WIRED LIFE (A Special Section to the Washington Post)
Issue: The Way We Web
In just five years, the World Wide Web has gone from the arcane to the
mundane. This special section of the Washington Post "examines the
Internet's profound impact on everyday life, from how we work and play to
what we wear and what we dream about." The section includes a variety of
articles on the costs and benefits of being wired; predictions for new
technologies; and a consumer guide to popular Web sites. Also stories on
fashion, the digital divide and health. All stories
link to each other sequentially from the first. Highlights include: 1) A
Dot-Com World, 2) connecting to the people we love, 3) privacy and
e-commerce, 4) selling sex online, and 5) Across the E-Divide -- various
businesses and nonprofit groups have joined in the campaign known
high-tech community as the Digital War on Poverty.
[Source: Washington Post (G08), Author: Emily Wax]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11536-2000May16.html)
EDTECH
AOL Makes A Class Distinction (USA)
The Internet and Schools: A Vision and the Reality (NYT)
Making Sure Brand-New Teachers Know Technology (CyberTimes)
INTERNET
House Takes a Stand on Fictitious E-Mail Tax (CyberTimes)
Putting Government Agencies Online May Be Cyberspace's
Final Frontier (WSJ)
MERGERS
Phone Giant to Buy Lycos for $12.5 Billion (NYT)
TELEPHONY
Answering Your Cellphone Soon May Not Cost A Cent (USA)
BROADCASTING
Procter & Gamble Won't Sponsor Dr. Laura's Planned TV Program (WSJ)
PRIVACY
Advisory Committee on Online Access and Security (EPIC)
JOURNALISM
Helen Thomas, Washington Fixture, Resigns Reporter's Job (NYT)
EDTECH
AOL MAKES A CLASS DISTINCTION
Issue: EdTech
Today, America Online launches AOL( at )school, a free version of its Internet
service for schools. The service does not provide Internet access, but
rather provides schools with portals that connect users to age-appropriate
and topic-specific Internet content that has been selected by national
educators. AOL chief executive Steve Case admitted that people at the ISP
are "not experts in education, but we have a sense of technological
possibilities and a keen sense of making things simple...The world doesn't
need another educational content site." Some education groups have already
expressed some concern over the mixing of business with schools. Andrew
Hagelshaw of the Center for Commercial-Free Public Education, said "So
many companies are looking to get into schools and take advantage of the
captive audience." Case, however, dismisses cynics. "This is an opportunity
to extend the role of the Internet medium in society, not just build a
business," he said. AOL relied on several national organizations of teachers
and administrators, including the Association for Supervision and
Curriculum Development, to select 300 content providers for the service.
[SOURCE: USAToday (3D), AUTHOR: Karen Thomas]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20000517/2268854s.htm)
THE INTERNET AND SCHOOLS: A VISION AND THE REALITY
Issue: EdTech
The promise and performance of introducing computer and Internet technology
to the classroom. Feder thinks schools are in over their collective head:
"the investment in technology is often Plan B, the option that politicians
and administrators go for when no one can figure out how to get the money
needed to recruit more and better teachers, reduce class size and repair
crumbling schools. Unfortunately, using computers and the Internet
effectively is a truly daunting management challenge -- a lesson that
corporate America relearns daily at frightful cost." Both teachers and
students need more training to make best use of technology; privacy and
safety issues must be addressed; and as Jeremy Rifkin says in his new book,
_The Age of Access_, the Internet may link students to a wider world, but
life online needs to be surrounded with physical activity connected to it.
Feder concludes: "The challenge of getting that balance right is why new
technology cannot, in the end, compensate for a shortage of creative,
motivated and well-trained teachers and administrators."
