North Coast Connections

Happy Thanksgiving everyone !! I hope your holiday is calm, warm and delicious, and that you and your family enjoy the many bounties that we have. Since it tis the season, you're likely to receive electronic greetings ... but a little word to the wise about electronic greeting cards is in order. The short answer is if in doubt, don't open it.

There are some legitimate e-greeting card sources out there such as Blue Mountain, Hallmark, Yahoo Greetings and others. Increasingly, friend and relatives choose these virtual cards to commemorate birthdays, holidays, etc, so we're getting used to receiving and opening them.

However, don't be so quick to click ... look for a few telltale signs of danger. For instance, legitimate e-cards:

* come from the sender's email address, or at least name the sender in the email.

* come from a reputable source (Blue Mountain, etc).

... while evil e-cards that carry viruses:

* don't name who they are coming from, and just say "from a friend," or "from a family member."

* come from screwy, unfamiliar "companies," such as Friendgreetings, Friendcards, Cooldownloads, or Laughmail. Some of these rats actually send fake emails that look like they are coming from legitimate e-card vendors such as All-yours.net.

It is important that before you assume it's real, run your cursor over the "link" that is supposed to lead to your e-card. DON'T CLICK, but just read the address that appears at the bottom of your browser. If is says anything except what the text reads, they are trying to fool you into going somewhere else. If the address they are trying to send you to ends in an EXE, delete the email as fast as you can. EXE is executable code that will launch a virus or other malicious code.

Some of these e-creeps are even smarter ... they say to click on the link, but the link is not "live." The instructions say if the link doesn't work, copy the Web address, paste it into your browser and when you arrive enter some innocuous sounding phrase like "CLOUDS-IN-THE-SKY," which then leads to a malicious download.

Here are a few links to sites to help you identify malicious E-cards:

MacAfee, the anti-virus software provider

Hoax Slayer, a good reference site to spot hoaxes.

Ball State University warning to students

What's even more sad is that in 1999, hoaxes started circulating that legitimate e-card vendors such as Hallmark and Blue Mountain carried hidden viruses. These companies spend considerable resources trying to build public confidence in the safety of their products. Now, these companies appear to be the only safe ones from which to send or receive e-cards.

It is the season of Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men ... only not everyone will be sending you their good will. Armed with a few tips, you can enjoy electronic greeting cards to go along with your paper cards. Just trust but verify before automatically opening any e-card.

Chris Crawford
www.justiceserved.com

Posted by Chris Crawford at 12:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This entry falls into three categories: technology, compulsive behavior and excessive litigation. The technology is the BlackBerry or any portable communication device that allows you unfettered access to your email. The compulsive behavior is the always-connected fever that compels people to carry around these gadgets. Excessive litigation is the latest in not-my-fault lawsuits wherein employees are suing employers for addicting them to BlackBerry devices.

The source for this story is Sarah Gilbert, an author with Blogging Stocks who has an amusing and informative blog that tracks stock investments and ties them into common sense and truth-is-stranger-than-fiction stories. To be fair, some employers require staff to carry around cellphones and/or respond to email after working hours, but being tethered to the job 24/7/365 is only a prerequisite for emergency personnel such as firefighters, homicide detectives, trauma surgeons and Red Adair (the famous oil rig fire wizard), and even these folks get to unplug sometime. Nonetheless, some employees are suing because they are under the impression that they must be on call at all times no matter how absurd the circumstances may be.

As a technology guy, I carry around a laptop and cellphone when I travel but I have drawn the line by refusing to carry a BlackBerry-type device. It amuses me on the road to see adults furiously thumb-typing on these oversized phones trying to write and respond to email using wireless and cellphone connections. I fantasize that humans will soon evolve with oversized thumbs as a result of this ridiculous activity.

My 20-something nephew, Jerry, is a cellphone fanatic having started a cellphone sales company at a remarkably early age. Yet when he visits from Southern California, his phone will go off and he won't answer it. When I remarked about it he said that if the call is important, they'll leave a message and he'll get back to them at his convenience. Occasionally, he'll look at the caller ID and then decide whether to answer an incoming call. I found this to be a refreshing and levelheaded habit.

Some people get addicted to email and find themselves checking it every few minutes. I disabled my sound-alert for incoming email because I don't want to know every time a real or advertisement email arrives in my inbox, and it reduces the temptation to keep checking for updates. Similarly, I am slow to give out my cellphone number for fear that people will start calling me regularly. To me, it's for emergencies for my wife to get ahold of me, and for the convenience (and safety) of making outgoing calls. If I'm on a site visit, I'll give it to my clients so they can reach me for business communication.

