OWNERSHIP
Radio Deregulation Report Finds Less Diversity on the Air
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Dr Dre And The Digital Divide
EDTECH
How to Leave No Child Behind
INTERNET
Political Spam: Get Used to It
OWNERSHIP
RADIO DEREGULATION REPORT FINDS LESS DIVERSITY ON THE AIR
A report released Monday by the Future of Music Coalition affirms the widely
held belief that radio industry consolidation has led to less diversity in
programming. Entitled "Radio Deregulation: Has it Served Citizens and
Musicians?," the report also states that the industry, particularly in local
markets, is run by an oligopoly and that supposedly distinct formats in fact
contain redundancy in their playlists. This news falls contrary to the
relaxation of media ownership rules proposed by FCC Chairman Michael Powell.
"This report is a wake-up call, for the same policies responsible for
radio's decline into homogenous oligopoly are now being imposed upon the
high-speed Internet," said Mark Wahl, Broadband Project Director at the
Center for Digital Democracy.
[SOURCE: Center for Digital Democracy]
(http://www.democraticmedia.org/news/washingtonwatch/FMCReport.html)
INTELLECUAL PROPERTY
DR DRE AND THE DIGITAL DIVIDE
Indian composer Bappi Lahiri recently made headlines when he filed a lawsuit
claiming that that hip-hop impresario Dr Dre had created the hit single
"Addictive" by simply superimposed a drum track and lyrics over his
soundtrack without giving him proper credit. While India has been on the
cutting edge of the information technology revolution in the past decade,
experts say that when it comes to intellectual property, there is still a
huge knowledge gap between developed and developing countries. "The
intellectual property debate has increased with the Net," says Colin Buffam
of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a specialized UN
agency that works to provide developing countries with a level playing field
on intellectual property claims. "While there is still a significant gap
between North and South, the countries in the South can draw a lot from each
other's experiences." Started last year, a new project called WIPONet aims
to bridge the digital divide and provide information about intellectual
property issues to developing countries. The results are encouraging -- a
majority of new adherents to WIPO treaties on intellectual property are from
developing countries.
[SOURCE: AsiaTimes, AUTHOR: Akhilesh Upadhyay]
(http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/DK21Df02.html)
EDTECH
HOW TO LEAVE NO CHILD BEHIND
Increasingly, school systems are adopting computer-based testing as their
primary evaluative tool. Electronic "smart tests" adapt to the test-taker's
aptitude in real time and provide a more accurate reflection of the
student's knowledge. "Reliance on paper-and-pencil multiple-choice tests
limits the kinds of skills that can be measured," concluded a RAND study.
"Computer-based testing offers the opportunity to develop new types of
questions, especially those that can assess complex problem-solving skills
by requiring examinees to generate their own answers." The tests are not
without their detractors -- for example, South Dakota only uses the
technology to evaluate student needs and not to test learning. It is also
unclear whether adaptive electronic testing satisfies the requirement under
the No Child Left Behind Act that all students take the same test.
[SOURCE: TechCentralStation.com, AUTHOR: Joanne Jacobs]
(http://www.techcentralstation.com/1051/techwrapper.jsp?PID=1051-250&CID=105
1-111802B)
INTERNET
POLITICAL SPAM: GET USED TO IT
Should state-based anti-spamming laws apply to political speech? One North
Carolina resident believes they should, and is prepared to say so in court.
Ken Pugh, a registered independent, has filed suit against Elizabeth Dole's
senatorial campaign under the "computer trespass" provision of North
Carolina's anti-spam law. The case is indicative of a broader debate between
anti-spam coalitions and free speech advocates, who claim that such laws
were not intended to chill political speech.
[SOURCE: Salon.com, AUTHOR: Katharine Mieszkowski]
(http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/11/20/political_spam/index.html)
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