Examines developments in networking for K-12 education, including the High Performance Computing Act of 1991, national telecommunications proposals, growing participation in the National Research and Education Network (NREN), state networks, technical issues, and the Consortium for School Networking. Stages toward the goal of developing…

This address by the chairman of the House of Representatives Science Subcommittee focuses on approaches to improving access to national networks, including legislation that would allow telephone companies to offer cable service. A hearing on the establishment of the National Research and Education Network (NREN) is summarized, and guiding…

Discusses the legal concerns of free access to information, tort liability, and free speech in a commercial electronic networking environment. Recommends that legal questions be addressed through case law, Congressional hearings, and agency solicitations, and that network service providers protect themselves by posting notice of equal access…

Reviews distance-education technologies, their uses for rural schools, and related issues. Lists advantages and disadvantages for satellite TV teaching, microcomputer networks, and two-way TV instruction. Concludes that technologies' advantages outweigh disadvantages. Suggests final decision making and assessment depend on local program content…

Reasons why institutions of higher education might choose to acquire computer services from off-campus suppliers are identified and include the difficulty of maintaining a qualified technical systems group. The importance of careful management oversight from contract bidding to ongoing performance monitoring is stressed. (DB)

Development of the newly federally authorized National Research and Education Network should offer administrative computing and communications organizations at institutions of higher education new levels of network capacity, connectivity, and reliability. Administrative applications will include improved professional communications, sharing of…

This article describes Arizona State University's solution to security risk inherent in general access systems such as TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/INTERNET Protocol). Advantages and disadvantages of various options are compared, and the process of selecting a log-on authentication approach involving generation of a different password at…

Argues that making agricultural information produced by the federal government in electronic formats available through private vendors may lead to inequitable access for its users and challenges the federal government's role in the dissemination of agricultural information. An information public for agricultural information is defined, and…

Includes seven articles that report on the 1991 library director's conference sponsored by VTLS Inc. Highlights include linking multimedia digital libraries; NREN (National Research and Education Network) and CNI (Coalition for Networked Information); the role of NCLIS (National Commission on Libraries and Information Sciences): library…

Discusses electronic information resources related to former Soviet and east European studies that are available through academic communications networks such as BITNET. Descriptions and access information are provided for online library catalogs, databases, discussion groups, listservers, and electronic journals. Electronic mail links with former…

Discusses knowledge acquisition and dissemination in a network environment. Obstacles to the electronic exchange of knowledge and functional requirements for knowledge acquisition, dissemination, and management are summarized. A prototype intelligent Internet interface that mediates knowledge acquisition and dissemination and preliminary test…

Lists the speakers and summarizes the issues addressed for 12 panel sessions on topics related to networking, including libraries and national networks, federal national resources and energy programs, multimedia issues, telecommuting, remote image serving, accessing the Internet, library automation, scientific information, applications of Z39.50,…

Discusses management issues that librarians face in offering public access to library resources through internetworking services, e.g., local area networks, campus networks, or the INTERNET. It is concluded that interface problems and lack of an effective technical support structure make access to library information on INTERNET more of an…

Presents a library automation vendor's perspective on networking based on activities at Ameritech Information Systems. Topics discussed include the information explosion; information technology; user expectations and needs; remote access; the library of the future; systems integration; ownership versus access; copyright laws; and the role of the…

Examines the world of integrated learning systems, focusing on research that explains their success and noting what needs to be done to make them more effective in elementary education. The article recommends creating a method to demonstrate their success or failure rate in improving scores on achievement tests. (SM)