Special Section

TECHNOLOGY ISSUE GENERATIONAL SHIFT WITH TECHNOLOGY THE HARBINGER TAKES A LOOK AT THE

LOOKING BEHIND THE SCREEN

The effects of social media on the relationships and self-image of high school students

TECH INNOVATIONS | 4/5

STORY ON PAGE 2

NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURE | 7

Throughout the special section, find tech statistics at the bottom of every page

*statistics courtesy of www.statisticbrain.com

*TALKING TWITTER 135,000 new users sign up every day | there are 58 million tweets per day | 1 billion tweets are generated in 5 days

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TECH EDITION

SOCIAL BREAKDOWN Students experience psychological changes due to the rising usage of social media

WRITTEN BY SOPHIE TULP PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ANNIE SAVAGE Relaxing in her living room, senior Danya Issawi sits PJ-clad on her couch for a night at home. The show “Revenge” streams from Netflix on the Mac in her lap. Looking away from the screen, she focuses her attention to the iPhone at her side. She opens Instagram and Twitter, then finally looks at the long queue of Snapchat stories with pictures of friends holding solo cups, dressed in party clothes. She told her friends she needed a calm night at home, and now she flickers between feeling relieved she’s not there, and regretting it. Issawi, and many other East students, call this feeling the “Fear of Missing Out” or “FOMO,” a comical nickname tied to what experts say is an emerging issue in this generation’s culture. The nickname is a label for feelings of anxiety, dependency and overall negative mental health changes. These health effects stem from the all-pervasive nature of technology, causing youth to feel hyper-conscious of what is going on around them. “Sometimes you just want to stay home, but at the same time your friends are going out to do something, and you know that you are going to see it on social media later and you don’t want to be the person that isn’t there,” Issawi said. “And for some reason its almost like -- not exactly addictive -- but you feed off of it, and the fact that you are going to be missing out on something, so you can’t miss out on it.” Dr. Ashley Smith, clinical psychologist

and researcher of anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorders at the Kansas City Center for Anxiety Treatment, believes there is a correlation between the growing amounts of anxiety disorders and the amount of technology youth are exposed to. She sees the increase of stress in many of her patients lives from constantly feeling the pressure to respond to texts, browse social media and put forth a certain image of themselves. In turn, studies show this chronic social media usage to be affecting sleep patterns, relationships between people and overall mental well-being. Sociology and AP American History teacher Vicki Arndt-Helgeson agrees with Dr. Smith that not only is technology affecting health, but it is changing the very fabric of our society, and the way people function. “Part of being a teenager is that you are learning how to navigate the social world,” Dr. Smith said. “Now you have this whole virtual world too and it can be confusing to not know how to handle it. Specifically, with things like “likes” and “retweets,” it can be validating. You are getting instant gratification, but what happens then if you don’t get it? It can set you up for a feeling of non-acceptance or breed this pressure for ‘I must always post bigger and better.’ Then its a question of if you are being authentic or not.” A group of six East students were selected from each grade level to take part in a group discussion about how technology influences their peer interactions and mental

health. All six students involved in the discussion sleep with their phones by their bedside, and even wake up to respond or check texts on occasion. Additionally, they compared the amount of time spent on their phones nightly. Freshman Tommy Hise said he spends up to two hours a night before bed combing through posts. Sophomore Molly Manske said that all the time she spent on social media made it easier for her to procrastinate and slack on homework. All the students during the discussion shared the view that social media seemed to be controlling them, more than they were controlling the devices at their fingertips. Arndt-Helgesen, having taught at East for over 20 years has seen the evolution of social media and its effects on students and relationships in a classroom setting. She sees the compulsion of technology for students. She watches them constantly check their phones, or keep them on their desk during the hour. Many students, she says, even “cradle” their smartphones in their hands during the lesson, unable to disconnect from it. “I take a look at class discussions and sometimes there’s that reluctance of exploring ideas with other people...partly [because of] short, quick text messages, we never have to really interact,” Arndt-Helgesen said about changes she has observed in the classroom. “I think the question we should be asking is ‘to what extent do we make decisions, and to what extent does the internet define

that.’ We know it will shape behaviors, but what are the ways we end up responding to it.” Ultimately, Arndt-Helgesen, Dr. Smith and the students that participated in the discussion all agree that while we have the potential to shape the internet, it is up to us to decide how we will shape it, or continue to let it shape our health and behaviors. Issawi calls it a “double edged sword,” because even though she and junior Mackenzie Hanna agree that social media has had negative influences on their attitudes, they say it has also opened up the door to more awareness of global issues and positive trends. Both say they spend a lot of time reading blogs they find on Facebook and Twitter about current events and positive lifestyle choices, like health and fitness blogs. But even with the positives of social media communication, they both still say they struggle with balancing their usage of technology in an ever-evolving world, making it hard to know how much connection is too much. “I think everyone agrees that social media can be unhealthy, but we don’t change anything,” Hanna said. “It’s just kind of like the thought of ‘this is how it is.’ I think everyone agrees that it’s not good for our health or self esteem, but we still do it, like after this conversation I am still going to check Instagram and Twitter, but I know we need to get better about it.”

