TAD Consortium December 1999 Information Update 1

PROFILED ORGANIZATIONS
--- PFIR: "People For Internet Responsibility"
--- Nyerai Films, a Zimbabwean-German film- & TV-production house

ONLINE RESOURCES
--- A few nifty sites for lesson plans
--- Issues of Feminism and Multicultural Education for Educational
Technology
--- Website focusing on Distance Education and Telematics research
--- Site on project-based learning
--- An article on Distance Education written by Mr. Yannis Karaliotas
--- Education with New Technologies
--- Web sites with authoring tool comparisons and evaluations
--- Instructional Technology Strategic Plans in Higher Education
--- Modern Malaria Control Handbook

ARTICLES
--- Project Applies Power of Net to L.A. Housing Woes By Gary Chapman

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NEWS

Taken from Nua Internet Surveys: November 15th, 1999

America Online: Children Prefer the Net to TV

Seasoned American Internet users are spending as much as 10.6 hours online

every week, according to new figures from research firm, Roper Starch.

In a study of Internet usage habits, the group found that those who have

been online for three years or more spend ten and a half hours online each

week and those who are new comers spend an average of 6.6 hours online per

week.

The study looked specifically at the habits of people aged between 9 and 17

and found that nearly two thirds, 63 percent, prefer the Internet to TV and

55 percent rate the Internet above the telephone for communicating.

Those aged between 9 and 11 use the Internet 3 times a week on average. They

go online for real-time chat, games, writing letters and downloading music.

Those aged between 15 and 17 go online on average five times a week.

When children and adults were asked what they would like to be stuck on a

desert island with, two thirds said a PC with Internet connection. A further

75 percent believe their lives are better as a result of the Internet.

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Newsbytes Asia: Internet Use in Asia to Explode by 2005

A new survey finds that the amount of people using the Internet in Asia will

increase by 422 percent in the next six years and will number 228 million by

2005.

Authors of the survey, London based Philips Group, estimate that there are

currently 43.6 million Asians online and predict that by 2006, that figure

could be 370 million, representing a 62 percent increase on current figures.

While the majority of users will be concentrated in Japan for the next few

years, by 2005, Internet use in China will surpass that in any other country

in the region. By 2005, 37.6 percent of Asian Internet users will be

Chinese, representing 85 million users.

Another survey by IDC finds that despite the fact that Asian users would

rather surf the Web in their native language, a growing number are going to

English language Web sites.

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Almost one year after Internet services were introduced into the rich

kingdom, sub-standard equipment and congestions are hindering widespread

Internet use and the development of e-commerce

By Fawaz Jarrah, DIT Online Editor

DUBAI: November 14, 1999

High access rates and poor network infrastructure are preventing widespread

use of the Internet and the development of e-commerce in Saudi Arabia,

according to industry sources. The continuation of this state of affairs, at

a time e-commerce hubs are being planned in the region, is expected to

deprive the Saudi economy of many opportunities.

"It has been almost one year since Internet access became available in the

kingdom, yet the service is still much below standard and generally

expensive for users," said a source close to Saudi Internet service

providers (ISPs), who spoke on condition of anonymity. He said the service

was unreliable, suffering from slow connections and frequent disconnection

of users and businesses from the Net. This was causing financial losses to

ISPs and business users, and was frustrating home-users, he added.

The source blamed the Saudi Telecom Company (STC) for delays in developing

its infrastructure and telephone lines, which were disrupting the service.

He said users were frequently being cutoff from the Net either because the

link was lost between the STC and ISPs or between the ISPs and users. This

was damaging the relationship between the users and ISPs who were worried

they would start losing clients, said the source.

Another major obstacle that was preventing more people from subscribing to

ISPs' services was the insufficient number of modem ports available to ISPs.

"The number of modem ports was supposed to have increased by a much faster

rate," said the source.

About 40 ISPs were licensed in Saudi Arabia out of more than 70 applicants

since the Internet was introduced in January. Each ISP was allocated 125

modem ports and left to decide on the number of subscribers taken per port.

STC recommended five subscribers per port for "quality service" and 10-12

subscribers for "good service", and it advised that a ceiling of 20

subscribers per port should not be broken. However, 15 to 17 subscribers per

modem are generally considered detrimental to the service by most standards.

