Image by markcoatsworth via Flickr

Hi everyone,

Here is an interesting article that shows how crime mapping and other data can be used to make decisions about crime reduction:

Vacant Detroit homes where crime thrives the first to go

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing's demolition plan includes a concerted effort to bulldoze houses in neighborhoods where the most crime and arsons occur -- not just those structures that are the most run-down, the Free Press has learned.

Using crime and arson statistics from 2009, officials from the Police, Fire and Buildings & Safety Engineering departments worked to determine which homes were located in areas with the highest concentration of homicides, assaults, rapes, robberies and arsons.

Bing has pledged to use federal stimulus money to tear down 3,000 abandoned homes this year. The city's first phase -- 1,000 addresses have been identified -- began April 1. Second phase addresses are to be released July 1, and the third phase Sept. 1.

"By far, this is the most comprehensive overall look at the city's demographics, housing stock, public safety issues and fire issues," said Detroit Police Chief Warren Evans. "The more structures that are down are the fewer places for illegal activities to be going on. This is a good tool for the city when departments are talking to each other and thinking more globally."

Full article

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sample blog entry

with a link

Image via CrunchBase

Blogging Assignment #1

For your first blog assignment, please type a blog entry with links to information about online privacy, including a short summary of what can be found at each site. Be sure your links work, experiment with formatting, and fell free to add images. There are a couple ways to do this, but here is one of the me interesting:

This should work with either Firefox or IE, but I have only tried in Firefox.

Step 1: Open Firefox

Step 2: Install the Zemanta plugin - http://www.zemanta.com/ - follow the instructions to install, you will probably have to restart Firefox.

Step 3: Open http://cjcampus.org, click on create content, then blog entry. Zemanta should startup automatically. Here you can select images and links related to tyour blog post. The pictures and links change as you type words in your blog.

Step 4: Before saving your blog, click the input format option, select Full HTML, then Save.

• Trying out Zemanta (talesfromthecellar.com)
• Zemanta, a Blog Enhancer (gabrielgrimes.blogspot.com)
• New Zemanta Firefox extension - 0.6 (zemanta.com)
• Zemanta for Better Blogging (justgottasharethis.info)

Image via Wikipedia

Although this may not be apparent to most, the Internet is like the Wild West - somewhat lawless. We are likel y to see signs of this on the cjnetwork site. The site was setup about 4 weeks ago and we already have dozens of visitors, some with names like BuyMyStuff. I have left the site relatively open so we will experiences this, but you shoul dbe very careful about clicking on any odd links added to blogs or comments. These problems should be very obvious and I will stop them after a week or so.

When you post something please include your name in the blog entry or comment. You will also be asked to enter a Captcha challenge (type in the words in the box) when posting. There are a few other things that will stop some of the garbage but the settings are not very strict, yet.

Dr. Mentor

We will use this site to complete our discussions during the last few weeks of class. As with our other class experiences, we will learn by doing. We are not expecting perfection, but I do want to see a progression of skills as we continue our blogs.

I know we will make some mistakes as we learn, so don't worry about whether you are a little confused. I will add more things later but want to keep it simple at first. We will only use a couple tools in the first week - blogs and comments. After you have registered, click "Create content." Then click "Blog entry." Experiment with the various settings, but do not turn of the "Promoted to front page" option. Do not turn on the "Sticky at top of lists" option.

Use the comments feature to comment on your classmate's blogs. This is a different form of communication, but you will get used to it quickly. Please use your blog entry to say hello, add links to interesting websites, and anything else you would like to include. I will provide topics for later blog entries, sticking with the general themes of privacy, surveillance, and data collection by governments and corporations.

Finally, several class members have fallen behind. This is partly due to my injury, so I want to give everyone a chance to catch up. I will accept any assignment submitted before the end of the semester, which should give everyone an opportunity to earn a good grade.

Enjoy our blogs!

Dr. Mentor