Virtual Psychology

Virtual World requires a whole new branch in psychology that deals with issues of

- Internet addiction

- Personality changes in chat rooms

- Virtual needs of today's net users

- Human emotional needs and desires and how these are fulfilled virtually (love, sex, belongingness, friends, recognition)

- Net related stress, hypertension, fear, anxiety

My goal in this and many of the later posts would be to explore the existing human development and behavioral theories and modifying them to fit the virtual user.

Internet addictionA lot has been said about addiction to the Net. However, most studies have failed to accurately determine its causes. I think Internet addiction is a rather inappropriate term to describe a phenomenon that is quickly penetrating our real lives. Why is the 24/7 use of Internet considered an addiction, when the same does not hold true in the real world? If someone is heavily social, has a lot of friends, goes out a long, hangs out often, why is this 24/7 indulgence in the real world considered appropriate?

The way I see it, there is no such thing as Internet addiction because sooner than later, the Internet would be all over our lives. It would dominate each and every activity that we do, and change the modus operandi of carrying out chores. In the past, the distinction between the real and the virtual was far too great and Internet addiction might have been a problem. Today, it is just the reverse. If you are not wired, that is a bigger problem.

Most of the problems that stem out of Internet addiction are only because of the Net's misuse. Employees spending too much time in chat rooms and children neglecting homework to get on the Net. Come to think of it, if we fail to act appropriately in the real world don't we find ourselves landing into trouble? For example, suppose a person steals - does he/she not get into trouble with the law? The same is the case with the Internet.

The future would further blur the distinction between the virtual and the real. The debate should not be about Internet addiction. Rather, we need to discuss how to make the transition from the real into the virtual as painless as possible. This transition is bound to happen - may be not in our life times, but it is a given. Might as well work to make it as transparent and convenient as humanly possible.

Another problem is the terminology used. The word addiction, itself, has a negative connotation. Such words should be ejected from the people's vocabulary.




http://www.eforica.com

E-government is simply providing better services to the public using electronic means. By adding a layer between the government and the public, e-government can provide quality services that reach the maximum possible people. Have a look at the elementary model below that explains the concept of e-government.



The e-government layer in the preceding model could provide the benefits depicted in the model below:



The scope of e-government, initiated in October of 2002, is very vast. Around Rs.300 million were spent during the past year alone by the Sindh government on implementing various projects that would eventually lead to the realization of e-governance in Pakistan. The steps that I suggest are depicted below:



The first step is to create an awareness in the system. Arousing curiosity and confidence is mandatory for acceptance. We then move on to automation leading to the paper-less government office. The third step involves the delivery of information, downloadable forms, etc. All these steps have already been performed by the government and are represented with green numbers.

The steps represented by yellow numbers are being worked out, which are redundant in my opinion. More precisely, stage 4 is where the focus of our attention is at the moment. However, this focus is highly unfocused.

Why?

Stage 4 is where the e-governance would start to process transactions. For example, a citizen could apply for a passport online. However, such transactions require faith and confidence in the system, which is attainable only through mass awareness campaigns. Hence, stage 4 is closely linked to stage 1. Therefore, efforts should be made to create awareness before more money is spent on stage 4. It must also be remembered that formal education is not what would be needed to create confidence in e-government. The cost makes formal education beyond the reach of the majority in Pakistan. Hence, a cheap mode must be used to create awareness about the electronic system.

Have a look at Stages 6 and 7. Note that it is important that effective delivery must precede efficient delivery. Right must precede Timely to create confidence in the system.

Offshore Outsourcing Dead?

Are we about to face another war?

A war against outsourcing.

According to this article, the American job market is continuously experiencing a downward shift due to offshore outsourcing. A strategy shift at bringing down offshore outsourcing is a thorny idea for our region.


Read this article and tell me if you think offshore outsourcing could be used as a new weapon.

http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=26332

http://www.eforica.com

Delusions

Software Engineering is a continuous process that involves a series of steps. In a nutshell, an ideal software engineering approach starts by analyzing the problem and culminates at delivering a solution. This solution must be both technically and economically feasible.

