Week 10

In the lecture today we discussed information management. It is a major problem that people now have to face- how to manage their information in a way that is quick and easy. The information can either be formatted as atom based or bit based. Whenever information remains as bits, it is relatively easy and inexpensive to change and manipulate. Whenever it is converted to atoms there is generally a cost in time and resources.

In the tutorial I did a reading called 'Grazing the Net: Raising a Generation of Free Range Students' it was quite interesting, as it states how many schools are forgoing roofing projects, libraries and art programs to bring schools "online". One of the topics discussed- Reliability, is something that we have studied in different units of the UPC. It states "they must also guide young people away from reliance on the 'free Internet.' Students will learn that a printed book or a 'pay for service' electronic information source will often prove more reliable and efficient information than the Internet." The article was extremely long and became a little confusing towards the end.

We also did an activity about adding bookmarks and favorites on the Internet.


The second reading was about bits and atoms. Negroponte beleives that everything in the future will be bit- based. I agree with his findings but his time frame seems a little unreasonable.