The travels of Justin

Put in a big order for utopian-engineered peoplehole covers, Microsoft has designed a high school:

Students — who are called “learners” — use smart cards to register attendance, open their digital lockers and track calories they consume. They carry laptops, not books, and the entire campus has wireless Internet access.

Teachers, or “educators,” rather than using blackboards, have interactive “smart boards” that allow teachers to zoom in and out, write or draw, and even link to the Internet.

There’s no library, but an “interactive learning center” where information is all digital and a “multimedia specialist” will help out students.

Instead of a cafeteria, there’s a food court with restaurant-style seating. The performance center — where two sections rotate close to create a smaller space — replaces the typical auditorium.

-emphasis mine

Makes me think of those futuristic designs from the 60’s and 70’s of the “house of the 21^st century,” trying to depect what the futuristic mid-80s might look like with all those robots and gadgets.

It’s remarkable that that the only use of the word “obsolete” is refers to Gates’ depiction of the current education system. I guess those Associated Press reporters wouldn’t want to strain themselves with actual jounalism. It’s nice and all that Gates has funded and, through his company, supported an experiment that is interesting; however, does anyone wonder how quickly a school like this in mainstream use would become obsolete or at risk to hackers? If there was even a token question about such things you might assume this was not simply the regurgitation of an interesting press release.

And the language used… why can’t the coporation spare the workplace jargon? We know hotel customers are considered “guests” and Starbucks employees are “partners”; one might argue that whether a student is also “learner” rests on several factors, including the qualty of the educator.

“Learning is not just going to school,” said Shirley Grover, the school’s energetic principal who came from the American School in Milan, Italy. “Learning is equal to life.”

[...]

“Two things are quite intriguing — the willingness of the district and Microsoft to try something different,” Lynch said. He cautioned, however, that while trying new methods may be valuable “we have to be careful because you’re messing with kids’ lives.”

What is intriguing is that the real experiment has nothing to do with technology. Good luck to the students –err, I mean, learners.

Last month I was answering questions about TRU and Canadian universities to Chinese parents. I’m sure China isn’t the only country that seems obsessed with ranking, but it’s a country where I have experience to talk about.

Constantly my friends and people I meet are asking me about what is the “best” university in Canada. They don’t want to know what school I think is the best, but what is ranked the highest? In a country where government decree tells you which one is the most prestigious school, I can forgive my friends with being frustrated when considering a Canadian school. No one seems to believe me that we do not have an official ranking system. “You must not know about it,” said one Chinese girl to me while her mother smiled from her side at the Beijing education expo. Canada’s most famous measure of quality and fame comes from Macleans magazine, but if that’s your only measure of education quality you’re going to have some surprises after graduation; besides, Mcleans ranks based on a variety of criteria, but that criteria is subject to critisim and — even if you do accept it at face value — it still doesn’t end with a clear numerical ranking.

For example, if one wants to compare economics PhD programs you might spend several hours digesting a site like econPhD.net which has rankings specific to “10 subdisciplines and 36 minor fields…” What this clearly demonstrates is that someone wanting to study Economic History & Thought will rank schools very differently than someone studying Financial Economics. Whether you want a career in research — and thus put a lot of weight on whether graduates from a school are often published in academic journals &mash; or you want a career that applies economics in business decision making or entrepreneural activities, you will need to rank schools based on very different criteria.

One of the things I particularly like about TRU is that it is a fantastic place for enterprising students in any field of study. TRU is a new and fast growing university. There’s no debate club, the school newspaper is irrelevant, every department has great ideas that want to materialize, and all of these present opportunities to students who want to invent, create, and provide leadership and direction to an institution in its relative infancy. A school that is growing sometimes has more opportunities with less competition than school that are entrenched. If you dream of being a newspaper editor, you can get that hands-on experience at TRU where it might be more difficult at another school. I was once that at UBC it can be almost impossible to fight through the fierce competition to participate in a study-abroad program like the one I’m a part of; even if you’re a top-student at other schools, only a limited number can go and you might not have that chance. I know that TRU is creating opportunities for students who have dreams and need help to realize them. Both types of schools have their benefits, and TRU isn’t perfect for everyone, but depending on a Mcleans-type ranking system will leave you blind to opportunities.

When asked about the TRU business program I tell people about many stories I’ve heard about ACE*TRU, the very active and successful business club has been operating professional businesses, hosting leadership and career training to students of all diciplines, and winning awards of the highest distinctions (my two-cents: someone should put those awards on that new website of theirs). If ACE*TRU can beat most famous business schools in Canada in national competitions judged by CEO’s of the nations largest corporations, it’s fair to say that if the TRU business program isn’t famous now, it’s just a matter of time; in the meantime, it’s competing at the national level which at least reflects a quality program.