Feasibility is like a coin. It has two faces: one deals with organizational variables such as profitability and Return on Investment (ROI), the other deals with the technical variables. The attainment of these feasibility benchmarks, thus, calls for engineers who are just as energetic and sympathetic towards business as they are about the technicalities.

Therefore, it does not come as a surprise when I come across job openings that require IT professionals with sound business skills. A recent job advertisement on the Business Channel required Computer Science graduates with strong Project Management skills. However, name me one higher education institution in Pakistan that provides such skills to its computer science graduates. Apart from some round-the-corner apartment institute, you would probably fail to come up with any such institution in Pakistan. It does not take a genius to figure out the ultimate consequences of such a disparity between job specification and higher education.

There are universities, such as the Hamdard University, offering courses in MIS that integrate the business with the computer studies. However, these are not Computer Science programs; Hamdard offers a BS degree in Business Informatics.

Obviously, such a scenario is not good for the economy.

What is the government doing about it?

Does Mr. Leghari (Awais Ahmed Khan) Minister for IT, have any idea?

What are the academics doing to correct this?

What are professional organizations such as PASHA and PSEB doing (other than attending seminars or hanging out with people from NASSCOM)?

Where are the software houses that are always shouting about the government's inflexibility while addressing their issues?

Where is the media when it comes to highlighting such problems?

Are there any students' organizations that are listening?

I guess no one's listening. They would have listened, if they had just taken some time out of their busy social schedules to think along these lines. Sadly, they never did and never do. Do I have any choice, but to be pessimist?

http://www.eforica.com

IT Growth Structure

Why have been Pakistani businesses slow to adopt IT despite tremendous benefits?

After thinking over it for some time, I came up with a growth structure that we have followed thus far. Apart from the inconsistent and derogatory policies, the growth structure that we followed is unsatisfactory. It is depicted below:

In such a structure, there is more supply than demand at the initial stages, thus leading to an economic in-equilibrium right at the inception. Because of an excess supply of IT services and professionals (without creating a demand at the upper tiers), businesses fail to deliver real value in the form of better goods and services.

On the other hand, the ideal growth structure would have been a start with awareness through education. Once there is enough quality education, professionals would penetrate the market and automate business processes to create value. At the last stage, businesses would electronically integrate to provide real value, while cutting costs by integrating with suppliers, distributors and customers.

The ideal growth is depicted below. Notice the low density of the lower tiers as compared to the upper tiers.

Let me know what you guys think about it?

Food for Thought

• Could the Internet ever end?
• Would it ever be 100 percent secure?
• Would we ever see the end of virus attacks?
• Could the organizational investment in IT be happily and fairly justified by IT managers, ever?
• Would the Internet ever be free of spam nuisance?
• Could the Internet ever be free?

Has Competitive Intelligence Gone Too Far?

Companies today recognize the dynamics of the new digital economy: customization, digitization, personalization, Just-in-Time processes and lack of inventory. In their bid to leverage the new model to their benefits, companies have found the Internet to be a reliable and efficient information arbiter. Gathering data about the consumers' behavior to gain competitive intelligence is the first priority for most of the enterprises. While the traditional methods of soliciting information such as surveys and questionnaires are pretty much still there, the Internet has made these largely obsolete by providing information that is just a click away. Although market research firms such as Forrester and GartnerGroup, Internet detective agencies and search engines can accruately yield consumer information, these were not enough.

The lust for a share of the electronic pie forced companies to take the market research to the next level by introducing questionable techniques such as the adwares and popup advertisements while surfing the Net. Whereas the marketing research firms use authentic ways to solicit information, the end-users are negatively affected by the proliferation of malware. It has also costed billions of dollars in lost revenues to companies.

The spread of adware is probably the most infamous means of gathering consumer information. By exposing the end-users to frequent advertisements, recording the clicking pattern and sending it to a remote location, companies can quickly and cheaply create consumer profiles. But where do the consumers fit into all of this? Do they have anything to gain with this sudden and extreme intrusion of privacy? They may - in the form of better services which could even be free- but a violation of personal space is hardly the price that the consumers should be made to pay. Besides, apart from a relatively small number of genuine intelligence accumulation efforts, most adware programs today are equipped with malicious code that propagate viruses.

