Episode 0020, 10/21/2007
Title: Global Library, Comcast's Tiered Network, College Storage Crisis
Welcome to Course Technology's CourseCast of the WEEK, Episode 20, recorded October 21st, 2007.
This is Ken Baldauf bringing you this week's technology news and information.
This CourseCast is brought to you by Course Technology. Check out www.course.com for innovative textbooks and creative electronic learning solutions.
Story 1 - The World's Digital Library
A tremendous global effort is underway to digitize materials in the world's most prestigious libraries and make them available over the Internet for free. This week the Library of Congress signed an agreement with Unesco, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, to move ahead with the World Digital Library project. The project began in 2005 with a $3 million grant from Google and technical assistance from Apple. Besides the US Library of Congress, national libraries of Britain, France, Egypt, Brazil, Russia, and other countries will be included. The World Library will be searchable in seven languages, and will include manuscripts, maps, rare books, musical scores, audio recordings, films, photographs, drawings, and other significant cultural materials. It is scheduled to open online next year. The goals of the project are "to promote international and inter-cultural understanding and awareness, to provide resources to educators, expand non-English and non-Western content on the Internet, and to contribute to scholarly research." The library will be available on PC, handheld devices, and inexpensive laptops being distributed in developing countries. Find out more at www.worlddigitallibrary.org.
Source: Library of Congress Advances 2 Digital Projects Abroad (nytimes)
Story 2 - Comcast's Tiered Network?
The Associated Press published an article this week exposing techniques used by Comcast to interfere with file sharing over peer-to-peer networks such as BitTorrent, eDonkey, and Gnutella. NewsFactor calls it "the most drastic example yet of data discrimination by a U.S. Internet service provider". Comcast spokesman Charlie Douglas confirmed that Comcast uses sophisticated methods to keep Net connections running smoothly, but stated that "Comcast does not block access to any applications, including BitTorrent". Tests by the Associated Press show that Comcast blocks or delays files being uploaded on file-sharing networks. Whether this is a deliberate attempt by Comcast to discourage illegal use of its network, or just a side effect of efforts to keep network traffic flowing smoothly, it amounts to discrimination of a particular type of Internet service. A tiered network of this nature runs contrary to the principle of network neutrality in which all data packets receive equal treatment as they travel over the Internet. Network neutrality supporters believe that the telecom companies should not have the power to create tiered networks by giving precedents to some data over others. The telecom companies believe that they own the networks and should be able to exercise control over the flow of data over their networks. It boils down to this: who really owns the Internet, the public or the telecom companies that own the technology? Without doubt this will be the topic of many future court battles.
Source: Comcast Blocks Some Internet Traffic (newsfactor)
Story 3 - College Storage Crisis
System administrators at colleges around the US are overwhelmed by the amount of data being stored on their networks. The growing demand for storage capacity is a result of an increase in the use of virtual classroom technologies, and an increasing use of large media files such as PowerPoint, digital audio, graphics, and video. The University of North Texas in Denton was prepared for a growth in email files from 700 GB to 3.5 TB, but found that they underestimated. They found that the email system ultimately required 15.2 TB. Many colleges are imposing storage quotas on their network users, and enforce policies that restrict network resources to academic work. Some colleges are turning to online storage as a way to reduce the load. Duke University has a contract with Boston-based Iron Mountain Inc to store backups of student and faculty files.
Sources: Colleges Struggle to Keep Up With Storage Demands (Computerworld), Some colleges turning to online storage options (Computerworld)
Story 4 - Unified Communications
A recent trend that made itself apparent in this weeks news is unified communications. The idea behind unified communications, or UC, is to combine all forms of electronic communications: voice, text, video, and application sharing, into one unified system to consolidate and simplify communications. Most of the big tech companies have designs in the works for unified communications systems. Whoever is the first to market with an attractive solution could make billions. For the most part, these systems are targeted at business use. A report from Gartner states "The largest single value of UC is its ability to reduce "human latency" in business processes." In other words, UC allows people in an organization to communicate and share information effortlessly as individuals or in groups.
This week Microsoft introduced two new programs to its UC efforts that let users place phone calls from its Outlook e-mail program. The system makes use of VoIP, Voice over IP, to send voice communications over the Internet.
There is also a move to unify online personal communications. Ever get tired of tracking communications through several different services, like Yahoo mail, Facebook messages, and AIM? Two new Internet startups are focused on simplifying your online communications. Fuser and Orgoo both provide one central location to view all of your online communications.
Sources: Microsoft Moves to Add Phone Calls to Its E-Mail Program (NYTimes), Microsoft Partners Back Unified Communications (PCWorld), Four startups ready to change the face of email (VentureBeat)
New Briefs
That's it for this week's CourseCast. Links to this week's stories and many more news and information resources are provided at the CourseCast Web site at www.course.com/coursecasts. Until next time have a great week and be sure to take advantage of the Power -- of Technology!