Teachers as People or ATMs?

From: "Wrong Way to Reward Teachers,"By Linda Perlstein,
Sunday, September 3, 2006; B07

EXCERPTS:

"...More and more, classroom agendas are being set not by teachers but by administrators. At Tyler Heights, a high-poverty school I observed last year, teachers use structured reading and math curricula that they had no role in choosing, along with Anne Arundel County pacing guides that tell them what to teach each day. Once a week teachers follow "explicit lessons" that are completely scripted -- so much so that the county administrator who introduced them to principals said that even 'a bank teller could pick up the lesson immediately.' ...And test preparation is guided by a set of schoolwide practices that all teachers follow.

So who deserves the credit, or blame, for students' scores?..."

FULL TEXT:

Before Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich goes any further with merit pay for teachers, which he announced last week, he should consider the third-graders of Tyler Heights Elementary School in Annapolis.

Teachers ought to be subject to some form of merit pay; it has always seemed silly to me that they are compensated mainly for the number of years they stick around. But merit pay shouldn't mean simply rewarding teachers based on student test scores, as it does in many of the jurisdictions that are implementing it. To do that assumes that the bulk of a child's score is attributable to the performance of his classroom teacher and that the test tells you most of what you need to know about a child's progress.

More and more, classroom agendas are being set not by teachers but by administrators. At Tyler Heights, a high-poverty school I observed last year, teachers use structured reading and math curricula that they had no role in choosing, along with Anne Arundel County pacing guides that tell them what to teach each day. Once a week teachers follow "explicit lessons" that are completely scripted -- so much so that the county administrator who introduced them to principals said that even "a bank teller could pick up the lesson immediately."

When students need extra help, that's usually provided by other teachers, during class, during the summer or after school. And test preparation is guided by a set of schoolwide practices that all teachers follow.

So who deserves the credit, or blame, for students' scores? The classroom teacher is a big part of the equation, surely. But so are the teachers who provide the extra help, the principal who sets the agenda and the district administrators who choose the curricular materials.

And then there are the parents and children themselves. Whose performance is reflected on the test of a child absent 40 days? Or on the test of a girl who should ace the Maryland State Assessment but who, in the month leading up to the test, protests something in her life -- neither parents nor teacher could figure out what -- by turning in scribbles instead of answers? Or on the test of a child who needs special education services that his father refuses to allow for him?

An impressive 90 percent of Tyler Heights' third- and fourth-graders passed the reading assessment this year. Only 82 percent of the fifth-graders passed, and they were considered the smartest kids in school. I wonder if the scores in the fifth-grade class I observed were jeopardized by the teacher's frequent rejection of the school's "laser-sharp focus" on the MSA, as the principal put it, to detour into the real-world discussions that so engaged her students.

In one of last year's third-grade classes, most of the kids were on grade level and had little trouble understanding new lessons. In another class, the kids came with few skills -- many used fingers to subtract three from five -- learned slowly and had an awful time subduing their anger. Yes, "all children can learn," as politicians put it, but many of these 14 had had quite a hard time of it ever since kindergarten.

So, because more of those children failed the MSA in that class than in others, should their teacher be penalized? Maryland's accountability system compares current third-graders to third-graders from the year before. Although state officials are considering what is called a "value-added" model, in which improvement is judged by measuring a student over time, they don't have one yet. Until they do, they shouldn't consider basing teachers' pay on whether one random group of kids does better than another.

And they shouldn't assume, either, that tests tell you everything. Upping the pressure gives teachers an incentive to narrow the curriculum to just what's on the test. That's fine if the assessment tests everything. But any Tyler Heights teacher would tell you that the third-graders' 90 percent proficiency on a reading test comes at the expense of glossed-over science, social studies and writing curricula, and even of many of the state reading standards that teachers know won't be tested.

I am impressed by the children of Tyler Heights doing so well on their test. I am impressed by their teachers and their principal, because I know just how much hard work went into doing what they were asked to do.

