest nominee to the Supreme Court, a woman by the name of Harriet Miers, in the best light possible.  He has instructed some of his lackeys to "go to those conservative legistators who are holding out  to "explain the facts" about Harriet Miers.  The President feels that  "part of Harriet Miers' life is her religion."

The article goes on to say that, once again, there is an effort to get some identifiers on this latest appointment.  The previous one escaped, for the most part, giving the lawmakers any handle to hang himself by, and so there is the same degree of effort being made to try and "identify" Harriet Miers.  

The same o'l posturing is going on in Washington -- we saw it with the Roberts confirmation and, I believe, we will see a re-play with Harriet Miers. Ultimately, the public loses because we have no advocates in Washington.  

Once again, I have come face-to-face with an eye-opener of an assignment.  I have been listening to my husband over the years, declare that our communications are being monitored and I have come to realize, more or less, that he is probably correct.  Now, I find that there is an established network of computers located around the world, that do in fact, monitor not only our voice communication, but our email communication, and other forms of public telecommunication.

This idea was hatched and put into action over 40 years ago by the United States.  Apparently the US persuaded New Zealand to be a partner in assisting the US in spying on countries throughout the Pacific region. 

According to Nick Hager, who wrote a book, Secret Power, about the super-secret agency created by the NSA, referred to as Echelon,  New Zealand, nor any of its Pacific neighbors was fully aware of the deeper implications of what New Zealand had agreed to.  Not until the 80's was this Orwellian-like network exposed to the public. http://mediafilter.org/caq/echelon/

An organization called Cyber-Rights & Cyber-Liberties, http://www.cyber-rights.org/interception/echelon/, has reported on the web The Temporary Committee on the Echelon Interception System.  The last update of this website is listed as Last updated in July 2001.  According to the website, 

What factors are driving the rush to develop this system?

Holographic data storage has made recent progress toward practicality with the appearance of lower-cost enabling technologies, significant results from longstanding research efforts, and progress in holographic recording materials.

How are images stored?

Holographic storage is computer storage that uses laser beams to store computer-generated data in three dimensions. Perhaps you have a bank credit card containing a logo in the form of a hologram. The idea is to use this type of technology to store computer information. The goal is to store a lot of data in a little bit of space. In the foreseeable future, the technology is expected to yield storage capacities up to a terabyte in drives the same physical size as current ones. A terabyte would be enough space for hundreds of movies or a million books.

What companies are researching & developing this technology?

a>Optitek, Inc is focused on bringing digital holographic data storage systems to the market place.

b>Particular emphasis is given to applicability of each storage technology for use in the rugged military environment.

c>Pictured is Geoffrey Burr, research staff member, IBM Research's Almaden Research Center (San Jose, Calif.) and the "DEMON II" test platform, which was built to explore high density holographic data storage under the DARPA-sponsored HDSS consortium.articular emphasis is given to applicability of each storage technology for use in the rugged military environment.

d>Although no one has yet mass-commercialized this technology, many vendors are working on it. InPhase Technologies, which was founded by Lucent, is working on a product capable of storing 200 gigabytes of data, written four times faster than the speed of current DVD drives.

As I research and try and absorb what I can about this "new" up-and-coming technology, I have a feeling that in a few short years it will be common place and the "woo woo woo" feel that even saying the name "holographic storage" engenders will be  household pretty soon.  Such is the pace of technology.  It is moving with the same mach speed of everything else and the time when this will be a common reality will be so short, in point-of-fact, that it will make our  heads spin.  In the words of a man whom I do not admire, nor respect, "bring it on".

I/M is becoming very popular in the work setting.  I have a friend who works for AAA in the Bay Area and he and his colleagues use I/M in carrying out their jobs daily.  I have a niece who works for some concern in Los Angeles, and the first time I saw her signed to I/M, I sent her a message and her response was "Aunty, I cannot talk to you in this format because I'm at work."  My husband works for Boeing and they use Outlook I/M at work. One of these individuals uses Yahoo's I/M, and the other two use Microsoft's I/M.  The use of I/M in the work setting is is growing in popularity and is already heavily used in the financial industry as well.  While researching this topic, I came across an article outlining how heavily used it was for employees in one company:  Lee Blackmore, director of IT at Stifel Nicolaus, says he was surprised to learn how widespread IM use was at the Midwestern brokerage house. He was about to ban all use of IM for fear of security breaches that the service can cause, but the company's institutional traders put up a fuss. Instead, he agreed to let the company's 175 traders use any IM service they like and installed IMlogic's IM Manager to control and secure communications.

