User:Evan.roland

Student at De Anza college

CIS Final Project
The links in bold are the more important resources.

1. Introductions
https://forum.librivox.org (important volunteer oppurtunity)

This link is for a website that allows you to volunteer your hours online. This company "LibriVox" is incredibly helpful to those with disabilities, dealing with sight. They get books and stories from the public domain and convert them into audio books. These audio books are available to the world for free hence the need for volunteers. If somebody has an hour or two of free time, reading a book to a microphone for the blind community out there would be very helpful.

https://translatorswithoutborders.org/volunteer/

This link is a website for volunteering opportunities for translators. Translators are integral to helping the world understand and get to know more about each other. They are an important mouth piece for those that don't understand an different language. This site is very beneficial to those that need specific medical texts, or even just news in general, translated to their language. This is extremely important in California right now due to covid-19, so please spread the news to those who won't understand social distancing procedures.

== 2. Privacy and Freedom of Speech == https://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/educational-resources/about-educational-outreach/activity-resources/what-does-0

The Fourth amendment is the perfect way to understand online privacy and the right's every american. The fourth amendment states that searches and seizures without a warrant are unreasonable, and also just straight illegal. However in our new technological age, the laws surrounding your online privacy have become increasingly more lax.

https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2013/10/02/228134269/your-digital-trail-does-the-fourth-amendment-protect-us (tells us how the government is finding ways to get your private information)

This secondary link tells us that the stuff we share with others is also privy to the government. "Since the 1960s and 1970s, the Supreme Court and other courts have issued a series of rulings declaring that the government does not need a search warrant to obtain your personal documents if you have already shared them with somebody else." So this can include a lot of things, such as credit card info, and what you buy on a daily basis. Since you share this information with credit card companies and banks you are therefore at risk of the government looking through your history. Our privacy is being breached due to a loophole in a law and that really needs to change.

== 3. Intellectual Property == https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/what-is-fair-use/ (definition of fair use important for understanding intellectual property)

I think the discussion of fair use is integral to understanding the concept of intellectual property. Determining what you can make or say about a certain piece of content is the goal of fair use. Making sure nobody can directly copy your work, while maintaining a way to properly comment or criticize the work is a hard balance to maintain. While it is incredibly important to protect a creators ideas, it doesn't help the consumer get a full understanding of the product, or content they are being provided. This law is set up so people can create things based off of others content, without getting copyright claimed and without their content on the subject being removed however with no hard set rules it's incredibly hard to tell. What content is fair use and what content is copyright?

https://www.lowercasemagazine.com/blog/2018/9/25/the-3-biggest-problems-in-the-art-world

This next link is a discussion on problems, people who create, and sell intellectual property face. How to monetize your art, how to gain exposure for your art, and how to network within your specific art community. People can put hours of effort and all the time they want into their work but never make a single dime or gain fame for their work. Support your local artists!

== 4. Crime == https://www.computerhope.com/jargon/c/compcrim.htm

This article describes the act of computer crime. Computer crime is committed by people who illegally browses or steals a person or company's personal information. Some examples of computer crime, are copyright violation, blackmail towards a business or person, or just straight leaking somebodies personal information. Their are many different ways people commit these crimes and many different reasons why. Below is my favorite example of computer crime being committed for a good cause.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/08/aaron-swarts-work-internets-own-boy (important example of crime in computers)

While there is a larger idea behind crime, this specific example of civil disobedience is an important moment in the history of computer crime. Aaron Swartz was a young man who was a genius in the computer industry. He was a founder of reddit, an important political activist, and a writer. He decided to hack MIT and take articles and provide them to the general public. However the program he made to take the information worked almost too well and he ended up stealing millions of individual articles and resources and was quickly caught in the act. He was sentenced to 35 years in prison for this specific act. He ended up committing suicide before he could end up in jail. His goals in life for committing these crimes was to make the world a better place, share knowledge and expose corruption from where he saw it. Defending digital rights has improved greatly because of him. These unjust laws he saw fit to break have already begun reform.

== 5. Employment, Education and Entertainment == https://thebestschools.org/magazine/edutainment-gamify-education/ (Important ideas on education)

Edutainment is a growing industry thanks to the way society has integrated computer into the education system. Edutainment helps younger kids, and even some adults, learn at an easier pace. It really helps people overcome the barrier to entry for a lot of different subjects. I personally learned how to code when it was "gamified", in a program called scratch. This really helped my personal experience with edutainment.

https://tryengineering.org/wp-content/uploads/TryEngineeringLessonPlanListingNov2018.pdf

This website has easy to access sample lessons for teachers to teach their students the basics of engineering. It has examples for many ages, some work from young children and adults some work for just children. Overall just an easy spreadsheet to find better ideas to teach the future of our country. However I personally do not like the idea of getting children into engineering early. Steering them towards a career at a young age isn't the way to go, however around adolescence, maybe giving some kids direction would not be a bad idea.

