POLITICAL DISCOURSE
Group Says For-Profit Political Site Is Breaking the Law
(CyberTimes)
Democrats Absent From Congressional Discussion Of Internet (USA)
INTERNET
Web Shortcuts Become Key Issue (WP)
Untangling The Web's Languages (NYT)
Web Site Finds Case For Latin Broadcast, Declines Translation (USA)
Web-Wired Elevators Aim To Captivate Daily Riders (USA)
Web Governing Body Proposes New Suffixes for Internet Sites (WSJ)
Crowdburst Sees Browsing Web Sites as a Group Activity (WSJ)
ARTS
A Portrait of the Artist As an Internet Marketer (NYT)
EDTECH
Unplugged on Campus, But Always Connected (NYT)
RADIO
Low Power Radio (MAP)
ClickRadio to Start Digital Music Service That Plays From Computer-
Disk Drives (WSJ)
JOURNALISM
PBS Host to Lead Press Study Center at Harvard (NYT)
POLITICAL DISCOURSE
GROUP SAYS FOR-PROFIT POLITICAL SITE IS BREAKING THE LAW
Issue: Political Discourse
The National Legal and Policy Center, a nonprofit group headquartered in
McLean, VA, has filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission
charging that the for-profit company, Grassroots.com's practice of granting
candidates free space on their site amounts to an illegal campaign
contribution. Grassroots.com contends that under recent FEC rulings, their
activities are not illegal. Trevor Potter, a lawyer for Grassroots.com and a
former chairman of the FEC, says that
Grassroots.com's web design services are not illegal because they are
available to any candidate who wants them. "If you are offering
something to candidates on a nonpartisan basis, then you don't have a
contribution," Potter said. Grassroots.com sells advertising space to
make money from their site. The for-profit nature of the endeavor makes
some people skeptical to begin with. "Information from nonprofit
organizations such as the California Voter Foundation or Project Vote
Smart is going to be viewed as more reliable, because we have to be
nonpartisan by law," said Kim Alexander, president of the California
organization.
[SOURCE: CyberTimes, AUTHOR: Rebecca Fairley Raney (rfr( at )nytimes.com)]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/04/cyber/articles/20campaign.html)
DEMOCRATS ABSENT FROM CONGRESSIONAL DISCUSSION OF INTERNET
Issue: Political Discourse
When key members of Congress met with technology executives about Internet
regulations on Wednesday, Democrats were notable absent from the discussion.
Many Democrats are divided on how best to apply old economy rules to the new
economy of e-commerce. Republicans hope to use those divisions to gain
support in the coming elections. Last week, House Republicans endorsed a
federal commission's report that urged lawmakers to repeal an 102-year-old
telephone tax and extend a moratorium on new Internet taxes - a move favored
by many in the industry. "I think it's healthy that both parties are heading
up efforts to address issues like the digital divide, but let's face it,
we're headed into a major election campaign that's going to decide the
course of our economy going forward," said Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va.,
chairman of the House Internet Caucus. "We want to be known as the party
that supports lower taxes and less regulation." But many Democrats say the
recommendations of Internet tax commission failed to recognize the billions
of dollars in sales tax revenue that state and local governments could
eventually lose if growing electronic commerce becomes a tax haven.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Associated Press]
(http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/merc/docs/085394.htm)
INTERNET
WEB SHORTCUTS BECOME KEY ISSUE
Issue: Internet
The next big battle in Internet browsers will likely involve a navigational
tool called keywords. Keywords are shortcuts that let us reach Web sites by
typing plain words rather than long addresses. Without a universal standard,
however, keywords might end up taking people to different addresses
depending on which Internet browsers they use instead by where they want to
go. AOL, which has used keywords for years as a navigation tool, began to
bundle keywords as part of its marketing deals with merchants and other
browsers have started to follow suite. "I think this is one of the most
important things that is happening now on the Internet," said Danny
Sullivan, editor of Search Engine Watch. "Most people have no clue that very
substantial navigation systems are coming into play, and we have no
regulation involved in it." A company called RealNames has been trying for
three years to establish a common keyword system that would work with all
Web browsers, search engines and directories. Not all browsers, however, are
eager to come on board. AOL and Netscape, which is owned by AOL, both have
their own keyword systems.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (E1), AUTHOR: Leslie Walker]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48000-2000Apr19.html)
UNTANGLING THE WEB'S LANGUAGES
Issue: Internet
With the number of non-English speakers growing to nearly half of the Web's
population, companies are racing for ways to allow people to communicate in
their native tongues. Global Reach, a technology research firm in San
Francisco, reports that 128 million of the almost 280 million people who use
the Internet speak languages other than English and Jupiter Communications
estimates that the number of non-English speakers on the Internet will
surpass English speakers in 2001. Companies like Yahoo, Amazon, and eToys
have created local versions of their sites that include specialized
information in the appropriate language to respond to the increasingly
diverse Internet. But these customized sites are in the minority. Jupiter
reports that fewer than one-third of major online companies have localized
sites for their international customers. Recently, however, companies have
been improving and developing software to meet the growing demands for
translation services. "If a visitor comes to their site and can't
communicate," said Denis Gachout, Systran's president, "then that site is
increasingly going to lose sales." Now competing start-ups, like eGlyphs
Incorporated(www.eglyphs.com), a start-up in Palo Alto, have created free
software that allows users to type in non-Roman characters quickly and
easily.
