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By Sabrina I. Pacifici - bespacific@earthlink.net
Free weekday coverage on current issues
May 28, 2007
Headlines - Universities Expand Into Social Networking and Social Computing Courses
- FTC Will Review Google/DoubleClick Merger
- 2007 China Military Power Report Released by Pentagon
- HHS Website on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
- New Study Examines Administrative Actions In Immigration Courts
- Project for Excellence in Journalism's Analysis Finds Iraq War Coverage Mostly about the U.S.,
- New LC Country Profile on France
- New Estimates of the Future Path of 401(k) Assets
- Google Maps Now Has An "Avoid Highways" Option
- DoD IG Issues Semiannual Report to Congress
 Universities Expand Into Social Networking and Social Computing Courses WSJ free feature, At Some Schools, Facebook Evolves From Time Waster to Academic Study: "After years of worrying about how much time freshmen spend on Facebook, schools are incorporating the study of social networking, online communities and user-contributed content into new curricula on social computing. The moves, like other academic expansions into fields like videogame design, are part of an effort to keep technology studies relevant to students' lives – and to tap subjects with entrepreneurial momentum. Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp. are among the tech companies that have invested in schools' social computing programs." Related: Frontiers of Innovation in Community Engagement: News Organizations Forge New Relationships with Communities, A Report from the Center for Citizen Media, by Lisa Williams with Dan Gillmor, Jane MacKay, March 2007 - "This report looks at the first generation of traditional-media innovators in the arena of community engagement: bringing the community into the journalism itself, beyond blogs and comments." FTC Will Review Google/DoubleClick Merger Follow up to April 20, 2007 posting, Google DoubleClick Merger In the News, additional documents and news. Proposed Google/DoubleClick Deal: "On April 20, 2007, EPIC filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), requesting that the Commission open an investigation into the proposed acquisition, specifically with regard to the ability of Google to record, analyze, track, and profile the activities of Internet users with data that is both personally identifiable and data that is not personally identifiable. EPIC further urged the FTC to require Google to publicly present a plan to comply with well-established government and industry privacy standards such as the OECD Privacy Guidelines. Pending the resolution of these and other issues, EPIC encouraged the FTC to halt the acquisition." May 29, 2007: FTC begins antitrust investigation into proposed $3.1 billion Google-DoubleClick deal HHS Website on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease "COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) is a serious lung disease that, over time, makes it hard to breathe. It is the 4th leading cause of death in the United States and causes serious, long-term disability. The number of people with COPD is increasing. More than 12 million people are currently diagnosed with COPD and an additional 12 million likely have the disease and don't even know it. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) has developed a national campaign— Learn More Breathe Better — to increase awareness and understanding of COPD and its risk factors and to underscore the benefits of early detection and treatment in slowing the disease and improving the quality of life." New Study Examines Administrative Actions In Immigration Courts "An examination of millions of previously unavailable government records indicates that repeated official statements about the immigration enforcement efforts of the United States are misleading and may have contributed to a widespread public misunderstanding about the essential nature of this program. The new and well-documented view of the nation's massive immigration enforcement program has been made possible as a result of a Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) analysis of millions of detailed records obtained from the Immigration Courts (EOIR) under the Freedom of Information Act. These administrative courts, part of the Justice Department, are a key part of the government's program to deport or remove undocumented aliens as well as noncitizens who have been granted legal status to be in this country. The massive study of the administrative actions in the immigration courts has been supplemented by a separate examination of other records collected by the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys (EOUSA) that document criminal prosecutions in U.S. federal district courts." "The over 4 million EOIR [Executive Office for Immigration Review] records that TRAC obtained stretch back for many decades. The work of classifying the charges into comparable immigration, criminal, national security and terrorism categories, however, has been completed for the fifteen year period from FY 1992 to date and is the primary focus of the accompanying report." Project for Excellence in Journalism's Analysis Finds Iraq War Coverage Mostly about the U.S., Via the Pew Research Center release, the first quarterly report of the Project for Excellence in Journalism's News Coverage Index: "The war in Iraq has dwarfed all other topics in the American news media in the early months of 2007—taking up more than three times the space devoted to the next most popular subject. But only a portion of this has focused on the state of things in Iraq itself, and even less about the plight of Iraqis and the internal affairs of their country, according to a new study of the American news media. The majority of the war coverage, 55%, has been about the political debate back in Washington. Less than a third, 31%, has been focused on events in Iraq itself. And about half that coverage has been about American soldiers there." New LC Country Profile on France "This series of profiles of foreign nations is part of the Country Studies Program, formerly the Army Area Handbook Program. The profiles offer brief, summarized information on a country's historical background, geography, society, economy, transportation and telecommunications, government and politics, and national security." Country Profile, France, May 25, 2007 New Estimates of the Future Path of 401(k) Assets New Estimates of the Future Path of 401(k) Assets, James Poterba, Steven Venti, David A. Wise, National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Working Paper No. 13083, May 2007. "Over the past two and a half decades there has been a fundamental change in saving for retirement in the United States, with a rapid shift from employer-managed defined benefit pensions to defined contribution saving plans that are largely controlled by employees. To understand how this change will affect the well-being of future retirees, we project the future growth of assets in self-directed personal retirement plans. We project the 401(k) assets at age 65 for cohorts attaining age 65 between 2000 and 2040. We also project the total value of assets in 401(k) accounts in each year through 2040 and we project the value of 401(k) assets as a percent of GDP over this period. We conclude that cohorts that attain age 65 in future decades will have accumulated much greater retirement saving (in real dollars) than the retirement saving of current retirees." Google Maps Now Has An "Avoid Highways" Option Google Lat Long Blog: "Do you prefer to avoid driving on major highways? Do you ride a scooter that can't travel at highway speeds? Or do you simply prefer to take the road less traveled? If so, Google Maps driving directions now has an "Avoid Highways" option for you. When you click the the "Avoid Highways" checkbox, the route instantly updates to one that tries very hard to stay off of interstates, motorways, and other major roadways. This may give you a much longer path, but one that you may find more suitable." DoD IG Issues Semiannual Report to Congress May 24, 2007 - "The Department of Defense Inspector General (DoD IG) Semiannual Report to the Congress for the Period October 1, 2006 to March 31, 2007, has been submitted as required by the Inspector General Act of 1978 (Public Law 95-452), as amended. The report (1116 pages, PDF) highlights significant results and accomplishments of the DoD IG."
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