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Communications-Related Headlines for April 22, 2003

21ST CENTURY SKILLS
        Women Among First IT Specialists Trained in Afghanistan
        Make IT Compulsory, Say Aussie Teachers

PHILANTHROPY
        MTN Foundation Gives Internet Connectivity to South African Schools
        HP Provides $1.3 Million in Technology Grants to Nonprofit
Organizations Nationwide

MEDIA OWNERSHIP
        Snowe, Allies Look to Forestall FCC Reform

INTERNET
        Penn State Students Lose Net Access for File Sharing
        Digital Dilemmas

LIBRARIES
        America's Oldest Public Library May Close the Books


21ST CENTURY SKILLS

WOMEN AMONG FIRST I.T. SPECIALISTS TRAINED IN AFGHANISTAN
The first graduating class of the University of Kabul's new Cisco Networking
Academy completed their studies this month. The 17 students, including 6
women, were the first inside Afghanistan to complete a certified networking
program. "I am now one of the first Afghan women with a world-class
information technology certificate in Afghanistan," said Nabila Akbari, one
of the academy's students. "My personal goal is to share this knowledge with
other Afghans, especially Afghan women. I want very much to help my country
build an advanced, high-tech networking system." The UN Development Program
partnered with Cisco to introduce the training in Kabul, which for more than
two decades has faced a severe shortage of high tech workers. "This
graduating class is making history for Afghanistan," said UNDP Country
Director Ercan Murat. "They are the first highly-trained computer
specialists in Afghanistan who were trained in their own country. They now
have the tools to make a difference at home."
[SOURCE: UNDP]
http://www.undp.org/dpa/frontpagearchive/2003/april/17apr03/index.html

MAKE I.T. COMPULSORY, SAY AUSSIE TEACHERS
An Australian edtech association has called on governments to make
information technology skills compulsory in secondary schools.  Stella
Cugley, president of the Victorian Information Technology Teachers
Association, says that IT should be treated as a core subject in its own
right, not unlike math, science or history. "You would hope that it would be
compulsory but there is nothing to say it is," she said. A recent survey in
Australia suggested that students valued IT training when they received it,
and the demand of IT skills has increased in Australia's vocational schools.
Additionally, research by Multi-Media Victoria (MMV) suggests that there's
little information available for students to learn more about potential IT
careers. MMV and the IT Skills Hub recently partnered to launch
PositionMentor, an online tool linking IT job advertisements with the
training programs required to apply for those jobs. The tool has proven so
popular in its first two weeks that there are now plans to expand the site
nationally.
[SOURCE: Sydney Morning Herald; AUTHOR: Sue Cant]
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/04/14/1050172523913.html
PositionMentor:
http://www.itskillshub.com.au/mentor


PHILANTHROPY

MTN FOUNDATION GIVES INTERNET CONNECTIVITY TO SOUTH AFRICAN SCHOOLS Seeking
to "improve the quality of education" as well as knowledge and use of IT in
public schools, the MTN Foundation has successfully implemented its Schools
Connectivity Program in Limpopo Province, South Africa. The foundation
installed multimedia computing centers in 11 schools, each consisting of a
PC network, a printer-copier-scanner-fax machine, a TV, a VCR and a
high-speed GPRS modem. "This project will benefit disadvantaged children by
giving them an opportunity to compete with their peers in urban areas," said
Education MEC Joyce Mashamba. "It will also give them an opportunity to
develop skills and access information in a way that is relevant to the
economic development of the province and the country.
[SOURCE: AllAfrica.com; Author: Vanguard]
http://allafrica.com/stories/200304210600.html

HP PROVIDES $1.3 MILLION IN TECHNOLOGY GRANTS TO NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS
NATIONWIDE [Press Release] HP announced Friday its award of $1.3 million in
grants to 26 nonprofit organizations across the county as part of its
Community Technology Center initiative. The grants consist of computer
equipment and HP staff volunteerism in their local communities. The CTC
program targers underserved populations, and grant-worthy organizations
demonstrated both service to such populations as well as dedication to
training people with disabilities. "By providing grants to these computer
technology centers, we leverage technology to support the organizations'
programs that provide training in computer literacy, academic success and
job skill training.... [while providing] an opportunity for highly skilled
HP employees to be a part of our community in a real way," said HP
philanthropy program manager Nancy Iaconis.
[SOURCE: Yahoo! Finance] http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/030418/185005_1.html


