21,952 research outputs found
Honey Sheets: What Happens to Leaked Google Spreadsheets?
Cloud-based documents are inherently valuable, due to the volume and nature
of sensitive personal and business content stored in them. Despite the
importance of such documents to Internet users, there are still large gaps in
the understanding of what cybercriminals do when they illicitly get access to
them by for example compromising the account credentials they are associated
with. In this paper, we present a system able to monitor user activity on
Google spreadsheets. We populated 5 Google spreadsheets with fake bank account
details and fake funds transfer links. Each spreadsheet was configured to
report details of accesses and clicks on links back to us. To study how people
interact with these spreadsheets in case they are leaked, we posted unique
links pointing to the spreadsheets on a popular paste site. We then monitored
activity in the accounts for 72 days, and observed 165 accesses in total. We
were able to observe interesting modifications to these spreadsheets performed
by illicit accesses. For instance, we observed deletion of some fake bank
account information, in addition to insults and warnings that some visitors
entered in some of the spreadsheets. Our preliminary results show that our
system can be used to shed light on cybercriminal behavior with regards to
leaked online documents
A Typical Model Audit Approach: Spreadsheet Audit Methodologies in the City of London
Spreadsheet audit and review procedures are an essential part of almost all
City of London financial transactions. Structured processes are used to
discover errors in large financial spreadsheets underpinning major transactions
of all types. Serious errors are routinely found and are fed back to model
development teams generally under conditions of extreme time urgency. Corrected
models form the essence of the completed transaction and firms undertaking
model audit and review expose themselves to significant financial liability in
the event of any remaining significant error. It is noteworthy that in the
United Kingdom, the management of spreadsheet error is almost unheard of
outside of the City of London despite the commercial ubiquity of the
spreadsheet.Comment: 5 Page
Is what you see what you get? representations, metaphors and tools in mathematics didactics
This paper is exploratory in character. The aim is to investigate ways in which it is possible to use the theoretical concepts of representations, tools and metaphors to try to understand what learners of mathematics ‘see’ during classroom interactions (in their widest sense) and what they might get from such interactions. Through an analysis of a brief classroom episode, the suggestion is made that what learners see may not be the same as what they get. From each of several theoretical perspectives utilised in this paper, what learners ‘get’ appears to be something extra. According to our analysis, this something ‘extra’ is likely to depend on the form of technology being used and the representations and metaphors that are available to both teacher and learner
Empirical modelling principles to support learning in a cultural context
Much research on pedagogy stresses the need for a broad perspective on learning. Such a perspective might take account (for instance) of the experience that informs knowledge and understanding [Tur91], the situation in which the learning activity takes place [Lav88], and the influence of multiple intelligences [Gar83]. Educational technology appears to hold great promise in this connection. Computer-related technologies such as new media, the internet, virtual reality and brain-mediated communication afford access to a range of learning resources that grows ever wider in its scope and supports ever more sophisticated interactions.
Whether educational technology is fulfilling its potential in broadening the horizons for learning activity is more controversial. Though some see the successful development of radically new educational resources as merely a matter of time, investment and engineering, there are also many critics of the trends in computer-based learning who see little evidence of the greater degree of human engagement to which new technologies aspire [Tal95].
This paper reviews the potential application to educational technology of principles and tools for computer-based modelling that have been developed under the auspices of the Empirical Modelling (EM) project at Warwick [EMweb]. This theme was first addressed at length in a previous paper [Bey97], and is here revisited in the light of new practical developments in EM both in respect of tools and of model-building that has been targetted at education at various levels. Our central thesis is that the problems of educational technology stem from the limitations of current conceptual frameworks and tool support for the essential cognitive model building activity, and that tackling these problems requires a radical shift in philosophical perspective on the nature and role of empirical knowledge that has significant practical implications.
The paper is in two main sections. The first discusses the limitations of the classical computer science perspective where educational technology to support situated learning is concerned, and relates the learning activities that are most closely associated with a cultural context to the empiricist perspective on learning introduced in [Bey97]. The second outlines the principles of EM and describes and illustrates features of its practical application that are particularly well-suited to learning in a cultural setting
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