In 2007 I graduated from the University of Ulster’s new E-Learning masters program. For my thesis, I developed a research study on collaborative learning and more specifically the adoption of Adobe Connect at the University of Maryland University College. ...
In the United States, a large proportion of the population falls into the category of having low literacy skills. “A long-awaited federal study finds that an estimated 32 million adults in the USA — about one in seven — are saddled with such low literacy skills that it would be tough for them to read anything more challenging than a children’s picture book or to understand a medication’s side effects listed on a pill bottle.” Toppo (2009). This poses challenges for these individuals seeking services and assistance online using websites that have traditionally not catered for this segment of the population. Services including health information for vaccinations, information on the availability of free clinics in the area, and advice and support from organizations such as Planned Parenthood, simply aren’t as easily accessible to this group of the general population. ...
During his 2013 State of the Union address, President Obama highlighted the importance of defending our nation from the many cyber threats that are continuing to dominate the news cycles. Just days prior to the President’s speech, eighteen people were charged in a massive credit card fraud ring. The Associated Press (2013) described it as a “sprawling international scam that duped credit-rating agencies” by using stolen identities of individual victims to steal $200 million. ...
Over the last decade, the boom of the Internet has had a major impact on the way we interact with other individuals and business entities. Products and services have become available at the touch of a button and access to vast amounts of information has become available to anyone with a direct connection to the web. Much correspondence, which was traditionally mailed through the postal service now takes place online through e-mail communications. Management of bank and other financial services accounts can all be administered through online tools where the customer seldom needs to enter a physical branch location anymore. There are clearly many advantages to this new connected world and services that are still evolving at the current time will provide even more convenience to users over the next number of years. Unfortunately many of the conveniences of online services come at a price. As software systems have become more advanced so too have the criminals who seek to breach these systems to their own end. Computers have evolved to the point where the information stored now “contain wedding videos, scanned family photos, music libraries, movie collections, and financial and medical records.” (Vacca, 2009) Vast amounts of information is being stored online in newer cloud based services which is creating even larger targets for cybercriminals. Consumers have put their trust in many corporate organizations who handle their sensitive data to protect it adequately from those who would seek to steal or destroy it. ...
In a hypothetical study, the Interaction Design and Information Architecture (IDIA) department at the University of Baltimore decided to promote their Humans Computers and Cognition (IDIA 640) course to prospective students already enrolled in the program and to those interested in the field. In order to foster interest in the program, it was decided that a banner or ticker should be deployed within the department website, providing news updates and information about the program to interest visitors. This paper documents the development of a ticker prototype intended to serve this purpose. Discussion of the chosen content, rationale for design from a human centered computing and cognitive standpoint follows in the paper. The prototype has been designed with an emphasis on addressing memory, forgetting, learning and mood. ...
Web based games and interactive applications have become a common means of teaching a wide range of concepts throughout K-12 schools in the United States. With the declining costs of hardware and software coupled with the increase of available bandwidth and transfer speeds, the development of educational applications has advanced significantly in the last five years. ...
Over the last decade, a shift has occurred in the way many people access, read and watch current events and news. From the traditional newspapers and scheduled television news programs, we have moved to a more dynamic interactive medium, which dispenses information in a real-time format. News websites are a fairly young media; however they have evolved exponentially since the late 1990s to the current time. This article examines a popular news organization’s web presence and evaluates this resource in terms of human centered design and cognition. It explores the website’s effectiveness of compiling and distributing news information in a way that is easy for humans to comprehend and process. Much of the focus has been on the main homepage of the website; however other site pages have been taken into consideration adding context to some of the discussion. ...
As information systems in airports continue to grow in both size and complexity, so too do the risks associated with security vulnerabilities and threats. Since the terrorist attacks on September 2001, airport security has substantially increased in day to day operations to address modern threats that the transportation infrastructure faces. Terrorist attacks however are only a portion of the security threats that an international airport faces. Advanced systems used in airports from customer ticketing and check-in, immigration and customs to air traffic control are all depended on daily to maintain operations involving vast numbers of customers travelling throughout the world. These systems must be secured from a number of threats. First and foremost, an international airport must be prepared for threats to its physical infrastructure including natural disasters as well as the danger of deliberate attacks. Risks involved with untrustworthy employees or consultants should be appropriately mitigated through necessary systems permissions and auditing. External threats of cyber attacks either through the airport’s website booking system or other vulnerable gaps within the information systems must be adequately addressed. Operations within an airport that are vital to human safety must take a high priority with regards to security investment. ...
The last decade has seen a noticeable shift of commercial application development from in-house computer software to the web browser in the form of web applications. Many company web sites today have evolved from small collections of informational pages to a combination of massive database driven applications for sales, marketing, finance, extranets and customer relationship management systems. ...
Limitations and opportunities explored Mobile devices have many positive aspects including opening up networking channels and increasing the accessibility of information, but as with any new technology, potential pitfalls must be researched, remedied and cautiously provided for. This literature review discusses several potential pitfalls of mobile technologies as well as potential opportunities faced by developers of software as well as mobile device manufacturers. More specifically, several themes are highlighted through existing literature on areas concerned with the development of mobile applications. These themes include context awareness, mobile security, usability and accessibility. By focusing on these themes and researching the literature available, the developer will be better equipped to face the challenges and opportunities ahead in order to create practical and usable applications. ...