December 2009

In this report and order and further notice of proposed rulemaking, the Federal Communications Commission addresses and seeks comment on issues regarding the services eligible for funding under the schools and libraries universal service support mechanism, also known as the E-rate program. First, the FCC modifies its rules to expressly include interconnected voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) and text messaging as eligible services under the E-rate program. Second, the FCC releases the list of services that will be eligible for discounts for E-rate funding year 2010. Finally, the FCC seeks further comment on the eligibility of certain services in future funding years, as well as on proposed changes to the process for determining the services that will be eligible for support under the E-rate program

Technophiles and U.S. policymakers have spent decades promising the public that a ubiquitously-networked society would be a people-powered-utopia filled with useful, actionable information. President Barack Obama's 2008 campaign is the most prominent example of how a group of people capitalized on this vision. Nevertheless, a thoughtless rush to make the Internet pervasive, and to connect with one another socially online could in fact poison the delicately-balanced relationships that exist in the rapidly vanishing concept of the "offline" world, warned several leading thinkers at Supernova, an annual conference on innovation on Tuesday. "We're not just communicating with people anymore with Twitter, we're communicating with urban space," argued Nokia's Adam Greenfield in an afternoon presentation on how Internet-connected embedded devices are changing the very notion of what it means to live in cities. Greenfield gave several examples of how emerging applications and the adoption of Internet protocol version 6 (ipv6) would enable everything to be connected through the Internet, and how that is starting to erode current, unquestioned assumptions underlying our everyday existence.

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing on Wednesday on a topic that doesn't usually reach our radar: the manner in which local radio stations receive the ratings that determine their audience size and advertising rates. The debate that took place highlighted the difficulty of creating a balance between using technology for outreach while preserving access for all groups. House Oversight Chairman Ed Towns (D-NY) suggested that flaws in Arbitron's methodology may be costing minority communities one of their most crucial organizing tools. "What's at stake is life and death of one of the most viable industries for people of color," said Rep Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC). Arbitron Chief Executive Officer Michael Skarzynski argued that much of the decline in audience is due to the general economic situation, as well as the particular difficulties facing the radio industry such as the rise of the Internet. He said the rating declines facing minority and urban radio stations have also emerged in other formats, including talk and Christian radio. But according to Univision's Ceril Shagrin, the disproportionate impact of the new methodology on specific audiences would suggest that at very least Arbitron is facing issues with its sample size. Federal Communications Commission member Mignon Clyburn was in the audience but admitted the FCC probably doesn't have jurisdiction over Arbitron.

As America's brand-new director of education technology, career educator Karen Cator underscores the determination of President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan to develop "a transformative agenda" for the nation's schools and colleges. She said the Department of Education will unveil the first draft of the administration's National Education Technology Plan next month. The plan will seek to bring to fruition the President's vow to make the United States first in the world in the number of college graduates by 2020 and to give every willing student at least one year of postsecondary education. The plan will address the imperatives of global competition, Cator said, but also will stress the importance of global interdependence. It will focus on ensuring effective teachers are present "in every zip code," on seamlessly bridging the gap between the wide array of technology students use outside of school and the more limited technology available to them in the classroom. She said America's ed-tech plan will promote careers in science, technology, engineering, and math--but now will add an emphasis on the arts, because, as Cator explained, creativity is essential to lifelong success in the age of technology.