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INTERNATIONAL BUREAU RELEASES SECOND INTERNATIONAL BROADBAND DATA REPORT Federal Communications Commission May 20, 2011

"May 25th, 2011 As online education rules loom, a call for cooperation between states Web-based colleges will more easily comply with state rules if leaders seek 'uniformity,' online education experts say as-online-education-rules-loom-a-call-for-cooperation-between-states By Dennis Carter, Assistant Editor Members of an influential online-learning task force said states should create uniform standards for online colleges and universities, making it easier for institutions to comply with a federal rule that will prove costly and confusing to web-based schools."

Posted on Mon, May. 30, 2011 Teachers give a gold star to a free-for-all education camp By Adrienne Lu Inquirer Staff Writer For many teachers, the phrase professional development conjures up mandatory, snooze-inducing, school-sponsored lectures. EdCamp, an "unconference" for educators that was conceived in the Philadelphia region last year, was designed to be the exact opposite: the free events are participant-driven and attendance is strictly voluntary.

Catharine McNally - April 27, 2011 "...For those of you who are still on the fence about Twitter, let me assure you that it is not always full of self-promoters or useless babble. When Twitter is "done right" it is a powerful tool for people to tell you what's going on - in a "little d democratic" kind of way. These 140-character statements challenge one to be tactful in how they write, to be understood, interpreted, and actionable. Effectively, the character limit forces one to cut through the fluff to get to the point. For a deaf person like me, Twitter is really helpful. It's kind of a digital version of my friend who sat next to me at lunch in middle school, who I would (often) turn to and ask, "Hey, what's everyone laughing about?" That person-bless her heart-would re-iterate the joke for me concisely and quickly, and of course, I would then laugh when everyone else had stopped laughing. ..."

Not "Breaking News" (see date) but likely to lead to developments

Cory Doctorow. Make. June 2011. "Consider the iPad for a moment. It's true that Apple's iTunes Store has inspired hundreds of thousands of apps, but every one of those apps is contingent on Apple's approval. If you want to make something for the iPad, you pay $99 to join the Developer Program, make it, then send it to Apple and pray. If Apple smiles on you, you can send your hack to the world. If Apple frowns on you, you cannot. What's more, Apple uses code signing to restrict which apps can run on the iPad (and iPhone): if your app isn't blessed by Apple, iPads will refuse to run it. Not that it's technically challenging to defeat this code signing, but doing so is illegal, thanks to the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which makes it a crime to circumvent a copyright-protection technology. So the only app store - or free repository - that can legally exist for Apple's devices is the one that Apple runs for itself. Some people say the iPad is a new kind of device: an appliance instead of a computer. But because Apple chose to add a thin veneer of DRM to the iPad, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act applies here, something that's not true of any "appliance" you've ever seen. It's as if Apple built a toaster that you can only use Apple's bread in (or face a lawsuit), or a dishwasher that will only load Apple's plates. Apple fans will tell you that this doesn't matter. Hackers can simply hack their iPads or shell out $99 to get the developer license. But without a means of distributing (and receiving) hacks from all parties, we're back in the forbidden-knowledge Dark Ages - the poverty-stricken era in which a mere handful of ideas was counted as a fortune."

We discussed this article in the forum of lascuolachefunziona.it. Someone objected that the iPad was a great tool and gave far more liberty to developers than traditional print publishers. I retorted that it was precisely because the iPad was such a great tool that its proprietariness about content for it was irritating. Then Elena Favaron made an illuminating comparison: "There are also people who make coffee machines that work only with dedicated coffee capsules, and there are folks who even buy them..."

"@webfoundation Web Foundation UN report: "ensuring universal access to the Internet should be a priority for all states" http://tinyurl.com/UN-Net-Right 7 Jun [2011] via web"

From the linked "Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Frank La Rue" (dated May 16, 2011): "...D. Disconnecting users from Internet access, including on the basis of violations of intellectual property rights law 49. While blocking and filtering measures deny access to certain content on the Internet, States have also taken measures to cut off access to the Internet entirely. The Special Rapporteur is deeply concerned by discussions regarding a centralized "on/off" control over Internet traffic.33 In addition, he is alarmed by proposals to disconnect users from Internet access if they violate intellectual property rights. This also includes legislation based on the concept of "graduated response", which imposes a series of penalties on copyright infringers that could lead to suspension of Internet service, such as the so-called "three- strikes-law" in France34 and the Digital Economy Act 2010 of the United Kingdom.35 50. Beyond the national level, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) has been proposed as a multilateral agreement to establish international standards on intellectual property rights enforcement. While the provisions to disconnect individuals from Internet access for violating the treaty have been removed from the final text of December 2010, the Special Rapporteur remains watchful about the treaty's eventual implications for intermediary liability and the right to freedom of expression....."