[SOURCE: New York Times (A21), AUTHOR: Barnaby Feder]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/regional/051700lessons-edu.html)
MAKING SURE BRAND-NEW TEACHERS KNOW TECHNOLOGY
Issue: EdTech
The Washington-based CEO Forum (http://www.ceoforum.org) -- made up of
executives from Apple Computer, America Online, Discovery Communications,
IBM and others -- is trying to improve technology training for teachers at
the source: colleges and schools of education. "A line ought to be drawn in
the sand, and no young person ought to graduate not knowing how to use
technology," said Ken Kay, the CEO Forum's executive director. The group
created the Teacher Preparation School Technology and Readiness (STaR)
Chart, a self-evaluation tool for institutions that train teachers. The STaR
Chart (http://www.ceoforum.org/downloads/tpchart.pdf) rates each
institution's ability to prepare technology savvy teachers by asking schools
to rate themselves in such areas as the quality of computer facilities and
technology use in the curriculum. One goal of the chart is to introduce
business concepts into education. The chart is a way to guide the colleges
and schools in their planning and rate the success of those plans, much as
companies would.
[SOURCE: CyberTimes, AUTHOR: Rebecca Weiner]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/05/cyber/education/17education.html)
INTERNET
HOUSE TAKES A STAND ON FICTITIOUS E-MAIL TAX
Issue: Internet/Legislation
"What we are considering today is a fabricated solution to an imaginary
problem," said Representative John D. Dingell (D-MI). "We have here a bill
that solves a problem that doesn't really exist." Rep Dingell was responding
to a bill approved unanimously by the House that would prohibit the Federal
Communications Commission from imposing a per-minute access fee on Internet
use, like that imposed on long-distance telephone calls. The FCC never
proposed such a fee, but it has been an "Internet rumor" for some two
years.The bill was part of a package of Internet tax legislation that
Republican House leaders have been pushing as part of their so-called
"e-genda" of legislation that favors the high-tech industry. The Senate,
however, is not rushing to follow the House's lead, and has instead promised
a more deliberative review of the tax proposals.
[SOURCE: CyberTimes, AUTHOR: Jeri Clausing]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/05/cyber/articles/17tax.html)
See Also:
HOUSE VOTES TO PROHIBIT REGULATORS FROM EXTENDING FEES TO NET USAGE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal Interactive, AUTHOR: Associated Press]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB958495196221291584.htm)
PUTTING GOVERNMENT AGENCIES ONLINE MAY BE CYBERSPACE'S FINAL FRONTIER
Issue: Access to Government Info
Two Internet startups, New York-based govWorks.com (www.govworks.com) and
ezgov.com (www.ezgov.com) of Atlanta, are vying to help governments make an
array of functions available online. They are trying to convince local and
federal agencies of the benefits of allowing people to use the Internet to
get building and land-fill permits, renew driver's licenses, access
deeds, and pay property taxes and traffic and parking citations. The
startups have discovered that bureaucrats are a harder sell than venture
capitalists. "It's clear to everybody that the public sector is behind the
private sector when it comes to the use of information technology," says
Elaine Kamarck, Gore adviser and ezgov director. "It's to the good of
everyone if the public sector can catch up." Do governments need the help of
dot-com's to get online? Todd Ramsey, general manager of IBM's government
division, says that startups are "probably smarter about how you deal with
your partners in the Internet world and how you make things easier" for
citizens. But many cities are shunning outside help. "There's no reason
governments need to use anyone but themselves to go ahead and save money,"
says Joe Marcella, manager of information technology for Las Vegas, which is
building a full-service Web site for the city.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B1), AUTHOR: Glenn R. Simpson]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB958513847792267080.htm)
MERGERS
PHONE GIANT TO BUY LYCOS FOR $12.5 BILLION
Issue: Mergers
Telefonica's Internet unit, Terra Networks, will buy Lycos, the Internet
portal, for $12.5 billion in stock. The combination will include a
partnership with Bertelsmann, the German media conglomerate. "Nobody is in
more countries and more languages than we are today," said Bob Davis, the
chief executive of Lycos. Lycos is the #4 Internet portal, but its growth
has been slower than #1 Yahoo. The deal gives Lycos Spanish-language content
and better access in Latin America where Terra is one of the region's
leading Internet service providers. Lycos gives Terra access to more than 30
million Hispanics in the US and helps it compete in Asia and Europe.