Testing pressure and turnover at the school are already high. Experienced teachers have told me that if their pay is directly tied to scores, they'll teach someplace easier. It's not because they are lazy. It's because they know what those scores mean, and what they don't.

Linda Perlstein, a former education writer for The Post, is the author of "Tested: One School, and America, Struggle to Make the Grade," to be published next year.

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

"Ostentatious Desperation" - Jerry Springer-ism Online?

Will the Web spread Jerry Springer-ism?

"...The larger reality is that today's exhibitionism may last a lifetime. What goes on the Internet often stays on the Internet. Something that seems harmless, silly or merely impetuous today may seem offensive, stupid or reckless in two weeks, two years or two decades. Still, we are clearly at a special moment. Thoreau famously remarked that "the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." Thanks to technology, that's no longer necessary. People can now lead lives of noisy and ostentatious desperation. Or at least they can try. ..."

A Web of Exhibitionists

By Robert J. Samuelson, Wash. Post, Wednesday, September 20, 2006; A25

Call it the ExhibitioNet. It turns out that the Internet has unleashed the greatest outburst of mass exhibitionism in human history. Everyone may not be entitled, as Andy Warhol once suggested, to 15 minutes of fame. But everyone is entitled to strive for 15 minutes -- or 30, 90 or much more. We have blogs, "social networking" sites (MySpace.com, Facebook), YouTube and all their rivals. Everything about these sites is a scream for attention. Look at me. Listen to me. Laugh with me -- or at me.

This is no longer fringe behavior. MySpace has 56 million American "members." Facebook -- which started as a site for college students and has expanded to high school students and others -- has 9 million members. (For the unsavvy: MySpace and Facebook allow members to post personal pages with pictures and text.) About 12 million American adults (8 percent of Internet users) blog, estimates the Pew Internet & American Life Project. YouTube -- a site where anyone can post home videos -- says 100 million videos are watched daily.

Exhibitionism is now a big business. In 2005 Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. bought MySpace for a reported $580 million. All these sites aim to make money, mainly through ads and fees. What's interesting culturally and politically is that their popularity contradicts the belief that people fear the Internet will violate their right to privacy. In reality, millions of Americans are gleefully discarding -- or at least cheerfully compromising -- their right to privacy. They're posting personal and intimate stuff in places where thousands or millions can see it.

People seem to crave popularity or celebrity more than they fear the loss of privacy. Some of this extroversion is crass self-promotion. The Internet is a cheap way to advertise ideas and projects. Anyone can post a video on YouTube, free; you can start a blog free (some companies don't charge for "hosting" a site). Last week a popular series of videos -- Lonelygirl15 -- on YouTube was revealed to be a scripted drama, written by three aspiring filmmakers, and not a teenager's random meditations.

But the ExhibitioNet is more than a marketing tool. The same impulse that inspires people to spill their guts on "Jerry Springer" or to participate in "reality TV" shows (MTV's "The Real World" and its kin) has now found a mass outlet. MySpace aims at an 18-to-34-year-old audience; many of the pages are proudly raunchy. U.S. News & World Report recently described MySpace as "Lake Wobegon gone horribly wrong: a place where all the women are fast [and] the men are hard-drinking."

The blogosphere is often seen as mainly a political arena. That's a myth. According to the Pew estimates, most bloggers (37 percent) focus on "my life and personal experiences." Politics and government are a very distant second (11 percent), followed by entertainment (7 percent) and sports (6 percent). Even these figures may exaggerate the importance of politics. Half of bloggers say they're mainly interested in expressing themselves "creatively."

Self-revelation and attitude are what seem to appeal. Heather Armstrong maintains one of the most popular personal blogs (Dooce.com). "I never had a cup of coffee until I was 23-years-old," she writes. "I had premarital sex for the first time at age 22, but BY GOD I waited an extra year for the coffee." She started her blog in 2001, got fired from her job as a Web designer in Los Angeles for writing about work ("My advice to you is BE YE NOT SO STUPID."), became "an unemployed drunk," got married and moved to Salt Lake City, where she had a child.

