Tag Archives: computers

The Pleasure Dome

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I saw man lost in the lonely crowd. He saw not me but gazed in adoration at a shimmering screen. He prayed, fingers tapping incessantly, attempting to fill the void inside.

I saw family gathered around a flickering screen. Silence reigned for they feared to speak or, perhaps had nothing to say.

I saw Kubla’s stately pleasure dome but, instead of caves of ice, wires ran throughout that place.

I saw man lost in a virtual reality of his own device, and closed my eyes in holy dread,

For he on computer generated worlds had fed, and drunk the milk of paradise

The Dark Net By Jamie Bartlett

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The internet is, for most of us a place where we shop, interact with other like-minded individuals via social media and pursue a variety of other activities. We use search engines such as Google and even when our browser’s cookies are cleared they can, by a person with a fairly rudimentary knowledge of computers be restored enabling browsing habits to be ascertained.

In his book “The Dark Net”, Jamie Bartlett deals with the so-called dark net, a world in which anything is possible, however malign the intentions of the user. Guns, child pornography, all are available to those who know how to navigate the Dark Web.

Apart from criminals the Dark Web is also used by political dissidents wishing to avoid the attentions of authoritarian regimes. It is, in short the wild west of the internet. The Dark Web is, in brief a tool which can be employed for good or evil and is, like all technology neither good or bad, dependent as it is on the motivations of those who avail themselves of it.

 

For Bartlett’s book visit http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Dark-Net-Jamie-Bartlett-ebook/dp/B00K0M6JQC

50percent Of Occupations To Disappear In The Next 15 Years A New Report Predicts

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A new report suggests that 50 percent of occupations will disappear in the next 15 years and lists those likely to perish together with those which will survive. The report’s author’s are optimistic that people will find new more interesting occupations to replace those which perish.

I note that authors don’t appear in either list. Not sure what one draws from that! For the article please visit http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2826463/CBRE-report-warns-50-cent-occupations-redundant-20-years-time.html

Such Things As Dreams Are Made Of

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An article in today’s Daily Mail (5 November) speculates that within 15 years we may have a machine with the capacity to record dreams.

On the one hand, imagine what new vistas this could offer for authors. With the invention of such a machine writers could take their dreams and construct amazing tales. Indeed some dreams might require no tailoring being perfect examples of ready-made stories.

On the other hand, imagine the possibilities for hackers. Mr Smith has experienced a particularly salacious dream about a lady (not his wife) and Jo Bloggs, a hacker threatens to release the recording to his partner unless a large sum of money is paid by Mr Smith.

Of course the above can be dismissed as so much science fiction. Perhaps it is, perhaps not. For the article please visit http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2821686/Could-soon-record-DREAMS-Headset-uses-brainwaves-viewers-snapshots-subconscious-mind.html

Computer Fools Humans Into Believing That It Is One Of Us

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Apologies for the previous post which contained a wholly erroneous link. I am, obviously a human for computers do, as we all know never make mistakes! There follows below the post I meant to publish!

The Turing test, developed by Alan Turing has been passed by a computer at London’s Royal Society. Turing postulated that if a machine could convince at least 30 percent of users communicating with it via text chat that it was human then the test would have been passed. This is a milestone in the field of artificial intelligence and as with all such developments possesses the potential to produce great good and (if misused) significant ill for humanity. For the article please go to http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/10884839/Computer-passes-Turing-Test-for-the-first-time-after-convincing-users-it-is-human.html

So Long And Thanks For All The Dots

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I became blind at about 18-months-old as a result of a blood clot on the brain. I have some useful vision including the ability to see outlines of objects, I can not, however read print.

As a young child I was taught how to use Braille, a system of raised dots which blind people touch in order to decipher text. Growing up Braille was central to my life. I read Braille books voraciously, my school examinations and university exams where in Braille and I could not have progressed easily in life in the absence of those strange, bumpy dots!

