Author Archives: Tori

I bailed on the Sun Run

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I bailed on the Sun Run today (actually the Cloud Run With A Chilly Wind).
I met up with friends at 8:30 or so. We stood in line for 20 minutes at the port-a-potties. Then I got myself into my wave and they went back to theirs.

The gun went off at 9 am. I am used to standing around waiting to start. But at 9:30 my wave was nowhere near ready to go.

I had a little conversation with myself:
Grouchy me: “Why are you standing here shivering?”

Runner me: “Because I like to run races.”

“But you can’t run. You’re injured,”

“I’m walk/running it. Taking it slow.”

“Christ it’s cold..why didn’t you wear something warmer? Why are you wearing a cotton t shirt? You NEVER wear cotton shirts when you run.”

“I thought it would be sunny & warm. I thought this would be fun. It will be, once I get going.”

“Your wave is nowhere near starting and 10k is a long way wearing cotton and going slow.”

“I know. Maybe I’ll run it for real. To keep warm. Get done faster.”

“Uh huh.”

“Yeah, my foot is feeling better lately.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because I’ve been laying off running. I’ve been stretching and massaging every day.”

“And how will running 10k today help you toward that goal?”

“Uh….”

At that point I got knocked around again, someone’s elbow jabbed into me. “Look, I think I see his hat over there!” said Elbows as all her jabbing victims around me gave her the stinkeye.

“Is that our wave starting yet?” someone said in my ear. He didn’t mean to say it in my ear, he was just helplessly standing that close. Good thing we all smelled clean. Except for that drunk guy in the hula skirt, but he had come and gone a few minutes ago.

Grumpy me piped up again, perilously close to my Outside Voice: “Why am I standing here again?”

Then it was Caballo Blanco’s voice (or what I imagine it to have been) inside my head:

“RUNNING SHOULD BE FREE, MAN!”

Elbows out, I lurched through the crowd, went to the Y and had a long, hot shower, daydreaming about muddy trails, steep climbs, picturesque meadows, majestic mountain vistas, and races of hundreds, maybe thousands, but not tens of thousands of fellow runners.

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Open Education Week

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This post is re-published with permission (under CC-BY license)  from the BCcampus web site and was written by me in my capacity as Director of Communications.

If there’s one word we’d like used to describe BCcampus, one word that underpins everything we do, that signals our philosophy and our very reason for being, it’s this:

OPEN

Open Road

So – welcome to Open Education Week (March 5-10, 2012).

At BCcampus, we’re celebrating by highlighting, in the next few days, the myriad ways we live, work and breathe Open here at BCcampus. We’ve started by posting our Open Agenda statement front and centre on our web site, permanently, for all to see. It states:

“BCcampus is committed to being open in everything we do.

We are a publicly-funded organization serving British Columbia’s post-secondary sector. The goal of higher education is the creation, dissemination, and preservation of knowledge, and as such we have an essential responsibility to distribute the results of our work as widely as possible.

This has implications for how we operate on a daily basis.

Connect:

Our public meetings and events are streamed live online whenever possible. We will take photos and notes of our face-to-face events, and screen shots from our online events, and post them on our web sites and through our social media accounts on Twitter and other social media sites. We encourage speakers and participants to do the same with slides, photos, videos, crowdsourced notes and discussions. We will post archival video of keynote addresses, presentations, panels and discussion sessions on our web properties for anyone to view and comment on. Speakers, facilitators and attendees of all events, online and face-to-face, will be made aware at time of registration that their image and contributions can and will be shared in these ways.

We are committed to open data and open information, which is about proactively releasing information to our stakeholders on an ongoing basis. We will distribute all BCcampus reports, web content, and other media resources using the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Canada license (see below).

Collaborate:

We are always seeking ways to give the post-secondary system a stronger say in BCcampus strategic planning and priorities, and expanding engagement through online technologies. We will enable moderated commenting on all our web pages where appropriate, and make use of opt-in mailing lists to disseminate information and solicit feedback.

BCcampus has a solid reputation around open educational resources in the context of professional development and academic growth. Resources developed as a result of BC Online Program Development Fund are mandated to use an open license.

Our professional development activities through the Educational Technology Users Group and SCoPE have a long history of encouraging open sharing, reuse and remixing of knowledge and resources.

In the interests of remaining transparent in our business processes, BCcampus will refrain whenever feasible from signing non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements with vendors and partners.