*statistics are courtesy of http://mashable.com/2014/03/25/instagram-200-million-users/

*TALKING INSTAGRAM There are 200 million monthly users | 20 billion photos have been uploaded | The app sold for $735 million

teaching “ with tech The United States educational system embraces the changes that comes with integrating technology into the classroom WRITTEN BY KATIE KNIGHT Creating videos via iMovie for a history project. Studying atomic arrangement from a magnified model printed by a 3D printer. Having access to information from around the world in a split second. These types of innovations in the classroom have let schools nationwide to drift away from the traditional classroom setting. Digital Promise Communication Director Jason Tomassini describes that as “a teacher at the front of the room delivering information to a bunch of students.” Now that technology is being added into the picture, he thinks education is changing significantly — and for the better. “Whether or not the lessons that [students are] learning are fundamentally different or hugely radical because of technology, at the very least, kids are more interested in the work because they’re able to do it in a format that’s really comfortable for them.” Tomassini said. Another advantage that Tomassini sees in this educational technology movement is catering to each individual student. Rather than having a teacher create a lesson in hopes of reaching as many students as they can, now they can individualize each student’s learning to their own needs. “The next big benefit would be that [learning is] much more personalized,” Tomassini said. “Students have a chance to work on their own and work in programs that can cater the lesson to what their needs and their interests are.” Having tools like laptops and iPads, or even smart phones, allow students to have access to programs for specific subjects that interest them, such as apps and websites. Tomassini and superintendent Dr. Jim Hinson agree that technology also has the potential to create more flexibility for students’ schedules. On the extreme side, Tomassini sees the potential for cutting down hours that students spend in the actual classroom due to the growing popularity of selfpaced education. Lindsey Tepe of the New American Foundation -- a nonprofit organization that works on global issues like the environment, technology, education, etc. -- thinks that innovating technology into the classroom opens up opportunities for all different types of learners. For example, now that college professors are able to record lectures and put them online, so that visual learners have a chance to review those lectures and observe their professor more closely. The use of 3D printing would appeal to kinesthetic learners, or students that learn the most when they are able to do hands-on activities. “I think what we know for certain is that different ways of learning make sense to different people,” Tepe said. “I think what we’re seeing is these new technologies enabling all people, all different types of learners, to absorb information and content in different ways that are maybe more impactful for some than others.” According to Tomassini, it’s possible that teachers are going to be somewhat overwhelmed at first as they initially make the transition and learn to use the equipment. How-

*ADVANCING EDUCATION

TECH EDITION

How is it going to work? What if the students come to class without the technology charged? What if the network is down? What if a student doesn’t have access to things at home or outside of school like we tell them to go home and do research and they don’t have internet, wireless access? math teacher

“

Hannah Pence

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I think the biggest issue/downfall will be the overall management of 2,000 different devices between teachers and students. associate principal

THE OLD vs THE NEW

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Jeremy Higgins

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There’s going to be that balance of how the technology really enhances the classroom but not forgot that part that kids have different styles of learning. Some students are going to learn through hands on or through movements, some kids are more oral rather than visual learners. Spanish teacher

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Technology creates an active role for students rather than the passive role of recipient of information by a teacher or textbook. The student is making choices about how to generate, obtain, manipulate or display information. It allows students to be actively thinking about information, making choices and executing skills than is typical in teacher-led lessons. courtesy oF

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ed.gov

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Linda Sieck

Not every school has the resources and budget to send its students on field trips related to the course of study. Students can now use the internet to virtually attend Web seminars put on by museums and other educational institutions. NASA, for instance, offers a program that allows students to talk to astronauts in space. courtesy of

