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February 27, 2006
Finding Myself on Pete Townshend's Blog
Like many bloggers, I try to keep track on what others are saying about my blog, so I subscribe to a couple of RSS feeds from Technorati.com that track references to my name and my URL. Usually the RSS feeds send me links to various blogs related to the digital divide, video blogging, education technology, citizen journalism and the like, but yesterday, I received a notification that caught me off-guard.
One of my musical heroes had mentioned me on their blog.
To be more specific, Pete Townshend of The Who. Along with being the creative force behind one of the greatest bands of all time, Townshend is an avid writer, experimenting with online creative writing on his blog, The Boy Who Heard Music. Over the last six months, Townshend published a novella, one chapter at a time. When one of the chapters was posted, bloggers from all over the Internet would post comments and critiques of the work, which Townshend would review and take into account as he posted future chapters. The result is a 23-chapter story that evolved due to direct interaction between Townshend and the blogosphere.
So why did Pete Townshend mention me on his blog? In the book's epilogue, he offers up a homeric list of all the bloggers who submitted input at one point or another. That list includes me - and around 500 other bloggers. So it's not like Townshend dedicated the work to me personally or anything like that. Instead, he's paying tribute to all the bloggers who offered their support to the telling of the story. Townshend also notes in a "provocation" he posted that these bloggers will all be invited to participate in his next online project - an interactive music composition tool called The METHOD. A partnership between Townshend, programmer Dave Snowdon and composer Lawrence Ball, The METHOD will perform musical works generated by a computer based on interactions with a real person, referred to by Townshend as a "sitter." Initially the website will feature works generated by The METHOD through interactions with Lawrence Ball and others, but Townshend plans to invite bloggers to "sit" with The METHOD and generate music of their own. At least that's the way I understand it from his description on his blog. From what I've heard of Lawrence Ball's work, his music is reminsicent of Erik Satie and Arvo Part. Adding Pete Townshend to the mix, along with a community of 500 bloggers, will hopefully lead to some exciting, unusual results.
Personally, I can't wait for The METHOD to go public. Nearly 15 years ago, I got to interview French composer Pierre Boulez, who was one of the early experimentalists in computer composition. I've been fascinated with the concept ever since, and am very excited just pondering the opportunity of getting to try it myself some day.... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 4:59 PM
Yahoo! Puts the Allah Back in Callahan
John Oates of The Register reports that Yahoo! will no longer block people from creating user IDs with the word Allah in it. The debate began last year when a man named Ed Callahan was blocked by Verizon from registering an email address for his mother because their surname, Callahan, contained the word "Allah" in the middle of it. Verizon was using Yahoo! for its mail system, apparently, and any variation of the word Allah was blocked automatically when you tried to register it, even if Allah was just a row of letters in the middle of a surname.
As noted by Haitham Sabbah last week, versions of the word Allah were banned in Yahoo! email accounts, while words such as god, jesus, buddha and yahweh were acceptable. Apparently, complaints by the Callahans and Muslim bloggers were effective, because Yahoo! has changed their policy:
We continuously evaluate abuse patterns in registration usernames to help prevent spam, fraud and other inappropriate behavior. A small number of people registered for IDs using specific terms with the sole purpose of promoting hate, and then used those IDs to post content that was harmful or threatening to others, thus violating Yahoo!'s Terms of Service.'Allah' was one word being used for these purposes, with instances tied to defamatory language. We took steps to help protect our users by prohibiting use of the term in Yahoo! usernames. We recently re-evaluated the term 'Allah' and users can now register for IDs with this word because it is no longer a significant target for abuse. We regularly evaluate this type of activity and will continue to make adjustments to our registration process to help foster a positive customer experience.
So Mr. Callahan's mom can now have her Yahoo! email address, as can anyone else who'd like to express themselves with the word Allah in their user name. I'm sorry to report, though, that any login name containing the word "Osama" still cannot be registered on Yahoo!. Perhaps there was a concern that Mr. Bin Laden would try to register as himself so he could keep up with colleagues, like Ayman Zawahiri and Abu Zarqawi. (Ironically, if you're name is Zarqawi or Zawahiri, you're more than welcome to register; I just tried registering ZarqawiStud and ZawahiriBaby, and Yahoo! congratulated me that both names were available.)