== 6. Midterm - Grand Challenges == https://proliteracy.org/Blogs/Article/399/How-the-Latest-Technologies-Help-Improve-Literacy-Skills

This specific site goes into a broad spectrum of ways to improve literacy in our modern age. The first Idea they have is the "power of Gamification. What this entails, is an easier way to break the barrier to entry on literacy, by making learning more fun. Online games, online crosswords, and fun quizzes are all really easy ways to get into learning how to read. Word recognition is what makes these games work generally, and is what is incredibly important in teaching children. If an adult has not received this particular training this is an easy, less painful way for them to learn. Technology is helping adults find a way to learn outside of the education system, without the "embarrassment" of just not knowing how to do certain things.

https://proliteracy.org/Blogs/Article/445/4-Apps-That-Empower-Adult-Learners

This article provides us with some apps that have already been released that will help adult learners in general, not just illiterate people. The app I found most helpful was Learning Upgrade. Learning upgrade gives engaging lessons, that make learning a little more palatable for those who struggle to learn in school. This specific app was one of the Xprize winners for this project. It has a hard focus on English, reading, and math. The important part about the English section is the lessons in phonics, decoding, vocabulary and grammar. These are presented to you in a couple different ways, such as through song, games, or videos. This app is for a younger generation, but part of adult literacy is catching troubled learners early and helping them get what they need. You can repeat lessons all you want with this app so practice is easy and accessible. It would also probably help foreigner's get more accustomed to learning English in a fun and engaging way especially when you lack the free time to go to school.

https://centrical.com/platform/gamification/?rid=vo20-search-gamification-us-seeds-ad12&keyword=gamification&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=vo20-search-gamification-us-seeds-ad12&gclid=Cj0KCQiAyp7yBRCwARIsABfQsnReaeQC702HS79JMaAYYeeukWhScS3oFGdrZQt4f7NbD8wri-tTP_IaAlpdEALw_wcB (I think this is the best idea for improving adult literacy. Paying people to learn would have the largest impact on this issue.)

While this article isn't totally about adult literacy in particular, it's an example of ways companies are implementing learning for employees in the work force. The way this article/website has chosen to tell us to do this is with the app Centrical. This app is a way learning with technology is improving our daily lives. This specific idea of making learning fun seems to be a constant battle that technology is helping with in waves. The idea is that, to stay driven to learn more, setting certain goals and challenges for each employee is a way towards developing your work force. If we can find a way to implement this into workplaces with low literacy rates, we can help these people improve and grow their critical thinking, and also teach some folks how to read. This app is designed to be a part of an employees routine, with varying activities, just to make sure that people can maintain focus, while learning just a little each day. It doesn't overwhelm merely enhances every day life and I think that's how we'll be able to improve adult literacy.

== 7. Evaluating and Controlling Technology == https://www.cpomagazine.com/cyber-security/new-ekans-ransomware-targets-industrial-control-systems-appears-to-originate-from-profit-motivated-cyber-criminals/ (valuable information for learning the subject)

Control systems are exactly what they sound like. They're the systems that control industrial equipment. These programs are a huge part of the work people do on an everyday basis. These programs have to be perfect because they put the general public at risk. They have to be incredibly secure otherwise hackers can stop the entire production of a company.

https://www.britannica.com/technology/automation/Advantages-and-disadvantages-of-automation

The advantages and disadvantages of automation are essential to understanding our current future in tech. With automation at the forefront of many companies minds, employees are truly getting the short end of the stick. With more and more blue collar workers being fired the lower class, the one's who need money most, are taking a huge hit from automation. With this increase in automation it's incredibly important for the government to provide a living for these workers.

== 8. Risks, Failures and Responsibilities == http://www.cyh.com/HealthTopics/HealthTopicDetailsKids.aspx?p=335&np=285&id=3006 Risk of overusing computers is something I personally experience from a day to day basis. I personally suffer from bad posture due to the hours I spend daily on my computer. Many of my friends have experienced real issues with hand and joint injuries. One of them has arthritis in her wrist from the amount she uses her mouse and keyboard. While the computer usage isn't solely to blame for these issues, teaching people the importance of stretches and being active is an important part of computer usage.

https://www.computerhope.com/jargon/e/error.htm (errors are an important part of understanding how and why your computer fails) This article both explains a computer error and tells you how to fix computer errors. To start off, an "error describes any issue that arises unexpectedly that cause a computer to not function properly." To fix a computer error you must first identify the type of error and the source of the error. Depending on the error you get, it will generally give you some information on the problems you're having. Error messages are incredibly helpful to figure out the problem your computer has and how to fix it.

