State of Washington to Offer Online Materials, Instead of Textbooks, for 2-Year Colleges

"The state is building 81 community-college courses from online materials—and learning that adapting content for students takes more than a mouse click."

Cheaters Find an Adversary in Technology

"As tests are increasingly important in education — used to determine graduation, graduate school admission and, the latest, merit pay and tenure for teachers — business has been good for Caveon, a company that uses 'data forensics' to catch cheats, billing itself as the only independent test security outfit in the country."

For Minorities, New 'Digital Divide' Seen

"But now some see a new 'digital divide' emerging — with Latinos and blacks being challenged by more, not less, access to technology. It's tough to fill out a job application on a cellphone, for example. Researchers have noticed signs of segregation online that perpetuate divisions in the physical world. And blacks and Latinos may be using their increased Web access more for entertainment than empowerment."

Twitter is Full of Regional 'Accents,' Study Finds

"Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University examined 380,000 messages from Twitter during one week in March 2010 and found that the social networking site is full of its own kinds of geographical dialects."

U.S. Spam Now Top of Global List

"Malware, phishing scams and malicious spam originating from the United States has put the U.S. top of a global list of countries most responsible for cybercrime activity, IT security and data protection firm Sophos said in a report."

MySpace Laying Off Nearly Half of its Global Staff

"Struggling entertainment site MySpace says it is cutting 47 percent of its staff worldwide, or about 500 people."

ARL Report: Uncertainty About 'Fair Use' Is Hurting Academic and Research Libraries

"A lack of consensus about how to apply the fair use provision of copyright law is consistently impairing the mission of academic and research libraries, according to a new report."