As a test, I tried registering some Osama variants, including osamalamamama63, 4osamarama874d and bigosamashazbot. None of them was available, and I cannot imagine the names were actually taken already. Osama, of course, is simply the Arabic version of the name Samuel, so all the innocent, law abiding citizens of the world who just happen to be named Osama are out of luck when it comes to selecting a personalized Yahoo! email address. What's puzzling, though, is that my friend Osama Manzar uses a Yahoo! address with his name in it. He must have been grandfathered in by Yahoo! when their anti-Osama policy was created.... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 2:22 PM
February 24, 2006
Ring My Bell - Generous Benefits Package Included
On the plus side of getting laid off recently is the opportunity to immerse myself in jobs-related RSS feeds. Hitting employment websites on a daily basis can be a downright depressing task, particularly when you're not finding many job descriptions with the term "digital divide" anywhere in its text. Thankfully, I can turn to a variety of websites that generate RSS feeds for particular job searches. Since RSS feeds get updated automatically when a website adds a relevant job listing to its database, your RSS aggregator gets notified promptly. I use Thunderbird for both my email and RSS needs, so a variety of potential job openings arrive in my in-box in a most expeditious fashion.
Sometimes, the job announcements sent to me are quite useful. I particularly like the listings available through the Chronicle of Philanthropy. Sometimes, though, the job postings I get are, well, a little off the mark. For example, this morning I discovered that the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers - AGEHR - is searching for a new executive director.
Established in 1954, the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers (AGEHR) is a not-for-profit organization headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, with members in all fifty states and several countries. AGEHR is dedicated to advancing the art of handbell/handchime ringing through education, community and communication. AGEHR strives for musical excellence through events, publications, the exchange of ideas related to techniques and composing, and conducting. National AGEHR events bring together ringers and directors from all over the world as a primary source for new ideas, thereby "uniting people through a musical art."
They're searching for a new leader with a strong background in nonprofit management, not to mention someone interested in "Igniting a passion for handbells and handchimes." They'll pay $80,000 a year plus benefits - and you don't even have to know how to play handbells!
Maybe I'll apply. Then again, it doesn't exactly match my resume. Hmm. The search may just have to continue a little while longer.... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 2:00 PM
February 22, 2006
Scenes from Dubai
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Given all the negative press that Dubai has been getting in the US in recent days because of the bungled US ports deal, I thought I'd put together a video montage of some of the scenes I shot in Dubai last May. No matter what people think about having a UAE company involved in US ports, it doesn't change the fact that Dubai is a wonderful, friendly and safe place for Americans, which I hope I capture in the footage. |
Posted by acarvin at 9:04 PM
Podcast: The MIT Open Courseware Initiative
Anne Margulies, director of the MIT Open Courseware initiative, just finished her speech here in Missouri. Here's a podcast of her speech, recorded with her permission. It's 45 minutes long, around 11 megabytes. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 2:38 PM
Podcast: Open Content vs. Closed Doors (Or Closed Minds?)
Here's the podcast of my keynote speech at the University of Missouri Scholarly Communications Conference. It's 16 megs and runs just over an hour. And don't forget the powerpoint. :-) -andy
Posted by acarvin at 12:49 PM
Nancy Davenport's Keynote on Scholarly Communications
Some notes from the latest keynote. Didn't get everything but it captures the basics.
Nancy Davenport
President, Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR)
Scholarly Communications
What are the issues?
What are the options
What are the leadership issues?
Spent much of her professional life in research circles, not academic circles, but has focused more on academic POV in the last two years.
Library: the documentation of human endeavour; an unbroken line in the human record.
A portion of that documentation propels research and scholarship; supports learning.
A collection is the product of cultural movments
120,000 librarians involved in collection development for academic libraries. "A lot of us are collecting the same stuff.... But we have to figure out ways to become a bit smarter for things that are unique to our institutions."
Scholars are the supply and the demand. Research has to be distributed, through print, e-format, open access, repositories, self-publishing, even blogs.
Who is in the middle, mediating scholarly discussions? Societies, reviewers, publishers - for profit and nonprofit - aggregators, librarians, provosts, administrators, the Internet.
Peer review is what every scholar wants - to be judged as an exemplar by their colleagues.
Publishers started as printers only, but over time, they began to accrue some of the attributes of research societies. They took on the best scholars as reviewers. Later, aggregators came along - companies acting as distributing agents of scholarly work, as opposed to RSS aggregators. These traditional aggregators also do similar work online, customizing services for librarians. Meanwhile, the provosts control the purse strings while librarians ask for more.
Supply: scholars, researchers, reviewers, societies
Demand: scholars, researchers, societies, teacher, public, industry
Motivations:
Scholars have new knowledge to share; stature, impact, tenure, ego - journal as a branding device
Publishers: profit (or not); stature; impact; market share - journal also as a branding device
Libraries: Build collections, satisfy scholars, maximize buying power, institutional stature, personal stature, persistence
Digital scholarship: only way to integrate disparate content, allows new research and scholarship, encourages using material in new ways, creates new fields and communities of practice, creates new knowledge.
