>Another article for work– REALLY rough first draft. Comments would be enjoyable if they’re serious. If you have nothing scholarly to add, bugger off.

Comics in the Classroom

Comic books.

You’re probably thinking about Superman or Spider-Man. Batman or Wonder Woman. Maybe cheap, cheesy horror stories, pirate adventures, or some other muscle-bound, spandex-clad crusader whose first response is a strong punch. You’re probably not thinking about your classroom right now.

You should be.

Comics in Culture

A recent explosion in academic interest in comic books and graphic novels has stirred the creation of comics curricula nationwide. Several colleges and universities are now offering courses in comics literature, and high school teachers are exploring graphic novels as a new way to stimulate young readers’ interest in literature. The National Association of Comics Art Educators is producing exercises, study guides, and handouts on comics in the classroom, and several comic book companies, notably CrossGen, are including resources for educators in each issue they produce. Comics have been the subject of a national best-seller, Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, and novelists and screenwriters like Brad Meltzer and Kevin Smith have lined up to write the adventures of the heroes they grew up with. Art Spiegelman’s Maus, the story of his father’s internment in Nazi Germany, was the first comic to win a Pulitzer Prize, and comics have nabbed prestigious awards in other fields.

Considering the success of comics-inspired film and television shows like Smallville, X-Men, and Hulk, and their popularity with children, there is a tremendous interest in comics-related material that educators could easily turn into an enthusiasm for reading. However, it’s difficult to know which comics are appropriate for children, and many educators place a stigma on comic books– a stigma that dates back to the 1950’s, when at the height of McCarthyism, comics were the targets of congressional scrutiny. (For an abbreviated history of comics, check A Brief History of the Comics Universe.) In fact, it’s tough to know what a comic is, when the most respected example of the form, Maus, received this “praise” in the New York Times: “Maus is not a comic book.”

The Case for Comics

Comic books, the pulpy-papered, saddle-stapled mixture of art and story, have gained a new respect from the literary community in the past fifteen years. The alter ego of the comic book is the graphic novel, which is also a medium in which stories are told through both text and pictures, but replaces the flimsy saddle-stapling with solid binding. Increasingly, comics publishers are collecting multiple issues into single volumes, and comics writers are responding with more ambitious and artistic story arcs that spread across many issues.

Graphic novels are increasingly appearing in local libraries, are reviewed alongside traditional novels in pulications like the New York Times and Entertainment Weekly, and have sections devoted to them in bookstores and on Amazon.com. With a renewed emphasis on independent reading in schools, comics appeal to students and teachers with a variety of interests and are increasingly being seen during D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything and Read) time. Comics have a wide range of subjects, well beyond the super-hero.

Comics are cheaper to produce now than ever before, and the industry has adapted to the point where they are able to take gambles on more artistic fare that’s been less traditionally marketable than super-hero comics. Until the 1980’s, comics appeared on newsstands, and up to 50% of comics might be returned to the publisher if they didn’t sell, which meant tremendous pressure to create the “next big hit.” Most comics are now distributed through speciality retailers and mass merchants, which means unsold issues won’t be returned, and small companies have more freedom to explore offbeat writers and artists.

As a medium, comics and graphic novels (which are lumped together in a term– “sequential art”– coined by one of the field’s pioneers, Spirit author Will Eisner), now have a definitive textbook, as well. Scott McCloud penned Understanding Comics, which explored the medium and its history in comic form. His sequel, Reinventing Comics, is also penned as a comic book, and explores the effects of new technologies and cultural changes on an existing industry.

I paid $1.999 today at the gas pump. For the first time since I have owned my little Toyota Corolla, a fill-up cost me more than $20.00.

OK, so here is the article I wrote this morning for LEARN, with some handy feedback from the Doctor and Melissa incorporated. I’ve sent it along to the appropriate folks, and consider myself done with this, but I post it here in case there’s something just awful and glaring that needs attention. If it’s not awful and glaring, I will ignore your comments.

Why Did You Send Me a Virus?

As more people use the Internet to work and play, more people are facing the perils of Internet viruses and worms. In fact, you may have received an e-mail from a friend or co-worker recently that contained a virus. Why would someone you know send a virus on to you? Chances are, they didn’t. Let’s take a look at some of the hazards of being on the Internet.