By Drew Henderson Thursday, June 16, 2011 "Yale has received a formal apology from a Chinese book distributor that was responsible for a book illegally containing the content of five Open Yale Courses. Because the licenses of courses broadcast through Open Yale Courses preclude third parties from using their content commercially, the Office of the General Counsel contacted the publisher of the book, Shaanxi Normal University Press to resolve the matter, art history professor and Open Yale Courses director Diana Kleiner said in a Wednesday email to the News. ..."

How Google Dominates Us August 18, 2011 James Gleick "This much is clear: We need to decide what we want from Google. If only we can make up our collective minds. Then we still might not get it. The company always says users can "opt out" of many of its forms of data collection, which is true, up to a point, for savvy computer users; and the company speaks of privacy in terms of "trade-offs," to which Vaidhyanathan objects: Privacy is not something that can be counted, divided, or "traded." It is not a substance or collection of data points. It's just a word that we clumsily use to stand in for a wide array of values and practices that influence how we manage our reputations in various contexts. There is no formula for assessing it: I can't give Google three of my privacy points in exchange for 10 percent better service. This seems right to me, if we add that privacy involves not just managing our reputation but protecting the inner life we may not want to share. In any case, we continue to make precisely the kinds of trades that Vaidhyanathan says are impossible. Do we want to be addressed as individuals or as neurons in the world brain? We get better search results and we see more appropriate advertising when we let Google know who we are. And we save a few keystrokes."

"Rédaction en ligne vendredi 15 juillet 2011, 19:55 Et pas seulement : ce sont tous les sites de presse belge francophone qui ne sont plus référencés sur le moteur de recherche. "

"22. Juli 2011 von hartwig Nicht nur in der Schweiz wünschen Zeitungen, am finanziellen Erfolg von Google zu partizipieren. Sie stellen sich auf den Standpunkt, dass ihre hart erarbeiteten Inhalte Google zum finanziellen Erfolg verhelfen und darum mit einem Leistungsschutzrecht pauschal abgegolten werden müssen. Man kann das natürlich auch anders sehen: Googles hart erarbeitete Technologie ermöglicht den Zeitungsinhalten erst international wahrgenommen zu werden. Insofern müsste Google ein Leistungsschutzrecht beanspruchen, das mittels Pauschalabgaben der Zeitungen zu finanzieren ist … In Belgien hat dieser Widerspruch zu einer legalen Pirouette geführt. Copiepresse, ein Verband zur Wahrnehmung von Urheberrechten der Tagespresse, hat durchgesetzt, dass Google die Artikel des Verlags nicht mehr publizieren darf. Da diese nun von niemandem mehr gefunden werden, klagt er nun gegen den Boykott durch Google. Man wollte ja Google nicht am Publizieren der Links hindern, sondern nur dafür kassieren, dass sie publiziert werden."

Ernesto Belisario 23 luglio 2011 "Proprio con riferimento all'ambito pubblico, ho notato che aumenta sempre più la distanza culturale tra l'Italia, dove molti Enti - addirittura - bloccano ai propri dipendenti l'accesso a questi siti, e gli altri Paesi in cui si moltiplicano le esperienze di Amministrazioni che scelgono i social media per dialogare con i propri cittadini-utenti. In questi casi, gli Enti dedicano grande attenzione all'adozione di documenti (le cosiddette "Policy") in cui spiegare le ragioni per cui l'Amministrazione si serve degli strumenti social e in che modo un dipendente pubblico deve usarli."