Following are links that lead you to more aggressive scenarios regarding SPIM:

http://news.com.com/U.S.+makes+first+arrest+for+spim/2100-7355_3-5584574.html

http://news.com.com/Making+your+IM+secure--and+deniable/2100-7355_3-5576246.html

I believe that SPIM is not looked at as a serious threat at this point, mainly because until now, I/M has always been a forum to be used and enjoyed on one's own time, and agree as some I/N talking heads have espoused that it won't become a serious issue until it's too late -- just like SPAM has become to email.

Here's an example of how some employers still restrict their employees.  We are given access to the internet on a case-by-case basis because, as I understand it, Pierce County expects massive abuse if everybody has access and they apparently don't want to have to invest the time required to monitor and deal with the abusers, so they do not allow access uless your job requires it.  We have an intranet I/M service, but as the word "intranet" implies, it only includes the employees in our local area.  I took it upon myself to download Yahoo's I/M on my computer at work, and I was told that since there was not a "work reason" for me to have Yahoo's I/M application installed on my computer, I should uninstall it.  I don't believe my employer knows the potential for I/M.

This is a great assignment for me because I have been interested in Satellite Radio every since I heard of the concept.  I will be getting satellite radio for my vehicle in the near future.  I will use this assignment to enlighten me on what the technology is, and the "players" in this "still small" circle of providers.

We all have our favorite radio stations that we preset into our car radios, flipping between them as we drive to and from work, on errands and around town. But when you travel too far away from the source station, the signal breaks up and fades into static. Most radio signals can only travel about 30 or 40 miles from their source. On long trips that find you passing through different cities, you might have to change radio stations every hour or so as the signals fade in and out. And it's not much fun scanning through static trying to find something -- anything -- to listen to.

I love to travel cross country with my husband via vehicle.  I was a military dependent--my dad was in the military all my life--and we traveled from duty station to duty station via vehicle{within the continental US}.  I hated it then and it was one of the many things I affirmed that I would never do when I became an adult, but guess what?  It's my favorite mode of transportation.  Curtis and I drove from WA to OK a couple of years ago. We drove and took our time.  It was so "freeing" to be "on the road again", however, the above paragraph perfectly describes the malaise that sets in when you have talked all you want to and are at the point where you just want to listen to a good radio  station because you are tired of the CDs you brought with you.  It is not possible on some stretches of road to get anything.  That's even the case from here to Pullman, believe it or not.

Now, imagine a radio station that can broadcast its signal from more than 22,000 miles (35,000 km) away and then come through on your car radio with complete clarity. You could drive from Tacoma, Washington, to Washington, D.C., without ever having to change the radio station! Not only would you never hear static interfering with your favorite tunes, but the music would be interrupted by few or no commercials. 

I am so hooked because this is a "road warrior's" dream.  And, what a surprise to find out that this ability to broadcast via satellite is not a new concept:

The Basics
Satellite radio is an idea over a decade in the making. In 1992, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) allocated a spectrum in the "S" band (2.3 GHz) for nationwide broadcasting of satellite-based Digital Audio Radio Service (DARS). Only four companies applied for a license to broadcast over that band. The FCC gave licenses to two of these companies in 1997. CD Radio (now Sirius Satellite Radio) and American Mobile Radio (now XM Satellite Radio) paid more than $80 million each to use space in the S-band for digital satellite transmission.

I think this is really one of those technological advances that seems like it was made just for me...and my ilk.  The Satellite Radio Companies think it is revolutionary, akin to cable television had on television and I don't disagree.  Initially, these SRCs were only suppose to be accessing long distance stations, but, apparently there is a brew-ha-ha growing because these SRCs are broadcasting local weather and traffic advisories, which the local stations are saying is a violation of their license and have taken their complaints to the FCC.