Armstrong is a graceful and often funny writer. ("I am no longer a practicing Mormon or someone who believes that Rush Limbaugh speaks to God. My family is understandably disappointed.") The popular site now has so many ads that her husband quit his job. Recent postings include an ode to her 2-year-old daughter, a story about her dog and a plug for her friend Maggie's book, "No One Cares What You Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog." Idea No. 32: breaking up. Naturally, Armstrong expounds on her busted relationships.

Up to a point, the blogs and "social networking" sites represent new forms of electronic schmoozing -- extensions of e-mail and instant messaging. What's different is the undiluted passion for self-publicity. But even among the devoted, there are occasional doubts about whether this is all upside. Facebook recently announced a new service. Its computers would regularly scan the pages of its members and flash news of the latest postings as headlines to their friends' pages. There was an uproar. Suppose your girlfriend decides she's had enough. The potential headline to your pals: "Susan dumps George." Countless students regarded the relentless electronic snooping and automatic messaging as threatening -- "stalking," as many put it. Facebook modified the service by allowing members to opt out.

The larger reality is that today's exhibitionism may last a lifetime. What goes on the Internet often stays on the Internet. Something that seems harmless, silly or merely impetuous today may seem offensive, stupid or reckless in two weeks, two years or two decades. Still, we are clearly at a special moment. Thoreau famously remarked that "the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." Thanks to technology, that's no longer necessary. People can now lead lives of noisy and ostentatious desperation. Or at least they can try.

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

Gizmos in Classrooms? Feature films on IPods?

So, how are we exploring ways in which all students having small multi-function internet-connected devices in their pockets during class could be used to improve teaching/learning?

Apple Nears Deal for Feature Films on IPod

Apple Nears Deal for Feature Films on IPod

Plan Has Major Studios Divided

By Frank Ahrens

Washington Post Staff Writer

Thursday, September 7, 2006; D05

Apple Computer Inc. will soon begin selling feature-length movies online for viewing on its iPod devices, according to Hollywood sources, as the company hopes to duplicate its success with selling music through its iTunes digital store.

The service could be announced as early as Tuesday, when Apple has scheduled a "special event" of an undisclosed nature.

Apple's plan has roiled relations between Hollywood studios and big-box retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which sell millions of DVD movies and see Apple's online distribution as a threat, said sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because the negotiations were ongoing. As a result, most of the studios are not joining Apple in its rollout but may join later.

The major studio fully on board is Walt Disney Co., for which Steve Jobs, an Apple co-founder, sits on the board of directors. The Disney studios include Touchstone Pictures and Miramax Films, and the group's releases include the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies, the "Scary Movie" series and "Finding Nemo." It is unclear whether all Disney studios will supply movies to iTunes initially.

Executives of Vancouver, British Columbia-based Lionsgate Films said in an investors conference call this month that their company would begin selling movies on iTunes by the end of the year. Lionsgate is a small, independent studio but has produced the current box-office hit "Crank," as well as the "Saw" horror hits and the Showtime television series "Weeds," which iTunes already sells.

Other studios, such as Universal Pictures and Warner Bros., are not participating in the initial iTunes movie rollout, as details regarding movie pricing have not been worked out. Analysts are speculating the movie downloads could run as much as $14.99 per film.

Apple sent e-mails Tuesday inviting members of the media to an event in San Francisco on Tuesday. The invitation includes no specifics but hints at its purpose by showing an Apple logo in front of crossed searchlights and the slogan "It's Showtime."

Even though Apple's iPod was not the first -- nor, some argue, the best -- digital music device, the iPod and the iTunes Music Store kick-started the legal online music business by introducing an attractive, easy-to-use player and a simple, affordable way to buy songs. Analysts estimate that nearly 60 million iPods have been sold and 1 billion songs have been bought.

Apple added $1.99 video downloads of television shows and sporting events to its iTunes service in October, and the venture has experienced modest success. For example, ABC reports that more than 3 million downloads of its hit drama "Lost" have been sold on iTunes. As Apple struggled to fill holes in its music library, complicated digital-rights issues have been keeping iTunes' video library thin.