CLIR call to action: tells publishers that librarians want independent, third party preservation of your content
"The academic community is built upon a sham. More an more you don't own your content - you're paying rent."
What impedes open access?
The academic reward system. Tenure requires publishing in "the right journals."
Scientists can put open access fee into their budgets. But in the humanities, you don't get that kind of funding. PloS.org won't work for most humanities scholars.
Level of support outside the sciences.
Scholarly style; it took respect to make the Human Genome Project to work. Humanities has a different dynamic. Individual interpretation is valued more than collaborative interpretation. So working in a collaborative environment can be difficult in scholarly humanities research.
U of Virginia: Valley of the Shadow website. Examines two Shenandoah Valley towns before during and after the civil war. They've digitized every bit of data they can get their hands on.
Projects like this aren't easy. It takes stature and authority to make these kinds of changes happen.
Where are we now? We pay a lot of money. Most institutions are paying 24% for digital serial journals in their collections budget. Libraries each pay large fees to access the same material. Meanwhile, libraries are digitizing their own special, unique materials.
Search strategies are becoming even more important - recall and precision.
New research methods within disciplines
Share what is in common; focus on the local, the unique
Get it into the classroom!
Posted by acarvin at 12:44 PM
Now I Can Relax
Wrapped up my hour-long speech at the University of Missouri just a little while ago; sipping some mint tea to rescue my throat as Nancy Davenport of the Council on Library and Information Resources delivers the second keynote. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 12:40 PM
At the U of Missouri Scholarly Communications Conference
This morning I'm in Columbia, Missouri to speak at the Scholarly Communications Conference at the University of Missouri. I'll be giving a keynote entitled "Open Content vs. Closed Doors (Or Closed Minds?)." I'll post more about it later; in the meantime, here's the powerpoint.
Posted by acarvin at 9:00 AM
February 16, 2006
Scenes from a Blizzard
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Video montage from the February 12 blizzard that dropped 18 inches of snow in Boston. The first half of the video features me out in the snow and scenes around Beacon Street; the second half showcases a massive Caterpillar bulldozer that was used to scrape away tons of snow from the entrance of our local Dunkin Donuts. Be sure to take note of my ridiculously warm faux fur hat I bought in St. Petersburg, Russia in 2002. Music courtesy of Kevin MacLeod. |
Posted by acarvin at 10:03 PM
My Interview with Netsquared
Blogger Marshall Kirkpatrick has just published an in-depth interview with me on the NetSquared blog. The interview, which was conducted a few days ago via instant messaging, covers a whole range of issues, including the debate over mobile phones vs. laptops in the developing world; the Digital Divide Network; blogging and disaster response; video blogging; and my upcoming book on the telecentre movement, among other topics. Check it out when you get a chance.
Posted by acarvin at 6:07 PM
February 12, 2006
Dick Cheney Shoots Fellow Hunter?!?
Just when I thought the day would be solely dominated by coverage of today's blizzard, words comes through the AP wire saying that Vice President Dick Cheney shot a fellow hunter with a shotgun during a hunting trip today. Says the AP:
Harry Whittington, 78, was "alert and doing fine" after Cheney sprayed Whittington with shotgun pellets on Saturday at the Armstrong Ranch in south Texas, said property owner Katharine Armstrong.Armstrong said Cheney turned to shoot a bird and accidentally hit Whittington. She said Whittington was taken to Corpus Christi Memorial Hospital by ambulance.
Obviously, our first thoughts must be with the wellbeing of this poor man (Whittington, not Cheney). But what will this mean for Cheney? So far, it's not being mentioned on the TV networks that I've seen; the Olympics are still running on NBC. But Yahoo and CNN both have it as breaking news on their homepages; someone's already updated Cheney's entry on Wikipedia.
So surreal.... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 3:53 PM
February 10, 2006
If Only More TV Characters Were Bloggers
Stephen Baker of Blogspotting pointed out today that Dwight Schrute has a blog. For those of you who don't know Dwight, he's a character on the NBC comedy The Office. It's pretty funny stuff, but as Baker notes, it would be funnier if the studio execs would let Dwight and other TV characters have blogs that could go in any direction, independent of the main story line on the show, and interact with the rest of the blogosphere.
How great would it be more TV characters had their own blogs? (Preferably the actors themselves, that is - blogging in character, rather than a committee of staff writers.)
Just to get things started, here are some TV characters I'd like to see blogging.