So listen up ... these things are tools. They are supposed to work for you, not the other way around. Humans need to occasionally unplug and think. It's how we assimilate information and figure out its meaning. Don't get me wrong; I work very hard and too often I multitask instead of concentrating on one thing. However, I draw the line by occasionally going "off the air."

It's amazing ... the world still turns, problems get resolved and people figure things out without your help. It's not a bad thing. Try opting for quality communication instead of quantity. You and those around you will be happy you did.

Chris Crawford
www.justiceserved.com

Posted by Chris Crawford at 10:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

According to 1994 and 1996 studies by the Standish Group, the need for solid project management skills is the third leading cause of technology project meltdown, following lack of top management commitment and insufficient user input. The problem is so acute that 31% of all IT projects are canceled before completion and more than 1/2 end up costing and average of 89% more than projected. In order to survive and thrive in the bustling world of justice and technology consulting, I have made it a point to become project management savvy, and I even teach this discipline to justice professionals.

While project management as a discipline is borne from linear endeavors such as engineering, space exploration and construction, it is highly effective in managing softer processes that are less predictable and involve organizational change. In the former, managing materials, construction schedules and design tend to be rigid processes that lend themselves to structured management. In the latter, convincing stakeholders in an organization to change processes tends to be chaotic and less predictable. In these cases, project management becomes more of an exercise in "controlled agility," wherein a project manager is less wedded to a project plan and more reliant upon a project path.

Lately, when I teach courses on improving court caseflow management, I build in project management skill sets without labeling them as such. Group exercises include identification of stakeholders and risks, and developing a set of tasks to accomplish pre-determined objectives. In the end, participants leave the course with an understanding of the need to develop a communication plan, mitigate risk and assign tasks. These are all core project management activities.

Yet, when I needed to take a project management class I had to leave the area to attend a 3-day training session in the Bay area. Neither CR nor HSU offered stand-alone project management courses. In my view, project management skills are one of the core competencies that a successful workforce needs to compete in a global market. The good news is that several of our local high schools offer hands-on project management skills through the EAST programs. Even so, the curriculum doesn't necessarily focus on the discipline as envisioned by the Project Management Institute, the granddaddy of all PM resources that offers certification for project managers.

Who among us wouldn't benefit from the ability to focus tasks to high value outcomes? We all suffer to one degree to another from scattered priorities, chasing moving targets and lack of coordination. Project management has become one of the survival skills of the 21st century that all of us could use to become more productive. I know it has improved my work and home life.

Chris Crawford
www.justiceserved.com

Posted by Chris Crawford at 10:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

OK, here is a quick review of how web names are assigned ... the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a US based non-governmental organization, sets the rules and registers applications through third party providers such as Network Solutions, Register.com, and HUNDREDS of other vendors that can be found through http://www.internic.net/. Since the Web is worldwide, there have been problems of late figuring out what do with foreign language website name registrations that don't always use the A-F and numeric keyboard characters to spell out a name. According to ITpro, a British-based publication, apparently the ICANN and others are preparing to take the plunge into non-English Web names to satisfy an ever growing worldwide market.

I have worked a lot in Asia, especially in China, and I was amazed the first time I saw Chinese office workers using a QWERTY keyboard to type Chinese characters in a Word document. My next shock was using a Microsoft Windows computer at my work station that had a Chinese toggle to change the entire user interface into Chinese, including pull down menus, help functions and the Control Panel. If you were familiar with Microsoft, you just used the Chinese version and only toggled to English if you needed to find a particular file.

I don't see this concession by ICANN going so far as to include Chinese characters in Web names, but I do see the need for accents and foreign language symbols to be incorporated into Internet lexicology.

In California, the DMV took a long time to incorporate symbols into license plate numbers. Now hearts, hands, and other symbols are included in vanity plates, and law enforcement is able to trace these plates to their rightful owners. Similarly, why shouldn't someone using an accent grave or a tilde register a domain name?

If they follow through with this policy change, it will be a bold move by ICANN that has been criticized for being too American-centric in its administration. The Web is big enough for the world to play and prosper using its inter-connectivity to communicate and do business. The US will eventually be better off for the diversity.

Chris Crawford
www.justiceserved.com

Posted by Chris Crawford at 03:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)