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Showing posts from October, 2016

Dave Eggers vs. Reality: A One Book Discussion

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Guess what, One Book readers: we have another speaker lined up! Join us in welcoming Waldo Jaquith (JAKE-with) -- technologist, thought follower, working dad, Champion for Change, former Rolling Stones roadie, and rescuer of Al Gore's life -- to the stage on Wednesday, November 2 at College Hour (noon) in the auditorium (M229). His topic is "Dave Eggers vs. Reality": "The Circle" paints a fun picture of a near-future transparency dystopia, but the reality of both government and technology is more convoluted and more interesting than Eggers knows. Learn why politicians "going transparent" would be incredibly boring, reveal nothing, and create a divided government that would accomplish nothing.   Jaquith is the writer behind cvillenews.com, a community news blog about Charlottesville, and is the director of U.S. Open Data. Read more of his work at waldo.jaquith.org.

Privacy and Anonymity Discussion Round Up

The One Book Program would like to extend a warm thank you to Professor Mike Ferero for his talk, Privacy and Anonymity in Internet Culture , on Wednesday, October 19. Professor Ferero examined the hothouse culture of Internet start ups, the assumption that anonymity leads to good behavior, transparency in non-Western cultures, and urged attendees to be proactive in knowing how the online services they use handle their privacy. Professor Ferero teaches a variety of information technology courses, from programming to system administration to network security. To see a video recording of Professor Ferero's talk on Panopto, please click here . And don't forget to join us for our next One Book speaker, Waldo Jaquith, on Wednesday, November 2nd! For more information, see the PVCC One Book Program page .

Anonymity vs. Honesty: A One Book Discussion

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Join us in welcoming PVCC's own Mike Ferero to the stage on Wednesday, October 19 at College Hour (noon) in the auditorium (M229), where he will discuss "Privacy and Anonymity in Internet Culture" for the One Book program. Ferero has worked as an instructor of information technology here at PVCC for twelve years and will be bringing the perspective of an engineer with extensive experience in Internet applications and computer security to the question of how online behavior is influenced by anonymity -- or the lack of it. Does transparency make us more honest? Find out on Wednesday. See you then!

One Book Contest: Don't Let the Circle Close

What would you do without Internet for a day? Don't just ask yourself the question -- experiment! For science! And for the chance to win some fantastic prizes. The One Book Program is holding its first contest of the semester, and we want to see your work. The rules are simple: go without Internet for 24 hours (except for course-related work -- no one needs to tempt the Blackboard gods to further malice) and tell us about it. Was it fun? Awful? Did it free you up to do other things? Fill you with existential angst? Did your Tumblr followers assume you were dead? Let us know. The theme is "breaking the circle," and how you interpret it is up to you. Best of all, you can express yourself through a variety of mediums. We accept the following: Acceptable Mediums Size Requirements/Limits Acceptable File Type Painting No larger than 20”x24” canvas/paper Original work Drawing No larger than 20”x24” paper Original work Essay 750 words, must include a ti

Get into a Long Term Relationship (with a Book)

Fall Break (October 10-11) -- two glorious days without classes -- is just around the corner, leaving you ample time to sleep in, study, pick up another shift at work, or relax with some pleasure reading. Going the pleasure reading route? (And as librarians and inveterate readers, we hope you do.) Interested in starting a series and need suggestions? Look no further than the list below. We've highlighted the first volumes of some of our most popular series from the Nook and Popular collections: Diana Gabaldon combines fact and fantasy in the Outlander series, an eight-books-and-counting historical romance that travels between the Scottish Highlands of the WWII and the 18th century. Start reading with Outlander and continue on through Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, Drums of Autumn, The Fiery Cross, A Breath of Snow and Ashes, An Echo in the Bone , and Written in My Own Heart's Blood . George R. R. Martin plays havoc with standard high fantasy tropes in the currently five book