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COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FEBRUARY 4, 1999
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INTERNET
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MCI WORLDCOM PLANS INTERNET SERVICE FOR RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERS NATIONWIDE
Issue: ISPs
Newly merged MCI WorldCom is expected to announce today a plan to offer
Internet access service to residential customers. When the merger was first
announced, some consumer advocates were worried that the combined company
may ignore residential areas in favor of more profitable corporate clients.
"Any telecom company on the planet that is looking at the consumer market
has to have a bundle of services to offer," said Forrester Research's
Christopher Mines. "They have to have local and long distance and they have
to have Internet." MCI WorldCom will offer Internet access through the UUNet
backbone which the company owns.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B6), AUTHOR: Stephanie Mehta]
<http://wsj.com/>
IBM REACHES OUT TO BLIND WITH TALKING BROWSER
Issue: Access
IBM has unveiled a talking Web browser for blind and visually impaired
Internet users. The Home Page Reader for Windows, available for $149, reads
aloud information found on Web pages. The browser is available in English
and Japanese and will be released in other languages later this year. The
software was developed at IBM's Tokyo Research Laboratory.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR:Reuters]
<http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/merc/docs/061187.htm>
ART SCHOOLS BECOME CREATIVE ABOUT ONLINE INSTRUCTION
Issue: EdTech/Arts
"The capabilities of online instruction are well beyond what people
imagine," said Ben Bell, a professor of instructional technology at
Columbia. "Art is a great example of a topic that skeptics would see as one
that could not be taught effectively online. But arts is actually ideally
suited." The article points to a number of examples of online instruction
including Drawing & Painting <www.dialnsa.edu>, <www.mica.edu>,
<wwww.saumag.edu/art/studio/chalkboard.html>; Photography
<www.kodak.com/global/en/consumer/education/lessonPlans/pinholeCamera/>
(that's pinhole, not pinhead), <www.shortcourses.com>, and
<www.photonet.com>; and Design <www.corcoran.edu/online> and
<www.montgomerycollege.edu/online>.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (), AUTHOR: ]
<http://wsj.com/>