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smallbussniess.chrom.com

ever, he and Hinson agree that this technology has the potential to make teachers’ lives easier. “I think [teachers] probably will [ease into this] far better than we anticipate,” Hinson said. “There will always be some level of nervousness because people are at different levels of experience. But those that aren’t comfortable with technology have just said ‘OK, teach me. What do I need to know? Help me do this.’” English and history teacher Robert Bickers sees only benefits with this futuristic educational system. For years he has wanted to teach certain lessons that require technological tools, but hasn’t had the means to do so from a technology standpoint. “To say I’m excited is a bit of an understatement,” Bickers said. “I love the idea of every student constantly having access to information and knowledge. Outside of testing, that’s never a bad thing.” Being able to communicate this knowledge is something Hinson considers vital to the success of SMSD students. Using tools like Google Drive and Apple TV in addition to having constant access to email, Hinson says, will make all of this communication possible. “I think the thing for us is the access to the the knowledge and the information around the world,” Hinson said. “Technology enables people to share their learning experiences, ideas and creativity with other people, and they can do that instantaneously...So communication is greatly enhanced, access to that knowledge is greatly enhanced, but the ability of other people to learn from you around the world, that exists in technology.” While Tomassini clearly sees what he thinks are benefits of integrating technology into the classroom, he still sees the risks that come along with it. He worries that, if not implemented correctly, technology could be used as a crutch

rather than a tool in the classroom. “I think we’re only losing something if people cease to think outside the box in how this can actually transform learning, as opposed to just focusing on doing what we’ve been doing for so long...so I think it’s still something where teachers need to be put in the best position to use [technology] in the best ways possible. And if not, then we’ll still have a bunch of the same issues we had before.” Chemistry teacher Steven Appier worries mostly about how the new technology being brought into the district will work with the applications the Chemistry department already has. Another worry of his is the challenge of working out calculations on a computer rather than with paper and pencil. His biggest concern, however, is what he considers the less-valuable experience that comes from simulated labs rather than ones done in actuality. “In some ways, technology can be very good,” Appier said. “I’m just not sure it’ll be the benefit everyone thinks.” Bickers considers himself “blissfully ignorant” of any significant issues that could come from integrating technology into the classroom. However, the potential for distraction is a less significant issue he sees as a possibility. At the same time, Bickers believes in letting students mature, which he believes wouldn’t happen if teachers held their students’ hands and had tight restrictive rules for their devices. “My hope is that we will see [technology] as an expansion tool, but not seen as a panacea, not seen as the solution,” Bickers said. “Just handing someone technology doesn’t fix anything...So my hope is that its use explodes as a tool; my fear is that its use explodes as a crutch...that should never be the case. Teaching is still teaching -- it just changes the nature of it a little bit.”

97 % of U.S. schools have internet connection, but far fewer have met the needs for higher speed | stats courtesy of EdWeek

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TECH EDITION

3D PRINTER

Despite skepticism, 3D printing is no longer a thing of science fiction. Not only do these printers print a huge range of plastic objects, different printers can print food and even bioprint organs and tissue. Within the past year, 3D printers have become more and more available and affordable to the public. Not only have they reduced from the size of fridges to microwaves, the prices have drastically reduced in the past five years. A 3D printer company, Makerbot, has developed a wide variety of printers to fit consumers’ needs since they were founded in 2009. Makerbot’s Replicator Mini starts at $1,375 and their Replicator Z18 is $6,499. What you can create is only limited to the size of your printer and amount of polymer material you have. The printed product is first designed in a virtual 3D computer program. If you purchase a digitizer, you can scan any object (fitting size requirements) and put it in the computer program. The program then sends your design to the printer. Special 3D printers have been used to print different organs using the patient’s own cells, which means they don’t have to be on an organ donor waiting list. Amputees can have custom designed and fitted prosthetics which can be resized and reprinted. Two men, equipped with just a Makerbot Replicator 2, formed Robohand, which is a company that provides custom prosthetics that move along with the body’s muscles. The creators, after taking all the right measurements, design and print personalized parts for each amputee, which are assembled together to make the perfect fit. Robohand has made over 200 arms, legs and fingers to various amputees who have reached out to them. Robohand is just one example of what the general public will be able to do once they get ahold of 3D printers. The rapid spread of ideas will be catalyzed through 100 percent free websites like Thingiverse.com. Thingiverse allows people to share and download 3D designs into one’s own 3D software program. With 3D printers becoming more user friendly, websites like Thingiverse spreading 3D designs and the steadily decreasing prices of the printers themselves, 3D printers are likely to become more common in businesses and households.

