Technology

23 September 2015

Do You Have Your Digital Citizenship?

Talia Whyte Technology, That's Life, Uncategorized digital citizenship

Last week I went to a dinner party with other families where the conversation naturally gravitated to getting kids ready to get back into school mode. A couple of mothers were concerned about and asked me how their tween daughters can use the Internet safely and responsibly.

I usually teach something called “digital citizenship” to all my students in my basic computer literacy classes. Some of these tips are based on my own experiences – both good and bad. Here are the citizen tips I gave to the concerned mothers:

Branding

Like I discussed a couple of weeks ago, online personal branding is very important today. What you say and do today online give others a perception – both good and bad. Most kids don’t realize that their actions on Facebook or Instagram permanently stay online, and can affect them later in life, like getting accepted into college or getting a job. It is always better to side on your conscience. I always say that if you are not sure you want to say or post something online because it might be seen as offensive, go with your gut feeling.

Password Security

Make sure your kids know how to create secure passwords for all their various social media profiles. This is especially important for online banking and email accounts. Having a hard time remembering all your passwords? Use LastPass or other apps that allow you to safely store your passwords.

Images

Kids (and everyone for that matter) love taking pictures on their mobiles, but it is not a good idea to post every type of image online. Images that reveal where you live can entice some really creepy people. It’s a good idea to turn off the geotagging feature. Also, don’t post provocative (sexual, violent etc.) images. In many municipalities, sharing sexually explicit images online, especially of minors, can get you arrested and put on the sex offender registry!

Private Information

It’s a given to not share home addresses, private phone numbers and emails online. But you also want to be careful about sharing information about your family members online as well. There is a reason I don’t really talk about my private life online. Also, be careful about revealing too much about routine behavior, like where you go for your coffee or morning jog. If you go on vacation or leave your home for any extending period for any reason, it’s better to wait until you are home to share your vacation pictures. Don’t inadvertently let potential burglars know when you are not home.

Friends

You might have thousands of “friends” or followers on Twitter or Facebook, but I am pretty sure most of them are not actually your friends. Heck, you may not have actually met most of them in person. If you don’t know someone who is seeking a friend request, carefully vet that person. You are not obligated to be “friends” with everyone online.

Online Protection

Teach your kids about viruses, malware and how to protect themselves from identity theft.

Intellectual Property

The Internet has made it easier to use someone else’s words or images without giving the author credit. It’s a good idea to learn and understand basic copyright law at Creative Commons so you don’t run into a problem later.

Fact vs. Fiction

If you find something online that is too good to be true, it most likely isn’t. Not everything you see online is true or a truthful source. Wikipedia is a great resource, but because it is mostly an open source website, a lot of stuff there is false, erroneous and just plain wrong. Vet and verify information you find online. I like using a website called Snopes to get the truth.

General Netiquette

The lines between our professional and personal lives are blurring more and more every day. How you talk to your boss in an email is not the same as how you text your buddies on a late night. Also, the Internet is global; pretty much anyone in the world can see your social media or websites. Be careful about using colloquialism and double entendre online. What might be a silly joke among your American “friends” might be taken the wrong way by someone else living in another country.

I may have rained all over your digital parade, but this is the new normal of dealing in cyberspace, and the moms definitely took note. Everyone should be a responsible digital citizen!

5 August 2015

Summer Museum Hopping

Talia Whyte Graphic Design, Technology art, Design, hip hop, museums

Believe it or not, I actually do take a break once in a while from all the business and journalism projects I am working on at any given time. While it is very rare that I go on a actual vacation where I don’t think about business, I try to use the many business trips I do go on to do a mini vacation.

A couple of weeks ago I was in New York City to meet with some clients and to finalize the plans for GWA’s 10th anniversary party with my event planner. I did schedule in some time to do some fun stuff by visiting three museums. I highly recommend visiting the following exhibits if you happen to be in the Big Apple this summer!

Museum of the City of New York:

Everything is Design: The Work of Paul Rand

If you are a graphic designer, branding specialist or just a design history buff, you will appreciate this exhibit about the grand master of American design himself Paul Rand. There are over 100 posters, advertisements, book covers, logos and corporate brand collateral that show the diversity of Rand’s career. He is best known for creating the logos for IBM, UPS and ABC-TV.

Hip-Hop Revolution: Photographs By Janette Beckman, Joe Conzo and Martha Cooper

You know you are getting old when you start to see people you grew up listening to exhibited in museums! I felt like I was stepping back into my teen years when I saw the exhibit of the dozens of photographs of memorable rappers from “back in the day” like MC Lyte, Run DMC, EPMD, Big Daddy Kane, A Tribe Called Quest, Salt N Pepa and Queen Latifah. It was also pretty cool to see old copies of Word Up! magazine and pictures of some of the early movers and shakers in break-dancing and graffiti writing. This is a must-see exhibit for people who appreciate what real hip-hop used to sound like.

Cooper-Hewitt Museum

How Posters Work

So as a web designer, I get inspiration from seeing the work of other designers. This exhibit shows how posters can be powerful forms of visual communication. If you love vintage posters, this exhibit is worth checking out.

David Adjaye Selects

Adjaye is the architect behind the upcoming National Museum of African-American History in Washington DC. He put together this exhibit displaying textiles from West and Central Africa, including some beautiful Asante Kente textile and Malian mud cloth.