Innovate:

We are committed offering data in a more useful format to enable our stakeholders to leverage it in innovative and value-added ways. BCcampus supports freedom of choice in technology and where possible source files will also be made available in open and free file formats. Our commitment to an open agenda in developing our applications and services is mentioned in our Strategic Plan for 2012-15: “The Challenge-Driven Innovation approach requires us to be more transparent than we think we are now, making our strategies, plans and key documents network-accessible to our system partners, tagging each with an open license, providing our source code for download where appropriate, and using crowdsourcing techniques to openly solicit input from stakeholders and partners in the form of challenges to be solved. CDI is about socializing responses to innovation challenges.”

The wealth of open, shared resources and knowledge are compelling many learners, faculty and institutions. At BCcampus, we want to cast a wider net, so this week you’ll hear more about other aspects of the Open Agenda: how the economics of Open might work, about the Creative Commons Canada project, about an Open Textbook pilot we’re heading up, and about the next round of the Online Program Development Fund.

During this year’s Open Education Week, we hope to demonstrate how Open makes sense.

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Tell me something good about Africa

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I got caught up in the Kony2012 thing last week. My 18-year-old daughter sent me a link to the 27-minute video by the charity Invisible Children. I received it very early in the morning as I was contemplating sleeping for another hour.

So before I go on, I want to post this voice from Ugandan journalist Rosebell Kagumire. If you spared 27 minutes to watch Invisible Children’s Kony 2012, you can spare 6 minutes to watch this:

“This [Kony2012] is another video where I see an outsider trying to be a hero rescuing African children. We have seen these stories a lot in Ethiopia, celebrities coming in Somalia – you know it does not end the problem. I think we need sound, intelligent campaigns that are geared toward real policy shifts rather than a sensationalized story that is out to make just one person cry and then at the end of the day we forget about it …. How do you tell the story of Africans? [That’s] much more important than what the story is actually, because if you are showing me as voiceless, as hopeless you have no place telling my story. You shouldn’t be telling my story if you don’t believe that I also have the power to change what is going on.”

Right on Ms Kagumire.

Here’s what happened to me last week.

I watched the whole Kony2012 video after daughter sent it to me via Facebook. I cried. I wanted to order the Kony2012 kit right away. I was so proud of my daughter for wanting to get engaged in activism, for believing in something. It was my daughter…she was asking me to help her with something she believed in … how could I be cynical?

But as I watched I still had nagging little doubts in my brain. I know people who have worked in international development. I had read about child soldiers in Africa. Surely – military intervention by the U.S. is not a solution. It won’t work – they’ve proved that time and again: Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, not to mention Somalia – what a disaster that was. I guess my daughter is too young to have seen Blackhawk Down.

And another thing: why would we want to shine a light on a murdering madman like Kony? I was more interested in the would-be child soldier of the video: Jacob. How is he doing? Does he still feel suicidal? Did he get some help for his suffering and pain? What happens when a child is kidnapped, made to become a soldier or sex slave, then is rescued? How do they return to their families (if they haven’t been forced to murder or maim them yet?)

Shouldn’t the African people be the heroes of this story, not white filmmakers and their cute little kids?

But all of that I set aside in my rush of emotion while watching the Invisible Children video.

Another, more rational part of me, the part of me who used to work for a charity, admired Invisible Children for the following reasons:

  • They didn’t dwell on the horror. I find “poverty pornography” distasteful. You know what I mean: the heart-rending photos of big-bellied brown children unable to wipe the flies away from their faces, or the woman cowering in the corner, shielding her children from an abusive partner. It’s shock and awe, and it only works for so long until people get overwhelmed and shut down.
  • Instead, they told a story of friendship, they brought the conflict down to a human level.
  • They pointed to a solution. A neat, tidy call to action that is creative, fun, and aimed perfectly at the target audience. If all you want to do is share the video, you can engage in some handy, instant “clicktivism.” If you want to do more, you can order a $30 kit and put up some posters with your friends. If you want to help “more,” you can donate on a per-month basis to the ongoing work of the charity.
  • Of course, the celebrities don’t hurt either.
  • And of course, it’s not enough, and there is more to Uganda and to Invisible Children than the video.

In a perfect world Invisible Children would learn valuable lessons and fold its money and talent into existing organizations who will tell the story justly. However, given that likely won’t happen, there is so much for activists to learn from Invisible Children.

