Collection of Education/collectionofeducationcarat1997.iso/COMPUSCI/EDU0895.ZIP/EDU08065.DOC

Text File | 1996-05-01 | 8KB | 159 lines

Subject: Edupage 8/6/95

******************************************************************
Edupage, a summary of news items on information technology,
is provided three times each week as a service by Educom --
a Washington, D.C.-based consortium of leading colleges and
universities seeking to transform education through the use
of information technology.
******************************************************************

TOP STORIES
        House Telecom Bill Opens Phone Competion
        Legislation's Impact On Media Ownership
        Pornography -- On The Net And On TV
        Status Of The Legislation
        IBM Plans Italian Venture

ALSO
        AOL Market Research Venture
        VR Testing Service
        A Computer For Every Occasion
        Need For Computer Science Ph.D.s
        Angels To Patrol The Net

HOUSE TELECOM BILL OPENS PHONE COMPETION
By the substantial majority of 305 to 117, the U.S. House of Representatives
passed a bill that would dramatically change America's telecommunications
law.  The regional telephone companies would now be allowed to compete in
the long-distance market (once they have opened their own market up to
competition for both business and residential service), and long-distance
and cable companies would be allowed to enter the business of providing
local telephone service.  (New York Times 8/5/95 p.1)

LEGISLATION'S IMPACT ON MEDIA OWNERSHIP
The bill would lift price controls on cable TV and lift most restrictions on
the number of radio and TV stations a single company could own -- with the
proviso that the Federal Communications Commission would still be able to
prevent an "undue concentration of media voices."  (New York Times 8/5/95 p.1)

PORNOGRAPHY -- ON THE NET AND ON TV
The House bill urges online service providers (such as America Online,
Compuserve, Prodigy, etc.) to monitor subscriber transmissions for
pornography, but leaves policing up to the providers themselves (whereas the
Senate telecom bill would make it a crime to transmit pornographic material
over the Net).  The House bill also includes a Democrat-sponsored amendment
that would require that the TV networks code programs to indicate violent or
sexual content and would force the makers of TV sets to install a computer
chip (called the "V-chip" ) to allow parents to block those programs.  (New
York Times 8/5/95 p.1)

STATUS OF THE LEGISLATION
The House and Senate bills will now have to be resolved in conference, and
then sent to President Clinton, who earlier in the week threatened a veto,
saying that such a bill would result in too much concentration of media
power in the hands of a few large companies.  (New York Times 8/5/95 p.1)

IBM PLANS ITALIAN VENTURE
IBM is teaming up with Stet, Italy's state-owned telephone monopoly, in a
partnership to offer telephone and computer network services, such as e-mail
and videoconferencing, via national distributors.  The two companies are
looking for other partners to act as distributors in their respective
countries.  The alliance will target business customers and does not plan to
offer ordinary consumer telephone service.  In addition to
telecommunications services, the two companies will collaborate on a
multimedia project already planned by Stet as well as offer computer
outsourcing and computer management services in Italy.  (Wall Street Journal
8/4/95 B8)

=========================================================

AOL MARKET RESEARCH VENTURE
Digital Marketing Services Inc., a joint venture between America Online and
the Marc Group, will offer advertisers market research based on surveys of
AOL's three million subscribers.  Subscribers will be rewarded for answering
questions with an as-yet undetermined amount of free online time.  Prices
for the survey research will start at $5,000.  (Investor's Business Daily
8/4/95 A19)

VR TESTING SERVICE
"VR Lab" is a new international VR product testing and reporting service of
the EDS Virtual Reality Center, Detroit, in association with the University
of Michigan's Virtual Reality Laboratory and the National Centre for Virtual
Environments at Salford University in England.  (VR News, Aug./Sep.'95 p.1)

A COMPUTER FOR EVERY OCCASION
"PCs are one of the least innovative products that I am aware of," says
physicist Greg Blonder, who is head of the Human Centered Engineering
Research Laboratory at Bell Labs.  "Year after year they run the same three
programs -- word processing, spreadsheets and games -- despite what is
essentially a factor of 1,000 improvement in processing for the same
dollar."  Blonder says the consumers of the future will be spending less of
thier money on general purpose computers and more on cheap machines
specialized to perform specific tasks, such as a checkbook-sized computer
used only for bill-paying.  "It's not impossible that instead of selling
$10,000 computers, you'll send ten $100 computers and use them effectively
for specific tasks."  (Forbes 8/14/95 p.158)

NEED FOR COMPUTER SCIENCE PH.D.s
Challenging a  recent New York Times article indicating an 50.3% employment
gap for computer science Ph.D.s, the Computing Research Association has
determined that the report on which the article was based included a
critical incorrect number and that computer science remains one of the best
of all fields in which to obtain an advanced degree.  (Communication from
Computing Research Association 8/2/95)

ANGELS TO PATROL THE NET
The red-bereted Guardian Angels, a volunteer group formed in 1979 to patrol
the streets and subways of the Bronx, have created CyberAngels, because
"there is such a similar need on the Internet as there was in New York when
we started.  There is a similar void where the police are unwilling or
unable to make it safe."  CyberAngels will form organized patrols to look
around cyberspace for "suspicious activity" that might indicate crimes
against children or acts of fraud, hate and pornography.  (Atlanta
Journal-Consititution 8/6/95 H7)

Edupage is written by John Gehl ([e-mail]) & Suzanne Douglas
([e-mail]).  Voice:  404-371-1853, Fax: [phone]

***************************************************************

EDUPAGE is what you've just finished reading.  To subscribe to Edupage: send
a message to: [e-mail] and in the body of the message type:
subscribe edupage Christopher Latham Sholes (assuming that your name is
Christopher Latham Sholes; if it isn't, substitute your own name).  ...  To
cancel, send a message to: [e-mail] and in the body of the
message type: unsubscribe edupage.

EDUCOM REVIEW is our bimonthly print magazine on learning, communications,
and information technology.  Subscriptions are $18 a year in the U.S.; send
mail to [e-mail].  When you do, we'll ring a little bell, because
we'll be so happy!  Choice of bell is yours:  a small dome with a button,
like the one on the counter at the dry cleaners with the sign "Ring bell for
service"; or a small hand bell; or a cathedral bell;  or a door bell; or a
chime;  or a glockenspiel.  Your choice.  But ring it!

EDUCOM UPDATE is our twice-a-month electronic summary of organizational news
and events. To subscribe to the Update:  send a message to:
[e-mail] and in the body of the message type:  subscribe update
August Dvorak (assuming that your name is August Dvorak;  if it isn't,
substitute your own name).

ARCHIVES & TRANSLATIONS. For archive copies of Edupage or Update, ftp or
gopher to educom.edu or see our WWW server: URL: < http://educom.edu/ >.
For the French edition of Edupage, contact [e-mail].  For
the Portuguese edition, contact [e-mail] with the message SUB
EDUPAGE-P Seu Primeiro Nome Seu Sobrenome. For the Spanish edition, send
mail [e-mail] with the message SUB EDUPAGE-E Su Primer Nombre,
Su Apellido. An Italian edition is available on Agora' Telematica;
connection and/or free subscription via BT-Tymnet and Sprint (login: <agora)
or via telnet <agora.stm.it; mail: <[e-mail].i