Will the real Dr. Burks please stand up

Dr. Burks, president of Harding University, decided he needed to clarify something in chapel this morning. Apparently lots of people were befriending the wrong Dr. Burks on Facebook.

There are multiple Facebook accounts claiming to be Dr. Burks, and he showed a few screen shots of the impostors (the photo below is one of them). This is a problem because some students have been receiving messages from the fake Burks; one message asked someone to speak in chapel this week. (Sure is annoying when people create fake Facebook profiles.)



Dr. Burks showed everyone his correct profile and said he'd love to be everyone's friend. I have a feeling that he'll be receiving hundreds of friend requests today... that is if anyone can find the correct Dr. Burks. I did a search for "David Burks", "David B. Burks", and president@harding.edu (Dr. Burk's email address), and the only profile that looked legit was the one pictured above. I even looked through one of his son's list of friends on Facebook, and he wasn't listed there.

It looks like the fake Dr. Burks will continue racking up friends for a while.

Barbie is a computer engineer! Or maybe just tech support.

By popular vote, Barbie's next career will be Computer Engineer. There's a good chance that the voting was slightly in our favor due to some rumored automated scripts that artificially boosted the vote.

Barbie will be sporting a very stylish outfit and carrying around a laptop that has apparently frozen (see the binary numbers floating across the screen).

Her wardrobe has received a lot of attention. Apparently it was designed in consultation with the Society of Women Engineers and the National Academy of Engineering, organizations that are well known for their sense of style. She'd blend right in with our Engineering department.

The BBC News also had a lot to say about the new Barbie. Unfortunately, they seem to equate Computer Engineer with Tech Support:

"As anyone who works maintaining computers could tell you, Barbie would do well to invest in a hair band... Even the shoes are unlikely to be seen on the feet of people who spend half their day crawling under desks or feeding cables through walls." (emphasis mine)

I'm sorry, but a computer engineer is not the person hooking up your network or installing virus protection on your desktop. But I do understand the popular press's misconception of what computer engineers do. I just fear that it's this misconception of computing that will continue to drive females away from computer science/engineering rather than attract them to it.

On the SIGCSE mailing list, the event has received a lot of attention. Some think it's trivial, other think it's ridiculous, but some are hopeful it will make young girls think that maybe a career in computing is something desirable and obtainable. I sure hope so.

I'll be buying one for the department... we could use a little more pink around here.


Update

A friend of mine converted the binary one's and zero's on Barbie's laptop into ASCII. Guess what it spells? Barbie.

How do my students really feel about me?

Sometimes students tell you right to your face what they think about you or your class. Sometimes they let you know anonymously through teacher evaluations. And sometimes they think of more creative means.



This was from an assignment in my Mobile Computing class where I had my students develop a tic-tac-toe game for Android. My wife said she was going to have nightmares tonight after seeing this.

New Degree in Software Development

The Harding University Computer Science Department is proud to announce a new degree: the B.S. in Software Development (or CS++ as I like to call it ).

This new degree was suggested by fellow faculty member Gabriel Foust in response to many of our students who wanted to take our elective courses (game programming, security, search engines, compilers, and mobile computing) but couldn't justify the cost of taking additional courses that wouldn't contribute directly to their major. So we created a degree which allows students to take far more CS courses than our previous BS or BA degrees in CS.

The following summary is from Dr. Tim Baird:

In a nutshell, the BS in SD degree is different from the BS in CS in the following ways:

• some of the courses which were previously elective are now in the CS core (349, 431, and 445)
• it does not require 19 credits of math, starting with Calc I, although one may have anywhere from 3 to 13 credits of math in this degree if they so desire.
• it allows for more credits of computer science (the BS in CS allows for 41, this allows for as much as 58 credits)

The BS in SD degree is different from the BA in CS in the following ways:

• some of the courses which were previously elective are now in the CS core (349, 431, and 445)
• no minor is required (rather than a minor in some area outside CS, the extra credits that would have been in a minor are all in CS)
• it allows for more credits of math, if desired, or it may be completed with the same 3 credits of College Algebra as the BA in CS

We anticipate that the job market demand for this major will be essentially the same as for the BS in CS and the BA in CS. After all, those majors are more different from each other than this major is from either of them, and they have traditionally had essentially equal demand.

