Last Lecture

“We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.” 
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

Today in class we watched this phenomenal video of a lecture given by Randy Pausch, about achieving your childhood dreams. Randy Pausch was a Maryland born computer scientist, virtual reality specialist, and inspirational speaker. The video compelled me to find out more about Randy Pausch, which I was saddened to find that in great computer scientist fashion -for instance, Alan Turing-, he passed away in 2008 at the young age of 47.


Just from the hour and sixteen minute lecture we watched, you could tell Randy Pausch was an intellectually gifted and inspirational man. He led a group of students to win a zero gravity experience, worked as a Disney Imagineer, and co-founded Carnegie Mellon's Entertainment Technology Center.

He was also one of the developers who worked on Alice, a project designed to teach students the fundamentals of object-oriented programming in a way that is fun. What stuck out to me was the possibility that this could be a tool for interesting middle school girls in programming.

Getting and retaining female computer science students is a large problem. Last semester in junior seminar my final paper was about women in computer science. Studies have shown that to get women into computer science you must interest them at a younger age, most effectively through mother-daughter experiments and activities. Alice would be a great learning tool for both parents and students to learn, giving them both a bonding experience and a venue for young girls to express their creativity in a field that is not considered a woman's field.

Hiketracks

Hivetracks is a web application linked to a database that helps beekeepers keep track of their yards. When a beekeeper goes out to their yard, they can enter information such as the status of the hive and the weather into the website and store it for later use.

To further our ethics discussion, we focused on any ethic concerns this may have. A few stuck out to me as things I might be concerned about if I were a user of this site:

1) Hivetracks has a google maps option that can give images of your yard. First, someone could see the layout of your yard and steal your layout because it may work better than theirs. Your layout is your intellectual property. Second, the layout of the yard is highly visible, meaning if someone wanted to steal a hive they would already have a plan for how they would do it. Also, if your hive was in your backyard they would now be able to see where your house was in proximity to the yard to avoid being caught.

2) What kind of database security is in play? Some people may have opted to have their information not shown and would prefer if someone could not get it from the database freely. If someone were to gain access to the database, through various methods, they could have access to potentially sensitive information.

3) Who does the code and subsequently the data collected belong to? It would be the USDA, Appalachian state, the university of Maryland or the person who actually wrote the code. Over the course of the operation many people have written code or contributed data to the project. Do they all know that they are forfeiting ownership of anything they submit to another entity?

Today I learned that a lot more goes into beekeeping than I ever thought about. You have to make sure they are somewhere that they can get the right food, make sure they have a queen, and try to keep them alive during the winter. Not to mention recording everything you do to the hive and it's condition so you can monitor changes and remember what you are supposed to be doing to the hive on your next visit.

Ethics

Throughout the world there are many views on what is ethical and what is not. For instance; take two cultures who are both experiencing a drought, one culture might perform a rain dance or pray for rain, while another culture might make a human sacrifice to the rain gods. While not as extreme, today I learned that even in the same classroom there can be a variety of different ways people view ethics.

To add to the discussions today I would have liked to have had us all analyze a scenario and using our own personal ethics, explain how we would come up with a decision on what to do and what we would do. For instance:

"Tony, a data analyst for a major casino, is working after normal business hours to finish an important project. He realizes that he is missing data that had been sent to his coworker Robert.Tony had inadvertently observed Robert typing his password several days ago and decides to log into Robert’s computer and resend the data to himself. Upon doing so, Tony sees an open email regarding gambling bets Robert placed over the last several days with a local sports book. All employees of the casino are forbidden to engage in gambling activities to avoid any hint of conflict of interest.

Tony knows he should report this but would have to admit to violating the company’s information technology regulations by logging into Robert’s computer. If he warns Robert to stop his betting, he would also have to reveal the source of his information. What does Tony do in this situation?"

This would be a difficult decisions. Tony would have to choose between saving himself trouble and knowing that he is letting his coworker do something wrong, or getting in trouble to correct a wrong that his coworker is doing. If I was in this same situation, I would keep to myself the information I found about Robert and inform Robert that I accidentally observed him typing in his password and that he would probably change it. It was morally wrong of me to log into Robert's computer; therefor, information I found by doing something wrong should not be used to call someone else out on their wrong. If I later overheard Robert talking about his gambling or found out a legitimate way, I would report it then.

The beauty of ethics is that no two people have the exact same personal ethics. While I would not tell on Robert and myself, some people would tell on themselves to get Robert in trouble, and others may tell on Robert but try to clear themselves. A culture may have a set or ethics that they think should be followed, but people have the free will to believe whatever they feel. Even if those people have to follow laws governed on the ethics of the society that they may not believe in.

Resumes and the job world

After watching the presentation in class today by Angel Wood about resumes, cover letters and jobs. A few fundamental worries have arisen: my interview track record, the quality of my resume, and my public speaking skills.

Good thing they're not outside.

My interview track record has been quite embarrassing. My first interview was rescheduled, throwing me off guard and leaving me ill prepared in the face of my first job. Luckily for me, it was only a fast food job and my best friend talked the manager into hiring me. My second interview was a group interview that was more of a "get to know you" session than an actual interview. Though my social skills nearly cost me that one too. Interviews make me feel small and unintelligent, rendering my speech as complete gibberish.

Up until recently my resume was filled with projects I worked on but no one really understood as well as five years at a fast food restaurant. My past job left me the option to remove some projects or remove my non-relevant work experience. I decided it was time to leave KFC in the past. I still feel like in the job world there will be tons of people with more impressive resumes than I have. Which is why I plan to go to graduate school. Education cannot beat out real-world experience, but it can prove that I have specialized in something.

"I'm a sexy beast!"

The last of my worries, in reality the biggest worry, is my lack of public speaking skills. For years I have tried to gain some communication skills by presenting in class, communicating with friends, and even going to group counseling. But nothing has seems to counteract the feeling of a thousand eyes judging me as I speak. The key to all good speakers is confidence, but confidence is not easy to fake. 

In a health lecture a few semesters ago, the professor stood in front of the class and declared that the key to confidence is looking in the mirror every morning and telling yourself that "I'm a sexy beast!". I have yet to prove or disprove this theory.

Resumes and cover letters is a hard topic to really have fun with. The presentation had good quality, but most of the things in it I already knew. To better improve the lecture, I would bring in past CS students who have gotten real-world jobs and have them show their resume and explain the process they went through to get their jobs. It would be a large help to get tips from someone who has graduated and gotten a job using the same techniques we have to.