Πως να αλλάξετε το encoding του προτύπου (template) σας

Ο φίλος και διαχειριστής του μπλογκ kypriakablogs (Γιάννης Ι.) μου έχει ζητήσει κάποιες πληροφορίες σχετικά με τη διόρθωση του encoding σε UTF-8 γιατί κάποια templates (πρότυπα) που είναι έτοιμα από τον blogger της google και που χρησιμοποιούμε οι περισσότεροι δε δείχνουν σωστά τα ελληνικά.

 

Πιο κάτω λοιπόν, φαίνεται το πάνω ακριβώς μέρος του κώδικα του μπλογκ σας. Θα το βρείτε αν πάτε στον Πανόπτη/ρυθμίσεις/διάταξη/επεξεργασία HTML.

Κάτω από τον τίτλο «επεξεργασία προτύπου» παρουσίαζεται ένα κουτί. Μέσα σε αυτό θα δείτε πως ο κώδικας ξεκινά με αυτό περίπου το text:

 

 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"

"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">

<html expr:dir='data:blog.languageDirection'

xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'

xmlns:b='http://www.google.com/2005/gml/b'

xmlns:data='http://www.google.com/2005/gml/data'

xmlns:expr='http://www.google.com/2005/gml/expr'>

<head>

    <b:include data='blog' name='all-head-content'/>

    <title><data:blog.pageTitle/></title>

    <b:skin><![CDATA[/*

-----------------------------------------------

Blogger Template Style

Name: 565

Designer: Douglas Bowman

URL: www.stopdesign.com Date: 28 Feb 2004 Updated by: Blogger Team

----------------------------------------------- */

 

το κιτρινισμένο μέσα στα εισαγωγικά να αλλάξει και να γίνει όπως αυτό αν για παράδειγμα είναι "ISO-8859-7" ή "windows-1253"

 

 

 

EU leaders meet this weekend to discuss the economic crisis.

In the face of the global economic downturn and the climate crisis, a brilliant new idea is taking hold: green recovery. 

From China's Hu Jintao to Obama in the U.S., leaders are realizing that a green recovery -- investing in renewable fuels, efficiency, and new technology -- is the best way to create jobs and save the planet at the same time. Ben Wikler - Avaaz.org

should i say "i told you so, 3 years ago"? link to my article (it is in greek, you can translate it at www.babelfish.yahoo.com) 

citro

Το μπέρδεμα με το Gadget "Αναγνώστες"

Το πιο κάτω άρθρο υπογράφει η Άσπα Online

Αν έχετε blog στην πλατφόρμα blogger και χρησιμοποιείτε το gadget «Αναγνώστες» μπορεί να διαπιστώσατε ότι οι αναγνώστες που παρακολουθούν το ιστολόγιό σας ξαφνικά μειώθηκαν. Ο λόγος που συνέβη αυτό είναι ότι κάποιοι από τους αναγνώστες σας μετατράπηκαν αυτόματα και εν αγνοία τους σε «ανώνυμους αναγνώστες» και η φωτογραφία τους σταμάτησε να εμφανίζεται σε όλα ή ορισμένα από τα blog που παρακολουθούσαν.

Με τον ίδιο τρόπο αν εσείς παρακολουθούσατε κάποια blog μέσω του gadget των Αναγνωστών πιθανόν να έχετε σταματήσει να εμφανίζεστε ως αναγνώστες στα blog τα οποία παρακολουθούσατε.

Τι χρειάζεται λοιπόν να κάνετε προκειμένου το θέμα να διορθωθεί;

Εκείνο που χρειάζεται να κάνετε είναι να μεταβείτε στον Πανόπτη σας και να πατήσετε το μπλε κουμπί ΔΙΑΧΕΙΡΙΣΗ. Στη νέα σελίδα που θα εμφανιστεί πρέπει να αλλάξετε το status σας από «Ανώνυμος» σε «Δημόσιο» για όλα τα blog στα οποία θέλετε να εμφανίζεστε ως αναγνώστες. Αυτό είναι όλο, η φωτογραφία σας στα blog αυτά θα επανεμφανιστεί! Το ίδιο χρειάζεται να κάνουν και όλοι οι αναγνώστες σας στο δικό τους Πανόπτη προκειμένου να επανεμφανιστούν ως αναγνώστες.

