In this week’s article, the author poses the idea that security screeners at airports might do a better job spotting weapons if they spent their downtime playing video games. Go to the link below and read the article. Write a reflective comment about the article and address my questions.
How do you feel about the government report and the Transportation Security Administration document that were mentioned in the article? Is the money that is being spent to study the problem sufficient? Is the money being spent well? How would you try to improve the situation? Which of the research findings surprised you the most?
Screening Article
12 comments:
I thought that the article was really weird because, if you think about it games have really weird guns that are not real or any weapon unless it's a game like James Bond or something realistic that has a movie but Halo 3 is probably a bad game because it's all fake and no one could make guns like that with things being sold to the public. The government might be able to make weapons like that but they are the good guys so even if they make weapons it would be for a good cause.
I also think that is was stupid that they make people play video games, I mean if its during their work training its okay, but they have to do it at home on their free time, I find that as really dumb. I would agree if they said to watch movies to look for types of weapons because that is more realistic. And movies are not boring for people, like older people usually would not like to play video games but wouldn't mind watching a movie. So I think that the idea isn’t really smart.
I do not doubt that workers that are on the x-ray machine do not spot guns, weapons, etc. I feel that the experiment was done for a good cause! I believe that they should give each employee a video game to play over their holiday as a requirement. I believe that the Money spent to study the problem is sufficient because this proves that employees at the x-ray desk not only need to pay more attention they need to have experience on video games. A requirement on their job applications should be how many hours a week do you play video games. The money is being spent well because many countries security is at risk. For all we could know is there is a bomb in a bag that could explode any minute.
The situation needs to be improved in many ways, one that I would try is to have a game room in the airport or place, and have an hour for each employee to play when they start their shift. This way they can spot the guns and bombs. What surprised me the most was that people that play video games like Halo 3 are more sufficient in detecting bombs and weapons? I never thought of this personally!
I feel unsafe, if all the security measures that are currently used in these airports are not working. Why waste the billions? I believe they should spend more on training TSA personal as well as new technologies that would require less human effort.
I would try and improve the situation, by trying to find different ways to detecting weapons. I found it odd that they would suggest playing halo 3 to help them find such devices. Since Halo 3s weapons are quite unrealistic. And probably the only versions close to the ones in the game are the toys sold. A waste of time, mandating employees to rotate shifts so they can play Halo. Maybe it would be better if they made a game designed specially for TSA officers. To help them find these objects easier.
Play video games?? How in the world is that going to help? First of all, the results the people got about the 15% errors of gamers and 25% of non-gamers found are probably because the gamers can handle looking at a screen for a long period of time and concentrate because they're so used to it! Obviously non-gamers probably have a hard time concentrating on a glowing screen for so long!! I don't think it has anything to do with a game like Halo 3 because it has weapons etc. I don't think that playing video games is going to help a 50/60 year old person that works as a security screener to detect a weapon!! In the games, yes, you do witness a lot of weapons but it's just like staring at a bunch of weapon pictures, thinking its going to help your brain notice a weapons shape!! The topic about the money being sufficient enough; I believe it really isn't. Why should you waste so much money, when all you can do is think of ways to make the technology of the x-rays to be more advanced? Think of ways of how it can be at least a little close to detecting weapons built of plastic or something. Instead of playing video games the workers could actually sit and learn from criminal profilers and understand how they think. The research finding that surprised me the most was about baggage screening; how it looks like it's an uncomplicated job, but it turns out to be "devilishly hard. Even well-trained security officers have trouble spotting guns, knives, and plastic explosives amid the tsunami of hair dryers, socks, MP3 players, metal toys, and the occasional cured ham that flows by during a holiday week like this one." I thought that it was pretty easy! I never thought it would be an issue like this.
