E-GOVERNMENT
White House Vows to Step up Progress on E-gov Efforts
SPECTRUM
FCC Frees Up More Frequencies
DIGITAL DIVIDE
PCs and Ethnicity in the UK
INTERNET
Free Online Journal Seeks Revolution in Science Publishing
EVENTS
Tell Us The Truth Tour
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E-Government for All:
Take part in our upcoming virtual conference!
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E-GOVERNMENT
WHITE HOUSE VOWS TO STEP UP PROGRESS ON E-GOV EFFORTS
A Wednesday press conference featured Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
Deputy Director Clay Johnson and new e-government administrator Karen Evans.
OMB officials stated that whether or not Congress centrally funds
e-government, the initiatives are moving forward. Evans said that about 60
percent of federal agencies would be in compliance with rules for
eliminating government paperwork by the October 21 deadline. The law
requires the agencies to give individuals or organizations that do business
with the government the option to transact business electronically. "The
federal government continues to make strides in service while saving
taxpayers' dollars," Evans said. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is
making progress on its five e-government initiatives: Recruitment One-Stop,
e-Clearance, e-Payroll, e-Training and the Enterprise Human Resources
Integration system. The USAJobs website is intended to simplify the process
of finding and applying for federal jobs. E-Payroll, an initiative to
consolidate 22 payroll systems into two, is expected to save $1.1 billion
over 10 years.
SOURCE: GovExec.com; AUTHOR: Ted Leventhal, National Journal's Technology
Daily
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1003/101603td2.htm
See also: http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2003/1013/web-opm-10-16-03.asp
SPECTURM
FCC FREES UP MORE FREQUENCIES
The Federal Communications Commission recently set up rules that will permit
a large number of radio frequencies to come to market, hoping to foster
greater use of wireless technology for high-speed data services. The FCC
made two decisions, the first affecting airwaves in a range often used by
cellphone carriers, and the second affecting airwaves in a
very-high-frequency range that has never been used. This action will
increase the amount of spectrum to be used by most cellphone companies by
more than 50 percent, said Julius P. Knapp, deputy chief of the FCC's office
of engineering and technology. The FCC even says they will free up some of
the spectrum that was previously reserved for the Defense Department for
wireless communication and precision-guided missiles. In a separate ruling,
the FCC approved the commercial use of airwaves in very high frequencies, in
the 70-, 80- and 90-gigahertz range, which are now largely unused except by
a few classified military applications. According to analysts, the FCC will
conduct an auction of the spectrum either late next year or 2005, even
though current government occupiers will not have to vacate the frequencies
until 2008.
SOURCE: Washington Post; AUTHOR: Yuki Noguchi
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38289-2003Oct16.html
DIGITAL DIVIDE
PCs AND ETHNICITY IN THE UK
The UK's Department for Education and Skills (DfES) has conducted a research
study focused on ethnicity and PC ownership in the UK. The study revealed
that Afro-Caribbean people (31 percent) were less likely to own a PC than
South Asian (42 percent) or white (37 percent) respondents. The study
targeted disadvantaged areas across London, Birmingham, Leeds, Bradford,
Cardiff and Glasgow. "Many people regard Internet cafes and UK Online
centers as not for them. Older Asian women, for example, would be more
likely to use faculties targeted at their particular needs," said Dr. David
Owen, researcher at Warwick University's Center for Research in Ethnic
Relations, who conducted the study. He says that to encourage use of public
Internet facilities, it is important for support staff and trainers to be
sensitive both in age and cultural terms. The number of people accessing
government websites was found to be low: 34 percent of white respondents, 20
percent of Asian and 26 percent of Caribbean users had accessed government
sites. Many government online services have been criticized in the past for
being difficult to navigate and hard to access.
SOURCE: PC Advisor; AUTHOR: Wendy Brewer
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/index.cfm?go=news.view&news=3598
INTERNET
FREE ONLINE JOURNAL SEEKS REVOLUTION IN SCIENCE PUBLISHING
A new online journal has radically altered scientific publishing by offering
vital research feely available on the Internet. Instead of charging a
subscription fee, the journal charges scientists $1,500 each to publish
their papers. Critics dismissed the San Francisco-based Public Library of
Science's decision to offer research online free as idealistic and
unfeasible. Those scientists and publishers are now rethinking their
criticism. Sunday, the Public Library of Science journal released its first
issue, which covered groundbreaking research from Duke University
researchers Miguel Nicolelis and Jose Carmena, who reported to have
successfully trained monkeys with brain implants to move a robot arm with
their thoughts, a key advance for researchers studying solutions for those
living with paralysis. By Monday morning, the Duke paper was inaccessible
due to a crush of traffic from interested readers that crashed the Public
Library's servers. The site received 500,000 hits immediately after the
paper was posted, and some 80,000 downloads occurred. The journal has
instantly revived a movement toward more democratic access to information.
Akin to the support of open source software, adherents in labs around the
world support "open access" science.
SOURCE: USA Today; AUTHOR: Paul Elias, AP
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2003-10-16-plos-online...
-journal_x.htm
EVENTS
TELL US THE TRUTH TOUR
Tell Us The Truth Tour is a multi-city music and education trek that will
put issues of media reform, economic and environmental justice, and
democracy at the top of the American political agenda this fall. This
November, two major events will provide platforms for movements dedicated to
these issues, namely the first-ever National Conference on Media Reform and
the Miami Ministerial meeting of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).
The Tour will take place from November 7 through 24 and will link these two
events with actions and concerts from Madison, Wisconsin, to Miami, Florida.
Billy Bragg, Steve Earle, Tom Morello, Lester Chambers and other concerned
artists will ask Americans what they want from their media and their
government. "We need to provide an alternative worldview to the one that is
squeezed through the very narrow blinders of Fox News," says Morello, who
will be playing without a band. "I maintain my childlike faith that music
can change the course of history," he adds.
SOURCE: TellUsTheTruth.org
http://www.tellusthetruth.org/index_home.html
See also: http://www.rollingstone.com/news/newsarticle.asp?nid=18812
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