The Occupy movement, for instance, demanded from many would-be supporters an untenable level of engagement and refused to point to solutions, or pointed to too many conflicting ones. (Not only that, but the human microphone thing only made me think of Monty Python’s Life of Brian: “You are all individuals,” says Brian to the mob gathered outside his door. “Yes, we are all individuals,” the mob replies in unison.)

The environmental movement has not been able to cross the divide from “we’re all doomed” to “look here, there’s hope” in a major way. As far as I’m concerned, “An Inconvenient Truth” showed the need. Now point me in the direction of the solution. Celebrate our victories, however small. Convince me the impossible can be done (something the Kony 2012 video does very well).

Along the way, can we please make it joyful? I’m prone to stress and depression at the best of times (along with most of the rest of North America), I want to be happy and hopeful, even when there are setbacks.

I KNOW we’re all doomed. I knew it from the first time I saw “If You Love this Planet.” I’m overwhelmed and I’m cynical. Don’t parade helpless victims and hopeless problems in front of me any more, give them a voice. Empower them. Don’t show me any more photos of dead baby albatrosses unless you can also illuminate the path to a better world.

Here’s something for leaders of causes to remember: people are only bitter and cynical because they still care.

I have a brand new empty nest. I just moved to a new city. I’m looking to give of myself and make some lasting relationships. I have a lot to give, but I’m cautious about where to spend my energy.

Show me how I can save the planet, give help to child soldiers, eradicate poverty in a joyful way, and I’ll work my fingers to the bone for your cause. Activate my compassion, but treat my activism with care, because my emotions are a limited resource. I hunger for joy and companionship as well as justice. Create communities where all those things are sustained and nurtured, and I will participate.

———

Here are some links I gathered last week that point to more on Uganda, Africa and Invisible Children:

Finally, if you want to donate to an international organization, might I suggest the following:

 

 

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Running slower to run faster

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I’m in hard training for my sixth half marathon, and I’m running slower than I ever have before. Much slower. As in, almost 2 minutes per kilometre slower. I’m also running without a pace group – as much as I love the comeradierie, they all go too fast for me.

That’s right, I’m running slower, it’s hard work, and I’m doing it alone and I’m doing it so I can get faster.

Say what?

It’s all about heart rate zones, and lactate thresholds. I’m wearing a heart rate monitor and paying attention to my body – it’s the most personalized training I’ve ever had.

Also the first heart rate monitor chafing I’ve ever had, but I can deal.

Warning: I’m about to blind you with science.

A couple of Saturdays ago I gave myself a birthday present: a trip to the Peak Centre in Burnaby so they could put me on a treadmill and run me ragged while taking a drop or two of blood from my pricked finger every three minutes.

Yeah, I know, bling would have been nice, or a weekend getaway, but there was no one around to spoil me so I got myself something I could really use. Something that would give me back my running, get me back to training and return me to sanity.

SinkAlex at Peak Centre explained that my heart rate is an indication of the lactate in my blood produced by exercise. The harder you work, the more lactate is produced. A lower intensity – about 70% of maximum heart rate, your body is able to get rid of all the lactate it’s producing. Go faster, and lactate builds up, it fills up like a sink and eventually overwhelms the body’s ability to deal with it, producing lactic acid and the attendant cramping, fatigue, and inability to continue running (or biking, or whatever).

The goal of training is to “widen the drain” at the bottom of the sink – to train the body to handle increasing amounts of lactate. Translation: if you’re training based on your lactate threshold profile, you don’t get tired as easily and can perform better.

It also has to do with fast twitch and slow twitch muscles. the faster you go, the more you’re using fast twitch. The slower you go, the more you’re using slow twitch.

My training heart rate is now determined by five zones the Peak Centre guys figured out for me using data from my lactate threshold test.

BUT here’s where my eyes opened wide: there are “intermediary” fast twitch muscles that can act as slow twitch, and handle all that lactate for longer periods. It’s really important for endurance athletes to “recruit” those intermediary fast twitch to act more like slow twitch. By continually pushing my “easy” pace into Zone 2 all those years, I was encouraging my intermediary fast-twitchers to stay fast twitch, I wasn’t increasing my aerobic treshhold or my lactate threshold and I was hitting a wall in terms of performance. I got frustrated and started to lack motivation.

(Those extra ten pounds I gained since the last fall haven’t helped either, but that’s another matter.)