== 9. Anytime, Anywhere == mobile learning:

https://www.easy-lms.com/knowledge-center/lms-knowledge-center/mobile-learning/item10388 (a really good example of the idea of anytime anywhere)

this website teaches you the basic definition of mobile learning. Mobile learning is the use of mobile devices, to teach. This can come in many capacities such as, interacting with mobile devices during lessons to keep up, or even using an app online to read and learn from. It talks about the benefits such as motivating kids to learn using the device or just the ease of access no matter where you are. It also doesn't matter what distance you are, you can learn from state to state. it also talks about the disadvantages such as being distracted or if the area has a lack of internet connection. This is just one example of what you can do on the go nowadays.

https://resources.depaul.edu/teaching-commons/teaching-guides/technology/Pages/mobile-learning.aspx

this article gives you a more in depth look into how mobile learning works. it has active examples of what you can use, such as Kahoot, an app that allows students to answer multiple choice questions together on their own device. It allows you to use edutainment in the class, a previous thing I've done research on in this class

== 10. Technology Advances, Social Trends == https://www.utilitydive.com/news/nuclear-energy-storage-advanced-reactor-developers-trying-to-expand-nuclea/573570/ (nuclear energy is the future of energy production)

With advances in technology slowing down we need to look at the future to see how we can maintain our electrical usage. Nuclear power is among the most important ideas in our near future. Nuclear power is the most efficient way energy can be produced, surpassing the coal, solar, and wind energy. With proper utilization our world can completely remove the coal industry creating a much cleaner earth.

https://ourworldindata.org/technology-adoption

These charts on technological adoption really give you a proper way to see how the world is using technology to their advantage. Fore example internet access is an integral part of american, however continent's like Africa and Asia have been much slower to adopt this growing need. Another example is road vehicles. America is at the top of technological usage and has the highest amount of road usage in any country, however another country who is a technological leader, china does not utilize road vehicles to nearly the extent we do. It's incredibly important to see the way other countries maintain efficiency, so we can grow and learn as well

CIS MIDTERM ON ADULT LITERACY
I chose the project "Adult Literacy: Transforming One Million Lives Through Literacy." The current state of this project is completed also known as the "awarded" phase. In this specific course people created free applications for cash prizes to help adults with literacy issues. The invention of smart phones really has increased the need for adults to be literate in this technological age. Having a smart phone is almost as necessary as having a home in this day and age. If we can break the barrier with a smart phone, to get these adults into learning, then that's the path this contest is trying to take. The advantages of this can be seen in the workplace, with improved literacy rates improving labor productivity, and cutting billions of dollars in healthcare costs. By becoming literate adult learners will find more success in the workplace, and at home. Providing free access to tools to help these adults is the goal of this project.



This specific site goes into a broad spectrum of ways to improve literacy in our modern age. The first Idea they have is the "power of Gamification. What this entails, is an easier way to break the barrier to entry on literacy, by making learning more fun. Online games, online crosswords, and fun quizzes are all really easy ways to get into learning how to read. Word recognition is what makes these games work generally, and is what is incredibly important in teaching children. If an adult has not received this particular training this is an easy, less painful way for them to learn. Technology is helping adults find a way to learn outside of the education system, without the "embarrassment" of just not knowing how to do certain things.



This article provides us with some apps that have already been released that will help adult learners in general, not just illiterate people. The app I found most helpful was Learning Upgrade. Learning upgrade gives engaging lessons, that make learning a little more palatable for those who struggle to learn in school. This specific app was one of the Xprize winners for this project. It has a hard focus on English, reading, and math. The important part about the English section is the lessons in phonics, decoding, vocabulary and grammar. These are presented to you in a couple different ways, such as through song, games, or videos. This app is for a younger generation, but part of adult literacy is catching troubled learners early and helping them get what they need. You can repeat lessons all you want with this app so practice is easy and accessible. It would also probably help foreigner's get more accustomed to learning English in a fun and engaging way especially when you lack the free time to go to school.



While this article isn't totally about adult literacy in particular, it's an example of ways companies are implementing learning for employees in the work force. The way this article/website has chosen to tell us to do this is with the app Centrical. This app is a way learning with technology is improving our daily lives. This specific idea of making learning fun seems to be a constant battle that technology is helping with in waves. The idea is that, to stay driven to learn more, setting certain goals and challenges for each employee is a way towards developing your work force. If we can find a way to implement this into workplaces with low literacy rates, we can help these people improve and grow their critical thinking, and also teach some folks how to read. This app is designed to be a part of an employees routine, with varying activities, just to make sure that people can maintain focus, while learning just a little each day. It doesn't overwhelm merely enhances every day life and I think that's how we'll be able to improve adult literacy.