Going by the average quota of subscribers per modem for a good service, the

total number of Internet subscribers that could be taken in the kingdom

would only be 50,000, which is a small number compared to a population of

about 18 million.

Seeking expansion, many ISPs started taking around 20 subscribers per modem,

which is adding to the problem by causing network congestion.

"ISPs are bound to lose on their investments if the current situation drags

on. They are crippled by the inefficiency of the service they get from the

Saudi telecom, which is much behind in the expansion schedule it had

announced. As a result ISPs are unable to plan their operational and

marketing schemes," said the source.

The source said the bad service would encourage alternative Internet access

services like the satellite service VSAT (Very Small Aperture satellite

Terminal), which serves home and business users. VSAT system, which uses

uploading path through the regular ISP link but allows direct downloading

through a satellite dish, may be more expensive initially, but it is much

faster than the regular telecom link.

The source called on STC to implement "an immediate and radical solution to

the problem within a clear and fixed time frame that could enable ISPs to

make their future planning." He also called on the Saudi Telecom to

reconsider the high rates it charged, which constituted a heavy financial

burden on both ISPs and users. The Internet Service Unit at the King Abdul

Aziz City for Science and Technology, where a massive firewall filters the

national Internet connection before it goes to Saudi Telecom, has set the

rates ISPs can charge their clients between 190 Saudi Riyal (US$52) and 450

Saudi Riyal (US$123) per month for a range of Internet service options.

The rates, which are the highest in the region, are more than 500 percent

higher than those in the United States. Internet access is made even more

expensive by the additional call rates that Saudi Telecom charges users when

dialing up their ISPs. Users are charged double the regular telephone rates

when using the Internet.

STC claims that the additional rates are to help cover the cost of setting

up an expensive infrastructure. However, the telecom is paid a hefty 408,000

Saudi Riyals (about US$111,000) per month by the Internet Service Unit for

every E1 line leased - several folds more expensive than international

rates.

Meanwhile, criticism of Internet services in the kingdom by home and

business users has been increasing. DITnet has monitored many complaints

from Saudi Arabia on the Arabic service of the Web site's bulletin board,

Al-Muntada. "Who is responsible for this bad service? Is it the ISPs, Saudi

Telecom, or King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology?," questioned

one subscriber. "Not only that the service is bad, it's offered at

unreasonably high prices," said another.

Focus seemed to have been lost as to why the Internet was introduced to

Saudi Arabia, said a Saudi ISP source, who refused to be further identified.

He said the Internet was generally seen as a major tool to help develop

information technology in the kingdom. Such a goal required the setting up

of a national network that facilitated online publishing and e-commerce.

"The task to build such a network was initially entrusted with the King

Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology, then the project was handed to

Saudi Telecom. Up till now the network has not materialized, and there are

no indications as to when it will," said the source.

"The low standard of Internet services in the Saudi Arabia as compared with

the services in neighboring countries will deny the national economy some

important opportunities for growth that e-commerce and other online services

can bring," he said.

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Cambodian children to get Net access

Children in remote Cambodian villages will soon be able to surf the Net

thanks to an aid project that aims to put the country's isolated communities

online. Two charities, American Assistance for Cambodia and Japan Relief for

Cambodia, hope to install solar-powered computers, hooked up via satellite,

in 200 village schools country-wide. The Internet could provide invaluable

help with medical problems in the village, and it could also help generate

some e-commerce, said Bernard Krisher, who is also publisher of the

English-language Cambodia Daily newspaper. "I want these children first of

all to make up for what they've lost and then get ahead by bringing them

into the 21st century, teaching them how to use computers, reach the

Internet and they can help their villages get medical attention through

telemedicine, said Krisher. Apple Computer is donating computers to the

project and Thailand's Shin Satellite Plc is helping to hook up schools. The

World Bank is matching donations raised by the charity groups, San Jose

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From: Edupage, 22 November 1999, Edupage is a service of EDUCAUSE, an

international nonprofit association dedicated to transforming education

through information technologies.