As it turns out, my 6:30/km (or faster) pace - the pace at which I did all my long and “recovery” runs for the last three years, was probably in Zone 2, “junk mile” territory. Also, I’m not doing enough training in zone 3 – lactate threshold pace, and therefore not training my body enough to handle faster running.

(Yes, I missed nearly every Wednesday night track workout while I was training last summer and fall).

Alex explained that 10-15% of my training should be at lactate threshold, Zone 3, between 6:23 and 5:56 per kilometre; but the other 85-90% should be under aerobic threshold, Zone 1, under 150 bpm – or about 8 minutes per kilometre. When I first started doing it I had to stop and walk frequently to keep my heart rate down. It’s getting ever so slightly better, but I really need to concentrate on running at these paces.

What’s the upshot of all this for me? By running slower according to my own body chemistry, I can train my body to run faster at the same heart rate.

So today my 70% HR is 8:00 per km, but in a few months it might be 7:00, and my race pace will be faster yet.

I won’t be hitting my goal of a 2-hour half marathon this May during the Vancouver Half Marathon. I’ll be lucky to break 2:17 – close to a personal worst. However, if I keep at it, consistently training in my correct zones, I can expect to push my Zone 1 to faster paces and set a personal record in the fall.

 

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Correspondence with Vic Toews regarding Bill C-30

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I signed the Open Media petition against Bill C-30 recently.

I got a reply:

On 2012-02-22, at 9:42 AM,  <vic.toews.c1@parl.gc.ca> wrote:

Thank you for contacting my office regarding Bill C-30, the Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act.

Canada’s laws currently do not adequately protect Canadians from online exploitation and we think there is widespread agreement that this is a problem.

We want to update our laws while striking the right balance between combating crime and protecting privacy.

Let me be very clear: the police will not be able to read emails or view web activity unless they obtain a warrant issued by a judge and we have constructed safeguards to protect the privacy of Canadians, including audits by privacy commissioners.

What’s needed most is an open discussion about how to better protect Canadians from online crime. We will therefore send this legislation directly to Parliamentary Committee for a full examination of the best ways to protect Canadians while respecting their privacy.

For your information, I have included some myths and facts below regarding Bill C-30 in its current state.

Sincerely,

Vic Toews

Member of Parliament for Provencher

Myth: Lawful Access legislation infringes on the privacy of Canadians.

Fact: Our Government puts a high priority on protecting the privacy of law-abiding Canadians. Current practices of accessing the actual content of communications with a legal authorization will not change.

Myth: Having access to basic subscriber information means that authorities can monitor personal communications and activities.

Fact: This has nothing to do with monitoring emails or web browsing. Basic subscriber information would be limited to a customer’s name, address, telephone number, email address, Internet Protocol (IP) address, and the name of the telecommunications service provider. It absolutely does not include the content of emails, phones calls or online activities.

Myth: This legislation does not benefit average Canadians and only gives authorities more power.

Fact: As a result of technological innovations, criminals and terrorists have found ways to hide their illegal activities. This legislation will keep Canadians safer by putting police on the same footing as those who seek to harm us.

Myth: Basic subscriber information is way beyond “phone book information”.

Fact: The basic subscriber information described in the proposed legislation is the modern day equivalent of information that is in the phone book. Individuals frequently freely share this information online and in many cases it is searchable and quite public.

Myth: Police and telecommunications service providers will now be required to maintain databases with information collected on Canadians.

Fact: This proposed legislation will not require either police or telecommunications service providers to create databases with information collected on Canadians.

Myth: “Warrantless access” to customer information will give police and government unregulated access to our personal information.

Fact: Federal legislation already allows telecommunications service providers to voluntarily release basic subscriber information to authorities without a warrant. This Bill acts as a counterbalance by adding a number of checks and balances which do not exist today, and clearly lists which basic subscriber identifiers authorities can access.

And I did some research and responded to his letter as follows:

Thank you for your response Mr. Toews, but you’re wrong. The Bill DOES contain provisions for spying on the contents of Canadians’ electronic communications.

As Michael Guest reported: http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6331/125/ Section 487.0195 opens the door wide open to content spying. As he explains: “ISPs can refuse, but this provision is designed to remove any legal concerns the ISP might have in doing so, since it grants full criminal and civil immunity for the disclosures.”

