TechWatch
UNTANGLING
THE WEB OF FEDERAL SITES
The federal government has unveiled an Internet search engine (www.usgovsearch.com)
that allows researchers and others to find documents scattered across
more than 20,000 federal Web sites. The Gov.search service, developed
by the Commerce Department's National Technical Information Service
and Northern Light Technology, allows for the simultaneous search of
about 3.8 million Web pages, three million government research documents,
and several million articles collected from commercial publishers. The
technology scans and tags every word on every Web page, creating more
relevant searching. The service has a heavier focus on scientific and
technical information than any of the government's free search engines,
such as the Library of Congress' Thomas service. The search engine will
be available for free while the government reviews its policy that all
government information must be unrestricted to the public.
(Washington Post - Washington Business, Associated Press)
E-COMMERCE
SHINING IN CAMPUS SPOTLIGHTS
The Haas School of Business at the University of California -- Berkeley
announced last week that it is adding four new classes that focus on
electronic commerce. Berkeley Professor Arturo Perez-Reyes says e-commerce
is "the single greatest change to business since the invention of money,"
adding that the new classes are intended to help students adapt their
current thought processes to the new and changing Internet market. The
courses are "Internet Marketing Strategy," which addresses online advertising
and communication; "Internet Business Design and Development," which
enlists the help of IBM to help students design their own online businesses;
"Journalism and Business Models in New Media Publishing," which addresses
marketing and the credibility of online reporting; and a general course
titled "Business-to-Business E-Commerce."
(E-Commerce Times)
APPEALS
COURT'S RULING FREES $62 MILLION FUND FOR INTERNET DEVELOPMENT
Dozens of universities will now receive $62 million in Internet development
funds thanks to an appeals court ruling. The fund was maintained by
the National Science Foundation as part of an agreement with Network
Solutions in which $15 of every company's Internet registration fee
was donated to the fund, known as the Intellectual Infrastructure Fund.
In 1997 the fee was challenged by several companies and individuals
that argued that the fee was actually an illegally collected tax. In
1998 a U.S. district court agreed that the fee was a tax but ruled that
Congress could make it legal by retroactively authorizing its collection.
Congress did so a month later, but that action was challenged again.
However, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that
the fee was legal, freeing up the money to be distributed. The money
will now be used by university network researchers to improve the global
computer network.
(Chronicle of Higher Education Online)
START-UP
IS UNVEILING SOFTWARE TO LET USERS ANNOTATE WEB SITES
California-based Third Voice is offering a free software download that
will allow users to post comments to Web sites. The service will also
allow users to view comments posted on the sites by other users of the
software. Online publishers are not expected to be happy about the offering,
as the annotations can be posted without sites' permission and will
appear to users as part of the original site content. "We're leveling
the playing field between publishers and consumers," says Third Voice
CEO Eng-Siong Tan. Analyst Barry Parr says Third Voice's offering likely
complies with existing laws, because the comments are stored on the
company's computers. Third Voice will attempt to generate revenue by
selling advertising within its software and on its Web site.
(Wall Street Journal)
NSA
TAPS UNIVERSITIES FOR INFO SECURITY STUDIES
The National Security Agency announced that seven universities had been
selected as Centers of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance
Education. NSA, which hasbroad influence on U.S. encryption policy,
is responding to a Clinton administration directive to seek nongovernmental
research and information on critical infrastructure issues. NSA says
the centers will become "focal points for recruiting, and may create
a climate to encourage independent research in information assurance."
The seven universities are James Madison, George Mason, Idaho State,
Iowa State, Purdue, Idaho, and the University of California at Davis.
(EE Times Online)
TWO
MAJOR LIBRARIES END USE OF HOMEGROWN SOFTWARE
The National Library of Medicine has scrapped its proprietary cataloging
software in favor of Endeavor Information Systems' Voyager application,
and the Library of Congress is set to do the same. Unlike their old
programs--which each agency designed in-house and which are decades
old--the new cataloging software enables users to access the libraries'
entire holdings from the Web. The medical library calls its catalog
LOCATORplus and spent $1.3 million on installation and associated costs.
The Library of Congress plans to have its version of Voyager running
by October upon completion of a $3.6 million installation project.
(Chronicle of Higher Education)
MANY
COLLEGES ARE EXCLUDED FROM "MOST WIRED" SURVEY, A PRESIDENT COMPLAINS
Administrators at some universities are crying foul about the "100 Most
Wired Colleges" rankings in Yahoo! Internet Life magazine, saying the
survey is inaccurate because it excludes many smaller schools. Ellen
Chaffee, president of Mayville State and Valley City State Universities
in North Dakota -- which together have less than 2,000 students -- says
her schools have never even been sent the survey on which the list is
based. "Their list says 'the nation's most-wired campuses,'" Chaffee
says. "It doesn't say 'most-wired big rich schools for smart people.'"
