The web is not an exact science - Web Science - week 1 reflection #FLwebsci #MOOC

Web Science is inherently transdisciplinary as it is employs many analytical techniques and knowledge bases from other subjects, such as economics, law, psychology, sociology, computer science, etc., hence why I am drawn so much to this subject. The aim is for Web Science to operate very much outside of the box in order to consider the thing we have come to call the web - a thing that keeps growing, that keeps changing and that is anything but an exact science!

Back in February I started the Web Science MOOC as presented by the University of Southampton on FutureLearn, but I struggled to find a way into sticking with the essential focus of its topic. 

What is Web Science?

The main problem was that I lacked a technological foundational understanding in how the web actually works on a software and hardware basis. Therefore, after completing the first-and-a-half weeks, I decided that I would come back to the MOOC at a later date, once I possessed a better foundational understanding.

One of the great things about many MOOC platforms is that they let you retain access to the course materials long after the course has completed.

However, now that I have dabbled a little with coding and have (nearly) finished the Internet History, Technology and Security MOOC, I now possess a basic understanding of the operational processes behind the internet. 

Additionally, while I was undertaking the Internet History, etc. MOOC and also its kindred Introduction to Cyber Security MOOC, I noticed that my attention kept shifting back to this Web Science MOOC.

As I was coming to understand the workings of the internet, I noticed that I started to look at my daily usage of the internet in a very different way: a very analytical manner not too dissimilar to the perspective the Web Science MOOC had started to nurture in me...

Web Science - an introduction to a bold new academic discipline.

Web Science is inherently transdisciplinary as it is employs many analytical techniques and knowledge bases from other subjects, such as economics, law, psychology, sociology, computer science, etc., hence why I am drawn so much to this subject. The aim is for Web Science to operate very much outside of the box in order to consider the thing we have come to call the web - a thing that keeps growing, that keeps changing and that is anything but an exact science!

The tangled pre-history of the web.

Week 1 of the MOOC provides a brief pre-history and and recent history of the web and this is something that Internet History, etc. has gone into vastly more detail and is accordingly vastly more enlightening. 

Tim Berners-Lee is where the 'web' begins, he is not where the 'internet' begins.

I believe this lack of in-depth consideration of the various phases of the webs history is where I felt really let down and unclear about when I first undertook the MOOC back in February. 

However, I can not really blame the course as it is called 'web science', not 'internet science' and, therefore, is not concerned with the web's precursor before Tim Berners-Lee's proposal for the World Wide Web in 1989 (also the year I was born). Obviously you will need to possess some historical background context for this subject, but for a short course offering, such as this MOOC, you can only expect it to cover so much.

Ultimately, the aim of this short course MOOC is to supply you with the basic tools in order to encourage you to proactively think much more analytically about the web, how it is changing the world and what role you have to play in this new technology. 

One of the best ways in which the MOOC achieves this in week 1 is in its consideration of technological determinism and in questioning its position that technology is shaped by society in social construction.

Does technology shape society or does society shape technology?

The argument for and against technological determinism was something that was heavily touched upon in the E-Learning and Digital Cultures MOOC I undertook previously. While the concept of technological determinism was introduced to me I did not really grapple with its larger implications.

E-Learning and Digital Cultures was not a MOOC with which I really thoroughly stuck.

Additionally, technological determinism is not something that was really dealt with in my Film and Screen Studies BA (Hons) either, as technological determinism is something that is more integral in Media Communications concerns. 

However, while it was never the primary agenda, technological determinism can be seen to have a part to play in my theoretical dissertation Ways of Being: The Spectator and the Spectacle; essentially that the new technologies of cinema were arising out of a consumer demand for bigger film experience immersion. 

Therefore, my view is very much in favour of social construction, not technological determinism, and this is the same view that the Web Science MOOC adopts.

Why is a discipline such as Web Science is so integral?

"There are some bits of technological determinism that work. Certainly, the kind of technology in the Web, its openness, its democratic features, those things shape how the Web is. But there are other things which are very much part how we, as human actors and agents and societies, take that technology and do all sorts of different things with it, things that Tim Berners-Lee couldn't even have imagined, so Facebook or Twitter, for example" 

- Catherine Pope, Web Science educator.

Technology does not just change us, it is much more about us influencing technology - the web is a major and direct example of this. 

Social shaping vs. technological determinism - which do you support?

On the whole, social shaping has become the dominant view and the web in particular is a primary example of how society shapes new technologies to fit the needs of society:

"The state of the market, or better, of society is the crucial factor in enabling the development and diffusion of any communications technology or in hindering it. That is as true of the computer chip and the Internet as it was of the telegraph and the telephone. Thus, innovations are the creatures of society in a general sense." 

- Brian Winston, Technologies of Seeing, 1996:3.

This is why the further development of a discipline like Web Science is so strongly advocated and needed. 

