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CONTENTS
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NEWS/TRENDS
--- One small step for InfoSat, one giant leap for Myeka High School
--- Twin woes stifle India's infotech plans
--- South Africa's MPs Go Online

One small step for InfoSat, one giant leap for Myeka High School Friday, 4th February marked a unique event for Myeka High School (South Africa) as the school stepped into the 21st century with the first ever distance learning- via- satellite Internet System. InfoSat, a value-added internet service in conjunction with the Learning Channel Campus took up the challenge of uplifting disadvantaged rural schools by installing a computer system providing connectivity to the Internet using the latest in GSM and Satellite technology.

The donation comes complete with a satellite ready server with the complete Learning Channel Campus website, InfoSat enabled email and connectivity to the school. An outdoor GSM aerial together with a GSM modem was used to connect the school to the Internet and an InfoSat's satellite receiver to receive the information from the Internet at high speed. Having been left behind in the world of technology, this was the first time that a telephone call had ever been made from the school. The schools computer centre works off electrical power, which is derived solely from solar power.

The system installed consists of a Learning Channel Website, a premier educational resource for high schools in South Africa. "Like a teachers best friend, the site will allow students the opportunity to further develop their knowledge, provide an excellent base for revision as well as the chance to participate in group discussions and make new friends on the chatline," comments Rael Lissoos, director of the Learning Channel Campus.For the pupils at Myeka High School situated on the banks of the Inanda Dam in the valley of a thousand hills the big wide world has now been brought just a little closer. The idea of being able to access information from anywhere in the world seemed nothing more than a "far fetched dream."
Most students are born into a rural existence leaving school having never touched a keyboard, not to mention enjoying the advantages of Internet access, leaving them at an extreme disadvantage when seeking employment in the modern world.

Myeka High School's visionary Principal, Mr Malusi Zwane has been the driving force in getting this school into the new technology. "I am proud of our school being the first in the country to have the system installed and am positive the system will have a great impact in improving the standard and quality of our education. Already the news has spread to the surrounding

communities and children from far abroad are wanting to join our school to experience the new technology with the hope of a better education." Zwane said that InfoSat's intervention has revolutionized his schools learning process and greatly enhanced the image of the school. With the new access to information at hand, he also hoped to see a significant increase in the poor rural matric pass rate in a couple of years.

"We are also currently putting together a 5 year plan advanced learning programme whereby students will leave at the end of the period fit for a career in subjects such as technology, engineering and accounting." Enthusiasm and passion are clearly notable as Mr Zwane discusses his new plans of bringing the pupils from the feeder primary schools in his area into the school for training on the computers. Furthermore, he hopes to include other members of the community and use the computer facilities to overcome the lost generation of school children. The community and all the school children will soon be able to step into the connected world using email with an address "xxx@myeka.co.za". Mr Andy Kiloh General manager at Infoline, said that InfoSat's commitment to assisting schools in accessing new technology and Learning Channels course material will go a long way to developing the students at this and other schools in the future.

Thanks to the support from a number of smaller sponsors, Myeka High School will soon be equipped to take on the this millennium with style. Leaf Data Industries, a supplier of GSM modems has willingly donated a modem. Cellular network MTN advised and assisted with the testing and demonstration of the system and InfoSat is discussing their further involvement. Central Point Communications, a local software developer has donated the software to enable the Learning Channel and InfoSat to constantly update the content on the server without the school having to be online through the Internet. For further information please contact Alex Logan at Infoline on 011 402 4116.

Twin woes stifle India's infotech plans
Poor infrastructure, govt interference are blocking way, say industry players

INDIA'S ambitions to become an information technology superpower could come unstuck before the twin challenges of poor infrastructure and government interference, industry insiders say. "India has a third rate telecommunications system which is almost useless," said venture capitalist Kanwal Rekhi, who attended the recent National Association of Software Companies (Nasscom) annual meeting in Bombay. "The bandwidth is poor, connectivity is poor, phone density is very, very low." While New Delhi makes all the right noises about turning India into an IT superpower and opening up to private entrepreneurs, Mr Rekhi said actual government policy was sending the opposite message. "The prime minister makes wonderful statements, but the actions do not match. The actions are really stupid.

