Digito Society

Kindle is a Helpful but Crippled Research Tool

2009-06-21T10:16:00.001-04:00

The Kindle's value as a research tool has intrigued me. Amazon's announcement that Kindle notes and highlights are available on the web piqued my interest. The ability to convert notes and highlighted passages into a word document or a content management tool is a powerful research tool. Powerful because it means that highlighted text and notes are easily transportable from format to format. Powerful because those notes and highlighted passages are in a format that is guaranteed to be legible (unlike my handwriting at times ... OK, most times). Powerful because those notes and highlighted passages can be easily incorporated into a manuscript. Perfect!

Amazon's handy 'email to' your kindle feature is perfect for the myriad white papers and technical reports I encounter, frequently download, sometimes, print, yet rarely read. By putting these reports on my Kindle, I actually do read them. An added bonus is that these documents are typically written in a way conducive to stepping into and out of. This makes them perfect for filling an odd 5 minutes while waiting at Northern on Main for my sandwich, or when waiting for a flight.

With all of these thoughts in mind, I sent the Aspen Institute's intriguing white paper Identity in the Age of Cloud Computing to my Kindle via Amazon's handy email-to feature. Content rich with intriguing observations, I highlighted many passages. Notes flowed from thoughts spurred by ideas presented. Many of the passages and notes should be useful for my Winter quarter ecommerce course.

Document read, now to archive into a word document. Hmm ... the document isn't listed among the items in my "Kindle Reading List." Switching to Amazon.com's "Manage My Kindle" page, I find the paper listed under the "Your Individual Charges" section. Hmm ...bummer. It appears that, at this point in time, highlights and notes are available online only for books purchased from Amazon.com.Highlights and notes are not available online for items, such as white papers and other PDF or Word format documents, that are emailed to the Kindle.

Bummer! The inability to access highlights and notes on content other than Amazon.com Kindle books severely limits the utility of the Kindle as a research tool. Yes, the notes and highlights can be viewed in summary form on the Kindle, as with Kindle books purchased from Amazon. However the prospect of having to then manually transcribe those notes and highlights -- which are already in digital form -- into another system (e.g., a text document) is an unexpected, time consuming, and unnecessary step. One might as well type the notes and transcribe the passages directly into a document.

Perhaps this is a temporary state. Perhaps Amazon will soon turn on web accessible highlights and notes for Kindle documents other than Kindle Books purchased from Amazon.com. Given that the Kindle produces highlight and note summaries for these documents, it seems arbitrary that Amazon has chosen to not make them available on the web.

When (if?) Amazon.com makes notes and highlighted passages on user uploaded Kindle documents accessible on the web, the Kindle will be a very compelling complement to my arsenal of research tools. Until then, the Kindle is a helpful, but crippled, research tool.

Kindle Reading at the Barnes & Noble Cafe

2009-05-26T17:15:00.000-04:00

VerizonWireless.com is no Amazon.com

2009-02-27T11:45:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I decided to replace my out-of-contract and not-so-trusty Treo 700p. AT&T's network doesn't include Ada. That dashed my longing to have an iPhone fling. I'd love to boogie with a Blackberry. ONU is a Microsoft Exchange shop. Mail/contact/calendar sync over the air is essential. So Blackberry is off the table. Sorting through Verizonwireless' offerings of Exchange compatible phones, I decided to purchase a Samsung Saga.

So I headed to VerizonWireless.com to order the phone. That's when the fun started. I took a pass through the ordering process. The options made no sense. The detail available provided no clarification. I bailed without making a purchase.

Fortified by lunch and a beer, I tried again. This time I rounded up an IM buddy, a "VerizonWireless online pre-sales specialist" to assist me. Here's how that process unfolded:

Please wait for a Verizon Wireless sales representative to assist you with your order. Thank you for your patience!

A Verizon Wireless online pre-sales specialist has joined the chat. You are now chatting with MJ

MJ: Hello. Thank you for visiting our chat service. May I help you with your order today?
You: I currently have the unlimited data plan. what is the difference between the unlimited data plan and the less expensive email/web data plan?

MJ: The only difference is that the $44.99 package gives you access to corporate emailing, they both give you unlimited emailing and unlimited web as well.
You: What is 'corporate emailing'?