The race to outcompete the rival has not spared even our inboxes. Gmail's main source of revenue is the targeted text ads which are relayed after scanning an individual's email content. Though not the sole ethics violator, Gmail's extremely bold stand is just incredible. While the industry heavyweights have always used some means of scanning an email message - the junk mail filters would seldom work without such scans - it has always been a hush hush affair. Come Google and we hear of scanning as part of the official marketing pitch!

The latest craze is about weblogs. Weblogs are largely of a personal nature. As such, companies can easily form and maintain consumer profiles, all without you ever knowing about it. The companies that used to spend millions of dollars on market research and paid for each consumer survey answered have to just click the mouse button today.

The interesting thing to note is that it is not only the companies that try to solicit information. More and more online consumers are increasingly contributing their information willingly at various web sites. In a recent study by Pew Internet and American Life Project, more than half of all web site visitors contribute by providing personal information, taking surveys or offering feedback in some other way.

Could the Internet Ever Replace the book?

I am always hearing my friends degrading the status that a book has. Some claim that whatever is found in the books is hardly applicable in the real world, so why bother reading them. Still others from the same school of thought attribute their belief to the Internet.

Here is an interesting article that talks about why the Internet may never replace a conventional library of books.Perhaps, it is the declining culture of reading that makes for such stupid comments and beliefs or it could be ignorance. Anyway try reading this article and see some long held myths challenged.

http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/selectedarticles/10reasonswhy.htm

Google Scholar

Google has an amazing sense of business. It's engineers and business analysts seem to be more competent than of any other in the industry. Take Google Scholar for example. There is nothing new that Google couldnt already do.

Google had allowed the use of prefixes that allowed filtering of online documents through its google.com entry point. The scholar.google.com service is basically a front-end that simplifies the whole ordeal.

Google Search Techniques

Students these days are well aware of the power of search engines for their assignments, reports, presentations, etc. The load of information accessible via the Internet has made the use of search engines very popular among students, especially those enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs. Search engines amass a wealth of information on a daily basis and sorting through the results could be a very hectic task for time-strapped students. The most popular search engine indexes more than 8 billion web pages! Surely, sorting through such a huge database is not trivial. However, search engines also include special mechanisms to tweak the search queries, that could restrict the results to only the most relevant, and make sorting through the junk a breeze.

The first thing to know is that the Google engine is programmed to exclude several common words such as "where" and "how." Therefore, if you search for "How do networks work?", your results would most likely be distorted because the common word "how" was ignored. The proper way to query Google is to place these words in quotes. Google also restricts certain other words such as "and" and "of". Suppose your query was "History of Pakistan". In all probability, you would end up with redundant results because the "of" was ignored. Simply precede the excluded words with a + sign to solve the problem.

Google search engine is popular because it is based on indexing technology - unlike Yahoo. The Google spiders continuously move around the cyberspace looking for newer sites. It is, thus, quite possible that you may want to search through a specific site for your required information. If you want to query a specific site for a search term, Google makes that possible too. Suppose you wanted to search for the phrase IT at DAWN. Using Google, type "IT site:www.dawn.com".

Searching through the information databases requires some careful thinking. Most of the search engines like Google tend to return results based on the number of links to a particular site. It is a popular practice by academic web sites to link to other web sites that host similar content. Therefore, if you have an authentic reference site and would like to find others that are similar to the one you found, try "related:www.microsoft.com". Sometimes you may have to work your way backward to find sites with similar content. If you have tried tweaking your queries and are still unable to get the related sources, it is quite possible that Google has not yet indexed the appropriate sites. However, your required site may exist on some other sites' links that the Google spiders have crawled onto. In such a case, you can try to find sites that have links to a particular web page that Google has already indexed by typing "link:www.microsoft.com" . This would yield sites that have links to the microsoft.com - sites that link to a particular site such as microsoft.com are likely to have similar content, more or less.

Apart from web pages, there are other documents such as MS-Word and Adobe Acrobat (PDF) documents that may be of interest to you. Since a pdf or a word file is convenient to read, easier to print and does not clog the telephone line, you may also carry out a search that returns only these file types. Using Google, type "IT filetype:doc OR filetype:pdf". This would search for MS-Word or PDF files that contain the phrase IT. Once you have the required results, you can download the file and read at your leisure.