I think this makes total sense. Of course people that play video games can detect a bomb better on a screener. I think that people that play fist person shooter games have a quicker eye then the people that don’t play these kind of games. I have the game halo and the game play is pretty fast so you do have to have fast eyes and eyes that observe the surroundings not just one specific place. In this article I supported the government’s idea and also the Security Administration, both of them have a good idea but at the same time playing halo 3 during there shit is kind of silly. I think that they should find another method for finding weapons. The money put on this study is in good hands, the people are trying to find out a better way to have more security but, the suggestions they have made so far like playing halo 3 is not helping. Also some adults wont find halo 3 attracting so they wouldn’t learn form it. If I were to improve this situation I would find a better method for training the security then playing halo 3.
I feel very unsafe about what the government and the Transportation Security Administration reported. I thought that the government and other administrations take good care of the security system and always are aiming for the best. It is dangerous that people can't even recognize what shows up on the screen, especially in our time when airports are a target for bombers. I don't think the money that is being spent is sufficient, because they need to find real solutions, and not go make the security guards play games. They need to spend more money on more useful ways to solve this problem and solve it fast. I would solve this problem by getting experts from all over the world and really try to figure out ways to solve this problem, give many suggestions and let the airports try it and see which one works best. The most finding that surprised me was " A government report issued last week noted that agents were able to sneak fake bombs past security at 19 airports by creating minor distractions, including carrying a roll of coins to set off a metal detector." I never expected that this can happen, I though especially after the bombings of 9/11 airport security paid more attention to the luggage, and nothing of that sort would happen, I mean 19 fake bombs in different airports! I honestly though we were very close on making sure that no bombs were ever in airports, and if some bomber tried sneaking it in then they would rite away find out and arrest the person.
Honestly, after reading this article I feel not very sure about airport's safety anymore. I really thought that they solved this problem, and that they could detect mostly all bombs if they tried sneaking it in. I am also very disappointed that they came out with these solutions, I mean playing games? They could work better and try to figure out new solutions that actually can make it much safer in airports!
I feel the government report that was done was most probably rejected. As I was reading this article, I was thinking to myself, who would come up with such useless ideas, that wont just have no effect to security, but would harm the human’s bodies from all aspects, for example, (addicted, Eye damage). I was shocked when I came to the part that a Medical professor at Harvard University has a part in this study. I think spending the money on this research is not sufficient. Since this Study has no meaning. On the other hand I think it is worth a try to have a Study, It won’t harm us, but spending money on such thing that wont work is no spending it well. They could donate it to charity, or simply raise the salaries of the Security officers. I would not go to much in to improving this situation, since I am to young to make a change, but if I thought they would take my opinions in consideration, I would write another Proposal, arguing that, Before they think of starting a study to security guards and spending their money, they should start thinking about, which security officer can afford to get this game to play after time hours. The research that surprised me the most was the one with the playing “halo 3”, to improve vision movement. In my opinion I think sitting to direct light for any number of seconds, makes you vision lower, even if it was 0.00001, after a while it would become 1.00000. So I think they should fire all those professors.
This article was very interesting. It showed me that no matter how evolved the technology is, it is us humans who always make the mistakes. In the article it mentions that security workers only look for objects they can identify. For example if it was a highly explosive object that was in a form that is not known, most security officers would not identify it. The idea that security officers should play more video games is a brilliant idea. As an experienced player, I know that your eyes always move to unknown objects or objects that are hard to spot. Moreover, your reflexes increase and you become quicker in your movements. Even though it is a source of fun, it can also be a learning experience. Money that is being given to study this problem is enough. Investigators and people who are studying this problem should always have a budget, to be cautious about how much they spend and to not spend too much. Moreover, I do not believe we need more money to study this problem. In my opinion, the money that is being spent is to a good cause and is being spent well. Security officers need to be trained numerous times, in order for them to be able to detect unknown object that are likely to be dangerous. Moreover, the money that is being spent is for our security. The question to be asked is, that if you want to donate a small amount of money or lose your life, due to a security officer’s mistake. This idea should also be improved dramatically. Head officers of an airport should set times to train the other security officers, so they can work, but also have enough time to be trained. In my opinion, a video game should be created for security officers, that helps them train for these situations. This game should allow them to detect dangerous weapons. Moreover, more scenarios should be done, to check if the security officers have learned. One example of this, is packing a fake explosive weapon in a bag and placing it through the x-rays, when the security officers are not aware. This would be a great way to see if the officers are awake and ready for anything to happen. The most thing I was surprised by was the usage of video games, to train security officers for dangerous situations in reality.
