THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, COMMUNITY, AND VALUES
With this issue of Interface we begin our second year of publication. It has been a tumultuous year for the Berglund Center, as for the United States itself. As of this writing the stock market seems well into its double-dip phase of the recession, the United States is apparently preparing to go to war with Iraq, and the Internet-related industries are, appropriately, smoldering ruins.[1]
At the Berglund Center, however, our problems have been caused primarily by unexpected growth. From the several dozen people a day who read our first issue, we are now running more than 500 visitors per day. We have had a number of very successful workshops and other initiatives, expanded our quarters, added air conditioning (much reducing human and computer failures) and added new editors and new features. We have been cited in a number of other journals, frequently are asked to write or speak, and, in general, seem to have been entirely successful. Our success, however, has certainly been alloyed by our awareness that the Internet itself is entering a very troubled phase. While studying the Internet is always extremely interesting and fraught with significance, one does wish that at least some of the other players were having as much fun as we are.
After a year's experience we have come to the basic conclusion that we have, whether by design or by luck, come up with a fairly satisfactory model for our publication, Interface. We have also decided, however, that we need to drop back to nine postings a year rather than the current ten. Because the summer Berglund Institute is so engrossing, it becomes difficult to get out Interface in July. In the future we will not publish in September, January, or August, reflecting the academic calendar at Pacific University. Our students are simply too busy to be of much help in those months.
We think that this issue of Interface is an appropriate one for our second year of publication. Our friend and colleague Steven Boone, Director of the Berglund Center, looks back at the last year and sums up our successes, and our future plans.
The article "Beyond Closing the Digital Divide" by Professor Elizabeth Arch and Luis Rodriguez of Centro Cultural reflects both our concern for the impact of the Internet, and our commitment to our local community. We constantly search for "best practices" at the Berglund Center, and with the partnership between Pacific University and the Centro, we believe that we have found one. During our down times we open our computer labs to the Centro, which provides the organization and the talented Spanish-speaking technicians necessary to greatly expand community access to computing in all its forms.
Lenny Charnoff, formerly of Apple Computing and a well-known lecturer and author on computer-related topics, will be working closely with us in the future. Lenny presents his first article here, "Real World Solutions to Spam." Lenny has become a treasured resource for us, and we think you will find his article immediately useful. Spam has become a true curse of the Internet, and Lenny can make your on-line life much easier.
One of our enduring interests at the Berglund Center is the impact of the Internet upon education. Clearly, one of the major impacts is going to be distance learning. Distance learning is currently in its infancy, and there is a great deal of uncertainty as to what does and does not work in this critical sphere. One of our new editors, Kristy Smolensky, an experienced on-line teacher, offers "Seven Rules for Teaching Online" which both on-line students and teachers will find useful. For the rest of us, the piece might constitute encouragement to take the plunge and sign up for an on-line course.
We also begin with this issue a new feature, "Life Long Learning... " in each issue of Interface an expert in some field will discuss a recent or important book that illuminates the current state or the near future of that field, for those who have been out of college for some time but are curious about where their particular field of study has gone. In the first installment Philosophy Professor and noted scholar David Boersema discusses several such books.
In my own editorial, "The Digital Divide and Broad Band", I finish up an analysis begun in August by considering the importance of Broad Band and the current obstacles to its spread. In addition, we present reviews of recent books, an analysis of "World of World Wide Web Browsers" in our regular "Tech Corner," and Mark Szymansky's column on K-12 funding, "Government Bridges to Cross the Digital Divide."
[1] The Washingtonpost.com 10/3/2002, E01 http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/... "Dying in its Booths" It is pointed out here that one of the oldest Internet-related trade shows, Internet World, held in New York for ten years, has shrunk from a high of 700 exhibitors to 126 this year. Overall, attendance at such trade shows is down from 140 million to 56 million.
Jeffrey Barlow,
Editor, Interface
(barlowj@pacificu.edu)
Elizabeth C. Arch and Luis Rodriguez - Beyond Closing the Digital Divide
Lenny Charnoff - Real World Solutions To Spam
Kristina Smolenski-Nelson - Seven Rules for Teaching Online
Jesse Snyder - World of World Wide Web Browsers
Mark Szymanski - Government Bridges to Cross the Digital Divide
Kenneth Baynes's After Philosophy: End or Transformation?
D. Quinn Mills's Buy, Lie, and Sell High: How Investors Lost Out on...
Janelle Barlow, Peta Peter, and Lewis Barlow's Smart Videoconferencing....