Goals

My Fulbright proposal had a few specific goals including teaching digital forensics at the Universidad de Chile and researching the state of cyber crime in Chile.  Both of these have been an interesting and unique experience.  I've had as many as 18 students attend the undergrad class while the grad class only has 2 students.  Many of the International students that I've had in the past have explained the education system in their countries and how it contrasted with their experience in the States.

The bureaucracy typical of Spanish culture has certainly been evident.  I received a class list 7 weeks after the courses started, so that made it difficult to track homework.  With regard to homework, there isn't the sense of urgency to meet deadlines that are more firm in the States.  Grading is on a 7 point scale, with 7 being the best possible.  In addition to the UC students in my class there are also students from Federal agencies and other organizations that aren't 'enrolled' students.  These are the people that are diligent in attending.  One doctoral student and two undergrad students show up nearly every class, but the rest tend to be in the wind.  This is something I don't understand because these are the first digital forensic courses in Chile and there won't be a way to retake the courses or find an instructor to help them finish up.  Class ends next week and that is it.

Erin has taken 6 or 7 weeks of immersion classes so far and her instructors are former public school teachers.  They all left public school education because of the frustrating experience trying to engage students.  We have heard from many that the public school system is in poor shape and many send their kids to private schools (often catholic).

The state of cyber crime in Chile research has been going very well.  The Policía de Investigaciones Ciber Crimen unit (PDI - the Chilean FBI) invited me in to offer digital forensic training and some other aspects of ciber crimen that I won't detail, and it has been a great experience.  During my first few weeks in Chile I met with many organizations including PDI.  I put together proposal including digital forensic training at PDI and submitted through the channels at the Universidad de Chile.  About a month ago the PDI Ciber Crimen unit invited me to lunch and in a somewhat awkward moment asked if I could come in and deliver some training and other things - basically exactly what I had proposed a month prior to that.  I should have known my proposals were lost in the system somewhere as they never received them.

When I get to PDI the the first thing we do is have a salad.

 It usually consists of lettuce, pealed and sliced tomatoes, celery, corn, peas, beets, and green beens with a half of avocado covered with chicken salad (queen's avocado).  It is topped with egg and a couple black olives, and comes with a half of lemon.  You squeeze the lemon and poke it with your fork - this is the salad dressing.

The classes are a typical techie arrangement.  Drag a bunch of desks together, grab a screen projector, and throw my laptop screen up on a wall partially obscured with storage closets.  I do believe that techies appreciate a more ad hoc classroom rather than something formal.  It kind of reminds me of the grad classes that we have bunched around tables in the digital forensic research lab at Ferris.

Many in the ciber crimen unit are studying English.  Some speak fairly well, a few more understand the spoken word, and a few pretty much don't know any English.  That's okay because much of what we do is demonstration.  I often take a short break so some of the aspects can be translated to Spanish, and I try my best at times to speak in Spanish or even just bring up Google Translate and type in what I want to say and let them read the translated text.  Spanish has a few dozen verb tenses and I know that both my Spanish and Google translate are suspect at times - and on the occasion they use the same means to communicate with me I see the incorrect Google translation from Spanish to English.  But by and large we get along nicely.

Yesterday was my last official day at PDI.  They asked me if I ever shoot and had an interest in going to their shooting range.  In Chile almost nobody has a gun, so this would be considered quite a treat.  I explained that I'm from the US and not only does everyone have a gun, a lot of people have a closet full.  I mentioned the hunter aspect which they responded that it was illegal to shoot animals in Chile.  That is when I realized that for the most part all I've seen have been dogs, occasional cats, and some birds.  No squirrels, rabbits, deer, or any other thing that I see every day back home.  Though I've yet to see someone walking down the streets of Traverse City with a few donkeys.  (see earlier posts).  One of the commanders walked into the room and they were discussing what I assumed to be the red tape of allowing me to shoot.  The person that I know the best at PDI asked if I ever shot my foot.  No, do I limp?  He asked that a few times and then talked about rabbits and deer.  It wasn't until I left for home that it hit me - Did I ever shoot my food?  The accent was so thick that I initially couldn't make the leap from foot to food.  Another detective typed in a question to Google Translate and it came out totally wrong, but I knew what was being asked in part because I have seen enough incorrect translations to be able to manipulate them to make sense.

All in all I achieved the goals of my Fulbright, and the whole law enforcement side exceeded what I was expecting by a great margin both in terms of planting something that will grow and in terms of friendships gained.  I really didn't know what to expect before I came to Chile but I've found the "roll with it" approach to be quite useful and productive.