“Technology is infused in every part of our society,” Illinois Tech President Raj Echambadi said. “So if a student or a learner is not equipped with technology, then obviously the society, the community, the city, the state and the nation suffers. This is a very small step for us, but hopefully, it will be a giant leap for Chicago.”
“What’s occurring is a form of information warfare, controlling information that gets in and out,” said Maurice Dawson, assistant professor of cybersecurity at Illinois Tech. “As we ban this app in this country, realize that in China all Western apps are banned, so there’s no Facebook, Instagram, none of that stuff. That’s something many Americans don’t realize.”
“The design attempts to cast the visitor in the role of investigative journalist,” Professor John Ronan said. “So visitors will navigate through these layered glass elements to reach a place of remembrance at the heart of the site that honors those journalists who have sacrificed their lives in the pursuit of truth.”
The Bring Chicago Home ballot measure just survived a legal challenge — and unless the Illinois Supreme Court orders otherwise, the question will remain on the ballot and the Chicago Board of Elections will count each vote cast on March 19. The measure itself is straightforward, if wordy. It restructures the real estate transfer tax from a flat tax to a progressive tax in order to raise funds to address homelessness. And because part of that restructuring involves increasing the transfer tax on high-priced real estate, the Illinois Municipal Code requires voter approval, which is what Bring Chicago Home is seeking.
“It deals with what I think is a global issue, freedom of the press, not just an American issue,” Professor John Ronan said. “The role of the journalist has never been more important, and the ideals of a free press never more consequential than it is today.”
“When you look at the breadth of this kind of outage, it really kind of in my mind points to some kind of software problem. You have to be concerned about the security aspects of that as well,” said Cindy Hood, a wireless communication and networks expert at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Even with service being restored, Hood said there are likely to be some changes following the incident. “This kind of outage will always trigger some kind of oversight.”
Mark Roman Miller, an assistant professor at Illinois Institute of Technology, sees augmented reality devices as extraordinary tools, but he warns that they also carry enormous potential for counterproductive distraction. He says he “treats his smartphone like his shoes” by leaving it at the door when he comes home. Augmented and mixed-reality devices could further exacerbate the problem of divided attention that many smartphone users already encounter, he says.
"When announcing any job layoffs or job cuts, companies should be required to clearly disclose the number of jobs cut temporarily or permanently because of AI."
“There’s nowhere to go if the Supreme Court says no here,” said Carolynn Shapiro, professor of law and co-director of the Institute on the Supreme Court of the United States at Chicago-Kent College of Law. “That’s what I think they will do, that’s what I think they should do. It’s possible they will do something different.”
“I know a lot of people use water filters at home, and I’m someone who doesn’t because I trust in the water, that we’re doing a good job treating it and that it’s safe,” said David Lampert, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering. “The EPA has lots standards that are required from any sort of a public water system, and I know that Chicago works really hard to make sure that we’re meeting those standards and that the water is safe to drink. I personally always make sure that I drink water straight out of the tap just as my way of advertising that that’s one of our products that we believe in.”
