EDTECH
Pupils and Porn and Games, Oh My (WIRED)
INTERNET
DNC Tackles Own Digital Divide (USA)
Doom Ahead For Search Engines That Charge Listing Fees (SFG)
Dot-Coop Internet Domain Opens For Business (WP)
EDTECH
PUPILS AND PORN AND GAMES, OH MY
Issue: Edtech
Virginia's Henrico County Public Schools distributed over 11,000 Apple
iBooks to its high school students, some of whom promptly began downloading
pornography, playing games in class, and trading music and movie files. "We
started out giving them total freedom," said Charles Stallard, the Henrico
district's director of technology. But now, new rules attempt "cut out the
extraneous activity unrelated to the instructional program." Students only
have filtered access to the Web and Instant messaging is locked out of the
school environment. The difficulties in Henrico County illustrate the many
issues that districts have to consider when implementing a one-to-one
computing program. Technology is only one part. "All too often we put this
issue in much too narrow of a frame," said Keith Krueger, executive director
of the Consortium for School Networking. "Information literacy is a much
larger issue. We have to make sure kids become their own filter." That means
teaching students about copyright issues, teaching them to evaluate
information and realizing that not everything on the Net is accurate, and
understanding that there are clear
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Katie Dean]
(http://www.wired.com/news/school/0,1383,50001,00.html)
INTERNET
DNC TACKLES OWN DIGITAL DIVIDE
Issue: Internet
In recent years, Republicans have surged ahead of Democrats in all kinds of
technology, including the ability to e-mail the party faithful and recruit
volunteers online. It took Election Day 2000 to convince Democrats that they
couldn't wait any longer. The Florida GOP sent close to 10,000 e-mails that
day prodding people to vote and get their friends to the polls. Gore lost
the state - and the presidency - by 537 votes. In addition to a tool to turn
out voters, the Internet is used as a way to recruit volunteers and raise
money fast.. Starting next Wednesday, visitors to www.democrats.org will be
able to "tell a friend," "take action" or "get local" - that is, get
information on their local parties, elected officials and news media. The
party will be able to send customized e-mail to inform and mobilize people
based on their interests and location. Republicans offer similar services at
www.gopteamleader.com, along with "talking points" on trade, education and
other initiatives from the White House.
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Jill Lawrence]
(http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/01/31/politech.htm)
SEARCH ENGINES THAT CHARGE LISTING FEES
Issue: Internet
Pioneer Yahoo! recently joined competitors such as MSN.com, LookSmart and
AltaVista in seeking payments from Web sites that want to be included in
their online directories. While few Web surfers have realized it yet, most
of the big online search and directory firms (with the notable exception of
Google) have started asking for money from sites that want to be included in
their indexes or listings. According to Hal Plotkin, "the search and
directory firms have put their futures in question by flouting time-tested
business practices that require an absolutely clear separation between
editorial content and advertising." He suggests that as this trend
continues, and "more search results are populated with what are essentially
paid ads, the less useful those results -- and the firms that provide them
-- will become."
[SOURCE: San Francisco Gate, AUTHOR: Hal Plotkin]
(http://www.sfgate.com/technology/beat/)
DOT-COOP INTERNET DOMAIN OPENS FOR BUSINESS
Issue: Internet
The newest top-level Internet domain, "Dot-coop," went live today. The
address will be aside for employee-owned businesses, including credit
unions, cooperatives and co-op support organizations. "The dot-coop domain
will not only relieve space in the crowded dot-com field, it will give
cooperatives the opportunity to develop an online global identity and
differentiate themselves as member-owned businesses that consumers can
trust," Dotcoop chief executive, Paul Hazen, said in a release today.
Dot-coop is one of seven Internet domains approved for creation by ICANN
board members in November 2000.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: David McGuire (Newsbytes.com)]
(http://www.washtech.com/news/netarch/14933-1.html)
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