The big-3 SRCs are: 

Basically, the way Satellite Radio works is that these companies have satellites orbiting the earth, usually two, which their ground station transmits signals to. These satellites bounce the signals back to radio receivers on the ground.  These radio receivers are programmed to receive and unscramble digital data signals which contains numerous channels of digital audio, and the signal ALSO CONTAINS additional information about the broadcast, e.g., song title, artist, etc.

After completing this assignment, I have a much better concept of SR and I even think that I know which company I would prefer to go with.  I've known that it was a technological advance that had my name on it...I've only to claim my present.

I was really pumped by reading this chapter.  I tell you, the creative juices began to flow, because it gave me a re-glimpse of how technology can move you from the dark ages to the "light" of access and convenience.

My husband has been employed in the field of I/S for over 25 years.  We got one of the first PCs that IBM manufactured, so, as a family, we've been in the "computing pool" for a long time.  We always seem to have at least two functioning computers in our home, and right now, we have 3 including a laptop. 

I say this to underscore the fact that it makes no sense that we are being drowned in paper and records.  We have put NOTHING, nada, on the computer.  Everytime we need an important document, it's a fishing expedition until we find it.  As I read this chapter, I thought of how simple the concept of "database" could make our lives if only we would set aside the time to make the concept "live" for us.  Therein, lies the rub.  We're too busy to really get familiar with the concept of documenting important things in a database, but because we don't, we're living in the dark ages as far as home organization is concerned.

As I was reading and I realized how perfect database is for any home, I thought to myself, just a little time and effort could drastically simplify our lives and others we know. 

I told my husband that when I get thru with this class, I will take on just one challenge in our home as far as getting the information in a database and making it more convenient for us.  My thoughts are that if I can do just one project, e.g., setting up a database of addresses/telephone numbers of people I send Christmas cards to and who I receive them from, or, the times I keep my grandson and what we do when he is with us, this flurry of activity will spill over into the  really important, hard, business of organizing our affairs so that when we do "kick the bucket", our kids won't have a hard time trying to figure out "what did mom & dad have and how do we access it?"

Implanted chips in Humans

Many ideas are put forth and start out as seemingly helpful, advances in society that will reap a whirlwind of benefits, but further on down the road, we find out that the idea and its implementation was the push that we needed to put humans on a destructive path whereby there is no turning back.  In my opinion, this is the case with this technology.

When you combine the fact that this particularly technology aligns closely with prophecy contained in the Bible in the book of Revelation, it's thrown into the stratosphere as far as being controversial is concerned. http://www.greaterthings.com/News/Chip_Implants/

"

WASHINGTON - Medical milestone or privacy invasion? A tiny computer chip approved Wednesday for implantation in a patient?s arm can speed vital information about a patient?s medical history to doctors and hospitals. But critics warn that it could open new ways to imperil the confidentiality of medical records.

The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday that Applied Digital Solutions of Delray Beach, Fla., could market the VeriChip, an implantable computer chip about the size of a grain of rice, for medical purposes.

With the pinch of a syringe, the microchip is inserted under the skin in a procedure that takes less than 20 minutes and leaves no stitches. Silently and invisibly, the dormant chip stores a code that releases patient-specific information when a scanner passes over it." http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6237364/

If you're in your 50's like I am, and have been exposed to bible prophecy contained in the book of Revelation, this information is very chilling because it seems to be moving us closer to the "end of this age for man" and this age ends in chaos and tribulation.  There is a scripture that comes from I Corinthians 10:23, spoken by Paul, the Apostle, which goes like this:  "All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient."  In essence, what that means is that just because you can do it does not mean that you should do it, because it could be negative in the results it produces. 