[SOURCE: New York Times (D1), AUTHOR: David Kushner]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/04/circuits/articles/20tran.html)
WEB SITE FINDS CASE FOR LATIN BROADCAST, DECLINES TRANSLATION
Issue: Internet
Every week, the Finnish Broadcasting Company, or YLE (in Finnish),
broadcasts the latest world news in Latin over shortwave, satellite, and the
Web. This all started 11 years ago when Hannu Taanila, a producer for the
broadcaster, had two professors of Latin translate a 5-minute news update
into Latin and slipped it into the broadcast. People loved it. [The Finns
also love to Sauna and Tango] and it became a regular feature. The Latin
News (Nuntii Latini), went online via streamed audio in 1998. Fans from
around the world send in cursus electronicus (email) to voice their support.
"We get desperate letters from German schoolboys saying, 'We have a test
tomorrow on your news, can we have a translation!'" says Marjo
Cunninghamof Finnish Radio. "We tell them we're not a translation
service."
[SOURCE: USA Today (3D), AUTHOR: Elizabeth Weise]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20000420/2181217s.htm)
WEB-WIRED ELEVATORS AIM TO CAPTIVATE DAILY RIDERS
Issue: Internet
On Wednesday, a Westford, MA company called Captivate Network announced
that it had reached agreements with 12 of the country's biggest real
estate companies to install 10-inch "Internet" screens in 500 buildings
around the land. The screens will run 10-second stories about stocks,
weather, news, traffic and not to mention advertising, have already
been installed in some buildings in Chicago, New York, and Stamford, CT.
Over the next year, the company hopes to install their screens in
buildings in 26 cities. Captivate's vice president for marketing and
programming, Nancy Jackson, says that there will be weighty social
effects. ''What we've observed is that people will now talk to each
other about what they see on the screen. It takes a very awkward
experience and turns it into something better," she said.
[SOURCE: USA Today (2B), AUTHOR: Fred Bayles]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20000420/2181267s.htm)
WEB GOVERNING BODY PROPOSES NEW SUFFIXES FOR INTERNET SITES
Issue: Internet
The Names Council, part of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers, is recommending establishing one or more new suffixes as
alternatives to the powerful ".com." One new suffix that has been proposed
is dot-shop. It has also floated the idea of special domains for labor
unions and political campaigns. The Names Council proposal, which also
recommends other important changes in the Internet's addressing
architecture, is expected to be taken up by Icann at its next meeting July
15-18 in Yokohama, Japan.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal Interactive, AUTHOR: Staff Reporter]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB956191064709727209.htm)
CROWDBURST SEES BROWSING WEB STITES AS A GROUP ACTIVITY
Issue: Internet
Crowdburst, a new start-up, feels that Web surfing should not be a solitary
activity. They've created a service that combines familiar tools such as
online chat and bulletin boards that pop up in a special window alongside a
user's main browser program with a newer concept called "trails." Trails are
lists of Web sites that may be followed like stepping stones along with
posted commentary or live chat from other users. Users could follow the
trail when surfing on their own, or take part in a live surfing session in
which one person leads others to a succession of sites. Users can type in a
chat window to comment on the action. A history professor could create a
trail for students to follow to libraries and museums, along with his
running commentary. Such collaboration concepts aren't entirely new and have
been used in other start-ups that are familiar with the instant messaging
service called ICQ, which helped popularize the concept of downloadable
software that acts as an Internet companion.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal Interactive, AUTHOR: Don Clark]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB956178765924535283.htm)
ARTS
A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS AN INTERNET MARKETER
Issue: Arts
" 'If you build it, they will come,' just isn't true," advised Eve Smith,
project manager for Open Studio: The Arts Online, a four-year-old project
financed by the Benton Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts
that helps artists and arts groups learn how to use the Web to promote their
work (www.openstudio.org). To start on the road to recognition, Ms. Smith
advises artists to list their Web sites with as many search engines as
possible and join e-mail lists. "Merely having a Web presence will not be
enough to attract people to what you do," added Ms. Smith, noting that the
Open Studio, which is based in
Washington, was founded because artists and arts groups were perceived to be
among those most likely to fall into the digital divide without proper
training. To date, the project has helped more than 1,100 artists and arts
groups with the nuances of getting recognition on the Web. Story includes
artist-friendly sites and strategies for artists and authors to promote
their own work.
