Message-Id: <55206A473154D011924D0020AFF7ACB56A659E@mail1.oulan.ou.edu>
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1998 09:47:41 -0500
From: "Swisher, Bob" <bswisher@ou.edu>
To: "'it-fyi@listserv.ou.edu'" <it-fyi@listserv.ou.edu>
Subject: Edupage, 2 April 1998
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Edupage, 2 April 1998. Edupage, a summary of news about information
technology, is provided three times a 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.
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TOP STORIES
Sun And IBM To Develop New Java-Based Operating System
IRS Wants To Delay Restructuring
AT&T Eliminates Flat Fee For Online Service
Lapware For Toddlers
ALSO
Can Interactive Games Be "Literature"?
36 Missing Computers "Does Not Suggest Poor Management" At FDA
Explaining The Customer Paradox
Child Porn In The Eye Of The Computer
Qradio Broadens Listeners' Horizons
SUN AND IBM TO DEVELOP NEW JAVA-BASED OPERATING SYSTEM
Sun and IBM have agreed to work together to develop a new operating
system based on Java, the popular computer language that was developed
by Sun. The new system would be targeted for use in the world's many
millions of terminals (a large percentage of which are connected to IBM
mainframe computers devoted to such applications as airline reservation
systems). The two computer makers also plan to license the new Java OS
to other companies. (Wall Street Journal 1 Apr 98)
IRS WANTS TO DELAY RESTRUCTURING
Four months into his term, Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Charles
Rossotti says that if the agency doesn't address the Year 2000 problem
immediately, "there will be 90 million people 21 months from now who
won't get refunds. He wants to delay a massive restructuring of his
agency until after 2000. "The whole financial system of the United
States will come to a halt. It's very serious," he says. Rossotti has
set a Jan. 31, 1999 deadline for fixing the Y2K glitch, a project that
he estimates will cost close to $1 billion. And if it doesn't work?
"There's no Plan B." (USA Today 2 Apr 98)
AT&T ELIMINATES FLAT FEE FOR ONLINE SERVICE
The 1.2 million customers of AT&T's Internet access service will soon be
charged an extra 99 cents for every hour spent online beyond the 150
hours of monthly use which will come with the $19.95 fee that has, up
until now, bought unlimited usage from that company. (New York Times 1
Apr 98)
LAPWARE FOR TODDLERS
Children's software maker Knowledge Adventure is introducing JumpStart
Baby, described as "lapware" for infants aged nine months to two years.
The program features an animated teddy bear that plays hide-and-seek to
teach word recognition and is designed to give children "a great sense
of satisfaction to do something and see a reaction," says Knowledge
Adventure president Larry Gross. Gross notes that the product was
created in response to numerous requests from parents who wanted to give
their children a technological head start in life, but some early
childhood experts warn that exposing children to the fast-moving images
of computers and television is "the most likely culprit" in the rising
number of attention disorders. Whether computer use by toddlers is
beneficial or detrimental to their development has yet to proven by
researchers, but as one industry executive puts it: "Parents think
computers will help their kids get into Harvard." (Wall Street Journal 2
Apr 98)
=============================================
CAN INTERACTIVE GAMES BE "LITERATURE"?
When the two brothers who created Myst, the most successful of any
CD-ROM computer game, were asked whether interactive games are
"literature," their answers were these. Robyn Miller: "Interactive is
an incredible medium, but I don't necessarily believe it's a
storytelling medium. It focuses on environment. People are not what it
portrays best. I think interactive games are more like Disneyland."
Rand Miller: "I look at it a bit differently. In interactive, I can't
lead a person from Point A to Point B, but linear stories in a lot of
cases are just a revelation of someone's experiences. What I can give
people is a chance to experience things on their own. The story forms
in their mind; it's unique to them. Whether that can be effective in
having any emotional impact remains to be seen." (US News & World Report
6 Apr 98)
36 MISSING COMPUTERS "DOES NOT SUGGEST POOR MANAGEMENT" AT FDA
An internal review of the Food and Drug Administration's Center for
Biological Evaluation Research is criticizing that agency for amassing a
computer inventory twice the size of its staff and for being unable to
account for 36 systems that are missing and may have been stolen. In
response to the charge that "Management doesn't always know who is doing
what," a deputy FDA commissioners says: "While we take the issue of
missing equipment seriously, 36 missing computers does not suggest poor
management or detract from the remarkable efforts that are made each day
to promote, protect and enhance public health." (Washington Post 31 Mar
98)
EXPLAINING THE CUSTOMER PARADOX
Mark Evans, managing director of Deloitte & Touche's high-tech industry
practice, has a theory for why consumers are increasingly unhappy with
technology goods at the same time that they are increasingly higher in
quality: "There's a customer paradox underway... I think the reason is
that the expectations of the customers have risen rapidly because of
information that's available on a real-time basis. Also, they're
getting better service from all their vendors, (which raises the bar for
everyone). Information is a great thing, but it also results in people
expecting to get more. There's an idea of getting services along with
the product itself. Customers were less hard on the manufacturers maybe
three years ago. They were more willing to go off and contract with one
company for products and another one for services. Goods are more
complex now. They're more integrated and more important to running the
business... Customers now want to be able to get an answer to a
question, not just a product or a service." (Investor's Business Daily 2
Apr 98)
CHILD PORN IN THE EYE OF THE COMPUTER
Ruling that the use of computer technology to alter images of children
to make them sexually explicit cannot be treated as criminal behavior, a
federal judge in Maine has declared that a 1996 law defining pornography
defining child pornography as a visual depiction which "appears" to be a
minor engaging in sex was unconstitutionally vague. Kathy Fondacaro of
the National Coalition Against Pornography says: "Whether it's simulated
technologically or it's the real stuff, it arms a pedophile. It arms a
pedophile so it's easier to find children and molest them." (AP 2 Apr
98)
QRADIO BROADENS LISTENERS' HORIZONS
Qradio, the brainchild of musician Quincy Jones, offers online listeners
the opportunity to hear music from "great but underappreciated musical
cultures around the world," says Jones, who believes that in the long
run, music from South Africa will represent an export valuable "far
beyond diamonds and gold" for that country. "They don't get the chance
for the exposure and economic success," without such an opportunity adds
Jones. < www.Qradio.net > (Broadcasting & Cable 23 Mar 98)
Edupage is written by John Gehl (gehl@educom.edu) and Suzanne Douglas
(douglas@educom.edu). Telephone: 770-590-1017
Technical support for distributing Edupage is provided by Information
Technology Services at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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Today's Honorary Subscriber is Amelia Earhart (1897-1937), the
remarkable woman aviator who was reported missing on July 2, 1937,
during her solo flight around the world. She had already been the
first woman to fly a solo flight over the Atlantic. An enormously
popular individual, Earhart said of flight across the Atlantic:
"Probably my greatest satisfaction was to indicate by example now and
then, that women can sometimes do things themselves if given a chance."
Biographer Susan Ware writes in "Still Missing":
"Amelia Earhart was not afraid of death; she said so many times.
She would have faced death with the same unflinching courage and honest
with which she lived her life. But even she, who loved life so much,
could never really envision herself growing old The words Amelia
Earhart had bravely written to her husband before another dangerous
flight now became a prophetic epitaph: 'Please know I am quite aware of
the hazards. I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try
to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be
but a challenge to others.'
Her friend and great admirer Eleanor Roosevelt was certain that Amelia
Earhart's last words were 'I have no regrets.'"
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Educom -- Transforming Education Through Information Technology
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