This two-phase study of the use of networks and information retrieval systems by schools in Australia was designed to inquire as to the extent that schools are using all available networks; how appropriate and effective these sources of information are for schools; how costly such services might be; and what developments can be reasonably expected…

This brief report on a visit to Athabasca University, a distance education institution in Alberta (Canada), and ACCESS-Alberta, an educational communications system, indicates the numbers and types of courses offered by the University, and describes the types of media used in the program. These types of media include: print-based, telephone…

This document describes the development of computer conferencing (CC) and its role within information service communities, particularly in Finland and Sweden. CC is defined as a computer-based messaging (CBM) system providing an asynchronous communications structure for group work. It is noted that CC differs from electronic mail and that CC…

Computer networks can fall into three broad categories--local area networks (LAN), microcomputer based messaging systems (this includes computer bulletin board systems), or commercial information systems. Many of the same types of activities take place within the three categories. The major differences are the types of information available and…

These 40 papers were selected on the basis of their contribution to building an effective knowledge base for professionals facing the Pacific telecommunications challenge. A foreword, a list of conference organizations and sponsors, and 13 session summaries precede the papers, which are organized generally by topic: (1) local and national…

Acknowledging the importance of communications in economic development, this paper discusses the rationale behind the decision of the Andean Pact nations of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela to develop a regional satellite communication system to be known as CONDOR. The application of contextual theorizing to the decision-making…

Technology is moving to integrate communications and information, making it possible to provide a wide variety of services, and the United States must strive to develop a unified national telecommunications policy if it is to keep up with these changes. The United States is only a small part of what is clearly and rapidly becoming a global…

A year-long study of telecommunications policies and regulations in nine states--Texas, California, Florida, Illinois, Nebraska, New York, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington--found that these states tend to be more flexible in their telecommunications regulation than other states, although the process for achieving this flexibility has tended to…

In this paper, the tools of legal and economic analysis are used to analyze the division of decision making authority between state and federal regulators of telecommunications policy. First, the principles of welfare economics are applied to the problem of defining appropriate jurisdictional boundaries. The results of this analysis are normative…

The document describes efforts begun by the Canadian province of Alberta to apply telecommunications technology on a broad basis in special education, through the involvement of provincial and local agencies and public and private sectors. A brief history of the development of Alberta's educational technology over the past two decades is offered.…

This evaluation of the leadership and decision making of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the General Services Administration (GSA) in managing the federal government's telecommunications determined that both agencies need to engage in sufficient planning and analysis to determine which telecommunications systems should be centrally…

This report provides an analysis of the Subcommittee on Science, Research and Technology's hearings on H.R. 3137 (the Information Science and Technology Act of 1981), focusing on major issues discussed and various alternatives for action proposed by witnesses at the hearings. The primary purposes of the act are to provide a forum for considering…

This evaluation of information security programs in the executive agencies of the U.S. federal government was requested by the Subcommittee on Government Information and Individual Rights, a part of the Congressional Committee on Government Operations. The report focuses on automated systems for personal, proprietary, and other sensitive…

The second educational technology review panel addressed problems with forecasting the trends and impact of newer telecomunications technologies in both home and institution of higher education settings, and the role of several grant programs in educational technology. Paul Mertins provided an update on a National Center for Education Statistics…

For more than a decade, the Academy for Educational Development's Clearinghouse on Development Communication has collected information and chronicled trends in the application of communications technology to development--communication which has as its purpose the deliberate promotion of one or more aspects of national development. This paper…