Certainly, in terms of Film and Media disciplines, this is what I was getting at in Ways of Being: 

"In short, there is too much indifference in Film Studies.The discipline is too focused on cave-like thinking and film theory of the past; a pantheon of knowledge that is becoming continuously outdated and finding itself at odds with new advancements and diversifications, such as the digital re-birth and large format hypercinema. Film scholars have always sought to understand the spectator’s and spectacle’s mutual pursuit of enlightenment; while they have uncovered aspects of it, there still does not exist a single unifying explanation of the profound processes of that relationship" 

- Ways of Being, 2013:105.

However, while my focus may have been towards Film and Media disciplines, by not considering the networking-and-interactions of these technologies and processes is insane and this is very much the incentive behind creating Ways 2 Interface.

Some notes I made while planning out Ways 2 Interface.

I have created Ways 2 Interface as a web blog precisely because it is considering the relationship of the spectator and the spectacle in film and media as connected globally in the thing we have called the web - it is analysing the the very thing of which it is a part. 

"Everything that has been presented throughout this paper is representative of the shift in thinking that is slowly taking place alongside the digitalisation of cinema and needs to continue to take place! In moving away from the cave, we have stopped viewing spectacle content on a screen, and we now experience and interact with it via an interface. If there is a great deal of neurobiological participation happening on the spectator’s part, then perhaps this offers a more accurate way to talk about the process by which the spectator interfaces with any type of film spectacle. While this section can not hope to provide many answers to the questions it has raised, one obvious conclusion should be apparent - all these diverging means of experiencing the world will continue to have huge implications on our ways of being in the world"

- Ways of Being, 2013:151.

Ultimately, the web has adopted cinema into its paradigm and this is the reason for why I am so fascinated by the web - it's a direct and vastly intricate expression of the relationship of the spectator and the spectacle like we have never seen before!

Certainly, Web Science will be huge help and an additional component of this transdisciplinary consideration I have taken up.

Is the web guaranteed to exists indefinitely? 

I am currently undertaking quite a few MOOCs (as always) and while I do plan to finally work my through and finish the Web Science MOOC, it may not be any time soon, I will be engaging with the MOOC materials whenever I can make the time for them.

However, I do not think that making time will be a problem as it is clear that the knowledge this MOOC will nurture in me will have a clear and primary role to play in my further studies and research interests.

The web a.k.a. unlimited potential. We have barely scratched the surface. 

The web is for everyone and for everything, but it is not an exact science, it is something that we have to keep working at in regards to how we further develop it and how we continue to analyse it.

That's Web Science.

Information is an asset - Introduction to Cyber Security - completion reflection #FLsecurity #MOOC

Successful and vigilant cyber security requires a proactive attitude in order to maintain your current situation and to be on the look out for new updates. Ultimately, it's not just about changing some passwords and then sweeping all concerns under the carpet. Introduction to Cyber Security is not a quick fix, it's a quick introduction, beyond it's teaching, you have to keep running with what you learned.

I have now completed Introduction to Cyber Security (a week ahead of the official completion date) and the main realisation I have taken from the course is that all information is an asset, especially your personal information!

All done and dusted.

Our day-to-day activities online and on our personal computing devices offer countless means for our personal data to be compromised and exploited by cybercriminals. 

Introduction to Cyber Security offers a great deal of clarity on this subject by providing overviews:

• of the threats that currently exist and how they actually function
• of how you can minimise the possibility of being a victim to one of these threats.
• of what to do if you are compromised by a threat.
• of real life compromisation examples: how they happened, how they were dealt with, the long-term consequences.
• of how computing, online networks and digital security systems actually function 
• of how computing, online networks and digital security systems are often compromised.
• of how cyber security is not an exact science and never will be - it's about educating yourself to always be on your toes!

Cory Doctorow presents Introduction to Cyber Security

The main idea to understand in regards to implementing strong cyber security is in understanding three basic aspects underpinning effective security:

• Confidentiality - our data to only be accessed by appropriate individuals.
• Integrity - our data to only be manipulated by authorised parties.
• Availability - our data to be accessible whenever we want.

Once you have these principles understood you are in a vastly better position to assess your own cyber security in regards to your daily activities and the other individuals and/or organisations with which you come into contact.

If authenticity can not be verified or if confidentiality can not be guaranteed, then there is cause for concern.

CIA - Confidentiality Integrity and Availability.

While undertaking the course, you are very much encouraged to put into practice what the educators advise as minimalising your exposure to a potential threat. This practice is very accessible as there are many step-by-step guides included as part of the course materials.

The undertaking of this course has been pretty well timed, as improving my cyber security situation is something that I have been very actively improving for some time now; in particular since August when I was having trouble with my desktop computer and then when I was setting up my new laptop (which I acquired to replace my desktop computer). 

A couple of months back my bank account was very nearly compromised, but fortunately my banking security got on the case and my credentials were reset and no money was lost. I still do not know how my bank account was compromised, but this incident has made me much more vigilant in regards to my cyber security practice. 