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FORECASTERS SEE PORTABILITY AS THE NEXT BIG STEP FOR THE INTERNET

Chief executives Larry Ellison of Oracle and Scott McNealy of Sun

Microsystems are beginning to feel vindicated for focusing on large

computing networks rather than cashing in on the boom in the PC market. They

assert the Internet, accessed by any number of small, portable devices, will

replace the PC as the center of the computing universe. This is already

beginning to happen in the corporate world, where high-speed Internet

connections allow companies to rent software applications over the Web from

application service providers rather than pay to constantly upgrade in-house

software and hardware packages. Although widespread high-speed access in

homes is still years away, Sun and Oracle executives are confident it is

coming. Once high-speed access is more common for consumers, the companies

expect increased sales of Internet appliances, beginning with stripped-down

desktop machines that derive their power from Web-based servers, and

eventually extending to small, mobile devices such as wireless phones,

handheld computers, and pagers. (Los Angeles Times 11/22/99)

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Stand-alone Internet radio device will ''localise the world''

Imagine tuning into pirate radio from England, news broadcasts from

Tanzania, rugby games from Australia - without needing a personal computer

or short-wave radio.

''This device is going to localise the world,'' vows Andrew Leyden, founder

of Penguin Radio, a company working to develop and produce a stand-alone

device that will attach to a stereo system. "The walls are about to

crumble."

The device, expected to be available early next year for less than $200,

uses streaming media. It will be programmed to include programming available

through the Internet from about 5,000 radio stations.

Leyden, whose start-up company is based in Washington, D.C., said that the

device would enable far-flung listeners to follow their favourite football

team or hear weather reports from the other side of the world. Europe is an

important potential market, said Leyden, a former Capitol Hill staffer.

''The frequencies are all tied up there,'' he added. A boon for buyers is

they need no technical know-how to operate Penguin radio. Listeners can find

their stations simply by punching in a number. Leyden says the number of

radio stations available through the Internet is likely to skyrocket. There

are about 12,000 radio stations in the United States and thousands more

around the world.

The Freedom Forum

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SCHOOLNET/IS PARTNERSHIP DEEPENS

The Internet Solution's involvement with SchoolNet SA received a further

boost with the launch of another of the provincial hubs to be used for the

training of teachers, trainers, scholars and other members of the community.

IS is connecting these sites to the Internet via 64Kbps leased line access,

which gives members of previously disadvantaged communities Internet access

equivalent to that of South Africa's elite corporate sector.

The hub site provides computer, telecommunications and Internet technologies

that will be put to work for the benefit of the local community and was

officially opened on Friday November 19 by Katlehong Resource Centre Chair,

Grace Moseki. The primary funder for this centre is Nortel Networks.

"SchoolNet SA's role will be to provide appropriate educational support and

training at the hub site so that educators and learners are able to use

technology, particularly the Internet, as a teaching and learning resource.

SchoolNet will also train dedicated technical interns at each site", says

Denis Brandjes, executive director at SchoolNet SA. SchoolNet SA is

administered by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), a

Canadian parastatal donor organisation, and is driving the search for

further suitable provincial hub sites.

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PROFILED ORGANIZATIONS

(This component of the TAD Consortium Newsletter kindly sponsored by Times

Media Limited - www.tml.co.za)

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November 16, 1999

PFIR is a global, grassroots, ad hoc network of individuals who are

concerned about the current and future operations, development, management,

and regulation of the Internet in responsible manners. The goal of PFIR is

to help provide a resource for individuals around the world to gain an

ability to help impact these crucial Internet issues, which will affect

virtually all aspects of our cultures, societies, and lives in the 21st

century. PFIR is non-partisan, has no political agenda, and does not engage

in lobbying.

PFIR has been founded (in November, 1999) by Lauren Weinstein of Vortex

Technology in Woodland Hills, California and Peter G. Neumann of SRI

International in Menlo Park, California. Both have decades of continual

experience with the Internet and its ancestor ARPANET, Lauren originally at

the UCLA lab which was the ARPANET's first site, and Peter at the net's

second site, located at SRI.

Peter is the chairman of the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery)

Committee on Computers and Public Policy, and the creator and moderator of

the Internet RISKS Forum. Lauren is a member of that same committee, and he

is the creator and moderator of the Internet PRIVACY Forum.

