WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives
Audio archives of spoken word broadcasts from Community Radio WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill (weru.org)
A weekly feature on electronic technology as it affects everyday life with Jim Campbell. Broadcast on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, ME every Thursday at 7:30 AM.
Producer/Host: Jim Campbell
Ever want to read a book from one of the worlds; great libraries but you can’t physically get yourself there? Help is on the way. The Internet Archive’s Million Book Project and Google Books offer the possibility of reading books online from libraries most of us will never set foot in.
Producer/Host: Jim Campbell
It’s Sunshine Week all across the country from March 16-22, and that is not meant to be a week to think about the weather. Instead, it’s a time to think about citizen access to government information, because, as many wise observers have noted throughout our history, government in the open is likely to be better and more responsive government. With Federal and state Freedom of Information laws, we’re on the right road but, like Maine roads in the spring, there are still plenty of bumps in the pavement.
Some websites mentioned today:
– www.maine.gov – the web site of Maine state government
– www.usa.gov – gateway to many federal agencies and information
– http://public.resource.org – a site which has posted much government information that would otherwise be difficult for citizens to access
– http://libremap.org – a site that contains much map and geodata information purchased from the government and posted for anyone to use
Producer/host: Jim Campbell
Cell phones are everywhere, and are becoming powerful enough to let people carry their “digital lives” in their pockets. Some are beginning to wonder if that’s such a great idea, especially if a person gets stopped for running a stop sign or not wearing a seat belt and gets arrested. At that point, all your personal information may be the police officer’s as well as your own.
Seems we live in a digital world with laws that were made for a physical world, and the consequences can be unsettling.
Producer/host: Jim Campbell
Do you fly regularly, even a few times a year? How do you like flying these days? If you are like most travelers, probably not very much. But in addition to the security hassles and delays that are part of many trips these days, there is also something else you might not like too much if you knew about. We refer, of course, to the information amassed in the PNR, or Passenger Name Record, that gets created or built upon every time you fly.
Producer/host: Jim Campbell
Out on the primary campaign trail, every candidate is claiming he or she stands for change for the better. Back in Washington, bills making their way through Congress would cause change all right -whether for the better or not
is another question for many. We take a peek at the College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007, and the PRO-IP Act, both of which will affect our lives in realms electronic. (You can find the text of both at www.loc.gov/thomas)
Producer/host: Jim Campbell
Here are addresses for sites mentioned in this week’s program that offer free college level course materials to anyone who would like to use them.
Open Courseware site at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (http://ocw.mit.edu).
Rice University’s Connexions courseware site (http://cnx.org).
University of California at Berkeley has put up videos of about 250 course segments and events on Google Video
(http://video.google.com/ucberkeley.html) and now also on youTube as well http://www.youtube.com/user/ucberkeley).
Other universities have also established youTube channels. Search for channels (not videos) using the keyword “education.”
The Open University in Great Britain has an open learning site (http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn/home.php).
Open-of-Course (http://open-of-course.org/courses/). Courses contributed by anyone with some expertise, not necessarily college professors.
W3 Schools (http://www.w3schools.com/). The focus here is on courses relating to web development.
Producer/host: Jim Campbell
We all want our votes to count, whether at a Maine town meeting or in the next presidential election. But increasingly, we’re concerned that may not be the case. Electronic voting machines, although full of promise, are also still full of vulnerabilities, and that could be one big problem come November.
Producer/host: Jim Campbell
We hear the term DRM, or Digital Rights management more and more often these days in general, and particularly in the halls of Congress. But what is DRM, and, more importantly, how might it affect our lives as it becomes more and more common? Let’s take a look.