Today there is growing concern that Braille is under threat. See, for example the following article, http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11258778. The growth of digital technology makes it incredibly easy for blind people to access printed material without having to use Braille. I am typing this with the assistance of Jaws which converts text into speech and Braille on a standard Windows computer allowing visually impaired PC users to access the internet, send and receive e-mail etc. While Jaws does work with Braille displays allowing visually impaired PC users to read Braille via their machines, Braille displays are not essential to the task of reading. My home laptop on which I am writing now is not hooked up to a Braille display and I don’t feel the lack of the technology. I can cope perfectly well in the absence of a Braille display.

Amazon Kindles are equipped with a text to speech facility which allows the reading of books without looking at the device’s screen. Apple products such as the iPad have voiceover which enables visually impaired people to utilise various apps including the one for reading Kindle content. Safari and other key apps are also accessible.

From the above one might conclude that braill is, like the parrot in Monty Python well and truly deceased. However Braille remains incredibly useful. Most medicines are now labelled in Braille which allows blind people to find their medication without having to rely on sighted friends, neighbours, family etc. Again some household products contain Braille labelling (next time you go to the supermarket take a look at the bottles of bleach many of which are labelled with “bleach” in Braille.

Despite the proliferation of digital technology I still enjoy reading Braille. It is lovely to sit in a comfortable armchair leafing through The New Oxford Book Of English Verse or Poe’s “tales of Mystery and Imagination”.

Braille is certainly declining but there remains fight in the old beast yet!

Something Lost?

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On the bookcase in the room in which I write stands, amongst other books, The Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought, 1977 edition. Much of the scholarship contained in that fairly substancial tome is outdated and yet I am loathed to throw or give my book away. Looking at the Dictionary brings back memories of taking down books in the school library. As I write the excitement of finding a hitherto undiscovered author or work of reference is rekindled. I recall reading “The Story of Medicine” and other Ladybird books. The thrill of discovering new knowledge is a wonderful feeling, one which drives the student or, indeed the general reader to enhance his or her understanding of the universe.

Now most works of reference have been replaced (or are in the process of being superceeded) by the internet. Wikipedia is now the fount of all knowledge (well not quite judging by the number of articles which have caveats appended) but you do, I am sure grasp my point! The internet is a wonderful invention which, among other things allows us to access a world of knowledge with the click of a mouse. It is wonderful to click on a site dedicated to Charles Dickens and learn about the author and his world without having to traipse to the public library in the pouring rain. However the joy of searching through dusty old shelves of books, discovering something new, sitting down and becoming lost in a good book is a pleasure which, I fear children growing up today may not experience. Youngsters can click on Google or the search engine of their choice, ascertain the information for which they are searching all without needing to leave the comfort of their home. Leaving aside the issue of whether one can trust all the sources pulled up by Google there remains the intangible matter of the joy of discovery which is, as I said above in danger of being lost. Of course there exist excellently researched sources of information on the web but to someone who, like me was brought up in a world of books the internet can, on occasions appear somewhat arid compared to the garden of books.

I am no luddite. Being blind I recognise the vast benefits of the world wide web. With access technology which converts text into speech and braille I can, using a Windows computer access information which in years gone by I wouldn’t have accessed without the assistance of sighted friends. None the less I have a gut feeling that people of my generation (I am 45) have experienced something precious which many younger people risk losing, the joy of wandering around a library (in my case full of braille books and cassette tapes) and discovering something new in the world of literature, history or some other field.

 

Signed, King Ludd

 

(Note, while writing this post I looked up the word traipse using, you guessed it Google as I no longer possess the braille edition of The Little Oxford Dictionary of Current English which I once owned!

Oops!

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Several months ago I blogged regarding my computer crashing and how this had caused me to investigate back-up services. Like every writer and, indeed most PC users I worry about losing vital data. Well I didn’t get around to setting up a back-up service. You can, I am sure guess the rest. Several days ago my laptop refused, point blank to turn off. The screen was black and the machine was making a whirring sound. The problem almost certainly stems from me having attempted to shut it down when it was already in the process of closing which confused the poor old thing. Anyway the whirring continued for several hours and I went to bed leaving the computer running. Fortunately, come the morrow the PC had turned itself off and has been running without problems since then. Now this time around I will start backing up my files, believe me!

