Reality is not sexy

 Sex sells, that's what they say. I am personally not a direct purchaser, but could consider myself, an indirect one. Let me clarify. I am not in any way involved in any stage of the process of exchanging sex for money, not for myself or for anyone else. Not a career I see myself in, or have ever seen myself in. Pimpin' was as far as I recall, not part of my childhood ambitions or drawings.

What do I mean by indirect consumer? I'll try to explain. What I mean, is that I watch the series and the movies with all the good looking people. I see the advertising and it works for me. I would rather wear shoes or merchandise woren by Giselle Bundchen (if I could afford it) rather than Snookie from Jersey Shores. I like buying things that look pretty, the they'll reflect upon me. Why do I purchase things that are pretty and may make me look pretty? You tell me! ;)

Watching hollywood movies, and shows, and all that eternal advertising you are presented with all the ultimate sexual cliches that humans have and the really weird one's too (but I will not go in to that). You have the nurses, you have the maids, the firemen, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, etc. etc.... the list is endless But...

It all started in the library where I was studying, streaming Grey's Anatomy, checking Facebook, doing all those things you do in the library. Suddenly, the fire alarm went off. So i immediately grab my stuff and make my way out, on the way noticing how people were just not moving despite the loudest voice saying: "Emergency, please evacuate". Anyways, the only thing I make out of that, is that their Facebook must actually have been interesting, unlike mine. Outside, I was informed that it was nothing exciting, it was just a drill. I was annoyed, then suddenly a positive light was shed upon the situation when two firetrucks drove in to the campus for a ''drill rescue'. I might have been mildly (very mildly, baby) interested in what Australian firemen look like, so I decided to take a little peek. There they were the fireman ideal burning up in flame as the group of 50+ men with the large bellies descended from their trucks, definitely not moving with the hollywood fireman physique, speed, agility, hair, tan. Devastating reality check, and so the fire drill went back to being annoying. Don't get me wrong. I know what firemen do for a living is extremely wonderful and courageous... all I'm saying is that I would never buy their shoes.

Lies

More lies!

DMS Blog Week 12: Identify two ways your profession can help bridge the digital divide.

Image 1

The digital divide is defined as being “the differential access to and use of the internet according to gender, income , race and location”(Flew, 2008, p. 26). In the area of information management when looking at organizations and their use of information and communication technologies, the digital divide between companies is mainly created due to location and wealth. In this blog I will identify two ways in which the field of information management may help companies in less developed countries close the social and global digital divide with companies in developed countries, when it comes to computer mediated communication.

The first cause of the digital divide we will discuss, is one that may between the national start up companies in third world countries and national start up companies in developed countries, due to economic differences. According to Pick and Azari (2007) the difference in the socioeconomic status of a country is one of the variables that may lead to a digital divide.

A high initial investment in information technology is almost a survival requirement for start up's in developed countries. This may include investments such as: desktops and laptops for every employee, personal printers, broadband internet access, etc. On the other hand, these investments may be seen as complete inconceivable to start ups in developing countries, who may invest in a few desktop computer to carry out certain work tasks that absolutely require information technologies.

Image 2

In a case such like the one's presented above, a professional information manager would be able to step in a carry out an ethnographical research of the companies work behavior and the interlinked work processes. Furthermore documenting the companies communication channels and directions, will lead to the identification of the internal and external information flows of the company. This preliminary study, will lead to the next step which involves designing a collaboration network suited to the companies needs. In the design process of this collaboration network the researcher will be able to take in to account the company's level of engagement and the economic feasability with regard to information technology investment. In other words, an information manager will be able to maximize the benefits of the accessible technology, which is something a lot of companies in developed countries, who have the money to invest still fail to do. (Cases)

In terms of national start up companies one has to take in to account the culture and customer revolving technology. The presence of a technoculture in developing countries will be small pr close to none in comparison to developed countries close to none. Therefore, the question is whether the necessity for technological innovations in for increased computer mediated communication is necessary. The answer, as the world sees it today, is that technology and progress go hand in hand. So yes, technological innovations and the start of a formation of a technology culture is necessary.

Hype is defined as “excessive promotion, exuberant positive (or negative discourse, exaggeration” (Brand, 2010).

