Tsikbal: from my perspective

As the 2012 comes to a close, we have a new year full of promise with 2013. There many projects that hold great promise, and some treats that hover over the horizon that can still be avoided. Then again, I hope that people will come together to make the world a far better place than it is today. Building such a place is everyones responsibility, and a choice that we all have to take. In many ways, computer and information technology can help us to bring the better world we want to fruition. We must understand that all technology is just a tool, and as such all the results that comes from the usage will depend entirely from the users. Now more than ever, we have a better chance to build a better world together. The people have at their disposal more power than ever before, and we only have to make use of it to build the better world together. We need to make take it on to ourselves to build that world. At the end, we have to do our best with the tools at our disposal. A...

While there is some truth that technology can be dehumanizing, the opposite can be also true. All depends on the use we give technology, is the people who decide how and what use to give the technology they use. If we give priority to use the technology that bring us together, the end result will be that technology will enable a closer and united communities. Yet, there is a need to understand that unless we use technology that way it won't help us to construct such communities. We get out of the technology we use, whatever we put into it. Blaming technology about how people being individualistic, or not caring about others, is shortsighted. The people use technology that way because it makes it easier for them to be like that, not because it turned into that. Shunning human interaction in many cases is a question of choice, that technology facilitates taking into action. Instead of concentrating on technology, lets also work on the people so that they have the tools t...

It's sad and angering how our data is handled by social media, and other sites, on the Internet. Most of those companies are interested on monetize our data, with no interest on our privacy or what how we want our data to be handled. There is a real need to be on the lookout in order to protect our data and privacy, if we don't do so companies have enough incentives to use our data in violation of our privacy to make money. What's worse, they will be making money with our data not only without consent while not having to share their earnings with the people who's data belongs to. The tools to control the privacy levels should be clearly visible, and easy to use, in every site that handles private data. That data should always be owned by the people, and no company has any right to use it without permission by the users. In many ways, the Internet is a platform that helps people to come together to interact. These makes the Internet a public forum that belon...

Open and free file formats are something that's sourly missing on our digital lives. Most of the file formats used on the most popular software are neither free nor open, which ties the fate of our file to the fate of whoever owns the format used to format our files. There is no underestimating the dangers of depending on closed non-free file formats, since using we depend on what the owners of the format gives to us and it's continued existence. If the owner of the format goes down, and no one else picks it up, unless people can change the format of their files to another they will those all the data stored using that format. Not only that, closed non-free formats are an effective tool to lock people to a particular software, and also to regulate what content users can have. In effect, it's a way to take away control of their files from the users. Open and free file format are just the opposite, they give the user the real choice of software to use. Users can ...

It's a shame that many companies don't really know how to use the power of social networking sites, specially small to medium sized ones. People seem to have a better understanding on how these sites can help them to influence companies, at times with great success. Social networking sites are a great place not for companies not just giving information to their costumers, but to actually strike a relationship with them that generates loyalty to the company. In many ways, companies need to understand that social networking is about making a connection with the people that use, or buy, what they offer. Plain all information can be found in others ways a lot easier, social networking sites give users the chance to know more about the company they like in ways that other media can't. In many ways is about giving people a way to contact companies in a more personal way, making it a more emotional for the user. Unlike other ways that users interact with a company, li...

I find it rather irksome, not to say almost unethical, for tech companies to corral users to their platforms. To make matters worse, in some cases they seem to make their devices as incompatible to others as they can just to make it close to impossible for their users to leave the ecosystem the company created for them. As users, we are better served by having products built around a single, and open, standard. This way we can have the freedom to move to another companies products if we choose to do so, while not having to worry if what we have will work on those other products. We have the right to use whatever products we want, and companies have no right to lock us to their devices. When it comes to competing standards, users must have a bigger say on on which one they prefer. Once the standard becomes the reference point, it should be open and free for all to use. Standards shouldn't be used as a tool to keep competition out, and users locked in whatever walled garden ...

The Internet must remain neutral, no government or central organism should have control over all of or any part of it. At most, bodies should be set up to add and maintain standards that run the Internet, not what to regulate the Internet itself. With the Internet becoming an integral part of our daily lives, there is a real need to keep it neutral so we all can make use of it as we need to. Just as city streets, and other public infrastructure, where only basic standards are placed to make use of them, so that everyone that needs to can make use of them freely with no discrimination other that not engaging on illegal activities. The only part that needs some kind of regulation on the Internet, are the standards on which it runs. Those standards should be open for all, built and maintained on a transparent way so that any one interested in studying them, or making a contribution, can do so without any impediment. Most importantly, those standards should be freely available...

