OpenSite.org Blog http://open-site.org/blog Tue, 16 Apr 2013 17:16:57 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5 8 Years of Data Breaches in Education http://open-site.org/blog/8-years-of-data-breaches-in-education/ http://open-site.org/blog/8-years-of-data-breaches-in-education/#comments Tue, 16 Apr 2013 17:16:19 +0000 admin http://open-site.org/blog/?p=174 Continue reading →]]>

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]]> http://open-site.org/blog/8-years-of-data-breaches-in-education/feed/ 0 The Multitask Test: See How Your Skills Stack Up http://open-site.org/blog/the-multitask-test/ http://open-site.org/blog/the-multitask-test/#comments Mon, 01 Apr 2013 16:39:06 +0000 admin http://open-site.org/blog/?p=154 Continue reading →]]> If you’re like most people, you probably find yourself doing two things at once pretty regularly—talking on the phone while reading an email, skyping relatives as you cook dinner, munching on toast as you commute to work; the multitasking in your life can seem both unavoidable and necessary if you want to get everything done. However, even though everyone multitasks, very few people seem to realize that, in fact, your brain isn’t as efficient in multitasking as it seems. The reality is, everyone’s brain slows down considerably when trying to juggle multiple tasks—and some people’s brains slow down much more than others. If you really think your multitasking skills are a cut above the rest, the only way to know for sure is to see how your brain’s speed compares to that of other multitaskers. When people talk about “multitasking,” what’s really being referred to is one’s ability to switch between different activities, as well as juggling multiple actions at one time. So how can these things be efficiently measured? With a multitask test of course. Test your tasking abilities and see how they stack up against others: Check out the following interactive multitasking exercise, and see how well your brain performs when it juggles multiple tasks—your results could surprise you!

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]]> http://open-site.org/blog/the-multitask-test/feed/ 0 The Future of Libraries http://open-site.org/blog/the-future-of-libraries/ http://open-site.org/blog/the-future-of-libraries/#comments Mon, 28 Jan 2013 14:31:33 +0000 admin http://open-site.org/blog/?p=145 Continue reading →]]>

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]]> http://open-site.org/blog/the-future-of-libraries/feed/ 0 Our Future http://open-site.org/blog/our-future/ http://open-site.org/blog/our-future/#comments Wed, 14 Nov 2012 23:53:35 +0000 admin http://open-site.org/blog/?p=134 Continue reading →]]> Three space enthusiasts, inspired by the 50-year anniversary of John Glenn’s orbit of the earth, launched a weather balloon with a message to the entire world: Now is the time for us to go back into space. Constructed largely of PVC pipe and attached with two GoPro cameras aimed at an iPhone — playing a looping video-collage of quotes and images from man’s stunted odyssey to the stars — their DIY message-in-a-bottle-from-space has had at least one receptive audience member: the director’s girlfriend. Watch the main video to get inspired by their message, and watch their behind the scenes video to see what may be the first marriage proposal from space.

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]]> http://open-site.org/blog/our-future/feed/ 0 Social Media Election http://open-site.org/blog/social-media-election/ http://open-site.org/blog/social-media-election/#comments Thu, 11 Oct 2012 18:46:24 +0000 admin http://open-site.org/blog/?p=131 Continue reading →]]> Anyone with a Facebook or Twitter account has probably noticed an increase in the number of political postings over the past few years. This is due, in part, to the explosive rise in social media outlets and users. But voters are not the only people who use social media; among politicians, 9 out of 10 Senators and Representatives have Twitter accounts. However, many are starting to wonder if social media is becoming less a reporter of political races and more of a predictor of the results. In Senate races, the candidate with more Facebook friends than his or her opponent has won 81% of the time. And one email sent to 60 million Facebook users prompted an additional 340,000 people to vote in the 2010 election. This infographic illustrates just how politics and social media are affecting each other.

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]]> http://open-site.org/blog/social-media-election/feed/ 0 Engineering The Internet http://open-site.org/blog/engineering-the-internet/ http://open-site.org/blog/engineering-the-internet/#comments Fri, 05 Oct 2012 17:57:28 +0000 admin http://open-site.org/blog/?p=123 Continue reading →]]> The Internet is amazing. It allows us to communicate instantly, search for and find information on nearly anything, stay abreast of current events and, of course, watch the latest cute animal video. But how does it actually work? Made up of servers (the machines) and clients (the users), the Internet uses a common language, called a protocol suite, to help devices “talk” with each other via telephone wires and satellites. Every device that connects to the Internet, be it a laptop, a smartphone or a gaming system, has an Internet Protocol, or IP, address. Using these addresses and the protocol suite, the Internet lets users upload, download, share and stream little packets of information. The infographic below illustrates just how the Internet sends these packets from one place to another.