Θα θυμάστε επίσης ότι τα ιστολόγια που παρακολουθούσατε εμφανίζονταν αυτόματα και στο προφίλ σας του Blogger. Μετά το μπέρδεμα μπορεί να έχουν εξαφανιστεί από τη λίστα αυτή και παρά τις παραπάνω ενέργειες να μην επανεμφανίζονται. Σύμφωνα με το Google το συγκεκριμένο θέμα θα λυθεί επίσης το συντομότερο δυνατόν.

Ο λόγος που συνέβη το μπέρδεμα εξηγείται εδώ και έχει σχέση με τη δρομολόγηση συνεργασίας του gadget «Αναγνώστες» με τα gadget «Google Friend Connect» που ανήκουν όλα στην Google αλλά ως τώρα λειτουργούσαν ανεξάρτητα. Το gadget των Μελών Google Friend Connect, το βλέπετε και στο δικό μου blog, στη δεξιά στήλη με τίτλο Δικτυωθείτε. Δίνει τη δυνατότητα σε όλους τους αναγνώστες, ανεξάρτητα από το αν έχουν blog ή όχι (ή ανεξάρτητα πλατφόρμας στην οποία φιλοξενείται το blog τους, blogger, wordpress κλπ) να γίνουν μέλη, να συνδέονται μεταξύ τους και να δικτυώνονται.

Υ.Γ. Δεν πιστεύω να ξεχνάτε να κάνετε backup στο blog σας ανά τακτά χρονικά διαστήματα… Δείτε οδηγίες για το πώς στο πρόσφατο άρθρο του metablogging.gr.

Κάποιες σκέψεις για τα βιβλία της ιστορίας..

Καλά, το σκεφτήκαμε σοβαρά;

Ας το ξανασκεφτούμε λίγο λέω, και ας αναρωτηθούμε ποιος ο σκοπός του "βιβλίου" σε ένα μάθημα ιστορίας: Απλά δεν είναι άλλος από το "να διδάξει".

Ξεχνούμε, φαίνεται, πως η κριτική σκέψη ΔΕ ΔΙΔΑΣΚΕΤΑΙ ΑΛΛΑ ΜΑΘΑΙΝΕΤΑΙ ΚΑΙ ΚΑΛΛΙΕΡΓΕΙΤΑΙ.

Και η διαφορά είναι τεράστια! Γιατί έχει σημασία τι νόημα προσδίδουμε στη διδασκαλία και τι νόημα προσδίδουμε στη μάθηση. Παρόλο που η γλώσσα δεν είναι το δυνατό μου σημείο όσο κι' αν την αγαπώ ως εργαλείο επικοινωνίας και όχι μόνον (!) (όχι όμως προκοπής οικονομικής και ανόδου επαγγελματικής) θα αποτολμήσω να κάνω ένα λογοπαίγνιο: ανεξάρτητα από το αν η "διδασκαλία" προέρχεται από το ασκώ-γνώση ή δίδω-καλό ή δίδω-άσκηση δεν έχει σημασία γιατί όλα αυτά σήμερα είναι απαραίτητα για την ανάπτυξη του νέου ανθρώπου. Με την άσκηση της κριτικής σκέψης λοιπόν θέλουμε να φτιάξουμε ανθρώπους ελεύθερους και ανεξάρτητους, αυτενεργούς και χρηστούς.  

Γι' αυτό φυσικά δε θα δώσουμε το βιβλίο στο μαθητή και θα του πούμε "μάθε το και θα σε εξετάσω στο τέλος της χρονιάς" αλλά ούτε και να περιμένουμε πως θα είναι τόσο ευφάνταστο και ελκυστικό αυτό το βιβλίο που θα σαγηνέψει το μαθητή και δε θα ξεκολλήσει από πάνω του μόλις το πάρει στα χέρια μέχρι να διαβάσει και το τελευταίο κόμμα, ώστε "να μάθει" αυτά που λέει ή να κάνει αυτά που προτείνει το βιβλίο.