This is another area where the profession of information management may come in to question, as a creator of hype in a company. Creating hype can be done in several ways. An information manager would not create the hype the same way as a marketer, who would do it through arousing human emotions or repetition. In a sense, an information manager, can create hype by informing and changing peoples “technological frames” (Orlikowski, 1997, p.3) which are seen as “mental models or frames of references that individuals have about the world, their organization, work, technology, and so on”. Informing companies and people about the benefits of using information technology and computer mediated communication. Additionally providing Knowledge about ways the company may benefit from investing and learning about technology will encourage application and further spread and could possibly lead to a further “diffusion of innovation”(Flew, 2008, p. 207).

Through applying their knowledge in situations such as the previously mentioned, information managers have the power to change the significance of some of the underlying factors that create the digital divide, mainly those of income (seen as economic capabilities), location and education.

References

Brand, J. (2010) The digital divide: Week 12 Digital Media and Society[PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from: http://ilearn.bond.edu.au/@@597E95B6E5D9B0B6E87F02602569165B/courses/1/COMN12-302_103/content/_551310_1/DMS12-103.pdf

Flew, T. (2008). New Media: An Introduction (3^rd). Sydney: Oxford University Press.

Pick, J.B., & Azari, R. (2007). Worldwide digital divide: influences of education, workforce, economic, and policy factors on information technology. ACM Digital Library, Retrieved from http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1235019&dl=ACM&coll=DL&CFID=116623887&CFTOKEN=16180121

Orlikowski, W.J. (1992). Learning from notes: organizational issues in groupware implementation. Proceedings of the Cscw'92: proceedings of the conference on computer-supported cooperative work (pp. 362-369). New York: ACM Press

Images 
Image 1, retrieved 30th november 2010:
http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRQJq2OYZfXHyS8T7oz1lP5pHqQzc_WjFZx-MVjjWvD1BKil__QNQ 
Image 2, retrieved 30th november 2010:
http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ_vxDeiDDmGasseijz7iLH78o7vRjcGaZYT4WMNPH5rK8fcLMk

DMS Blog 3 : What does the word community mean for your profession and will its meaning change in a decade?

A virtual community can be seen as an online space where employees working in a team, for a common purpose, can participate and interact, leading to computer supported cooperative work (CSCW). This blog will present how recent CSCW related innovations have changed the importance of virtual communities in organizational behavior, in addition exploring the effect this change will have information management as a profession.

IBM, a leading software corporation created the social software of Lotus Connections with the purpose of providing a capability for organizations to establish work networks and communities, by means of functionalities, such as: Blogs, community-space, social networking, forums, file sharing, wikis, etc.

Moving one step further up the line of innovation, other tools such as SL meetings, designed to support meetings and event on second life, allow for even richer messages to be transmitted through an online communication channel. The media richness model, as described by Daft and Lengel (as cited in Miller, 1999), describes rich media as having: instant feedback, multiple cues, natural language and a personal focus on the medium. Where, Face-to-face communication is the richest of all communication channels.

Scene from Second Life

The recent evolution of the use of virtual communities in organizations. Has taken the capabilities of using tools such as those offered by Lotus Connection, which are limited to sending and receiving textually based information in a synchronous or asynchronous manner, to the possibility of including vocal and physical cues in online communication. Virtual worlds and tools such as SL meetings, eliminates the previously necessary constraints of being in the same place at the same time to use a rich communication channel.

The change of the term community within organizations has taken community from being a geographically defined traditional community, where inclusion or exclusion were defined according to physical location of offices or location of headquarters, to the idea of online communities where membership is according to purpose, cause, etc.

This change in community has derived from organizations slowly adapting to globalization. Globalization has forced organizations to have an 'international' mindset when selecting communication channels, as globalization is according to Flew (2008), amongst other things, the “rise of multinational corporations; international production, trade and financial systems; international communication flows; global movements of people...” (p. 26). Internal communication increasingly includes communication transcending national boundaries.

This elimination of time and space constraints create what McLuhan refers to as a the 'global village. McLuhan (in Symes, 1995) further said ‘Today, after more than a century of electric technology, we have extended our central nervous system in a global embrace, abolishing both space and time as far as our planet is concerned’ (p. 3)

Work teams within organizations, are to a larger extent existing and interacting purely on virtual worlds, leading to the idea that offline communication may replace as main communication channel. This is because, the richness of the communication channel online will be equal to face-to-face communication channel, as well as being more convenient.

