National Higher Education Associations rally around telecom reform
As Congress begins to review the Telecommunications Act, ten major higher education groups including Educause and the American Council on Education have formed a coalition to support telecommunications reform and promote the rapid deployment of advanced Internet Services. The coalition, Broadband for Higher Education, has outlined the following principles for telecommunications reform:
- Make high-speed access open for all
- Create a level playing field for competing technologies
- Support for state and local networks
- Increased R&D funding that will enhance the Internet.
For more information: http://www.broadbandforhighereducation.org/index.html
New report shows rural counties increasing high-speed access
A report from the e-NC Authority indicates North Carolina’s rural counties are gaining ground on the urban areas at a faster rate than the national average. The report indicates that by the end of 2004, 82 percent of households in North Carolina had access to high-speed Internet services (via cable modem or DSL) as compared to 80 percent in 2003. Also, 75 percent of rural households and 90 percent of urban households had access to high-speed Internet services in 2004 as compared to 72 percent of rural and 89 percent of urban households in 2003. For more information:
http://www.e-nc.org/pdf/100CountyReport2004.pdf
IBM gives NCSSM $5 million in software and products
The North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics became the first NC high school to become included in IBM’s academic initiative. IBM recently announced that the company will give $5 Million to the school in software and products. The purpose of the initiative is to help support educators in training their students for the jobs of tomorrow. The company’s partnership with NCSSM places special emphasis on encouraging students to pursue careers based on science and math, especially technology, engineering and biotechnology. For more information:
http://www.ncssm.edu/welcome/docs/res_scisym_ai.pdf
Music industry sues students for illegal file sharing over Internet2
Recently, the Recording Industry Association of America filed two rounds of federal copyright lawsuits against nearly 500 students at 33 colleges and universities with access to the Internet2 network. None of the colleges in the University of North Carolina system was included in the lawsuit. “As long as students continue to corrupt this specialized academic network for the flagrant theft of music, we will continue to make it clear that there are consequences for these unlawful actions,” said Cary Sherman, President, RIAA.
http://www.riaa.com/news/newsletter/052605.asp
The Kuali Project receives $2.5 million from Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
A university-led project to advance the development of an open source financial system for colleges and universities, named the Kuali Project, recently received a gift of $2.5 Million from the Mellon Foundation. The Kuali Financial System is based on a financial system design used at Indiana University for over ten years. The aim of this project is to create a state-of-the art, open source, scalable software specifically tailored to the needs of higher education. Indiana University, the University of Hawaii, Cornell University, Michigan State University, the University of Arizona and San Joaquin Delta College, and the National Association of College and University Business Officers are contributing to this initiative. For more information, see: http://www.kuali.org.
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