The company that has produced this technology is called Applied Digital Solutions or ADS, and their first version was non-trackable by GPS, called the VeriChip.  There was a storm of protest over this chip, and since 9-1-1, the company has introduced Phase 2 of the chip, which they say, is not an implant, but is to be in close contact to the body on the outside, NOT the inside.  " ... We're not planning on or even considering any other application at this time. Only external uses! All of our energy ? all of our focus ? all of our effort is in this direction. Period. Any other approach or suggestion is purely hypothetical speculation at this time." http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=27584

I think that mankind is like an addict about some things...no matter how much common sense says that this technology is going to produce bad results in the end, there is always some company out there who finds pursuing the technology irresistible.  Some would say that's how man progresses...I would just add progressing towards what?

Open Source vs Proprietary Software

I think that the first one there has a whole lot to do with what people choose to use.  When you are competing with a giant who has summed up customer needs and is delivering a product to address those needs, it's very hard for you, a smaller company to come behind the giant and say "I have something quite similar to that, it's not as pricey, we give you great leeway even to the extent of allowing you to view the code of how the software works, and we will support your use of our software for 7 years."

It's not the nature of humans to put much "stock" in something that doesn't "hurt".  Since the Giant doesn't come near to offering such unheard of access, nor the level of support, it's human nature to not esteem the companies who are doing that.

I say, all things in time.  Just as society has slowly evolved and changed over the years, so goes our thinking.  I believe that as we become more literate, we will be able to expand our level of acceptance of what we once deemed to be "strange" to realizing that it's just "different" and that we might come out the better for trying something different.

The person who can think for him/herself is the one who will initially benefit from innovations such as this.  Then, clunky o'l society, as a whole, will get on the "visionaries" bandwagon.  Also, as these open-source solutions become better and better, and are more capable of competing with the "giant", folk will start accommodating their products into their software usage.  A more educated populous is a better populous.  Classes such as CIS-121 do an awful lot in opening the eyes of computer users to the wealth of information and products available to make whatever it is you're trying to do, faster and easier.

I work for a very large organization and I never see any evidence of "back-up" of files, but common sense tells me that at some level, this is done.  When you consider the office of Budget & Finance, the Tax Assessor's Office, The Courts, well, clearly there is a backing-up of files going on.

One thing I have noticed about working for Pierce County is that there is little decentralized knowledge of software or hardware for that matter.  Generally speaking, the employees are shown how to do a few things on the computer and they limit themselves to just those entries/applications.

I have learned so much in this class, and I am taking to work what I have learned, but you can't be excited about something that you haven't experienced, and so when I start talking about what I am studying or learning, there is initial interest, but when the time to get back to the grindstone comes, that faraway look is replaced by determination to wade thru all the work that has to be done, and so the person is deflected from "the possibilities" by mountains of work that is right in front of their nose.  Employers do limit themselves and the scope of the accomplishment of their people when they fail to push and encourage (via tuition reimbursement) their employees to increase their knowledge base by taking classes.  It's the o'l barefoot and pregnant syndrome.  It's hard to be pro-active when the amount of work  prevents you from having time to even discuss/consider things to put into play to get in front of  situations vs always reacting after these situations have occurred.

Initially, I had fear and anxiety about placing an order online for merchandise.  I did not feel that it would be safe, and I feared my credit card numbers being accessed by the unsavory.  Evidently, at some point, the convenience outweighed the fear and I placed my first online order.  It was so straightforward, and so easy and hassle-free, until I repeated the action, and now it is so much a part of my "norm" until it's hard to believe that in a few short months, I have gone from the uninitiated to a supremely confident and comfortable electronic shopper.  I find that when you expand your self in one area, you're much more likely to try things in other previously untried areas.  I now book airline reservations and rental car reservations as a routine over the internet.  I order my textbooks online, reserve library  books, and get movie tickets and go online when I want to find out what's playing at which theater.  I also use the internet to closely compare products.  For instance, there is this cookware at COSTCO that I think is very fine, and whenever I see some other cookware on sale, I will go to the internet, pull up the specs on the COSTCO cookware, pull up the other brand and compare stats, feature-by-feature.

As the youngbloods say, "it's all good", but something in my frontal lobe tells me that this is convenience that will turn on us, someway, somehow.  Could be just my age speaking...but I don't think so.