Regulatory Treatment of IP Transport and Services

Current U.S. regulatory policy is incoherent in its treatment of packet-oriented data communications services. Services based on X.25, Frame Relay or ATM protocols are regulated as telecommunications services, while IP packet transport is lumped together with applications such as email and the World Wide Web -- and treated as an unregulated information service. Uncertainty also reigns over the appropriate treatment of IP telephony. As IP transport becomes an ever more significant fraction of all telecommunications, public policy problems posed by this inconsistent treatment are likely to increase

Wikis for Teaching and Learning

An academic course presents an opportunity for all participants to collaborate for improving their knowledge. This collective improvement of knowledge is typically documented via material provided by the instructor and notes and assignments prepared by students. Over the course of a semester, these materials provide not only the collective knowledge in that course, but also provide a chronological history of how the knowledge base evolved. The focus of this study is wiki collaboration in teaching & learning contexts. A wiki is a medium in which a group of individuals can work together asynchronously on an idea and easily capture the essence in a reusable format. Technically, a wiki is a collection of hyperlinked Web pages that are assembled with wiki software. With wikis, the line between reader and contributor is intentionally blurred. Further, wiki use reflects the view of an instructor as one who facilitates information sharing among learners rather than simply transmitting knowledge from themselves to their students. Our initial motivation to explore the usefulness of wikis for teaching and learning was driven by the fact that wikis provide a medium in which several individuals could asynchronously work together on an idea and easily capture the essence in a reusable format. We found that: (1) Wikis can be can be used for a variety of tasks ranging from signup sheet for students to self organize, to undertaking business analyses, to analyzing policy positions; (2) Instructor support and facilitation is key; and (3) Ease-of-use issues are present but do not preclude success

Building Collaborative Knowledge Bases: An Open Source Approach Using Wiki Software in Teaching and Research

To open-minded students and professors alike, a classroom is an experience in which all participants collaborate to expand their knowledge. The collective knowledge is typically documented via a mix of lecture slides, notes taken by students, writings submitted by individuals or teams, online discussion forums, etc. A Wiki is collection of hyperlinked web pages that are assembled with Wiki software. It differs from the traditional process of developing a web site in that any registered participant can edit without knowing how to build a web site. It enables a group to asynchronously develop and refine a body of knowledge in full view of all participants. The emergence of Wikipedia and Wikitravel demonstrate that this collaborative process is scalable.1 In this tutorial, we will provide an overview of the Wiki collaboration process; explain how it can be used in teaching courses, and also how it provides an efficient mechanism for collaborating researchers to document their growing body of knowledge. For teaching, students can collectively post and refine each others writings. Participants: If possible, please bring a laptop with Wi-Fi capability

Leveraging the EU regulatory framework to improve a layered policy model for US telecommunications markets

What is the best way to overhaul the current telecommunications legislative framework in the United States? This is an ongoing debate among telecom policy analysts and many others affected by the legacy of regulatory compromises that govern US telecommunications (and related information and media) industry sectors. This paper compares a Layered Model for US telecommunications policy with the regulatory framework adopted by the European Union. Both approaches focus on service characteristics rather than underlying technological traits.1 It becomes clear that the Layered Model could be adopted to move away from sector-specific regulation, and could successfully use conventional market analysis criteria.Telecommunications regulation Policy Technology Market