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Advertising
WSJ: Why Are School Kids Eating Dimitri's Fudge?
WSJ: Proof positive?

Television
NYT: Local TV Stations Look to a Digital Future
B&C: Channel surfing with new FCC
B&C: Pax Net: Can it fly?
WP: A Conservative Network's New Niche

Telephone
WP: Teligent Looks Poised to Strike
WSJ: Internet Phones Are Catching On as Global Experiment

Internet
NYT: Nations Struggle With How to Control Hate on the Web
NYT: Congress Remains in Touch on the Web
NYT: New Security System for Internet Purchases Has Its Doubters
WP: Filters and Free Speech

Encryption
NYT: White House May Tighten Data Exports

Arts
NYT: A Wedding of Theater and Social Issues

FCC
B&C: Kennard starts the process

** Advertising **

Title: Why Are School Kids Eating Dimitri's Fudge?
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (B1)
Author: Bruce Orwall
Issue: Advertising
Description: Advertisers have been aggressively moving into US schools of
late causing concern for those who believe children shouldn't be barraged
with marketing messages in the classroom. The latest blitz comes from News
Corp's 20th Century Fox promoting its new animated feature "Anastasia." Fox
brought so much advertising this month that School Marketing partners, a
company that creates advertiser-supported lunch fliers, encouraged school
food-service directors to create special "Anastasia" menu items. In the Las
Virgenes (CA) Unified School District, today's menu includes Rasputin's
Rib-B-Cue and Dimitri's Peanut Butter Fudge.

Title: Proof positive?
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.34)
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
Author: Paige Albiniak
Issue: Advertising
Description: Distiller Brown Forman has announced that it will spend $60
million over the next four years on advertising, marketing and raising brand
awareness in the vodka market. Brown Forman wants to spend some of that
money on radio and television ads. "Everyone in the federal government has
to acknowledge that alcohol is alcohol is alcohol. There is no reason to
differentiate between beer, wine, and spirits," says Phil Lynch, a spokesman
for the company. The FCC is considering an inquiry into broadcast liquor
ads. Major networks and most group owners have pledged to not accept liquor ads.

** Television **

Title: Local TV Stations Look to a Digital Future
Source: New York Times (D1,D12)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/112497hdtv.html
Author: Joel Brinkley
Issue: Digital Television
Description: Across the United States, local television stations are working
to be the first in their area to put digital, high-definition programming on
the air. "I'm really excited," said Douglas Adams, general manager of KXAS,
channel 5, a NBC affiliate. "By putting a superior picture into people's
living rooms, we can build on our audience. And there's a real advantage to
being first." There is some frustration in the industry as stations wait
for engineers and manufacturers to create and finish work on new digital
transmitters, recorders and the like; and consumers to buy the new digital
televisions to get the high--definition programming they are so eager to put
on the air. "I really want to get under way," said George J. Csahanin,
director of engineering for KXAS. "It's frustrating to me that I can't."
Despite all of the enthusiasm, many acknowledge that they still have a
variety of challenges to face before they can put digital programming on the
air.

Title: Channel surfing with new FCC
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.26)
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
Author: Chris McConnell
Issue: Television
Description: A look at how FCC commissioners view regulating television
content. Chairman Kennard believes "Congress has made it clear that
[broadcasters] do have public interest obligations." Commissioner Ness
helped write the new children's television rules and says, "It is the role
of this commission to use this as a forum for what the public thinks of
television and radio." Commissioner Tristani had no comment on broadcasters'
First Amendment rights, but is concerned the potential impact of violent
programming on children. Commissioner Powell says, "The expansion of media
choices should mean that we have other ways to escape from programming that
offends us in some way." He adds that there are so many media options that
regulators should not restrict themselves to any one in evaluating its harm
or benefit. Commissioner Furchtgott-Roth, who does not have a television at
home, worries that government proscribing of speech produces a freezing
effect and adds that the burden of proof is on the government to show why
the broadcast industry's public interest charter should be expanded.

Title: Pax Net: Can it fly?
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.4)
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
Author: Steve McClellan
Issue: Television
Description: Bud Paxson announced last week that Paxson Communications will
launch a new television network in August. The 73 UHF stations in the
network currently offer mostly infomercials, but will begin offering family
programming (like Touched by An Angel and Promised Land) and collecting
local ad dollars. The network is aiming to build an audience of adult women.
Paxson says the network will be profitable four months after start-up.

Title: A Conservative Network's New Niche
Source: Washington Post (B1)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-11/24/061l-112497-idx.html
Author: Howard Kurtz
Issue: Television
Description: A conservative TV network known as NET, is now known as
"America's Voice". The networks plans to build kiosks in state capitals for
ordinary citizens to videotape their comments on various issues, which would
be transmitted over special phone lines and played on the air. Viewers with
computers will be able to download detailed information on congressional
votes and committee actions and fire off e-mail messages to lawmakers. VP
Joseph DelGrosso says the video kiosks should enable America's Voice to
forge partnerships with local cable outlets and advertisers. He described
the genre as "Sunday morning television seven days a week. Some people
might say 'yawn,' but...that's where we see our niche, more as news maker
than news reporter."

** Telephone **

Title: Teligent Looks Poised to Strike
Source: Washington Post (WashTech, p.17)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-11/24/011l-112497-idx.html
Author: Mike Mills
Issue: Wireless
Description: Teligent's game plan is to use wireless antennas to deliver
high-speed, high-capacity telephone, data and video communications to urban
and suburban buildings. They have what investors like: federal radio
licenses that it got for free, a former president of AT&T Corp. in
charge, and backing from two families that made fortunes in the wireless
communication business. With these assets, Teligent seems ready to grab a
piece of the growing $110 billion wireless market now dominated by the
Bells. According to CEO Mandl, downtown areas will be Teligent's key market, but
their biggest advantage will be the suburban areas. He said, "Ninety-seven
percent of all office buildings are not directly connected to fiber. A good
percentage will never be connected to fiber directly because the economics
simply are not there. That's where our technology is most effective. That is
clearly our sweet spot."