Tim Baird, Ph.D.
Chair, Department of Computer Science

Aside from the job market, the only reason I would tell a person to do a BS in CS instead of SD would be if they were thinking about getting a Masters or PhD in CS. Most universities require a BS in CS which has the required number of math hours, and the SD degree doesn't have that.

Mobile app developers striking it rich?

As some of you know, I'm team-teaching a mobile application development course this semester. We're focusing on the Android platform the first half of the semester and the iPhone platform in the second half.

With all the hype surrounding the iPhone and Android platforms and their app stores, a question that some might ask is, "Can I get rich developing mobile applications?"

If you're in it just for the money, you're chasing after disappointment. Just ask the writer of Ecclesiastes how much joy and satisfaction there is in great riches. However, I do think it's prudent to investigate if training to be a mobile application developer is worth the investment in time and money.

Apple recently reported that 3 billion apps had been downloaded from its App Store in less than 18 months, and according to Juniper, revenue for mobile applications will hit $24 billion by 2014. That smells like opportunity. However, Michael Mace (former Chief Competitive Officer and VP of Product Planning at Palm) believes mobile application developing is a dead end, primarily because there are so many platforms on which to develop and because web-based apps have a better future:

"I think Web applications are going to destroy most native app development for mobiles. Not because the Web is a better technology for mobile, but because it has a better business model."

I personally believe both native and web-based apps have their place, and there's no reason to give up on native mobile applications just yet.

So returning to the "rich" question, I've found a number of articles that address this topic. I just emailed these articles to my students, and I thought I'd share them here:

• Want to quit and also get rich? Write iPhone Application to enter the gold rush
  

  "iShoot sold nearly 17,000 copies, which meant a $35,000 day’s take for Mr. Nicholas... 'That’s when I called my boss and said, "We need to talk"... and I quit my job.'"



• 15 iPhone Apps Created by College Students
  

  "Carnegie Melon sophomore Jeffery Grossman developed Movies.app to connect iPhone users to local theater information. Shortly after his application was downloaded over 250,000 times, he sold the rights to Flixter for a reportedly generous undisclosed amount."



• Just How Much Money Can Free iPhone Apps Make? Quite A Bit
  

  "The AdWhirl report... says that applications that crack the top 100 in the Free Apps list make $400-$5000 a day." (in advertising revenue)

However, I wouldn't suggest quiting your job or dropping out of college to program iPhones just just yet:

• Striking It Rich: Is There An App For That?
  

  "Not only have most sellers failed to turn a profit... even developers with high-ranking games and applications have made far less than commonly thought. Many come nowhere near recouping their investment at all."



• One billion iPhone apps downloaded. But how many are worth it?
  

  "'You'll have better luck in Vegas,' says Howard Cohen, an independent software engineer and consultant who has one app out and another in the works. 'Most people do not make much money, or even [get] their costs back, when selling their apps for the iPhone.'"

Barbie... a computer engineer?

The spring semester started this week, and I discovered, to my dismay, that I didn't have a single female in any of my 5 classes. I believe this is the first time in my career teaching computer science that this has happened.

Why no females? This isn't just a problem here at Harding... it afflicts CS departments across the nation.

And there are lots of reasons out there ranging from the geek culture of CS and stereotypes to lack of female role models.

But perhaps what we need to do is send a strong, positive message to females at an early age... how about a Computer Engineer Barbie?

This is not a joke... you can now vote what Barbie's next career is going to be. There are 5 choices: Computer Engineer, Environmentalist, Surgeon, Architect, and News Anchor. Of these 5, CE (a field that is strongly related to CS) is definitely the one most likely to be overlooked by a female today.

