Privacy and the Quantum Internet

Lloyd, Seth. "Privacy and the Quantum Internet." Scientific American 301, no. 4 (October 2009): 80-84.

This article discusses a new technology, which, in the future, could offer people true privacy while surfing the net. Currently, search engines such as Google can track individuals’ internet searches, and they do so as part of their business model to individually target advertising. Even when users’ searches are intended to be anonymous, there are ways that search engines can track the user’s behavior with identification numbers that reveal their on-line searches and behavior. The author, Seth Lloyd, introduces a new technology that promises a private version of the internet called the Quantum internet in this article.

This quote from the article explains how the technology works:

"The ability of quantum physics to supply complete privacy stems from a simple fact: systems in the quantum realm (which includes anything from elementary particles to molecules) can exist in multiple states. At any particular time, an atom can be in several different places; a particle of light, or photon, can be polarized both vertically and horizontally; an electron's magnetic moment can point up and down, and so on. As a consequence, whereas classical (as opposed to quantum) data bits register either the value 0 or the value 1, quantum bits can register 0 and 1 at the same time. Also, whenever a quantum bit takes on the values 0 and 1 simultaneously, you cannot make an exact copy of that quantum bit, and any attempt to do so will change the state of the bit. This rule, known as the no-cloning theorem, also applies to strings of quantum bits, which, for example, can represent words or sentences. As a consequence, someone eavesdropping on a quantum channel--typically an optical fiber carrying photons in multiple polarization states--will not be able to "listen" to the communication without disturbing it, thus revealing the intrusion." (Lloyd, 2009)

There are many challenges presented that face the developers of this technology, but they estimate a version of this type of network could potentially become available within five to ten years. Google has expressed some interest in it if they can modify their business model to accommodate this type of technology, allowing users to do private searches. Perhaps users seeking privacy may have to pay for their internet searches in contrast to the free version of the internet which is not private.

In conclusion, the technology has already been created and tested in a laboratory setting, so this could become a reality in the future – the technology has the potential to revolutionize the internet.

This is an interesting article geared towards engineers and programmers, yet written in language simple enough for the average techie to understand. There really hasn’t been any user testing done on this technology yet, as it is so new and still in the development phase. The article is written from the perspective of introducing and describing this new technology with its’ obstacles to overcome and potential future benefits to realize.

The article is somewhat relative to my research topic in two areas: the article offers some validation to the idea that the reason the internet is not private is because of the current business model it is built on, which specifically relies on the knowledge of peoples’ internet searches and behavior while using the internet/world wide web; it also offers evidence that technology could be developed that offers users privacy while they’re on-line, if developers and companies decide that investing in and developing this type of technology is worthwhile for them.

Computers and Technical Communication in the 21st Century

Carliner, Saul. “Computers and Technical Communication in the 21^st Century.” In Digital Literacy for Technical Communication, edited by Rachel Spilka, 21-50. New York: Routledge, 2010.

In this article, Carliner describes how digital technology affects technical communicators, especially how technology has changed the job titles and roles of technical communicators in organizations. The author also includes a history of technology and how it has changed, starting in the 1970s.

My interest in this reading is the history of technology, especially the author’s discussion of the coming-of-age of the Internet. His discussion will be useful when I address some of the obstacles to early efforts to make public libraries points of access to the Internet. As part of the background information on my topic, I will be looking at how libraries dealt with those obstacles and which ones remain.

In addition, the section of Carliner’s article dealing with the Internet, within the larger context of the history of technology, contains useful information and interesting quotations.

The Role of Public Libraries in Providing Access to the Internet.

Henderson, Carol C. and Frederick D. King. “The Role of Public Libraries in Providing Access to the Internet.” In Public Access to the Internet, edited by Brian Kahin and James Keller, 154-171. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1995.

This article, written in 1995, urged the use of public libraries as access points to the Internet at a point early in the Internet’s development. As such, it’s right on point for the project I’m working on and provides an interesting starting point for my discussion.

The authors did not gather original data, but rather made arguments and offered suggestions based on research data and public documents available at the time they were writing. Much of the data cited is 20 or more years old, but the article itself contains strong arguments in support of public libraries as access points, as well as a discussion of some of the obstacles to that access (e.g., cost). I expect to find that those same arguments still apply. I also expect to find answers to how libraries addressed the obstacles that existed in 1995, as well as information about current obstacles.

I recognized some of the names the authors cited (e.g., McClure), and believe those sources to be among the leaders in the push to make public libraries access points to the Internet.

Using alumni networking to teach technical communication - Ron Choi ENG 574

Sharp, Julie E. "Using alumni networking to teach technical communication." American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition. Salt Lake City: American Society for Engineering Education, 2004. 1-8.

