This afternoon’s presentation seemed to go very well. I started out by talking about the virtues and benefits of Discovery Education, Second Life, and the DEN in Second Life. There seemed to be mild amusement at first, but as I continued to talk, I could tell that there was genuine interest. I will try to offer an unofficial session while we are all at this conference.
It was difficult to discuss the various aspects of Cyber Conflict without coming across as dark, negative, and scary. My impression was that most of the attendees had no idea of the scope of the current problems with cyber security and cyber threats (and that is only the ones that we know about or those that are divulged to the public). The trick for us as teachers and Future Problem Solver coaches will be to expose our students to this information without scaring them out of their wits. I provided a general background about cyber conflict, cyber espionage, cyber terrorism, and cyber warfare.
One of the ironic things that I uncovered in my research was the section of www.whitehouse.gov that elucidates the National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace http://www.whitehouse.gov/pcipb. The website details the overall strategies the United States had to deal with cyber conflict and identifies what the government sees as the primary risks and responsibilities. While it is comforting to see that there is a comprehensive plan in place, it is disturbing that this document is so prominently displayed for the world to see.
I found a PBS DVD titled, “PBS Frontline: CyberWars” released in 2003. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cyberwars/. This video documents the cyber threats that occured prior to and in the two years after September 11, 2001. It offers a sobering look at the threats, but it provides uplifting hope in the fact that we are changing from a defensive posture with regard to cyber security to an offensive posture. While some of the interviewees could not elaborate on details due to national security concerns, it is evident that offensive cyber technologies have played a significant role in the first Gulf War, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and the current efforts in Iraq. I believe this will become the “hook” and the positive aspect that will capture the attention and creativity of our Future Problem Solver students this coming school year. If you are interested, the PBS link above allows you to view this video in its entirety for free. The site includes interviews with significant players in the fight against cyber conflict.
As with anything that really touches my soul and ignites my interest, I feel that I could have done so much more, but I was limited to three hours.
Earlier today, we had a speaker discuss issues surrounding the summer Olympics in China. That topic and Cyber Conflict will constitute the first two practice problem solving activities for our students.
Tomorrow, we will have a speaker discuss the state competition qualifier topic, “Space Junk.” Since I’m a space “junkie,” I look forward to this discussion. Thursday, we will finish up with a discussion of the State Bowl Competition topic, “The Counterfeit Economy.” I was supposed to be a co-presenter for this topic, too, but I got carried away with my preparation of Cyber Conflict and the other present of Counterfeit Economy got carried away with that topic and did all of the work, so I guess that this worked out in the end.
I’ve started reading “Ender’s Game” by Orson Scott Card. I want to finish it quickly because I really want to read “Physics of the Impossible” by Michio Kaku. So much to do, so little time. Oh, I almost forgot that I also want to read one of the books in the Tom Clancy Net Force series titled, “Cybernation.”
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