Πιστεύω πως το βιβλίο της ιστορίας θα έπρεπε να είναι κάπως έτσι:

όχι δεν προσπαθώ να διασκεδάσω κανένα!

ούτε ειρωνεύομαι καμία θέση. Απλά προσπαθώ να στηρίξω μια επιχειρηματολογία.

ακολουθείστε με λοιπόν:

Αναλογιστείτε απλώς, πως μόλις πάρει στα χέρια του ένας μαθητής αυτό το λευκό βιβλίο με τις εκατοντάδες άδειες σελίδες,

,

 είναι η γνώση του για την ιστορία της κύπρου, ή τουλάχιστον πρέπει να είναι, λευκή. θα του ζητήσουμε λοιπόν να γεμίσει μέχρι το τέλος της χρονιάς αυτές τις σελίδες μέσα από τη δική του έρευνα ώστε να φαίνεται μέσα από τα γραφώμενά του ο τρόπος που ίδιος εργάστηκε ώστε να φαίνεται και η δική του ανάπτυξη κρίσης.

Βέβαια αν έχει ήδη ανεπτυγμένη και τη δημιουργική του σκέψη μαζί με την κριτική τότε το βιβλίο στο τέλος της χρονιάς θα πρέπει να είναι κάπως έτσι:

Γιατί απλά: ΠΟΙΟΣ ΛΟΓΙΚΟΣ ΑΝΘΡΩΠΟΣ ΘΑ ΣΠΑΤΑΛΟΥΣΕ ΕΚΑΤΟΝΤΑΔΕΣ ΣΕΛΙΔΕΣ ΧΑΡΤΙΟΥ ΑΦΟΥ ΥΠΑΡΧΕΙ Ο Η/Υ;

έτσι απλά θα έσκιζε τις σελίδες (προσέξτε όχι και το πλαστικό επικάλυμμα) και θα τις έδινε για ανακύκλωση, ενώ θα φύλαγε το υπόλοιπο για να φτιάξει, ας πούμε, μια φωτογραφοθήκη!

Τώρα αν μέσα σε αυτή θα έβαζε το Μακάριο ή το Γρίβα δε ξέρουμε... εξαρτάται από τα αποτελέσματα και τα συμπεράσματα της δικής του έρευνας.

Ας σοβαρευτούμε λοιπόν...

Δε διδάσκεται μια επιστήμη το περιεχόμενο της οποίας δεν έχει προσδιοριστεί. Μπορεί όμως να προετοιμάσεις επιστήμονες που να είναι σε θέση να πάρουν την επιστημονική κοινότητα ένα βήμα παρά πέρα. 

Τα παιδιά μας θα είναι άξια διδακτορικού αν καλλιεργήσουν σε ικανοποιητικό βαθμό την κριτική τους σκέψη. Και αυτό είναι που χρειάζεται. 

Σε ένα ηλεκτρονικό πορτφόλιο να αποθηκεύονται όλες οι συζητήσεις, αναφορές κλπ. σε φόρα ηλεκτρονικά, μπλογκς, που έχουν συμμετάσχει ενεργά, να φαίνονται οι πηγές που βρήκαν, η σταδιακή αλλαγή στο λόγο, τα επιχειρήματα και στη σκέψη τους μέσα από την έρευνα που θα κάνουν καθ΄όλη τη χρονιά ώστε μέχρι να τελειώσουν το Λύκειο να έχουν τη δική τους τεκμηρειωμένη άποψη και όχι αυτή που δανείστηκαν από το κόμμα που ψήφιζε ο παππούς τους. 

Έτσι φτιάχνουμε πολίτες με άποψη και δεν αναπαραγάγουμε την κοινωνία του παρελθώντος με τα λάθη της μαζί. 