The task of the information manager, to manage new technological innovations in terms of communication, with organizational capabilities and needs, becomes increasingly challenging. In this knowledge economy, information is being retrieved, stored, shared through an online medium, making access, security and participation new focal points for the profession.

In conclusion, globalization, are changing geographically formed organizational communities, to ideological communities driven by common purpose, interest, etc. allowing communities to exist in the online environment. Continuous innovations in software for CSCW, means that communication in online communities will become the main communication channel between organizational members worldwide.

References

Flew, T. (2008). New Media: An Introduction (3^rd). Sydney: Oxford University Press.

Symes, B. 1995. Marshall Mcluhan’s ‘Global Village’. Retrieved November 2010. From http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Students/bas9401.html

Miller, Katherine,  1999  Organizational communication : approaches and processes / Katherine Miller  Wadsworth, Belmont, Calif. ; London

Webpages

Lotus connections - social software for business. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ibm.com/software/lotus/products/connections/

Meetings and events in second life. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://work.secondlife.com/en-US/worksolutions/meetings/

The tales of Camping and the Porty Potty

I went camping this weekend to Rainbow Beach, amazing place! Beautiful scenery. I had a great great time, met some great people. Truly fun experience. We went to some dunes(picture below) and it was absolutely amazing. The beach was perfectly clear and at perfect temperature. I'd recommend it to anyone, it was fantastic!

Anyways, I recently read a blog post (http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/) that black people don't camp, apparently it's a caucasian trend. Who knew? Quite entertaining I must say but this has absolutely nothing to do with this blog entry.

I like the relaxed feeling of just hanging out by the ocean and the camp site.  I like nature. I got some new pets, 4 turkeys (Michael, Thanksgiving, Peter and Pancho) and a frog (Frank). I almost walked in to what I am convinced was probably the most dangerous spider in the southern hemisphere. Not a problem! When nature calls, then I got a problem. Camping and bathrooms, oh my goodness! Camping, bathrooms and heat, oh my double goodness!! Not pleasant, pretty much sums it up.

Frank was cuter

Today I wanted to share with you some of the observations I made this weekend:

1. I didn't see any black people camping

2. Going to the bathroom while camping can easily become a phobia

3. People have a strange tendency to take their dogs to the bathroom..?

4. Why not provide some light in the porty pottys, so as to avoid using the senses of touch and smell

5. I am happy wet nappies were invented

My recommendation: Take your own bathroom and while you're at it, take your own shower too.

Miss Monster, Miss Cookie Monster.

As most of you my dear friends may be aware of, last friday I sprained my ankle playing tennis. It was the beginning of my weekend, and what followed is short of mind blowing. 

My complete lack of trust in doctors made me diagnose and treat myself, with the aid of my wonderful mexican co-doctor Sergio. I started by icing the injury and followed by applying cream for sport injuries and taking some deinflamatory pills. To say the least friday evening the swelling was going back down and taking the pain with it. That night I slept like a baby.

Next day my ankle was chubby, which is an understatement, it was actually fat. The events that followed opposed the unpredictable.

I had my cereal for breakfast, after which I set up my study area on the dining table. Lazy to do my homework, I sat back and watched iguanas with my leg up in the air, waiting for gravity to take my swelling. I researched a little bit on this and a little bit on that and then I ate some Oreos. I watched an episode of how I met your mother, followed by some more work and then I ate some Oreos. After realising I was restricted to the chair I decided to take the opportunity and advance my project for class and then I ate some Chips Ahoy. By then, I deserved a break, so I watched an episode of Dexter when suddenly I was greeted by some delicious chilli and sour cream chips. This was followed by an episode of how I met your mother and Grey's anatomy and some oreos. I then continued eating Oreos while people were pre drinking to go to the party, I limped them to the door and opened my new packet of Oreos. I watched and episode of Dexter and then I went to sleep.

      
  On sunday, I woke up. Can't remember what I had for breakfast but I started working on my project, so exciting. I took a break and watched an episode of two and a half men and ate Chips Ahoy. I decided to watch a movie, so I watched "Love at first hiccup" and then I made a grilled cheese sandwich. After which I went to the library (bad decision!) when I came back my foot was fat again so I had some Oreos. A couple of shows and movie later, I went to sleep.