With the rapid commercialization of the Internet and its World Wide Web

during the 1990's, there are increasing concerns that decisions regarding

these resources are being irresponsibly skewed through the influence of

powerful, vested interests (in commercial, political, and other categories)

whose goals are not necessarily always aligned with the concerns of

individuals and the people at large. Such incompatibilities have surfaced in

areas including domain name policy, spam, security, encryption, freedom of

speech issues, privacy, content rating and filtering, and a vast array of

other areas. New ones are sure to come!

While corporate, political, and other related entities most certainly have

important roles to play in Internet issues, it is unwise and unacceptable

for their influences to be effectively the only significant factors

affecting the broad scope of Internet policies.

There are numerous examples. While e-commerce can indeed be a wonderful

tool, it is shortsighted in the extreme for some interests to treat the

incredible creation that is the Internet as little more than a giant mail

order catalog, with ".com" associated hype on seemingly every ad, billboard

and commercial. Protection of copyrights in a global Internet environment,

without abusive monitoring, is a challenge indeed. The Internet can be a

fantastic tool to encourage the flow of ideas, information, and education,

but it can also be used to track users' behaviors and invade individuals'

privacy in manners that George Orwell never imagined in his "1984" world.

PFIR is a resource for discussion, analysis, and information regarding

Internet issues, aimed at providing a forum for *ordinary people* to

participate in the process of Internet evolution, control, and use, around

the entire world. PFIR is also a focal point for providing media and

government with a resource regarding Internet issues that is not controlled

by entities with existing major vested financial, political, or other

interests. This is accomplished through the PFIR Web site, the handling of

telephone and e-mail queries, and through digests, discussion groups,

reports, broadcast and Internet radio efforts, and other venues.

For full details about People For Internet Responsibility, including

information regarding how you can participate in or keep informed about PFIR

activities (including the PFIR Digest mailing list), please visit the PFIR

Individuals, organizations, media, etc. who are interested in more

information regarding PFIR or these Internet issues are invited to contact:

Phone, Fax, or E-mail:

Lauren Weinstein

TEL: +1 (818) 225-2800

FAX: +1 (818) 225-7203

lauren@pfir.org

Please send any physical mail to:

PFIR c/o Peter G. Neumann

Principal Scientist

Computer Science Lab

SRI International EL-243

333 Ravenswood Ave.

Menlo Park, CA 94025-3493 USA

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Nyerai Films is a Zimbabwean-German film- & TV-production house and we would

like to introduce a video production by the Zimbabwean filmmaker/writer

Tsitsi Dangarembga. Mrs Dangarembga is author of the well known novel

"Nervous Conditions" and has a lot of experience in documentary and

feature-filmproduction. The video project "Know your heritage" is a joint

development of Nyerai Films and the National Museums and Monuments of

Zimbabwe.

KNOW YOUR HERITAGE

Oral history carries much subtext that could make a material difference in

many African countries today. In Zimbabwe, for example, the oral tradition

of a site in present day Nyanga, narrates an unusual use of an indigenous

yam, a plant which, however, is no longer valued. A problem with using

applications of oral tradition in trying to alleviate current problems

appears to be the comparatively low status of oral traditions in the

community. We have devised a project to upgrade the oral history of several

ruin sites (including Great Zimbabwe) by presenting the traditions in a more

valued medium (video) within a narrative that has more present day relevance

(drama/docu-drama). The project has been ratified by the government of

Zimbabwe. The programme is designed for use in other areas, for example in

tourism, to give tourists another experiential dimension when visiting the

sites. It could become a big marketing strategy. We are looking for all

kinds of sponsors.

About Nyerai Films: Our main objective are productions by film makers from

so-called Third World countries. Long experience in all areas of low-budget

film production both in Europe and in Africa, ranging from television

documentation to feature films, has familiarised us with the different and

interesting voices which are emerging from the south of the world and which

are also gaining increasing acceptance in a western film culture that is

looking for innovation and new experiences. Our own post-production

facilities, including an avid media composer, ensure that our projects do

not run out of steam in the last stages. "Low Budget - High Energy" is not

just an idea with us - it's a reality.