The WWW started getting popular in 1995 with the introduction of HTML. Today, in 2004, there are more than a billion pages. As such, it is quite likely that your queries may turn up pages that have obsolete information. To rectify this problem, Google searches can be carried out for a specific time period that would ensure that the search results are current. A date restricted search can be carried out by typing "IT datarange:2902322-2902422". The range takes the start and end dates in Julian format. The Julian date is calculated by the number of days since January 1, 4713 BC. You can simply query Google to find a Julian date for any date range that you want to use. Alternatively, you can use http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/JulianDate.html for conversion.

The Google engine returns query results based on the words that are found in either the Title, URL or the body of the web pages. However, a matching result in the Title or the URL is hardly the kind of search that most students are looking for. More often, people require content and the content is found within the body of the web pages. Therefore, to restrict results to those with all of the query words in only the body text, use "allintext:IT in Pakistan". This would yield results that carry the term in the body. This technique has become more than necessary because of the amazing number of sites that carry misleading titles and URL's that are only discovered on accessing the site. This would also prevent you from navigating to sites that spawn worms or download adware.

The Google search engine can also be used as a virtual dictionary. You no longer have to roam the cyberspace for sites to find meanings for a particular word or phrase. Using Google, type "define:retrospective" to find the meaning for the word retrospective. The define operator shows you a list of definitions aggregated from various sources.

The query strategies shown above can be combined with one another to target the most appropriate site of your interest. For example, if you want to search for PDF files in the a sub-section of a web site you would use "outsourcing+opportunities filetype:pdf site:www.microsoft.com". This would show all the pdf files at microsoft.com that deal with outsourcing. You can also redefine your search terms with a tilde operator "~" to also search for synonyms. In the end, it is important to emphasize that a search engine is only as good as the query it is fed. Cyberspace is loaded with informative sites - all it takes is a little tweaking of the query to find the one that is most relevant.

End Note: Please make sure that all operators that end with a colon ":" have no space between the colon and the search term. Example: site:www.microsoft.

IT Education : Time for a Radical Change

IT is an acronym for what many people consider to be the path to more money, a better career or land at the highest echelons of the social circle. Judging by the existence of various round-the- corner IT institutes in various localities of Karachi, demand for an IT education seems to know of no limits. The abundance of institutes and universities offering courses in the various disciplines of IT is often used to assess Pakistan's relative strength in this area. However, we fail to realize it is the quality of education and not its quantity that would actually determine Pakistan's place in the field of IT.

Information Technology (IT) refers to the various means to facilitate the collection, transmittal and storage of information. The most common means for information processing is the use of computers. However, it would be a huge mistake to equate IT with computer sciences. In fact, this mistake has often been made by some of our IT gurus. The American Heritage Dictionary defines technology as, "the application of science." Hence, an accountant managing the ledger books is just as involved with IT as a network engineer. However, since a computer makes the processing of information rather easier, IT has become linked to computers. This article discusses the state of IT education in Pakistan and how we can improve our chances to out-compete IT monsters like India and China.

Unfortunately, the state of IT education in Pakistan is pathetic. The principle problem is the obsolete material that is taught by most of the universities in Pakistan. Instead of a curriculum that would prepare the students for the future, most of the courses fail to adequately address the needs of even the present. A student pursuing a computer science program is offered a preliminary course in the C language. However, the days of C language are numbered and its scope is quickly fading out. With the extreme penetration of Internet and use of mobile devices, the curriculum should instead focus on technologies that would enable production on such medium. Preferably, the curriculum should include Java language as an introductory course followed by courses in the .NET Framework.

However, this is not to say that the entire syllabus is out of sync. Although, universities do offer courses that are in line with the industry's demands, such courses are not industry or business oriented. Most of these advanced courses fail to impart the analytical skills.

