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TOP STORIES FOR MONDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2006 EDUCAUSE Releases Core Data Results E-Voting Changes Don't Satisfy All Pop-Ups Used to Pad Viewership Numbers EDUCAUSE RELEASES CORE DATA RESULTS EDUCAUSE has released results from its annual Core Data Service survey, which questions higher education information technology leaders about various aspects of IT on campus. According to the results, the percentage of colleges and universities that choose to contract any of several IT functions to outside vendors rose for the second straight year, to 57 percent, up from 53 percent last year. Other notable changes included a rise in the percentage of institutions that have deployed wireless connectivity on campus, particularly in libraries, and a rise in the percentage of campuses that have undertaken an assessment of computer security. Greater proportions of colleges said they track bandwidth usage this year than last year, and campuses also saw a rise in the number that installed ERP systems. The full text of the "EDUCAUSE Core Data Service Fiscal Year 2005 Summary Report" is available at the EDUCAUSE Web site (http://www.educause.edu/apps/coredata/reports/2005/). Chronicle of Higher Education, 11 December 2006 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/12/2006121101t.htm E-VOTING CHANGES DON'T SATISFY ALL Despite a number of changes to the oversight of electronic voting machines, critics argue that the systems remain open to bugs and mischief. In January, a voluntary program approved by the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) will go into effect that covers testing and certification. Under that program, the National Institute of Standards and Technology will identify independent testing authorities (ITAs) it deems appropriate for testing electronic voting systems. Critics said that because the developers of e-voting systems will choose and pay ITAs, those organizations will be beholden to the voting system company, not to the government or to the voters. Deforest Soaries, former chairman of the EAC, said that such a conflict compromises the integrity of the program. A spokesperson from the EAC noted that the agency does not have authority to manage testing programs for e-voting systems, and he noted that developers of such systems that do not participate in the voluntary program risk being decertified by the EAC. Internet News, 11 December 2006 http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3648376 POP-UPS USED TO PAD VIEWERSHIP NUMBERS Some online companies are using pop-ups to inflate the statistics of how many Web surfers visited their site. In that scenario, a company pops up content, rather than an advertisement, to users who have not necessarily asked to see such content. The company behind the pop-up counts that instance as a page view, however, giving it an edge in the growing battle for sheer numbers of views. Nielsen/NetRatings recently discounted such "push traffic" from its usage numbers for financial site Entrepreneur.com, slashing the number of unique visitors from 7.6 million in April to just 2 million. Benjamin Edelman, a doctoral student at Harvard University, has set up a computer with many forms of adware and uses it to track, among other things, which companies use pop-ups to pad their usage numbers. According to Edelman's data, sites including Concierge.com, ForbesAutos.com, and Heavy.com all appear to use push technology. The issue is at the heart of advertising rates, which are often based on how many unique viewers visit a site. New York Times, 11 December 2006 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/11/technology/11push.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. To access resources including articles, books, conference sessions, contracts, effective practices, plans, policies, position descriptions, and blog content, go to http://www.educause.edu/resources ***************************************************** CONFERENCES For information on all EDUCAUSE learning and networking opportunities, see http://www.educause.edu/31 ***************************************************** COPYRIGHT Edupage copyright (c) 2006, EDUCAUSE