Title: Internet Phones Are Catching On as Global Experiment
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (B6)
Author: Guatim Naik
Issue: Internet
Description: Around the globe, telecommunications companies are beginning to
offer Internet telephone service as a way to get around entrenched phone
monopolies. Internet calls and faxes are much cheaper than calls placed on
the current telephony system. The dilemma for the telephone giants: offer
their own discounted services using the Internet and cannibalize their
high-margin revenues or risk seeing their revenues cannibalized by other
companies.

** Internet **

Title: Nations Struggle With How to Control Hate on the Web
Source: New York Times (D11)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/112497racism.html
Author: Elizabeth G. Olson
Issue: Internet Regulation
Description: Earlier this month, a group sponsored by the United Nations
Human Rights Center met in Geneva to discuss how to apply European
countries' legal prohibitions against hate speech to the Internet.
Conference members expressed frustration at how to balance what one speaker
called, "the two most powerful revolutions of the 20th century, those of
human rights and information technology."

Title: Congress Remains in Touch on the Web
Source: New York Times (D8)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/sites/112497sites.html
Author: Eric Schmitt
Issue: Internet
Description: With Congress adjourned until late January, 422 of the 535
politicians are using the Internet to stay in touch with constituents,
lobbyist and reporters. On their sites, browsers can find everything from
their lawmaker's biographies, to news releases and floor speeches, with some
congressional committees even posting summaries or the full texts of bills.
Web addresses ranging from the Senate Appropriations Committee to the
Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report can be found on page D8 of today's New
York Times.

Title: New Security System for Internet Purchases Has Its Doubters
Source: New York Times (D1, D6)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/112497creditcards.html
Author: Seth Hansell
Issue: Internet Technology
Description: Secure Electronic Transaction is a new system developed to
improve the security of making purchases over the Internet. SET promises to
make it more difficult for someone to steal a credit card number sent over
the Internet while also making it easier for shoppers to verify that the
online merchants they are dealing with are legitimate. Some people, like
Cliff Conneighton, chief executive of Internet Commerce Services Corp.,
which runs shopping sites on the Web for Panasonic Consumer Electronics
Corp. and Random House Inc., question whether the extra security of SET is
needed when fraud on the Internet is already minuscule. "Credit-card
shopping on the Internet is going like gangbusters today," said Mr.
Conneighton. "The fear of shopping is diminishing rapidly. It's always
good to have truth on your side, and the truth is that it's not very risky."
However, credit card companies argue that the reason they are pushing SET is
so they can stay ahead of the criminals who will eventually find a way to
exploit the current system. SET is expected to be introduced early next year.

Title: Filters and Free Speech
Source: Washington Post (Op-ed,A24)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-11/24/023l-112497-idx.html
Author: WP Editorial Staff
Issue: First Amendment/Free Speech
Description: The fight over freedom of speech over the Internet is now
about the use of Internet "filters". This is software that, when used by
either computer users or producers of online material, screens out words or
categories of material deemed offensive. But filtering the 'Net at the
recipient's end is not considered censorship. Opponents of last year's
legislation relied heavily on the existence of such technologies as evidence
of a "less restrictive alternative" for protecting children. The act was
finally struck down on these grounds: first, that it was unacceptable to
constrain an entire new medium to a level suitable for children, and that
such "less restrictive alternatives" for protecting children did exist and
would multiply, which did happen. Even then, several lawmakers have declared
their intention to pass a new law that is more tightly drawn to criminalize
the (still probably undefinable) "material harmful to minors."

** Encryption **

Title: White House May Tighten Data Exports
Source: New York Times (D1, D6)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/112497encrypt.html
Author: John Markoff
Issue: Encryption
Description: The latest in an ongoing debate between American high
technology businesses and privacy advocates and law officials concerns the
Clinton Administration's debate on whether to further tighten controls on
the export of electronic data scrambling systems. "If the policy is
changed, it could narrow the range of financial institutions that are
allowed to use the most powerful encryption gear overseas to protect
electronic transactions." Many companies in the technology industry are
lobbying the Clinton Administration to keep from tightening the exemption.
Lobbyist argue that if the Administration does so, the growth of electronic
commerce would be curtailed. On the other hand, law officials say their
powers are increasingly threatened by criminals and terrorists who have the
ability to use increasingly sophisticated encryption technology. Officials
are concerned that the export exemption for financial companies could
provide a large loophole that they would not be able to track. Government
officials acknowledge this disagreement, saying that a group of officials
from several agencies plan to meet next week to address the differences.

** Arts **

Title: A Wedding of Theater and Social Issues
Source: New York Times (B1, B4)
http://www.nytimes.com
Author: Janny Scott
Issue: Arts
Description: Harvard University plans to announce today a new summer
institute devoted to finding ways in which the arts might enhance the public
discussion of social issues. The institute will probably resemble a "hybrid
between an artists' colony and a think tank." It is intended to serve as a
type of laboratory, where professional artists will come together each
summer for six weeks each summer to develop new work, also bringing in
academics, journalists and community leaders, to serve not only as sources
of information and ideas but also to help investigate ways of engaging the
interest of a broad and diverse audience. The institute will be initially
financed by a $1.5 million Ford Foundation grant and headed by Anna Deavere
Smith, the playwright and performer who invented her own form of theater and
has used it to explore matters like race and class.