There is a whole bunch of hurdles in the way." Government interference was the biggest hurdle to budding IT ventures in India, he said. "The government still decides a whole lot of issues. Indian laws are very hostile to venture capital, so the only way people can do things is to open companies in places like Mauritius and invest here. The whole official approach is ridiculous."The official mindset has to change from one of control and prevention to one of growth. Otherwise I do not see how India can reach any targets being set for the IT industry." Nevertheless, Mr Rekhi said he was heartened by the "fervour" he saw among entrepreneurs to set up e-commerce ventures. "But I fear only about 5 per cent of these companies will be successful, as competition is very, very tough and the hurdles are too many," he said.Harish Mehta, chairman of the Indo-US joint venture company Onward Novell,agreed that poor Internet connectivity, low personal computer penetration and government controls were proving to be daunting obstacles. "But e-commerce is the future. Many more people will get on to it as e-commerce brings down transaction costs and thereby also cuts the costs of products,"

Mr Mehta said. "The market is huge and growing phenomenally. Last week alone four dot-com companies were registered in Bombay," he added. Dewang Mehta,president of Nasscom, agreed that Indian e-commerce entrepreneurs were forging ahead, despite the barriers. "Last year alone some 2,000 dot-com companies were registered. This year we should see some 5,000 such companies being registered. What is needed is a very friendly environment for venture capital," he said. He added that venture capital inflows into India in 1999had more than doubled to around US$320 million (S$543 million) from the year before and were expected to exceed US$750 million this year. "Nasscom would like to see from the government concrete steps such as the creation of funds similar to that of Israel's Yozma, a regulatory framework that will stimulate competition and protect entrepreneurs from the inevitable risks associated with IT start-up companies." -- AFP

http://business-times.asia1.com.sg/4/news/nssia01.html

Most MPs and Parliamentary staff did not have access to the World Wide Web before, but from this week onwards they will be able to explore life online. With the click of a mouse, Speaker Dr Frene Ginwala inaugurated a new computer and internet centre at Parliament this week. The facility, consisting of 20 desktop computers, printers and scanners, is sponsored by the national telecommunications company Telkom, which will also cover the running costs of links to the Internet. Ginwala said that before the creation of the centre, most MPs and Parliamentary staff did not have access to the World Wide Web. "This essential tool links Parliamentarians and staff to a network of easily accessible information," she said.

"MPs will be empowered by having independent access to data and by being able to keep abreast of international practice." She also noted however that communication within Parliament was not what it should be, and asked whether more use should not be made of technology instead of the "mountains of paper" that MPs had to deal with. "Perhaps then I would not have to wade through mounds of waste paper each night just to clear a passageway to my car," she said. The computer centre will be managed by Parliament, which will also appoint a project manager to develop computer-training programmes for MPs. Telkom's deputy chief operating officer, Bheki Langa, said the centre was in line with Telkom's commitment to help ensure lawmakers were empowered with the tools they needed to reconstruct the country.

For the full story go to: http://www.inet.co.za/ng2/index.html

Date: 13-17 March 2000
Venue: SANGONET Training centre, Bree Street, Johannesburg

Arranged in collaboration with AMARC, NCRF and CDC with the support of The British Council in Johannesburg

In South Africa Community Radio has made great strides in acquiring new technologies with the idea of sharing information at low costs while serving the communities. In order to keep abreast with rapid changes in the sector, in-house training serves as a vital key to success. The results of a questionnaire on each Community Radio's technical capacity, for both information retrieval and dissemination has formed the basis of the selection process of participants.

Structure of the workshop: A discussion and training session on the level of new technology in the sector. The challenge of new technology with emphasis on the communication policies and regulation bodies will be discussed and will emphasise the importance of Community Radio entering the new era of technological development. These debates will aim to deepen the reflection on essential questions of digital production, the Internet and digital broadcasting and more precisely on the theme of the workshop and to contribute to a better knowledge of the new environment in which community radio stations will evolve.

The subsequent sessions will be practical with demonstrations from participants. and analyses of new technologies for community radio. It is important to emphasise the manner of approach to digital broadcasting, and the use of the Internet so as to allow community media users a good appreciation of the specific needs in this sector. Modules of training will essentially be carried on technical knowledge relative to community radio functioning.

-Internet service provider, Sangonet, APC: Presentation on " Development of new technology in South Africa and in the community radio sector in particular''

- Steve Buckley: Amarc International Deputy President: Presentation on ''Digital broadcasting: A community radio perspective"

- George Christensen: Amarc Africa Technological Development Officer: Training on digital production

- Alan Fransman, Manager community radio projects - Institute of Advanced Journalism: Training on radio in the Internet

This two-day course is designed for freelance or in-house proofreaders and English language editors. It aims to equip participants with essential editing skills and enable them to tackle tasks with confidence.