Do you think if Barbie becomes a computer engineer that it will mean more females in my classes in 5-10 years?

Warrick is back in action

Warrick, the service I created several years ago to recover lost websites, has been revived. I took its web interface out of commission about a year ago when we received more jobs then we could ever process in 2009. But I've decided to wipe out the old jobs and start fresh. I'm curious to see how quickly we receive more jobs than we can handle in 2010.

Some stats. Since July 2007 when Warrick's web interface was first made public, we have recovered 4287 websites and 3,508,091 URIs. That's a lot of missing material the public wants back.

I've also updated Warrick:

• Removed Google SOAP API usage since Google no longer supports it.
• Alerted Microsoft about a bug with their cache which they have now fixed.
• Added some robustness in the face of a flaky Yahoo cache.
• Added the ability to specify an input file (-i option) which contains URLs to recover (thanks to James Young for his contribution).

Happy website reconstructing.

My taskbar... seriously

I'm using Windows XP on my laptop at home. This is what my taskbar sometimes looks like. Is Windows trying to tell me something about my network connection?

Helpful Eclipse error message

Programmers are often blamed for creating very vague, jargon-filled, and generally unhelpful error messages that frustrate the typical user. Today, I believe I've found the most discouragingly vague error message yet. It comes from Eclipse Galileo (version 3.5) after attempting to create a new Android project. Nice.

Maps an obsolete technology?

Silicon Alley Insider recently listed 21 Things that Became Obsolete this Decade. (Guys, the decade isn't over yet.) Among them were PDAs, paid-for email accounts, VCRs, and a number of other items.

While I generally agree with these guys, I was very surprised they listed maps as an obsolete technology. They seem to think everyone can now navigate with a GPS or smartphone. While these technologies are certainly more helpful at times than a paper-based map, they aren't without their faults.

Believe it or not, sometimes GPS will give you bad directions. Just ask Michael Scott.

And it's not always available. On a recent trip to Louisiana and Dallas, I used the GPS on my Archos 5 Internet Tablet for the first time. There was a period of 3 hours where the GPS could not pick up a signal. And we were driving major highways the whole time! Without a map, I would have been forced to pull off the road and ask directions. Gasp!

Google Maps isn't perfect either. Google Maps suggested I take a road that didn't even exist as a shortcut to my parents' new home a few months ago. And before that, Google Maps told me my friend's house was 5 miles north of Fayetteville when it was actually south of the city.

And have you ever tried to get a good overview of the road system for a large city using a small screen? Impossible. A paper map that is 10 times larger than your tiny screen makes it significantly easier to figure out the highway system.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think we should throw away or newer navigation technologies, I'm just suggesting that the good 'ol map is still quite handy.

ACU, iPhones, and Wired

My sister, an ACU alumnus, emailed me a few weeks ago an article on Wired.com about her alma mater: How the iPhone Could Reboot Education. This is the second time Wired has written about ACU's iPhone/iPod initiative; ACU was the first university to give all incoming freshmen an iPhone or iPod Touch in an experiment to see how useful the devices could be in an academic setting.

ACU is one of the schools that Harding competes with for students, so you could imagine that some of us here at Harding are a little skeptical of the PR ACU's program has generated. Some think it's just a gimmick to attract new students.

One of Harding's admission officers told me recently that we regularly have prospective students ask, "Since ACU is offering me a free iPhone, what is Harding going to give me?" Of course ACU is not giving anything away to students for "free"; the article states that the dorm computer labs were shut down, and other expenses are likely paid for by increases in tuition or technology fees. But many 18 year-olds are unlikely to see the correlation between tuition costs and freebies.

I do, however, think having all your students fitted with the same mobile device presents some interesting opportunities. Some ACU professors quizzed students to see if they understood the lesson, and students could respond using their iPhones anonymously. (Some Harding professors are doing the same thing with specialized handsets.) Another ACU professor has students look up information in class, and they discuss how accurate or trustworthy the information is. I sometimes do something similar with my students who often have a computer that is sitting in front of them.

