Edupage, November 23, 2005

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TOP STORIES FOR WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2005
  Library of Congress Backs World Digital Library
  SANS Report Shows Direction of Hackers
  MPAA and BitTorrent Make Nice
  The Intersection of Technology and Cheating
  Giving a Face to Online Tutors


LIBRARY OF CONGRESS BACKS WORLD DIGITAL LIBRARY
The U.S. Library of Congress has launched an effort to create a vast
digital collection of artifacts representing the cultures of the world.
Librarian of Congress James Billington said the World Digital Library
would be "a documentary record of other great cultures of the world,"
dealing "with the culture of those people rather than with our contacts
as Americans with those cultures." The new initiative will use as
models the American Memory Project, which has digitized more than 10
million items representing "Americana," and the Global Gateway, a joint
project with five national libraries in Europe and Brazil that
highlights connections between those cultures and that of the United
States. Initial funding for the World Digital Library will come from
Google, which has pledged $3 million for the effort. Billington said he
hopes to attract other private funding for the project.
MSNBC, 22 November 2005
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10147556/

SANS REPORT SHOWS DIRECTION OF HACKERS
A new report from the SANS Institute identified cross-platform
applications and network operating systems as emerging targets for
hackers. The applications cited include backup software, antivirus
software, database software, and media players; operating systems for
routers and other network devices were also singled out. The report,
"20 Most Critical Internet Security Vulnerabilities in 2005," noted
that 13 of the top 20 were in these two types of technology, which are
among the least protected computer assets in many organizations. In the
2004 SANS report, neither category of technology was identified among
the worst threats; the 2005 report indicates that these types of
attacks account for 65 percent of the worst threats. Alan Paller,
director of research at the SANS Institute, commented, "Six years ago,
attackers targeted operating systems." Since then, makers of operating
systems have improved protections and implemented automatic patching.
"Now," he said, "the attackers are targeting popular applications, and
the vendors of those applications do not do automated patching. Here we
go again."
Federal Computer Week, 22 November 2005
http://www.fcw.com/article91516-11-22-05-Web

MPAA AND BITTORRENT MAKE NICE
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the creator of
BitTorrent technology have announced an agreement that will keep many
BitTorrent users from finding copyrighted movie files with the
technology. In May, Bram Cohen added a service to his site,
BitTorrent.com, that allowed users to search the Web for file downloads
that use the popular technology. Under the new agreement, Cohen will
remove copyrighted content from search results on his site. Although
his technology has become a favorite for many traders in copyrighted
material, Cohen does not offer services targeted at such users and has
previously discouraged using the technology for illegal file trading.
The entertainment industry has not targeted Cohen for prosecution for
copyright violations, but a number of individual BitTorrent users have
been sued for such violations. Despite the agreement, however, several
other sites that search the Web for BitTorrent downloads remain
operational.
CNET, 22 November 2005
http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-5967750.html

THE INTERSECTION OF TECHNOLOGY AND CHEATING
An expert in the impact of technology on teaching and learning has told
the British government that parents and teachers--not technology
tools--can effectively address the problem of Internet cheating.
Following a report from the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority
that identified widespread cheating, government officials sought advice
from Jean Underwood, professor at Nottingham Trent University, about
solutions to students' using technology to cheat. Underwood
acknowledged that the line between providing appropriate assistance to
a student and facilitating cheating is not always clearly defined, and
she noted that some technologies can help examiners easily identify
instances of plagiarism. But students, she said, will forever be able
to find ways to circumvent technology that screens for cheating. The
real solution will be to change student attitudes toward their work,
making them understand the value of doing it themselves and genuinely
learning the material.
BBC, 22 November 2005
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/4460702.stm

GIVING A FACE TO ONLINE TUTORS
Some researchers developing electronic tutoring tools are adding
animated faces that talk to students and respond to questions. Amy L.
Baylor, associate professor of instructional systems at Florida State
University, has created what she calls "pedagogical
agents"--essentially a talking head on a screen that she believes
provides a more compelling experience for students. Baylor has
conducted research into the effectiveness of varying types of tutoring
"characters," from older males to younger female faces. She said that
students always rate male personas as more credible than female ones,
but research has also shown that "female agents are more motivating
than male agents." Ronald A. Cole, professor and director of the Center
for Spoken Language Research at the University of Colorado at Boulder,
has created similar models and said they have demonstrated real
benefits to student learning. Others are not convinced that a face adds
much to the learning experience. Kurt VanLehn, professor of computer
science and a director of the Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center at
the University of Pittsburgh, focuses his efforts on text-based online
tutoring programs. He said he considered adding a character to his
application but decided against it, noting that the "literature on the
talking heads is mixed."
Chronicle of Higher Education, 23 November 2005 (sub. req'd)
http://chronicle.com/daily/2005/11/2005112301t.htm

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