News Report #4

Gates, Microsoft lobby FCC for unlicensed white spaces use

by: IDG News Service

Microsoft is lobbying the FCC this week to allow unlicensed use of "white spaces" of television spectrum for wireless internet services. White spaces are the unused patches of wireless spectrum that lie between television channels. Many major technology companies such as Microsoft, Google, Phillips, Motorola, and several others are lobbying for the FCC to make that unlicensed spectrum available for new wireless broadband networks. Google co-founder, Larry Page, and other supporters have said it would be similar to Wi-Fi networks, but more powerful. One of the major advantages of allowing the unlicensed use of the white spaces is the ability to diminish the digital divide between rural and suburban communities. Because the white space network is more powerful, farm houses in the square states could be connected to broadband internet which could not be achieved by Wi-Fi. These major technology companies say they can and have created devices that can prevent interference with television broadcast. This has been the major argument. The television broadcasters believe the unlicensed use of white spaces for wireless internet services will interfere and become detrimental to the entire broadcasting industry. There have been many test to see if wireless internet use would interfere with broadcasting and what devices would work to prevent interference. Major technology companies say the tests show that it is possible to create devices that prevent the interference of broadcasting, while the broadcasters say just the opposite. The FCC is planning to officially vote on the issue during it's meeting Nov. 4th, 2008.

Reading Assignment #3

"The Infodiet" talks about the information literacy problem in the United States, but places blame on everyone for not compromising. This article blames database producers for being too focused on how much information they can fit into their database, and not enough on how they can make databases that are easier or more familiar to search like google. Students are also the problem because they have "infobesity," which is the over consumption of junk information. Like fast food, students have become addicted to ease and quickness when researching. This is why so many students have turned to google. On the other hand, libraries are like gourmet food, it may take longer to get but it is much better once you receive it. Many students are more interested in quick and easy searches that provide a lower quality of information. There fore it is the responsibility of database producers and libraries to come up with easier databases to search that still produce high quality information. Professors need to compromise with libraries and encourage students to use the library for research. Professors should require students to use articles from library databases as sources for their research. Some people think that research is not supposed to be easy. That the journey of research is part of the learning process. The problem with information literacy is there is very little compromise between database producers, libraries, professors, and students. Everybody needs to sacrifice a little whether it be the students time, or the libraries style of research.

Annotated Bibliography Part 1

Information Literacy

For a person to be information literate they must be able to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use the information effectively. Information literacy has become more important for K-12 students due to the constant expansion of our information centric world. As technology grows and information become easier to attain students must become information literate at early ages so they are prepared for secondary education and the workplace. In the early 1980's seminal reports were conducted and they concluded that the "rising tide of mediocrity" was eroding the foundations of the American educational system. This report along with many others that followed, led the American Library Association Presidential Committee (ALA) to take charge of this issue. The ALA Presidential Committee created a National Forum on Information Literacy. This forum is a volunteer network of organizations and was created to raise public awareness on the importance of information technology. This forum help create the first Summit on Inofrmation Literacy which was responsible for creating a national ICT literacy policy council to provide leadership in creating national standards for ITC literacy in the United States.