** FCC **

Title: Kennard starts the process
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.34)
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
Author: Chris McConnell
Issue: FCC/Regulation
Description: Last week, the FCC began a top-to-bottom review of the
commission's rules. "The idea is to do a serious look at the commission
rules across the board," said FCC Deputy General Counsel David Solomon who
will oversee the effort. Office and bureau chiefs will conduct a regulatory
review and will make recommendations to the commissioners. The
commissioners, in turn, will decide if the recommendations merit FCC action.
Recommendation to eliminate rules will appear as rulemaking proposals or
inquiries next year. At that time the public will be invited to comment. "I
want to do a lot of outreach," Chairman Kennard said of the effort.
*********

Digital TV
NTIA: Digital TV Advisory Committee Meeting
WSJ: Paxson Shares Fall Amid Plans For Family TV

EdTech
NYT: Texas may Drop All Textbooks, for Laptops

Advertising
WSJ: Big guns in the Media Take Aim Against Firearms

Electronic Commerce
WSJ: Shopping On-Line? Here's Why You Should -- and Shouldn't

Competition
FCC: Petition for Writ of Certiorari
TelecomAM: ALTS Calls for Supreme Court to Overturn
8th Circuit Pricing Decision
TelecomAM: Strategis Group Says There's Still Money in Wireless,
Despite Competiton

Internet
NYT: A Simple DNS Solution Is Doable, But Unlikely
NYT: Bob's Web Site Puts Greenville Art Scene on Map
NYT: Federal Act Targets Software Theft From Net
NYT: Doctors Face Newly Knowledgeable Patients As
Consumers Learn on the Net

FCC
TelecomAM: FCC Commissioners Plan Items for their First Meeting Together

** Television **

Title: Digital TV Advisory Committee Meeting
Source: NTIA
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/pubintadvcom/decmtg/dec5.htm
Issue: Digital TV
Description: Notice of the December 5 meeting of the Advisory Committee on
Public Interest Obligations of Digital Television Broadcasters has been
published in the Federal Register. The meeting will be held on Friday,
December 5, 1997 from 9:00 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. in the Lounge of the
Export-Import Bank of the United States, 11th Floor, 811 Vermont Avenue,
N.W., Washington, D.C. 20571. Further information about the meeting will be
available on the Advisory Committee's homepage at
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/pubintadvcom/pubint.htm. Public comment welcome:
email your comments to piac( at )ntia.doc.gov with subject "Public Comment"

Title: Paxson Shares Fall Amid Plans For Family TV
Source: Wall Street Journal (B10)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Kyle Pope
Issue: Television
Description: Shares of Paxson Communications slipped as Wall Street
panned the company's plans for a new family-oriented TV network called
PaxNet. It will be launched next August with a mix of movies, infomercials,
and network reruns. Instead of simply selling the air time to a Hollywood
studio or cable company, the company said it will buy programming and sell the
ads itself. Some analysts questioned whether the new Paxson programming will
be distinctive enough to attract advertisers. Company Chairman Lowell "Bud"
Paxson, said, "We would like to be able to say that we have wholesome
programming."

** EdTech **

Title: Texas may Drop All Textbooks, for Laptops
Source: New York Times/CyberTimes
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/111997texas.html
Author: Houston
Issue: EdTech
Description: As the Texas Board of Education debates how to most effectively
replace old textbooks, a remark made by the chairman of the board, Dr. Jack
Christie, to give all public school students laptops instead of textbooks,
is receiving some serious consideration. With the board looking at $1.8
billion in textbook costs over the next six years, it may be cheaper, as
well as innovative, to lease a laptop for each of the state's 3.7 million
students. This move would not only allow schools to maintain up-to-date
information within the classroom but could also be used as a way to close
the technology gap between wealthy and indigent students.

** Advertising **

Title: Big guns in the Media Take Aim Against Firearms
Source: Wall Street Journal (B1)
http://wsj.com/
Author: G. Bruce Knecht
Issue: Advertising
Description: A new anti-gun ad sponsored by Ceasefire that features a
young child accidentally firing a handgun he found at home is part of a
nationwide media blitz on TV networks, local stations, magazines, and
billboards. The ad, which also features a printed message reporting that "10
children are killed by a handgun every day", is a project of Jann Wenner,
publisher of Rolling Stone, who has mobilized a small army of media
heavyweights with muscle to match the unspoken adversary: the NRA. Rather
than a political message pushing legislation, "we're trying to change
perceptions," Mr. Wenner said. "The reason most men buy handguns is because
they think they can protect their family. But it doesn't work. Handguns are
much more likely to bring harm."

** Electronic Commerce **

Title: Shopping On-Line? Here's Why You Should -- and Shouldn't
Source: Wall Street Journal (B4)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Thomas E. Weber
Issue: Electronic Commerce
Description: A week from tomorrow is "Black Friday", the official start
of the holiday shopping season and the endless frustrations along with it.
Online shopping is very popular this year with big-name retailers selling
their goods on the 'Net. But there are some arguments for and against
online shopping. For example, you can get great bargains because online
merchants are anxious to build loyalty among customers. Yet the selections
aren't always so vast because creating Web pages to display a retailer's
entire product line is often a job left undone. There are no crowds or
hassles, either, but it can be a big time-waster because search capabilities
don't work well if you don't know exactly what you're looking for.

** Competition **

Title: Petition for Writ of Certiorari
Source: FCC
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Miscellaneous/News_Releases/1997/nrmc7095.html
Issue: Competition
Description: Statement of Chairman Kennard: "The Solicitor General of the
United States today filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the
Supreme Court challenging the Eighth Circuit's decisions in Iowa Utilities
Board v. FCC and People of the State of California v. FCC. Among other
issues, we have asked the Court to clarify the jurisdictional boundaries on
the scope of this agency's rulemaking authority. It is vital that we seek to
clarify these issues on behalf of the American people. What is at stake in
this case is whether the FCC can act to assure competition, choice, and
universal telephone service for all Americans. The goal of assuring
competition, choice and universal telephone service will only be achieved if
the FCC and the states work together. The pendency of this case should not
deter the FCC and the states from finding common ground to achieve these
goals. I intend to continue to work closely with the States to forge common
solutions that deliver choice and universal telephone service for American
consumers. I am fully committed to doing so."