You can spin the message on this Bill any way you like, but the language is there for all to see. Canadians are smarter than this and we deserve better; I’m afraid your response isn’t adequate.

You say it’s a myth that basic subscriber information is way beyond “phone book information.” I disagree.

The Ontario Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian, all provincial and federal Privacy Commissioners as well the Minister of Public Safety and others all make the point that subscriber information can easily be used to track an individual’s online habits. This simply cannot be done with information from a phone book. It’s an invasion of privacy.

“You can infer, by connecting the dots of the surfing habit online, a great deal of very personal information about an individual. And I object to that kind of information being accessible without a warrant,” said Cavoukian.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/02/18/pol-thehouse-vic-toews.html

Let me be clear: I believe the police should be able to tap phones, track people and search computers in order to catch terrorists and child pornographers, but all with a warrant. The only thing that stands in the way of police over-reaching and the destruction of civil rights is the Charter and independent judges who are trained and experienced in deciding where to strike the proper balance.

Saying that the police will now have a way to hide their illegal activities, too, keeping on par with the criminals, does not make me feel any safer. If you have a problem with the warrant system being “cumbersome” then fix it by adequately resourcing the justice system.

I agree with David Fraser, author of the Canadian Privacy Law Blog, when he says “The law could have been tailored to only apply to actual lawful investigations of child exploitation or terrorism offenses, but the government did not do that.”

There already exists a legal framework for catching terrorists and child pornographers. This bill goes much too far. Please withdraw it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Apple is Awesome

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This is a short blog post (for now) to counteract the “Apple Let Me Down” post from yesterday.

Not only did Apple make things right within the time they specified (even if it wasn’t right away, it was, as promised, within 24 hours) – they gave me five song credits on iTunes, and this morning I got this email from Taylor:

Hello again,

I wanted to send a quick note to see if you are still experiencing any difficulties with the iTunes Store. Resolving your issue is important to me, so please don’t hesitate to reply if you need any further assistance.

Sincerely,

Taylor

iTunes Store Customer Support

Apple is working hard to restore my confidence and trust in their stellar customer service reputation. It’s working.

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Apple lets me down

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UPDATE 10:45 am Feb 20: I had a fruitful (no pun intended – honest!) email exchange with Taylor at Apple’s Express Lane service, and it looks like my issue is now solved. See below.

Devices I own that are affected:

  • MacBook Air
  • iPhone 4S
  • iPad2
  • iPod Touch
  • AppleTV
  • iPod Nano

On Friday Feb 17 I opened iTunes, went into my account and changed three things: my AppleID, my password, and my payment information. I wanted to change my existing AppleID  for security reasons I won’t go into here.

That done, my account now shows the new email as my primary AppleID with the old ID as an associated email on my account.

Then I went to change the settings in my iPhone 4S, iPad2, iPod Touch, and AppleTV, starting with my iPhone. I could not simply double-click on my AppleID and enter the new one in my iPhone. Mystified, I made an appointment with the Genius Bar at the Apples Store at Oakridge in Vancouver.

When I arrived, an Apple employee, a young woman, asked if she could help while I was waiting for my appointment. She explained that I would have to delete the account on my iPhone, then enter the new information. I did so. But she also said I would have no access to the apps, music etc. I bought with my previous AppleID.

I was horrified. That’s not what I wanted to do!

Sure enough, my Phone, iPod Touch, iPad, and as it turned out when I got home, AppleTV, all want access to my “old” AppleID in order to update the apps or access my account. She suggested I sign in with my “old” AppleID and forget the new one because, she said, I had now made two separate AppleIDs. This seemed wrong to me, because the “old” AppleID had showed up as an alternate email address under my account, but I tried anyway to sign in with my “old” AppleID.

Neither the new password nor the old password would work. So I went to appleid.apple.com and sent in a request for an email password reset. I never received an email to any email account I have associated with iTunes. I checked all spam filters too.

Then (still in the Apple Store, largely on my own as flaky employee went off to help other customers) I tried to reset the password using the challenge questions. The first question was my birthday. Apparently, that is my wrong birthday, because I failed to answer the question correctly. “Maybe you entered your birthday wrong originally” said the Apple Store employee as she flittered by. That was unhelpful. So, too was her suggestion to go home and phone Apple Care rather than follow through with my Genius Bar appointment.

