“The big idea of giving PCs to poor children has been challenged by educators and business. Here, follow the misadventures of One Laptop per Child”

Business Week

What the Internet is doing to our brains

Article from the Atlantic

Chronicle of Higher Education

“Cosmetic surgery is everywhere: we are surrounded by altered, enhanced, skinny and stretched celebrities, in a hyped media culture that focuses increasingly on the body beautiful. Once only associated with the rich and famous, cosmetic surgery is now widely available, advertised in magazines, doctors’ surgeries, and even on television. In some parts of the world it has become an aesthetic and cultural norm, yet remains deeply troubling for many.

Skintight argues that cosmetic surgery is the most provocative and controversial aspect of a new ‘makeover culture’. Shows such as Ten Years Younger and Extreme Makeover demonstrate that ‘fixing’ the body is a way to improve lifestyle and uncover true identity. Meanwhile, celebrities such as Michael Jackson and Jocelyn Wildenstein demonstrate the horrors of extreme surgical alteration.

Presenting a multidisciplinary approach, and examining a wide range of popular culture case studies from women’s magazines, television, architecture and the Internet amongst others, Skintight dissects the realities of cosmetic surgery and culture.”

Link

Freshman hit with 147 academic charges for online study network at Ryerson University

Toronto Star

“The digital divide between rich and poor countries is narrowing as mobile phones and Internet use become more available, but the developing world still lags far behind, a United Nations report said Wednesday.”

Link

53 Country Reports

http://www.infodev.org/en/Publication.354.html

“States require that teachers have a valid teaching license and ultimately professional certification. While “the majority of online teachers are certified public school teachers, with experience teaching in public schools” (Davis, Rose, & NACOL Research Committee and Working Group, 2007, p. 8), is any regular classroom teacher already qualified to teach online?”

THE Journal

“The World Intellectual Property Organization wants to educate you about copyright. Well, not so much you as your 9 to 14-year old children, who are the targets of a new 72-page workbook (PDF) filled with “colorful examples” of copyright law in action. The most surprising thing about the booklet? The fact that it devotes eight pages to coverage of the public domain and other limitations on copyright”

Link

“The Library of Congress, through its National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP), today announced eight partnerships as part of its new Preserving Creative America initiative to address the long-term preservation of creative content in digital form. These partners will target preservation issues across a broad range of creative works, including digital photographs, cartoons, motion pictures, sound recordings and even video games. The work will be conducted by a combination of industry trade associations, private sector companies and nonprofits, as well as cultural heritage institutions.”

http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2007/07-156.html