Title: ALTS Calls for Supreme Court to Overturn 8th Circuit Pricing Decision
Source: Telecom AM
http://capitol.cappubs.com/am/
Issue: Competition
Description: The Association for Local Telecommunications Services (ALTS) is
calling for the Supreme Court to overturn a Court of Appeals decision to
disallow Federal Communications Commission pricing rules. Earlier this year
the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the FCC had overstepped its
bounds by requiring a cost-based pricing scheme to be applied nationwide.

Title: Strategis Group Says There's Still Money in Wireless,
Despite Competiton
Source: Telecom AM
http://capitol.cappubs.com/am/
Issue: Competition
Description: Despite compeition from Personal Communications Services (PCS)
cellular carriers are enjoying growth of both subscriber bases and profit
margins, the Strategis Group of Washington, DC finds. Revenue per subscriber
is dropping due to low usage and falling prices, but operating margins for
cellular carriers increased to 40% in 1996 and to 42% by mid-1997. "The
results of our study show that the introduction of PCS has, thus far,
spurred cellular growth, and the predictions of the cellular carriers'
declining profitability are premature," said Carol Mann, a consultant with
the Strategis Group.

** Internet **

Title: A Simple DNS Solution Is Doable, But Unlikely
Source: New York Times/CyberTimes
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/under/111997under-wayner.html
Author: Peter Wayner
Issue: Internet Technology
Description: One of the largest dilemmas challenging the "current system of
self-governance by the techno-elite" is the problem of assigning names on
the Internet. With so much money now on the line the hope for a simple solution
seems to be out of the question. However, Wayner has a "simple" solution
that he believes
would destabilize the current hierarchy of the Domain Naming System (DNS).
His idea is to give each user the ability to control where his or her
computer turns for information about names on the Internet. By empowering
people in this way, it "would give new top-level domains a chance to win
customers and people." Of course the cost of this freedom would be a bit
more confusion but possibly worth the price.

Title: Bob's Web Site Puts Greenville Art Scene on Map
Source: New York Times/CyberTimes
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/mirapaul/112097mirapaul.html
Author: Matthew Mirapaul
Issue: Arts
Description: Robert J. Shiffler, a successful businessman who began to spend
his money on art in the mid-80s, launched a Web site six months ago devoted
to expanding the impact of his contemporary art collection. Since his
collection of over 2,000 objects, the majority dating from 1986 or later, is
located in downtown, Greenville, OH, (not exactly a 'hot' vacation spot) he
designed the site to find new audiences. "I'm not concerned about making
them art collectors or museum-goers," Shiffler said. "I'm concerned about
conveying the experience that is available through contemporary art, the
ability to communicate in a different way." You can access 'Bob's Art' at
http://www.bobsart.com/. [For more on the arts online see Open Studio
http://www.openstudio.org/]

Title: Federal Act Targets Software Theft From Net
Source: New York Times/CyberTimes
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/112097software.html
Author: Jeri Clausing
Issue: Internet
Description: Last week Congress passed a bill that would make some Net
piracy a felony with violators getting up to five years in prison and a
$250,000 fine. The bill called, No Electronic Theft (NET) makes it a
federal crime to "willfully" make or possess ten or more digital copies with
a value of $2,500 or more. The bill, which now just needs President
Clinton's signature to become law, is the first of several cyberspace
copyright bills pending in Congress.

Title: Doctors Face Newly Knowledgeable Patients As Consumers Learn
on the Net
Source: New York Times/CyberTimes
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/111997prescription.html
Author: Sandeep Junnarkar
Issue: Health
Description: The Internet is starting to play an even more important role in
people's lives as many are logging on to obtain health care and information
about medical treatment decisions. In addition to individual browsing, some
physicians also are beginning to prescribe certain web sites
[take these two URLs and call me in the morning]. "The reason
these sites are important is that they enable patients to be informed
consumers of their physicians recommendations," said David Blumenthal, a
physician at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. "The information can
help them to ask the right questions and to access whether the physician is
competent to care for them." While there is some concern in the medical
field regarding the need for increased time to be spent answering the
questions of more well-informed patients, most agree that the Net will
benefit both parties.

** FCC **

Title: FCC Commissioners Plan Items for their First Meeting Together
Source: Telecom AM
http://capitol.cappubs.com/am/
Issue: FCC
Description: At the next open meeting on November 25, the FCC will consider
two separate items on allowing foreign-owned companies into the US satellite
and basic telecommunications markets; rules to govern the resolution of
formal complaints against common carriers; and permitting broadcast license
applicants to submit "mutally exclusive initial license applications" for
certain types of broadcast stations.
*********

Online Services
WP: America Online Tops 10 Million Subscribers

InfoTech
NYT: Information Technology Field Is Rated Largest U.S. Industry

Arts
NYT: Cities Are Fostering the Arts As a Way to Save Downtown

EdTech
(from 11/17/97 WSJ)
WSJ: Hard Lessons
WSJ: Class Wars
WSJ: Those Who Can't...
WSJ: Creating A Community
WSJ: A New Way
WSJ: The Model
WSJ: Dewey Wins!
WSJ: Remember Homework?
WSJ: Cyberdegrees
WSJ: Dash To The Degree
WSJ: The Home Advantage

** Online Services **

Title: America Online Tops 10 Million Subscribers
Source: Washington Post (D3)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Author: Chris Allbritton
Issue: Online Services
Description: America Online announced yesterday that it had topped the 10
million subsciber mark. Steve Case founded the company as a small bulletin
board service in 1985. By 1994, the service has 1 million subscribers. Two
years later, AOL had 5 million members. Researchers estimate that there are
40 to 50 million people online around the world: about 20% use America
Online; half of the US households online connect through AOL. See AOL's
press release http://www-db.aol.com/corp/news/press/view?release=255.

