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TOP STORIES FOR FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2005 University Seeks Names of Bloggers House Hears Debate over DARPA Funding Teacher Training Program at U of Maine to Require iBooks IBM Pushes Firefox UNIVERSITY SEEKS NAMES OF BLOGGERS Officials at St. Lawrence University are trying to obtain the names of individuals responsible for a blog that includes content the university finds inappropriate. Included in the blog, whose stated goal is to fight a "right-wing assault" on the university, are pictures of and harshly derogatory comments about students and faculty whom the blog's contributors see as conservative. Other blog posts criticize university policies and administrators, but Macreena Doyle, a spokesperson for St. Lawrence, said the institution is most concerned about the anonymous attacks on students. "If these were posters attacking students on campus," said Doyle, "we would take action." The university has filed "John Doe" court actions with Time Warner Cable, whose service was used to make postings to the blog, demanding information that would identify the blog's contributors. Google disclosed IP addresses from which blog postings came after being ordered to do so by the courts, but it is not clear whether Time Warner will do the same. Inside Higher Ed, 13 May 2005 http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2005/05/13/lawrence HOUSE HEARS DEBATE OVER DARPA FUNDING The debate over what some describe as a troubling shift in the stance of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for research it chooses to fund moved to the House Science Committee this week. DARPA came under fire from a number of sectors recently when it acknowledged that it would give preference in funding decisions to projects with more immediate results, rather than basic, long-term research with less obvious--but some say more vital--implications for developing new technologies. Critics of the change also said funding for cybersecurity projects was inadequate and should be increased. Joining the academics at the hearing who were critical of DARPA's changed focus was Rep. Sherwood L. Boehlert (R-N.Y.), who expressed his support for basic research and for cybersecurity projects specifically. Anthony J. Tether, director of DARPA, defended his agency, saying that projects of the type described are in fact being funded. In addition, he suggested that funding for certain types of research, such as computer science, is often included in grants supporting other types of research, such as microelectronics. Chronicle of Higher Education, 13 May 2005 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/prm/daily/2005/05/2005051301t.htm TEACHER TRAINING PROGRAM AT U OF MAINE TO REQUIRE IBOOKS Beginning in the fall 2005 semester, students entering the teacher certification program at the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Maine will be required to have Apple iBook laptop computers. According to Robert Cobb, dean of the college, "It is essential that aspiring teachers understand and know how and when to use wireless laptop technology in the teaching and learning process." The machines will meet a standard configuration, both for hardware and software, as determined by the college. The college's Teacher Education Faculty opted for Apple computers because they are less frequently the targets of computer viruses, relative to Windows-based machines, and because of the state's Learning Technology Initiative. Under that program, all seventh- and eighth-grade students and teachers in Maine public schools have iBook computers. Macworld, 11 May 2005 http://www.macworld.com/news/2005/05/11/umaine/index.php IBM PUSHES FIREFOX The Firefox Web browser received a boost this week when IBM began encouraging all of its more than 300,000 employees to use the open source browser instead of Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE). Employees will be able to download the browser from company servers, and IBM help desk staff will be trained to support the browsers. Despite having been downloaded about 50 million times since its launch last November, Firefox is still dwarfed by IE, which holds more than 90 percent of the browser market. IBM has a history of supporting open source products, and the Firefox announcement furthers its support of open source technologies while shedding some of the company's dependence on Microsoft products. Brian Truskowski, chief information officer at IBM, said supporting Firefox is a "good example of walking the talk when it comes to open standards and open source." Truskowski said he expects IBM will ultimately save money using Firefox instead of IE. CNET, 12 May 2005 http://news.com.com/2100-7344_3-5704750.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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