Viruses and Worms

One question you may have is, “What is the difference between a virus and a worm?” You’ve probably heard both terms, but distinguishing between the two can be difficult.

A virus is a small program that will affect, and often hides inside, other programs. A virus might attach itself to your word processing, e-mail, or spreadsheet program– the most popular programs are often the most targeted by viruses and virus writers. Viruses can be spread through floppy disks, shared network drives and jumpdrives that contain infected files. Some viruses are passed across the Internet through e-mails, waiting for a recipient to open them. Once opened, they’ll replicate themselves by taking over the e-mail program and e-mailing copies of the virus to every e-mail address they can find on the hard drive. To further disguise themselves, the e-mails they send will appear to be from someone else’s e-mail address, often an address also found on the hard drive.

A worm is a program that exploits security holes to infect other computers. A recent example of a worm looked for an error in the Microsoft Windows XP operating system of any machine it could find attached to the Internet. When the worm found the error, it copied itself onto the user’s computer and began causing the machine to shut down, making it difficult to use. From the new computer, the worm began looking for other computers to infect, as well. Microsoft was able to update the Windows XP operating system, fixing the error, but users had to get the update before the worm found their computer on the Internet. (If you run a Microsoft operating system, be sure to update Windows regularly to fix potential vulnerabilities, or better yet, configure Windows to find updates automatically.)

Did You Send Me This Virus?
When you get an e-mail that contains a virus, you feel upset that a friend would endanger your computer. But before you get angry, remember that your friend may have had nothing to do with the virus. Let’s look at how you might have gotten the virus.

A programmer writes code that will cause an e-mail virus to be replicated around the globe. The virus may be designed to hurt your data, or it may be designed just to replicate itself as much as possible, clogging networks and making the Internet much slower. It could also be designed to attack a certain website. (Recent viruses have targeted Microsoft, SCO, and the White House.) The code for this virus designed to spread the virus as fast as possible through e-mail. This virus is tricky because when it sends copies of itself, it will also send an e-mail with one of several possible messages. One of these messages says, “Warning: Your computer may be infected with a virus. Please run this program to remove all viruses. From, Systems Administrator.”

The programmer, who does not want to face criminal charges associated with spreading viruses across the Internet, does not launch the virus. Instead, she posts the code to her website for informational purposes. But a less experienced programmer (perhaps referred to as a “hacker” or “script kiddie”) finds the code, and thinks it would be fun to launch the virus. He attaches the virus to an e-mail and sends it to 50 or so addresses that he’s gotten from searching the Internet. His e-mail says, “Team, please see the attached project status report. We’ll need to move quickly if we want to be successful.” He names the attachment “update.doc.exe.” (The .exe at the end indicates that the file is an executable program.)

The 50 or so recipients largely ignore the message, because they don’t know the sender. But one recipient is pressed for time, sees a message that looks like a real update, and opens the executable file without paying much attention. The virus has been released, and now sends itself to everyone in his address book, disguised as a message from “danny@example.com,” which is another address our unwitting recipient had in his address book.

If you have ever sent an e-mail to our one unlucky recipient, you may get the virus e-mail he has unleashed. And if you know danny@example.com, you may be fooled when you see his address at the top of the e-mail you received.

How Do I Know What’s Real, Then?

Internet users have a responsibility to educate themselves about viruses and how they are spread, so that they can help combat viruses.

The best protection against computer viruses is anti-virus software. Good anti-virus software will also include a feature that allows it to connect to the Internet and update its list of known viruses, providing up-to-the-minute coverage against new viruses. The Free Site offers a list of free anti-virus products, but some free products may not be updated often as new viruses are released. C-Net’s Virus Center offers reviews of a number of anti-virus software programs, as well as advisories of new viruses circling the Internet.

