News 02-06-2001
Syllabus Spring 2001 Call for Posters
Syllabus is currently accepting proposals for poster presentations at the
upcoming Syllabus conference in Cincinnati, Ohio, to be held April 5-8. The
submission deadline is February 13, and presentations can be proposed via SyllabusWeb
at www.syllabus.com.
The main, but not exclusive, focus of the conference will be Campus Communications:
From World Wide Web to Wireless. Education professionals with experience in
various education applications of new communications technologies, as well as
those who design or support distributed learning and/or distance learning programs
are encouraged to submit proposals for poster sessions. Posters are displayed
in a designated area for one day, and presenters will be scheduled for a 45-minute
poster session, during which they will appear to discuss their posters.
Eight major conference tracks will be represented at Syllabus/Cincinnati:
(1) Interactive communications on campus, (2) Wireless technologies in education,
(3) Advanced networking applications and NGI, (4) Conferencing and collaboration,
(5) Web portals and resources, (6) Infrastructure and IT planning issues, (7)
Distance education programs and technology directions, and (8) Case studies.
All relevant proposals will be considered, so if you have a compelling education
technology topic not specified in the above list, please feel free to submit
a proposal.
Proposals will only be accepted electronically, via the Syllabus Web site.
If you have questions or difficulty submitting your proposal on the Web, please
report the problem or question to the Syllabus conference desk at (800) 773-0670
ext. 211. Online registration for the conference is also available at www.syllabus.com.
Eduventures.com Releases Report on E-Libraries
Eduventures.com, an independent market research firm, announced the release
of a new report, Contenders for the Crown: Six E-Libraries and their Business
Models, which examines the e-library industry. According to Eduventures.com,
the e-library market will grow from its current $250 million market size to
$850 million annually by 2004.
The six leading e-library firms profiled in the report are Questia, XanEdu,
ebrary, Britannica.com, Jones e-global Library, and NetLibrary.
For more information, visit www.eduventures.com.
Scholars Defend Publishing Software Code
A recent judicial decision to prevent the online magazine 2600.com from publishing
a software code that decrypts digital data has created concern in the academic
world. The decoding program, DeCSS, unlocks a data-scrambling system known as
CSS that is designed to thwart widespread copying of DVDs. The judge in the
case found in favor of the movie studio plaintiffs, ruling that software code
is not protected free speech because of its potential to violate copyright law.
2600.com's publisher, Eric Corley, is challenging the ruling. A group of law
professors, computer scientists, and library groups filed court documents in
support of the publisher, arguing that the ruling violates the First Amendment
and will have a negative impact on scientific research. In one brief supporting
Corley's appeal, 17 computer scientists compared computer source code to other
forms of creative expression that deserve full First Amendment protection.
Georgia State and Network ICE Expel Hackers
Network ICE today announced a partnership with Georgia State University to
protect students and faculty from cyber-crime. The agreement gives all students,
faculty members, and employees of the university access to a customized version
of BlackICE Defender, a personal firewall designed to stop hackers from compromising
connected PCs and laptops in real time. BlackICE technology, incorporated into
Network ICE security products, detects, identifies, and blocks Internet attacks
in real time.
For more information, visit www.networkice.com.
Brandt Archives Donated to SJSU
An extensive collection of nearly 700 books covering the fields of multimediatraining,
expert systems, artificial intelligence, computer programming, and business
management will be donated to the College of Education at San Jose State University
for students in the Instructional Technology Program. The collection will be
presented to the college in a dedication ceremony by Linda Jay Brandt, in memory
of her husband, Dr. Richard H. Brandt, a multimedia designer and courseware
developer for Sun Microsystems.
Online Engineering Computation
Waterloo Maple, supplier of advanced software products and components for mathematical
computation, announced recently its partnership with Engineering.com, an online
resource for engineers. The partnership will allow engineers as well as students,
architects, robotics designers, and others to perform complex calculations interactively
using only a browser. No additional software or plug-ins are needed to access
the results.
For more information, visit www.engineering.com.
BookOnWeb.com
Media Technics Corporation recently announced the creation of a new division
called BookOnWeb.com. Dedicated to delivering and distributing media-rich books
and content over the Web, BookOnWeb.com is working with publishers to turn books
and other traditional print offerings into interactive online products. BookOnWeb
electronic publishing technology enriches text with how-to videos, animations,
pop-up definitions, click-on pronunciations, skill tests, and eQuizzes. Sample
titles are available at www.bookonweb.com.
Handspring to Bring Visor to Higher Education
Handspring recently announced a distribution agreement with D&H Distributing's
education division to bring the Visor family of products to campus bookstores
nationwide. With a variety of plug-and-play Springboard expansion modules, students
and educators can easily tailor their handhelds to suit their specific needs,
such as taking notes and enabling field research and mobile communications.
Modules currently include a range of modems, MP3 players, a graphing calculator,
and content-based modules such as the 2000 Physicians' Desk Reference and the
New Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
Gartner Dataquest reports that worldwide handheld computer shipments, which
totaled 5.1 million in 1999, will total 33.7 million units in 2004. North America
will command dominant market share and a key component to this growth is the
expansion of the market into vertical areas including education.
For more information, visit www.handspring.com.