The Stockholm Challenge Award is a non profit initiative whose task is to spread knowledge and encourage the use of information technology. We run an outstanding event yearly by inviting cities and organizations worldwide to participate in a contest that focuses on the benefit that Hi Tech can generate for their community. The essence of the Challenge is to reduce barriers and make information available. We are looking for IT projects which engage and inform people and offer them a new way to develop and improve their common life.

The contest is free and projects can compete in seven categories: New Economy, Education, Health and Quality of Life, Public Services and Democracy, Culture and Entertainment, Environment, Equal Access. Admittance is still open for running projects and the deadline is march 19, 2000. Bring your project(s)into focus and get the impact that you deserve by joining The Stockholm Challenge Award. Sign up, by pointing your browser to the following website:

www.challenge.stockholm.se and fill in the Entry Form.

The British Council as part of its agenda in global knowledge and information society in Africa has recently initiated a project to establish multipurpose community telecentres in selected secondary towns in Ethiopia. The Wolisso Multipurpose Community Telecentre, the first of its kind in Ethiopia was set up in collaboration with the Ethiopian Science and Technology Commission, and with aid from the British Embassy. The inauguration of the telecentre will be on 26 February at 14:00 at the Wolisso Public Library. Wolisso is situated 105 km from Addis Ababa on the road to Jimma.

Users are expend to include local government officials at zonal level, experts involved in research and development activities in the area, civil servants in the town, secondary school students and teachers, post secondary school students and teachers, educated members of the community in the private sector, women and youth.

http://www.childresearch.net

The concept of multicultural education is not widespread in Japanese educational circles. This is probably due to the fact that it is considered a highly homogeneous society. However, I believe that this is more of a reason to focus on incorporating a multicultural curriculum in the Japanese schools.

First of all, on an obvious level, there are many people living in Japan of various ancestries. Secondly, there are so many micro-cultures in Japan being rich in different ways. Thirdly, there is now a substantial population of Japanese children who have spent some years living abroad, which still seems to be not as treasured as much as it could be. Currently in Japanese education and socialization, the trendy topic seems to be fostering "individualism." However, this term seems to be used somewhat as a scapegoat for parents or teachers to oversee certain behaviors that could be considered "acting out." How can one begin to think about being individualistic without understanding the overflowing treasures that each individual in the society possesses? Advocating this kind of a curriculum could also be key in understanding the physically and developmentally challenged population as well as in decreasing the incidences of bullying.

We at Child Research Net would love to hear your stories on multicultural education and how you think it may help or hinder the education in Japan or your country. Let's Talk!

http://www.childresearch.net/KEY/KSOCIETY/LT/index.html

Tools, can be found at http://merlot.csuchico.edu/developed by California

As a student preparing for a career in research, you have two jobs: (1) do some good research, and (2) build a community around your research topic. This community is called your professional network. Unfortunately, many students neglect their networking; either they feel overwhelmed by short-term demands, or they associate networking with politics and manipulation, or they are working in a hierarchical environment that does not encourage individuals to act on their own. Yet building your professional network is the best way to ensure that your dissertation and other research publications will be read. It is also the best way to get a job once you graduate. The skills are easy enough with practice, but they are not at all obvious to beginners.

"Networking on the Network" is a guide to professional networking for PhD students. Originally written for the students of the Department of Communication at the University of California, San Diego, it has been continuously expanded and revised for six years, incorporating comments from dozens of researchers in many fields. It includes detailed instructions for identifying individuals who should be part of your professional network, contacting and corresponding with those people, building your network at professional conferences, organizing events of your own, and citing others' work in your dissertation. It also includes a lengthy section on interviewing for academic jobs.

http://dlis.gseis.ucla.edu/people/pagre/network.html. Please send any

"Vuk 'Uzenzele", meaning wake up and do it for yourself, is an exciting pack - consisting of videos and booklets - available for emerging and existing entrepreneurs and for the general public. The videos are informative and entertaining. They feature real small business owners who share their experiences with the viewer, expert comment and drama. In selecting case studies, role models and other interviewees, examples used reflect the needs of different viewers, such as youth, women, people in rural areas, people with disabilities and retrenched workers. The characters set up issues in the video; in particular, they raise problems, challenges and fears around each topic. The real life examples will show how problems can be dealt with in practice, and how real people have found ways to overcome obstacles, seek help and build their businesses. "Vuk 'Uzenzele" is packaged in the form of four episodes onto one VHS tape, one facilitators guide and five user booklets. The prices are at R320,00 for corporates and R230,00 for non-profit training organisations and NGOs.

