Blogs

I just got back from the Project Bamboo workshop at Princeton University.  This was basically a two and one-half day brainstorming session that brought together people from five areas:  arts and humanities research, computer science, information science, libraries/archives, and central IT.  The topic was cyberinfrastructure to support arts and humanities research.  I'm going to try to put together some bullet points from my notes when I get a chance.  As a central IT guy I found it refreshing to get the chance to interact with faculty, and the discussions I participated in were very lively.  For more information, check out the project web site:  http://projectbamboo.org.

As the temperatures rise in a typical Washington summer, so grows the pressure on some online advertising firms. 

Yesterday the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee held a hearing on the questionable methods for advertising currently being used by some Internet service providers (ISPs).  The hearing was entitled, “What Your Broadband Provider Knows About Your Web Use: Deep Packet Inspection and Communications Laws and Policies.”   Panelists included: Bob Dykes, the CEO for NebuAd, David Reed, an early Internet pioneer and professor at MIT, Alissa Cooper, the Chief Computer Scientist for the Center for Democracy and Technology, Scott Cleland, President of Precursor, LLC, and Bijan Sabet, a General Partner at Spark Capital. 

In a letter delivered this week, EDUCAUSE and several other groups have asked that Congress pass the Broadband Data Improvement Act and the Broadband Census of America Act before the 110th Congress ends. The groups say this legislation "would improve information-gathering about current broadband deployment and assist in targeting resources to areas in need of such services." Learn more, and access a related press release regarding EDUCAUSE’s proposed new approach to making high-speed Internet services available across the country.

The call for proposals is now open for the 2009 Southwest Regional Conference, "Balancing Acts: Making IT Work for Everyone,” February 24–26 in San Antonio. Note: This year, the conference begins on a Tuesday and ends on a Thursday.

The deadline for submissions is September 9.

The program for this leading event in higher education IT will follow these tracks:

• Act 1: Balancing IT's Role in the Enterprise
• Act 2: Balancing Innovation and Operations
• Act 3: Balancing Learning 2.x
• Corporate and Campus Solutions

EDUCAUSE Review and Publisher/Editor D. Teddy Diggs recently gained honors from two prestigious publishing awards programs. Read more in the press release.

Administrative systems should be affordable, flexible, and customizable. They should help end users plan for and achieve their goals and help them complete tasks along the way.

In this free July 22 EDUCAUSE Live! web seminar, Kuali Student: A Next-Generation Administrative System, presenter Richard Spencer, executive director of IT, University of British Columbia, will show how the vision, principles, and design for Kuali Student are aligned with these objectives and discuss why community source development was selected for this project.

Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee's Antitrust Subcomittee and the House Judiciary Committee's antitrust task force questioned representatives from Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft about the proposed Google-Yahoo advertising partnership. (Google and Yahoo signed the agreement, which allows Google to assist with Yahoo's targeted ads, on June 12.) Both House and Senate members have expressed concerns about competition and consumer privacy issues. In Tuesday's hearings, they wanted to learn more about the deal by speaking directly with the players involved.

Microsoft attempted to enter into a partnership with Yahoo, but Google ultimately won approval from Yahoo's board. In testimony before the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, Microsoft senior Vice President and general counsel warned that the Google-Yahoo deal would result in Google dominating 90% of the online search advertising market. He said Google currently controls 70% of this market, while Yahoo has 20%.

In a letter that was delivered yesterday, EDUCAUSE and several other groups have asked that Congress pass S. 1492, the Broadband Data Improvement Act, and H.R. 3919, the Broadband Census of America Act, before the 110th Congress ends.  The groups say this legislation "would improve information-gathering about current broadband deployment and assist in targeting resources to areas in need of such services."  The letter was sent to leadership offices in the House and Senate, as well as members of both the House Energy and Commerce and Senate Commerce Committees. The letter specifically says that a national broadband policy could have "dramatic and far-reaching economic impacts."

Currently, S. 1492 and H.R. 3919 are awaiting consideration in the Senate.  H.R. 3919 previously passed the House on November 13, 2007. 

Released one day before the Senate Commerce Committee held its hearing on the privacy implications of online advertising, a new report says targeted ads may involve practices that violate state and federal wiretap laws.

On Tuesday, the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) issued a memo, saying Internet service providers (ISPs) that allow an advertising network to copy [their] customers' Web traffic contents are defying "reasonable consumer expectations and may [be violating] communications privacy laws."

Currently, some ISPs are working with third party advertising agencies, which are copying consumer data in order to target specific ads at users. One such firm, NebuAD, testifed before the Senate Commerce Committee yesterday. NebuAd claims it does not violate any laws because they do not collect personally identifiable information. Some, though, argue that any collection of data can ultimately be tied to an individual and disagree with NebuAd's assertion that privacy is completely protected. CDT's memo says the practice most likely violates legal protections provided in the Electronic Communications Privacy Act.

EDUCAUSE Now is a monthly podcast, focusing on the intelligent use of information technology in higher education. Each episode features a variety of stories, interviews, and views that relate to IT in higher education. Let us know what you would like to hear at podcast@educause.edu.

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Today the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee held a hearing on privacy concerns related to online advertising. In what will probably be the first of several hearings, the committee asked panelists about their thoughts on privacy threats vis-a-vis online advertising. Chairman Dorgan noted that no Internet Service Providers (ISPs) wanted to participate at today's hearing, but he hoped to address this issue with them at another hearing in the future. Panelists at this well-attended event included Lydia Parnes of the Federal Trade Commission, Chris Kelly of Facebook, Leslie Harris of the Center for Democracy and Technology, Jane Horvath of Google, Robert Dykes of NebuAd, Mike Hintze of Microsoft, and Clyde Wayne Crews of the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

HIGHLIGHTS:

Back from ED-MEDIA, I wanted to flag up this really interesting ESRC project that I heard about at the conference. It is being conducted by an interdisciplinary team from the OU and Mike Sharples’s LSRI group in Nottingham (standard disclaimer: I’ve previously worked with the OU’s Grainne Conole, who is a key team member, on various CARET/OU projects :-) ). The Personal Inquiry (or "PI") project is designing new educational methods of scripted inquiry learning, and aims to evaluate their effectiveness through a process of scientific enquiry. The curriculum focus is UK Key Stage 3: “Myself, My Environment, My Community”, with emphasis on engaging young learners in investigating their world. Lots more details available on their website.

The EDUCAUSE Live! Spotlight on Identity Management series is a series that feature one or two speakers from a campus that have analyzed or solved a problem in a way that many people will find instructive.

The European Commission in Brussels announced that it is granting Germany 141 million euros (~US $224 million) and Italy 7 million euros (~US $11 million) for rural broadband development efforts. The Commission says these subsidies will help the two countries support access to broadband connections for rural people who might not otherwise have any options. Italy, which received roughly the same amount from Brussels last year, will use the money for broadband expansion in the country's northern Alto Adige region. Germany will address the disparity that exists between its urban and rural citizens. While almost all German city dwellers have access to broadband, only a little over half have access in more rural areas.

"I am pleased that this public investment will put ... citizens and businesses in rural areas on an equal footing with those in urban areas as regards broadband access," said European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes.

I am excited to be back to EducauseConnect. I regisered a couple of years ago and wasn't active as I should have been! I have a blog in Blogger - Teaching to the Future and I also have a Pedagogy 21 pbwiki, and I am constantly teaching and exploring new technologies and tools. I found interesting postings on Educause and enjoy learning more new things! I am back!