Τα βιβλία σεβαστά αλλά όταν πρόκειται για διδακτικά βιβλία που διαμορφώνουν ανθρώπους χρειάζεται προσοχή γιατί μπορεί και να παραμορφώνουν. 

- Αυτό τουλάχιστον έκαναν μέχρι σήμερα!

polis aniftos, εκπαιδευτικός

The Most Terrifying Video You'll Ever See

Watch this scenario building argument about global warming:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zORv8wwiadQ&feature=related

citro

spread the word

50 Tips and Tricks to Create a Learning Space in Second Life

 By Heather Johnson

The popular virtual world of Second Life attracts online gamers, former Sim City addicts, entrepreneurs-in-training, and tech-savvy teachers. The educational possibilities through Second Life allow teachers and employers to reach out to students beyond their traditional classrooms and school districts, expose young children to global issues and new friends around the world, design their own avatars and environments for highly customized training sessions and interactive discussions, practice real-world skills and manage real-life situations in a safe environment, and most of all keep students engaged in a technologically-driven society. For tips, tricks and resources that will help you make the most of the virtual world, check out the list below.

Training Purposes

Employers and educators who want to train new hires or test their students can use Second Life in the following ways.

1. Use Second Life for employee training: The Second Life Grid is a space where businesses and schools can set up their own virtual board rooms. Use the Grid to organize an employee training session that’s more interactive than a pamphlet.
2. SL Messenger: SL Messenger brings together all of your online communities with Second Life. You can share twitts, photos and more through AIM, Gtalk, MSN and Second Life, so it’s easy to add instructions, training tools and more to your space wherever you are.
3. Literature Alive! in Second Life: This site collects resources for educational training programs designed in Second Life, especially for reading, writing and literature courses.
4. K-Foundry: This site is great for educators who want to host a training session or lecture but aren’t concerned with managing land. The system awards a space for free as long as you aren’t using the space for commercial use.
5. Set up your own island: Set up your own teaching or instructional island in Second Life to organize training materials and tests for your employees.

Blogs and Websites

Turn to these blogs for tips, services and tools when setting up a learning space in Second Life.

6. SLED Blog: This blog has lots of "bright ideas" and more for teachers using Second Life.
7. Second Life Education Wiki: This site is "Linden Lab’s official resource for educators in Second Life." Access information about special education pricing for private islands, academic research, presentations, competitions and more.
8. Sub Dimension Studios: If you don’t have time to create your own textures or animation in Second Life, consider using the services of this company.
9. Resident Resources: The Second Life community features a Resident Resources page, full of links and tips for managing land, designing animation, working audio and music, and more.
10. Educators Coop: This blog is dedicated to exploring new ways and tools that help teachers maximize Second Life and virtual worlds to reach out to their students.

Examples of Second Life in Education

Follow these real-life Second Life projects from Stanford, Harvard Law School and even a New York middle school to start your own studies or get students of all ages involved in Second Life.

11. Virtual Human Interaction Lab: Stanford University’s study explores how human behavior in a virtual setting affects their behavior in real-life society. Consider using this study as an introduction to your own sociological study.
12. Suffern Middle School in Second Life: This school project undertaken by students at Suffern Middle School uses the Teen Grid in Second Life to address math skills, social studies and community planning, building and more.
13. Digital Collaboration for Architects: This interdisciplinary class taught by Terry Beaubois at Montana State University - Bozeman explores how technology and virtual reality encourage "multidisciplinary, collaborative, planning and design of sustainable communities."
14. CyberOne: Law in the Court of Public Opinion: Visit this website for information on the class Law in the Court of Public Opinion that was offered by Harvard Law School and the Harvard Extension School. In the class, students consider "many different media technologies to understand how their inherent characteristics and modes of distribution affect the arguments that are made using them." One of the technologies studied is Second Life.
15. Money and Design: This Design Economics class uses Second Life as a virtual platform for future entrepreneurs and business designers to practice their skills.

More Tips and Ideas

From Campus: Second Life to designing your own planetarium to creating games for history class, this list features even more tips and fun ideas.

