HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY! SEE YOU AT THE PARADE
EDTECH
Amid Clamor for Computer in Every Classroom, Some
Dissenting Voices (NYT)
Technology Taking Students on Far-Flung Field Trips
(CyberTimes)
INTERNET CONTENT
Opening Up City Budgets to Online Input (CyberTimes)
A Spray In History Of Cyberspace (WP)
TELEVISION
USA Networks, NBC Reach Accord On Sharing Series (WSJ)
TELEPHONY
Leap Wireless Plans Flat Rate For Cell Calls (WSJ)
FCC Plans To Require Long-Distance Firms To Post
Rates Online (WSJ)
PRIVACY
BBB to Help Guard Privacy on Internet (SJM)
EDTECH
AMID CLAMOR FOR COMPUTER IN EVERY CLASSROOM, SOME DISSENTING VOICES
Issue: EdTech
As school districts scurry to fulfill President Clinton's goal of
connecting every class room in America to the Internet by the year 2000,
some educators are wondering about what is being sacrificed in the drive to
computerize. Groups like Learning in the Real World, a nonprofit
organization that seeks to involve students in hands-on learning, are
questioning the current emphasis on technology education. "So many programs
were being slaughtered by this perception that if it didn't involve
computers, it wasn't worth anything," said William Rukeyser, founder of
Learning in the Real World. Even some strong proponents of EdTech, like Dr.
John Bosco, chairman of the Consortium for School Networking, agree that
computers are not a panacea. "We're beginning to see that it is not magic,
and that there are things done in the name of information technology which
are either foolish or wasteful," Dr. Bosco notes.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A23), AUTHOR: Tom Zeller]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/031799calif-classrooms.html
TECHNOLOGY TAKING STUDENTS ON FAR-FLUNG FIELD TRIPS
Issue: EdTech
A look at a new educational genre, electronic field trips, projects that use
the Internet and other communications technologies to allow schoolchildren
to "accompany" travelers to far-flung places. There are perhaps a dozen of
these projects including: the Jason Project http://www.jasonproject.org,
Classroom Connect http://www.classroom.com/, The Odyssey: World Trek for
Service and Education http://www.worldtrek.org/odyssey/index.html, and
GlobaLearn http://www.globalearn.com/. There are critics of such programs,
however. "It's the 'terrificness' of these projects that are also my
criticism of them," said Lowell W. Monke
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~lmonke/, a high school computer science
teacher in Des Moines. "We are 'terrific-izing' these kids to science. We
seem to think we have to bring them special stuff to make scientists of
them. Really, it's the opposite we have to do."
[SOURCE: CyberTimes, AUTHOR: Pamela Mendels mendels( at )nytimes.com]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/03/cyber/education/17education.html
INTERNET CONTENT
OPENING UP CITY BUDGETS TO ONLINE INPUT
Issue: Access to Gov Info
The annual budget process is being opened up by some cities through use of
the Internet. Santa Monica is becoming a model city by allowing residents to
comment on the budget online. Officials from the city recently testified at
a hearing of a state commission that is charged, in part, with finding ways
for local government agencies to increase public participation, Raney
writes. "Frankly, these [examples] are hard to find," said Ben Williams,
executive director of the California Commission on Local Governance for the
21st Century. Later this year, the commission will put together
recommendations based on the testimony. "I think there's been a general lack
of activity at the local level, but a few bright spots," said Steven Clift,
chairman of Minnesota E-Democracy http://www.e-democracy.org/, a nonprofit
organization that provides online discussions on state issues. "There's this
real concern within government that adding functions is not acceptable." See
also the City of Santa Monica
http://pen.ci.santa-monica.ca.us/cm/index.htm,
http://pen.ci.santa-monica.ca.us/communication/cityforms/budget_suggestions
.htm,
http://pen.ci.santa-monica.ca.us/communication/budget_suggestions.htm and
Seattle http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/,
http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/budget/comments/default.htm.