MJ: It is emailing for corporations, that use a special emailing system
You: hmm ... I configure the phone to connect with the exchange server. Is that a 'special emailing system'?

MJ: What is the exact name?
You: The exact name of what?

MJ: Ok the server that you use for emailing?
You: Microsoft Exchange Server

MJ: Please hold on while I check that information.
MJ: Is it a Pop 3 account?
You: No ... it is a Microsoft Exchange Server account ... when configuring the account, one selects Microsoft Exchange from the list of account types ...
MJ: Ok great, then the $29.99 package will not work for you. The Exchange server is counted as a corporate emailing account.
You: thank you

MJ: Are you looking to upgrade today?
You: yes
MJ: Are you ready to go ahead and place your order today?
You: yes
MJ: Excellent! To upgrade your equipment you will need to sign in to your "My Verizon" and click on "My Services". You will then click on "Upgrade Now" under the picture of your phone.

You: so ... even thought I already have an unlimited data plan i must still select it when ordering the phone?
MJ: Correct the new one you select will void out the one that you have now.

MJ: Are you logged into your account at this time?
You: yes
MJ: Excellent, have you begun the upgrade process today?
You: yes
MJ: Excellent, where are you in the process?
You: in the cart

You: fed ex overnight will have it to me tomorrow (friday)?
MJ: That is correct, as long as you purchase by 3:30.
You: 3:30? so i still have time?
MJ: That is correct, as long as it is not passed 3:30 in your time zone.

You: can you offer me a promo code to cover the overnight shipping fee?
MJ: Unfortunately we do not have any promotional codes at this time, and haven't for a long time.
You: ah ... the promo code is on the front page of the web site ;-)

MJ: There is a code?
You: yep ... on the verizonwireless home page

MJ: You will need to have selected it when you began the process today?
You: the code? no, gave a code to enter in the promo code box
MJ: I'm sorry the last statement was meant for the messaging did you select this when you went through he upgrade process?
You: no ... i didn't see it as an option
MJ: Does your current calling plan include unlimited messaging?
You: yes
MJ: Awesome, then your fine it will still be there for you!
You: thx

You: so hit submit order?
MJ: That is correct!

You: done. thx for your assist
MJ: Are there any other questions that I can help you with today?
MJ: Thank you for visiting Verizon Wireless, I look forward to speaking with you again. Have a great day!
Your chat session has been ended by your Verizon Wireless online agent.

Compared to Amazon.com's highly efficient, info-abundant, super easy, one-click ordering ecosystem, VerizonWireless' ordering process is perhaps the most complicated ordering process I've encountered in some time. Why? Verizon certainly has the resources to make the process informative and user friendly.

Why couldn't I have ordered a new phone with my Treo 700p? Verizon makes lots of money off of the mobile web. Why isn't VerizonWireless leveraging the mobile web to improve the customer experience in a way that makes it easier to remain a VerizonWireless customer? Why indeed!

Crowdsourcing Equipment Reviews

2009-02-20T11:15:00.001-05:00

Outside is launching a crowdsourced gear review program. What a great idea! It will be interesting to see how this evolves.

Saved by Google Reader

2009-02-15T12:50:00.002-05:00

Joy! Immediately after blogging about how Blogger's 'edit label' feature deleted my post, I flipped over to Google Reader. To my surprise and delight, GReader had already scraped the deleted post. I have Blogger set to release the full text to the rss feed. Hence, I was able to recover the full text of the deleted post. Thus saved from the bit bucket, my first spew on General Education is republished. What Google taketh away, Google restores. Whew!

The Conceit of General Education

2009-02-15T12:48:00.001-05:00

Mention General Education to university or college faculty and watch the reaction. Many will wrinkle their noses. Some will look puzzled. Others, especially those enmeshed in the day to day delivery of GenEd courses, will exhale an exasperated sigh. Still others may say something to the effect of, "not part of my watch." Each reaction reflects deep fissures in the gen ed dream. The reactions also reflect differing perspectives on ownership and responsibility. Mostly, reactions to 'general education' reflect deep seated, often unrecognized or unexpressed, assumptions about how a university education 'ought to be.'

