Communications-Related Headlines for June 4, 2003
A service of the Benton Foundation (http://www.benton.org)
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INTERNET
Blogger Salam Pax Identified by UK Newspaper
Counteracting the Internet Rumor
Bloggers Report Alt News From G8
PRIVACY
TiVo Plans to Sell Information on Customers' Viewing Habits
RADIO
US Digital Radio Revolution Stalls
EDTECH
Parents of Students at Troubled Cyberschool Prepare for Closing
DIGITAL DIVIDE
Lack of Technology Denies Grants to Blacks, Study Says
INTERNET
BLOGGER SALAM PAX IDENTIFIED BY UK NEWSPAPER
Rory McCarthy, writing for the British newspaper The Guardian Unlimited,
claims to have tracked down "Salam Pax." Salam Pax was the online alias of a
person who claimed to be a young gay Iraqi publishing a Web log from
Baghdad. After several news outlets profiled the blog before the start of
the war, Salam Pax quickly became a wartime online celebrity -- not only for
the quality of his writing, but the fact that he was an anonymous Baghdadi
relaying detailed, witty first-person accounts from the city over the
Internet. Salam Pax's blogs went quiet as the war picked up, sparking a
furious "Where's Salam Pax?" debate on the Net, but writer McCarthy says
that he has found Pax in the flesh. Salam is a young male Iraqi architect
who spent much of his childhood in Vienna, but now resides with his family
in Baghdad. Salam says that he continued to write throughout the war, but
was unable to publish once the authorities shut down local Internet access.
The Guardian also premiered a fortnightly column by Salam today. Salam
begins his new blog by quoting an Iraqi paper: " Vacancies: President needed
-- fluent in English, will have limited powers only. Generous bonuses...."
SOURCE: The Guardian Unlimited; AUTHOR: Rory McCarthy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,966819,00.html
Salam's new column for the Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,969950,00.html
COUNTERACTING THE INTERNET RUMOR
The latest Internet rumor plaguing the much-maligned Starbucks suggests a
"nefarious intent" in the company's decision to pull out of Israel.
Starbucks, a veteran of Internet rumor wars, has developed some effective
defensive tactics. One technique was a campaign to discreetly disseminate
the correct information -- that they had pulled out for purely economic
reasons -- to interested parties while avoiding spreading the rumor to the
masses. Perhaps the most effective weapon proved to be the Anti-Defamation
League, which contacted Starbucks to investigate the matter and later
circulated the company's message on its website and in telephone calls.
Other companies have not been as fortunate, though. According to a recent
study, only three of 24 Fortune 500 companies have handled Internet rumors
or hoaxes in a responsible manner. "If they handled sales with the same care
they handled Internet rumors, they wouldn't be companies very long," said
John T. Llewellyn, associate professor of communication at Wake Forest
University. According to Mary Frances Luce of the Wharton School of
Business, silence can be construed as guilt, but an aggressive defensive may
publicize the rumor. "There's a fine line in being too loud about it or not
loud enough," she said.
SOURCE: NYTimes.com; AUTHOR: Sherry Day
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/02/technology/02NECO.html
BLOGGERS REPORT ALT NEWS FROM G8
Protesters served up their own version of the demonstrations at the Group of
Eight summit in France by posting commentary on Web logs, or blogs. Web
designer and protester Geoffroi du Chambon differentiated himself from
mainstream reporters by offering updates as often as every half-hour on the
activities of the protesters. Other websites, such as Project Hive, allowed
protesters to submit comments and pictures through web-enabled phones and
PDAs. According to Howard Rheingold, author of Smart Mobs: The Next Social
Revolution, cell-phones have allowed protesters to better organize
themselves. With the popularization of next-generation 3G videophones,
protesters can submit video instantly to blogs:"Then you no longer need to
depend on what ABC News has to say about what's going on there," he said.
Blogger du Chambon is unsure of the impact of his blog on public perception
of protesters, but he believes that technology and demonstrating go together
in a certain way. "Blogging is partly based on hyperlinks, reinforcing the
feeling that you are part of something bigger. Demonstrating is also based
on human hyperlinks, materializing the need for fraternity," he said.