Larry David of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Anyone who watches this show knows that Larry is one of the most self-absorbed, insensitive characters on television. And that's just when he opens his mouth. Imagine what's really going on in his head?
Horatio Caine of CSI Miami. A control-freak if there ever were one, Horatio would no doubt moderate his comment threads with an iron fist. "Now here's what I want you to blog about, ma'am..."
AJ Soprano of The Sopranos. Don't tell me that AJ doesn't have a blog on MySpace.com.
Sol Star of Deadwood. The most thoughtful and introspective character on Deadwood, Sol only talks when he has something important to say. Yeah, I know, it takes place in 1870. That doesn't mean the guy can't keep a diary for God's sake. Sheesh....
Cassidy Mackey of The Shield. She's gotta know her dad's corrupt.
John Munch of Law & Order: SVU (and half a dozen other shows). John's got an opinion - and a conspiracy theory - for everything.
Randal Pinkett of The Apprentice. Oh, wait a sec.
Paula Abdul of American Idol. Corey Clark is so dreamy.
I wonder who would be on their blogroll? -andy
Posted by acarvin at 11:03 AM
Will a Medical Digital Divide Hasten the Extinction of the Neighborhood Medical Practice?
Today's Boston Globe has an interesting story about the large number of doctors who still can't afford to digitize their patients' medical records. This is creating a performance gap between digital and analog medical offices: computerized records allow doctors to monitor their patients' health and file their insurance claims more effectively.
Nationally, the state is in the vanguard of electronic medical record keeping -- not surprising given the high concentration of teaching hospitals and medical technology. But most of the computerization of records is being done by large physician organizations with more resources, creating a widening technology gap in the medical community.Physicians who use computers can monitor patients' care more efficiently and reduce the possibility of medical errors. As a result, they consistently score better in quality surveys. Moreover, they earn 3 to 4 percent more money in ''pay-for-performance" contracts with health insurance companies.
According to the article, 20 to 25 percent of the 30,000 doctors in Massachusetts utilize electronic medical records or an electronic medication prescription system. Additionally, many of these digital offices are part of large academic medical networks, suggesting that smaller medical practices are even less likely to have an e-records system. And Massachusetts is ahead of the game - only 10 to 15 percent of doctors nationally use computerized record keeping.
It's more than just keeping lots of insurance paperwork in order; patient e-records contribute to more attentive and effective treatment.
The clinical benefits of computerized records are clear to advocates, especially when it comes to primary care. Not only do the systems automatically warn doctors about dangerous drug interactions or allergies, but physicians can review medical tests online, send out reminders to patients to get tests and checkups, and monitor the health of patients with similar diseases. The systems also allow them to better focus on patients who are the sickest and to control factors like diet, weight, and medications.
Unfortunately, doctors can't simply invest in a Dell laptop or a Mac Mini and call it a day - these e-record systems can cost tens of thousands of dollars. This makes it harder for smaller practices to remain independent. ''It's going to be very difficult for individual physicians to function as small independent practitioners in this environment," says Dr. James F.X. Kenealy, an ear, nose, and throat specialist in Framingham, west of Boston. ''You are going to see over time an amalgamation of individual physicians into groups."
In recent years we've already seen the Walmartification of the medical profession, in which large, monolithic medical networks replace the small, more intimate mom 'n pop practices. As it becomes clearer that expensive e-records systems are absolutely necessary for maintaining a strong, effective practice, will the individual family practitioner go the way of the dodo? -andy
Posted by acarvin at 9:38 AM
February 9, 2006
I'll Order My TV Programming from the A La Carte Menu, Thank You Very Much
We're fast approaching the 10th anniversary of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, an omnibus overhaul of US telecommunications law. Many politicians and industry reps argued at the time that the act would be consumer-friendly, increasing competition and choice of services, which in turn would help lower prices.
According to my latest cable bill, that ain't the case.
While the cost of Internet and mobile phone services have generally come down, we've seen a steady hike in monthly cable charges. According to the research firm TNS Telecoms, cable costs have risen 35.7% for the average American consumer since the year 2000. Much of this increase can be associated with the sheer number of new channels added to cable subscription packages. It's now not uncommon for subscribers to receive 200-300 channels, despite the fact that the average consumer watches only 17 channels on a regular basis.
The logical conclusion one would draw from this would be to demand the option to purchase your favorite channels a la carte - in other words, if you only watch ESPN, the Weather Channel and Spike TV, you should only have to pay for ESPN, the Weather Channel and Spike TV. In 2004, the FCC put out a report on the a la carte option, which concluded that it wasn't economically feasible nor in consumers' interests. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin was skeptical of the conclusions, though, so he asked for a re-examination of the data, which had been supplied by - cough - the cable industry. The follow-up report is now out, and Chairman Martin's hunch was correct: the conclusions weren't supported by the data.
