There's no question about it: Spam is a scourge. This ever-increasing torrent of unsolicited commercial mass e-mail saps productivity and, for some, threatens the very viability of e-mail. The battle against spam, unfortunately, is creating problems of its own, with people sometimes unable to send legitimate e-mail and other times unable to…

We live in a celebrity-obsessed world and our medical students are no more immune to the glamour of celebrity than anyone else. When teaching medical students about a certain medical illness I used to tell them about a celebrity who suffers from this illness. I did this to get their attention and to stimulate their interest but even though the…

Whether a study is qualitative or quantitative, the process of data collection is not as orderly as it may seem when described in published research reports, articles, or books. Data collection may be more challenging when conducting research across national and linguistic borders. In this article, I share and reflect upon the complex and messy…

Increasing use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) help individuals to solve several everyday problems, which used to be harder, more complicated and time consuming. Even though ICTs provide individuals with many advantages, they might also serve as grounds for several societal and ethical problems which vary in accordance with…

Without proper security, mobile devices are easy targets for worms, viruses, and so-called robot ("bot") networks. Hackers increasingly use bot networks to launch massive attacks against eCommerce websites--potentially targeting one's online tuition payment or fundraising/financial development systems. How can one defend his mobile systems against…

Libraries of government departments provide information to policymakers, to government staff and employees, and, sometimes, to the general public. It is essential that libraries of government departments are organised and managed so as to collect and provide the information most needed by government decision makers, government workers, and the…

E-Learning is a vast and complex research topic that poses many challenges in every aspect: educational and pedagogical strategies and techniques and the tools for achieving them; usability, accessibility and user interface design; knowledge sharing and collaborative environments; technologies, architectures, and protocols; user activity…

There's no shortage of library management books out there--but how many of them actually tackle the little details of day-to-day management, the hard-to-categorize things that slip through the cracks of a larger handbook? "Library Management Tips that Work" does exactly that, addressing dozens of such issues facing library managers, including: (1)…

The introduction of the Data Protection Act 1998 has presented significant challenges to counselling recording, through its detailed requirements for the processing of personal data. The impact of these changes on recording in Higher Education counselling services in the UK is explored, using responses from an electronic survey of universities and…

Despite intensive security measures, institutions are still suffering breaches--sometimes quite painful and costly ones. After a major breach was reported at UCLA this past November, the author spoke with "Educause" security expert Rodney Petersen, to get his perspective and advice for higher education leadership. This article presents…

The USA Patriot Act is having far-reaching effects on the kinds of data that wind up on some academics' computers in Canada. Canadian colleges, responding to provincial laws passed in reaction to the Patriot Act, are preventing professors from entering the United States with students' private data on their laptops and limiting the locations of…

This paper focuses on "technologies for voice" that are related to the self-determination of youth with developmental disabilities. The authors describe a self-determination model that values family-focused, community-referenced pedagogies employing "new media" to give voice to youth and their families. In line with the adage that a picture is…

In this article, the author conducts a preliminary review of the tragedy at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007. He explains how and why such terrible events occur and provides some insights, principles, and strategies that may assist colleges in their quest to provide an optimally safe environment for their students and staff.

In this article, the author discusses attempts by schools to navigate stepped-up federal efforts to curb illegal immigration, protection of student privacy, and the safety of students during enforcement operations. In Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico, for example, school personnel are barred from putting information about a child's immigration…

The purpose of this proposed bill from the Judiciary Committee to the second session of the hundredth Congress is to preserve personal privacy with respect to the rental, purchase, or delivery of videotapes or similar audiovisual materials. The Video Privacy Protection Act prohibits videotape service providers from disclosing personally…