Therefore, the Introduction to Cyber Security course has served as a natural progression on from what I have already done by filling in the gaps of what I had not done or of which I was a little unsure.

The course is broken down into the following areas: 

• Week 1: Threat Landscape
• Week 2: Authentication
• Week 3: Malware
• Week 4: Networking and Communications
• Week 5: Cryptography
• Week 6: Networking Security
• Week 7: When Your Defences Fail
• Week 8: Managing Security Risks

The time span and content of the course has quite nicely and reflexively criss-crossed with the Internet History, Technology and Security MOOC I have just about completed. In many ways the Internet History, etc MOOC has lain the historical and technical groundwork for what I have been learning in Introduction to Cyber Security.

The two MOOCs very strongly compliment each other and I would say that the Cyber Security MOOC is the natural successor to take after completing the Internet History, etc. MOOC.

Only the last two weeks of the Internet History, etc. MOOC have been devoted to security, so I have been given a huge and very detailed preview of those last two weeks with the Cyber Security MOOC. 

This is just as well, as I suspect I would not have been able to have been able to get my head around the concept and workings of public and private keys in the Internet History, etc. MOOC had I not already encountered it in the Cyber Security MOOC. 

The internet - a network of networks.

Likewise I would have struggled with the presentation and explanation of internet networking, communications, IP protocols, etc., in the Cyber Security MOOC had I not already had it very minutely illustrated in the Internet History, etc. MOOC.

However, one of the most startling discoveries I have had revealed from both of these MOOCs and which has provided even more incentive to become highly literate in cyber security is the fact that the internet is not encrypted - it's an open space for all to see what passess through it (if you know how). 

The reason for why the entirety of the internet is not encrypted is because it would require way too much computing power to encrypt and decrypt every single piece of information that goes through it. Therefore, only sensitive material, such as online payments, are encrypted. 

https - the 's' tells you that the current webpage you are on is secure and is a verified web page. If you click on the padlock a drop down will reveal more information about the web page you are on. The main point to be taken from this is: if there is no https and the web page is asking you to hand over some personal data - don't, because that web page is not secure!

Additionally, a user can choose to encrypt their data where appropriate (emails being a primary target), but only when the user understands how to go about utilising encryption and decryption and this is something that the course touches upon an encourages.

I have implemented many of the course's suggested practices, such as:

• taking stock and organising of my information assets (this is ongoing, it's a lot of stuff to get through)
• rejigging all of my passwords and setting up a password manager (this took the better part of a day)
• ensuring that my security software and firewalls are up to date
• utilising signed and encrypted email (I am working on this)
• being aware of how exposed I can leave my devices and data in public spaces and securing them appropriately
• nurturing better awareness of tell-tale signs of threats and indications of strong cyber security, e.g. phishing emails, checking for https.

It can get confusing, but understanding it will make you literate and cyber secure.

I believe there are two issues are at the root of the reason for why so many people of ignorant towards their own cyber security and how that can be hugely detrimental to them:

1. Lack of overall understanding to all the threats out their, how to counter them and the consequences of not countering them.
2. getting into and staying in the habit of consistently maintaining high standards of cyber security practice.

As I have come to learn from the course, understanding all of the potential threats, how you can counter them and what are the long term consequences of not countering them is easy, once you invest the time and effort into actually understanding the emerging subject of cyber security.

However, consistently maintaining high standards of cyber security practice requires vastly more effort and that is the challenge I am starting to understand now - starting is easy, staying in the habit requires much more effort and perseverance. 

Not all aspects of cyber security are convenient or painless and, as the internet and the technologies and the algorithms that support the internet continue to grow and change and improve, so too will the cyber threats. 

Cyberspace cryptography.

Successful and vigilant cyber security requires a proactive attitude in order to maintain your current situation and to be on the look out for new updates. 

Ultimately, it's not just about changing some passwords and then sweeping all concerns under the carpet. Introduction to Cyber Security is not a quick fix, it's a quick introduction, beyond it's teaching, you have to keep running with what you learned.

For quite some time now I have placed a great value on my time, even greater than I place on money - time is finite, but you can always acquire new money! I also place a high value on my overall well-being which I also place this higher than money - if you're dead, you can't make any money. 

Like time, health and money, your information - your identity - is an asset. A very valuable asset! 

Therefore, realise, as I have, that if you want to keep your information/data/identity/cyber presence healthy, secure and in a position to keep you financially content, you are going to have to invest consistent amounts of your time into maintaining a vigilant defence about it.

Common tell-tale signs of a phishing email - delete these!

Ultimately, like the Open University's earlier Managing My Money MOOC (which I have yet to complete) that offered a grounds up look at basic and successful personal finance terminology and practice, Introduction to Cyber Security is designed for anyone and is intended for anyone - utilise this free resource and reaps the rewards further down the line.

Information, just like time or money or maintaining good health, is a vital asset of a productive and fulfilling life - do not allow it to be compromised. 

Your information is an asset, so look after it!

Be smart and be secure.