It's sad to see that the current state of the technology field tends to be pro business, not pro users. The users are losing ground, giving up their freedom to use their devices as best they seem. In many cases, companies still own the devices we buy. Companies have a lot of say on how we can use our devices, and what we can run on them, in many cases having the right to punish users that don't use their devices as envisioned by the company who made it. Even though illegal behavior must be punished, taking users rights over their devices can't be approved or done in name of cracking on such behavior. User should be able to modify their own devices as they want, and to share how to make such modifications, freely while they are not engaging in any illegal activity. The problem is that, in several cases, innocent people are being punished because of behavior that isn't illegal. They only engaged on activities that weren't approved by the big businesses, y...

It's interesting to see how many people don't really understand that the results given back by any software, are only as good as the data entered into it to compute. In many cases the problem is not the software itself, but how people chooses the data to work with. No matter how good the software is, if the right data sets aren't selected to begin with the results are just not going to be the ones expected. It's important to understand what data sets are meaningful to your problem, in order to make sure that those are the ones that are picked up. If not, all the hard work will be for nothing. The problem that's being targeted needs to be correctly stated, so that the right parameters to be measured and the right data is collected to be studied. Armed with that information, the software can be better selected to the problems needed to be solved. I've seen a lot of times, how a great piece of software selected to be used in a way it wasn't intende...

We are at a point in human history, where modern computer technology can empower people in ways never imagined. The advent of laptops, tablets and smartphones, have fundamentally changed how people can access information and the way they share it with each other. When we add the Internet into the mix, we have a platform where people from around can have a common place to come to access and share all that interested in. Now people have a real chance to go to the source of the information, and have a better chance to get it without filters applied to it. Not only that, that information can be verified and compared among several portals. Add that it can be shared in an instant with family and friends, it becomes harder to try to hide things from the people. People are getting more control over how the information flows, with who they share it with, and the time and place they access it. We need to keep our ability to do so intact, since the control over it means that we can also ...

As with many other things, I want a clean and minimalist design on my software. I don't want any other than the necessary at hand, so I can concentrate at the task I'm working on. Yet, I've found that designing anything to be like this is a hard feat to get correctly. It's incredibly easy to over or under do it, for the have the right tools at hand while arranging them just the right way. Not only that, it irks me when I'm not allowed to take features in or out so I can get it to be as I want it to be. I can understand that any software comes with the features most uses as default. In any case, the user needs to be able to make any change to the configuration to make it work better for him or her. Making the design clean and minimalist doesn't equate to taking away functionalities, it just means that there is a need to better need to understand how those functionalities are used. This way they can be better placed, so that those most commonly used c...

It's interesting to see how traditional media tries to control how information flows, trying to control the perception, only to be foiled by how people share events among themselves. The thing is, that many times the information gets distorted too by the people. Not that many people wants to distorted, but it gets distorted because it loses context. Mainly because people tends to focus on a single part of the information, losing the context that brings knowing the background on which events are happening. At the end, we need to get our information from both traditional outlets and from social media. The traditional outlets are useful to get the big picture, to get the context surrounding the story we are interested in. From the social media we can get a better sense on how people that are directly affected, or involved, by the issue think and feel about what's happening. In a way traditional media gives us the context, and social media gives us the finer details to...

It bothers me than more often than not, women are either under or miss represented in science and technology. The same thing could be argued on the geek culture at large. There is the perception that women that have a keen on interest on science and technology aren't all that feminine at all. Like if femininity and these fields are mutually excluded. Almost always women that have a strong interest, or good, on these fields are portrayed as socially awkward or not even remotely feminine. To make things works, the ones who are feminine or attractive are there there to take advantage of the geeky men that have no defense from their charms. At times woman are totally dependent on the technical abilities, or knowledge, of a man to save the day. We need to change this perception, since it's costing society to lose a large number of women that have the interest to be on working on science and technology that get deterred because of that those aren't places for women. ...

It's sad to see social media used to attack and insult opponents, widening divides while making anger make any mutually beneficial resolution less likely. Now more than ever, we need to take social media not only as a tool to share what we think and what we care with those we care or agree with. Social media is also a tool that needs to be used to engage in true debate with those who oppose, or not share, our views. Only by doing both, communicating with those that agree and with those who disagree with us, can social media can become the powerful tool needed to build a better world. Social media isn't here to end disagreements, or to widen the divides that already exist. Social media is here so that we can actually work together to take the common goals we all have, so that we can build a better world where all our views are represented. In many ways, social media is a way to give people a way to make their views and opinions known. With the help of social media, ...