She gave me the number, and I phoned Saturday evening. After going through a whole menu of options “to get me to the right place” the automated voice told me Apple was closed and please call back during business hours. No mention of what those business hours might be. Say what?

In the meantime I did send a frustrated and – now that I read it – incoherent message through “Express Lane” to iTunes Store Support. It didn’t help that I was forced to describe my problem in 140 characters.

When I did get through to the Apple Care support number on Sunday, the technician told me I needed to pay up before he could help me. By now suspicious that he could actually solve my problem, I said I would gladly pay if he could gaurantee to resolve my AppleID issues. “Oh no,” he said. “I only deal with the iPhone itself, you’ll have to go to a Genius Bar, or send a message through Express Lane.” By that time I hadn’t even got a confirmation email from “Express Lane.”

“Well, can’t I talk to someone at iTunes who can solve my problem?” I asked. By this time I was so frustrated and flustered I was on the verge of tears.

“No, if you want to talk to someone you have to go to the Genius Bar,” he said. So, I made another appointment at the Genius Bar, this time at Pacific Centre Mall in Vancouver.

When I got to the Genius Bar at Pacific Centre, I opened up all my devices and explained from the beginning. Alvaro, the technician, patiently explained to me that although he could help with hardware issues, he couldn’t help with my iTunes account. For that I would have to wait for a return email from iTunes “Express Lane.” He couldn’t solve my problem, but at least he knew who I needed to go to and didn’t send me on another fool’s errand.

So it’s the third day, and my issue is no closer to being resolved, except I finally did get a confirmation email from Apple that there is a ticket open and someone will get back to me “within 24 hours.”

If they didn’t have my data (that I bought and paid for) held hostage I would be tempted to take my business elsewhere. But what “elsewhere” is there? It’s 1984 again, and this time Apple has become Big Brother. That damn Super Bowl ad is just nostalgia now.

My questions, should I EVER get to talk to someone at Apple, are these:

  • Why is it so easy within iTunes to change your AppleID without having the consequences explained before you go ahead and screw up your account?
  • If iCloud/iTunes is such an important business for Apple, why is support only done via a 140-character “Express Lane” message with a 24-48 hour lag time? Apple’s hardware support is stellar, but iCloud/iTunes support is almost non-existent it seems.
  • Why can’t I talk real-time with someone at Apple about my problems with my iTunes/iCloud account?
  • Why did two different Apple employees send me in the wrong direction for help?
  • Why didn’t my password reset email ever come? Why was my challenge question a failure?
  • Why, if my iTunes account isn’t working with the new AppleID on my devices, was my “new” iTunes on my Mac able to download overnight the newest episode of a TV series I bought with the “old” iTunes ID?

Clock’s ticking, Apple.

—–

As mentioned, when Apple did email me back this morning I basically sent them this blog post with my personal details. Besides very carefully and politely explaining how to get access to my apps and music, Taylor attempted to answer my questions as follows:

-You had asked why it was so easy to change your Apple ID without being told of the consequences?

The simple answer is that there are not supposed to be any issues (although I don’t think thats a good answer in your case). When you change your Apple ID it is not supposed to have any effect on your content or the content on your devices. You should not have had all of the data stripped from your device at the Apple Store* (especially without being informed of this first). Additionally, all that you normally would have to do is just sign into the new account on your devices.

I know that there is no way you could have foreseen any of these problems, but if you ever want to do some research in the future, a wide variety of helpful tutorials, troubleshooting steps, and support information can be found on the iTunes support website:

http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/ww

Additionally, I prefer to post questions and read answers provided by other iTunes users. You can participate in iTunes discussions at our Apple Support Communities forums:

http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=149

- You also asked why iTunes Store support is only through “Express Lane”?

I hear this question all of the time, but honestly the answer is that it’s still the same support. We get a lot of negativity in this aspect due to the need for instant gratification when someone has a problem that is bad enough to write in about. In certain situations like yours though (where there is a lot going on) I really do wish I could just pick up my phone and call you.

We have many teams of people that do nothing but process feedback from customers, so I would highly suggest that you inform them about how much you want to see phone support offered for iTunes. You can use this link here:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunes.html

- You asked why you could not talk to someone in real time about your issues with iCloud?

You can! There is a completely free and live online chat support group available for iCloud issues. You can actually speak to these guys through live chat via the internet. I have provided you a link to get there:

http://www.apple.com/support/contact/

Once you go to that web page, scroll down until you see the iCloud symbol, and click “Express Lane for iCloud”. After filling out a bunch of information, you will be transferred to their staff. That being said, they only address issues with iCloud. If you have an issue regarding the iTunes Store, it will have to be through an email.