Faculty reactions to general education typically reflect 'what I think' or 'how gen ed impacts my department.' Infrequently do faculty view gen ed from the student's perspective. A distinction between 'general education' and disciplinary studies may make sense to faculty. Students, in contrast, see an entire program of study; "a list of requirements that stand between me and my degree," if you will.Some requirements make sense. Other requirements, requirements that often fall into the 'gen ed' category, elicit puzzlement ("why do I need a course in ...?). As Bok points out in Our Under Achieving Colleges, students tend to not make the connection between program elements; between gen ed courses and other parts of their program of study. This failure reflects shortcomings in program design and delivery. This disconnect is a lost opportunity.

The conceit of general education, as traditionally practiced and conceptualized is the belief that it is a free-standing part of a student's university or college education. This belief yields general education curriculum that is separate from, independent of, and possibly competing with developing a disciplinary foundation. This mind-set fosters development of gen-ed fiefdoms that silo general education learning from the balance of a student's experience and education. The partitioning is evident in "layer cake" or "parallel column" curriculum design models. It is a model that risks reifying disciplinary silos rather than optimizing a student's progress toward cultivating general education objectives.

Adopting Nichols' view of liberal education as the collaboration and integration of general education offers an alternate model that disintermediates the conceit. A collaboration model emphasizes integration rather than separation. A collaboration model encourages forming partnerships among faculty from across a campus directed toward a common purpose.

Our students should, and deserve to, experience and understand their college program as a unified holistic integrated entity in which the interfaces between general education, core curriculum, and major are seamless and mutually reinforcing. Rope provides a useful, although imperfect, metaphor. Rope is perceived holistically. It's rope. Yet, rooe is made of individual yarns. Each yearn runs the full length of the rope and, compared to the rope, has little strength. Each yarn makes a modest contribution to the strength of the rope. A yarn, working in collaboration with many other yarns throughout the length of the rope, yields synergies in that the resulting rope is stronger than would be expected given the individual yarns. .

This collaborative model requires helping students build a cognitive framework for understanding their program holistically, of the pieces that make of the program of study, and of their interconnections. Collaboration should be viewed as extending the duration of a student's program; not confined to a particular temporal sliver. Accomplishing this requires careful curriculum design and cultivating in students the cognitive framework necessary for understanding of the whole and the parts from which it is made. If successful, the contributions of each curriculum component to the totality of the program of study should be apparent to every student in the program. If successful, students will perceive the resulting curriculum as a seamless experience. If successful, the resulting educational experience will be of greater value than can be achieved by partitioning general education from the balance of a student's program.

Blogger Error: Unexpected Delete

2009-02-15T12:32:00.006-05:00

OK, so I spent time over the past two days crafting the first of several intended posts on general education. I've been enmeshed in designing a general education program for the past two years and it is time to share insights and gleen wisdom from others.

That was my intent. The first post was done. Published. BUT, I dorked one of the labels. Where delicious expects spaces to separate tags, Blogger expects a comma. I didn't know that. So, Blogger translated my string of space separated tags into one long meaningless spew.

So, I tried Blogger's tag edit feature. Who'd a thunk that 'delete' on the "Label Actions" drop down menu means that the label/tag AND the associated post gets deleted? Intuitive mapping? Nope. Blogger provides a warning about deleting a draft or a published post via the edit posts window. Did Blogger provide a "Are you sure you want to delete this post?" in this situation Nope! Does Blogger have an undelete feature? Nope.

The Long Tail of Blog Readership

2009-01-05T22:25:00.000-05:00

Blogs - read by about half of US internet users - are an influential information source consumed by movers and shakers.

Source: eMarketer

Riding into the New Year

2009-01-04T12:56:00.002-05:00

Wii Joy

2009-01-02T14:05:00.001-05:00

50 kids happy to get a Nintendo Wii for Christmas

Hat tip: TechCrunch

Distance Ed

2009-01-02T09:07:00.001-05:00

A just released study on distance education by the National Center for Education Statistics reveals how pervasive distance education has become. Key findings, based on the 2006-07 academic year, include:

66%of 2-year and 4-year Title IV degree-granting postsecondary institutions reported offering online, hybrid/blended online, or other distance education courses for any level or audience.
65% of the institutions reported college-level credit-granting distance education courses,
23% of the institutions reported noncredit distance education courses.
61% of 2-year and 4-year institutions reported offering online courses,
35% reported hybrid/blended courses,
26% reported other types of college-level credit-granting distance education courses.