SOURCE: Wired News; AUTHOR: Elisa Batista
http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,59086,00.html
PRIVACY
TIVO PLANS TO SELL INFORMATION ON CUSTOMERS' VIEWING HABITS
Digital TV recording manufacturer TiVo announced that it will begin to sell
information about the viewing patterns of its customers to advertisers and
programmers, claiming that it can offer far more precise data than
traditional rating methods. TiVo devices contain hard drives connected to a
central server, thus allowing the company to track specific actions taken by
individual viewers, such as how often they skip commercials or at what exact
point they change channels. TiVo President Martin Yudkovitz noted that the
data would be filtered through a third party to prevent advertisers from
having information on specific individuals. Early reports showed that 54
percent of viewers fast-forwarded through commercials during prime time.
SOURCE: The New York Times; AUTHOR: Amy Harmon
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/02/business/media/02TIVO.html
RADIO
US DIGITAL RADIO REVOLUTION STALLS
With the promise of digital radio due for delivery this fall, the US
National Radio Systems Committee (NRSC) last week suspended its
standard-setting process, stating that the current technology's sound
quality is insufficient for broadcast. Columbia, Maryland-based iBiquity
Digital, the company that developed the technology, must take their in-band
open channel (IBOC) system back to the drawing board. The IBOC technology
squeezes both analogue and digital signals into the current AM and FM bands.
Listeners would need an IBOC-compatible radio in order to listen once the
conversion takes place, but such devices will not be available until the
NRSC sets its standards. The delay is a victory for the Amherst Alliance, a
group of broadcasters, webcasters and concerned citizens hoping that the
NRSC will consider other technologies, such as the Eureka technology
developed in Europe and adopted in several countries.
SOURCE: New Scientist; AUTHOR: Barry Fox
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993772
EDTECH
PARENTS OF STUDENTS AT TROUBLED CYBERSCHOOL PREPARE FOR CLOSING
After two years of legal and funding battles, the Einstein Academy Charter
School in Philadelphia has had its charter revoked. The Einstein school
offered services to some 3,000 students when it opened its virtual doors in
2001, but enrollment has dropped to around 660 amid allegations that the
school provided inadequate special education services and mismanaged its
finances, among other things. Linda Cross, whose son Cory has overcome
dyslexia during his time at the on-line school, disagrees. "I've told people
that if Einstein were to survive one more year, my son wouldn't need special
education help anymore. He would be able to go back to a regular classroom,"
she said. The Einstein Academy failed to provide free computers, texts and
Internet connections to students as it had promised, critics allege, but
school officials counter that school districts withheld tuition payments.
Supporters of cyberschools enjoy the flexibility offered to students who may
learn in non-traditional ways, but many superintendents fear that
cyberschools "constitute a largely unregulated form of homeschooling."
SOURCE: USA Today; AUTHOR: The Associated Press
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2003-06-02-cyberschool...
sing_x.htm
DIGITAL DIVIDE
LACK OF TECHNOLOGY DENIES GRANTS TO BLACKS, STUDY SAYS
The US Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (FBCI) may be
preventing small organizations from having equal access to its funding
because of its online-only applications. For example, some churches may be
hesitant to go online. "I feel that some are fearful because it's a
different way of going about things," said the Rev. Alfred Smith, who uses
his computer for such things as researching religious texts and accessing
book reviews. According to Andrew Sears, director of the Association of
Christian Community Computer Centers, financial constraints can prevent
black churches from advancing technologically. "It's a reflection of larger
society," he said. "There are lots of areas with economic injustices."
Churches such as Rev. Smith's teach classes at their own computer labs in an
effort to promote computer literacy. "Without greater adoption of IT, these
organizations will be further marginalized, and the digital divide will
become wider," Lee said.
SOURCE: The Patriot-News; AUTHOR: Laura Michalski
http://www.pennlive.com/news/patriotnews/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_s...
ard.xsl?/base/news/1054633184166101.xml
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