** InfoTech **

Title: Information Technology Field Is Rated Largest U.S. Industry
Source: New York Times (D12)
http://www.nytimes.com/
Author: Steve Lohr
Issue: Information Technology
Description: A study sponsored by the American Electronics Association,
finds that computing and telecommunication sales have grown by 57
percent during the 1990's making the industry an increasingly important
force in the nation's economy. The study, to be released today, concludes
that the field of information technology is the largest U.S. industry,
ahead of construction, food products and automotive manufacturing.

** Arts **

Title: Cities Are Fostering the Arts As a Way to Save Downtown
Source: New York Times (A1, A24)
http://www.nytimes.com/
Author: Bruce Weber
Issue: Arts
Description: Cities across the nation are taking a much different view
towards the arts than that of many politicians in our country's capitol.
Instead of debating whether to withdraw further from the already modest
support the nation's artists receive, cities have decided to use the arts to
help fuel their growth. For example, in San Jose, CA, the city government
has built or added on to several art facilities located downtown in an
effort to attract more people to this area. "We want our downtown to have
the support of future generations," said Frank Taylor, the executive
director of the redevelopment agency since 1979. "We lost as entire
generation of children, who grew up ashamed of their downtown. There is no
better way to get children acquainted with a city than through cultural
facilities, through art, through music, those experiences they can share.
So that's been our approach." With other cities from Anchorage to Fort
Lauderdale also working to replace their city centers, the idea that art is
good for everybody seems to be "carrying the day."

** Education Technology **
(from 11/17/97 WSJ)

Title: Hard Lessons
Source: Wall Street Journal (Technology, R1, Nov. 17)
http://www.wsj.com/
Author: William M. Bulkeley
Issue: Education Technology
Description: The great promise of high-tech learning too often seems
unfulfilled, but amid all the dissatisfaction educators have picked up some
concrete lessons: Computers can improve education, but not without serious
planning from schools and teachers. Martha Stone Wiske, co-director of the
Educational Technology Ctr. at Harvard's Graduate School of Education, said,
"The backlash is coming from people who thought simplistically about how
technology could revamp schools and are disappointed." Here are the
10 hard lessons learned from educators in the trenches: 1-computer labs are
a lousy location for computers. 2-Struggling students often get more out of
computers than average or above-average performers. 3-Most teachers still
don't know how to use computers in class. 4-School systems must plan their
computer use carefully. 5-Computers are a tool, not a subject. 6-Kids
flourish when everyone has a computer -- but schools aren't spending enough
to guarantee that. 7-Schools can't handle hand-me-downs. 8-Computers don't
diminish traditional skills. 9-The Internet and email excite kids by giving
them an audience. 10-Kids love computers.

Title: Class Wars
Source: Wall Street Journal (Technology, R32, Nov. 17)
http://www.wsj.com/
Author: Robert Cwiklik
Issue: Ed Tech
Description: Computers in the classroom, it seems, have broad support
from the political and educational establishments. Proponents say the
machines will empower students as never before, yet skeptics argue that many
of the technology's promised benefits for schools are yet to be realized and
rely mainly on the hype attendant on computers in general and on the
Internet in particular. The question was posed in a discussion with
Professor Seymour Papert, creator of Logo -- a computer language for children,
and Professor Theodore Roszak from Calif. State Univ. at Hayward. Under
headings like "What the Computers Don't Teach", Prof. Roszak said, "Speaking
as a historian, I find that the entire discussion of Logo and of computers
generally is historically illiterate. It seems to assume that education -- and
maybe childhood -- began with the invention of the computer..." In response
under the heading, "Blame Schools, Not Technology", Prof. Papert said,
"Thinking about the educational value of computation requires the same leap
of imagination beyond its early forms as was needed to see the tiny hop of
the Wright Brothers Flyer as the start of a revolution in transportation and
indeed of the world economy."

Title: Those Who Can't...
Source: Wall Street Journal (Technology, R8, Nov. 17)
http://www.wsj.com/
Author: Robert Cwiklik
Issue: Ed Tech
Description: Teachers, long the neglected stepchildren of the movement to
computerize the nation's schools, are beginning to get invited to the party.
Many experts say that a lot of training for teachers to date has been
ineffective. Often, schools collect teachers in large groups representing
varying levels of computer skills for one-size-fits-all lessons that tend to
focus on the basics [wow, sounds like a classroom]. Some experts advocate
more individualized approaches, while one program enlists children, with
their demonstrated enthusiasm for
using computers, not only to train teachers, but to also build and maintain
an entire school-district technology infrastructure.

Title: Creating A Community
Source: Wall Street Journal (Technology, R10)
http://www.wsj.com/
Author: Lisa Bannon
Issue: EdTech
Description: "Pueblo", a joint venture between Xerox Corp.'s Palo Alto
Research Ctr., Phoenix College, and Longview Elementary, is an
Internet-accessible virtual world with its own geography, characters, and
objects. Pueblo's main aim is to jump start educations often stalled by high
dropout rates, lack of guidance, violent neighborhoods, and poor role
models. The project uses text-only software and is designed to give users a
sense of being present with others in a physical space where they can talk,
manipulate objects, or move around the "community" to see what others have
created. Jim Walters, Pueblo's director, says the original idea behind the
project was to boost literacy, but now it provides badly needed mentors from
around the city and country for children who don't have a strong support
system at home. Mr. Walter said, "What we're really doing is building a
community that exists not just in the virtual world but in the real world,
too."