Though sales of digital songs through iTunes and other online services bolstered a music industry crippled by illegal downloading and high CD prices, Apple's reluctance to vary its 99-cent pricing has rankled some of the major record labels.

Apple's movie plans face similar resistance in Hollywood, which partly explains why most major studios have not signed up to contribute to the new iTunes service. The major movie and television studios have made billions of dollars on sales of DVDs over the past decade -- studios now get more money from DVD sales than from box-office receipts -- and are hesitant to disrupt the revenue flow by offering movies for sale online. The studios also would like to be able to vary online movie prices.

To further complicate matters, Wal-Mart is talking to movie studios and technology companies about the possibility of offering its own movie-download service, a company spokeswoman said.

So far, Apple's video offerings have been limited to half-hour and hour-long television shows and edited versions of sporting events. The iPod with the most storage space-- 60 gigabytes -- holds 15,000 songs or 150 hours of video. Storing a number of two-hour feature films would require even more space on the iPod's hard drive, so it is possible that Apple will roll out a new iPod with greater capacity. Also, the iPod's current 2.5-inch screen may prove too small for viewing feature-length movies, so a larger-screened iPod may be in the offing, as well.

Apple makes little money on song sales -- as much as 70 cents per song goes to the music company that holds the rights and to the musicians in royalties -- but the company has used iTunes to propel sales of the iPod, which costs as much as $399. Apple shipped more than 8 million iPods in the quarter ended in July, a 32 percent increase over the previous year, the company said.

In a note to investors, Shaw Wu, an analyst with American Technology Research Inc., said he anticipates that Apple will also use the Tuesday event to roll out an upgrade to the iPod Nano player and an Apple "smart phone."

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

"Books Google Could Open" - Ekman

"The Books Google Could Open," By Richard Ekman, Tuesday, August 22, 2006; A15

The nation's colleges and universities should support Google's controversial project to digitize great libraries and offer books online. It has the potential to do a lot of good for higher education in this country.

The rapid annual increase in the number of new books and journals, coupled with far-reaching technological innovations, is changing relations between academia and the publishing industry. In the recent past, college and university libraries collaborated with publishers in creating online collections of selected published works. But now many in the publishing industry are opposing the new digital catalogue of published works created by Google -- Book Search -- even as many librarians hail it as a way to expand access to millions of published works.

Only a small fraction of the huge number of books published today are printed in editions of more than a few thousand copies. And the great works of even the recent past are quickly passing into obscurity. Google has joined with major libraries to make it possible for all titles to remain accessible to users.

Book Search is a Herculean undertaking, digitizing both new and old works housed in some of the world's top libraries -- Stanford, Harvard, the University of Michigan, the University of California System, the New York Public Library and Oxford -- and rendering them searchable through Google's powerful Web site. Book Search does not permit users to read entire copyrighted works on screen; it simply makes those works searchable through keywords, quickly and at no cost, and allows readers to view several lines from the book. Users can look at an entire page from any book not under copyright protection.

This powerful tool will make less well-known written works or hard-to-find research materials more accessible to students, teachers and others around the world. Geography will not hinder a student's quest to find relevant material. Libraries can help to revive interest in underused books. And sales of books would probably increase as a result.

Book Search comes at a time when college and university libraries are hard-pressed to keep up with the publishing and technology revolutions. Budgets are stretched, and libraries must now specialize and rely on interlibrary loans for books in other subjects.

Student and faculty research has also been limited by what is on the shelves of campus libraries. A student can identify a book through an online library catalogue, but the book's content remains unknown. It must then be shipped -- an expense that may not be worthwhile if the book isn't what was expected.

With Book Search, it's easy to imagine a history student at a small college in Nebraska using the Internet to find an out-of-print book held only by a library in New York. Instead of requesting delivery of the book, he or she can read a snippet of it from Google's online catalogue and request it on interlibrary loan if it seems useful. Even better, the student can purchase the book in the same session at the computer.

