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TOP STORIES FOR MONDAY, MAY 03, 2004 AOL Program Encourages College Savings Accounts California Decertifies E-Voting Machines U.K. Librarians and Academics Disagree over Publishing Crisis AOL PROGRAM ENCOURAGES COLLEGE SAVINGS ACCOUNTS AOL has announced the expansion of a program with a company called Upromise that helps consumers create college savings accounts. Upromise offers a service in which consumers who have registered with the company receive rebates from participating merchants. Businesses included in the Upromise service offer rebates of up to 10 percent of purchase amounts and deposit those rebates into college savings accounts. Under the new arrangement, AOL will double the amount of the Upromise rebates for AOL subscribers. Previously only available to new AOL customers, the bonus is now an option for all subscribers. According to AOL, more than one million of its 24 million subscribers are part of the program. Upromise, which was started in 2001, has more than 2.5 million subscribers. New York Times, 3 May 2004 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/03/technology/03aol.html CALIFORNIA DECERTIFIES E-VOTING MACHINES California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley has decertified electronic voting systems across the state and is seeking a criminal investigation of Diebold Inc., the maker of the e-voting machines. One of the systems from Diebold has been banned outright. A different type of system, also from Diebold, has been decertified temporarily and could be allowed back in use if it is shown to meet strict security requirements. According to Shelley, Diebold is guilty of "deceitful conduct" in persuading California counties to install e-voting systems that had not undergone adequate testing or been properly certified. Shelley also accused Diebold of lying about the status of the machines. A statement from Diebold did not address the charges specifically but said the company is confident of its "technology and its benefits" and looks forward to "helping administer successful elections in ... November." Federal Computer Week, 3 May 2004 http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/0503/web-evote-05-03-04.asp U.K. LIBRARIANS AND ACADEMICS DISAGREE OVER PUBLISHING CRISIS At a British Parliamentary hearing, academics and librarians from higher education in the United Kingdom presented conflicting opinions about whether the country is experiencing a crisis in access to scientific publications. The hearing was held by the U.K. Parliament�s Science and Technology Select Committee, which is conducting an inquiry into pricing and availability of such materials. The consensus among the librarians at the hearing was that there is a very real crisis, both in pricing and availability. Members of the library community supported Open Access (OA) publishing, which requires payment from authors for publication. Many of the academics at the hearing, however, denied there is a crisis in academic publishing and rejected OA, saying it raises a range of problems, not least of which is the required upfront payment from authors. Some academics complained that the committee's selections of speakers at the hearing unfairly favored publishers, who agree with librarians that the academic publishing industry is not flawed. Information Today, 3 May 2004 http://www.infotoday.com/newsbreaks/nb040503-3.shtml ***************************************************** EDUPAGE INFORMATION To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change your settings, visit http://www.educause.edu/pub/edupage/ 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] For past issues of Edupage or information about translations of Edupage into other languages, visit http://www.educause.edu/pub/edupage/ ***************************************************** OTHER EDUCAUSE PUBLICATIONS EDUCAUSE publishes periodicals, including "EQ" and "EDUCAUSE Review," books, and other materials dealing with the impacts and implications of information technology in higher education. For information on EDUCAUSE publications see http://www.educause.edu/pub/ ***************************************************** CONFERENCES For information on all EDUCAUSE learning and networking opportunities, see http://www.educause.edu/conference/ ***************************************************** COPYRIGHT Edupage copyright (c) 2004, EDUCAUSE