Title: A New Way
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://www.wsj.com/
Author: Lisa Bransten
Issue: Education Technology
Description: Doug Kirkpatrick, a middle school science teacher in Walnut
Creek, CA, has been collaborating with researchers in the Knowledge
Integration Environment (KIE) project at the University of California at
Berkeley's Graduate School of Education for the past 12 years to use
computer technology in his classroom. His students use donated computers
to take guided tours of the World Wide Web and specialized software to
conduct lab experiments. Mr. Kirkpatrick says that it isn't the computers
themselves that excite him as much as the freedom they allow him in his
teaching methods. He now can spend more time with small groups of
students, as opposed to acting as a "sage on stage", and has been able to
dispense with techniques used to assist students in the memorization of
facts in favor of using a more exploratory approach to learning.
It is not only the students that are benefitting from this most important
experiment, through their classroom observations, KIE researchers have been
able to refine the teaching software and offer advice to Mr. Kirkpatrick.
The software allows students to build upon ideas that they already have and
connect them to new ideas to help them better retain information. As
Marcia Linn, head of the KIE project, puts it, with Doug Kirkpatrick's
teaching abilities and the use of computers, "Every child in the classroom
feels very much like their ideas count."

Title: The Model
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://www.wsj.com/
Author: Robin Frost
Issue: Education Technology
Description: Christopher Columbus middle school, in Union City, NJ, is
being hailed as "a standard for the successful integration of high
technology and education." In 1992, the Bell Atlantic Corp. brought
computers into the schools classrooms and homes of all seventh graders and
their teachers as part of Project Explore. But it wasn't just the
computers that made the difference, it was their integration into
Christopher Columbus's new curriculum, known as whole language learning.
In the classroom a new emphasis was placed on research, textbooks were
replaced with actual novels and the essays they originated from, and
traditional student/teacher roles were exchanged for cooperative student
groups. Classes are now longer and more interdisciplinary and the standard
classroom desk design has been replaced with group tables. Combining the
whole language learning approach with technology allowed the computer
network to become an integral part of the education process, not something
that was just thrown on top of an established curriculum. "You can't just
put computers in the classroom," says Time Ireland, a Bell Atlantic
spokesperson. "We knew that the computers by themselves couldn't do
anything without the teachers." And not just any teachers, he says: You
have to have teachers "who are trained to integrate technology into
classroom instruction." "I think a lot of schools think they can do a
quick fix," says Gary Ramella, the district's supervisor of technology.
"They say to themselves, 'OK, let's spend $5 million on technology.'" "But
that isn't what reform is about," he argues, pointing instead to the
educator's efforts to use that technology toward a larger goal. The
progress Union City has made towards this goal is apparent. Now,
Christopher Columbus middle school, once in danger of a state takeover due
to poor test scores and attendance, among other problems, has seen a
dramatic reversal with test scores that are almost twice that of other
inner-city school districts and is being looked at for recruitment by top
colleges.

Title: Dewey Wins!
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://www.wsj.com/
Author: Robert Cwiklik
Issue: Education Technology
Description: As many schools look to change their teaching style to work
with computer technology, the methods that John Dewey developed almost 100
years ago are being integrated into high-tech, cutting edge, reforms.
Dewey's method, described in "School and Society" in 1899, was based on the
theory that instructional styles were in direct opposition to students'
natural ways of learning. Instead of attempting to hammer facts into
student's brains, Dewey wanted schools to set up curriculums that presented
students with a series of problems that called upon children to come up
with solutions using their innate methods of the scientist, historian and
artist. Through this process, students would develop a greater
understanding of the subjects they studied. While classrooms have changed
since Dewey's time their essence has remained the same in many ways.
Reformers now hope that with the introduction of technology into the school
system, curriculums will be able to adjust to more integrative styles of
learning. "Progressive education ideas that didn't work particularly well
prior to the technology may prove very effective in an educational
environment well-equipped with good technological resources," says Robert
McClintock, co-director of the Institute for Learning Technologies at
Columbia University's Teachers College, New York. And in a report
presented from a panel of President Clinton's top private-sector advisers
on education and technology in March, they said that while much research on
the question is still called for, "the student-centered constructivist
paradigm may ultimately offer the most fertile ground for the application
of technology to education."

Title: Remember Homework?
Source: Wall Street Journal (Technology, R16)
http://www.wsj.com/
Author: Terzah Ewing
Issue: Education Technology
Description: For teachers, parents, and students, the Internet's wealth
of unregulated, unfiltered information raises issues from efficient time
management to plagiarism to sites that might be unreliable, unsafe, or
unsuitable for children. Also, the information available on the 'Net is
simply too much to got through, says Connie Stout of the Texas Education
Network. They have created a search engine to help students and teachers
narrow their Web searches. Easily copied reports and essays on all sorts of
topics can be found on the 'Net, too, even services that offer a cache of
free, downloadable term papers.

Title: Cyberdegrees
Source: Wall Street Journal (Technology, R26)
http://www.wsj.com/
Author: Paul Cox
Issue: Education Technology
Description: Though "distance-learning" isn't new, the advent of the
Internet has given earning a degree a whole new direction. Students can
discuss topics in real time with professors or fellow students over the
World Wide Web, download a digitized seminar or click on a link to get
reading assignments. According to Mike Lambert, executive director of the
Distance Education and Training Council, more than 400 colleges and
universities in the U.S. offer accredited distance-learning programs.

Title: Dash To The Degree
Source: Wall Street Journal (Technology, R28, Nov. 17)
http://www.wsj.com/
Author: Ralph King
Issue: Ed Tech
Description: The biology-research laboratories at top graduate schools,
like their governmental and corporate counterparts, are going digital.
Today, universities are churning out research -- and doctorates -- faster than
ever. New technology compresses the amount of time needed for
experimentation -- replacing some time-consuming biological processes with
computer simulations. And computers' ability to assemble and analyze
billions of bits of information stored in vast gene databases is opening
broad avenues of inquiry and shaving years off the discovery process. The
whole metabolism of a graduate education in biology has speeded up.

