News 02-25-2003
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and hear Betty L. Black of North Carolina State University discuss pilot programs
using wireless handheld computers to increase interaction among students in
large, lecture-based classrooms. Log on and listen to this interview and others
covering the hottest technology issues on campus.
U. Miami, Top Spanish U., Sign Joint IT Research Pact
The University of Miami (UM) signed an alliance with the Universidad Politecnica
de Valencia (UPV), one of Spain's leading universities, to conduct joint research
in engineering and information technology and to pursue joint grants, research
faculty exchanges, and student exchanges. The schools plan to write joint proposals
to international funding agencies, both in the European Union and the United
States, for research dollars that they expect will improve their research projects,
as well as increase the economic impact in their communities. With a budget
of about $1.1 billion, UM has a substantial economic impact on Miami-Dade County;
UPV has a similar impact on the city of Valencia.
Sun Offers $1B Software, Support to Ed Community
Sun Microsystems Inc. this week announced a basket of low-cost licensing packages
and software discounts for the education community that the company estimated
was worth a total value of more than $1 billion. The Sun Education Software
(EduSoft) Portfolio constitutes a single software license, streamlined ordering
processes, and discounted support and training for certain Sun software products.
In making the announcement, Sun vice president for software Jonathan Schwartz
said it is "giving back" to the education community, "the genesis of Sun and
most technology companies today."
For more information visit: www.sun.com/edu/promotions/edusoft
U. Wyoming Tests Content-Aware P2P File Sharing
The University of Wyoming is testing a prototype network designed to manage
peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing based upon the content and ownership of specific
files being traded. The system, which its developer, Audible Magic Corp., calls
the first of a new generation of "content-aware" applications, will provide
the university with detailed information that allows legitimate P2P application
traffic while addressing industry concerns about illegal transfers of copyrighted
material such as movies and songs. The system generates reports that present
detailed information about the trading activity of specific files, and holds
the promise of a solution that selectively manages and allows non-infringing
P2P activity instead of prohibiting all P2P applications. "The proliferation
of P2P file sharing is a real concern for us," said Robert Morrison, director
of telecom services at the university. "The bandwidth utilization of file trading
activity grew to over half of the university's network traffic … In addition,
as a university we are sensitive to the issue of protection of intellectual
property. We realize a solution that satisfies all the parties involved needs
to be more sophisticated than what exists in the market today."
GIS Group Seeks Comment on Proposed Web Mapping Spec
The Open GIS Consortium Inc., a group of companies, government agencies, and
universities that want to develop open standards for sharing spatial data, have
asked for comments on a proposed Web Map Context Documents Implementation Specification.
The standard describes an approach to enable the capture and maintenance of
the context -- or state information -- of a Web Map Server (WMS) request so
that this information can be reused easily in the future user session. Information
typically includes: window size and placement, bounding box (in a common Earth
coordinate reference system), URLs, and other details that could be used by
another client to generate a similar map. Those interested are invited to comment
at: www.opengis.org/info/techno/rfc16info.htm.
Students Spend More Time Inebriated than in Class
More than three-quarters of the 27,900 college students who took a recent online
alcohol prevention course indicated that they regularly drink enough alcohol
to be under the influence more hours per week than they average in the classroom.
The online course, AlcoholEdu, from Outside The Classroom, also found that 78
percent of the students indicated they consumed an average of 9.72 drinks per
week during the previous two weeks. That's enough to register discernible blood
alcohol content levels for an average of more than 18 hours per week per student—more
than the roughly 15 hours per week spent in class by most college students.
Other findings: 23.7 percent said that at least once in the previous two weeks
they had attended a class with a hangover; and 18.4 percent said they had experienced
memory impairment at some point while they had been drinking at least once in
the previous two weeks.
For more information visit: www.outsidetheclassroom.com/