Monday, I woke up ready to seize the day (carpe diem!) when I realised I still couldn't walk like a normal person, so... yeah, I decided to have some Oreos but they were gone!! I had no more Oreos left. It was tragic. In a state of confusion I decided food was my salvation, so I ordered dominos pizza! :)

Blog 2 topic: How is collective intelligence used in your profession?

Introduction

Implementation of adequate resources relating to technology and employee management have been presented as key drivers for success by several researchers.(Berg, 2001; Orlikowski, 1992; Ellingsen & Monteiro, 2006) This blog will aim at analysing motivation for employee participation in an organisational wide network. This analysis, will furthermore explore why collective intelligence is valuable to an organisation. Concluding with an overview of the importance of information managers to the successful harnessing of collective intelligence.

Encouraging Participation

Case Studies often present the case where top level management have taken a technologically deterministic approach (Flew 2008) towards new technological implementation. There is a common misconception that solely an investment in technology will yield organisational change towards a flat, free-communication sharing network. This point of view fails to place importance on the human resource management, in charge of the employees during the new system implementation.

Organisational culture being a strong influential factor on employee work mentality, behavior and work processes, has to be taken into consideration. Moving towards a knowledge economy the employees become the “prosumers”(Marketing Chapter 4), therefore, their participation in the producing “information products” (Orna, 2005, p. 12) is essential for a valuable collective intelligence. This is expressed according to Flew (2008) as “quality of participation increases as the numbers participating increases”(p. 48).

Mainly, organisations attempt to retrieve employees tacit knowledge, and attempt to turn it in to explicit knowledge, available to all. The idea of information discrimination can be presented when the voice of lower level employees is disregarded in the implementation process of ICTs. (Berg, 2001; Orlikowski, 1992; Ellingsen & Monteiro, 2006)

Allowing employees, the future members of the organisational information network, to be part of the system process design and implementation, could in return create a heightened sense of accountability and responsibility for employees as well as a higher enthusiasm to participate through contribution.

A part from the open communication lines at all levels, further motivation for “prosumer” (Chaffey, 2000, p. 185) participation could be sparked by changes in the organisational structure and the organisational culture. Incorporation of organisational values relating to team work, collboration and information sharing could go far in changing individualist and competitive work habits often present in a bureaucratic organisation. Furthermore, changes in the organisational merit structure could have significant effects in increasing participation levels within the network. For example, allocation of incentives towards sharing in the form of bonuses or the provision of time, during working hours, allocated to 'networking'.

Value of Collective Intelligence

Investing in ICTs and encouraging participation of employee “prosumers”(Chaffey, 2000, p. 185) will allow for the harnessing of valuable collective intelligence by creating for example a common platform, where collaboration and sharing could take place through the use of blogs, tag clouds, twitters, etc.

Successful implementation and launching of an organisation wide information sharing and collaboration network would increase employee satisfaction, as access to relevant information in a simple manner would reduce frustrations and time wasted searching in the case disparate information sources. These positive experiences in the network could lead to further contribution from the employee and other employees. Resulting in a more valuable collective intelligence.

Collective intelligence is a positive externality, where the benefit to the organisation is greater than the benefit to the individual employee. Underlying reasons, could be a more efficient workforce, since information is more accessible and accurate. The increased work efficiency could be a factor affecting organisational productivity. (Flew, 2008)

Dedrick, Gurbaxani, & Kraemer (2003) conducted a study to find the correlation between investment in ICTs (and complementary human resource investment) and a firms productivity. Results found that organisation that invested in ICTs experienced an incremental change in their productivity levels.

Conclusion

In conclusion, growing interest of organisations to maximize the benefits of collective intelligence opens the doors for information management as a profession. An information manager is involved in studying the organisation dynamics and planning a process for organisational change accordingly, in order to achieve a seamless and successful transition towards the goal harnessing collective intelligence.

Bibliography

Berg, M. (2001). Implementing information systems in health care organizations: myths and challenges. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 64(2-3), Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org.esc-web.lib.cbs.dk/10.1016/S1386-5056(01)00200-

Chaffey, D. (2000). Internet marketing; strategy implementation and practice. New York, NY: Financial Times/Prentice.