Title: The Home Advantage
Source: Wall Street Journal (Technology, R22, Nov. 17)
http://www.wsj.com/
Author: Evan Ramstad
Issue: Ed Tech
Description: Early exposure to computers is a big help for children.
Hundreds of research studies have found that computers improve student
performance, particularly when teachers are trained well in the technology.
Marylyn Rosenblum, president of Sanctuary Woods Multimedia Corp., said, "For
better or worse, parents understand that computers are tools of business.
Forget whether they're useful for education. Parents perceive kids need to
know about computers if they are going to be successful later in life." Many
parents buy computers based on the assumption that the more opportunity a
child has to work on a computer, the more comfortable he or she will be with
one in the future. Some experts say children can learn important computer
skills from video games or even the electronic "pets" that became popular
earlier this year. Warren Buckleitner, editor of Children's Software Revue,
said, "Most of that is incredibly intuitive, so they pick it up anyway."
*********

Journalism
NYT: Court Rules Against CNN

Online Services/Internet
NYT: U.S. Court Says Man Can't Sue America Online
NYT: Online Girls' Clubs Defy Stereotypes
TelecomAM: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road: Phone Directory
Launched On Internet
TelecomAM: Internet Merger: A Look Into the Future of MCI,
Worldcom Deal

Telephone
TelecomAM: FCC's Powell Settles In and Begins Answering Some
Pointed Questions
TelecomAM: Satellite Phones: Revenues May Be $35 Billion by 2005
TelecomAM: PCS-Cellular Competition Benefits to Drive Doubling
of Wireless by 2002
FCC: BellSouth's Application to Provide Long Distance in Louisiana
TelecomAM: Telcos Must Continually Connect With Customers, says new study
TelecomAM: BellSouth On Top Of Other Local Companies In Customer Satisfaction

Infrastructure
TelecomAM: New Report Says 63% of CATV Plant Miles Will
Be Hybrid Fiber-Coax By 2001

Microsoft
WP: Nader Joins Chorus of Microsoft Critics
NYT: Nader Conference Levels Sights on Microsoft

** Journalism **

Title: Court Rules Against CNN
Source: New York Times (C5)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/ranch.html
Author: James Sterngold
Issue: Journalism
Description: A Federal Court ruled that CNN news violated a Montana
rancher's rights when it recorded a search for evidence on the rancher's
property. The court ruled that the Government violated the rancher's Fourth
Amendment rights against improper search and seizure by allowing a CNN crew
to accompany law enforcement officials on a raid of the ranch. The judges
said the raid was used to advance commercial and entertainment interests,
not just law enforcement.

** Online Services/Internet **

Title: U.S. Court Says Man Can't Sue America Online
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/111497suit.html
Author: Associated Press
Issue: Online Services
Description: A Federal Court has ruled that the Communications Decency Act
of 1996 immunizes Internet and online service providers from lawsuits over
information that comes from third parties. Although AOL had been made aware
of the incendiary message, the three-judge panel said that it would be
impossible for an ISP to carefully investigate every defamatory posting
brought to its attention. If they were liable for such messages, providers
would "have a natural incentive to remove messages upon notification,
whether the contents were defamatory or not," the panel said. "Liability
upon notice has a chilling effect on the freedom of Internet speech."

Title: Online Girls' Clubs Defy Stereotypes
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/nation/111497nation.html
Author: Jason Chervokas & Tom Watson
Issue: Gender
Description: An entire subculture is forming on the Internet around clubs
created, organized, and maintained by and for teenage girls. Sites hosted by
GeoCities, Tripod, America Online and other Internet Service Providers
facilitate these groups' e-mail discussion groups, weekly newsletters, and
member-maintained websites. They allow girls to not only communicate, but to
develop their technology skills as well. See Dream Girlz
http://members.tripod.com/~Tomagotchi/Girlz.html, Net Galz
http://www.geocities.com/SouthBeach/Lights/8700/index.html, The Sisterhood
http://members.tripod.com/~Sisterhood_of_PLH/, and the Girls Interactive
Resource Library http://www.just4girls.com.

Title: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road: Phone Directory Launched On Internet
Source: Telecom A.M.---Nov. 12, 1997
http://www.capitol( at )cappubs.com/
Issue: Internet
Description: A number of directory services have cropped up on the 'Net.
New player www.Yellow-Page.Net contains about 18 million listings for the
U.S. and Canada. The site is a member of the Assoc. of Directory
Publishers and Yellow Page Publishers of America. The site is working in
partnership with OnVillage Communications and more than 70 other publishers
nationwide. The site even lists background info on its listed companies,
links to a company's e-mail or Web site. On average, the site draws an
average 500,000 hits each day.

Title: Internet Merger: A Look Into the Future of MCI, Worldcom Deal
Source: Telecom A.M.---Nov. 12, 1997
http://www.capitol( at )cappubs.com/
Issue: Mergers/Competition
Description: The 'Net began as a disorganized, decentralized network of
networks. There's no owner, no central guiding force, just a collection of
standards and some voluntary bodies to administer them. But recently a
handful of big companies have built up powerful roles in providing access to
the Internet and carrying its data. Worldcom owns UUNet, the biggest and
most international of the Internet Service Providers (ISPs), and has agreed to
buy the infrastructures of AOL and Compuserve. MCI provides the most heavily
used of the "fibre-optic backbones" for the system in the U.S. But, with so
many other big players like Sprint and AT&T, it's too early to say if the
Worldcom-MCI merger would make an undesirable concentration of power. But,
the mergers unites two of the biggest participants in the emerging Internet
industry. This makes for an ideal opportunity to examine competition issues.