While I can look upon my university with pride, I know that universities are subject to market conditions and have areas of specialty. Unlike China, graduating from a famous school will not ensure you a job, and even this is changing; in fact, Canadian business people recognize that Canadian schools each have different strengths. Macleans can aid potential students—as it is intended—but provides too limited a view of the Canadian education market to base life decisions on a ranking alone. There are perks at famous schools, but at the end of the the day it will be your individual accomplishments, your academic record, your resourcefulness, and your ability to get a job done that will ensure success in the post-graduation job market.

In 9-months Tianjin has become a familiar place for me, just as Kamloops did in my single year of living there. From the cosy dorm at TUT, it’s hard to imagine the amazing growth that this city will experience over the next 5-years. With its population of 10-million people (about 1/3 the population of Canada), Tianjin is often referred to as a “second-tier” city to distinguish it against the most famous cities like Beijing and Shanghai.

Dan Harris at the China Law blog gives an excellent introduction for the uninitiated of the changes that await investors and opportunity-seekers (including future TRU study-abroad students) in a great article featuring Tianjin:

• Tianjin, China — Second Tier City With A Bright Future

And it looks like Airbus is looking at putting their first non-European factory in Tianjin: “Tianjin, China — Flying High.“

Moments after writing my last entry, I stood up and said goodbye to the only other determined computer user left in the office. Knowing that doors are locked until morning, I waited patiently until 6:30 AM when I figured the doors would be unlocked. As I stood up and said goodbye, the fellow in the office told me that the door would probably still be locked so he’d let me out. I said “pardon?” The whole time I had thought the friend who had disappeared was the only key holder that night; since the key holder was missing-in-action that would mean I’m trapped, right?. Apparently I could have left the building at any time.

Last Monday at English Corner I discussed the strong possibility of playing some sports (probably table tennis) with friends on Saturday night. By the end of the week, some unrelated Saturday lunch plans were suddenly rescheduled to run all evening. I don’t have to worry much, I think to myself, confident that meeting friends for sports was only a big maybe. When I finally wake up after lunch with a mere 5-hours of sleep, Ryan gives me notice that my friend from English Corner dropped by to verify tonight’s plan for 7 pm in building… etc. Unlike most of my classmates, these days I tend to have about 2-weeks in advance scheduled pretty solid which is why I do my email and blogging at weird hours at night. Since that type of scheduling is not a cultural norm, I probably should have expected my classmate to assume “maybe” was really a rock-solid commitment. I apologized to my friend using text messages and he seemed disappointed, but understanding. The dinner I had to go to was not an optional event, so there wasn’t much I could do.

Returning from dinner, Ryan says that my friend dropped by the house again to collect Ryan on the way to play. Ryan — in the middle of helping someone with a paper — has to tell this fellow that he’s busy and can’t play. It’s clear our friend is bothered. This leads me to another observation about student life in TUT: Chinese students sharing a dorm are an extended family; Ryan and I simply live like roommates — supportive, but ultimately independent. Ryan hadn’t even been included in the original discussion to play table tennis and learned about the whole thing today, but our friends assumed that my apparent commitment on Monday also meant Ryan was, by proxy, informed and committed; of course, I had no reason to invite Ryan to something that wasn’t formalized.

Hopefully I’ll see this friend on Monday night and have a good time making cultural expectations a focal point of our English Corner conversation. One of the reasons good relationships are so critical to business success in China can be seen in getting past the minor misunderstandings that might disrupt an otherwise harmonious and mutually-beneficial long-term relationship; in this last regard, we one is reminded that this is sound advice for partnerships of any kind — international or not.

Before I moved to Kamloops, a friend who does catering there kept talking about summer events and big weddings at the Sportmart. Being familiar with Sportmart, the sport’s equipment retailer, I just couldn’t come to terms with the idea of pushing a rack of athletic supporters and hockey sticks aside while the bride marches down the isle to give her vows near the register. I’m sure it’s how the family always imagined it.

You might not believe the shock —nay, the relief(!!) when someone finally told me the full name of the arena: Sportmart Place. Unlike the home of the Vancouver Canucks, GM Place isn’t referred to as GM; although, it’s sometimes referred to as The Garage. Now that Interior Savings credit union has purchased the naming rights, I suppose now everyone will now be meeting at Interior Savings for their conventions.

My silly memory of Kamloops flooded back when Darren Barefoot brought up the topic of corporate sponsorship for buildings. I’m still in shock though: TELUSphere!?! A quick peek at the website of the organization now known as TELUS World of Science says [PDF]:

“We listened to what people had to say and after careful deliberation, Science World and TELUS have agreed that ‘TELUS World of Science’ is a more appropriate name,” Shearer says.