She says her schools match or outpace the list's top-10 schools according
to Yahoo!'s criteria. For example, the top 10 on the list average 27
computers per 100 students, while Mayville has 103 per 100 students
thanks to a tuition-funded program to provide every student with a laptop.
Yahoo! acknowledges the list is limited and says it plans to make the
survey available on the Web next year so that all institutions can participate.
(Chronicle of Higher Education Online)
DISPUTES
AND UNKNOWNS OF ELECTRONIC RIGHTS ROIL THE BOOK INDUSTRY
For all the hype surrounding electronic books, the fast-moving industry
is having trouble convincing the slow-moving book industry to get on
board. The Authors' Guild mailed warnings to its 7,500 members last
month criticizing current e-book contracts as bad deals, saying the
distribution fees for e-book manufacturers are payment schemes that
would deny publishers and authors their rewards in the information age.
Other literary guilds are also advising authors to stay away from e-book
agreements unless they promise to revise the deals when e-books become
more popular. The book industry says it wants to see the market grow,
but wants the terms to be fair. Current e-book deals give authors a
share of just 4 percent of the book's list price, compared with 15 percent
for traditional book deals.
(New York Times)
COMMONPLACES'
WEB STRATEGY TARGETS STUDENTS
CommonPlaces has built an online network that is intended to serve as
an Internet hub for college students overwhelmed by the vast resources
available on the Web. The network, dubbed CollegeBytes.com, is touted
as a single resource for a variety of student-oriented information,
from academics to socializing. Students will be able to chat with professors,
log on to online lectures, buy textbooks and movie tickets, register
for classes, and build personal Web pages. All of the services are free,
and revenue is expected to come from electronic commerce. CommonPlaces
soon expects to announce a deal with a major book publisher that will
allow students to order books online. A few colleges have already signed
up -- including New York University and Boston's Emerson College --
and another 275 schools have expressed interest. However, CommonPlaces
has competition as WebCT Educational Technologies and Blackboard are
helping schools put classes online, while Electronic Communities sells
software for schools to create online communities for students.
(Wall Street Journal)
UNITED
NATIONS GROUP ISSUES REPORT ON INTERNET ADDRESSES
The United Nations' World Intellectual Property Organization has issued
a set of recommendations to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names
and Numbers (ICANN) that would outlaw domain name registration speculation,
a practice commonly known as "cybersquatting." The rules also propose
that Internet addresses associated with famous words or trademarks be
given to businesses and individuals with rightful claims to those addresses.
The report recommends that ICANN make registrars sign a contract that
defines and prohibits cybersquatting; the contract would also provide
an outline for a mandatory arbitration process to resolve accusations
of cybersquatting.
(New York Times)
BUSINESS
BENEFITS SEEN IN INTERNET2
Although Internet2 is so far used mostly by universities, its developers
say that eventually its high-speed technology will help improve the
Internet and thus offer benefits to businesses. Companies could benefit
if new technologies ensure high-quality video and audio links over the
Web, for example. Texas A&M researcher James Wall has already seen the
benefits of Internet2 -- he's saving $1,000 per hour in satellite link
fees to test an intelligent communications manager used in trauma care.
The Internet2's high-speed nature -- operating at about 2.6 Gbps --
is ideal for systems such as Wall's. But some Internet2 application
developers say that bandwidth isn't everything and are calling for end-to-end
systems that can control and prioritize traffic. "We can put out tons
of data, but we can't deal with the data," says University of Oklahoma
researcher David Jahn. Currently, Internet2 is "like drinking water
from a fire hose," he says.
(Computerworld)
FOR
CODERS, A CODE OF CONDUCT
Computer programmers debating the ethics involved in the origin of the
Y2K bug say that its existence proves the need for a rigorous program
of professional certification for programmers. Many say the bug's existence
proves that a certification program similar to that required of doctors
and lawyers is necessary to prevent similar lapses. "You don't want
an unlicensed engineer working on a bridge, but you have unlicensed
computer programmers working all the time," says Dr. Marsha C. Woodbury,
chairwoman of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. So far
the idea of certification has remained in the debate stage because of
the scarcity of talented programmers, and many say that whether certification
ever becomes a reality will depend on what kind of damage is wrought
on January 1, 2000. If major disasters occur, citizens may force government
to become involved and regulate programmers.
(New York Times)
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