The Captcha Monster

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I like to follow other people’s blogs. Interacting with others is, after all part of the fun of blogging as sooner or later you get bored talking to yourself! Likewise I love receiving comments and commenting on other people’s blogs. To me a blog which does not accept comments is a dead entity. It may well contain interesting content but without the ability to interact with the blogger his/her site does, in my view lack a certain vibrancy.

One of the difficulties with allowing comments is separating the wheat from the chaff. My site receives a fair number of wheaty (have I just invented that word)?! Comments, however the blog also gets bombarded by chaff (spam)! Akismet (the spam filter used by WordPress) captures the overwhelming majority of junk mail consigning it to a dedicated folder where it can be reviewed by the blog owner. The beauty of Akismet is that it does not entail the person commenting attempting (often unsuccessfully) to solve a visual Captcha. Captchas are visual puzzles which must be solved prior to those wishing to comment or contact the site owner being able to do so. For a brief period I maintained a site on Blogger. Blogger employs Captcha and low and behold not a single comment did I receive on my site hosted there. Given that I receive a fair number of comments on my WordPress hosted site (which does not utilise Captcha) and I had none while using Blogger, I attribute my success in attracting comments (on WordPress) to the lack of Captcha. Unless a person feels extremely strongly on a given issue they are, when faced by a tricky Captcha likely to give up and move onto a blog where the Captcha monster is not lurking ready to pounce on the unlucky would be commenter!

As a blind computer user I have a particular detestation of Captcha. Screen reading software such as Jaws (the package I use to convert text into speech and Braille enabling me to use a standard Windows computer) only recognises text (it is not able to recognise images). Many sites have no alternative to a visual Captcha. Others do have audio alternatives, however most of these are, in my experience more or less unintelligible so, if you employ Captcha on your site you are, albeit unintentionally locking out many visually impaired people from the possibility of participating fully on your site.

As a blogger I do understand the problem posed by spam. Spammers are selfish individuals who ought to earn an honest living rather than spending their time bombarding site owners and e-mail users with solicitations for fake products. However spam is not going to disappear any time soon and we will continue to be faced with the issue of how best to minimise it’s pernicious effects. Given the existence of Akismet I can not see a valid reason for anyone relying on clunky old Captcha. If you must use Captcha then please choose a non-visual version. For example “prior to posting please add four and 3 and type your answer”. Such a Captcha can be read by screen reading software and is intelligible to the overwhelming majority of the human population. It also has the benefit of preventing automated spam bots from wreaking havoc by spraying your site with spam. Better still use a programme like Akismet which dispenses with the need for Captcha altogether!

Trolling Along

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On 6 December I published a post regarding trolling and, in particular it’s pernicious effect on book reviews, http://newauthoronline.com/2013/12/06/when-does-a-book-review-become-trolling/. I have, today received a comment on my post by a person who argues for (as he puts it) “the utility of internet flamers and trolls”. I do not agree with the premise of his article. It is, however well expressed and in the interests of encouraging debate I have linked to it here, http://pop-verse.com/2013/11/27/the-utility-of-internet-flamers-and-trolls-or-why-you-should-go-fuck-yourself-2/.

In my experience internet trolls are rarely (if ever) interested in promoting genuine debate whether about books or other topics. They are frequently people with a variety of problems who rather than confronting their own inadequacies choose rather to spew bile on the internet while hiding behind false identities. In the article linked to above the writer contends that different rules apply in the virtual as opposed to the real world. I can’t agree. Good manners should not cease merely because one is hiding behind the anonymity of a keyboard.

Many trolls exhibit behaviour which if demonstrated by children would result in those concerned being reprimanded. Indeed we expect children to exhibit childish traits but it is profoundly sad when grown men and women behave like kids in the playground.