Monday, February 28, 2000
Strength and Inspiration
A new kind of college
UGA scores big for public relations work
Folk music restoration project finished
Louis Sohn remembered as dedicated alumni leader, supporter
‘Catch-all’ nature of circulation department suits longtime librarian
Retirees
Art faculty hangs it up
Newsmakers

Internet’s education potential
President Michael F. Adams, who recently testified before the Congressional Web-Based Education Commission, was quoted in coverage of the hearings in the online edition of The New York Times. While praising the use of the Internet in higher education, Adams said it was important not to exaggerate the Web’s potential.
“I am convinced that the Internet and the Web can improve education,” he said. “I am, however, concerned that we not over-extol its value. True education requires interchange and discussion. We need to remain cognizant that effective education requires experts to guide students through the process of learning.”
The commission is working on recommendations for policy makers on how the Web can be used for its highest educational purpose.



Heavy Internet users are isolated
The Washington Post quotes Patrick McKeown, a faculty member in the Terry College of Business, in an article about a major new study of Internet users. The survey, which involved more than 4,000 people, found that heavy Internet users tend to spend less time in personal interaction with friends and family.
McKeown, who recently wrote a textbook that explores the issue of living in Internet time, told the Post it would be best to avoid value judgments about what the Net was doing to people. “The Net puts us into social contact in a different sense than what we were used to,” he said. “It’s now the faceless people you can communicate with.
“It’s almost like we’re back in Nebraska in 1910 in a homestead, where it was just you and your family and you wouldn’t see anyone else for days. We had a period of urbanization, now we’re going back to what is almost a rural lifestyle--a homestead within your house.”


Galileo remembered
A Fox News report on the astronomer Galileo Galilei and his 1633 inquisition trial quotes Tom Lessl, an associate professor in speech communication, who believes the significance of Galileo’s trial has been overplayed. Lessl said scientists cite the Galileo example to demonstrate a longstanding division between religion and science, but this belief is “fundamentally wrong.”
“The church’s persecution of Galileo was an exception to the church’s historically supportive relationship to science,” he said. “The scientists have won their battle, and I think it’s time they laid down their arms and became more cautious about how they handle certain religious views.”
Lessl also said that people have added flourishes to the Galileo story that historians now say are not true.



Bush links McCain to media
The Knight-Ridder News Service reports that Texas Gov. George W. Bush has discovered a new way to demonize Republican rival John McCain: link him to the news media. In speeches Bush has suggested that a victory by McCain would empower the media to pick future presidents.
“The media tend not to be real popular, especially if somebody has the notion it’s Yankee media,” said political scientist Charles Bullock in the article. “Generally, a lot of Southerners think the Northern media lies about the South a lot, puts the South in a bad light--the Dukes of Hazzard kind of portrayal of the South, a bunch of rednecks in beat-up, fast cars who don’t speak the king’s English.”
Railing against the media, according to Bullock, “helps get the folks fired up against an entity which they see as not being fair and not being reliable.”
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