According to the new report, consumers could cut as much as 13% from their cable bills through a la carte pricing.
"Today, the [Federal Communications] Commission issued a further report, which concludes the earlier report contained mistaken calculations, relied on unsupported and problematic assumptions, and presented an incomplete analysis," Martin said in a statement. "According to today's report, a careful analysis reveals that a la carte and increased tiering could offer consumers greater choice and the opportunity to lower their bills. Indeed, in recent months more consumer choice has proven to be technically possible and many companies have begun offering the kinds of tiers the previous report found to be infeasible."
"Increasingly, consumers are saying they don't want to pay $10 more for 10 more channels," Chairman Martin added in an interview with the New York Times.
Not surprisingly, cable programmers warn that a la carte pricing could hurt the diversity of programming currently available. "Implementing pay-per-channel rules will mean the end of smaller networks that currently provide consumers with such a wealth of diversity in programming," said Rod Tapp, an executive veep for Inspiration Networks, as quoted by the Times.
The FCC apparently disagrees. "Some type of a la carte option could prove better than today's bundling practices in fostering diverse programming responsive to consumer demand," they write. "A la carte could make it easier for programming networks valued by a minority of viewers to enter the marketplace." Senator John McCain has also come out in support of a la carte; he's just announced he'll introduce legislation to make it possible.
The Consumers Union, which publishes Consumer Reports, wasted no time in applauding the FCC and Senator McCain.
"Consumers should praise FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and Senator John McCain for striking at the heart of the cable industry's flawed pricing scheme which forces consumers to buy packages of television channels they don't want and shouldn't have to pay for," said Jeannine Kenney, Senior Policy Analyst for Consumers Union. "Today's action kick starts the national effort to give consumers' wallets a break and allow them more control over their television programming choices and cable bills."
Personally, I can't wait to cut my digital cable bill down to size; I probably watch only 20 channels of the 200+ I'm currently paying for. Consumers Union has a lot more to say on the subject and other important media policy issues: visit HearUsNow.org to get the facts.
Posted by acarvin at 4:32 PM
Going Once. Going Twice. Sold to Starfinder5!
For the last week or so, the good folks at Rocketboom have been pushing the video blogging advertising envelope, one bid at a time. Eager to experiment with paid advertising on the video blog, they set up an eBay auction to offer advertising to the highest bidder. With more than 100,000 viewers per day, Rocketboom has become a hot commodity as of late. (Full disclosure: I'm an occasional correspondent for them, but you already knew that.) So Rocketboom co-founder Andrew Baron decided to test the advertising waters.
According to the auction, Rocketboom would create five original video ads for the winning company, ranging from 15 seconds to one minute each. They would then air over five successive days in March at the end of each Rocketboom episode. Bidding began at $500 and quickly rose to the 10k-15k range, then stalled out for a few days. As the bidding period came to an end, the bids picked up again, jumping to $40,000 in the final bid, submitted by an eBay user named Starfinder5. So far I'm not sure what Starfinder5 will want to advertise, though it does seem they're a regular buyer/seller on eBay. I guess we'll just have to stay tuned to Rocketboom and find out.... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 1:40 PM
February 8, 2006
Something to Put On My Business Card
I was just perusing the Social Software Blog and noticed that Marshall Kirkpatrick described me as a "world traveling social justice multi media activist."
World traveling social justice multi media activist. I like that. Wonder if it'll fit on my business card.
Thanks, Marshall. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 3:58 PM
February 7, 2006
A Quick Look at the Proposed 2007 Federal Budget and Its Impact on Things I Care About
For those of you looking for some not-so-light reading, the proposed 2007 US federal budget has been released. It's at least a gazillion pages long (but who's counting?) so I haven't had the time or inclination to peruse the whole thing, so instead I downloaded some key sections to see how the proposed budget impacts certain key programs. Being that this is my blog, I've decided to focus on some topics I care about, such as the digital divide, education technology, literacy and technology policy. I encourage you to download the budget and blog about things you care about; that way we can all do a Technorati search for "FY 2007 US budget" and see what everyone's talking about. (Oh yeah - you'd also have to include the phrase "FY 2007 US budget" in your blog entry for that to work.)
Anyway, let's take a look at some federal programs and see where things stand. This list is far from comprehensive, of course; it's just representative of some of the broad topics that relate to my role as a digital divide/edtech activist. -andy
Education Technology State Grants
This year: $279 million. Next year: Zippo.
