"June 8, 2011, 7:01 pm
By Marc Parry
A budget approved by a legislative committee last week would force the University of Wisconsin to return $39-million in federal grants awarded to expand high-speed Internet access across the state, state education officials said.
The plan would also require all University of Wisconsin institutions to withdraw from WiscNet, a nonprofit network cooperative that services the public universities, most of the technical and private colleges in Wisconsin, about 75 percent of the state's elementary and high schools, and 95 percent of its public libraries, according to David F. Giroux, a spokesman for the university system. (...)
Another provision in the plan would bar any University of Wisconsin campus from participating in advanced networks connecting research institutions worldwide, according to Mr. Evers's memo. For example, the Madison campus would have to withdraw from Internet2, a high-speed networking consortium, said Mr. Giroux."
That's what Lessig had in mind when he said:
"Think about the question of broadband policy. (…) The US has been a dismal failure in this respect. As we watch the US going from number 1 in broadband penetration, now to, depending on the scale, number 18, 19, or 28.
And that change is because of policies that effectively block competition for broadband providers. Their answer, these broadband providers brought to our government, and got our government to impose actually benefited them and destroyed the incentives for them to compete in a way that would drive broadband penetration. (…)"
From Lessig's Keynote Address at g8 7:48 - 8:42 - http://www.universalsubtitles.org/en/videos/C6wmjKWrZwlP/
"June 7, 2011, 5:55 pm
By Jeff Young
A university press in China appears to be selling transcripts of Yale University's free online courses in a new volume, sparking complaints from Yale officials. Under the terms of the course giveaway, called Open Yale Courses, others cannot profit from the material. (...)
An official from Shaanxi Normal University told Global Times that it secured permission from the author but not from Yale, and added that it is now investigating the matter."
"Collection:
C. Szwedzicki: The North American Indian Works
Work Record ID:
219
Reproduction Record ID:
219
Work Class:
depictions
Work Type:
print
Title:
Retreat of Reno's Commnand
Title Type:
constructed title
Title:
Sioux Indian painting
Title Type:
collective title
Measurements:
11.40 x 19.05 in (28.96 x 48.39 cm) on sheet 15.30 x 19.50 in (38.86 x 49.53 cm)
Measurement Type:
dimensions
Material:
paper (fiber product)
Material Type:
support
Inscription:
Image Top Center: Custer Battle Field / June 25 and 26 1876 / Crazy Horse
Inscription:
Above Image Right: 8 [Plate Number]
Creator:
Bad Heart Bull, Amos, 1869-1913
Creator Dates:
1869-1913
Creator Nationality:
Oglala Lakota
Creator Name Variant:
Bad Heart Buffalo (Tatanka Cante Sice)
Creator Type:
personal name
Creator Role:
painter
Date:
1938
Location:
Little Bighorn Battlefield (Mont.)
Repository:
Archives and Rare Books Library, University Libraries, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio
Repository Type:
current repository
ID Number:
8
ID Number Type:
plate number
ID Number:
ARB RB Oversize E98.A7 S568 1938 Vol. 2
ID Number Type:
call number
Style Period:
Plains Indian
Style Period:
Indian art--North America
Culture:
Native American
Culture:
Oglala Lakota
Subject:
Belts (Clothing)
Subject:
Breechcloths
Subject:
Face painting
Subject:
Feathers
Subject:
Fringe
Subject:
Leggings
Subject:
Moccasins
Subject:
Beadwork
Subject:
Body painting
Subject:
Shirts, Men's
Subject:
Breastplates
Subject:
Hair pipes
Subject:
Bridles
Subject:
Horseback riding
Subject:
Horses
Subject:
Chokers
Subject:
Arrows
Subject:
Metalwork
Subject:
Picture-writing
Subject:
Saddle blankets
Subject:
Indian warfare
Subject:
Rifles
Subject:
Military uniforms
Subject:
Sabers
Subject:
Bow lances
Subject:
Crazy Horse (Tashunca-Uitco), ca. 1842-1877
Subject:
Fixed-stone-head clubs
Subject:
Hats
Subject:
Saddles
Subject:
Saddlebags
Subject:
War shirts
Subject:
Reno, Marcus A. (Marcus Albert), 1835-1889
Subject:
Indians of North America--Wars
Subj
June 17, 2011, 5:11 pm
By Marc Parry
"Colleges and libraries have been up in arms all week over a proposed budget that would have forced the University of Wisconsin to return $39-million in broadband grants and withdraw from a nonprofit high-speed networking cooperative.
Well, state lawmakers have changed course-for now, anyway."
"August 1, 2011, 5:51 pm
By Rachel Wiseman
College students with very poor vision have had to struggle to see a blackboard and take notes-basic tasks that can hold some back. Now a team of four students from Arizona State University has designed a system, called Note-Taker, that couples a tablet PC and a video camera, and could be a major advance over the small eyeglass-mounted telescopes that many students have had to rely on. It recently won second place in Microsoft's Imagine Cup technology competition. (...)
The result was Note-Taker, which connects a tablet PC (a laptop with a screen you can write on) to a high-resolution video camera. Screen commands get the camera to pan and zoom. The video footage, along with audio, can be played in real time on the tablet and are also saved for later reference. Alongside the video is a space for typed or handwritten notes, which students can jot down using a stylus. That should be helpful in math and science courses, says Mr. Hayden, where students need to copy down graphs, charts, and symbols not readily available on a keyboard. (...)
But no tool can replace institutional support, says Chris S. Danielsen, director of public relations for the [NFB]. "The university is always going to have to make sure that whatever technology it uses is accessible to blind and low-vision students," he says. (Arizona State U. has gotten in hot water in the past in just this area.) (...)
This entry was posted in Gadgets."
In "(Arizona State U. has gotten in hot water in the past in just this area.)" the words "in the past" are linked to http://chronicle.com/article/Blind-Students-Demand-Access/125695/ , about a Spanish work book inaccessible to blind students, with a reference to the lawsuit against Arizona State U over the adoption of the Kindle.
So classifying this post in "Gadgets" is particularly paradoxical: in fact one reason why Arizona State U. was sued over the adoption of the Kindle was that Amazon presented its text-to-speech as a gadget.