In this conference paper, Sharp, a teacher of technical communication courses for engineering students at Vanderbilt University, reports on a pilot mentoring project with a technical communication course.  Working in small groups, each student was required to survey two engineering alumnae regarding the types of communication they used in the workplace, the percentage of time spent in communication, and their perceived importance of communication skills in their work.  The students were also given the opportunity to review and analyze real workplace documents.  Students reported their results individually, and as a group, with an opportunity to re-write the report based on instructor feedback.  The students’ results were generally as expected – technical communication is a significant part of technical and managerial engineering positions, and can affect job success.  These results surprised many of the students.  At the end of the mentoring project, students were asked to rate the project, and the results showed that they found the project to be helpful in learning about technical communication and its significance.

I really liked the concept of this project, because it not only helped teach engineering students how to communicate by looking at real-world examples and writing their own reports, but also to illustrate the importance and prevalence of technical communication within the engineering workplace.  There was also an added side benefit of networking and mentoring, as some students maintained contact with their alumni participants.  If this had been done as a research study instead of as a pilot project, I would have preferred to see a more in depth assessment of the improvement in the technical communication skills of the students, compared to those who had not taken the course with the mentoring project.  The student feedback tells us that they liked the project, and that they thought it was useful and enlightening, but that does not actually mean that they became better communicators for it, or focused any more of their energy into improving their communication skills.

WEB LOG - Readers Pick the Best and Worst Tech Movies - Readers say engineers are not often the central character in science/engineering movies and that's just plain wrong - Ron Choi ENG 574

Murray, Charles J. "WEB LOG - Readers Pick the Best and Worst Tech Movies - Readers say engineers are not often the central character in science/engineering movies and that's just plain wrong." Design News Vol. 63, no. 5, 2008: 10.

In this short editorial article, Murray presents the results of a reader survey regarding the best and worst science and engineering movies of all time.  Movies such as “2001: A Space Odyssey, “ “Frequency,” and ”Real Genius,” amongst others were cited as some of the best technical films. On the other hand, the films “Armageddon” and “The Day After Tomorrow” were considered to be two of the worst. 

Most readers also complained about the lack of engineering representation in central roles, with movies such as “The China Syndrome” and “No Highway in the Sky” as a couple of notable exceptions.

This article, a simple editorial in an engineering trade magazine, is not particularly valuable as a source for my research project.  However, it does highlight a couple of issues that relate to my research question.  According to the survey respondents, not only are engineers not particularly well represented movies, but the technology itself is generally inaccurate as well.  Now, I do think that most people understand that much of the technology shown in movies isn’t actually real, but it may not be as obvious as to what technology is real, and what is Hollywood magic.  This does not help give the public an accurate view of engineers and what they do.

Perceptions of engineering from female secondary college students in regional Victoria - Ron Choi ENG 574

Darby, Linda, S. Hall, K. Dowling, B. Kentish. "Perceptions of engineering from female secondary college students in regional Victoria." 14th Annual AAEE Conference. Melbourne: Australasian Association for Engineering Education (AAEE), 2003. 507-516.

In this conference article, the authors present preliminary findings from surveys and focus groups which revealed female secondary students’ (aged 14-15) perceptions of engineering.  The purpose of the qualitative study was to reveal barriers to entry for female students, and ultimately provide insight into how to overcome them.   The study was conducted as a series of small, 2-3 person focus groups in the Victoria area.  Participants were chosen based on a six-level sampling strategy, to select those who were inclined towards careers in maths and science, and for whom engineering could easily be a career choice.  As part of the focus group, the participants were asked to draw a picture depicting an engineer doing what engineers do.

The results suggested that these female students had a lack of knowledge of engineers and engineering jobs and activities, stemming from a lack of visible engineering role models and limited education on engineering as a career.  This resulted in an inability for the participants to connect their own interests with being an engineer.  It also created a reliance on society’s image of engineering to form their opinions, and engineering was perceived to be a male dominated industry, and therefore unattractive to the women.  These factors ultimately result in a low interest in the perceived image of engineers. 

I found this article to have phenomenological validity, as it rung true regarding what conventional wisdom would tell us about engineering and female perceptions towards engineers.  This article does not focus on my original research topic, relating to communication skills, but it did spark and idea/question in my mind, as to whether or not the lack of diversity in engineering is a cause or effect of the deficiencies in engineers’ communication skills.  If engineering programs in North America had more equal percentages of men and women in them, and if they had a broader ethnic landscape, would the social and communication skills of the students be improved?