NCES estimates that in AY 2006-07 there were 12.2 million registrations in distance education courses.

What technologies are institutions using? The report explored that as well, and found (so surprise!) asynchronous internet-based technologies are the most widely used technologies for instructional delivery of distance courses.

Why do institutions offer distance education courses? Clearly the customer is driving the adoption of distance education methods. NCES found:

the most common factors cited as affecting distance education decisions to a major extent were meeting student demand for flexible schedules, providing access to college for students who would otherwise not have access, making more courses available, and seeking to increase student enrollment.

Key to a successful disruptive innovation is focusing on addressing unmet needs in the market. Clearly, distance ed provides a product and channel that makes course and other work accessible to numerous under served populations.

Presentation Tips

2008-12-23T09:30:00.000-05:00

Garr Reynolds offers a concise summary of Marty Neumeier's presentation design guidelines :

1. EDIT TO THE BONE. "Most slide presentations collapse under the weight of words." Use as few words as possible on a slide (and make them big), this insures that the ones you use will be read and understood says Marty.

2. USE PICTURES. Use visuals were words on a slide just can't cut it. "...whenever you feel the text in your presentation can’t fully support your key points, insert a picture."

3. KEEP IT MOVING. "It’s better to break slides into bite-sized ideas—usually one idea per slide —than to squeeze everything on one slide. Slides are free, so use them freely. It’s preferable to see a hundred slides that move at a fast clip than be forced to stare a single slide for more than a minute."

As with all guidelines, these make assumptions about the type of presentation one is making.

Skating Claus'

2008-12-21T18:55:00.002-05:00

Apple worship run amuk. Do Your Homework Guys!

2008-12-16T22:06:00.000-05:00

OK, this has reached the point of pure absurdity. Folks are touting Apple's Apps store as though it is something novel; never before encountered in the mobile world. The Register and Engadget, both generally reliable resources are both evidencing cluelessness. Both are touting a minor upgrade of Palm's Palm Store software store -- which has been around for years and was, in fact the first source for mobile software -- as a Johnny come lately addition to the mobile app store craze. What gives? These guys clearly have Apples in their eyes.

Tonight's Musician

2008-12-03T20:52:00.004-05:00

Leon Redbone's (photo ) pianist ... I wish I knew his name.

Health Care: A Bright Spot in a Sour Economy

2008-12-03T20:32:00.002-05:00

Business week points out that health care is a bright spot in sour economic times:

During times of economic turmoil, the health-care industry tends to thrive: It was one of the few fields to expand during the dot-com bust.

"There's not a lot of swing in health care," says Kristi Raube, the executive director of the University of California at Berkeley's graduate program in health management at the Haas School of Business . "It's like a steady growth engine."

For business school students seeking job security, pursuing health-care management is "one of the most stable" career options, because people will always need care, says Mecklenburg. And right now, the industry is poised to expand: According to the Health & Human Services Dept., the health share of the GDP is expected to reach 19.5% by 2017, up 4.3% from its current share.

This bodes well for ONU's Pharmaceutical Business Majors.

Will Video Christmas Cards ...

2008-12-03T20:11:00.000-05:00

Will 2008 be the year of the video Christmas card? I think the stars are aligned: broadband internet is now mainstream. With the economy tanked, many are seeking ways to trim expenses. What better way than to save time and money than by emailing a video Christmas card to all your loved ones?

Digito Society is Back to Blogger

2008-11-30T12:14:00.004-05:00

For reasons that escape me, the Digito Society install at GentlEye is not responding. Bumping the server had no effect. Thanks to the magic of Feedburner you loyal subscribers to the feed should notice no change.

This episode, combined with my increasing use of other services (e.g., Flickr.com, Twitter, GoogleApps for my Domain) has me wondering if it is time to shutter the Gentleye.com website.

New URL for Digito Society

2005-02-27T21:09:00.000-05:00

Digito Society has moved to http://www.gentleye.com/digito-society . Update your feed reader and/or bookmarks.

Use this feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DigitoSociety

Thanks!

I need to read this: Educating the Net Generation

2005-02-27T12:34:00.000-05:00

This book -- Educating the Net Generation -- looks like a must read for all of us in higher ed.

