Additional Assignment #1

I have just been introduced to Google Squared and Wolfram Alpha which have dramatically changed the way I have understood the future of fact checking and the use of statistics to sway opinions. I wish I had known about WolframAlpha previous to my earlier blogs. I was using such inaccurate sites as Wiki facts to get statistics and perspective. WolframAlpha is so much easier and accurate than any other search engines. I previously stated in my blog about Gary Hayes Social Media count that 307,006,550 people lived in the U.S. to find that it is 312 million more like. I am ashamed to say that even I have been involved in misinformation. After comparing statistics and numbers from the video “Did You Know” I realized how easily statistics can be misused. It is always important to consider the facts relevant to the context. Sites like Google Squared and WolframAlpha are there to help students and researchers understand proper prospective when understanding statistics. I learned that statistics can be used to manipulate the truth. I also learned that I will be frightfully more aware as to the facts I share and may even site everything I say that is outside my own opinion.
WolframAlpha and Google Squared are two resources that can be used in the classroom to help shed perspective and check facts. The education implications for such easy to use computation knowledge sites are endless. WolframAlpha has the ability to solve any complex formula and compare information. This can be a continuously useful tool that students and researchers can use to categorize, compare and in turn understand the world better.


Food For Thought- “The Stable Boy and the Ipad”

This article is the story of how even an illiterate 6 year old boy could use an ipad without instruction. I have an ipad and so does my father and grandfather. We have all found that the touch screen interactive quality of the ipad is the most natural and effective tool. It is exciting to think of the future world we will live in when I think of technology like the ipad. It is universally understood like a natural sign language we were all born with the ability to speak. I only wish that we lived in a world where this kind of technology was assessable to all.