Hmmm… good choice, methinks.

I found this after a visit to http://canada.info-syn.com:

Telus is blocking access to a pro-union website that it argues “contains confidential proprietary information and that photographs on the site raise privacy and security issues for certain of its employees.” Michael Geist reminds us that internet service providers—especially Telus—have argued vocally to let the courts, not companies, decide what should and should not be blocked.

Telus says the website, www.voices-for-change.com, contains confidential corporate information while photos of Telus managers with captions like “pieces of scum” and “weasels” are offensive and potentially dangerous.

While I haven’t examined either blocked site, voices-for-change.com or telusscabs.ca, it wouldn’t shock me if the company did have a legitimate argument. Regardless, if the company honestly believed the material posted was in violation of Canadian law, a court injunction would force the website to be blocked by ALL internet service providers.

“We’re not apologizing for taking action for protecting our employees,” Telus vice-president of business solutions Bruce Okabe told 24 hours yesterday. “It would be morally negligent for us to tolerate this kind of behaviour.” [Ed. emphasis added]

By NOT bringing this matter to court and choosing to block the site for Telus subscribers only, Telus seems to be demonstrating a belief that their moral negligence is limited to their own subscribers while subscribers using Shaw, etc., do not provide a threat to the employees in question.

Reported at:

• 24 Hours Vancouver
• Boing Boing
• The Edmonton Sun

Since there doesn’t seem like much happening in domestic politics to write about these days (sarcasm intended), I think this is a pretty awesome development at Statscan. Now you can use Firefox live bookmarks, or — my favourite — Thunderbird’s RSS reader to keep up with Statscan’s publication, The Daily.

The Government of Canada Newsroom has also adopted RSS (look for the orange “XML” button in the left-column). The newsroom is an interesting source for “News releases, Warnings/Advisories, Media Advisories, Speeches, Reports”.

This is great — especially if you have a propensity to be well-read in obscure news and trends. At least it shows both the trend of mainstream adoption of a fantastic technology (that only sounds complicated), and that the IT people working for the Canadian federal government gather no moss.

On the heels of Blockbuster’s “end of late fees”, comes an implementation of credit/debit system for libraries. The problems are questions of privacy, civil liberties, and even financial liability for unreturned materials.

From the civil liberty perspective, the Patriot Act in the USA allows authorities to keep an eye on what you are reading without the need for a warrant. If anyone tells you that your account is, or has been, watched, that person can go to prison. Here’s an exerpt of this article that catches the thust of the idea:

You’ve seen anonymous cash cards already; you may even have received them before. They’re better known as gift cards. Using the same principle, libraries can issue a borrower card that uses cash, rather than personal ID information, as collateral. Here’s an example: If a privacy-minded user deposits $20 to get an anonymous library card, she can check out The Terror State without identifying herself. Her account balance is temporarily reduced by $15, and when the library checks the CD back in (in good condition), her balance is restored to its original value.

(Hat tip: Slashdot)

The Oracle of Ottawa had suggested potential sponsorship advertising space for sale at eBay:

Rent Canada’s (perhaps) Largest Invisible “Billboard”
Approximately 30,000 Sq. ft. advertising space.

We will place your message across our freshly refinished roof at any angle you desire - (see aerial photograph) within sight of martians, birds and a flight path to the main airport of our nation’s capital.

I think I’ve found a better option. Why not bid for sponsorship advertising on this gentlemen’s eBay auction?

Yes, that’s right I’m selling Ad space on my husband. This auction is for ad space on my husband and nothing more. The advertising is too be worn on his person with appropriate placement.

Current bid is $61.01 USD, which could easily be outbid by the federal government; and just think, that should leave much of the budget open for consulting fees. What’s that? This person lives in the USA? Oh rats, there goes my commission.

Statistics Canada’s publication The Daily reports today on the domestic sales of refined petroleum products

What caught my eye is that the category “Motor Gasoline” is down 3.2% from April 2004 to April 2005. If memory serves me, the last year has seen prices in my area rise my at least $0.20/litre. In the short-term, sales of gasoline won’t be affected by rising prices, but somehow I expected to see larger drop over the whole year. Perhaps a single year is still too short-term to see a trend, but it’s just my first impression.

The Smart fortwo coupé

Here in Kamloops, I’ve seen at least 2 of those cute little Smart cars. One driver has the appropriately mocking licence plate “88mpg” — very nice! If the real trend is the continued adoption of more effecient cars, then that’s a more important indicator of advancement in my opinion.