Academic Freedom Cont'd: Danielle on Ohio Senate Bill 24

2005-02-26T17:47:00.000-05:00

Danielle, a student at BGSU, offers up these thoughts on SB #24:

My more liberal professors, like the one I had last semester who forced us to read Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Robert McChesney and other assorted socialists, would say that a bill like SB 24 would make them feel limited as to what they could say, therefore they'd do the same thing to their students (One of my Poli Sci profs told me this). Well, don't they already limit their conservative students to what they can say by making conservative opinions completely outlawed?!?! I say: don't feel limited as to what you can say, but balance it with fact. I'm not paying tuition to hear a subjective, liberal rant. Just like liberal professors claim they have a right to their 'academic freedom' (to say what they want in the classroom), I think it's just as much my right, as a student, to receive an objective and informative education - so my generation of educators doesn't turn out to be one that lives to indoctrinate its students.

Well put, Danielle!

Grumblings Over Google's Updated Toolbar: Double opt-in anyone?

2005-02-26T08:40:00.000-05:00

Dan Gillmore summarizes (or this) grumblings about the "autolink" feature in Google's tool bar beta edition:

At the very least, Google needs to make some changes in the installation process. As users install the toolbar they should be asked if they want features that change content on web pages. There should be an opt-in process, not an opt-out process, for such things.

This makes no sense to me. The choice to install Google's Toolbar is itself an opt-in process. Is Dan seriously advocting double opt-in?

Networking as a Mangement Style

2005-02-25T20:44:00.000-05:00

Michael Barone outlines the superiority of networking vs. command and control management:

In mid-2003, when former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean surged ahead of other Democrats in fundraising and in the polls, much attention was given to campaign manager Joe Trippi's use of the Internet. He used it to bring volunteers and money into the campaign, and to allow Dean supporters to add their own words, literally, in the campaign blog. Many political supporters were impressed, and rightly so, that the Dean campaign amassed a list of 600,000 e-mail addresses. But few reporters at the time took note of the number of e-mail addresses the Bush campaign had collected: 6 million.

Over two years, the Bush campaign built an organization of 1.4 million active volunteers. This was unprecedented. By way of comparison, the Democratic National Committee has said it enlisted 233,000 volunteers during the 2004 campaign. The Bush volunteers worked not just in heavily Republican neighborhoods -- only 15 percent of Republican voters, Mehlman calculated, live in precincts that vote 65 percent or more Republican. Instead, they went everywhere, especially to rural counties, many of them slow-growing places where most politicians figure there are no more votes to be won, and to the fast-growing exurban areas at the edges of metropolitan areas, where most of the young families moving in tend to be Republican. Just as Sam Walton figured he could make huge profits selling things to people in low-income rural areas and in low-fashion exurbs, so Mehlman calculated that he could wring votes out of areas that most political strategists and political reporters ignored.

To make sure that those volunteers were achieving their goals, Mehlman established metrics -- numerical goals, measured by third parties. Every week, the leaders of the local, state, and national organizations got reports on whether those metrics had been achieved. Productive volunteers were given positive reinforcement, sometimes a call from Mehlman himself. Unproductive volunteers were replaced or persuaded to do more. Mehlman's management was very much like former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's management of the New York City Police Department: Precinct commanders were given goals -- low crime numbers -- which were independently validated. Those who produced were promoted; those who failed lost their jobs. As a result, crime in New York was cut by more than 50 percent -- more than even Giuliani thought was possible.

This is not command-and-control management, but management by networking, by holding people accountable and letting them learn from each other how to do better. And in post-industrial America, it got better results than command-and-control management. In crucial states with the largest volunteer organizations, the numbers speak as loud as Giuliani's -- turnout rose 28 percent from 2000 in fast-growing Florida and 20 percent in slow-growing Ohio.

Those results are nothing to sniff at. Interesting implications for for-profit organizations.

Academic Freedom and Ohio Senate Bill 24: Another Update

2005-02-25T17:00:00.000-05:00

Mumford's proposed Ohio Senate Bill #24, an academic bill rights, continues to generate response:

The Cleveland Plain Dealer weighs in a story that includes various tid-bits. Fenwick, in trying to deny that indoctrination happens in the classroom instead seems to confirm the premise underlying Mumford's legislation:
"We want to get on record and say the assumption that we are all liberal radicals is unwarranted," said Rudy Fenwick, an Akron sociology professor and chairman of the faculty senate. "The assumption that we oppose all ideologies is unwarranted."
OK, so clearly you oppose some ideologies. 'nuff said. Continuing:

Cleveland State University's faculty senate couldn't reach a compromise earlier this month for its resolution. Most of the faculty vehemently oppose Mumper's bill, citing an infringement on academic freedom, but a strong minority thinks the proposal has merit.

