EDTECH
Internet Access in Public Classrooms Rose to 77% Last Year, Study
Says (WSJ.COM)
Education: From Working in Mines, to Learning Online (NYT)
FCC
Powell: Changes in the Air for F.C.C. (NYT)
New Fcc Consumer E-Mail Service Is Now Available (FCC)
BROADBAND
House Judiciary Sinks Teeth Into Bells Broadband Bill (Newsbytes)
Broadband Walks the Last Mile (TechReview)
JOURNALISM
As Online Publishers Trim Fat, They May Cut the Main Course (WSJ)
EMPLOYMENT
Tech Growth Hit Record Low In 2000 - 'Cyberstates' Study (Newsbytes)
EDTECH
INTERNET ACCESS IN PUBLIC CLASSROOMS ROSE TO 77% LAST YEAR, STUDY SAYS
Issue: Digital Divide
According to a recent Department of Education study by the National Center
for Education Statistics, 77% of U.S. public school classrooms had computers
connected to the Internet in 2000, up from 64% in 1999. In 1994, only 3% had
access to the Internet. By fall 2000, 98% of all elementary and secondary
schools had at least one computer connected to the Internet. Schools with
the highest levels of poverty and minority students had the lowest
percentage at 94%, although this was a jump from 20% in 1994. The study
found that last year, 60% of teaching rooms in classrooms, labs, libraries
and media centers in schools with high poverty rates had computers with
Internet links, up from 38% the year before. A new question on the survey
found that 61% of high-minority enrollment schools and 56% of high-poverty
schools allowed students to use computers to jump online when school was not
in session.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Melinda Patterson Grenier]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB991763657946918844.htm)
EDUCATION: FROM WORKING IN MINES, TO LEARNING ONLINE
Issue: EdTech
When the LTV Mine in northeastern Minnesota's rural Iron Range region closed
its doors in February, leaving more than 1,400 hundred workers unemployed, a
handful of unemployed mineworkers discovered online learning as a way to
stay in their communities and earn college degrees. In response to a request
by U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone, Capella University committed $500,000 to
displaced mine workers and their families, and formed a partnership with
Mesabi Range Community and Technical College that gives students access to
computer labs and financial aid counseling. "Many rural communities are
without the physical infrastructure to provide a community with options for
continuing education or advanced degrees," Wellstone said. "Individuals are
either forced to leave their rural homes to go where an education is more
readily available, or they forgo the education altogether due to the
prohibitive costs of time and transportation."
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Rebecca S. Weiner]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/06/technology/06EDUCATION.html)
FCC
POWELL: CHANGES IN THE AIR FOR F.C.C.
Issue: FCC
The telecommunications industry is transition, being "pushed away from
legacy systems and pulled by advances in technology and infrastructure that
stem from computer power being married to communications," said Federal
Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell to a packed house at the
Supercomm 2001 conference Monday. He stressed that the FCC, and other
government agencies, are likely to take a hands-off approach to emerging
technologies in the years ahead. "We will let markets pick [technology,]
winners and losers," he said.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: James Cope - Computerworld,
Thestandard.Com]
(http://www.nytimes.com/thestandard/standard_26914.html)
NEW FCC CONSUMER E-MAIL SERVICE IS NOW AVAILABLE
Issue: FCC
The Federal Communications Commission today announced the availability of a
new e-mail service to apprise consumers about developments at the FCC, to
disseminate consumer information materials prepared by the Commission to a
wide audience and to invite comments from other interested parties on FCC
regulatory proposals.
