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TOP STORIES FOR WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 06, 2006 College Presidents Express Support for Open Access ASU Looks to Future of Film Making South Kent College Distributes iPods Digital Divide Remains for Students Google Launches News Archive Search Consortium Announces Free Wi-Fi for Silicon Valley COLLEGE PRESIDENTS EXPRESS SUPPORT FOR OPEN ACCESS The presidents of 53 liberal arts colleges have signed a letter supporting the Federal Public Research Access Act, which would require free and public access to research funded by the federal government. Librarians have for years protested the steeply rising costs of academic journals, noting that each year they can afford fewer of the resources that students and faculty need. Supporters of the legislation argue it would level the playing field for researchers and would appropriately allow public access to publicly funded science. Publishers of academic journals and the scholarly societies they represent lambasted the legislation, saying it would undermine peer review and the quality of the journals. Allan Adler of the Association of American Publishers said the legislation is "short-sighted" and is simply an attempt by librarians to obtain for free what they have always paid for. The academic community, however, seems inclined to disagree. The new letter of support from college presidents follows similar support in July from the provosts of 25 research universities. According to the new letter, which was drafted by a library group at Oberlin College, the legislation would "democratize access to research information" and would "benefit education, research, and the general public." Inside Higher Ed, 6 September 2006 http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/09/06/access ASU LOOKS TO FUTURE OF FILM MAKING Arizona State University (ASU) has debuted an undergraduate certificate program, which organizers hope will become a master's degree, in a field the university is calling EnterTech, referring to the intersection of entertainment and technology. Peter Lehman, director of the film and media studies program, and David Young, vice president and dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, presented the idea of such a program to Hollywood executives and received strong support. The attitude among many in the film industry is that the existing film schools are not producing graduates who can meet the needs that result from the convergence of technology and movies. Lehman said the new ASU program is "creating a new industry job, as it were," rather than training individuals to work in existing film jobs. Young pointed out that the new program reflects a growing trend of cross-disciplinary work in a number of fields. "If you look at the big issues facing society," he said, "like curing cancer, it wont be cured from a one-discipline approach." New York Times, 6 September 2006 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/06/movies/06tech.html SOUTH KENT COLLEGE DISTRIBUTES IPODS Students at South Kent College in Dover, England, will be given free iPod Nanos that school officials hope will be used to listen to missed lectures. Josh Coleman, assistant principal at the school, said that the idea to provide iPods was based on examples in the United States and Australia for how to foster new kinds of learning. He said he does not expect attendance in classes to decline as a result. Some critics said the scheme is merely a gimmick to attract students. Coleman rejected that notion, saying the program will provide long-term benefits to the institution. Nick Seaton, chairman of an organization called Campaign for Real Education, characterized the iPods as bribes, saying they undercut the idea that education is valuable. "Youngsters should want to take the courses for their own sake if they are worthwhile," he said. Giving out iPods to students is "a scandalous waste of taxpayers' money," Seaton concluded. BBC, 6 September 2006 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/5319258.stm DIGITAL DIVIDE REMAINS FOR STUDENTS According to new data from the National Center for Education Statistics, despite an overall increase in computer usage among students, minorities continue to trail in their levels of Internet access. The data, gathered from a 2003 survey, indicate that while two-thirds of white students use the Internet, just 47 percent of black students and 44 percent of Hispanic students do so. Due to increasing computer access at schools, the gaps are lower during the school day. At home, however, 54 percent of white students have Internet access, compared to 27 percent of black and 26 percent of Hispanic students. Mark Lloyd, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, expressed strong concern about the persistence of the digital divide. "This creates incredible barriers for minorities," he said, "[narrowing] their ability to even think about the kind of work they can be doing." San Jose Mercury News, 5 September 2006 http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/15444856.htm GOOGLE LAUNCHES NEWS ARCHIVE SEARCH Google is launching a new service that provides access to archives of news articles from several major organizations. With the new Google News Archive Search, users can perform keyword searches and see excerpts from the results of articles provided by participating publishers. From there, users can click through to the archival version, typically hosted by the content owners, where the full text of the article is available, sometimes for free and other times for a fee. Participating in the service are the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, LexisNexis, and others. The content in the service in some cases dates back to the 19th century and earlier, giving researchers access to sources that formerly would have been difficult or impossible to locate. Danny Sullivan, editor in chief of SearchEngineWatch, said the service could provide new revenue for news organizations through fees for archival stories. Wall Street Journal, 6 September 2006 (sub. req'd) http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115751253850554792.html CONSORTIUM ANNOUNCES FREE WI-FI FOR SILICON VALLEY A group of companies calling itself Silicon Valley Metro Connect has announced a vast Wi-Fi network covering large portions of Silicon Valley. The network will be the result of a solicitation from the San Mateo County Telecommunications Authority, an agency representing cities and counties in Silicon Valley. The agency selected Metro Connect's bid for the project, though the deal allows cities to work with other contractors. Metro Connect includes IBM, Cisco Systems, Azulstar Networks, and the nonprofit SeaKay. The network, which is expected to begin operating as early as next year, will offer speeds of up to 1 Mbps for free or higher speeds for a fee. Nearly 2.5 million residents of an area covering 1,500 square miles will be able to access the network outside, though they will need to purchase boosters to use the signal inside homes or offices. CNET, 5 September 2006 http://news.com.com/2100-7351_3-6112569.html ***************************************************** EDUPAGE INFORMATION To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your settings, or access the Edupage archive, visit http://www.educause.edu/Edupage/639 Or, you can subscribe or unsubscribe by sending e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To SUBSCRIBE, in the body of the message type: SUBSCRIBE Edupage YourFirstName YourLastName To UNSUBSCRIBE, in the body of the message type: SIGNOFF Edupage If you have subscription problems, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***************************************************** OTHER EDUCAUSE RESOURCES The EDUCAUSE Resource Center is a repository for information concerning use and management of IT in higher education. 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