"I think there needs to be a guarantee that no student will be prejudiced for voicing a personal opinion that might be at odds with the professor," said Cleveland State law professor David Forte, a self-described conservative.

Forte figures that more than 90 percent of college and university professors are liberals, and many of them cannot help but exude their bias in class, he says.

"If it is a political science class, [students] will get a liberal perspective and they won't hear many opposing views," Forte said. "Many students are uncomfortable with this."

Seems reasonable to me. Speaking of which, Mumford is sounding very reasonable here:
Forte said Mumper's bill isn't perfect and should not include private schools. The senator said he is willing to remove private schools from the bill.

Amanda Hooper captures the importance of Mumford's concession:

That being said, one of the fundamental flaws with Senate Bill 24 is that it would apply to all colleges in Ohio, public and private alike. To hold privately funded schools to state standards could be disastrous. Many private and parochial schools exist because the consumer is unsatisfied with the state funded options for learning. These institutions are accountable to the users that buy their service, not the government. What would become of private religious universities that choose a religious-based curriculum? Would they be forced to incorporate all religious viewpoints? The government has no right to legislate this marketplace that students choose to attend and pay for.

Meanwhile, the Graduate Student Senate at BGSU fears that:

The bill would also force professors to present dissenting sources and viewpoints besides their own, and to let students reach conclusions by themselves, reducing the role of debate in classrooms.

Unclear to me is how the presentation of alternate viewpoints, and allowing students to reach their own conclusions, would reduce debate in classrooms. Or, are these graduate students stating that they prefer to be told what to think? These folks wouldn't fare well in my classes. Yep, you guessed it, this twisted logic led the GSS to pass a resolution opposing the SB 24. I'd like to think that a room full of graduate students could develop more compelling reasons for opposing Mumford's proposed legislation. And I'm not sure what to make of the report that the director of health services spoke to the group about graduate students lying about their health insurance.

Elsewhere:

When Ralph Carbone addresses his students in class, he assumes they understand that the discussions may become controversial and heated.
"Most of what I do in class is confronting controversial topics and challenge the logic of both sides," said Washington State Community College chairman of the department of social and behavioral sciences. "The whole idea of liberal education is to question traditional values. I mean that's been the case since Socrates."

Meanwhile, down in Athens, Jordan Carr has this to say:

To deny there is extreme bias in the lectures that are given everyday is just absurd. Just one example: In my marketing class just before the election, we were lectured for an hour on the evils of Issue I and then dismissed. And the bias isn't always liberal -only about 99 percent of the time, I've had a professor that would make derogatory comments about John Kerry, and that was a business law class. Tell me how either of those are relevant to marketing or business law. This is a gross misuse of their position and a waste of the money I'm paying to learn about my relative subjects. Professors have a right to say whatever they want on their own time, but when they waste the time that I have paid for by lecturing about irrelevant subject matter, I feel I should have some meaningful recourse (and don't tell me the evaluations mean anything). This is exactly what Senate Bill 24 is trying to provide students.

Indeed.

Finally, WTAP reports:

A Marietta College professor says he agrees colleges are dominated by a liberal society, but passing a law is no way to handle it.
In addition, he says this bill is somewhat redundant.

He says at Marietta College, students who feel they've been discriminated against because of their beliefs can file a complaint.

It appears the "college professor" so fears speaking out that s/he choose anonymity. That, or WTAP's done some lousy reporting.

Paris Hilton: Publicity Hound Unparallelled

2005-02-24T12:37:00.000-05:00

Paris Hilton continues to innovate new ways to spur buzz:

In an interview with Us Weekly magazine, on newsstands Friday, Hilton says: 'I feel horrible that, once again, someone has invaded my privacy. I want to apologize to all my friends and family. I don't know why this stuff always happens to me, but I wish it wouldn't anymore.

Um, right. It is hard to imagine a more perfect gorilla promo strategy for a socialite porn star. The cynicist in me can't help but wonder: Did Paris facilitate this data dump?