NEW TECHN OLOG Y TECH EDITION

DRONE

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, otherwise known as drones or UAVs, have been used more and more in the past decade. The military has been using plane like drones for surveillance and as weapons, but major companies and even the general public have recently been contemplating about what drones could do for them. Companies that solely make recreational drones, like DJI Innovations, are currently selling various types of drones. These drones aren’t the plane-looking drones seen on the news, they’re mostly “quadcopters”, which look like a helicopter with four propellers. These $100-$500 microwavesized drones can have GPS systems and can be equipped with GoPros. Video recording from an unmanned aircraft is appealing to videographers because of their ability to film from many aerial angles. Cameramen for the Sochi Olympics used video drones to record snowboarding events. Some companies, like Amazon, see great potential in drones. Recently, Amazon has revealed a soon-to-come service, Prime-Air, that allows ultra-fast shipping via drones that are sent out from nearby Amazon warehouses. Not only do they expect it to be a time convenience to the customer, but could save Amazon money. After all, you don’t have to pay a robot. Yet, there is a reason Amazon has only revealed and not began its drone delivery system. Not only are they still working on improving their delivery drone prototypes, they’re waiting on the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) to create rules and regulations for unmanned aircraft. Within the next few years, the FAA will have created extensive legal regulations on drones, for reasons, such as the challenges pilots will run in to as a result of not actually being on the plane. The FAA, with its Unmanned Aircraft Systems road map will address current and future policies of drones. The process should become more efficient as UAS experience is gained and data analysis proves safety cases more quickly. It states,“The process should become more efficient as UAS experience is gained and data analysis proves safety cases more quickly.” Not only will this bring drones to the public’s attention, but will also allow companies to progress faster and further, knowing their limits on what they can do with drones.

A loo

k at s

GOOGLE GLASS

As of right now, the widely-recognized concept technology by Google, “Glass”, is not easily found. These eyeglass computers, mainly voicecontrolled, are one of Google’s most recent projects. The prototype looks like frameless glasses and has a small glass square and camera on one side. When Glass hits the public market, expected sometime in the next year, they could spur new ways people use and interact with technology. The public could go from being glued to their iPhone screens to having a computer in front of them as often as they wear the glasses. When the first smartphones were released, like the first Apple iPhone in 2007, had a maximum of 16GB storage and only could connect to wifi. In 7 years, the iPhone 5S was released with 64GB and can run on 4G internet. This goes to show that though some may be skeptical of the first generations of Google Glass, if the public is interested enough in them, they will improve. Google Glass is being advertised as being fun, and having unique uses. Not only will the camera be readily available at all times, alwaysactive voice commands will allow for simple interaction with its applications. Glass will offer programs like voice calling, navigation and access to most of Google searching. While some critics see Google Glass as too much of an intrusion into a person’s life, it’s almost inevitable that wearable technology will become a standard in the future.

ome

of the

newe

*statistics are courtesy of zeroblock, blockchain.info and coindesk.com

google.com | $1,500 WRITTEN BY TOMMY SHERK ART BY MORGAN TWIBELL

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Pebble SmartWatch get texts, notifications, use it as an alarm, make it a fashion statement, it’s even waterproof getpebble.com $150

Pebble App Store Kickstarter.com

kickstarter is a site where creative projects can be funded and developed

create your own beats by using your keyboard, each key has a different animation on the screen to resemble the beat

bhphotovideo.com | $479

-tech

-Y H C in

patatap.com

makerbot.com | $2,199

st hig h

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gives you the ability to be updated on sports, have your favorite music, or any app you can think of without having to be on your phone

MakerBot’s Thingiverse

a community for finding, making and sharing 3D printable items

0 4

TECH EDITION

3D PRINTER

Despite skepticism, 3D printing is no longer a thing of science fiction. Not only do these printers print a huge range of plastic objects, different printers can print food and even bioprint organs and tissue. Within the past year, 3D printers have become more and more available and affordable to the public. Not only have they reduced from the size of fridges to microwaves, the prices have drastically reduced in the past five years. A 3D printer company, Makerbot, has developed a wide variety of printers to fit consumers’ needs since they were founded in 2009. Makerbot’s Replicator Mini starts at $1,375 and their Replicator Z18 is $6,499. What you can create is only limited to the size of your printer and amount of polymer material you have. The printed product is first designed in a virtual 3D computer program. If you purchase a digitizer, you can scan any object (fitting size requirements) and put it in the computer program. The program then sends your design to the printer. Special 3D printers have been used to print different organs using the patient’s own cells, which means they don’t have to be on an organ donor waiting list. Amputees can have custom designed and fitted prosthetics which can be resized and reprinted. Two men, equipped with just a Makerbot Replicator 2, formed Robohand, which is a company that provides custom prosthetics that move along with the body’s muscles. The creators, after taking all the right measurements, design and print personalized parts for each amputee, which are assembled together to make the perfect fit. Robohand has made over 200 arms, legs and fingers to various amputees who have reached out to them. Robohand is just one example of what the general public will be able to do once they get ahold of 3D printers. The rapid spread of ideas will be catalyzed through 100 percent free websites like Thingiverse.com. Thingiverse allows people to share and download 3D designs into one’s own 3D software program. With 3D printers becoming more user friendly, websites like Thingiverse spreading 3D designs and the steadily decreasing prices of the printers themselves, 3D printers are likely to become more common in businesses and households.