** Telephone **

Title: FCC's Powell Settles In and Begins Answering Some Pointed Questions
Source: Telecom AM
http://capitol.cappubs.com/am/
Issue: FCC
Description: At a press briefing yesterday, new FCC Commissioner Michael
Powell addressed a number of issues facing the Commission: PCB C-Block
bankruptcies, mergers, cost models, interconnection, and local competition
-- "We have to see competition as a long term process," he said. "We're
talking about fundamental changes...The true measure if we did alright will
be judged by history." He went on to say that the success or failure of the
Telecommunications Act will be based on the level of local competition, as
it should be, because "competition in telephony is the most important aspect
of the '96 Act."

Title: Satellite Phones: Revenues May Be $35 Billion by 2005
Source: Telecom AM
http://capitol.cappubs.com/am/
Issue: Satellites
Description: The race is on to offer the first hand-held mobile phones that
provide voice services anywhere on Earth. During this year's Beijing-Paris
Motor Challenge, one team stayed in touch with their UK mechanic using a
Mobiq satellite phone -- which is the size of a notebook computer (and
really hard to hold up to your ear). The Mobiq costs $3,850, but someday
satellite phones will cost as little and be the same size as today's
cellular phones. Satellite systems are expected to be in great demand for
three markets: global telephone service, rural conventional telephone
service, and international broadband data transmission. Revenues are
expected to climb to $35 billion by 2005. Article includes look at players
in the race.

Title: PCS-Cellular Competition Benefits to Drive Doubling of Wireless by 2002
Source: Telecom AM
http://capitol.cappubs.com/am/
Issue: Competition
Description: A study by the Strategis Group Consulting Firm says compeition
for Personal Communications Services (PCS) is forcing cellular phone
companies to lower prices, improve service, and to increase marketing and
distribution. The competition will produce growth for both industries --
there are 57 million wireless customers today and the study estimates there
will be 118 million by 2002.

Title: BellSouth's Application to Provide Long Distance in Louisiana
Source: FCC
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/in-region_applications/bellsou...
Issue: Long Distance
Description: Brief and Affidavits in Support of Application by Bellsouth for
Provision of In-Region, Interlata Services in Louisiana (CC Docket No. 97-231).

Title: Telcos Must Continually Connect With Customers, says new study
Source: Telecom A.M.---Nov. 12, 1997
http://www.capitol( at )cappubs.com/
Issue: Telephone
Description: According to Insight's report entitled "Carrier Customer
Services and Operations Support Systems," "some level of customer
satisfaction must be met on a monthly basis, or else customers will be lost
to the competition." As a result, Telcos are spending more than $10 billion
this year to retain market share by upgrading their customer care and
billing operations. The report concluded that competing telecom offers are
so abundant and similar in price and scope that customer care has become the
key differentiation for customers. Robert Rosenburg, president of Insight,
said, "Telco investment in customer care and billing over the next five
years will grow at nearly twice the rate of carrier revenue. Superior
customer service and accurate billing is the best way to ensure these
customers stay happy--and loyal."

Title: BellSouth On Top Of Other Local Companies In Customer Satisfaction
Source: Telecom A.M.---Nov. 12, 1997
http://www.capitol( at )cappubs.com/
Issue: Telephone
Description: A survey by the Yankee Group named BellSouth as the top
company in customer satisfaction. Areas surveyed were: accurate and easy to
understand bills timely resolution of problems, quick access to customer
service, and professional, courteous personnel.

** Infrastructure **

Title: New Report Says 63% of CATV Plant Miles Will Be Hybrid
Fiber-Coax By 2001
Source: Telecom A.M.---Nov. 12
http://www.capitol( at )cappubs.com/
Issue: Infrastructure
Description: A new report from Allied Business Intelligence, Inc.
entitled "CATV Infrastructure Changes: Advances and Implications for CATV
Equipment Markets, 1997-2001" stated that 63% of cable TV plant mileage
will be configured within hybrid fiber-coax (HFC) networks. But the
networks are already at capacity delivering analog TV signals; upgrading
CATV networks to HFC architectures will be costly. The report also warned
CATV operators of the competition from DBS and MMDS, suggesting that they
diversify their revenue base.

** Microsoft **

Title: Nader Joins Chorus of Microsoft Critics
Source: Washington Post (G1)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-11/14/076l-111497-idx.html
Author: Elizabeth Corcoran & Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Issue: Antitrust
Description: Veteran consumer activist Ralph Nader was presiding over a
Wash. conference where software company critics charged that Microsoft is
unfairly trying to dominate the Internet. John Richard, director of
Essential Information, a Nader organization, said, "What Ralph is trying to
do is get people in the business community mobilized about not rolling over
for Microsoft." This conference occurred amidst a confrontation between the
Justice Dept. and Microsoft over whether the company is honoring a 1995
consent decree. Some conference attendees who rely on computer technology,
like Phoenix Color Corp. VP Thomas Newell, expressed concern about lack of
competition. "I get worried about [being]...forced to use Microsoft." No
Microsoft exec spoke at the conference. Robert Herbold, Microsoft's COO,
said in a letter to Nader, "For us to participate in this kind of
environment would be like walking into an ambush with sharpshooters on every
hilltop."

Title: Nader Conference Levels Sights on Microsoft
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/111497nader.html
Author: Jeri Clausing
Issue: Antitrust
Description: Ralph Nader helped organize "Appraising Microsoft and Its
Global Strategy," a Washington DC conference on the software giant. "Imagine
going into a shoe store and being told there is only one shoe you can try
on," said Gary Reback, a California lawyer who has argued in cases against
Microsoft. "One shoe. One color. One size fits all. That's what we have in
the desktop computer industry today." Competitors and consumer advocates
contend that Microsoft is a monopoly and needs to be reigned in by the
Government. For conference info see http://www.appraising-microsoft.org/.
*********