Edupage, April 11, 2005

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Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2005 13:00:15 -0400
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Date:         Mon, 11 Apr 2005 15:28:21 -0600


TOP STORIES FOR MONDAY, APRIL 11, 2005
   Poking Holes in Microsoft's Grammar Checker
   Computer Application Grades Essays
   Program Teaches Hacking to Raise Awareness
   U. of Mississippi Web Page Showed Personal Data


POKING HOLES IN MICROSOFT'S GRAMMAR CHECKER
Sandeep Krishnamurthy, associate professor of marketing and e-commerce
at the University of Washington, is so incensed with the grammar
checker in Microsoft Word that he has taken to posting examples of what
he sees as the checker's failings on his Web site. He has also called
on Microsoft to improve the checker. Citing egregious grammar mistakes
that the tool does not question, Krishnamurthy said that although it
might be helpful for above-average writers, it actually impedes
below-average writers' efforts to improve their writing skill.
Krishnamurthy said Microsoft should modify the tool to allow users to
select the level of help they need, from basic to advanced. For its
part, Microsoft said in a statement that the tool is not intended to
find or identify all errors. Instead, it is designed "to catch the
kinds of errors that ordinary users make in normal writing situations."
Chronicle of Higher Education, 15 April 2005 (sub. req'd)
http://chronicle.com/prm/weekly/v51/i32/32a02902.htm

COMPUTER APPLICATION GRADES ESSAYS
A professor at the University of Missouri has developed a computer
application that grades papers and offers advice on writing. Ed Brent,
professor of sociology, created the application, called Qualrus, using
a $100,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. Qualrus
evaluates papers based on the structure of sentences and paragraphs and
on the flow of ideas. Instructors can specify which factors of an
assignment are most important, and Qualrus incorporates that
information into the scores it provides. Brent claims the application
improves students' papers and estimated that it saves him more than
200 hours of grading per semester. The tool has been approved for use
across the university, but so far Brent is the only instructor using
it. Brent is also looking for ways to distribute the tool to other
universities and to businesses.
CNET, 7 April 2005
http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-5659366.html

PROGRAM TEACHES HACKING TO RAISE AWARENESS
The University of La Salle in Barcelona has begun a program to raise
awareness of computer hacking and to teach teens how to protect
themselves. Sponsored by the Institute for Security and Open
Methodologies (ISECOM), the Hacker High School invites students from
local high schools to the La Salle campus to expose them to the ins and
outs of hacking. Pete Herzog, managing director of ISECOM, said the
program shows participants how computer hacking is accomplished so that
they can understand the concepts behind what computers do, how to clean
them, how applications can compromise computers, and the implications
for personal privacy. According to one official from the program, the
goal is to provide experiences for students to learn how hacking
happens so that they will become "ethical hackers, good hackers,
knowing what they do and what the limits are." School officials believe
having skills as an ethical hacker could be beneficial when students go
looking for jobs later.
BBC, 8 April 2005
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/4423351.stm

U. OF MISSISSIPPI WEB PAGE SHOWED PERSONAL DATA
Officials at the University of Mississippi have removed files from
their servers that included names and Social Security numbers for about
700 students after being notified that the files were available to
anyone on the Web. The files were not linked from other pages, but they
had been indexed by search engines. As a result, an individual
identified only as Jay who was searching the Web for an old friend
stumbled on the files. According to Jeff Alford, assistant vice
chancellor for university relations, the files were posted by someone
who no longer works for the university. That person likely posted them
in late 2003, but university officials are not sure why he did so. "For
some reason, he saved the information as a backup file on the
university (Web) server," said Alford. "It is a clear violation of our
privacy policy, and a serious violation."
MSNBC, 6 April 2005
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7407401/

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Edupage, April 11, 2005

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