Computers Communications And The Public Interest

The passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 inaugurated a new and highly volatile era in telecommunications. The first major overhaul of U.S. communications law since 1934--when no one had a television set, a cordless phone, or a computer--the Act was spurred into being by broad shifts in technology use. Equally important, this book shows, the new law reflects important changes in our notions of the purpose of communications regulation and how it should be deployed. Focusing on the evolution of the concept of the public interest, Aufderheide examines how and why the legislation was developed, provides a thematic analysis of the Act itself, and charts its intended and unintended effects in business and policy. An abridged version of the Act is included, as are the Supreme Court decision that struck down one of its clauses, the Communications Decency Act, and a variety of pertinent speeches and policy arguments. Readers are also guided to a range of organizations and websites that offer legal updates and policy information. Finalist, McGannon Center Award for Social and Ethical Relevance in Communication Policy Research

Does Silicon Valley deserve all the credit for digital creativity and social media? Joy Rankin questions this triumphalism by revisiting a pre-PC time when schools were not the last stop for mature consumer technologies but flourishing sites of innovative collaboration—when users taught computers and visionaries dreamed of networked access for all.

From the back cover: The authors argue that services which evolve from computer-communications technology will transform Canadian society if widespread usage of the technology is achieved. In other words, a mass market will be required. How the market develops, who participates, the terms of the participation, what the market does, and who benefits are important questions of government policy. Only one thing is clear: government must play a key role in balancing the interplay between the forces of competition and government intervention.

This book gathers the best papers from the HKAECT-AECT 2017 Summer International Research Symposium. Revealing the complex interactions between communication and learning, which are represented by the symbol “X” in the title, it provides a platform for knowledge exchange on the new ecology for education in the digital era. It also equips readers to handle complex issues in both communication and education, and clarifies the difference between practitioners and academics in communication and in education.