16. Campus: Second Life: This program gives college students in certain fields one free acre of land in Second Life so that they can practice the skills and theories they learn in class in a virtual setting.
17. Use SL for distance learning: Open up your class to the world when you use Second Life for virtual lectures, collaboration and assignments.
18. Set up an exhibit: Read about how The International Spaceflight Museum shares exhibits through Second Life, including a planetarium, model space shuttle and a training game.
19. Introduce a history project: The Gold Rush game in SL immerses players and students into the time and atmosphere of the California Gold Rush. History teachers can create similar games so that students can interact with each other based on the period’s social structures, economic landscape and more.
20. Share information: You don’t have to be a teacher to set up your own Second Life exhibit and start a discussion. Remember Me features an exhibit and photos about Alzheimer’s Disease in SL and directs visitors to a documentary and resources about Alzheimer’s.
21. Ecology Project: Use this ecology project as an example to teach students about the environment. You can even set up specific weather patterns and watch as plants, insects and birds coexist.
22. English composition class: Ball State University’s English 104 in Second Life uses the virtual world to teach research skills and critical thinking.
23. Teach kids to think globally: The Kids Connect program encourages collaboration between students in New York and Amsterdam to teach them new skills in theatre and the arts, as well as exposing them to a global partnership.
24. Give web developers and designers a place to play: SL is a great platform to let let digital media and web development students a chance to experiment with their skills. Ask them to create new scripts and applications for SL as class assignments.
25. Learn about new cultures and languages: Read about the PacificRim Exchange, which hosts a private island in the Teen Grid that serves as a platform for students from schools in the Pacific Rim to connect and learn about new customs and countries.

Resources

These tutorials and guides are designed especially for educators who want to create an effective learning space in Second Life.

26. Second Life Teacher Training Videos: Teachers get their own instructional videos for Second Life here.
27. Video Tutorials: Educators needing a little extra direction when using Second Life can watch over 150 different video tutorials for help with voice chat, land, and more.
28. Educational Uses of Second Life: This wikispaces page features all kinds of examples of projects used for educational purposes.
29. RezEd: RezEd, or "the hub for learning and virtual worlds," features discussions, podcasts, articles and a community designed to help educators make the most of virtual learning technologies, including Second Life.
30. Second Life Mixed Reality: Green Screen in RL and SL: This article shares tips on integrating real life video footage into your Second Life world, giving you more opportunities for introducing new characters and lessons.
31. Second Life: Educators Working With Teens: Learn about closed and open estates, get ideas for Teen Second Life projects and more to help you set up a learning space for teens in SL.
32. Second Life: Educational Possibilities of a Massively Multiplayer Virtual World: This report has tips for teaching in Second Life and explores how traditional teaching theories have evolved to collaborate with technology and virtual media.
33. 13 Tips for Virtual World Teaching: Keep these tips in mind when building up your SL classroom.
34. Resources for Educators: The University of Cincinnati has put together this list for teachers who want to use Second Life in their classrooms. The list includes tips for getting started in SL, connecting with other SL educators, and finding examples of successful SL policies and projects.
35. onrez: Shop for animation tools, accessories and designs here.

Second Life Tools for Teaching

Learn how to create your own prims, make use of virtual camera tools and discover SL features to make the most of your virtual classroom.

36. Media on a Parcel: Media on a Parcel lets you share movies, music and other medium with your residents. Teachers can use this tool instead of putting books or DVDs on reserve in the library, and students can access the material whenever they want.
37. Virtual camera tools: Make use of the camera tools in SL to "engage students in digital storytelling, and recording and reflecting their work in Second Life," as recommended on the SL wikispaces site.
38. MyNotes Profile Tab: This post from the SLED Blog recommends using this tool for class management on SL.
39. Sculpted Prims: Learn how to make your own sculpted prims so that your learning space is completely customized to your training session or lesson plan.
40. SL Exchange: Use SL Exchange to teach students about budgeting, e-commerce and general business principles.
41. SL Pulse: Advertise your project or collaboration by sending a press release to SL Pulse. It’s free and open to any stories or news related to Second Life.
42. Merlin Rocket Server: This "media management system" lets you share, publish and broadcast all kinds of multimedia to your SL space, giving you the chance to use more resources when you teach.
43. Toolbar for Second Life: Get all your SL buttons and links in your toolbar with this download.
44. Gridocity: Real-life businesses have set up accounts in Second Life to advertise their services and products, which means that you can search for educational tools you need without having to leave SL.
45. The Wall SL: History teachers may want to direct their students to The Wall SL, which is a replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
46. Fabjectory: If you want to bring your Second Life project into real-life, order a physical replica of your avatar from this company.