At one time in history, the US Department of Education awarded millions of dollars in challenge grants for improving access to education technology in America's schools. The No Child Left Behind Act revamped the way this money got doled out, essentially giving it to states in the form of block grants. We've already seen this number drop from more than half a billion dollars in 2005 to less than 300 million this year, and now the White House wants to shut it altogether. Edtech advocates, quite understandably, are furious. "The elimination of this funding - which allows all children access to technology and the Internet, helps train teachers how to use and integrate technology into the curriculum, and provides funding and support for core-curricular content - runs completely counter to the goals and vision outline by the President," stated Sheryl Abshire in yesterday's press release from the Consortium for School Networking. "I urge the Administration to rethink this grave misstep on education technology funding."
21st Century Community Learning Centers
This year: $991 million. Next year: $981 million.
The purpose of this Department of Education program is "to provide expanded academic enrichment opportunities for children attending low performing schools." It's been touted by some as a community technology center initiative, but the main focus is on helping students prepare for NCLB-mandated standardized tests rather than technology education in general.
Assistive Technology
This year: $30 million. Next year: $22 million.
The US Department of Education provides this money to states as formula grants so that students with disabilities have access to assistive technologies. Without these technologies, students with disabilities are left at a severe disadvantage when compared to their non-disabled peers.
Vocational Education
This year: $1.3 billion. Next year: 800 million.
Half a billion bucks that were previously spent on vocational education are going the way of the dodo, including $105 million tech-prep education state grants, five million for tech prep demonstration funds and $23 million for incarcerated youth education.
Adult Education
This year: $579 million. Next year: $580 million.
Adult ed basically dodged a bullet, with more than half a billion going for state grants, and the National Institute of Literacy remaining steady at seven million.
Community Technology Centers
This year: Zilch. Next year: Bupkus.
Once a hallmark digital divide program of the Clinton Administration, the Bush White House killed it off last year. Why they bother to even list it in the budget even though it's been zeroed out two years in a row is beyond me. Twisting the knife, perhaps?
Literacy Through School Libraries
This year: $20 million. Next year: $20 million.
Funds support competitive grants to local educational agencies to provide students with increased access to up-to-date school library materials and certified professional library media specialists. Contrast this with....
Literacy Program for Youth Offenders
This year: $5 million. Next year: Nada.
Improving your literacy is okay if your library doesn't have prison guards, it would seem. Or another way to look at it: Teaching young prisoners to make license plates, apparently, is more important than teaching them to read them.
Civic Education
This year: $29 million. Next year: Nichevo.
Given all the terrible, complex things going on in the world, why bother to turn our children into civic worry-warts when we can pretend everything is hunky-dory?
Minority Science and Engineering Improvement
This year: Nine mil. Next year: Nine mil.
Not a huge program to begin with, but at least it didn't get asked to tip the axeman.
Telecommunication sciences Research
This year: $25 million. Next year: $8 million.
This money, managed by the NTIA at the US Department of Commerce, exists to support the "strategic goal of fostering science and technological leadership by protecting intellectual property, enhancing technical standards, and advancing measurement science." No wonder our broadband infrastructure is hardly the envy of the world anymore.
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
This year: $400 million. Next year: $346.5 million.
A constant target of conservatives, CPB is once again taking it on the chin, making it harder for small, rural public broadcasters to survive. To make matters worse, they're proposed zeroing out the $65 million allocation for helping PBS stations make the transition to digital television. As media advocate Timothy Karr writes, "These cuts would hobble NPR and PBS stations' ability to deliver the investigative reporting and in-depth news and information that's absent from the programming of their commercial counterparts."
Technology Opportunity Program
This year: gone. Next year: Still gone.
The TOP program was once the flagship digital divide program of the federal government. Despite its successes, it was seen as "Too Clinton/Gore" and was wiped off the map.
Low Income Scholarship Program
This year: $165 million. Next year: $75 million.
This National Science Foundation gives low-income students the opportunity to study science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) at the university level.
H-1B non-immigrant petitioner fee activities
This year: $190 million. Next year: $100 million.
H-1B visas allow foreigners with valuable skills to come to the US and work for companies or universities. Given how countries like China and India are churning out more highly-qualified science and technology professionals than the US is, the program helps increase the resident brain power at American universities. The NSF has funds to offset the costs of visa fees, but these funds are being cut almost in half.
Office of Cyberinfrastructure
This year: $127 million. Next year: $182 million.
Betcha didn't know that there was a federal office of cyberinfrastructure. There is, and it's at the NSF - and they're getting almost a 50% raise. The office "supports acquisitions, operations, and upgrades of cyberinfrastructure in support of the nation's science and engineering research and education community."