The School Curriculum Since Apartheid: Intersections of Politics and Policy in the South African Transition by Jonathan D Jansen. In: Journal of Curriculum Studies, vol.31, no.1, 1999 pp57-67. In the wake of South Africa's first non-racial elections in 1994, the new Minister of Education launched a national process which would purge the apartheid curriculum of its most offensive racial content and outdated, inaccurate subject matter. At first glance these essential alterations to school syllabuses sounded reasonable and timely given the democratic non-racial ideals of the new government. However, these syllabus alterations had little to do with changing the school curriculum and much more to do with a precarious crisis of legitimacy facing the state and education in the months following the national elections. The haste with which the state pursued a superficial cleansing of the inherited curriculum is explained in terms of the political constraints, conflicts and compromises which accompanied the South African transition from apartheid.

The Classroom Struggle: Policy and Resistance in South Africa 1940-1990 by Jonathan Hyslop. Pietermaritzburg : University of Natal Press, 1999. In 1976, the schools of South Africa exploded in a gigantic youth rebellion.

This revolt was to continue for years, becoming a major part of the resistance to apartheid. Yet it arose from a schooling system designed to underpin apartheid policy. This is the paradox at the heart of this book. Why did schooling which was intended to maintain racial domination, produce the opposite result? This book provides a historical overview of apartheid education policy, and resistance to it. It shows how the 'Bantu Education' system emerged out of the urbanisation crisis of the 1940s, as an integral part of apartheid strategy. The 1950s saw the stifling of the resistance of  teachers and parents, and the apparent stablisation of the new system. But by the mid-1970s the internal conflicts of apartheid and political and cultural change amongst students produced the conditions for uprising. The book traces the battle over education between state and social movements up to the beginning of South Africa's transition to democracy in the 1990s.

Entertainment-Education: A Communication Strategy for Social Change by Arvind Singhal and Everett M Rogers. Mahwah, NJ : Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc.,1999.
Entertainment education - the process of designing and implementing media messages to both entertain and educate, for the purposes of increasing an audience's knowledge about an educational issue, creating favourable attidues, and changing overt behaviour - utilizes the universal appeal of entertainment to persuade individuals to adopt behaviours that will lead to safer and healthier lives. Combining entertainment with education has existed for thousands of years, but the conscious use of the entertainment-education approach in mass communication is a relatively recent phenomenon. In this book the authors chronicle the origins of entertainment -education in current times, documenting applications of the strategy around the globe. They present the major figures, events, and turning points in the evolution of the entertainment-education strategy; document the theories and concepts explaining the effectiveness of implementing this strategy; provide research methodologies for studying the effects of such programmes; and summarize the lessons learned in utilizing the entertainment-education strategy to bring about social change. In presenting a balanced perspective of this approach, the authors also identify its limitations, and they consider ethical and other problems that may accompany efforts to bring about social change.

An Administrator's Guide to Franchising Overseas by Joanne Purves and Anne-Marie Nevin. In: Journal of International Education, vol. 7, no.3, 1999 pp20-27.

The Design and Production of Self-Instructional Materials by Fred Lockwood. London : Kogan Page, 1998. With the rapid move towards open learning and the increased pressure on teachers and trainers to produce effective teaching materials, this invaluable resource has been written to provide guidance for designing and producing open learning media. In recent years, the growth in the use of self-instructional materials around the world has also gathered pace: Open Schools have been developed in India and Indonesia, with more on the way; new Open Universities have been established in South America, the Far East, South Africa and Europe. The training and retraining of staff in industry, commerce and the public services are also increasing rapidly. Building on experience the author has included many tried and tested activities, making a perfect resource for staff responsible for setting up open and distance learning units. This practical guide can be used to form the basis of a workshop or be used by the individual to prepare his or her own material. The materials offered will enable the reader to consider alternative ways of producing teaching material and provide a framework within which a course can be developed. Topics covered in detail include:

distinctive features of self-instructional material;
differences between
textbooks and self-instructional material;
differences between open, distance and flexible learning;
resources and constraints;
target audience;
alternative methods of material production;
assembling a course proposal;
advance organizers;
student learning activities;
learner workload and readability.