Unfortunately, Book Search has vociferous critics. Some publishers have filed lawsuits to stop the project, alleging that Google is violating copyright law. The legal questions will eventually be settled in the courts, but those of us who are researchers and readers of books and articles ought to be disturbed by the loss of trust among publishers and libraries, which a decade ago embraced technological innovation and collaboration.

Project Muse, begun in 1993 as a pioneering joint effort of the Johns Hopkins University Press and the university's Milton S. Eisenhower Library, makes available electronic "bundles" of current issues of journals to students and teachers in scattered locations. And JSTOR -- a coalition of journal publishers and libraries formed in the mid-1990s to create a reliable online collection of hundreds of older, little-used scholarly journals -- has brought these specialized works back into common use.

Colleges and universities have conflicting interests in this dispute. Some operate their own publishing houses and hope to sell books. Some faculty members are authors and hope to earn royalties from sales. But the major interest of colleges and universities is as users of information -- helping thousands of students and teachers find what they need and making these materials available. In this regard, the advantages of Google's service are enormous, especially for smaller colleges without huge budgets for library purchases.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time that publishers have resisted an important technology instead of figuring out how to use it to their advantage. Music publishers a century ago tried to stop the manufacture of player pianos because they feared that sales of sheet music would decline. In fact, player pianos helped increase the number of buyers of sheet music.

New technologies and new ways of doing business can be disruptive, but they are inevitable. The transition to new technologies can be smooth or rough, depending on the attitudes of the institutional actors. The goal is to make more of the world's information readily available to users.

The writer is president of the Council of Independent Colleges. He is on the advisory boards of two university presses and a university library.

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

Blogs - Public/Private?

Kids Say the Darndest Things in Their Blogs:

EXCERPTS

“…Of the 12 million bloggers on the Internet, 54 percent are younger than 30, according to a July study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. That number may not include the dozens of other sites that allow for self-disclosure and picture-posting without necessarily following a blog format, like AIM Pages, Facebook and MySpace, which has 100 million member profiles.”

“…’Many of them don't think they are committing public acts by posting a blog, but the power of search is that it makes it pretty darn easy to find,’ said Lee Rainey, founding director of Pew. Parents and increasingly school systems are warning children about the implications of posting things on MySpace, for example, he said. But parents are only starting to become aware of their own vulnerability, he said. "Things that used to be inside familiars or within a small audience now have a global audience.’”

“Kids Say the Darndest Things in Their Blogs: For Parents, ‘t Can Be Embarrassing,” By Yuki Noguchi, Washington Post Staff Writer, Tuesday, August 22, 2006; D01

Staff researcher Richard Drezen contributed to this report.

Like many 21-year-olds, Jared Watts gripes in his blog. He rails against his boss, his job and the misery of dealing with customers at the Cingular Wireless store where he works.

"Enter Middle Aged Wench of Doom," Watts wrote, recounting a tense dialogue with a rude customer demanding to pay her bill. He also complains about company policies he finds "abusive to the customer" and "inappropriate," some of which "violated my personal beliefs."

Watts's views about his employer appear to contradict those of his father, Wayne Watts, who is senior vice president and associate general counsel of AT&T Corp., Cingular's parent company. The senior Watts, whom Jared credits with landing him the job, is defending AT&T's customer service record before regulators as the company tries to acquire BellSouth Corp.

Unlike their parents, today's youth have grown up in the age of public disclosure. Keeping an Internet diary has become de rigueur; social lives and private thoughts are laid bare. For parents in high-profile positions, however, it means their children can exploit a generational disconnect to espouse their own points of view, or expose private details perhaps their parents wish they would not.

"All the things I've typed in my blog I've argued with my father about," like whether mergers hurt customers, something Jared Watts said he thinks does inconvenience consumers. But publicly criticizing his company is not the same as a personal attack on the father who supports him "100 percent," he said.

His father, speaking through an AT&T spokesman, said: "I care very much for my son. And like many fathers and sons, we have differences of opinion on many subjects."

What gets aired can go beyond philosophical differences.

The gossip site Wonkette.com has made a minor sport out of exposing what newsmakers' offspring have done on the Web. There was Tennessee Republican Senate candidate Bob Corker's daughter's Facebook page, for example, which showed her locking lips with another woman and dancing in what appeared to be her underwear.