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]]> http://open-site.org/blog/engineering-the-internet/feed/ 0 Facebook’s 1 Billion Users http://open-site.org/blog/facebooks-1-billion-users/ http://open-site.org/blog/facebooks-1-billion-users/#comments Thu, 04 Oct 2012 23:24:19 +0000 admin http://open-site.org/blog/?p=111 Continue reading →]]> Social media is constantly growing, connecting people from all over the world and allowing them to share information. Never has this been more apparent than when Facebook reached 1 billion active users. That’s just shy of %15 of the global population, which, although it may sound like a sliver, is in fact more people than are currently living in North and South America combined. And despite Facebook’s questionable showing since its initial public offering, or IPO, Facebook users remain quite valuable. Check out the following infographic to get a better sense of what 1 billion Facebook users actually looks like.

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]]> http://open-site.org/blog/facebooks-1-billion-users/feed/ 0 Revolution http://open-site.org/blog/revolution/ http://open-site.org/blog/revolution/#comments Fri, 21 Sep 2012 17:46:47 +0000 admin http://open-site.org/blog/?p=98 Continue reading →]]> When Gil-Scott Heron wrote that “The revolution will not be televised” he was right. Instead, it will be youtubed, it will be statused, and it will be retweeted. Social networking sites reach more than 82% of the global population: 1.2 billion people. And governments are afraid.

Today, a handful of users on Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube can launch a movement that can topple a regime. Just look at Tunisia. Just look at Egypt. It can organize the frustration of middle class Americans from the impotent complaints of individuals into a spontaneous, passionate and primal force. A wave doesn’t demand concessions, but you have no choice but to acknowledge it when it crashes down on you. We are the 99 percent.

And what are the results? New governments, an informed and politically active people, and validation.

A little over a year ago, The United Nations declared internet access a basic human right. You are a change agent whether you know it or not. Whether you want to be or not. Everyday you blithely browse your virtual network you participate in an engine of social transformation. Welcome to the Hyper Revolution.

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]]> http://open-site.org/blog/revolution/feed/ 0 Enemies Of The Internet http://open-site.org/blog/enemies-of-the-internet/ http://open-site.org/blog/enemies-of-the-internet/#comments Thu, 13 Sep 2012 19:44:08 +0000 admin http://open-site.org/blog/?p=83 Continue reading →]]> If you think that identity theft is the worst-case-scenario of Internet use, you clearly don’t live in any of the nations that make the list of top “Enemies of the Internet.” Not only do these governments monitor their citizens’ web activity, but they also make it nearly impossible for them to safely share and gather information through anonymous microblogs, Facebook pages or Twitter accounts. One nation sports a cyber police force that is larger than the city of Orlando, Florida. And when protests erupted in another country, Twitter accounts were created for the sole purpose of diverting citizens from spreading information. Although these nations represent the extremes of national cybersecurity, the measures they use are based in legislative bills like SOPA, PIPA and CISPA. Check out the following infographic to find out which nations make this list. The next time you surf the web, think carefully about who’s watching you and who’s blocking you.

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]]> http://open-site.org/blog/enemies-of-the-internet/feed/ 0 Power to the Online People http://open-site.org/blog/power-to-the-online-people/ http://open-site.org/blog/power-to-the-online-people/#comments Thu, 23 Aug 2012 21:32:00 +0000 admin http://open-site.org/blog/?p=46 Continue reading →]]> Where were you when news of the tsunami hit Japan in 2011? How about when Michael Jackson died? Probably online, according to many experts who claim that social media has become the main media source for hundreds of millions of people. Not just in the U.S., either; Facebook alone has more than 900 million users spread across the globe as of 2012. Other social media giants like Twitter have facilitated revolution against unjust leaders and warned people of impending natural disaster. In fact, so many people regularly interact online that if the Internet were a nation, it would exceed the Americas, Europe and the Middle East combined in population. No wonder more than 13 million members of the online community used Reddit and other media platforms to protest SOPA, a proposed Internet censorship bill. Keep this graphic in mind next time you log on, because knowledge is power — and a little knowledge goes a long way in the Internet Age.

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