The Argonne National Laboratory, Division of Educational Programs offers the Newton BBS. The program started in November of 1991 as an educational resource and a place for K-12 science, math and computer teachers and their students to practice telecommunications, to contact research scientists, and to connect teachers. Students and teachers can submit a question about math, science or computers or...

These two reports focus on the role the Internet is playing in the mission of US institutions. The first, from Darrell M. West, Brown University, updates his report for 2000 (discussed in the September 22, 2000 Scout Report) on the electronic delivery of government information and services. The 23-page report looks at the functionality and accessibility of state and government Websites, progress...

Why Google Won’t Give In http://www.forbes.com/technology/ebusiness/2006/01/24/internet-search-porn_cx_ckrr_0124google.html Google censors itself for China http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4645596.stm I’m not nuts: they really are out to get you http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1072-2006482,00.html The Coming Tug of War Over The...

The brainchild of Robin Hamman a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Westminster's Hypermedia Research Centre, this Website bills itself as "an online resource for social scientists interested in the study of the internet, cyberspace, computer mediated communication, and online communities." The site offers issues of Cybersociology Magazine -- "an e-zine for those interested in the...

Funded by the Department of Education, this report offers the first comprehensive consideration of the effects of the Universal Service Fund for Schools and Libraries (known as the "E-Rate") created as part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 "to provide discounts on the cost of telecommunications services and equipment to all public and private schools and libraries." The specific aim of the...

How is technology changing our lives? It's a very difficult question to answer, but this engaging program from Frontline takes first steps into this brave new digital world. On a note that appears on the site's homepage, Rachel Dretzin (the producer) remarks that "Digital Nation is an effort to define this new space and to put some walls around it." On the homepage, visitors can watch the entire...

As readers of this report will discover, Americans are growing more sophisticated in their use of the Internet, both in terms of what they want out of it, as well as how they lend themselves to it. The Pew Internet Project reports that Americans are becoming increasingly more demanding and thoughtful when it comes to the Web, spending more time interacting with it in personally meaningful ways,...

As the podcast IRL points out, "Our online life is real life. We walk, talk, work, LOL and even love on the Internet but we don't always treat it like real life." Since occurrences and interactions online can frequently have real-world effects, this disconnect is worth pondering, and this is exactly the issue that IRL addresses. Currently in its fifth season, IRL was created by Firefox, and it is...

Librarians--Gatekeepers of the Information Age, or the New Luddites: Views from the 116th ALA Conference, has been added to the End User's Corner section of the Toolkit. It discusses the wide range of attitudes that librarians have toward the Internet as an information resource, as demonstrated in microcosm in a conference session led by Michael Gorman, James Rettig, and Samuel Demas at the recent...

Over the past few years, Weblogs have become quite popular, with thousands of individuals, organizations, and other groups forming their own sites devoted to this form of online expression. For those unfamiliar with this growing phenomenon, a Weblog is quite literally a "log" of the Web, where the author links to other Web pages he or she finds interesting, complete with running narration and...