April 2011

Net Freedom Fighters and the Digital Age Revolution

April 28, 2011

Tweet One only need look to the revolution in Tunisia, sometimes called “the Jasmine Revolution,” to see how technology, the Internet, and social media are changing the progression of political transitions in the 21st century. How it Started It all began when 26-year-old Tarek al-Tayyib Muhammad Bouazizi, a Tunisian street vendor and the sole income […]

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The President on Facebook: A New Way to Make Age-Old Connections

April 26, 2011

Tweet American presidents have always reached out to the public. From the beginning, our presidency was created to be something distinct from the monarchs of Europe. Here, the door was always open. Literally, in the case of Andrew Jackson, who opened the White House to any and all. Americans took advantage of the invitation, coming […]

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Comcast Merger Brings Hope for Minority Ownership

April 24, 2011

Tweet Last summer, Comcast announced that, pending the approval and completion of its merger with NBC Universal (NBCU), it would allocate $20 million to finance the early stages of digitally-focused minority businesses. Comcast’s pledge, which was first declared in a letter to U.S. Congressman Bobby Rush (IL), outlined ways in which the company intended to […]

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A Lifeline to Avoid Digital Divide

April 21, 2011

Tweet BBSJ thanks Hon. Deborah Taylor Tate for this contribution. We celebrate National Lifeline Awareness Week every September, but few realize just how important it is. Lifeline refers to the modern “Lifeline” and “Linkup” programs created in 1996, but in fact, for over twenty-five years, our nation has insured that low-income Americans have access to […]

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World Economic Forum: Broadband is the Pivot Point for Economic Change

April 19, 2011

Tweet For a nation that considers itself the world leader in all things, the United States doesn’t look so good when it comes to making the best use of communications technology. A recent study by the World Economic Forum lists our nation fifth, behind Sweden, Singapore, Finland, and Switzerland. The study measured what the World […]

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Broadcast Advertising Nondiscrimination: A Victory for Civil Rights at the FCC

April 17, 2011

Tweet Last month, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a modest two-page Enforcement Advisory to remind broadcasters that they must certify in broadcast applications that their advertising contracts do not discriminate. The Advisory also designated a senior member of the FCC’s Media Bureau to serve as a compliance officer for its Broadcast Advertising Nondiscrimination Rule. […]

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National Urban League’s Call to Action for Minority Unemployment

April 14, 2011

Tweet The National Urban League (NUL) hosted its 2011 Legislative Policy Conference in Washington, D.C., last month. Largely focused on the unemployment crisis in the Black community, the event centered on how to better equip minorities with the skills they need to compete in the 21st century job market. The timing of this conference could […]

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Play Ball! Or, Go Online and Play Out Your Sports Fantasy

April 12, 2011

Tweet With the first pitches of the new season of Major League Baseball, millions of men turn to … the Internet, for another season of fantasy baseball. They go to the Web to check on their fantasy basketball, and maybe even to check their rosters and consider any trades for the biggest obsession of them […]

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Using Broadband to Level the Playing Field in Higher Education

April 10, 2011

Tweet One of the most important civil rights victories in the 1970s was the establishment of Pell grants, which help individuals from low-income families attend college. The launch of these grants was enthusiastically received because it represented a significant step toward providing students of every socioeconomic background with an opportunity to attend college. The wide […]

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Distance Learning’s Role Could Grow as Lawmakers Force Colleges to Cut Faculty

April 7, 2011

Tweet In a number of states, lawmakers are taking actions to reduce tenure protections for faculty at public colleges or universities. In some cases, they are trying to strip tenure away entirely. These policy changes could, in a few years, lead to smaller teaching staffs and put greater emphasis on the role of online instruction. […]

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