On May 7, 1997, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted a Universal Service Order outlining a plan to guarantee that all eligible schools, libraries, and rural health care providers have affordable connections to the Internet. By making $2.5 billion available annually, this program will provide discounts (commonly known as the E-rate)…

Telecommunications infrastructure has the dual challenges of maintaining quality while accommodating change, issues that have long been met through a series of implementation standards. This document is designed to ensure that telecommunications systems within the Maryland public school system are also capable of meeting both challenges and…

A discussion of H.R. 1407, a bill to establish procedures to improve the allocation and assignment to the electromagnetic spectrum centered on the current policy of allocating portions of the spectrum through lotteries and auction. This report includes a copy of the bill, the text of testimony presented and materials submitted for the record, and…

Studies of media systems should be part of English education so students could understand how language functions in social contexts. (JH)

These introductory remarks presented at the plenary session of the 1989 Telecommunications Policy Research Conference outline major areas of concern to state regulators, including alternatives to rate of return legislation; open network architecture; content issues; technical standards and compatibility; optimal pricing; cross subsidies and…

This examination of the open network architecture (ONA) concept and what can be expected as it is currently being implemented begins by defining the open architecture concept as the term is used in the communications and data processing fields. The marketplace benefits that flow from an open architecture are then summarized and the additional…

This paper discusses technical considerations surrounding open network architecture (ONA), specifically: (1) the technical characteristics of the Public Networks (Local Exchange Carriers LATA Networks); (2) the impact of ONA success on the Public Network and some concerns that will have to be addressed in the early implementation stages; and (3)…

This analysis of First Amendment rights for the electronic media recounts the stories of the broadcasting/cable industry must-carry compromise of 1986 and the failed codification of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987. It is noted that these cases were peculiar because, in each instance, the most powerful media in the country willingly sought abridgment…

This paper opens with a brief discussion of what some have seen as an unusual threshold decision by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to establish a broadcast high definition television (HDTV) system. It then identifies the spectrum and standards tradeoffs which are posed by the establishment of a HDTV broadcast transmission standard,…

This analysis of the pattern of industrial interests in the current debate over high definition television systems argues that the debate involves more than just television; rather, it is an expression of a shift in the conceptualization of the nature of standards, one which conceives of standards as guidelines for the development of specific…

This annotated bibliography lists 10 articles and documents selected through a search of the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) database. They are: (1) "The Use of Computers in the Instructional Process in Australian Distance Education" (Geoff Arger and Debbie Clayton); (2) "Distance Education Technologies: All That Glitters Is Not…

This document consist of the abstracts for two papers which considered the impact of information technologies on political and economic systems. The first paper, "The Political Repercussions of Transnational Corporate Information Systems" (Terry Curtis), argued that information technologies are the most recent in a series of…

This digest describes how to use a microcomputer as a terminal to access ERIC online. Hardware and software requirements are explained, configuring the software is described, and basic requirements for specific microcomputers are listed. One diagram is included. (EW)

One floor-to-ceiling panel houses all electrical/electronic controls in the classrooms of seven Chicago schools. (MLF)

A case study prepared by CEDO and the Commonwealth Secretariat for the Report on the Use of New Media for Educational Purposes in Newfoundland. (Author/HB)