Digital Divide
New Tools For School: Educators Dream Of Laptops For All Students
Technology Jones
Broadband
Tech Groups Back Baby Bells On Mandatory High-Speed Network Sharing
Ownership
Media Access Project Issues Statement Tn Television Station
Ownership Decision
Intellectual Property
An End To Digital Piracy?
Internet
Italy Pushes E-Government
Cuba Tests Online Waters
From Parking To Taxes, A Push To Get Answers Online
DIGITAL DIVIDE
NEW TOOLS FOR SCHOOL: EDUCATORS DREAM OF LAPTOPS FOR ALL STUDENTS
After years of debate, many educators have become advocates for the benefits
of using laptops and handheld computers in the classroom. In Silicon Valley,
students use handheld devices to graph math problems, learn economics and
map out science experiments. Bill Richter, principal of Lynbrook High
School said, "The curriculum is the same...It's just a different way of
access that allows kids to be more creative and more in control of how they
learn." Around 15 percent of school districts nationwide have some type of
laptop initiative and proponents of the programs say that it is the next
step in giving students essential technical skills for future success in the
workforce. Critics of the laptop programs have said schools are not
discussing the hazards of handheld devices and laptops. Distribution of the
equipment and teacher training can be very expensive for schools and
students must be taught about privacy and using the tools responsibly. The
largest laptop program is San Jose's East Side high school district.
Superintendent Joe Coto is planning on giving every student in the district
a laptop to bring technology into the homes of about 100,000 people who
would not normally be able to afford it. "The digital divide has been
around a long time, and we think our kids deserve this. We believe it will
improve academic performance, increase understanding of future careers in
technology, and bring greater involvement and communication with parents.
And we think it will be an important step for our students who don't speak
English."
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Katherine Corcoran]
(http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/2994121.htm)
TECHNOLOGY JONES
An ex-AT&T executive, Alicia Jones, has founded Youthlinks USA, a nonprofit
computer training center in Detroit targeted at teaching computer skills to
the working poor, school dropouts, senior citizens, and the learning
disabled. Jones is hoping to provide the training and support these groups
need to increase their earning potential and succeed in today's workplace.
While several computer programs teach similar skills in the Detroit area,
none are as large as Youthlinks USA. Jones hopes to partner with other
organizations around the country to bring the program to community centers,
churches, and after-school programs. In describing the structure of the
program Jones said, "We demystify technology for them. It doesn't make sense
to sit a child in front of a computer and teach him technology and they
can't read. This isn't just a technology program, we target the whole
child."
[SOURCE: The Detroit News, AUTHOR: Tenisha Mercer]
(http://www.detnews.com/2002/detroit/0204/03/s04-454614.htm)
BROADBAND
TECH GROUPS BACK BABY BELLS ON MANDATORY HIGH-SPEED NETWORK SHARING
Six leading trade organizations have formed the High Tech Broadband
Coalition to support the Baby Bell telephone companies fight regulations
forcing them to share their high-speed networks with competitors. Many
groups are lobbying to make high-speed Internet access a national priority,
but this is the first group to support the Baby Bells in their quest to ease
existing regulations. The coalition believes that removing the restrictions
would encourage the phone companies to build more high-speed networks
resulting in increased sales of networking gear and software. Grant
Seiffert, vice president of external affairs and global policy at the
Telecommunications Industry Association, a member of the new coalition said,
"We are the value chain of the broadband space-the arms merchants...and
right now we're not selling any product." Many other industry associations
such as the Information Technology Association of America are supporting the
local exchange carriers and argue that lifting the regulations would create
an anti-competitive environment.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Joelle Tessler]
(http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/local/2993942.htm)
OWNERSHIP
MEDIA ACCESS PROJECT ISSUES STATEMENT ON TELEVISION STATION OWNERSHIP
DECISION
Media Access Project (MAP) published an issue statement on April 2, 2002
about the U.S. Court of Appeals' decision in Sinclair Broadcast Group v.
