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The Information Age has been hailed as a quantum leap forward for humanity-an opportunity to finally achieve Marshall McLuhan's "global village" in which "the medium is the message. But what kind of people are being created in cyberspace? While computer technology has changed virtually all aspects of life, critics argue that this technology is contributing to the growing social isolation of individuals. This program examines just what the implications...
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Filmed at The Anderson School at UCLA, this program teams up Philip Condit, chairman and CEO of The Boeing Company, and Kent Kresa, chairman and CEO of Northrop Grumman, to describe the future of the aerospace and defense industries. Together, they reveal some of the plans that will likely affect travel and warfare in the coming decades. In addition, MBA students and faculty ask questions about the complexities of satisfying the needs of the consumer,...
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This program provides an overview of the history of education and distance learning, including an extensive interview with Professor Neil Postman from the first television classroom of the 1950s, Sunrise Semester. From there, the program explores various case studies involving distance learning: a homeless women gets her GED; a handicapped woman graduates from college; and a choreographer puts together a Net dance course by combining images of life-forms...
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Relationships in the modern megalopolis: interpersonal or impersonal? This program investigates the new interactive society model in which physical neighborhoods connected by proximity have been displaced by virtual neighborhoods linked by technology. Topics discussed include the intimate anonymity of the Internet; the use of emoticons in e-mail; the growing importance of telecommunications; the Pavlovian response to a ringing telephone; and the relationship...
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While tracing the spread of English via Internet technology, this program considers the implications of such de facto linguistic hegemony in a world of high-tech haves and have-nots. In addition, the program examines the simultaneous standardization and fragmentation of English as it is acquired by non-native English-speakers in Africa and Asia. Interviews with specialists drawn from WorldCom and Sony subsidiary So-Net, the Library of Congress and...
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What is the price of free speech? Protected by their First Amendment rights and the Internet's cultural philosophy of "post it all and let the readers decide," American hate groups are having a field day on the World Wide Web, creating virulent virtual communities of intolerance. In this program, ABC News anchor Ted Koppel investigates the proliferation of hate online with Don Black, founder of the white nationalist Web site Storm Front, and Floyd...
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Gambling is the world's third-largest industry, and the Web has made it more global than ever. One in twenty Americans gamble online, an illegal activity under the Wire Act which forbids interstate bookmaking over phone lines. This program looks at the explosive proliferation of Internet gaming and how America-its people and its government-are reacting to it. To present an overview of gambling in the electronic era, the video canvasses many perspectives,...
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Technological innovations are penetrating ever more deeply into the substance of society-faster, in fact, than people can assimilate them. As ethical dilemmas and unforeseen consequences pile up, will techno-enthusiasts succeed in weaving a net that will ultimately trap us all? Following a concise summary of Technoscience, this disturbing program addresses diverse topics such as virtual reality, cybernetics, eugenics, cloning, parallels between technological...
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Was the performance of IBM's Deep Blue against Gary Kasparov an example of supersonic calculation or the first step toward artificial intelligence? Does the acclaimed performance artist Stelarc, striving to become a cyborg-like hybrid, represent the possibility of a strange new race? This startling program tracks advances in robotics at Stanford University and Honda Motors, biotechnology as applied to synthetic skin and organs, workplace computerization,...
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The future is digital, but is it beautiful? In this program, technology enthusiast Simon Armitage seeks to understand the world's love affair with all things tech and why consumers have bought into an upgrade culture where the "next big thing" may be more about desire and status than it is about functionality. Raising many thought-provoking questions, Armitage introduces viewers to a generation of digital natives for whom tech tools are the norm;...
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This video provides basic lessons in netiquette with the help of a fun musical metaphor. Teens get a taste of ballroom dancing-and quickly realize that learning the steps of technology manners is like learning dance steps. By applying good manners to the Internet, cell phones, iPods, and other gadgets, students learn to keep in touch without losing the personal touch. Dynamic visuals and dramatizations assist students in absorbing the etiquette lessons...
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An economy in which the office is a thing of the past. a sensor system that tracks and identifies goods in transit. a camera that records every life experience in minute detail. If these sound like dreams of a distant future, think again. This program examines the boundless opportunities and staggering challenges of the digital era, presenting concise case studies of 21st-century companies, entrepreneurs, and advances. Google's business applications,...
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The tools required to fight Internet-based offenses must constantly evolve and adapt. Unfortunately, so do the criminals. This program examines several forms of cyber-crime and their impact on law enforcement, national security, the corporate world, and society at large. Taking a global approach, the film presents interviews with American and European experts on cyber-terrorism, identity theft, child pornography, and other disturbing crimes. Frank...
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Has the high-tech revolution enhanced or inhibited our quality of life? This selection of NewsHour segments reveals examples of digital technology applied in both beneficial and potentially destructive ways. The program focuses on LED-based lighting, state-of-the-art sports training, nanotechnology for hydrogen fuel cells, and the computer-aided reconstruction of King Tut's true appearance. It also looks at what some experts say are cases of technological...
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Is the surveillance society inevitable? In No Place to Hide, Peter Jennings examines high-tech monitoring methods that promise greater safety and security but threaten personal privacy. The program shows how Acxiom, ChoicePoint, and other companies use supercomputers to obtain data on more than 90 percent of American households-and how law enforcement and government intelligence agencies increasingly rely on this information. It also studies questionable...
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When the Crisps confiscated their teenage son Brandon's Xbox, they never expected him to run away from home.or to die from injuries sustained while in hiding. Using Brandon's story as a case study, this program delves into the growing psychological problems of video game obsession and addiction. Interviews with Brandon's parents and best friend, a family therapist whose patient list includes video gamers, and a psychologist who pushed the video gaming...
17) Cyberbullies
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Chat rooms, blogs, and instant messaging have become standard forms of communication for many young people. Unfortunately, they have also become popular ways to bully and harass others. This program is designed to prevent children and teenagers from falling victim to cyberbullying, using dramatizations and Q & A discussions to expand awareness of the issue. The video discusses cyberbullying warning signs, common patterns of abuse, and questionable...
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Compact and portable, digitized information is an attractive alternative to bulky books, analog media, and emulsion-based photographs-but can it stand the test of time? In this program, Stewart Brand, co-inventor of the TCP/IP Internet protocol, and others in the know assess the rapid proliferation of digitization; confront the alarming risk of massive data loss through technology obsolescence, platform incompatibilities, and storage media degradation;...
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What constitutes news in the Digital Age, and who is most qualified to report it? This program takes an insightful look at the growing marginalization of the mainstream press in the face of the digital communication revolution through the eyes of journalists, bloggers, scholars, and the twentysomethings who are driving the consumption and production of news. The merits and liabilities of citizen journalism are weighed, and concerns such as whether...
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How will producers, advertisers, and consumers be affected when information and entertainment merge into the on-demand environment of the Internet? Segment one of this program deals with the displacement of broadcast TV, while segment two examines the rise of cultural capitalism and the vanishing distinction between producers and consumers. A collage of interviews with Peter Schwartz, of Global Business Network; Amazon.com's Jeff Bezos; and heavy...