See also the embedded Social Media Policy video for staff of the Department of Justice (Victoria, Australia) by VictoriaGovDOJTV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iQLkt5CG8I

Joy Resmovits Aug. 5, 2011 ""We have become increasingly concerned with the proposed contract," Michael Mulgrew and Richard Iannuzzi, who respectively head New York City's and the state's teachers' unions, wrote in the note. The letter is addressed to New York State Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch, state Commissioner of Education John King, Jr., and copied to State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli. "It is especially troubling that Wireless Generation will be tasked with creating a centralized student database for personal information even as its parent company, News Corporation, stands accused of engaging in illegal news gathering tactics, including the hacking of private voicemail accounts," the letter reads. Murdoch acquired 90 percent of Wireless Generation for about $360 million last November. At the time of the acquisition, Murdoch said he saw K-12 education as a "$500 billion sector." Murdoch's first general move in the education sector had come just a few weeks earlier, when he tapped Joel Klein, then the chancellor of New York City's schools, to lead his education ventures. The Wireless Generation contracts were approved while Klein still ran the district, leading to speculation about the chancellor's intentions."

by Kevin Carey on September 26, 2011 "Under the category of "policy stuff that doesn't involve grand controversy and/or vast sums of new spending, yet might actually make the world a better place," the other day I attended a White House event announcing the launch of Digital Promise, a "new national center founded to spur breakthrough technologies that can help transform the way teachers teach and students learn." The rationale for the initiative is contained in a Council of Economic Advisers memo ..."

Council of Economic Advisers memo: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/unleashing_the_potential_of_educational_technology.pdf

"The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release September 24, 2011 WEEKLY ADDRESS: Strengthening the American Education System WASHINGTON-In this week's address, President Obama told the American people that it is time to raise the standards of our education system so that every classroom is a place of high expectations and high performance. On Friday, the President announced that states will have greater flexibility to find innovative ways of improving the quality of learning and teaching, so that we can strengthen performance in our classrooms and ensure that teachers are helping students learn rather than teaching to the test. By modernizing our schools and improving the education system, the United States can continue building an economy that lasts into the future and prepare the next generation to succeed in the global economy."

For the video of this address, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAdWbOtJYX4 or http://www.universalsubtitles.org/en/videos/ncTYQHe4jvy4/

Sept. 6, 2011 "Matt Richtel's panoramic essay, "In Classroom of the Future, Stagnant Scores." weighs in this morning on the topic of "Grading the Digital School." I found myself cheering and jeering alternately throughout this piece. Why? Because it so quickly confuses "standards" with "standardized test scores" and technology put into classrooms with "preparing kids for a digital future (actually, the digital present: it's here, it's now, like it or not). These confusions are so pervasive in our culture and so urgent that I want to take a moment to focus on them. "

By Aaron Smith, Aug 15, 2011 "Overview Mobile phones have become a near-ubiquitous tool for information seeking and communicating--83% of American adults own some kind of cell phone--and these devices have an impact on many aspects of their owners' daily lives. In a nationally representative telephone survey, the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project found that, during the 30 days preceding the interview:..."

Ernesto Priego, Sept 12, 2011 "Social media is becoming increasingly important in teaching and research work but tutors must remember, it's a conversation not a lecture, says Ernesto Priego"

"4 luglio 2011 - 02.17 Stampa post La lunga, triste storia degli attacchi alla rete Font plus Font minus La lunga, triste storia degli attacchi alla rete La lunga e triste storia degli attacchi alla rete - Byoblu - Claudio Messora - AGCOM - Copyright Il video, che è per pochi temerari e per chiunque non abbia una vita propria, racconta la lunga, triste storia di tutti gli assalti alla rete dal 2005 ad oggi. Dura 1 ora e 20, a testimonianza del fatto che ci hanno provato in tutti i modi. Per renderlo più consultabile ho inserito un menu dinamico che consente di saltare da un capitolo all'altro o di tornare in un secondo momento e continuare da dove ci si era arresi. "

"By Ian Quillen - July 20, 2011 When News Corp. announced last fall its entry into the education technology market, some observers said the media conglomerate led by Rupert Murdoch was a bad fit for education. Between the ownership of conservative-leaning outlets like Fox News and a reputation for identifying opportunities to generate lots of revenue very quickly, News Corp. had a business model, they suggested, that wouldn't mesh well with a world where public-employee unions hold influence and business development typically is gradual. Now, just as News Corp. had appeared set to expand its education holdings beyond its recently acquired subsidiary Wireless Generation, those concerns are joined by a deluge of legal and ethical issues surrounding the phone-hacking scandal in the conglomerate's United Kingdom division."

June 22, 2011 | 1:12 pm Dawn C. Chmielewski, Ben Fritz and Meg James "Hulu is putting itself up for sale. The popular online television site, which has been the cause of much consternation in Hollywood, has retained investment banks Guggenheim Partners and Morgan Stanley to facilitate a potential sale, according to people familiar with the matter. Prospective bidders have received notice that the sales process would begin in about two weeks."