Communication Tools

These teaching tools help distance learning educators, college professors and other teachers communicate with their students through Second Life more easily and effectively.

47. KitCom: KitCom streamlines your chats through Second Life.
48. ION Communication: This communication system notifies your students and residents when you’re online so they know whether or not they can reach you for questions about an assignment.
49. SL Profiles: Set up a profile for your avatar and your real-life self so that students and other SL players can learn more about you, your class and your credentials.
50. Babbler and De-Babbler: Use these language translation tools to communicate with students all over the world.

και άλλες θεωρίες για τους ψεκασμούς αεροπλάνων

Παρακολουθείστε αυτό το ενδιαφέρον βίντεο στο οποίο, μεταξύ άλλων, κατά τα άλλα προφητείες και θεωρίες συνωμοσιών, εντούτοις αναφέρονται οι ψεκασμοί με αεροπλάνα που καλύψαμε σε προηγούμενο άρθρο. Ενδιαφέρουσα η προσέγγιση:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQIU4fV3w2Q&feature=related

From a Visionary English Physicist, Self-Adjusting Lenses for the Poor

Click title to read article by

Mary Jordan

Washington Post Foreign Service 

Saturday, January 10, 2009; Page A08

Joshua Silver makes low-cost eyeglasses ($19) with self-adjusting lenses.

The glasses work on the principle that the more liquid pumped into a thin sac in the plastic lenses, the stronger the correction. Silver has attached plastic syringes filled with silicone oil on each bow of the glasses; the wearer adds or subtracts the clear liquid with a little dial on the pump until the focus is right. After that adjustment, the syringes are removed and the "adaptive glasses" are ready to go.

Silver hopes that his glasses will help those in developing countries who cannot afford glasses with ground lenses. (thx, owen)

Technorealism

In this heady age of rapid technological change, we all struggle to maintain our bearings. The developments that unfold each day in communications and computing can be thrilling and disorienting. One understandable reaction is to wonder: Are these changes good or bad? Should we welcome or fear them?

The answer is both. Technology is making life more convenient and enjoyable, and many of us healthier, wealthier, and wiser. But it is also affecting work, family, and the economy in unpredictable ways, introducing new forms of tension and distraction, and posing new threats to the cohesion of our physical communities.

Despite the complicated and often contradictory implications of technology, the conventional wisdom is woefully simplistic. Pundits, politicians, and self-appointed visionaries do us a disservice when they try to reduce these complexities to breathless tales of either high-tech doom or cyber-elation. Such polarized thinking leads to dashed hopes and unnecessary anxiety, and prevents us from understanding our own culture.

Over the past few years, even as the debate over technology has been dominated by the louder voices at the extremes, a new, more balanced consensus has quietly taken shape. This document seeks to articulate some of the shared beliefs behind that consensus, which we have come to call technorealism.

Technorealism demands that we think critically about the role that tools and interfaces play in human evolution and everyday life. Integral to this perspective is our understanding that the current tide of technological transformation, while important and powerful, is actually a continuation of waves of change that have taken place throughout history. Looking, for example, at the history of the automobile, television, or the telephone -- not just the devices but the institutions they became -- we see profound benefits as well as substantial costs. Similarly, we anticipate mixed blessings from today's emerging technologies, and expect to forever be on guard for unexpected consequences -- which must be addressed by thoughtful design and appropriate use.