In conclusion, this article opened my eyes toward the security in airports. I did not realize we were that exposed to dangerous situations and that it was that dangerous to fly in an airplane, these days. The actions that are being taken, in my opinion, are not enough. Officers should be trained more and more. Investigations should be done on these airports, to ensure our safety. All in all, I would have to say that it is nearly impossible to have a completely successful security. More and more inventions are being created, that x-rays might not detect. Hopefully, most of the actions written in the article will be taken.
Concerning the government report and the Transportation Security Administration document that were mentioned in the article I feel surprised but at the same time I sort of expected that result. I believe the money spent to study the problem is insufficient. However, the money is being spent well since there are already results. To improve the situation, if I had the power and creativity I would try to create a game that would be directed at training security screeners. The research results that surprised me the most is the Halo theory since it's very practical, but it would never cross your thought as a helpful tool.
Overall, I think the main culprit is the U.S. government for not supplying enough money to challenge the problem. The U.S. government is asking for 1 TRILLION dollars to finance the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. However when it comes to the protection of U.S. citizens the Vision Attention Lab only received around half a million dollars in the last 5 year. So the U.S. gov. should really spend more money on protecting their citizens from another terrorist attack by plane. I feel that if security screeners receive the sufficient training then we can probably all feel safe while traveling and not panic when a suspicious person sits next to us on a plane.
I actually feel a lot more scared and worried, now that I know about the government report and the transportation Security Administration. I truly expected that the security was really good and careful, watching everyone and making sure that no one is up to no good. Especially after the 9/11 attacks and everything that is going on these past few years. It scared me how security workers can only identify things that they are used to seeing like bombs and not things that they have never seen before, yet they are very dangerous. I think that the money spent on studying this problem is actually smart. People should be worrying about their safety and using their money to protect everyone. It is a lot better then spending money on other things like ipods. Safety should come before anything else. I think I would try to solve the problem of security officers not noticing dangerous things in people's bags by changing the officers every hour. This would make the security officers more alert and not as bored so that they can pay attention better. Also, to solve this problem I think that the security officers should watch video games so that they can notice things that don't look right in the screen. It would make them be more specific while they are watching the screen. I think the research find that surprised me the most is that 19 fake bombs were able to go through the security systems without anyone knowing!
In my opinion, I think that this is something very serious and scary as well. I understand that being a security guard in airports is a hard job, but that doesn't mean that 19 bombs can get through them!! And I'm not even talking about the outrageouse number, even if it was just 1 bomb, that is enough to kill hundreds of people. What I'm trying to say is that people should be more aware and more careful when they go to airports and the security should be very strict and look out for everything, not just things that they have seen before! Because obviously terrorist are going to find new ways all the time!
I feel that it is a new idea that the people screening baggage should play halo 3 to get better at it. What a fun job that would be. Earning money by playing games. Do they deserve to do this? Is it the right thing? I think they should spend some more money than that. Our own security needs to be good. We don’t want to have bombs on our plane. The money is being spent well. Who knows how many people would die if somebody just smuggles bombs with them into the plane.
I would not let them play halo 3 since they might start thinking it’s all just a game, and its not serious. I would have the machines improved so that even a small kid could find bombs in the baggage. That halo 3 would help finding bombs in luggage surprised me the most. What crazy ideas people have nowadays?
Dalia Malas
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