- Why did two different Apple employees send me in the wrong direction for help?

This was just an error caused by the people in question. We try to offer the best customer service possible, but our workers do make mistakes. I would highly recommend that you contact the Apple Store in question, and explain your situation. If anything, you can prevent the same mistakes from happening again. If someone has an issue with their iTunes account, they should contact us before paying someone to hear their issues.

To make up for your terrible customer service experience, I have issued 5 free song credits to your … iTunes Store account. You can use these to buy the individual songs of your choice from the iTunes Store. I know it is not much, but it is just a small gift from iTunes.

When you next sign in with this account, the song credits will appear by your account name (in the upper-right section of the iTunes Store). The next individual song you buy from the iTunes Store will use one of your song credits instead of your primary form of payment (until all credits have been used or have expired). Please note that song credits cannot be used for purchasing songs that are listed as “Album Only.” If you don’t see your credits, please let me know.

- Why didn’t my password reset email never come? Why was my challenge question a failure?

Honestly we do have issues with this robotic system. Anything such as punctuation or grammar can prevent a password from being reset. If you want to update your security question, click “Return to My Apple ID” after resetting your password. Then click Manage Your Account, sign in, and choose the “ID and Password” tab. Be sure to enter a security question to which only you would know the answer.

* I should note that my iPhone was not stripped at the apple store, it’s just that I couldn’t access any updates on any of my devices and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to access any of my media.

I did follow up with iTunes feedback and I will be following up with the Apple stores here in Vancouver. Alvaro at Pacific Centre was very interested to hear how the issue was resolved, and I want to thank him for his excellent customer service. The person at Oakridge wasn’t much interested in follow up, but I will be giving feedback on her performance nonetheless (I have her card). I’m not sure how to give feedback to the people at AppleCare whose employee steered me wrong, but I’ll find out.

All in all, my issue was resolved, and in the end I had the customer service from Taylor that I’ve come to expect from Apple. The fact that it took three days and two out of four staff I encountered were unhelpful is not a good sign though.

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Will I be my Valentine?

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A year ago today I got a baker’s dozen roses delivered to my door. This year, same man packed his bags and flew out of my life for the fourth and final time, just last Friday.

Before last year, whenever I was single on February 14 (which was nearly every year), I was a Valentine’s Day grinch. Bah humbug. Every fluff story on the news, every store display, every heart shaped balloon and chocolate was a slap in the face designed to make me feel terrible because I had no one special in my life.

So, you’d think I’d be a puddle of tears today, seeing as I got dumped four days ago. You’d think I’d be shutting myself in my apartment with a pint of ice cream and a bottle of scotch. You’d think I’d be listening to J. Geils Band and Billie Holliday. You’d think I’d be tweeting a series of failings of my ex-lover in pithy passive aggressive tones each hashtagged with #fuckvalentines. Believe me I considered it. I wrote the tweets, then I deleted them.

A funny thing happened on the way to this breakup though. I moved over to Vancouver, my boyfriend moved in with me soon after, and I got depressed. I stopped running or working out. I stopped writing my blog. I stopped writing poetry. I gained 10 pounds. I stopped wanting to go out.

“You’re just nesting,” one friend said.

“Maybe I’m grieving for my life in Victoria,” I said at one point.

But I couldn’t shake the blues. I was depressed and had been since last November. Then on Friday he left. I reclaimed my closet space, and my dining room table, and my diet (that much red meat really is NOT good for a person), and my running, and my sanity. I hadn’t even realized I lost it.

Every day since last Friday feels better than the day before. As a matter of fact, I can’t remember the last time I felt this hopeful and free.

So no – I will never begrudge Valentine’s Day again. I have no need to. I am happy the way I am: single. I haven’t been so fine with being single since I got divorced twelve years ago. Being single is so much better than being in a relationship that makes me depressed.

I did have a “date” with a friend tonight, who can’t make it because she’s sick. So I’ll probably just go enjoy my favourite neighbourhood restaurant by myself (mmm tikka masala). I’ll eat some ginger chocolate, and I will love myself, because I am my own Valentine.