NEW TECHN OLOG Y TECH EDITION

DRONE

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, otherwise known as drones or UAVs, have been used more and more in the past decade. The military has been using plane like drones for surveillance and as weapons, but major companies and even the general public have recently been contemplating about what drones could do for them. Companies that solely make recreational drones, like DJI Innovations, are currently selling various types of drones. These drones aren’t the plane-looking drones seen on the news, they’re mostly “quadcopters”, which look like a helicopter with four propellers. These $100-$500 microwavesized drones can have GPS systems and can be equipped with GoPros. Video recording from an unmanned aircraft is appealing to videographers because of their ability to film from many aerial angles. Cameramen for the Sochi Olympics used video drones to record snowboarding events. Some companies, like Amazon, see great potential in drones. Recently, Amazon has revealed a soon-to-come service, Prime-Air, that allows ultra-fast shipping via drones that are sent out from nearby Amazon warehouses. Not only do they expect it to be a time convenience to the customer, but could save Amazon money. After all, you don’t have to pay a robot. Yet, there is a reason Amazon has only revealed and not began its drone delivery system. Not only are they still working on improving their delivery drone prototypes, they’re waiting on the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) to create rules and regulations for unmanned aircraft. Within the next few years, the FAA will have created extensive legal regulations on drones, for reasons, such as the challenges pilots will run in to as a result of not actually being on the plane. The FAA, with its Unmanned Aircraft Systems road map will address current and future policies of drones. The process should become more efficient as UAS experience is gained and data analysis proves safety cases more quickly. It states,“The process should become more efficient as UAS experience is gained and data analysis proves safety cases more quickly.” Not only will this bring drones to the public’s attention, but will also allow companies to progress faster and further, knowing their limits on what they can do with drones.

A loo

k at s

GOOGLE GLASS

As of right now, the widely-recognized concept technology by Google, “Glass”, is not easily found. These eyeglass computers, mainly voicecontrolled, are one of Google’s most recent projects. The prototype looks like frameless glasses and has a small glass square and camera on one side. When Glass hits the public market, expected sometime in the next year, they could spur new ways people use and interact with technology. The public could go from being glued to their iPhone screens to having a computer in front of them as often as they wear the glasses. When the first smartphones were released, like the first Apple iPhone in 2007, had a maximum of 16GB storage and only could connect to wifi. In 7 years, the iPhone 5S was released with 64GB and can run on 4G internet. This goes to show that though some may be skeptical of the first generations of Google Glass, if the public is interested enough in them, they will improve. Google Glass is being advertised as being fun, and having unique uses. Not only will the camera be readily available at all times, alwaysactive voice commands will allow for simple interaction with its applications. Glass will offer programs like voice calling, navigation and access to most of Google searching. While some critics see Google Glass as too much of an intrusion into a person’s life, it’s almost inevitable that wearable technology will become a standard in the future.

ome

of the

newe

*statistics are courtesy of zeroblock, blockchain.info and coindesk.com

google.com | $1,500 WRITTEN BY TOMMY SHERK ART BY MORGAN TWIBELL

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E r handt the T s pe ou web

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a ld y o h wor olog H t C ant h hn W tec t tec e th ttes ho

Pebble SmartWatch get texts, notifications, use it as an alarm, make it a fashion statement, it’s even waterproof getpebble.com $150

Pebble App Store Kickstarter.com

kickstarter is a site where creative projects can be funded and developed

create your own beats by using your keyboard, each key has a different animation on the screen to resemble the beat

bhphotovideo.com | $479

-tech

-Y H C in

patatap.com

makerbot.com | $2,199

st hig h

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gives you the ability to be updated on sports, have your favorite music, or any app you can think of without having to be on your phone

MakerBot’s Thingiverse

a community for finding, making and sharing 3D printable items

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TECH EDITION

f

Presbyterian

BORN ON:

trjohnson@gmail.com

f

religious views:

November 23 1997

8300 W. Grand St. Leawood, KS 66206

internet inquiries

WRITTEN BY MORGAN KRAKOW PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY MCKENZIE SWANSON

In the age of technology, colleges have turned to different and less traditional ways to evaluate prospective students. Looking to social media, colleges have started viewing Facebook and Twitter profiles of applicants in addition to the regular essays and letters of recommendation submitted by the student. While the practice is not widespread, changes are occurring in how students present themselves online. Young people have more often started living their lives on the Internet and thus colleges see it as another way to view an applicant. Critics of the practice believe students should only be judged on their academic portfolios and that this is an invasion of privacy. Proponents see it as a way to fill in gaps and questions in a prospective student’s application. Last year, current University of British Columbia freshman and former East student Gabby Magalski was in the middle of the college admissions process when she witnessed a certain trend among her friends -- they had begun to partially change their Facebook names. Knowing that a college could easily type their names into the popular social networking site and be able to view their out of school moments, like ones at parties, many wanted to remain anonymous. By turning last names into middle names, seniors were attempting to make their social media presence harder to detect by college admission officials. Magalski, although unafraid of her own posts, also decided to change her name for fear of misinterpretation. “In reality I personally don’t think it would reflect poorly on me because I don’t have bad pictures,” Magalski said. “I guess I figured it would be easier to just not have them be able to find me in case they did dislike one of my pictures.” East counselor Don Baker said that it

is not uncommon for admissions offices to snoop around the Internet to see how students may present themselves online. If two prospective students are being compared, the college might choose the one with the more responsible social media presence. Photos of students consuming alcohol or posts that inflict cyber bullying, Baker said, shows a student that is less responsible. “If you’re applying for something [in person], either for school or a job you’re definitely going to put your best foot forward,” Baker said. “You’re not going to say, ‘Oh yeah I went and got all messed up and did this and did that.’ It’s like, that’s probably not going to be what you’re going to put in your letter trying to get into the school.” Baker also stated that smaller, more selective schools including the Ivy League and liberal arts colleges, have been turning to screening students based on their Internet profiles more often than larger state universities. To these colleges, social media is a tool for admissions in two different ways. It is there to understand how much interest a student has in a certain school and as a way to investigate any questions that a transcript and paper application may present. To gauge a student’s enthusiasm and interest in the school they are applying to, colleges like Wheaton College in Norton, MA check Facebook groups that the school has set up to see if the prospective students have joined. It’s a way to understand just how serious the applicant is about wanting to attend Wheaton. Director of Admissions and Recruitment at Wheaton, James Richardson said that he will hardly ever dig into a student’s personal profile to find something bad, without reason. “Are there things really egregious in their behavior and the way they’re acting online?”

*PERCEIVING PRIVACY

Selective colleges and universities across the country evaluate prospective students’ social media profiles

Richardson said. “We almost never look to that unless something would come to light where we feel we would need to explore and look at them at some form of a deeper level.” If there was a gap in the student’s application, like randomly transferring to a different school or an unexplained period of absence, Wheaton’s admissions office would try to research it. They would, in some cases, use social media to gain a student’s perspective about the incident in question. In addition, if Wheaton has a suspicion that an applicant is involved in activity that breaches its honor code, they are also willing to investigate online. And if someone, whether it be a student, a staff member or an applicant is under question for breaching the code, Wheaton investigates. While they wouldn’t look totally at social media for an answer, Richardson said that parts of an online profile do play a role when a question arises. “For whatever information is out there,” Richardson said. “It’s free game I go get it if I want to invest the time and resources to go and get it.” State schools like the University of Kansas (KU) and Kansas State University utilize automatic admission. At KU, instead of looking at social media and digging deeper into a student’s life through intensive essays, the prospective candidate is admitted if they meet a certain criteria that combines their GPA and standardized test scores. Lisa Pinamonti Kress is Director of Admissions at KU and believes personally that looking at a student on Facebook is an invasion of privacy and does not paint an accurate picture of the prospective student. “I don’t think that [social media] reflects a student’s academic ability,” Kress said. “The purpose of going to school and going to college is to have the academic ability to do that.”

Kress believes that admitting students based on their social media profiles is indeed an invasion of privacy and that Kansas would not use this type of admission even if the process wasn’t automatic. Richardson believes that looking at a student on social media is not an invasion of privacy, but a reflection of the prospective candidate just as they would act in person. “It’s part of life. Who you are in person should be reflected of who you are online.” Richardson said. “And vice versa. Who you are online should be indicative of who you are in real life and if you don’t want a contrary image online then you shouldn’t put it out there because it’s for everyone to see, right? It’s a fact of life.” To students applying out-of-state, like Magalski, having their social media looked at is almost inevitable. She doesn’t believe that it should be used in admissions but understands why many schools look. To her, while the profile may not be so accurate, it speaks more about the decision-making abilities of a prospective student. In addition, she believes it prepares them for a more responsible life online. “Once you enter college it’s kind of the like the real world,” Magalski said. “And you have to realize that those things you do online and the way you portray yourself to the world are going to eventually negatively affect your life.” Baker agrees, urging all of his students to make distinct and careful choices about their social media presence. “Be careful what you put out there,” Baker said “Because [colleges] will look and you need to know that’s going to happen at some point.”