Bertelsmann agreed to spend $1 billion over the next five years to promote
its books, music and other media on Terra Lycos (as the new portal will be
known).
[SOURCE: New York Times (C4), AUTHOR: Saul Hansell]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/05/biztech/articles/17net.html)
TELEPHONY
ANSWERING YOUR CELLPHONE SOON MAY NOT COST A CENT
Issue: Wireless
The Federal Communications Commission is expected within weeks to adopt a
new wireless phone regulation that would establish a nationwide standard
giving customers the option of not having to pay for incoming calls.
Industry analysts are predicting that wireless carriers will respond to the
new rule by actively marketing caller-pay options. According to Brian Fontes
of the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, this rule will
allow more customers to treat their wireless phone like their house phone.
But the rule may pose billing problems for wireless and local carriers and
confuse callers. As of now, less than five percent of wireless customers
have the caller-pay option.
[SOURCE: USAToday (Page 1A), AUTHOR: Paul Davidson]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20000517/2269006s.htm)
ADVERTISING
PROCTER & GAMBLE WON'T SPONSOR DR. LAURA'S PLANNED TV PROGRAM
Issue: Advertising/Broadcasting
Procter & Gamble has decided against sponsoring a planned TV talk show
hosted by Dr. Laura Schlessinger and will also stop advertising on Dr.
Schlessinger's syndicated radio show, saying she is too controversial. Dr.
Schlessinger has ignited uproar from gay and lesbian groups for her on-air
references to homosexuality as "deviant" and "a biological error." "There
has been controversy surrounding Dr. Laura on a number of topics," P&G said
in a written statement. "We've chosen not to be involved with a show that
will require time and resources to deal with this kind of controversy." The
hour-long TV show, produced and distributed by Paramount Television Group
has been sold to about 160 stations reaching more than 90% of U.S.
households.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal Interactive, AUTHOR: Staff Reporter]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB958517524918631498.htm)
PRIVACY
ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON ONLINE ACCESS AND SECURITY
Issue: Privacy
The Federal Trade Commission has released the final report of its Advisory
Committee on Online Access and Security (http://www.ftc.gov/acoas/). The
report details options and recommendations for access and security -- two
key components of Fair Information Practices. The work of the Committee is
expected to inform the Federal Trade Commission in its ongoing work towards
protecting consumer privacy online. The report is online at
(http://www.ftc.gov/acoas/finalreport.htm).
[SOURCE: Electronic Privacy Information Center]
(http://www.epic.org/)
JOURNALISM
HELEN THOMAS, WASHINGTON FIXTURE, RESIGNS REPORTER'S JOB
Issue: Journalism
One day after United Press International was sold, veteran reporter Helen
Thomas resigned her job as reporter. Ms. Thomas broke into journalism in
1943 as a radio writer for the news service. She had enough energy and
persistence to overcome a male-dominated journalism field in which women
were consigned to write society news while men went after the "real" stories
and bragged of their exploits later over cigars and whiskey. UPI was sold to
Rev Sun Myung Moon's News World Communications this week. NWC published The
Washington Times, a favorite of conservative readers in Washington. Ms.
Thomas statement reads: "United Press International is a great news agency.
It has made a remarkable mark in the annals of American journalism and has
left a superb legacy for future journalists. I wish the new owners all the
best, great stories and happy landings."
[Thank you, Ms. Thomas.]
[SOURCE: New York Times (A16), AUTHOR: David Stout]
(http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/national/upi-sale.html)
See Also:
INSIDE-THE-MEDIA MEDIA
For all those readers that send notes saying, 'Humor me, Kevin.'
[SOURCE: New York Times (A27), AUTHOR: Mark Katz, speechwriter]
(http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/oped/17katz.html)
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