INTERNET
IBM Grant Will Fund Web Site For Teachers
Internet To Reach South Pole
Recordings Of Basque Settlers Being Made Available On Net
DIGITAL DIVIDE
Info Technology As Tool For Sustainable Development
Gender Interests Divide Silver Surfers
INTERNET
IBM GRANT WILL FUND WEB SITE FOR TEACHERS
IBM has granted the San Jose Unified School District $1.5 million to fund
the second phase in the IBM Reinventing Education program. The money will
support a Web-based program that is designed to help teachers "reflect on
their practices," and provide easy access to classroom strategies and
support. Lesson plans based on state standards and information about
implementing the plans will also be available on the Web site.
Superintendent Linda Murray also noted that with the new Web site, "New
teachers can interact with experienced teachers."
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Larry Slonaker]
(http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/local/3913795.htm)
INTERNET TO REACH SOUTH POLE
Soon, the Internet's reach will extend all the way to the South Pole. In
what will be one of the most dramatic and challenging engineering tasks ever
carried out in Antarctica, a fiber optic cable will be laid across nearly
2,000 kilometers of polar ice. It will take years to design and construct,
but when finished it will revolutionize communications with the South Pole.
The pole is the only permanently inhabited place on Earth that cannot see
geosynchronous communication satellites, a fact that severely restricts
communication with the base. The U.S. National Science Foundation has just
issued a request for companies to bid to build the trans-Antarctic fiber
optic line that can be useable by 2009.
[SOURCE: BBC Online]
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2207259.stm)
RECORDINGS OF BASQUE SETTLERS BEING MADE AVAILABLE ON NET
An online history documentation project at the Center for Basque Studies at
the University of Nevada in Reno and the Basque Museum and Cultural Center
in Boise is bringing the voices and faces of Basque immigrants to their
descendents. Project members have interviewed hundreds of Basque immigrants
and translated records into digital files. The project Web site include
photographs, immigration documents and wedding certificates. "They can
actually hear their ancestors or relatives," said a spokeswoman for the
project. "What a fabulous thing for a young Basque American girl to hear her
grandmother talk about her experiences."
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Associated Press]
(http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/3915062.htm)
DIGITAL DIVIDE
INFO TECHNOLOGY AS TOOL FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) will present a report next week at the World
Summit on Sustainable Development, stating that information and
communication technology (ICT) will play a major role in sustainable
development, although it is unknown in what form. Dennis Pamlin, policy
advisor at WWF-Sweden, believes that the role of ICT will become clear
within the next decade. "It will then be known whether ICT is being utilized
towards sustainable development, or if is being used only by 'influential
groups' trying to exploit it to reap short-term gains," he said. The WWF
document states that ICT has yet to be utilized fully, and describes how it
could help "save energy through remote energy management of commercial and
residential buildings," as well as "curb the rapid growth of transportation
and business travel" through trade and videoconferences conducted via the
Internet.
[SOURCE: Yahoo News, AUTHOR: Gustavo Capdevila, Inter Press Service]
(http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/oneworld/20020822/wl_onewor
ld/1032_1030024123)
GENDER INTERESTS DIVIDE SILVER SURFERS
A recent study in Britain revealed that as more seniors get online, there is
a difference between how older men and women utilize the Internet. The
survey, conducted by ICM, found that men prefer to use the Web to pursue
hobbies and find information, whereas women see the Net as an alternative to
the telephone, using it to chat with friends and families. Part of a
three-year partnership project to bring technology to older people, the
survey found that were still many challenges to connecting older Britons to
the Internet. Two-thirds of men and women over 55 surveyed said they did not
have access to the Internet, and two-thirds of those had no intention of
going online.
[SOURCE: BBC Online]
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2205941.stm)
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