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Surveying would-be students

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Since I’ve been with BCcampus we haven’t focused much on post-secondary students as an audience. The primary audience for our communications efforts is made up of representatives from post-secondary institutions themselves. After all, it’s the presidents, vice-presidents academic, directors of information technology, registrars, people at centres for teaching and learning technologies who we deal with regularly. They’re the ones we have to persuade that working with BCcampus is cost-effective and provides better service to students and faculty. Students are attached to their university or college, and therefore are a secondary audience for us.

That being said, many of our services are student-facing: ApplyBC.ca, the provincial application service; CoursesBC.ca, an online course directory, MyCreditsBC.ca, a new service that provides unofficial electronic transcripts for students of eight institutions. Not only that but students also use the learning management systems, and get their learning experience from faculty who use educational technologies. It’s worth getting the student take on the landscape of online student services.

We surveyed student applicants through ApplyBC recently – it was a “toe-dip” – a foray into taking the temperature of our secondary audience. I’ve included a synopsis of the results below; you can find the full report and survey results on the BCcampus wiki.

We are also surveying post-secondary stakeholders, and that report will probably be available later in February.

Synopsis:

With this survey BCcampus sought an overview of student’s perceptions and attitudes toward existing online student services. The survey was purposefully short (in order to increase chances for completion) and was meant to complement, rather than replace, detailed user testing of existing tools. The questions were also meant to situate BCcampus services within the landscape of the broader provincial system.

The survey respondents were mostly would-be post-secondary students (not yet accepted into a higher-ed institution). Results indicate:

  • minimal awareness of post-secondary online services in the British Columbia system;
  • fairly strong approval of ApplyBC, the provincial application service;
  • lukewarm support for existing services for post-secondary students in general;
  • strong support for additional and enhanced services in the future.

Response rate:

There were 7,190 applicants using ApplyBC during the survey period. Google Analytics for ApplyBC show 12.64% of visits derived from search traffic and 15.48% derived from direct traffic for the same period.

Thus, approximately 2,013 applicants came from direct or search, and therefore would get the popup invitation to take part in the survey (7,190 * (12.64% + 15.48%) = 2,013).

Of the 2,013 potential respondents, 249 emails were sent as a result of applicants choosing to participate in the survey, approximately 12% of eligible users.

Of those 249 emails sent, 63 completed surveys were collected. However, 79 eligible respondents clicked on the link, leaving 16 incomplete responses. Those 16 were not counted in the survey results described here as there was not enough data gathered from them to make a thorough analysis.

Total participation rate in the survey is approximately 3% (63 / 2013 * 100).

Conclusions:

It is possible there is a gap between expectations and the reality of the B.C. post-secondary system that bears further research. It also may indicate the respondents have not thought through what the landscape of post-secondary services for students might look like. This could be a function of the survey design or inexperience, as the overwhelming majority of respondents are not yet post-secondary students.

The survey responses could also indicate that researching and applying to university or college online is such a basic expectation it’s not perceived as a separate “service.” In many ways online services are now perceived the same way electricity or indoor plumbing are perceived: so ubiquitous that their origins and function are unconscious until they break down or disappear.

Today’s post-secondary students expect online services to work without undue delay or complexity. For the most part they do, but the post-secondary system could be providing a better experience overall.

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Adventures in Tsawwassen

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No blog post yesterday I’m ashamed to realize. I have notes for it. I’ll post it sometime today, but last night was a bad night for writing.
There’s something about waiting 45 minutes in the grocery store in Tsawwassen for a tow truck driver to show up to boost your dead car, then finding the Massey Tunnel down by a lane, detouring to the Alex Fraser bridge (which was actually good for the purposes of recharging the car’s battery) that kills motivation.
We put away the groceries, poured a whisky (Talisker 18 year) and went to bed.
It wasn’t all bad: the river is pretty at night. Traffic was really light over the bridge. It’s the second time I’ve crossed the Alex Fraser which is a treat because I think it’s a beautiful structure. I’m coming to love bridges the longer I live here. Yesterday morning I got off the bus in South Granville and walked to work from there, just so I could walk over the Granville Street bridge.
Even so, last night’s adventure was time consuming. Thrifty Foods, when will you open a store in Vancouver proper? Preferably Marpole area. Even Kerrisdale would do.
We’ve decided to stick to Safeway at Oakridge from now on. And we’ll remember to turn off the lights while we shop.
Also: I need to get out and photograph some bridges.

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