Reconsidering Quality Assurance in Higher Education: Perspectives on Programme Assessment and Accreditation ed. By M Fourie, AH Strydom and J Stetar. Bloemfontein: UOFS, 1999 For a number of decades quality and quality assurance of the academic enterprise have been topics for discussion. National quality assurance systems are in existence in a significant number of countries and institutional audits have been conducted with mixed results in terms of quality improvements. It has become increasingly clear, however, that attention paid to quality issues makes real differences mainly at the micro-(programme or department) level. Some of the issues addressed in this publication include: What are programme assessment and accreditation? How are programme assessment and accreditation implemented in different contexts nationally and internationally? What is the role of national policies in terms of programme assessment and accreditation? How can programme assessment and accreditation contribute to overall quality improvement in higher education? How does programme assessment and accreditation benefit the academic enterprise as a whole?

PCs in the classroom and the home; Multimedia CD-ROM packages; The Internet with the world wide web (WWW), newsgroups and e-mail; Computer conferencing and computer-supported collaborative work platforms on an intranet; Videoconferencing, video on demand and interactive TV via telephone lines, the cable network, satellite and even over the Internet... With these technologies either already at our fingertips or soon to become available, what will the school of the future look like? What will be the impact of virtual universities? Will we all become lifelong learners through user-friendly on-demand learning services delivered direct to our home PCs. This book, which tackles these key questions, is the result of a study commissioned by the European Round Table of Industrialists (ERT) to LINOV (Leuven Institute for Innovative Learning) at the KU Leueven, Belgium. This study was coached by a scientific committee of experts. The text is organized in three parts: - a synthesis of the existing knowledge base ("what do we already know?") - an evocation of models and blueprints of the future ("what will it look like?") - a discussion of strategies and scenarios for practical implementation ("how to get there?").

Sharing Lesson Plans Over the World Wide: Important Components by Tiffany A Koszalka and Others. In: Education and Information Technologies, vol.4, no.2, 1999 pp143-151.

Teachers differ greatly in the way they plan their lessons, using personalised formats and incorporating specific lesson components. A new resource for lesson ideas is the World Wide Web.Literally thousands of lesson plans can be found online. Are lesson plans on the web different from the lesson plans teachers write? What lesson components should be present to support teachers' needs? A study was conducted comparing the components in teacher-generated lesson plans with components found in web-published lesson plans. Results show that teachers use more logistical references in their plans while web-published lessons present more descriptive information. Combining components that teachers find important with components that are important in communicating a clear and concise description of a lesson resulted in a proposed format for web-publishing lesson plans. Future research should focus on validating the proposed format, investigating if this format can facilitate cross-cultural sharing of lessons, and creating a web-based lesson plan component database that allows teachers to personalise lesson formats.

Some Institutional Influences on Secondary Mathematics Teachers' Use of Computers by Paul Andrews. In Education and Information Technologies, vol.4, no.2, 1999 pp113-128.

This paper discusses the manifestations of both schools' IT policies and available technical support as reported by 38 secondary teachers from different schools. Tow categories of whole school policy were identified. The first insisted that IT should be taught by specialist teachers whilst the second devolved this responsibility to subject areas. For a variety of reasons both were viewed as problematic. A minority of schools appeared to have no coherent policy. Departmental policies, which were generally a consequence of the enthusiasms of an individual or an impending school inspection, were rarely indicative of coherent views on the impact of computers on teaching and learning. Teachers' computer usage was frequently dependent upon a willing and able IT coordinator although few such colleagues had sufficient time to offer support in systematic and consistent ways. A similar story emerged in respect of IT technicians.

"Tuning in to Diversity, A new handbook for promoting diversity in the broadcast media", produced by the network 'On Line/More Colour in the Media', written by Cathy Aitchison. Describes the current media industry and the changes that are taking place. Provides guidelines for the promotion and implementation of diversity in the media including training, assessments, and employment. Contact 'On Line/More Colour in the Media' email:

Copyright 2000, The Los Angeles Times. All Rights Reserved Everyone is familiar by now with the colossal sums of money pouring into high tech, especially into firms that have something to do with the Internet. What is less commonly known is what this tidal wave of money may be doing to the technical professions upon which the "new economy" is built. The new economy surrounding the Web and e-commerce is in a historic phase similar to the California Gold Rush, says Steve McConnell, author of the new book "After the Gold Rush: Creating a True Profession of Software Engineering" (Microsoft Press, 1999) and editor in chief of IEEE Software magazine. McConnell notes the many similarities between the 1849 Gold Rush and the new economy, with the present-day equivalent of the tin pan and wooden sluice box being a desktop computer, fast Net connection and software compiler. He writes that in some sectors, especially software development, relatively low entry costs and the prospect of quick riches are attracting all kinds of  people with wide varieties of experience.