Of the 12 million bloggers on the Internet, 54 percent are younger than 30, according to a July study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. That number may not include the dozens of other sites that allow for self-disclosure and picture-posting without necessarily following a blog format, like AIM Pages, Facebook and MySpace, which has 100 million member profiles.

California Republican Rep. Brian Bilbray's younger-than-21 daughter Briana posted a series of pictures of herself on MySpace, including one where she poses with a cooler full of Miller High Life. Last fall, NBC star Tim Russert's son, Luke, posted a photo of on Facebook of himself clutching a cup and posing with four bikini-clad women in a hot tub.

Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call discovered Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's son, Jonathan, declaring membership in the "Jonathan Frist appreciation for 'Waking up White People' Group" on his Facebook page. The Vanderbilt University student also claimed membership in a group where there were "No Jews Allowed. Just Kidding. No seriously."

All were replaced or taken down after gaining Internet notoriety.

According to the Pew study, among those who blog, 52 percent said they do so to express themselves creatively, and 50 percent said they blog to document and share their personal experiences.

"Many of them don't think they are committing public acts by posting a blog, but the power of search is that it makes it pretty darn easy to find," said Lee Rainey, founding director of Pew. Parents and increasingly school systems are warning children about the implications of posting things on MySpace, for example, he said. But parents are only starting to become aware of their own vulnerability, he said. "Things that used to be inside familiars or within a small audience now have a global audience."

For example, a Google search of the terms "Wayne Watts AT&T" returns a top link to a blog called "Corporate Tool," which praises the job Watts has been doing to secure the merger between AT&T and BellSouth. The top comment in response to that entry is from Jared Watts -- "haha wayne watts is my dad!" -- with a link to Jared Watts's blog and its ramblings and complaints.

Staff researcher Richard Drezen contributed to this report.

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

TiVo [verb!] =/= Bowling Alone... "Pausing The Panic"

EXCERPTS:

“It also turns out that DVRs are not killing live viewing or shuffling the weekly prime-time schedule, at least not yet. From Sunday to Friday, 84 percent of all prime-time television viewing in DVR households is live, according to Nielsen Media Research. According to the same data, 61 percent of all prime-time programming recorded by DVRs is watched on the same days it airs.

“Pausing The Panic: DVRs Were Expected to Turn TV Upside Down, But We've Stayed Tuned,” By Frank Ahrens, Washington Post Staff Writer, Sunday, August 20, 2006; F01

Prime-time television and its mighty 30-second commercial were supposed to be in trouble when a new, cutting-edge technology arrived on the scene several years ago, giving viewers a tool to zip past the traditional, on-screen ads.

Digital video recorders were like VCRs with super powers: able to pause live television, effortlessly record a season's worth of shows and even pick programs they think you will like. By shifting television's time schedule and watching recorded programs at their convenience, viewers could skip those annoying ads with the click of the remote.

Today, as the DVR becomes more accessible to the mainstream -- notably because cable and satellite companies are starting to incorporate the technology into the set-top boxes already in millions of living rooms -- the technology is having a different impact.

Most viewers have not radically rearranged their television schedules. People are watching more, not less, television. And, most interesting, DVRs may end up preserving mass-audience network television by offering viewers more choices and giving advertisers novel solutions to reach potential customers.

TiVo Inc., which pioneered the DVR, owns about one-third of the market and has entered the lexicon as a replacement for the phrase "to tape a show." But with the cable and satellite companies on board, industry researchers say 12 million to 15 million homes are likely to have a DVR by the end of the year. By 2010, that number could be as high as 65 million.

Now, TiVo and television advertisers are working hand in hand to revolutionize the decades-old model of supporting network television. The Silicon Valley company announced last month that it would start selling customer commercial-viewing data to networks and advertisers. And this fall, viewers will be introduced to prime-time commercials made expressly for DVR users -- ads that include extra content seen only when viewers go frame by frame through the commercials, creating a deterrent against using the fast-forward button.