If anyone is interested in our project, please contact

nyerai@berlin.snafu.de

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ONLINE RESOURCES

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Here are a few nifty sites for lesson plans, etc.

Rick Parkany

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If you have not had a chance to read the paper "Issues of Feminism and

Multicultural Education for Educational Technology", I strongly urge you to

do so. The paper outlines many of the important ideas in the area and how

they relate to our field. I think it is one of the most informative, least

dogmatic, and most interesting papers on the topic that I have ever read.

Daniel W. Surry

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A website focusing on Distance Education and Telematics research can be

The website is growing, with over 200 links to distance education

organisations, associations, conferences, on-line journals, contacts and

projects.

Journal articles and conference papers are also available to download. You

may also wish to inform interested colleagues.

Any comments, useful links, etc, are welcome.

Steve Wheeler

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I have done some work in project-based learning (not a whole different from

problem-based learning). For a recent workshop I collected a set of URL's

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An article on Distance Education written by Mr. Yannis Karaliotas can be

The article is a form of report -- discusses interactivity in DE Learning

Environments in an attempt to describe and analyse the function of

interactions between the learner and the elements!!

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If educators and teachers want to improve learning and teaching with new

technologies, then please point your browser to

Technologies -The site is designed to help educators develop, enact and

assess effective ways of using new technologies. The Project will also help

and support educators, to integrate new tools with classroom practice and

curriculum. The site is developed by the teachers and researchers at Harvard

Graduate School of Education, reflects and supports an educational framework

that promotes learning.

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Here are a couple of web sites with authoring tool comparisons and

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Check out Instructional Technology Strategic Plans in Higher Education

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Modern Malaria Control Handbook

The 101 pages "Modern Malaria Control Handbook" by 'Physicians for Social

Responsibility' is meant to serve as a handy, but authoritative introduction

and literature review of the best up-to-date studies, information, and

practices available in modern malaria control.

Table of Contents:

A. Preface

B. Executive Summary

C. Potential Health Effects of DDT

D. Alternative Chemical Vector Control

E. Impregnated Bednets and Other Personal Protection Measures

F. Potential Health Effects of Pyrethroids

G. Environmental Management of Malaria Vectors

H. Community Education and Participation in Malaria Control

I. Cost of Alternative Vector Control

J. Integrated Public Health Approaches to Malaria Control

Each chapter has a short introduction followed by an extensive collection of

abstracts referring to the topic (a total of 178 abstracts in the handbook).

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ARTICLES

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Friends,

Below is my Los Angeles Times column for today, Monday, November 22, 1999.

As always, please feel free to pass this on, but please retain the copyright

information.

Best,

--

Gary Chapman

gary.chapman@mail.utexas.edu

DIGITAL NATION

November 22, 1999

Project Applies Power of Net to L.A. Housing Woes

By Gary Chapman

Copyright 1999, The Los Angeles Times, All Rights Reserved

Despite the booming economy and the unprecedented wealth being generated by

high tech, U.S. cities face serious problems with housing, especially in

low-income neighborhoods.

An interesting project at UCLA, with an impressive array of local and

national partners, is using the Internet to do something positive about

housing in Los Angeles.

site aimed at improving and preserving neighborhoods. NKLA is an online tool

that provides easy access to a vast collection of data about properties and

neighborhoods that are in danger of falling into urban blight.

The conditions the project and its partners are trying to fix are sobering.

Using U.S. Census data from 1997, the Los Angeles Citizens Committee on Slum

Housing found that the number of L.A. area rental units occupied by tenants

living below the poverty level grew from 217,200 in 1989 to 422,500 in 1995,

a 95% increase over six years. The Census' American Housing Survey reported

in 1995 that in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area there were 154,400

substandard apartments in need of major repair, 107,900 units infested with

rats and 131,700 units without working toilets. Such grim statistics are the

product of severe pockets of poverty in Los Angeles, one of the wealthiest

cities in the world but one in which one-third of all children live in

poverty, according to U.S. Census data. The United Way of Greater Los

Angeles and Los Angeles County reports median rent for an apartment in L.A.

is $654 per month, or nearly $8,000 per year. More than a fifth of L.A.

families live below the poverty level of $16,450 a year for a family of

four, according to United Way and L.A. County. A full-time minimum-wage

worker makes about $11,000 per year.