It's amazing to many outside the computing field that almost anyone can work as a software programmer. The fact that hordes of people are galloping to get into this field -- many without much understanding of how to program large, complex or important applications -- is leaving some experts uneasy.In the current gold rush climate, McConnell says, well-known principles of software design and engineering are being ignored. McConnell calls the most common programming technique the "code and fix" approach. Instead of designing a product, managers and programmers immediately get started on software coding, with its illusion of progress in the first few months.

Eventually they get bogged down fixing their own errors. "Several studies have found that 40% to 80% of a typical software project's budget goes into fixing defects that were created earlier on the same project," McConnell writes. About 25% of all software projects are canceled, mostly for this reason. The code-and-fix model is more common among gold rush companies, where being first to market is far more important than putting out stable or high-quality software, McConnell says. Certain segments of the software market eventually mature, and users expect stability and relatively fewer bugs. But that's after the gold rush. The question is whether people whose experience in software development is mostly in rushed code-and-fix work can transition to more mature, carefully engineered projects.

The workplace environment of such gold rush companies is distinguished by cruelly long hours, total dedication to the project, sacrifices in almost every other domain of life and the heady exhilaration of being at the cutting edge of technology and possibly near a big financial payoff. In "Code Rush," a new PBS documentary airing March 30, filmmaker David Winton and his crew were allowed near-total access to a team of Netscape programmers for a year while Netscape struggled to compete with Microsoft. "Code Rush" focuses on five programmers, four men and one woman, whose lives are utterly turned over to their software code. Winton captures the intelligence, exhilaration and monomania of the programmers as well as some sad byproducts of their labor, including divorce and exhaustion.If software is going to be our main economic activity for the foreseeable future, is there a better way to produce it?

McConnell thinks so. He says the code-and-fix approach to software development, which fosters the idea of heroic programmers who can rescue a project by its deadline, should be replaced by conventional models of software engineering. He thinks the largely young work force of programmers fueling the new economy will soon grow up and become increasingly interested in work practices that allow them to complete their projects as promised and still be home in time for dinner.

The problem is that managers of gold rush companies typically don't understand or care about software engineering techniques and think they don't have time to create or follow technical specifications. They would rather employ hotshot insomniac programmers who can crank out code that will make a venture capitalist see dollar signs. McConnell believes the software profession, like engineering, should require certification or licensing. Jobs that require licensing in California, he says, include barber, cosmetologist, funeral director, jockey and pest control specialist. But software engineers don't need to be licensed. Texas, where I live, has a professional software engineering license. But only a handful of programmers have bothered to qualify for it, and most programmers probably don't know it exists. Not having the state certification is certainly no liability in the hot Austin job market. "The problem with this argument of software programming being an engineering profession is that it's not really like that," says Eric Roberts, professor of computer science at Stanford University. "It's more like an art, more like writing a symphony. There's tremendous variability in the productivity of individuals in this field."

Some people are just better at programming than others, which throws a wrench in the goal of creating more programmers, skilled workers and income equality through education. Talented programmers can increase productivity on a software project many times over, Roberts says. Their impact on a software product can be far greater than the influence a good civil engineer can have on a bridge, or an architect on a building. Because of this, the software profession is beginning to resemble professional sports or the movie business much more than engineering. Exceptionally gifted programmers are referred to as "talent," like movie stars, and some have incomes that make those of film stars look puny. And, as in pro sports, we're seeing young programmers lured with high salaries and stock options, leaving college or skipping it altogether, like Bill

Bruce Roberson, senior partner at consulting firm McKinsey & Co., has surveyed 3,000 technical professionals about their goals. His conclusion: "It's the money, baby." They put wealth through stock options at the top of their lists; building a quality product to be proud of is much lower. "This situation is not going to change any time soon," McConnell says.The computing field is generating unprecedented wealth. But its employment picture raises questions about how the rest of us will get on board, at least in a way that makes sense for most workers. We can't all be "talent," and we won't all put in 14-hour days. We may get fed up with this lifestyle

and with software that's innovative but not very reliable. We may regret this era in another 10 or 20 years. Gary Chapman is director of the 21st Century Project at the University of