News Report 4

"Putting Employees' Smartphones To Work"
By Marguerite Reardon
October 27, 2010
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-20020818-266.html?tag=topStories2

This article takes an inside look at Harrah’s Entertainment, however the ideas presented more than likely affect many other companies as well.  In an effort to cut costs, Harrah decided to let employees use their personal cell phone for work use, instead of supplying them with a separate work only cell phone.  At first employees were happy about the change so they only had to carry around one phone.  Eventually, while this did indeed cut costs for Harrah, it also made a huge security issue among Harrah’s employees.  Many wondered how much access the company would have to their personal life, and what would happen if the employee decided to leave the company, would the company clean everything off of their cell phone?  Harrah decided to put together policies stating exactly what information the company could access on its employees cell phones, meaning that only corporate emails and business-related apps would be back on the company server, therefore if something happens to the phone or if the employee leaves the company, only the corporate data will be wiped.  RIM and Good Technology supply the software to Harrah for this solution.  Although this technology costs money, the company is still saving in the long run by not paying the cell phone bill.

While I understand the nuisance of having two cell phones, I would personally like to keep my work and private life separate.  If my personal cell phone was also my work cell phone, I would always be “on call” and expected to respond to emails.  What happened to normal 8 to 5 work days or when taking a vacation actually meant not working for a week?  Unless the job required constant traveling, I would not want this.  However, I think it is great there is now technology to ensure the company is not overstepping their bounds into people’s private lives by keeping the data separate.

Reading Report 4

"The Infodiet: How Libraries Can Offer an Appetizing Alternative to Google"

              We are constantly told as kids of this generation how lucky we are to have every bit of information at our finger tips.  In reality, this is true only to a point.  Although I personally seem to use Google at least once every day for some question that comes about, I am beginning to see there is a wealth of information I did not know that existed.  Although the obvious question many adults may wonder about our generation is why we do not just ask a librarian for help, but in our minds, who would waste their time when they can probably figure something out that is “close enough” to what the teacher is looking for.  Upon taking this class, I expected to get an easy A and not learn much.  Now however, I am learning how to actually utilize my library and what to do when Google does not respond with the results I am looking for, rather than trying Yahoo or turning in half-quality work.

                Learning how to use databases through UNCW’s website is something completely new to me.  I agree with Bell’s article that these databases could definitely stand to be a little more user friendly like Google, yet I am sure they become easier to use with practice, just like anything else.   Now that I am about to graduate, looking back I feel that universities, teachers, and students could get a lot more out of their college experience (and beyond) if even some of this information about databases and online library catalogs was taught in a freshmen seminar or English class.  Even if teachers expected better information from us, like Bell suggested, instead of their only limit on information being to not use Wikipedia, would help motivate us to get better quality information.  The RedLighGreen project sounds hopeful, and although I am sure technology will eventually find a way to get better information to the public besides their current methods, I am enjoying learning about it now and only wish I knew sooner.