Academic Computing Services Blog

A new plan by Student Senate will allow students at the University of Kansas access to wireless Internet from more spots on campus than ever before.

Jason Boots, Plano, Texas, senior and student body president, has been working with Information Services and Network and Telecommunications Services to expand the availability of wireless Internet to the approximate half of campus buildings without it. The expansion of a campus-wide wireless network was one of Boots’ campaign platforms during last spring’s Student Senate elections.

Academic classrooms will be the first to receive wireless networks. Second will be student lab areas such as physics or chemistry labs. Third will be common areas such as the hallways in Budig Hall or meeting rooms in the Burge Union.

Source: Nate McGinnis, Plans for a wireless campus in the works. Student Senate is working on making more wireless Internet connection available across campus. Kansas.Com, The University Daily Kansan, Thursday, August 17, 2006. http://www.kansan.com/stories/2006/aug/17/wireless/

Technorati Tags: Wireless, Campus

Posted by Steve Cavrak at 3:01 PM | Permalink

On April 13, 2006, Mike Andrews, a senior consultant at Foundstone.com who leads web application security assessments and teachies the Ultimate Web Hacking classes, recentlly spoke at a google lunchtime seminar. Google has posted a video-capture of the 90 minute session on the their video site. Google video allows downloading and playing on a Macintosh, PC, PSP, iPod, ... or TV, if you have a nice multifunction DVD player.

Mike Andrews, How To Break Web Software : A look at security vulnerabilities in web software, Google TechTalks April 13, 2006. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5159636580663884360

Firestone Ultimate Hacking Training at Black Hat 2006, Las Vegas, July 29 - August 1, 2006. http://www.foundstone.com/team/events/blackhat/ Ultimate Hacking: Black Hat Edition. This special action-packed two-day intensive class is based on the more extensive "Ultimate Hacking" class that we offer to the general public, the military, and many government agencies. We've taken the core content from "Ultimate Hacking" and have created a shorter, accelerated version for the Black Hat conference.

Posted by Steve Cavrak at 11:04 AM | Permalink

The abstract of the Blackboard patent [6] announces:

A system and methods for implementing education online by providing institutions with the means for allowing the creation of courses to be taken by students online, the courses including assignments, announcements, course materials, chat and whiteboard facilities, and the like, all of which are available to the students over a network such as the Internet. Various levels of functionality are provided through a three-tiered licensing program that suits the needs of the institution offering the program. In addition, an open platform system is provided such that anyone with access to the Internet can create, manage, and offer a course to anyone else with access to the Internet without the need for an affiliation with an institution, thus enabling the virtual classroom to extend worldwide.

The abstract is followed by 44 specific claims that cascade from the invention - mainly individual components of such a system. An accompanying diagram shows how the system is structured. [7]

The Firendster patent [8], makes 15 claims, primarily focused on their algorithms for searching and selecting "friends of a friend."

Early reactions are focusing on the patent claims, especially the documentation of "prior art." Both the Moodle and Wikipedia communities have created "history of learning sytems" charts. [9, 10]

References

[1] CmdrTaco, Blackboard Patenting Educational Groupware, SlashDot, August 02, @08:36AM. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/02/1217219

[2] Blackboard, About Blackboard Patents, http://www.blackboard.com/patent/

[3] Dan Carnevale, Blackboard Sues Rival Provider of Course-Management Software, Alleging Patent Infringement, Chronicle of Higher Education, Wednesday, August 2, 2006. http://chronicle.com/temp/reprint.php?id=5g41b7txfvjcn74cbzk1128x9g4trw1x

[4] Nicole Girard, New lease on life for Friendster?, CNET News.com, August 1, 2006, 11:46 AM PT. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6100941.html

[5] Chronicle Wired Campus Blog, Does Friendster Own Online Social Networking? August 2, 2006 http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/1460/does-friendster-own-online-social-networking

[6] U.S. Patent No. 6,988,138. "Internet Based Education Support System and Methods". TinyURL: http://tinyurl.com/mtnw3

[7] Patent No. 6,988.138. B1 Illustration of Claims. TinyURL: http://tinyurl.com/ocdbp

[8] U.S. Patent No. 7,069,308. TinyURL : http://tinyurl.com/hl2po

[9] Moodle, Online Learning History, http://docs.moodle.org/en/Online_Learning_History

[10] Wikipedia, History of Virtual Learning Environments, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_virtual_learning_environments

Posted by Steve Cavrak at 1:05 PM | Permalink