Dedrick, J., Gurbaxani, V., & Kraemer, K.L. (2003). Information technology and economic performance: a critical review of the empirical evidence. ACM Computing Surveys, 35(1), Retrieved from http://doi.acm.org.esc-web.lib.cbs.dk/10.1145/641865.641866

Ellingsen, G., & Monteiro, E. (2006). Seamless integration: standardisation across multiple local settings. The Journal of Collaborative Computing, 15(5-6), Retrieved from http://esc-web.lib.cbs.dk/login?url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10606-006-9033-0

Flew, T. (2008). New Media: An Introduction (3rd). Sydney: Oxford University Press.

Orlikowski, W.J. (1992). Learning from notes: organizational issues in groupware implementation. Proceedings of the Cscw'92: proceedings of the conference on computer-supported cooperative work (pp. 362-369). New York: ACM Press.

Orna, E. . (2005). making knowledge visible: communicating knowledge through information products. Aldershot, UK: Gower.

Google invoked Identity Crisis

I prefer Brazilian

I will first give a slight introduction to my interest or more specifically, the particular kind of knowledge that has been put at my disposition (very generously and interestingly!) the last 5 weeks. I am taking two 'technology' oriented subjects here at Bond, one being,digital media and society and the other, internet marketing. 

Here, I will refer mainly to internet marketing knowledge - (but you should thank my DMS class for being able to read this blog!). 

Being the internet and involving marketing means that a lot of information about search engine optimization, adwords, etc. is covered. From personal interest, I have researched the subjects further. Meaning that I have come to grasp a general understanding of how it works. How the information you search on google, or information from your emails and facebook are used for "target marketing"(I have to show off my new vocab *wink* ;-)).

My personal opinion on the matter is that I like reading relevant advertising, although discomforting knowing that google probably knows more about me than I probably do (meant as a joke - but who knows??)! - I said this and realised, that my next point probably contradicts this statement completely (or so I hope!). 

Lately I have received advertising(obviously!). 90% of which has been in dutch. This morning I somewhat translated something about hiring a brazilian belly dancer and then I have seen tons of coffee ad's. Some perfume and make up here and there (=D). 

I hope google is wrong about me, I thought I knew that I wasn't dutch. That I lived in denmark not Holland. As far as I know, I haven't showed special interest in belly dancers and I rarely drink coffee! At decided to rejoice in the fact that I like to smell good and look pretty and it was working until this ad popped up in my screen:

For the record: I have dates, ok?

I have been categorized a geek, I wonder what I was searching in google!

So, all you guys who thought you knew me. Think again! I am a nice smelling dutch belly-dancer-watching geek!

:)

Rare sightings in Australia

Kidding, it's not really Aussie style

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

(Although this one if mostly for the ladies - and gentlemen who want to know what not do!)

I don't know if any of you have had the possibility of sapping through my first-arrival-at-australia-pictures a.k.a "Soph goes DownUnder to AussieLand" album(on facebook!). I had some intense photos in there(the ugliest eatable wiener I've ever seen, but we'll save that for another day) of the latest 'Australian style' - see picture 1.

Today I was walking out of class and saw a sight that made me wish and beg I could get my hands on my so-rudely-stolen iPhone, in order to to capture that breath taking moment. I actually resented myself for not staying on the new wave of digital media and buying a new iPhone! An ancient Nokia just doesn't do the trick anymore! 

Funny looking, huh?

Today was a hot day, people were walking in all to short shorts and t-shirts. Quite ordinarily... the site that attracted my eyes was not that of a bad hair-do as seen on the photo, was not a cool print on a t-shirt or a style I wished I could pull off. So what did I see? I wish I had a picture to show you!

Today I was walking out of class, and I see quite an average looking white male about five foot seven, wearing a laid back t-shirt with some print on it, some cool summer shorts and UGGS! Full on brown, long UGGS! I had never thought of this before, but uggs are definitely womens footwear. 

So much for Kodak capturing the moment, you need iPhone!

Spotted!

Note* After writing this I googled male UGGS, and they do exist! But they shouldn't...

Academic Assignment/ Blog One - Week 3

Looking at organizations as an independent “social system”(Everett, 1995, p. 23) we can, by taking a “social-shaping of technology”(Flew, 2008, p. 44) approach, observe how the changing economical, social, environmental factors, have driven organizations to seek innovations in the form of technology. In order to change the organization working culture and the work processes, with the purpose of ensuring prosperity by attempting to control what Choo(2002) refers to as the “information tsunami”(p. 156).