As technorealists, we seek to expand the fertile middle ground between techno-utopianism and neo-Luddism. We are technology "critics" in the same way, and for the same reasons, that others are food critics, art critics, or literary critics. We can be passionately optimistic about some technologies, skeptical and disdainful of others. Still, our goal is neither to champion nor dismiss technology, but rather to understand it and apply it in a manner more consistent with basic human values.

Below are some evolving basic principles that help explain technorealism.

PRINCIPLES OF TECHNOREALISM

 

1. Technologies are not neutral.

A great misconception of our time is the idea that technologies are completely free of bias -- that because they are inanimate artifacts, they don't promote certain kinds of behaviors over others. In truth, technologies come loaded with both intended and unintended social, political, and economic leanings. Every tool provides its users with a particular manner of seeing the world and specific ways of interacting with others. It is important for each of us to consider the biases of various technologies and to seek out those that reflect our values and aspirations.

 

2. The Internet is revolutionary, but not Utopian.

The Net is an extraordinary communications tool that provides a range of new opportunities for people, communities, businesses, and government. Yet as cyberspace becomes more populated, it increasingly resembles society at large, in all its complexity. For every empowering or enlightening aspect of the wired life, there will also be dimensions that are malicious, perverse, or rather ordinary.

 

3. Government has an important role to play on the electronic frontier.

Contrary to some claims, cyberspace is not formally a place or jurisdiction separate from Earth. While governments should respect the rules and customs that have arisen in cyberspace, and should not stifle this new world with inefficient regulation or censorship, it is foolish to say that the public has no sovereignty over what an errant citizen or fraudulent corporation does online. As the representative of the people and the guardian of democratic values, the state has the right and responsibility to help integrate cyberspace and conventional society.

Technology standards and privacy issues, for example, are too important to be entrusted to the marketplace alone. Competing software firms have little interest in preserving the open standards that are essential to a fully functioning interactive network. Markets encourage innovation, but they do not necessarily insure the public interest.

 

4. Information is not knowledge.

All around us, information is moving faster and becoming cheaper to acquire, and the benefits are manifest. That said, the proliferation of data is also a serious challenge, requiring new measures of human discipline and skepticism. We must not confuse the thrill of acquiring or distributing information quickly with the more daunting task of converting it into knowledge and wisdom. Regardless of how advanced our computers become, we should never use them as a substitute for our own basic cognitive skills of awareness, perception, reasoning, and judgment.

 

5. Wiring the schools will not save them.

The problems with America's public schools -- disparate funding, social promotion, bloated class size, crumbling infrastructure, lack of standards -- have almost nothing to do with technology. Consequently, no amount of technology will lead to the educational revolution prophesied by President Clinton and others. The art of teaching cannot be replicated by computers, the Net, or by "distance learning." These tools can, of course, augment an already high-quality educational experience. But to rely on them as any sort of panacea would be a costly mistake.

 

6. Information wants to be protected.

It's true that cyberspace and other recent developments are challenging our copyright laws and frameworks for protecting intellectual property. The answer, though, is not to scrap existing statutes and principles. Instead, we must update old laws and interpretations so that information receives roughly the same protection it did in the context of old media. The goal is the same: to give authors sufficient control over their work so that they have an incentive to create, while maintaining the right of the public to make fair use of that information. In neither context does information want "to be free." Rather, it needs to be protected.

 

7. The public owns the airwaves; the public should benefit from their use.

The recent digital spectrum giveaway to broadcasters underscores the corrupt and inefficient misuse of public resources in the arena of technology. The citizenry should benefit and profit from the use of public frequencies, and should retain a portion of the spectrum for educational, cultural, and public access uses. We should demand more for private use of public property.

 

8. Understanding technology should be an essential component of global citizenship.

In a world driven by the flow of information, the interfaces -- and the underlying code -- that make information visible are becoming enormously powerful social forces. Understanding their strengths and limitations, and even participating in the creation of better tools, should be an important part of being an involved citizen. These tools affect our lives as much as laws do, and we should subject them to a similar democratic scrutiny.