Posted by acarvin at 4:42 PM
February 4, 2006
Airline Magazine, Children's Game Publish Anti-Gay Slur - Accidentally, I Hope
Late Thursday night Susanne and I flew down to Florida visit my parents for the weekend. On the Atlanta-Melbourne leg of our 11:30pm flight, operated by Delta Airlines, I was perusing the carrier's official magazine, Delta Sky (mostly because I was too exhausted to handle the lofty prose of my latest Aubrey-Maturin book). The magazine usually contains short, light pieces for frequent travelers that are accessible to a general audience.
Flipping through the pages I eventually reached the section known as Style+Value, which features blurbs and pictures of trendy places and hot shopping buys. One blurb, titled "Card Carrying," contained what should have been an innocuous description of "NamIts," a game you can play with your kids on long drives:
Name things that fly—or swim, or run. . . . For some reason, calling out lists within specific categories has universal appeal, as Barbara Jerome discovered. This mother and mother of invention strung together flashcards asking kids to name various items, and voilà: NamIts was born. Each deck (Regular, Travel and Junior editions) sells for $9.95. Info: www.namits.com.
I then glanced at the picture of NamIts, which is basically a collection of cards on a plastic ring. At first glance, it looks like a typical kids game. The card on the left shows a cat and highlights the words "CAR PET" while the card on the right has a pizza and the word "MUNCHER."
At first I didn't think much of it and turned the page. But something didn't seem right, so I flipped back to it and saw to my horror that the picture's words, when read collectively, appeard as "CARPET MUNCHER."
Perhaps this phrase isn't in everyone's vocabulary, but I associate it with a derogatory slur against lesbians and a misogynist insult against women in general. Was it merely a localized Florida insult I'd heard while growing up - and thus an innocent, unfortunate coincidence - or was this a more universally recognized slur, at least in American culture? I handed the magazine to Susanne, who grew up in the midwest, just to see if the phrase meant anything to her.
"Notice anything wrong with this story?" I asked.
"No, not really - OH MY GOD!" she replied. "I can't believe they published that!"
Me neither. Part of me knows I should be offended but I can't stop laughing, either.
How could this slip through the editorial process? What on earth was Delta Sky thinking? And perhaps more troubling, how is it possible that a children's game could get away with this? It's one thing if the game's cards were randomly shuffled into this order by the photographer, but the cards are strung together on a ring, suggesting that the game always has these two cards next to each other. Perhaps the cards are ordered randomly in the assembly process. Perhaps not. I also don't know if the photo in question was taken by the magazine or supplied by the game company. I checked the game's website and saw no sign of the photo, but at the moment it's still on the Delta Sky website.
I can only imagine the emails Delta is gonna get about this. Too funny.... -andy
UPDATE: Feb 10, 2006, 11:15am
I just got some new comments on the blog posted by John Kuczala, who says he was the one who took the photo in question. Here's what he wrote:
I'm the photographer that took that picture. It was totally accidental that those cards ended up together. The sole reason for choosing those cards was one was the last orange card and one was the first blue card. It's unfortunate that I didn't pay more attention to reading the cards and that no one at Sky Magazine caught the combination, but it was not supposed to be a joke or an insult.
Thanks for clarifying things, John - I appreciate you taking the time posting your perspective and shedding light on the situation. -andy,
Posted by acarvin at 11:07 AM
February 2, 2006
Boston.com's Photo Blogging Tool: Give-it-away, Give-it-away, Give-it-away Now
Flipping through the homepage of Boston.com I stumbled upon its new YourPhotos photo blogging tool. It bills itself as a place for people to store and display unlimited photos for free. Nice idea - until you read the fine print:
By submitting your photo(s) to Boston.com, you agree that such photo(s) and the accompanying information will become the property of Boston.com and you grant Boston.com, The Boston Globe, Boston Metro and their sublicensees permission to publicly display, reproduce and use the photographs in any form or media for any and (all editorial and related promotional purposes) purposes.. You also warrant that (i) the photo is your original work, or is properly licensed, and does not violate the copyright or any other personal or property right of any third party, and (ii) you have obtained any and all releases and permissions necessary for our intended use. Your submission also allows Boston.com to edit, crop or adjust the colors of the image(s) on an as needed basis.
In other words, you're more than welcome to host your entire catalog of family photos on the Boston.com website, just so long as you're willing to give away ownership of said photos and let Boston.com make a profit off of them. I can understand sending in photos for a Boston.com photo contest, for example, and giving them the rights to reproduce them exclusively, but it seems thoroughly selfish and un-Web 2.0 to demand that photo bloggers give up their ownership of their own work. No alternative, no Creative Commons licenses, no exceptions. I seriously wonder how many people have posted photos on YourPhotos and not realized they'd done just that.