[SOURCE: New York Times (D8), AUTHOR: Bonnie Rothman Morris]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/04/circuits/articles/20artt.html)
EDTECH
UNPLUGGED ON CAMPUS, BUT ALWAYS CONNECTED
Issue: EdTech
Mount St. Mary College in Newburgh, NY has [just about the coolest
thing, ever] a high speed wireless network that covers the campus,
including the parking lot and dormitories. This means that anyone with a
laptop, the entire faculty and around 100 students, can go anywhere on the
campus and maintain an Internet connection. This allows for
professors to check email in their cars in the parking lot, and students to
remain online all the time. "I can hold the laptop in one arm and type with
the other hand as I walk down the hall," first-year student, Mary Nolan
said. The wireless network was partially born out of economic necessity. In
1996, the school was looking into wiring the classrooms and dormitories. But
the cost to do that conventionally would have been high, around $150,000. A
wireless network covering the dorms, on the other hand, would cost only
$10,000 to $15,000. The school has also made a deal to lease wireless
adaptor cards to allow computers to access the wireless network for $45 a
semester or $95 for a year, so that students would not have to pay the $400
that such a device usually costs. Students seem to love it. "I've already
asked my mom," said Daphne David, pre-med student, "'Can we have wireless at
home?'"
[SOURCE: New York Times (D1), AUTHOR: Lisa Guernsey]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/04/circuits/articles/20camp.html)
RADIO
LOW POWER RADIO
Issue: Radio
Get a full update with what's going on woth low power radio including MAP's
guide to filling out the FCC LPFM application.
[SOURCE: Media Access Project]
(http://www.mediaaccess.org/programs/lpfm/index.html)
CLICKRADIO TO START DIGITAL MUSIC SERVICE THAT PLAYS FROM COMPUTER-DISK
DRIVES
Issue: Radio
A start-up called ClickRadio Inc. is launching a radio service that allows
listeners to play music from their computer disk drives by distributing
software that comes with hundreds of songs by major artists. Listeners will
be able to update their music by downloading music files from Clickradio's
site. The company has already signed a deal with Universal Music Group and
is in talks with Bertelsmann AG's BMG Entertainment unit as well as other
labels. Many Internet music providers currently use streaming technology to
reach Internet listeners, forcing listeners to be online as they listen to
tunes. Clickradio feels that music Webcasts that use streaming technology
will ultimately not work due to data-traffic congestion on the Web. They
expect their listeners to access them in more ways than just the Internet,
to be played from hand-held devices, modified car radios and home-stereo
equipment. "We are not a Web site but a new way to listen to music in
whatever venue you happen to choose," said Mr. Williams, Clickradio's chief
executive.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal Interactive, AUTHOR: Don Clark]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB956183179987274425.htm)
JOURNALISM
PBS HOST TO LEAD PRESS STUDY CENTER AT HARVARD
Issue: Journalism
Pulitzer Prize winner Alex Jones, host of PBS's "Media Matters," has been
named director of the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public
Policy at the John F Kennendy School of Governmnet at Harvard University.
Mr. Jones indicated he planned to raise the center's attention to the
emergence of the Internet and how it is complicating politics and public
policy.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A17)]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/042000havard-edu.html)
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