Just like the construction of a building is based on a blueprint design, the construction of an information system and all its components (including the software) also requires careful planning and designing. The lack of adequate analysis and design skills has left us far behind our neighboring IT giant, India. Most of the IT projects outsourced to India are those that require analytical skills. Unfortunately, the curriculum in Pakistan emphasizes more on the programming side of things, rather than the design. It is not the shortage of programmers but of people with analytical and design skills that has slowed our growth. To fill this gap, universities must include courses that can help the students build their analytical and conceptual skills. Business administration courses can help, especially courses related to finance and economics. This integration of business education with computer science and engineering should be a priority for the government and schools offering professional degrees.
The teaching methodology also deserves some remarks. Teaching a course in the classroom and flipping through the PowerPoint slides is a tactic that needs to be eliminated for good. Instead, teachers should adopt creative ways to impart knowledge. Teachers need to find ways to make the students learn by using the means that they love; for example Internet chatting. Internet chatting is quite an addiction worldwide. The technology also supports voice chatting and video conferencing. Using Voice and Internet chat, students can easily be taught communication skills, customer service skills, skills required to run a call center, etc. All chatting is not bad and using MSN as a teacher's aid would increase the students' interest, and consequently the level of motivation, in the course.

With the advent of video conferencing, holding classes over the Net has become a reality. Why not arrange for that extra session on a Sunday over the Internet, rather than asking the students to commute to the university. Since attendance is usually short during these extra weekend sessions, distance learning might be just the cure. Besides, making the students aware of video conferencing and chat etiquette is just as important as teaching them conventional manners, because professional careers would require the IT graduates to make the most of these technologies.

This training to use the latest technologies is also needed to tap into the outsourcing opportunities provided to South Asia by the corporations of the West. According to a research conducted by Gartner Group and IDC, about 80% of the IT based projects would have been outsourced by the year-end. Unfortunately, Pakistan is not part of the statistics and is seldom the location of preference for any major project. Although outsourcing has solutions to some of the most sought after macroeconomic problems such as employment and poverty, the IT curriculum in Pakistan remains oblivious of such global trends.

Another major problem lies in the editions of the textbooks that are used. Most of the universities prefer to use outdated editions even though revised editions are easily available in the market. Most of us are aware of the exponential pace of technological changes, yet the students still using editions published in the late 1990's. Although this situation holds true for many of the other disciplines, it has greater consequences for students enrolled in a technology-based curriculum. In fact, the very use of obsolete material fades the purpose of IT - IT required Information to be relevant and timely.

Apart from the traditional classroom instruction, IT education is also promoted through electronic media. The media, which is most often credited with having the potential to mass educate and bring about societal changes, has failed to bring about any substantial changes or IT awareness amongst the masses. We cannot reasonably expect the entire Pakistani population to benefit from any educational program as long as the channels continue to use English as the medium of broadcast.

The education system is quite unique from the IT perspective. Information Technology education is actually a subsystem of a system that also includes (besides schools) ISP's, Internet, VPN's, and utilities such as the telecommunications (PTCL) and electrical (KESC and WAPDA) agencies. We are all well aware of the problems experienced while browsing the Internet. We have all faced poor bandwidth, connection problems and disconnection. It is high time that the government takes measurable efforts to revamp the infrastructure that is so crucial in developing an information based society. Without an extreme overhaul of the facilities, the IT graduates cannot produce substantial gains. The system must be changed. There is no way out.

First it was the Industrial Revolution now it is the Information Technology Revolution. The way that information has penetrated into all parts of our life and, inevitably, would continue to do so is remarkable. A revolution brings about changes in a nation's socioeconomic structure, which the IT seems to be doing. However, instead of embracing it as a revolutionary force and implementing it in all walks of life, IT has become akin to a fad for most of us. Fads come and go while revolutions almost always bring about some positive change. Introducing a radial change in our educational system is the only way to bring about this positive change.

SWOT Analysis for Firefox

Strengths:
a) free of cost

b) integrated download manager

c) integrated popup blocker

d) integrated spyware detection

e) integrated adware detection

f) makes for a small download - 4.9 MB

Weaknesses:
a) in competition with Microsoft - which as we all know is loaded.

b) doesnt come integrated with Windows

Opportunities:
a) more feasible for markets where intellectual property rights are acknowledged, respected and protected.

