Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Do you work harder when someone is watching? Ethics & Issues 11-1

I think people do word harder when someone is watching because they are afraid to mess up or get out of line (such as a work setting). The Hawthorne Effect explains this thoroughly. With the conduction of the Hawthorne Effect, people worked harder while being watched. This observation may not be very ethical, but I think it depends on how the people are being observed. If your boss is hanging around watching you work, as long as its not for hours at a time, I don't see a problem with. On the other hand, someone watching you on a camera may be an invasion of privacy. If productivity increases during observation, it may be a good data gathering system because then everyone is doing their job and doing it well.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Search Sleuth

Using Google, I found the answers to these questions: Which five words are among the most commonly used passwords? The top five passwords are '123456', '12345', '123456789', 'Password', and 'iloveyou'. (Found here)

What do e-mail messages with the subject lines "Sending You All My Love", "Laughing Kitty", and "You've Received a Postcard from a Family Member" all have in common? These subject lines for e-mails probably all contain a virus. (Found here)

T'ai chi, yoga, and the Alexander technique might offer some relief to computer users suffering from which injury? These three remedies can offer relief to computer users who suffer from repetitive strain injuries. (Found here)

For which purpose is a gas discharge arrestor used? Gas discharge arrestors are used to 'provide protection against voltage and current surges in electronic and electrical equipment'. (Found here)

How many computers in the business world have antivirus software that has been disabled or never was installed propoerly? I couldn't find an exact answer for this, but I found that a new virus has already disabled 8.9 million computers, which probably means more computers are becoming diabled everyday. (Found here)