The “Pen”

While the museum is housed in the former home of Andrew Carnegie, which was built in 1903, the whole space is very tech-savvy and design forward. Once you pay your admission fee, you are giving this pen that works like a digitized USB drive and a specialized URL on a piece of paper. All the items in all the exhibits have small, black plus signs next to them. If you like an exhibit item, you can press your pen on the plus sign and the information about that item is saved. All the items you saved on the pen are saved on a webpage that can be accessed using that specialized URL for you to view later. The webpage gives more in-depth information about the items you selected. You can also use the Pen to draw your own designs on computer-aided design tables that also get saved on that webpage. It’s a great to remember all the cool stuff you saw and did at the Museum.

I got to play furniture designer and created the following table, hanging lamp and vase using the CAD and the Pen.

Brooklyn Museum

Basquiat: The Unknown Notebooks

Most artists, writers, designers and other creative people keep a notebook to jot down items of interest and inspiration. This is what Jean-Michel Basquiat did. The Museum recently acquired newly discovered notebooks with sketches and writings that show the early process of many of Basquiat’s works of art. The notebooks give a nuance perspective on his thinking, ranging from politics, racism, class warfare, history and everyday life in general.

Zanele Muholi: Isibonelo/Evidence

Zanele Muholi is a famed photographer and activist who specializes in capturing images of black lesbian and transgender life in her home country of South Africa. The exhibit showcases 80 of her photographs, commentary on homophobia and a short film of a lesbian wedding in a township. While South Africa was the first country in the world to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation in 1996, it is still one of the most dangerous places for LGBT folks, where homophobic violence is commonplace. As the United States moves forward on marriage equality, this exhibit will quickly remind you that there is still work to be done in other parts of the world.

The Rise of Sneaker Culture

I thought this was the coolest exhibit at the museum. Sneakers have contributed greatly to our social and cultural history. There are over 100 pairs of sneakers to mull over, including Air Jordans, and the Adidas X autographed by Run DMC. Again, I’m feeling the aging process!

This is video of Adidas designer Rick Owens famed Vicious runway show celebrating sneaker culture, which was shown at the exhibit:

Diverse Works: Director’s Cut

I was only in this exhibit briefly, but I found these pieces of art to be interesting:

15 July 2015

Two Examples of Old Media and New Media

Talia Whyte Technology 3D printing, Barack Obama, Chris Gregg, typewriters, World Youth Skills Day

This summer I am teaching classes in web design, programming and entrepreneurship to a group of teenagers as part of a STEM empowerment program. Last Thursday in my weekly class I showed them the videos below, which showcases examples of how technology is all about your creativity.

The saying goes what is old is new again, and that is certainly the case with Tufts University computer engineer Chris Gregg, who decided he wanted to transform his vintage 1960s Smith Corona electric typewriter into a printer that could be controlled by his computer.

The Smithsonian Museum created a 3D printed portrait of President Obama a few months ago. It is the first bust of a head of state created using 3D rendering. Pretty cool stuff!

29 April 2015

Time To Embrace Web Diversity

Talia Whyte Technology, Web Design web accessiblity

So it is kind of intentional that I have been writing about diversity as of late, whether it be intercultural, workplace or literature diversity. As a web developer, I have to always be thinking about building websites that communicate to and are accessible to all people. I recently went to a talk by Rob Larsen, a front-end developer and author of The Uncertain Web. He made some really good points. Essentially he says that it is time to embrace web diversity.

By web diversity, he means identifying and embracing your online audience, no matter their technological know-how or access. To do this, Larsen suggests focusing on website solutions that are optimized, not absolute. With the rapid growth of mobile technology use, an optimized website should look good on a computer, mobile phone or tablet. More than half of the world’s Internet traffic today comes from mobile devices. Google just announced that its search engines will now give preference to mobile-friendly website.

Developers also have to create websites that look good on all browsers – Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera and, yes, even Internet Explorer. While Windows’ problematic browser is reviled among design professionals, Internet Explorer is still the most widely used browser in the world.

Sometimes designers and developers have so many tech bias that we forget that most of the world doesn’t use or have access to the latest, cutting edge technology. MacBooks and iPhones are pretty awesome, but most people use PCs and Androids. I personally use a PC and a Mac simulator to build websites and my mobile is a BlackBerry. Yes, people still use BlackBerrys! I use it because I need a real QWERTY keyboard for typing the dozens of emails and texts daily. I am also a government contractor, and many of the agencies I do work for require that I use a BlackBerry for security purposes.

Most people are not that tech-savvy, so it is always better to design websites for functionality first, like the three-click rule, where users should be able to find anything on a website within three clicks.

Web diversity also means embracing all abilities and disabilities. There are approximately one billion people with disabilities worldwide and websites need to address their needs appropriately.

For example, try using your website without a mouse and a keyboard. If you are not able to use the site by only touching the screen, it is time to redesign the website to better accommodate those with motor disabilities. You also have to take into consideration visual blindness, poor eyesight and color blindness when you use certain colors, text and images.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are a good place to learn more about accessibility issues. Embracing accessibility provides an added benefit for all users, regardless of ability. For example, closed captioning was originally designed for hearing impaired users, but it also benefits those watching online videos in a noisy environment and people learning the language being spoken in the video and need to follow the transcription.

The Web should be as diverse as the people using it.

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