Federal Communications Commission. Sinclair challenged the FCC's rules
limiting the number of television stations a single owner may possess in a
local area. The Court did not agree with Sinclair's argument that the rules
violate the First Amendment, the Telecommunications Act and the Fifth
Amendment's takings clause. The Court also found that the FCC did not
adequately define the terms under which multiple station ownership was
allowable. MAP stated that this is only a temporary setback and that, the
Court has upheld the authority and power of the FCC to promote viewpoint
diversity through ownership regulation.
[SOURCE: Media Access Project]
(http://www.mediaaccess.org/press/sinclair4202.pdf)
(Adobe Acrobat Reader required to view this document.)
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
AN END TO DIGITAL PIRACY?
Jack Valenti, chief executive of the Motion Picture Association of America,
has offered dire predictions about how peer-to-peer software allows the
piracy of films. Valenti feels that file swappers are "terrorizing" his
industry. CNET News interviews Valenti about the legislation proposed by
Senator Hollings that would force both producers and hardware manufacturers
to use anti-piracy technology. Valenti supports the bill, but says that the
focus needs to be narrowed and that all stakeholders need to participate in
"good-faith negotiations" about solving digital piracy issues.
[SOURCE: CNET News, AUTHOR: John Borland]
(http://news.com.com/2008-1082-875394.html)
INTERNET
ITALY PUSHES E-GOVERNMENT
Since last summer former IBM executive, Lucio Stanca, has been the Italian
minister for technology and innovation, tasked with transforming a
paper-heavy bureaucracy into a streamlined system of online databases to
bring transparency to the public sector. Italy will be leading the Group of
Seven nations e-government initiative to create aid for developing
countries. As head of the project Stanca will bring together a group of
600 officials and executives to review Italy's commitment of more than $100
million of e-government assistance to launch e-government programs in
Jordan, Nigeria, Mozambique, Albania and Tunisia. In response to skeptics
who question the validity of spending money on e-government programs when
many people need food and medicine, Stanca has stated the program targets
countries that have burgeoning economic development. "Our vision is that if
we help countries to make their public administration more reliable, more
transparent and accessible, then this will increase the confidence of
government donors and the private sector to respectively give them financial
resources, aid and investments to support their economic growth."
[SOURCE: International Herald Tribune, AUTHOR: Alan Friedman]
(http://www.iht.com/articles/53307.html)
CUBA TESTS ONLINE WATERS
The first in a three-part series, this article explores how the ordinary
Cuban citizen gets online. Citizens are hungry for the Internet and find
ways to get around the government restrictions on Internet access. While
Cuba's communist government has sought to teach citizens computer skills, it
restricts full access to the Internet. Instead, the government provides
state-run computer clubs where citizens may access a network that uses the
same protocols as the Internet, but is not connected to the Internet. The
computers are linked instead to an island-wide network. Carlos Mas Zabala,
director of Cuba's Center for Informatics and Applied Systems of Culture,
states that "Cuba is extremely confident of the future, we can manage any
kind of technology." Curiously enough, while it tightly restricts Internet
access, the Cuban government is seeking to create a computer-literate
generation to rival software programmers in the West - an issue that will be
covered in the next article in this series.
[SOURCE: BBC News]
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1905000/1905236.stm)
FROM PARKING TO TAXES, A PUSH TO GET ANSWERS ONLINE
At all levels of government, officials are transforming government Web sites
into virtual service counters. But the change is happening slowly. Professor
Darrell West of Brown University found that last year, 25 percent of state
and federal Web sites offered transactions, and increase of only 3 percent
from the previous year. A study being released today by the Pew Internet and
American Life Project (PIP) estimates that 68 million Americans have used
government Web sites. The study also shows that 60 percent of those who used
such sites said the process improved the way they interacted with
government. "It's hard to think of any other single step that a government
agency could take to improve its standing with constituents," said Lee
Rainie, director of the Pew project. But barriers to delivering e-government
services are substantial as the "right mix" of legislative approval, funding
and inter-agency cooperation are often difficult to achieve. The Pew study
also points out the perils of poorly executed government sites which led to
user inability to find information or services they required. Among the top
government sites are FirstGov (Federal government portal) and the Web site
for New York City.
[SOURCE: The New York Times, AUTHOR: Rebecca Fairley Raney]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/04/technology/circuits/04GOVE.html)
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