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telecom, technology and the occasional floobergeist

I’ve got an abundance of bits and pieces of canadian telecom and internet experience, and I am thrilled to be in a place in time when all is changing, technology is developing, and the status quo is being disrupted. 

Floobergeist is a word that is beginning to defy definition.  The more I roll that smooth pebble around, the more it becomes to mean. Floobergeist started out as the magic dust that turns dreams into ideas.  And then it began to encompass the zing that happens when you have conversations about those ideas. And now, it’s the whole evolution from dream to conversation, with each step improving the later and the former along the way.

Everyone aspires to good conversations. They can lead you to adventures you’ve never imagined, and to people you can twig with.

Let’s have a good conversation…

welcome.

Facebook Too Cool for Ontario Government?

May 03, 2007  /  jules kivell

Earlier this week, the Ontario Government decided that Facebook was off limits to any Ontario government employee, MPPs, aides and cabinet ministers.  And, with usual sneaky tactics, didn't notify anyone of the decision, but simply sent the word to the IT group to filter out Facebook at the firewall level. Facebook has been relegated to the same status as porn now, at least as far as the government is concerned. Funny - considering all the interest and added attention that some gov't folks, on both sides of the border, are having with MySpace and Facebook accounts. It seems like a no brainer for sharing information and getting out to the public in a manner much less invasive than canvassing the neighbourhood.

Throughout the country, interesting backlash is occurring, as more and more people sign up for Facebook accounts. Students are getting suspending for talking about teachers, employees are being locked out of the site through company firewalls. It's a tool, just like email, IM or blogging.

"We have to have the conversation about what's private, what's public,what are the protocols, what are the rules, because I think it's veryunclear," said Education Minister Kathleen Wynne.

"We need to realize that these technologies exist, and we need to berealistic that they're not going away, and we need to help our studentsto deal with them."

I have a feeling that Kathleen Wynne could learn quite a few things from Ontario students. Her *interest* in helping students deal with the internet sounds like a distraction from the real issues at hand - transparency in education, and the new realization that if you are a sub-rate teacher, it's not something that can stay secret for very long. Gone are the days of students with no power to effect change on bad teachers. Hello transparent education system.

Could banning be the next indication of success for web 2.0 apps? :-)



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