21% of teen Facebook users share their personal cell phone number | stat courtesy of internetsafety101.com

South Korea

United States

E ET N K OR W 28.34 Atlanta, GA 51.40 Langley, WA 19.85 Wells, ME 23.80 Norman, Ok 36 Staten Island, NY 51.62 Seol 69.17 Pohang 38.54 Gwangju 58.85 Taegu 41.11 Apo 108.56 Suncheon

47.37 Barry 55.50 Lancaster 38.62 Andover 57.34 Hayling 38.76 Bolton 79.90 Ashby De La Zouch 28.76 Arlington, VA 47.62 Malibu, CA 26.23 Richmond, VA 25.73 Milton, MA 32.6 Kansas City

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TECH EDITION

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As SMSD looks to add more laptops to their network, US internet speeds fall behind the international average

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UK

WRITTEN BY ANDREW McKITTRICK

A NEW NETWORK

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United Kingdom

*all speeds are in Mbit/s and are courtesy of netindex.com

South Korea

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efore the 1:1 initiative of providing every Shawnee Mission School District high school student with a laptop was approved, the district spent $1.5 million installing a new Aruba wireless network. This network was approved at the March 11, 2013 district board meeting. “Last summer they upgraded all of the routers and access points in the building so they could all handle new speeds,” East network analyst Jacob Blase said. “They have also upgraded the pipe into the building so its considerably faster and they did all of that prior to deciding the one-toone initiative.” The district installed 2,365 new Aruba access points at a cost of over $389 per access point. These access points connect the internet coming into the building and broadcasts it over wifi for students to connect to. According to Blase, these access points can handle up to 200 individual devices. However, the district will be adding multiple new access points in areas that receive extremely high traffic over the 2014 summer. “Each one of those access points goes to a gigabit port, so a gigabit of traffic can go over it which is quite a bit — that’s how much Google fiber is,” Blase said. “Each room has like a Google fiber connection to it basically so there is a gigabit going to every access in every room. That’s pretty quick. That’s more than enough to handle the typical classroom. There are places in the building where stuff needs to be beefed up.” In a series of tests conducted around East, the wireless network download speed averaged 28.1 Mbit/s. This average speed would rank as 22nd out of 188 countries. According to Blase, slow internet speeds can occur for a variety of reasons. “A lot of it isn’t just the network but also the practices we use,” Blase said. “...Our access points are good. They have been beefed up they are up there. Our routers and our switches — they have been beefed up so they are good. Granted they do need to add some but they know it and they will add some before you guys get your laptops. But sometimes when you see speed issues it’s not necessarily on our end. It could be that your laptop’s capabilities can’t go faster than that or it could be that your website on their end is slow.” Part of the plan for the district to increase page load times is installing three new servers inside East. These new caching servers save the information for commonly visited websites. “Instead of going out to indian creek or going out to the internet and grabbing that page and bringing it in, it will go through one switch and go here instead of going through a dozen switches,” Blase said. “...We are saving bandwidth across the switches in the building. So we have other