"When the DVR came on the scene, there were all these apocalyptic predictions as to how it was going to destroy the mass market and mass-market TV," said David Poltrack, chief research officer at CBS Corp. and president of CBS Vision, the company's research shop. "People became infatuated with the technology and the idea that people were going to take total control of their TV viewing."

Poltrack is one of the industry's experts on researching viewing habits and telling programmers and executives what the data mean. At presentations, he likes to flout a photograph of a 2000 New York Times Magazine cover story that predicts "The End of the Mass Market" because of DVRs.

What the millennial doomsayers missed, Poltrack said, "was the logical conclusion that the amount of TV that people watched was limited by the fact that these programs ran against each other."

That limit disappears with the DVR, which can record one show while you watch another.

True, a videocassette recorder can do the same thing. But programming a VCR and taping a show can be cumbersome and time-consuming. Seven out of 10 owners use VCRs to play recorded tapes (such as rented movies) rather than to record television programs to watch later, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. The joke of the "blinking 12:00" -- a sign that viewers never learned how to program their VCRs -- turned out to be true.

But with DVRs, viewers can, at the touch of a few buttons, record all of their favorite shows for an entire season, all of which are stored neatly on a hard drive inside the recorder.

Given the opportunity to easily record shows, people wind up watching more of the most popular television programs. Overall television viewing in households that own DVRs increases after their purchase, according to a number of surveys. That means those viewers are exposed to more advertising.

This fall, ABC is moving one of its most popular shows, "Grey's Anatomy," to Thursday nights, opposite CBS's most popular show, "CSI." Poltrack expects viewers with DVRs to watch both shows instead of having to choose between the two or spend the time and effort remembering to program VCRs and put in tapes.

It also turns out that DVRs are not killing live viewing or shuffling the weekly prime-time schedule, at least not yet. From Sunday to Friday, 84 percent of all prime-time television viewing in DVR households is live, according to Nielsen Media Research. According to the same data, 61 percent of all prime-time programming recorded by DVRs is watched on the same days it airs.

And in more good news for the networks, even though there are only six major broadcast networks compared with hundreds of cable channels, 77 percent of the shows recorded by DVRs air on a network such as ABC or Fox, rather than a cable channel such as ESPN or TNT, Nielsen reported.

The networks think they can make more advertising money if they can figure out how to get past one other statistic, and it's a troubling one: Ninety percent of DVR owners say they fast-forward past some or all commercials, CBS data show.

But new information about how DVR users interact with commercials raises questions about that statistic.

A March survey by Millward Brown marketing researchers found that 42 percent of non-DVR owners recalled specific brands in commercials they had seen, such as Ford or Taco Bell. For DVR owners, the number was 43 percent.

There are several possible explanations for differences between what people say and what they do when it comes to commercials. Poltrack said it's smiled upon socially to say that you don't watch commercials. Also, people tend to remember action -- fast-forwarding -- better than inaction, or not fast-forwarding. Further, it's almost impossible to not catch at least some of a commercial block when trying to zip through it. With that in mind, advertisers now make commercials that keep the company logo on screen for the entire ad, for example. Advertisers call it a "logo burst."

More DVR-inspired creativity is at work.

In May, General Electric Co. began showing commercials touting the environmental benefits of some of its heavy industrial products, such as jet engines and diesel locomotives. One 30-second spot featured an elephant dancing in a jungle to "Singin' in the Rain," as other animals look on. Viewers with DVRs were shown how to pause the commercial at certain moments. When they did, up popped whimsical, fictional biographical information about the animals. Gamers call such hidden content "Easter eggs." GE calls the project "One-Second Theater," and it is designed to nudge DVR owners to spend more, rather than less, time with commercials.

It worked, according to GE's research. Viewers spent a little more than two minutes watching and reading the 30-second spots, said GE's Jonathan Klein, marketing communications leader.

So instead of DVR users never seeing the GE spot, as advertisers and networks have feared, "viewers ended up spending over two minutes with the GE brand in front of them," Klein said.

