Killing a Trend
Over the past few weeks I've learned a few things. Not necessarily academic of nature, but still acquired knowledge of some sort. For instance, I learned that all South African universities access the Internet through TENET: the Tertiary Education Network (which is still run by South Africa's monopoly land-line operator, so I don't know why it needs a name all of its own). I also learned a little about something called Akamai and the Akamai-effect. The channels through which I learned about these things were less that flattering: the main source was an e-mail sent out by the university's IT department apologising for the slow Internet access and explaining that they are going to effectively ration the bandwidth. More precisely: they are putting “non-academic” Internet traffic on a lower priority than “academic” traffic.
What is Akamai? Well, I don't know exactly, but apparent it is an international initiative to reduce international academic Internet traffic by backing up such materials on vast amounts of local hard drives. This process is continuing and recent the load was unexpectedly shifted to South Africa. Not known for our vast amounts of bandwidth, we are now struggling to keep our heads above water. Still, IT's contingency plans seem to be working and they are promising us that everything will be over soon. We shall also be increasing the capacity of our line to the outside world. The problem is, however, that they have been promising these things for a couple of weeks now. But, hopefully everything will start to return to normal sometime next week.
Nearly everyone on campus is being affected by the Akamai-effect. This is directly related to the fact that the Stellenbosch Facebook network has more than 14000 members. Yes, Facebook sky rocketed here as well, but now people are unable to access Facebook, because it's popularity and non-academicness made it a prime candidate for low priority traffic. Subsequently, one's “Stellenbosch” contacts are have grown quiet, while one's news feed is populated by the going-ons of people who do not rely on a tertiary education institution for their Internet access. The Akamai-effect coincides with new measures by corporations and businesses in South Africa which also restricts their employee's access to Facebook. This is because Facebook's popularity has spilled over into the general population and these businesses are afraid their employees are wasting too much of their time (company time, as well can company bandwidth) on accessing this social utility. Indeed, even the newspapers are filled with idle speculation, warnings and examinations of this phenomenon and its impact on society. This is not bad for something which almost no-one here knew about eight months ago. Facebook's 500%+ growth since the beginning of the year is very visible here. Like many trends, I was sure it would go as quickly as it came, but the persisting lure of the website amazes me and seeing how other people react and interact to/with it, I started doubting if this was something that would simply blow over. But, with these new restrictions, I have to wonder if the restrictive pressures being exerted won't drive some people away, who will be the first ones to lead the exodus.
But it is not only Facebook that suffers. Oddly enough, Gmail traffic seems to be restricted. This is odd, because many lecturers I know have all their other e-mail accounts automatically forward e-mails to their Gmail accounts, so that they only have to keep tabs on one account. Some students do this as well, but over the past few weeks I've been having trouble with Gmail. Logging in might be fine, but the connection is dropped sporadically, which can wreak havoc on a Gtalk conversation. Subsequently, I don't even bother trying to log into Gtalk during the day anymore.
Something that amazes me about this whole things is how resilient and adaptive people can be. A while ago I was thinking about how, a few years ago, only a few of my friends had e-mail and non-technical people avoided computers when possible. Now, not only does everyone have e-mail, but they are also fanatically active on social networking sites, like Facebook. Even more than that: they are willing to graze the “technical side” of the Internet by using proxies and anonymous proxies to access Facebook. It really is fascinating to watch the subtle shift in attitudes and temperaments and the exorcism of fears of the technical and the unknown.
While being on Facebook won't turn you into a computer scientist, exposure to things like that will not only breed basic “technical” (survival) skills, but will also (hopefully) bring awareness and appreciation for those of us who are crazy enough to try and make a living out of things like that. I equate what is happening now to what happened in the 19th century when newspapers started publishing crossword puzzles and other “brain games”: the average person was given the opportunity to subtly broaden his or her word and number skills. These skills could then develop into something academic, assist the other skills or simply be passed on to the next generation. Young people are eager and willing to learn about new things, especially if they are useful or have some entertainment values. Play breeds skills, so to speak. If Generation Y can absorb so many skills and hone as many skills as they do, how astonishing won't the next generation be?
What is Akamai? Well, I don't know exactly, but apparent it is an international initiative to reduce international academic Internet traffic by backing up such materials on vast amounts of local hard drives. This process is continuing and recent the load was unexpectedly shifted to South Africa. Not known for our vast amounts of bandwidth, we are now struggling to keep our heads above water. Still, IT's contingency plans seem to be working and they are promising us that everything will be over soon. We shall also be increasing the capacity of our line to the outside world. The problem is, however, that they have been promising these things for a couple of weeks now. But, hopefully everything will start to return to normal sometime next week.
Nearly everyone on campus is being affected by the Akamai-effect. This is directly related to the fact that the Stellenbosch Facebook network has more than 14000 members. Yes, Facebook sky rocketed here as well, but now people are unable to access Facebook, because it's popularity and non-academicness made it a prime candidate for low priority traffic. Subsequently, one's “Stellenbosch” contacts are have grown quiet, while one's news feed is populated by the going-ons of people who do not rely on a tertiary education institution for their Internet access. The Akamai-effect coincides with new measures by corporations and businesses in South Africa which also restricts their employee's access to Facebook. This is because Facebook's popularity has spilled over into the general population and these businesses are afraid their employees are wasting too much of their time (company time, as well can company bandwidth) on accessing this social utility. Indeed, even the newspapers are filled with idle speculation, warnings and examinations of this phenomenon and its impact on society. This is not bad for something which almost no-one here knew about eight months ago. Facebook's 500%+ growth since the beginning of the year is very visible here. Like many trends, I was sure it would go as quickly as it came, but the persisting lure of the website amazes me and seeing how other people react and interact to/with it, I started doubting if this was something that would simply blow over. But, with these new restrictions, I have to wonder if the restrictive pressures being exerted won't drive some people away, who will be the first ones to lead the exodus.
But it is not only Facebook that suffers. Oddly enough, Gmail traffic seems to be restricted. This is odd, because many lecturers I know have all their other e-mail accounts automatically forward e-mails to their Gmail accounts, so that they only have to keep tabs on one account. Some students do this as well, but over the past few weeks I've been having trouble with Gmail. Logging in might be fine, but the connection is dropped sporadically, which can wreak havoc on a Gtalk conversation. Subsequently, I don't even bother trying to log into Gtalk during the day anymore.
Something that amazes me about this whole things is how resilient and adaptive people can be. A while ago I was thinking about how, a few years ago, only a few of my friends had e-mail and non-technical people avoided computers when possible. Now, not only does everyone have e-mail, but they are also fanatically active on social networking sites, like Facebook. Even more than that: they are willing to graze the “technical side” of the Internet by using proxies and anonymous proxies to access Facebook. It really is fascinating to watch the subtle shift in attitudes and temperaments and the exorcism of fears of the technical and the unknown.
While being on Facebook won't turn you into a computer scientist, exposure to things like that will not only breed basic “technical” (survival) skills, but will also (hopefully) bring awareness and appreciation for those of us who are crazy enough to try and make a living out of things like that. I equate what is happening now to what happened in the 19th century when newspapers started publishing crossword puzzles and other “brain games”: the average person was given the opportunity to subtly broaden his or her word and number skills. These skills could then develop into something academic, assist the other skills or simply be passed on to the next generation. Young people are eager and willing to learn about new things, especially if they are useful or have some entertainment values. Play breeds skills, so to speak. If Generation Y can absorb so many skills and hone as many skills as they do, how astonishing won't the next generation be?
posted by phantom-99w at 00:07
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