[SOURCE: CyberTimes, AUTHOR: Rebecca Fairley Raney]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/03/cyber/articles/17budget.html
A SPRAY IN HISTORY OF CYBERSPACE
Issue: Internet Content/Arts
Graffiti no longer graces the New York subway station, but graffiti artists, or
"taggers," have an alternative venue online. Former taggers of the 70's and
80's have created Art Crimes Web site .graffiti.org with over 50 links. The
149th Street Grand Concourse, a once popular spot for taggers, known as "the
bench" has been replicated in cyberspace www.at149st.com. The site managers,
Luke Felisbret, a freelance artist and former tagger, and his brother Eric,
"see themselves as modern-day preservationists, keeping alive a lost urban art
that symbolizes rebellion at a time when New York is shedding so many of its
rough edges," Grunwald reports. Decline of subway graffiti began in the early
80's when the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), known to taggers as
the "buff," began cracking down on artists by adding guards and pulling trains
off the tracks as soon as graffiti was discovered. Noting that subway ridership
is at the highest level in decades, Gene Russianoff, staff attorney for the
Straphangers Campaign says the zero-graffiti policy is the best thing to happen
to New York: "The subways used to have a Clockwork Orange feel, like everything
was out of control." The movement, however, has not died and lives on in
cyberspace. "The Web is all about freedom of expression, and that's what the
subways used to be for us. And on the Web, you don't have to worry about the
buff. The art can last forever," says site manager, Eric Felisbret.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A1), AUTHOR: Michael Grunwald]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-03/17/098l-031799-idx.html
TELEVISION
USA NETWORKS, NBC REACH ACCORD ON SHARING SERIES
Issue: Broadcast/Cable
In an unprecedented agreement between a cable channel and a broadcast network,
NBC and USA Networks have agreed to share a spinoff of the series "Law and
Order." USA Networks gained control of the NBC show when it acquired the
Universal Television division of Seagram's Universal Studios in 1997. USA
Networks has agreed to extend the show to be aired on NBC for the next two
years. In exchange, the spinoff, called "Sex Crimes" will air on the USA
Networks's cable channel just two weeks after they air on NBC. "It was a
valuable trade-off, said Scott Sassa, president of NBC Entertainment. To have
Law and Order come back, the cost is to have a spinoff running on other
channels." NBC affiliates are expected be leery of the agreement, given their
pull to carry shows that air exclusively on NBC. NBC hopes to fend off
criticism
by emphasizing that USA will not air "Sex Crimes" during prime-time. Although
not final, NBC plans to air the spinoff in the fall.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B6), AUTHOR: Kyle Pope]
http://wsj.com/
TELEPHONY
LEAP WIRELESS PLANS FLAT RATE FOR CELL CALLS
Issue: Wireless
Leap Wireless International, an emergent of San Diego's Qualcomm, plans to
offer a flat-rate billing option geared to customers who only use their cell
phones in local areas. Unlimited local calls will cost $29.95. Analysts say the
service, marketed under the name, Cricket Communications, is a "bold move to
persuade consumers to choose cell phones over traditional telephones."
Powertel, a small Georgia company, launched a similar plan a few years ago for
$50 a month, but it wasn't meant to be permanent. It is unlikely that bigger
carriers, like AT&T and Sprint, will try to match this deal since they already
offer flat-rate plans, good for local and long distance minutes . The Leap
billing system is meant to be simple, resembling a conventional local phone
bill. "We want people to think of their wireless phones as a basic telephony
service," said Leap's chief executive, Harvey White. A San Jose (CA) research
firm, Dataquest, says their research shows 30% of consumers would switch
their landline phones to wireless if the cost was about $30 a month.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B9), AUTHOR: Nicole Harris & Stephanie N. Mehta]
http://wsj.com/
FCC PLANS TO REQUIRE LONG-DISTANCE FIRMS TO POST RATES ONLINE
Issue: Regulation
The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) will order phone companies to post
domestic long-distance rates on their Web sites, said industry and government
officials. This order is part of the FCC's larger plan to change the way rates
are publicized. Currently, companies can adjust their fees without telling
customers, as long as they file the changes with the FCC. Also part of the
plan: companies would have to post rates in a central, physical location and
take on individual contracts with consumers. Gene Kimmelman, co-director of
Consumers Union, says it is a good move, but still limits those without access
to the Internet. Long-distance companies oppose the deal. A Sprint official
said they should be able to decide if its in their competitive interest to post
rates and should not be made to do so through regulation.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B9), AUTHOR: Staff reporter]
http://wsj.com/
PRIVACY
BBB TO HELP GUARD PRIVACY ON INTERNET
Issue: Privacy
The Better Business Bureau's Internet arm, BBBOnline, is launching a privacy
seal system to help protect consumer information online. Businesses
participating in the Bureau's privacy program will be allowed to display a
seal that signifies compliance with the BBB's privacy policy. Consumers can
complain to BBBOnline if they feel that a participating site has misused
their personal data. Online privacy protection has become an increasingly
important issue to US regulators as the June 21 deadline for reaching an
agreement with the Eurpopean Union on protecting personal data nears.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Stephen Buel]
http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/indepth/docs/bbb031799.htm
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Please, no Kerry Wood/wait 'til next year jokes -- we're depressed enough as
it is.