So far, ACU reports that their Mobile Learning initiative is paying off. A quote from the ACU website:

The majority of students in specific courses where mobile devices have been routinely used rate themselves as having improved their academic performance (grades and organization) and engagement (active learning, contact with professors and teaching assistants, involvement and attention).

This quote is interesting in that the students themselves have said they do better and are more engaged in classes that use iPhones. Whether they are actually learning more is anyone's guess, but any time you can make a student think they are doing better in class is usually a good thing. (Of course, one wonders if students report that they like using their iPhones in class because a negative assessment might be mean their iPhones are yanked away in the future. )

As an instructor who has experience teaching students in a computer lab where students are allowed to use their computer in class for taking notes and class activities, the biggest obstacle I've faced is getting students to pay attention to what's happening in the classroom and off of Facebook, Google, games, etc. This is surely the temptation also faced by students when using iPhones in the classroom; the potential for distraction is very real. (See student comment #4.)

You're not likely to see Harding give iPhones to every incoming freshman anytime soon, but some point in the near future I think it's likely that all freshmen will have some smart mobile device with them. Universities will need to be creative in using this personal accessory to their advantage.

P.S. Congratulations to my friend and former colleague Autumn Sutherland who was named a 2009-2010 Mobile Learning Fellow at ACU.

Merry Christmas from the McCown's

The McCown's wish you a very Merry Christmas. May God bless your holidays.


Photo by Stacy Schoen

Recovering blog.stackoverflow.com and www.codinghorror.com

Several days ago, it was brought to my attention that two notable blogs, blog.stackoverflow.com and www.codinghorror.com were completely lost due to a hard drive failure. Jeff Atwood, the owner of both blogs, tells all about his experience trying to recover the text and images from Internet caches and other locations. (I imagine Jeff's reaction was a little like the picture above when he discovered his blogs were gone.) Lucky for him, a computer science student at the University of Bologna had an almost complete mirror of the Coding Horror website.

Jeff also acknowledges that he's to blame for the loss, and I'm sure Jeff will be re-doubling efforts to backup his sites in the future. However, these types of losses will continue for the foreseeable future... backing up your stuff is often the lowest priority for all of us because many of us believe it won't happen to us. Or we consciously know it will happen to us, but we have so many other things we need to get done today that setting up a backup routine is put off until tomorrow. I'm in the same camp... I didn't create a backup of my class work until over a month into the semester!

Even when you backup your stuff, you sometimes find that your backups weren't working or are inaccessible when you need them. That's what happened to Jeff.

Jeff tried to use Warrick initially, but it was giving him all kinds of problems. Yahoo and Microsoft have done some things that make Warrick break, and I'll be spending next week making fixes. I'll blog more about the fixes next week. For now, it's back to grading final exams.

CS Education Week

At Harding, this week is Dead Week, the week before final exams. But according to the U.S. House of Representatives, this week is also Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek). In an effort to raise awareness of how important CS is to society, the ACM has created a website with all kinds of information about CS.

Here are some facts about computer science that you may not have been aware of:

• By 2016, current government projections show that more than 800,000 high-end computing jobs will be created in the economy making it one of the fastest growing occupational fields.
  
  
• Five of the top ten fastest growing jobs will be in computing-related fields (i.e., computer software engineer jobs expected to grow 45% over the next five to seven years).
  
  
• Computer science and computer engineering bachelor degrees are in high demand and command two of the top three average salary offers from employers among all majors.

Paper on teaching Web IR

In March I'll be presenting a paper entitled Teaching Web Information Retrieval to Undergraduates at SIGCSE 2010 in Milwaukee, WI. In this paper, I discuss how I built a curriculum for my search engine course and the types of projects I assigned. The first time I taught the course, students built a search engine from scratch. The second time, students modified the open source search engine Nutch. Teaching with Nutch turned out to be quite a challenge. If you want to know more, read my paper.