Thanks for the service, Boston.com - but I'll stick with Flickr, my Creative Commons licenses and - most importantly - ownership of my own photos, thank you very much. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 2:41 PM
My Debut on Rocketboom; Rocketboom's Debut on CSI
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Rocketboom is getting so popular, young punks are even tagging my neighborhood with its logo. |
My Rocketboom debut couldn't come at a better time, as it will be featured tonight on the hit crime drama CSI. I'm a little unclear about how it fits in the plot line, but from what Rocketboom co-creator Andrew Baron told me, the episode will include scenes from a Rocketboom episode created exclusively for CSI. The show's producers sent Rocketboom the episode's script, which in turn was used to create a Rocketboom newscast for the show. So if all goes according to plan, you'll have a chance to see Rocketboom host (and my fellow Northwestern alum) Amanda Congdon on CBS tonight. Last week's CSI episode attracted 25.9 million viewers and was the third most watched program of the week, only behind two episodes of American Idol. Assuming the show'll generate similar numbers this week (and there's no reason it shouldn't), I can imagine that Rocketboom's traffic should, well, skyrocket.
So tune in to Rocketboom - and CSI - tonight! -andy
Posted by acarvin at 9:59 AM
February 1, 2006
Tamarins, Marmosets and Me: Tackling a Weighty Problem
I'm scared to get on the scale.
I'm absolutely convinced I've put on some pounds in the last few months. It's not just all the bad things I ate over the holidays; there's something else going on, and I don't like it. But at least I have a scapegoat for my woes: pregnancy.
No, silly, I'm not pregnant. But Susanne is. We've known about the pregnancy since November, and in the last few weeks, she's really began to show, belly-wise. Meanwhile, I've been feeling like I've been putting on the pudge over the same period of time. Was the problem that I was eating the extra calories in tandem with Susanne? Sometimes, perhaps, but certainly not always. When she has a craving for a root beer float, for example, I support her by drinking a diet root beer while she enjoys the real thing with some Ben & Jerry's floating on top. (Usually, at least. I'm trying.) So her change in diet might account for some of this sympathetic weight gain, but not the whole kit and kaboodle.
Of course, it's often said that men put on weight while their wives/partners are pregnant, but it's not well documented scientifically. Today's online edition of New Scientist, though, sheds some light on why I'm having a hell of a time shedding off those extra pounds.
According to the article, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison National Primate Research Center have discovered that the males of certain primate species gain weight while their mates are pregnant. The scientists studied pairs of common marmosets and cotton top tamarins, measuring their weight during the females' gestation period. The males gained weight, even though they weren't given access to additional food.
Tamarins, Marmosets & Me: Destined for sympathetic weight gain?
Photos of tamarin and marmoset courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Photo of me courtesy of me.
What's causing all this weight gain? The scientists suspect the hormone known as prolactin. In females, increased prolactin leads to breast milk production, among other changes. For males, prolactin output causes weight gain.
"Our earlier studies showed that prolactin levels increase in males halfway through pregnancy, when the females experience a hike in corticosterone - a hormone involved in sending and receiving pheromones," she added. "We know that prolactin promotes paternal care from studies in birds, where higher levels of the hormone cause the fathers to feed the chicks more often, but we don't know what other roles it has in primates or humans."
"But marmoset and tamarind males are excellent fathers and remain monogamous for life, so it could help explain what biological changes are necessary in humans to produce a good dad," Zeigler concluded.
So maybe these extra pounds are Mother Nature's way of forecasting that I'm going to be an excellent father. Then again, maybe she's just annoyed that our cat Winston spends more time sleeping on our treadmill than I spend running on it.... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 1:50 PM
New RSS Feeds for my Video Blogs and Podcasts
I've finally gotten around to setting up separate RSS feeds for my podcasts and videos. Up until now, I've had just one feed that includes everything on my blog, no matter the media format. Since some users prefer feeds that don't mix media, I now have separate feeds available. That way, if you only want to subscribe to my videos, there's a feed you can use to do that. Same thing for podcasts.
My main blog feed (text, video, audio combined) hasn't changed:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/carvin
vlogs only:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/carvin-video
audio podcasts only:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/carvin-podcasts
For those of you who aren't familiar with RSS, please visit this tutorial I wrote for the Digital Divide Network. It explains how RSS allows people to subscribe to their favorite content, as well as create digests of content from blogs and websites from all over the world.
Posted by acarvin at 11:06 AM
