Transcript Chapter 14 - University of Scranton: Computing Sciences Dept.

Chapter 14
How Universal is access to
Computers and the Web
How Important is this Chapter to
understanding how computers
work?
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2 on a scale of 1-10 maybe
How Important is this Chapter to
understanding how to use a
computer?
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1 on a scale of 1 to 10
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NOTE: The material in the book is at least
a year old so the absolute numbers are
probably too low
Different Levels of Access
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None
Very limited – only specific times or specific places
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Limited Access with restrictions
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Dial up from home
Low Speed, easy access, few restrictions
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School classroom or library for example
Dial up from home with separate phone line
High Speed, easy access, very few if any restrictions
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DSL, Cable modem, etc
Specific Types of restrictions
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Financial
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Bandwidth charge.
Time charge.
Time of day charge.
Convenience
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One computer in the home -- where is it put?
Phone connection -- when is it available?
Accessibility -- some areas may not have high speed
connections available
Factors that affect the ability to
connect to the Net
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Technical Considerations
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Economic Considerations
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A Computer
Electricity
Ability to connect to the Internet
High cost of computers
High cost of access.
Political Considerations.
Social, Political, Religious considerations.
Individual personal considerations
Computer Science Majors
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Most are male
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80% at the bachelor’s level
75% at the master’s level
80% at the PhD level
Why?
Look at chart on page 389 for ethnic stats.
Software Filters
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A software filter is a program that blocks
information from coming to the computer
as Web pages or e-mail messages or
perhaps in other ways
Example: anti-virus software
More common Example: software that
limits access to objectionable material
What is objectionable?
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Typically the user of the software can
make choices.
Typically the software comes preconfigured with choices already made.
Typically filters can be set for classes of
users.
What gets filtered?
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Pictures
Text
Multimedia
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Sound
Video
Everything
Effective filtering
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What gets blocked?
What does not get blocked?
What about encrypted material?
How is blocking achieved
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Tables of objectionable Web sites
Tables of non-objectionable Web sites
Keyword examination
Sometimes blocked material is passed but
“edited”
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Congress shall make no laws abridging freedom of
speech, or the right of the people peaceably to
assemble, and to petition the government for a
redress of grievances.
Who uses filtering?
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Parents
Companies
How effective is filtering?
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Not very.
Although filtering is better at the corporate
level than at the home level.
Children’s Internet Protection Act
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Federal law that provides for the protection of
minors when using computers in some libraries -public, school, museum, not college.
Restrictions are on images only, not on text.
Obscene, child pornography, harmful to minors
These terms are defined “as an average person
applying contemporary community standards”
would .
Adults (people over 17 years old) may request
that such filters be removed for their personal
use.
Terminology
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Access
CIPA -- Child Internet Protection Act
DSL -- Direct Subscriber Line
Filtering software
ITAA -- Information Technology Association of
America