[SOURCE: FCC]
(http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Consumer_Information/News_Releases/2001/nrci0104
.html)
BROADBAND
HOUSE JUDICIARY SINKS TEETH INTO BELLS BROADBAND BILL
Issue: Broadband
Today, the House Judiciary Committee resumed the debate over the broadband
bill H.R. 1542, which would deregulate the telecommunications market and
allow Baby Bells to offer high-speed data services before proving local
markets have opened to competition. Verizon's Senior Vice President Tom
Tauke said the outmoded regulations of voice telephony should not be applied
to advanced data communications. Critic Jim Glassman of the American
Enterprise Institute contends that the bill's provision that removes
requirements for Baby Bells to lease their local phone lines to digital
subscriber line (DSL) providers is enough to dry up the capital that
supports broadband competitors. "The mere prospect of the passage of H.R.
1542 and its predecessor last year has already severely damaged
(competitors) by helping to cut off the flow of investment capital,"
Glassman said. "Congress is unwittingly aiding in a strategy to kill the
competitive telecommunications industry in its cradle."
[SOURCE: Newsbytes, AUTHOR: Brian Krebs]
(http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/166487.html)
BROADBAND WALKS THE LAST MILE
Issue: Broadband
The "last-mile" of high-speed Internet service to homes furthest from the
Internet backbone will first be provided by the existing infrastructure of
television cable and phone lines. A study by Cahners In-Stat projects that
this year there will be 10 million cable modem users and 11.5 million
digital subscriber line (DSL) users. The study predicts that by 2005, only
half of all Americans online will have high-speed broadband connections.
Although the ideal connection is fiber optic cable service, current
high-speed Internet options at home are being joined by new wireless
technologies provided by satellite that don't require laying expensive
cable, and eventually by digital TV datacasting, wireless optical networks
and even dirigibles. More and more, the quality of the broadband service
provider's link to the Internet is more significant than the speed of the
broadband modem. This report addresses the various broadband service
options.
[SOURCE: TechReview, AUTHOR: Eric S. Brown]
(http://www.techreview.com/web/brown/brown060501.asp)
JOURNALISM
AS ONLINE PUBLISHERS TRIM FAT, THEY MAY CUT THE MAIN COURSE
Issue: Journalism
Many money-losing Web publishers are slashing editorial staff to cut costs.
But they may also be ditching their most powerful weapon in the battle to
survive: original content. Some readers say they've noticed changes. Because
of weak ad sales and falling revenue, sites have been forced to cut back
staff, including writers and editors -- and the original articles they
produce. The popular online publication Salon.com laid off 20% of its staff
late last year and cut back its original coverage, including reductions of
its travel and media coverage and has expanded use of wire stories to update
its site. Generally, sites "can't just rely on derivative stories and they
cannot just rely on legacy media or collaborative and affiliated Web sites
to survive," says Sreenath Sreenivasan, a new-media professor at the
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. "People will come and
they will find you if you have stuff that no one else has." [SOURCE: Wall
Street Journal, AUTHOR: Stephanie Miles]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB988831596870628967.htm)
(requires subscription)
EMPLOYMENT
TECH GROWTH HIT RECORD LOW IN 2000 - 'CYBERSTATES' STUDY
Issue: Employment
The fifth annual "Cyberstates" study by Nasdaq and AeA (formerly the
American Electronics Association) found that the number of U.S. high-tech
jobs have grown from 235,000 in 2000 to 5.3 million this year, although the
rate of growth is slowest its been in five years. The study found that
individual states had stellar performances in an otherwise struggling
market. California ranked number one in growth, with 973,600 tech employees
in 2000. Texas ranked second with 440,700 workers, and New York,
Massachusetts and Florida fell in line behind Texas. States that reported
the fewest tech jobs were Montana (5,551), Alaska (5,428) and Wyoming
(2,372). The study also found that high-tech wages across the nation on
average increased from $57,701 in 1998 to $64,900 this year, which is almost
twice as high as the national average private sector wage of $33,200 in
1999. "Notwithstanding the present slowdown," said AeA President William
Archey, "Cyberstates 2001 shows the underlying strength of the high-tech
industry in state economies."
[SOURCE: Newsbytes, AUTHOR: Robert MacMillan]
(http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/166493.html)
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