Telemarketing Fraud & Identity Theft

I attended a session with the RCMP on telemarketing Fraud & Identity Theft session - This was a community Information Session. This was a RCMP from Fredericton who works on the Commercial Crimes Section. This session was very interesting - he discussed cyber fraud and other fraud scams that are happening in NB as well as Canada. There was scams that happened here in Richibucto as well as Moncton. Debit reading scams - how restaurant, banks, bank machine were fitted with card readers & micro small cameras to defraud people. it was a very interesting session, He also discussed how Banks have changed their machines in the last year to stop card readers from being installed on official bank machines. He also warned us to take extra caution on entering our PIN number. He said 'Get used to covering your hand while you punch in your pin) He sowed us the many different ways people had installed cameras to record your pin number. He also cautioned us not to hand over our cards, but to insist to swipe our own cards - some restaurants would double swipe debit cards (1st swipe would be a card reader) and the 2nd swipe would be to capture your PIN. I walked away feeling. I walked away feeling - Gee I don't even want to use my debit card, and never go to a public computer to check your bank account. He also let us know about the latest Credit Union scam - where the official Credit Union Web Page was hijacked and people were logging into a dummy website (This people were based in Bathurst). The website was rigged to read your bank card & record keystrokes (your password) ) Then they would go to the real bank site with your information and then your bank account is empty!

Technology Plan

Ok - So it was really exciting planning a technology plan for school. I think this was a great practice for us as business students. We need to start thinking "Where does Technology fit in my business" or "Where does Technology fit in my community". I always enjoy it when people, organizations and communities embrace technology (For the good) we know technology can be used for many illegal ways, this would be another blog.

Technology as a Tool (Part 2)

So it was a great busy week in terms of technology! But the great news was how the people are embracing technology. It was great that the Director her self, saw the site & commented on the value of it. Other co-workers as well, said it looks very valuable and we happy to see a site with up to date community events. The Network Administrator is also willing to put a link from the Main Health Centre web site to link to the News site to help the community find this information faster. I have the Youth Coordinator who is keen and happy to do updates & posting her events photos on the Youth Centre Site.! I love it when people embrace technology, I especially love it when I see that light bulb on top of their heads and take new knowledge and run with it!

Busy Week With Technology!

What a crazy busy week, So I have this to do list, (1) Make video conference connections to the 2 surrounding hospitals and the Clinic in Dieppe. It’s amazing how you can get bounced around from one tech guy to the next to the next (I think this is the 5th contact that I finally got bounced to!) So I hope next week I will finally make contact and actually do a test call) (2) Finalize the Health Centre Technology plan. This has been a journey of 5 months. It’s amazing how it took so long in reviewing and revising a 2 year old Technology plan, until I owned it. I had to read and reread it until – I understood the whole plan and layout. Then I had to ensure to update the plan to reflect the vision and the direction that we want to take for the next 3 years. But I have great co-workers helping in this plan, so I must say it’s almost finally done! (3) Begin to do a gap analysis for a Health Information System that is greatly needed in the Health Centre. We have already have the (a) What do we have, then we are working on (b) What do we want based on our needs, then we analyze the gaps. So I should be busy, for the next couple of months.

Technology as a tool for youth contact

Ok, so I am all for knowing what can technology do for me! Its not what can I do for technology! I work in an environment where I am paid to put my technology thinking hat on and always be on the look out on how I can help employees automate their jobs! So bright idea this week on how our Community News paper can be more live! "Jeff’s Protopage - I just love it". Ok so now that I know about it and have played with it! I put some stuff on the protopage site that I can show the value and sample content to our staff, what’s my next step? I have to sell the idea to my co-workers whom I hope will embrace this news concept. I have Vanessa, Bev, Nancy and possibly others that I would like to have ownership of this little tool! I think the things that these women do at work, especially the fact that they deal directly with the youth ~ they need a simple and fast tool so they can update their groups or clubs as too what’s happening! So stay tuned next week and see what happens at work. Can Heidi sell the idea, Will Bev and Denise feel they can update this site, What will Vanessa say about it?

Great Ideas from Class

I really liked Jeffs News Page, and I was telling Jeremy G. about it, I was like "Look what he does on his news page!!!"I thought it was really a neat little tool for news & events. I have been playing with it for work related events. Check out the link!
http://protopage.com/e.h.w.c.

I was showing Jeremy what I did in terms of my calendar of events, He said this was his biggest challenge, trying to let the parents know whats going on in the school.

So, thanks to this course and all the new techy infomration that I am learning about! I am making community news and events much easier to share!

As parents, what can we do to ensure our kids can play safe on the net?

I think this is something Jeff asked one of the students (Jennifer). This is one of my greatest concerns as a parent, and 2nd as an educator of technology. I myself need to explore this area deeper. I find the tools that you can buy off the shelf are not enough to keep our kids safe. I have now learned to use the reverse method as a parent at home – Disallow everything and only add sites as you require them. After a really bad experience with both Goolge images and uTube videos (that got past the rating systems) I don’t allow these two websites on my family computer. (Which by the way is located in the living room and not in the children’s bedroom) This can be another blog “Computers in the child’s bedroom – How safe are they?”

I hope to share and see what other parents are doing . I am also looking forward to see and hear Jeff’s insight with regards to this topic.

Technology in Business ~ How can we stay connected!

This course is really great for me as I have two loves, teaching & technology. And I am so grateful that in my current position, as Health Information Management Technician (Health Centre) I am able to use both my teaching and technology skills!

I have been teaching the staff about video conferencing, multipoint, webcasting, etc. I got them excited about the possibilities about collaborating with other FN communities using tele-methods. I have done a brief introduction to the Business Team Board (similar to the Smart Board – except it lacks all the functions of Smart Board) and I am helping the staff understand how this tool fits in their work environment.

I must say that introducing Video-conferencing to a staff of 70 people was a big challenge. Many who do not hold management or coordinator positions were reluctant to come to the training. They could not see the benefit of Video Conferencing and asked themselves “Why do I have to go to this training?” As the many reluctant staff people rolled in to my 2 hour Video Conference sessions (Which were scheduled across a 2 month period) they rolled out of class with amazement and converts to Videoconferencing. I especially remember an elderly woman who attended the session fully believing that she was only here because it was mandated from “The Boss” and was not going to gain anything out of this. She walked out saying ~ “Wow, I can’t believe all the benefits and capabilities of video conferencing, I can’t believe that now I will be capable of doing training sessions & workshops with other FN communities from her in Big Cove. She explained to me how amazed she was when we called IT support in Boston, Mass, that he felt like he was right there. She had shared how she does not like to travel far from her community and how communities like Eskasoni had asked her to come to Sydney, NS to teach them how to make Indian Medicines, she had always declined due to the distance of this community. She was so happy and amazed that now this new technology had opened the door to all 35 FN communities in Atlantic Canada, and better yet to the world!