Threats:
a) IE

b) Netscape Navigator

c) Opera

d) from a developer's perspective, IE comes bundled with OS, IE components are used to develop applications using Visual Programming languages and IE has its own XML parser. Firefox lacks a parser.

As long as Microsoft Windows continues to be a defacto standard for home PC's, firefox would have a hard time competing with IE. It's one thing to download a 4.9 MB application and entirely another to actually make a complete switch over. With the versatility that comes with IE, I doubt anyone would ever ditch IE completely.

If you guys disagree with something or would like to add some to the SWOT, please do tell me. Thanks

Digital Pakistan News Aggregator Launched

Hello, I have recently put out my news aggregator for beta testing. Users can quickly add ATOM feeds of their blogs and then generate code to add live content to their blogs.

Please give me your comments on the service. The URL is http://cyberdev.visit.ws

Has BLUETOOTH replaced the Singles' Bar in Europe?

There is a trend these days in Britain to find a date using BLUETOOTH. BLUETOOTH technology allows people to send anonymous messages to people in a close vicinity. Read this article to find out more. http://mklink.com/email/mkLINKNewsletter/april-newsletter/april.html It's quite interesting.

Who is the Culprit: MSN or GMAIL?

For the past few days I have been receiving strange emails from a known email address with a hotmal.com domain! What happened was that a person contacted me on my GMAIL account via an email address with a Pakistani SMTP and IP address. I added this person to my MSN. After about an hour of adding this person, I received a sex email with an attachment that my hotmail account detected as infected. The ID was that of the person whom I had added - what differed was the domain. HOTMAL.COM, instead of HOTMAIL.com (notice the I missing).

I was a bit surprised at having received such an email for my eye had interpreted the address as HOTMAIL's rather than HOTMAL's. It was only after a long and hard stare at my monitor that I managed to notice the mal.

It's kinda strange receiving an email soon after I have added someone on my contact. I wonder who could be the culprit. Was it MSN that somehow manages to leak addresses or was it GMAIL that patronizes such activities. Or could it be the Pakistani ISP?

Got any ideas guys? I, for one, am quite perplexed.

Congratulations LUMS!

An international panel of experts has selected the work of the students of Lahore University of Management Sciences who made it to the top ten of the IEEE Computer Society's 5th Annual International Design Competition (CSIDC), 2004 held at Washington DC- USA. Their project was titled "SensUS Structure Security System." The system is actually a sensor based for security purposes. It can detect deviations in real time.

The LUMS team included Dr. Zartash Afzal Uzmi (Project Consultant), Tashfeen Suleman, Zaheer-ul-Qamar Khan, Muhammed Azfar Khan and Ahsan Akhlaq Mughal (students).

The theme of this year's competition ws "Making the World a Safer Place."
Congratulations LUMS!

CBR Plans Reference Value Database

According to the DAWN Business, Friday Oct. 22, 2004, CBR has decided to establish a database with the intent "for maintaining uniformity in assessment of imported goods at all custom stations." The effort is worth a pat on the back.

How manu custom officials would actually consult such a database is anybody's guess. Unless the plague of corruption is carefully diagnosed and eradicated, such projects would fail to deliver and end up as losses showing up on the national income statement.

I wonder whether a feasibility study was conducted for this.

Federal Govt Data Center and Intranet

The federal government has decided to setup a data center and an intranet. The strategy is to construct a data warehouse and automate the federal government operations. Seems encouraging.

Spam Mail on Rise

Spam Mail is at it again! The back to school season and the US Presidential Elections in November were subjects of about 82 percent of spam mail sent this August.

India under the Spotlight Again

Offshore outsourcing has come under the spotlight as an antagonist because of stolen code. According to Computer World Pakistan, Australian companies have began to rethink their corporate IT strategies while outsourcing projects to India. According to Ajoy Ghosh, a IT security consultant at Jolly Technologies in Mumbai, jacked code is partly due to the lack of strict laws relating to intellectual property rights.


Would foreign confidence in India decline due to such stories, and consequently, is our industry also about to face some serious consequences? Although Pakistan has never been high on the "foreign confidence manifesto" and has always been subjected to a lethargic attitude, the recent code jacking issue in India could work in favor of Pakistan.