Is Information Too Free?

Google apparently isn't only having problems with the Chinese government. Internet censorship around the world is on the rise. Different governments want to suppress different things, but filters and firewalls seem to be going up in plenty of places. For the big Internet companies, the question is whether they should always abide by local laws and conventions, even when they are repressive. The Los Angeles Times reports.

Making Twitter Pay

Internet companies can become wildly popular without becoming economically successful. Often the pivotal moment for an internet service is when its owners finally try to make money off it, through advertising, user fees, or some other means. Twitter is at that point right now, according to this NPR story.

This in-class poll indicates that MC101 students are generally not big Twitterers.

Create your own sms poll at Poll Everywhere

TV to Go!

The end of analog television last June killed off those little Casio and other handheld television sets that people watched at ballgames and other places. But now, a new generation of portable digital televisions--both stand-alone devices and add-ons for smart phones--are hitting the market.

Will this give new life for broadcast television, or is it simply a medium destined to migrate to the Internet? NPR reports.

Here's the results of an online poll we did in class...

Make a live audience poll at Poll Everywhere

STOMP on Over to Westwood

This email came in today from Kevin Meza of the Transfer Center. It looks like a good thing to get in on if you plan on transferring to UCLA...

Hello,

We are taking students to UCLA for the Student Transfer Opportunity and Mentor Program (STOMP) Conference on Friday, April 30. The conference will include presentations on undergraduate admissions, majors, and student life. Here is the link to sign up for the event (RSVP by April 23):

1. http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/stompconference/default.htm

2. Come into the Transfer Center as soon as possible to sign up for a spot on the bus. We will be leaving GCC in the upper parking lot by the parking structure at 7:30 am and returning to GCC at 4:00 pm.



Additional information about the program:

The UCLA Student Transfer Opportunity and Mentor Program (STOMP), along with Undergraduate Admissions and Relations with Schools (UARS) is convinced that the best way to aid Community College students interested in transferring to UCLA is to empower them by providing key information that will make their Community College experience productive, thus making them more competitive for admissions to the UC system, particularly UCLA. Attendees to the Transfer Conference include low income, first generation, and non-traditional students.

UCLA's Student Transfer Opportunity and Mentor Program invites community college students interested in transferring to UCLA to attend this conference.

We will highlight a variety of strategies and resources needed to successfully transfer ...
Strategies for transfer
Information on various majors
Student life/housing
Financial Aid
Departmental fair
Sign up for mentoring





Kevin Meza
Transfer Center Coordinator
Glendale Community College
1500 N. Verdugo Road
Glendale, CA 91208
(818) 240-1000 ext. 5820

French Fries

Do commercials cause you to drive a fancier car or use a different toothpaste? Do television characters nudge you toward a different hair style, or using catch phrases you otherwise would not speak?

Maybe.

But let's look at something more serious: Can television turn you into a quasi-fascist, torturing an innocent man for the entertainment of the hooting audience and bellowing game show host?

Again, maybe.

A recent French academic experiment created a fake game show, complete with celebrity host, who encouraged contestants to administer increasingly torturous electrical shocks.

NPR reports on this creepily-fascinating story.

Hey You Kids, Get Off My Airwaves!

Old Media--television, radio, newspapers, books, etc.--are increasingly obsessed with their newer, hipper Internet counterparts. So says one National Public Radio Commentator, who likens television shows discussing the Internet to watching jet planes from a horse.