MEDIA OWNERSHIP

SNOWE, ALLIES LOOK TO FORESTALL FCC REFORM
Moderate Republican Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine is one of several
senators strongly encouraging FCC Chairman Michael Powell to not rush into
deregulating US media ownership rules. Sen. Snowe last month teamed with
Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) to recruit 15 fellow senators -- including a
majority of the Commerce Committee -- to sign a letter petitioning Powell to
take more time before making a decision in the matter. Powell recently
responded in a letter of his own by stating he intends to stick with his
June 2 deadline, but Snowe insists that it's vital that the public receive
more opportunities to debate the issue. "Time is running short to provide
full public disclosure of the rule changes," Snowe said. Frank Blethen,
whose family publishes the Seattle Times and three Maine dailies, applauded
Snowe's perseverance. "As she's gotten into it, she's really 'gotten it,'
and she's stepping up to take leadership, which is really wonderful," he
said.
[SOURCE: Editor & Publisher; AUTHOR: Todd Shields]
http://www.mediainfo.com/editorandpublisher/headlines/article_display.jsp?vn
u_content_id=1870473


INTERNET

PENN STATE STUDENTS LOSE NET ACCESS FOR FILE SHARING
Officials at Pennsylvania State University announced yesterday that they had
taken away dorm-room broadband Internet access from 220 students because
they were distributing copyright-protected content through online
file-sharing services. "Upon investigation, we found that the students had
publicly listed copyright-infringing materials on their systems to other
members of this network," said university spokesman Tysen Kendig. On March
31, the university's executive vice president sent an email to more than
110,000 students, faculty and staff stating that file-sharing copyrighted
material is illegal and would not be tolerated on campus. Students
apparently did not expect to get busted, however. "I was kind of surprised
at being caught," said Jason Steiner, a Penn State freshman, in an interview
with the student newspaper. "I was sitting there online, and all of a sudden
I wasn't, with no idea why." Spokesman Kendig says students' broadband
privileges will be restored once students remove the copyrighted materials
from their computers.
[SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; AUTHOR: Associated Press]
http://www.post-gazette.com/localnews/20030422pennstate0422p5.asp

DIGITAL DILEMMAS
It seems like so long ago, but it has been less than a decade since tech
gurus proclaimed the Internet to be a "civilization of the mind" in
cyberspace. While such claims may seem comical to some, the reality is that
the tech bust of the past few years does not diminish the role of Web-based
technology in the future. In fact, the Web will continue to have "profound
and unprecedented" effects on the way we live. If history is any guide, the
immediate failures of several railroads and carmakers at the dawn of those
technologies did not reduce their influence on our lives. Similarly,
advances in microcomputing, wireless technology and the like suggest that
the Internet has nowhere to go but up. The challenge for society is to
decide how to use these discoveries and what their effects on our notions of
privacy, security and government will be.
[SOURCE: The Economist; AUTHOR: David Manasian]
http://www.economist.com/surveys/displaystory.cfm?story_id=1534303


LIBRARIES

AMERICA'S OLDEST PUBLIC LIBRARY MAY CLOSE THE BOOKS
In 1778, Benjamin Franklin decided to show his appreciation to the town of
Franklin, Massachusetts for naming their community after him by donating a
collection of over 100 books; they would eventually form the core collection
of the town's library. Today the nation's oldest public library, the
Franklin Library is a shadow of its former self, having laid off a quarter
of its staff and slashed its operating hours because of local budget cuts --
and now it may have to be closed altogether. "You hate to be closing the
oldest library in the country," said Kenneth Wiedemann, chairman of the
Franklin Library Board of Directors. "We are not happy about it. But what
are you going to do?" Facing as much as a $6 million budget shortfall, the
town is facing the grim choice: slash the police force, close a fire station
or shutter the library. "You think of the fact that we were the first town
to be named for Ben, and he was good enough to get us started in our
learning," said Barbara Smith, Franklin's historian. "These books weren't
frivolous. They weren't the latest love story. These were for learning."
[SOURCE: Boston Globe; AUTHOR Franco Ordonez]
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/111/metro/Franklin_library_may_close_the_b
ooks-.shtml


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Communications-Related Headlines are compiled, summarized and edited by Andy
Carvin ([log in to unmask]) and Charles Meisch ([log in to unmask]) of the
Benton Foundation -- we welcome your feedback. Based in Washington DC, the
Benton Foundation's mission is to articulate a public interest vision for
the digital age and demonstrate the value of communications for solving
social problems. Other projects at Benton include:

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Digital Opportunity Channel (www.digitalopportunity.org) OneWorld United
States (us.oneworld.net) Sound Partners for Community Health
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