But just having anti-virus software won’t protect you fully. You’ll also need to educate yourself about viruses. Some computer experts suggest that people are now more likely to spread a computer virus than software. There are usually several telltale signs that an e-mail attachment could be a virus:

• it comes from an email address you don’t recognize (but also remember that you can get email viruses from your friends and colleagues if their computers have been infected);
• the subject of the email is extremely vague;
• the subject contains hook lines like “Hi! Here’s the document you wanted” or “Can you check this for me?” or “You’ll love this one”;
• the text body of the message is extremely short (a few words or a short paragraph) but the message size is very large (between 100KB and 500KB);
• the attachment is executable – i.e. it is a file whose filename suffix is .exe, or .vbs or .com or .bat – or the suffix is not one you recognize – such as .pif.
• the attachment has a double suffix – e.g. filename.doc.exe. This might look like a Microsoft Word document, but it is really an executable file – and therefore dangerous.

(Credit: Filippo Salustri, http://deed.ryerson.ca/~fil/M/virusspam.html)

If you suspect that an e-mail could contain a virus, do not open the attachment. If you are unsure, e-mail or call the sender and ask them to verify that they did indeed send you a message with an attachment that is safe to open. Remember, don’t be surprised if they don’t know what you’re talking about– the e-mail may not have come from them at all.

Additional Links

For Use With Students

I’m Afraid I’ll Get a Virus: http://www.coolnerds.com/Newbies/Fear/virusFear/virusFear.htm
Top Ten Cyber Security Tips for Teens, Teachers, and Families: http://www.cybersmart.org/for/top_ten.asp
Virus Detection and Prevention Tips: http://www.networkassociates.com/us/security/resources/av_tips.htm

For Adults

Learn more about how a viruses uses, or “spoofs,” your e-mail address: http://enterprisesecurity.symantec.com/content.cfm?articleid=784
7 Things to Know About Virus Writers: http://www.bcentral.com/articles/enbysk/160.asp
Updating Your Anti-Virus Software: http://www.techtv.com/callforhelp/answerstips/story/0,24330,2412785,00.html
Virus Hoax Page: http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/virus.htm
Virus Protection Primer, Part 2: http://www.glencoe.com/norton/online/ezine/display_article.phtml?id=162

And here’s a holla for Carolyn from Green Bay, since someone is searching this blog for her name. If it’s you, CG, cool; if it’s not you, be afraid, be very afraid. Lots of searches recently.

Instead of doing actual work, I spent the latter half of the morning writing a basic article on computer viruses aimed at people who don’t know that when they get e-mail attachments, a lot of times the addresses are spoofed. May publish here in a little bit to solicit feedback.

In a sure sign that I am indeed batty, I have now seen three people today in different locations just walking around in white lab coats. Two were within about a half mile of each other as I took Heidi to work today, a third was in the Hardee’s parking lot when I went to get lunch. I wonder if they’re looking at me.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, don’t try to go play miniature golf in my neck of the woods. Fun Werks in Durham, another establishment with an unfortunate misspelling of “works,” apparently filed for bankruptcy in January of this year. Maybe you knew that. I did not. At least, not until yesterday.

Which blows… I want to putt it up!

• Major fuck-ups on the DSI mailing lists caused everyone to get a message, and left the mailing lists open for people to respond for a couple hours Sunday night. Only one response to the Chapel Hill list, but Chicago got flooded by people asking what the messages were, which will lead to a mass unsubscription. Whenever there’s even one off-list message, people start bailing because they feel like they’ve been spammed. Worst of all, it may be because the list was compromised. I have deleted the lists for now and will have to restore this afternoon… one address at a time. Son of a cock.
• This comes on the heels of several weeks where the lists were unavailable as they were moved from one server to another– as a result, we didn’t get to send e-mail to our whole list about the next Level 1 class, so enrollment on that is a lot lower than I had hoped.
• Did I mention I was up much later than I wanted to be working on these damn lists?
• The City of Heroes quest gets more difficult– my HP computer does not have an AGP slot. So if I want a new video card, I will need to buy a new motherboard. And if I want to play four of the five games I most want to try out, I’ll need a new video card. So, it looks like I will be spending $350 or so to play games, or my intensely powerful mind will have nothing to distract it. Dammit, because I could really use a good game.
• What the fuck is up with iTunes’ “you can only download it once” policy? Son of a cock, that’s annoying.
• I’m sleepy.
• I’m grouchy.
• I have too much spam in my inbox, even after my spam filter catches it.
• I want to shoot someone in the face. But even that’s illegal. Thanks a lot, laws.