Leaders of the NKLA project, which is based at UCLA's School of Public

Policy and Social Research and funded by the city of Los Angeles Housing

Department, Fannie Mae and the U.S. Department of Commerce's

Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure Assistance Program, use

computer data from a variety of public sources to look for "early warning

signs" that properties in Los Angeles are headed for unlivable status.

"One of the best predictors of housing abandonment is tax delinquency," said

Neal Richman, director of NKLA and associate director of UCLA's Advanced

Policy Institute. The researchers involved with the NKLA project use tax

data to look for a characteristic pattern in housing serving low-income

residents. Property tax delinquency is often followed by building code

violations and tenant complaints, then by abandonment of the property. The

worst violators are slum landlords who "work the system" by buying a

building and milking the tenants for rent without paying for maintenance or

taxes, and then disappear when the government threatens legal action.

The NKLA project and similar community data projects in other cities are

good examples of two phenomena made possible by the Internet.

The first is that the Internet tends to blur the boundaries between

institutions -- in the case of NKLA between a university, the city and

county governments, and community activist organizations. This blurring is

very common in the private sector but is only beginning to emerge in the

public and civic sectors. It needs to happen more, which means public

officials need to think more creatively about developing innovative

partnerships like NKLA.

The second phenomenon is that NKLA shows what can be done with what would

otherwise be underutilized public information. Richman says that the key

value that UCLA brings to this project is its researchers' ability to use

public data to serve specific ends, particularly community development.

Finally, the story of NKLA is that new technologies can be used in ways that

give people left out of the high-tech boom some real hope, when those

technologies are used as tools for solving specific, concrete problems.

The NKLA site and its online databases allow citizens and housing activists

to look for properties with tax problems, code violations or other

difficulties, such as tenant complaints or fire violations, that could be

precursors to abandonment, neighborhood deterioration and urban decline. The

Web site offers searchable databases by ZIP Code or other parameters, and

shows individual properties on interactive maps of L.A.

NKLA researchers also work with grass-roots community organizations, tenant

groups and activists to promote code enforcement by government officials.

Richman said the NKLA project and its community partners played a role in

developing the city's comprehensive slum housing ordinance, which mandates

that all properties be inspected for code violations every three years.

That, in turn, is having an effect on improving compliance by property

owners. One group that finds the NKLA tools useful is Concerned Citizens of

South-Central Los Angeles, a nonprofit community organization that works

with residents to improve conditions in South-Central neighborhoods.

Executive Director Juanita Tate says that the organization is developing a

land trust for housing in the South-Central community, which has the oldest

housing in the city. The organization buys properties that are available

because of tax delinquency or other problems, such as loan defaults,

foreclosures, then helps first-time home buyers acquire the properties and

refurbish them.

"The NKLA tools have been very, very helpful to our program," Tate said. "We

can use the data and the maps to research the condition and status of a

property and get a very clear picture for our program clients. It's just

fabulous."

All of this is made possible through access to information gleaned from

public data. "We couldn't do this on our own because we can't afford this

kind of research or these kinds of people," Tate said. "Our university

partnerships with UCLA and Occidental have been great."

Another Concerned Citizens' project is POWER (People Organizing for Worker

and Environmental Rights). Under the program, 10 students from Jefferson and

Vermont high schools use NKLA's tools and data to research community sites

for new public schools in the area. The community wants to avoid repeating

the problems of Jefferson Middle School, which was built on top of an

environmental hazard.

"The technical skills come together with the organizing work," said Melodie

Dove, director of youth programs for Concerned Citizens. "We provide the

computers for these young people because a lot of them don't get access in

school, and they're interested in developing their computer skills." The

group has a computer-training facility with 20 computers that was funded by

Microsoft.

The students and others also can look at maps of hazardous waste areas in

Los Angeles on a Web site developed by Occidental College, Liberty Hill

Foundation and the California Endowment

These are some inspirational ways to use computers and the Internet for hope

instead of hype. The people doing this kind of work are true local heroes.

Gary Chapman is director of the 21st Century Project at the University of

Texas at Austin. He can be reached at gary.chapman@mail.utexas.edu.

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