Super Scooter

One of the projects I had my game programming class complete was a scaled-down version of the classic Super Mario Bros. game for Nintendo. I had all 15 students work on the same project (not the best idea I've ever had) over the period of 4 weeks. While I encouraged them to use graphics created by others, some of the artists in the group decided to make their own. The final product was something everyone was quite proud of.

You can download and run Super Scooter if you are running Windows XP or better.

PyArkansas 2009

Dr. Steve Baber and I will be taking a group of students to PyArkansas 2009 next Saturday, Nov 14. PyAR is being held at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. The one day conference has a number of classes on Python, Django, and Blender.

The CS department has rented two vans to ship everyone down there and back. Let me know if you are interested in attending... we only have a few more seats available. Or if you can provide your own transportation and wouldn't mind taking one or two others, please let me know.

Facebook: Memorialize the deceased

In a blog post on Monday, Facebook brought attention to a previously existing feature intended to "memorialize" Facebook users who have deceased. You can submit a "Deceased" form (pictured below) that notifies Facebook about "dead" accounts. Once Facebook determines that the account owner is indeed deceased and flips the switch, no one can log into the account anymore, and the person's face no longer appears in friend recommendations or Suggestions. However, you can still post message's on the departed's Wall.



The problem with memorializing the account is that the user's family or friends, if they had the user's password, can no longer access the user's Messages or other personal data. (This could be good or bad thing.) For anyone in this predicament, I highly recommend you archive the deceased's account using ArchiveFacebook before their account is memorialized. Then you will always have a snapshot of the person's Facebook account on your own hard drive.

I'm giving a talk about the ArchiveFacebook Firefox add-on tomorrow afternoon in a Harding University Computing Seminar. If you're in Arkansas Thurs, feel free to stop by at 4:00 pm in Science 113.

P.S. This issue of "what happens to my data now that I'm gone?" is going to continue being more relevant as more of our data is stored in the clouds.

Article in CACM

Check out my article Why web sites are lost (and how they're sometimes found) in the November edition of the Communications of the ACM. My co-authors were Cathy Marshall (Microsoft Research) and Michael Nelson (Old Dominion University).

If you don't have an ACM Digital Library subscription, you can access the pre-print here.

Abstract:

We have surveyed individuals who have lost their websites (through hard drive crashes, ISP bankruptcies, etc.) or have tried to recover websites that once belonged to others. We investigate why these websites were lost and how individuals reconstructed them, including how they recovered data from search engine caches and web archives. The findings suggest that digital data loss is likely to continue since backups are frequently neglected or performed incorrectly; furthermore, respondents perceive that loss is uncommon and that data safety is the responsibility of others. Finally we suggest that this benign neglect be countered by lazy preservation techniques.

My Archos 5 Internet Tablet

I just received my new Archos 5 Internet Tablet in the mail. It uses a touch interface and is running Google Android. Yes, my iPod Touch is jealous. But so far I'm having some issues.

I've plugged it in and tried to connect to our secured wireless network. Hmm... couldn't find it. Oh well, the guest network connected just fine.

So now I'm trying to ensure the firmware is updated. I follow the directions, click on "Firmware update", and get the following error message:

USB cable attached. Media Center features are not available during USB connection.

Two questions: 1) Why can't I connect while my USB cable is attached? That's rediculous to force me to unplug it just to update my firmware. 2) What does updating the firmware have anything to do with the Media Center?

More to come.

Today (10/22/09) I was able to get the firmware updated. I had to first unplug the USB cable, and then later I was told to plug it back in... weird. Then the update went fine.

But after completing the update, I can't find the firmware update option anymore. It used to be under Menu > Settings > About device. Now the "About device" option has disappeared from Settings!

I tried out the web browser... you have to really press down hard to get the scroll up and down to work. And the two-finger zoom feature in the iPod Touch is apparently absent; you have to click on + or - buttons instead. So far I'm not real impressed.