technology in place to help improve those speeds that are beyond just the internet speed.” In a recent study published by OOKLA, a broadband testing and web-based network diagnostic company, the U.S. ranked 33rd in the world for broadband speed with an average broadband speed of 21.77 megabits per second (Mbit/s). There are 8 megabits in every megabyte. According to a Ryan Galley, a customer service representative for Google Fiber in Kansas City, this gap between the United States and the rest of the world is due to a multitude of reasons. “South Korea and a couple of other places are just absurdly fast because they are much smaller geographic wise,” Galley said. “...So it is a bit biased in that sense. But the fact that we are still using copper as a main base for almost everything which is a technology that has been around since the mid 1800’s that’s the main reason why.” Although much of the network in the US is based on copper wire, speeds are still increasing. Part of this increase is due to companies such as Google and Verizon that are beginning to introduce fiber networks instead of the standard copper networks that most other networks use. Within the past year, average broadband speed have increased by 24.5 percent. These fiber optic networks have allowed Google to increase the average broadband speed of the city of Kansas City from 20.6 Mbit/s in Jan. of 2013 to 52.49 in March of 2014. The fiber networks allow companies such as Google or Verizon to theoretically reach network speeds of up to 1.7 terabit which is 17,000 times faster than the average internet speed according to Galley. At the same time, the maximum speed copper cables can reach is 340 Mbit/s. Most networks use electricity to send information over copper cables but this information can only travel so fast and eventually degrades. Fiber optic network sends light over glass cables. This allows the information to reach speeds approaching the speed of light and the information falloff is less. According to Galley, the main bottleneck with fiber optic networks is simply installing their hardware. These hardware installations are slowly working their way across the Kansas City Metro area, but are yet to reach Johnson County. Matt Nestler, a senior in the programming classes at East believes that by giving every student access to the internet in the classroom, it will help students learning. “If they try to think of new ways to help the kids learn at their own pace by using Khan academy to maybe supplement how they are already teaching it could really be a benefit,” Nestler said. “And then Google Drive and having everyone collaborate online and everything, that’s really interesting.” *statistics are courtesy of internetworldstats.com

TALKING SPEED North America has 273,785,413 internet users | Asia has 1,076,681,059 users | In 12 years, Africa’s internet usage has grown 3,606.7%

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TECH EDITION

THE MOVIE/TV INDUSTRY GOT IT RIGHT A look at a few times classic movies were spot on in their predictions of what the future would look like

WRITTEN BY JOHN FOSTER ART BY MIRANDA GIBBS

digital billboards handless video games/handheld tablets

A large screen made up of hundreds of smaller lit up screens can be seen with advertisements showing things ranging from Coca Cola to a Japanese woman in the film, “Blade Runner”. In the movie, a single digital billboard could be seen with a single large advertisement on a skyscraper as flying cars drove past. Although “Blade Runner’s” 1982 digital billboards were very low-quality and made up of much smaller screens, take a walk through Times Square in New York City and be amazed by the large high definition LED screen brightness that overwhelms the streets, and the massive and iconic Jumbotron. Now, digital billboards can also be seen driving along highways flipping through different advertisements.

In the 1989 film “Back to the Future Part II”, Marty shows Elijah how to play an old arcade game -- Wild Gunman. When Marty picks up the gun to shoot the small cowboys on the screen, Elijah complains that having to use hands for video games is lame — like a baby’s toy. After 21 years, Elijah’s dream became reality when Microsoft released Kinect for Xbox in 2011. Kinect uses infrared sensors and a microphone to detect the user’s body motions and pick up audio commands, allowing the user to play using

only their body motions and voice. Instead of the bulky 1989 computer screens and towers, the movie also used handheld tablets. Marty was asked by a member of the Hill Valley Preservation Society to help save the historic clock tower by using the tablet to sign a petition. Handheld tablets, such as the iPad released in 2010, can be seen in the hands of a range of people from businessmen typing out professional documents to little children trying to play Candy Crush. The Shawnee Mission School District will also be putting an iPad in the hands of every teacher and 10 elementary schools as well as all middle school students next school year. Elementary students will now have their own tablet to learn.

smartphones/PDAs skype/video conferencing

“2001: A Space Odyssey” used video conferencing between computers with the use of the Picturephone. The Picturephone accepts a payment card, and then the user enters the phone number of a different Picturephone. Dr. Heywood Floyd, a scientific specialist, uses the Picturephone on Space Station V to chat with his daughter to wish her a happy birthday. Although personal computers from 1968 were nearly the size of a room, computers today are installed with small cameras allowing for easy video

conferencing — or photo booth fish eye pictures. Major companies use video conferencing to host meetings with employees in different branches across the United States, or even worldwide. Many families also use applications such as Skype, released in 2003, to video chat with family members away from home. Students also use Google Hangouts to work in groups to complete homework together. And maybe in the future, classrooms won’t be necessary anymore -teaching might end up being done only through video chatting.

Star Fleet crew members from the first season of the Star Trek series in 1966 could be seen using PADDs — Personal Access Display Devices — for tasks ranging from communication to displaying schematics. Today, business people use devices known as the PDA — Personal Digital System — as their communications device. PDAs are used for phone calls, e-mails, messaging, internet browsing and games. Although PDAs are not as common as they were in the early 2000’s, most

high school students cannot live without their iPhones or Android phones — checking twitter every ten minutes. These smartphones, however, are much more sophisticated than the 1966 version. Many families today have ditched their land lines to use only their smartphone because these predicted smartphones are very capable of doing this. Smartphones are also used as a form of entertainment for many users through games and other useful applications created for them.

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