6 THE VOICE, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012 EDITOR ASHLEY VIENS Digital glitches create headaches have now become a burden for both staff and students at Langara College. Those already familiar with Black- board are confounded by the less-than-usable Desire2Learn system that fails to open pages, upload documents or allow access to assignments. Langara introduced staff to the newly-launched D2L system at an information session April 26 and implemented it Sept. 1. An entire summer seems like plenty of time to tweak, fine-tune and present a usable interface for an Witchcraft stereotypes still prevalent Te: Voice dropped a news story T: wonders of online education this week. I completely agree with this decision. The Langara Society for Religious Witchcraft was to be featured in this issue. However, the club strongly objected to being profiled in a Halloween edition. “To have our faiths associated with spooky stories and children’s games sends the message that our religion is not to be taken seriously,” wrote a represen- tative for the group who calls himself Gray Sun. In defense of The Voice, many news outlets juxtapose coverage of this religion with Halloween. Often the only time witchcraft is featured in any other way on the evening news is on Halloween night. At my children’s school, students aren’t allowed to wear Muslim costumes to Halloween parties, but no thought is given to how insulting it is when dozens of little witches show up to celebrate. Why does society tolerate different beliefs but still dismiss witchcraft religions? Firstly, western culture fears things that aren’t unified. Langara’s witchcraft club’s mission statement says, “fellowship and support for, witches, pagans, druids, polythe- ists.” North American culture is built on who is kept out as much as who is let in. Roman Catholics can only marry other Catholics. Managers can’t be union leaders. Broad inclusion means witchcraft religions are not unified against other groups. Secondly, witchcraft religions appear to be very peace loving. The main tenet, according to wicca.com, is harm no one. The wider culture is more comfortable with strict rules, angry gods, sin and punishment. Thirdly, they are egalitarian. They believe the feminine is at least as important as the masculine. And they promote positive attitudes towards human sexuality, seeing it as a gift of the goddess. Wow, there you have it. Witchcraft religions see women as powerful and sex as a gift. For a culture still dominated by men, this equality is a threat. And so, witchcraft religions are belittled. I hope to seee an in-depth look at the Langara Society for Religious Witchcraft in an upcoming issue. JEN THUNCHER entire college. The Desire2Learn company touts the updated system as “simple yet sophisticated.” I’ve yet to see either of those qualities in action. I grew up a tech kid—learning to navigate a web page, assemble Word and Excel files, as well as picking up a smattering of computer code. I understand technology. I can work with both Mac and PC systems. But I find, however, that I spend more time on D2L malfunctions than on actual assignments. When I work—no, struggle—with an online system that promises to be intuitive and user friendly, I’m left pulling my hair. Isn’t technology supposed to save time? Excuses of procrastination aside, it’s frustrat- ing to find that maintenance blackouts and multiple glitches prevent me from submitting assignments. OPIN ION I hate to ask for help from the ASHLEY VIENS overworked and understaffed IT department. They must loathe their jobs right now. I can only imagine the frustration of the professors being harangued by students via email about system malfunctions. Precious minutes of my day are being wasted on “technical difficul- ties” that not even the professors seem to be able to control. And when the professors are as confused as the students, it leaves a lingering doubt in my mind about the rationale of adopting a new e-Learning system simply because it was designed in Canada. I'd rather have a seamless workflow than a pretty page. tin Etiquette should be first priority e need a new etiquette for Wye: communication. In light of the recent tragedy surrounding Amanda Todd’s death, we need to alter our mindset when it comes to social media. Online interactions are different in that people feel anonymous and “lose them- selves,” explains Adrian Chen in an online article. The Internet provides a | j platform to speak i ~ vi freely, as though \ / nobody’s listen- =) \ ; i ing. Ot course, OPIN ION people are. BRONWYN SCOTT Online privacy is a “myth,” said Gabriel Dhahan, an IT professional. “Tn order to interact online you need an IP address. [It’s] unique to the individual and is easily traceable,” he said. With a feeling of privacy we act in ways that we wouldn’t otherwise. As an undergraduate studying Milton under a notoriously hard- marking professor, I took to ratemy- professors.com to vent my fury. I was five minutes late handing in my paper and received a full letter grade deduction. Taking the issue to the Internet, I likened him to Satan as depicted in Paradise Lost, chastising him for his patronizing tone and “inverted logic.” I paralleled him with the subject of his study, stressing his expertise with paradox and uncom- promising character. It was written under the cloak of online anonymity. What I didn’t realize was that, having just written an essay on the Satan of Milton’s masterpiece, I’d used some of the same phrases in my scathing critique. The next morning there was a new message in my inbox. The chilling subject field read “and I perhaps am secret” (a line from the poem). Inside was a link to my post with the words “It’s amazing what a little secrecy can do. But I think openness is better.” I probably wouldn’t have thought twice about it had I not been confronted. The Internet provides the catalyst for the soft-spoken geek to become a beast, says Chen. We need to start with the mantra that it’s OK to speak up — but only for things you'd actually say. Of course, going to class thereaf- ter was a nightmare. We want to hear from you Did we get a fact wrong? Tell us. Got a different point of view? Write to us. Problems with something we've said? Let us know. Journalism instructor Nicholas Read oversees The Voice. Email him at nread@langara.be.ca CORRECTION Ina story about a student leadership conference that appeared in the Oct. 18 Voice (Langara students iLead the way ahead), marketing executive Wayne Carrigan was identified incorrectly as Wayne Culligan. As well in a story about the Langara Students’ Union elections, women’s li- aison Gunkirat Randhawa was mis- identified as Ranhawa Gunkirat. Our apologies to both Ms. Randhawa and Mr. Carrigan. The Voice is published by Langara College's journalism department. Editorial opinions are those of the staff and are independent of views of the student government and administration. We welcome letters to the editor. All letters must be signed. They may be edited for brevity. Names may be withheld in special cases, but your letter must include your name and phone number. HOW TO REACH US PHONE 604-323-5396 FAX 604-323-5398 E-MAIL thevoice@langara.be.ca DROP-IN Room A226 Langara College There is a mailbox at the entrance to the journalism rooms. SNAIL MAIL The Voice 100 West 49th Ave. Vancouver, B.C. VSY 226 WEBSITE wwwilangaravoice.com EDITORIAL STAFF THIS ISSUE: MANAGING EDITOR/ PAGE 6 Ashley Viens PAGE EDITORS PAGE 1 Jake Hewer PAGE 2 Lev Jackson PAGE 3 Ley Doctor PAGE 4 Carissa Thorpe PAGE 5 Clay Paterson PAGE 7 Jeremy Sally PAGE 8 Brandon Reid WEB EDITORS Cara MPKenna Ross Armour Dennis Page REPORTERS Michelle Gamage Sascha Porteous Carly Smith Ryan Banagan Judy Chem Steven Chua Katja de Bock Annie Ellison Gillian Hames Kevin Hampson Tanya Hill Richard Hodges Julia Knox Brandon Kostinuk Michael Letendre Jana Minor Simone Pfeiffer Samuel Reynolds Bronwyn Scott Jennifer Thuncher Contact us: Online at langaravoice.com Twitter at @langaraVoice