In this era of information overload, the value of knowledge both explicit and implicit has been acknowledged, and given great importance by organizations, who are responding by encouraging their employees, by the means of new technology, to be active information collaborators and sharers. This could be further seen as an attempt to manage organizational knowledge, as well as ensuring it remains within the organizational after, for example, a specific employee leaves with his or her tacit knowledge.

The case study as presented by Orlikowski(1992), regards the implementation of the groupware software Notes, designed to maximize the organizational performance through the internal communication and collaboration functions present. The employees in Alpha did not adopt the new technology, Orlikoski(1992) concludes that the two of the main reasons for the rejection of the technology was the absence of proper information and training regarding, on how and why to use Notes. Comparing these findings, to the five main attributes of innovations, which determine the adoption speed(rate of diffusion)as presented by E. Rogers (1995, p.36), the advantages, the existence, the ease of use, and the relevance of the new software in connection to employee work processes was not properly communicated, if communicated at all.

The implementation of Notes to achieve a change towards higher information sharing and collaboration in the organizational work processes and the work culture, as presented by Orlikowski(1992), is merely one out of several organizations that have attempted to carry out an organizational change by the means of implementing new technology.

In the case, there is a recognizable trend of “authority innovation decision”(Everett 1995, p. 29), with a technological determinist approach to the implementation and diffusion of innovation process.

An underlying trait for higher management in organizations, is to assume that new technology will by it's own means change the way in which organizational members work and the way in which they behave. An example of this is found in the investigation carried out by Orlikowski's(1992). The implementation of the Notes software was authorized from higher authorities without providing adequate training or appropriate information session in order to communicate the advantages of the technology(Orlikowski, 1992, p. 364). Management, in this case, expected the technological innovation to carry out the change in the employee's mentality and their respective work processes towards a knowledge sharing oriented working mentality.(Orlikowski, 1992, p. 365)

The suggestions for improvement following the investigation presented by Orlikowski(1992), focuses on improving the communication and training about the media to the users(p. 368). An element, that E. Rogers(1995), presents as a component to the process of diffusing innovations(p. 35).

Further discussion, in the diffusion of innovations can take place regarding the degree of heterophily present in the organization. On one hand, top management positions, are often correlated with higher education as well as, a higher level of experience. On the other hand lower employee positions, may not have the same standard of education or the same amount of experience. This gives rise to the possibility of “not having effective communication”(Everett, 1995, p. 36) between these two different groups, affecting for example the decision on how much communication and training is needed for lower level employees to adopt an innovative technology.

References

Choo, C.W.(2002). A process model of information management. Managing Information Sources (pp. 23-58). Medford, NJ: Information Today.

Flew, T. (2008). New Media: An Introduction (3^rd). Sydney: Oxford University Press.

Orlikowski, W.J. (1992). Learning from notes: organizational issues in groupware implementation. Proceedings of the Cscw'92: proceedings of the conference on computer-supported cooperative work (pp. 362-369). New York: ACM Press. Retrieved from:

Rogers, E.M. (1995) Elements of Diffusion. Diffusion of Innovations (pp. 1-37). New York, NY: The Free Press a Division of Simon & Schuster Inc.

Australia = I love the Zoo

     It is time you know some things about me - one detail i would like to share today is my love for the Zoo. I love going to the Zoo! Despite some people saying it is an abuse to animal rights. I LOVEE it!

Look at those eyes!

     So lately I would think I had found my 'perfect' place here in Australia, because over the past week I have encountered more animals than I usually do in any other part of the world. Several species of spiders, iguanas, geckos, bats have I crossed life's path with
 Therefore, today, I would like to take the time to express my sincere appreciation for the Zoo... The perfectly set up reptile 'habitat' allowing for a close inspection of the animals through the glass pane. The short and sweet (and accurate!) description introducing, the poisonous, the painful and the harmful properties of the animals. I have never appreciated these things as greatly as I do now. I miss that glass panel as I walk to school in the mornings and have spiders all over my face. I miss knowing whether the reptiles presence means I am in danger or not. Difficult times ahead, I can tell. 

   I just wonder, when it will be the cute fuzzy koalas and kangaroos jumping out of the bush and resting in my bathtub?