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

Trust Self-Authenticated Videos? vs. Wikipedia?

“…here's the big downside of user-generated content: its dubious authority. An online video showing you how to change your oil may have been produced by Mr. Goodwrench or Mr. Wingnut. You don't know!

http://www.videojug.com/ … provides a novel twist on user-generated content -- something that might actually teach you something as opposed to merely entertaining you. Assuming the instructional videos are actually, you know, correct.

Under the motto "Life explained. On film," the site posts how-to videos on a variety of topics,

they are building their ad-supported business by soliciting user videos.

So far, they have four.

Still, if I need to know something harmless, such as "how to conceal bags under your eyes," and the answer doesn't involve spackle, I might be inclined to follow Videojug's advice. For more important stuff, I'll stick to ironclad authoritative Internet sources.

Like Wikipedia.

“Videos That Explain Life but Leave The Verifying to You,” By Frank Ahrens, Sunday, August 20, 2006; F07

Some of the most popular programming on cable television networks today revolves around the do-it-yourself theme -- from Bob Vila showing you how to tile a floor to the team on "While You Were Out" offering tips on how to brighten a room with the right colors.

But who wants to wait for one of those shows to develop a segment about rewiring outlets or installing a garbage disposal when there are bound to be plenty of helpful how-to tips on a Web site somewhere?

And there are. But here's the big downside of user-generated content: its dubious authority. An online video showing you how to change your oil may have been produced by Mr. Goodwrench or Mr. Wingnut. You don't know!

And how are you supposed to know if the "electrician" offering Web advice knows what he's talking about? Because he's wearing a tool belt?

Case in point: http://www.videojug.com/ , a beta product from Britain that just popped up. It provides a novel twist on user-generated content -- something that might actually teach you something as opposed to merely entertaining you. Assuming the instructional videos are actually, you know, correct.

Under the motto "Life explained. On film," the site posts how-to videos on a variety of topics, from how to eat sushi correctly (obeying custom), how to make a vodka martini, how to unblock a toilet, how to brush your teeth and even how to be a paparazzo.

It's impossible to watch the videos, with their step-by-step presentation and the British accents of their narrators, and not hear Monty Python. ("Number 6: Just above the elbow.")

There are Pythonesque elements to the viddies. For instance, Step 2 of the "How to roll a cigarette" video is: "Do you really need a cigarette? If you've decided to make yourself stink, increase your chance of a serious terminal illness and also do it all by your own hand, there's no better way than rolling your own cigarettes."

The proprietors of Videojug have primed the pump by shooting several instructional videos of their own, but they are building their ad-supported business by soliciting user videos.

So far, they have four. (Whaddaya want? It's beta!)

There is some degree of authority claimed. For instance, several paparazzi were consulted in the making of the paparazzi video. But some of the other material moves into areas I'd rather not leave to the expertise of the masses.

One video on the site shows women how to self-administer a breast exam; another shows men how to check for testicular cancer. As they are the most-viewed videos on the site and they both feature nudity, I'm guessing it's more than health interests that's made them so popular. (The site provides age registration but it can be lied to.) The narrator of each video claims it is based on information from health professionals, but without citations, that assurance is meaningless. And even though the men's video gets the major points right, I still wouldn't trust it over WebMD.

Still, if I need to know something harmless, such as "how to conceal bags under your eyes," and the answer doesn't involve spackle, I might be inclined to follow Videojug's advice. For more important stuff, I'll stick to ironclad authoritative Internet sources.

Like Wikipedia.

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

"Twins - Guilty Conscience?" [1.5 Minutes audio]

The ultimate guilty conscience!
"Twins - Guilty Conscience?" another Boudreaux story is available
[1.5 Minutes Audio - Cajun Academic Humor]

For more Boudreaux stories - Cajun Academic Humor - go to:
http://www.tltgroup.org/listserv/tlt-swg.html
I hope you enjoy them!

Steve Gilbert
NOTE: David E. Boudreaux, native and resident of Thibodaux, La., is Vice President for Institutional Advancement at Nicholls State University. We appreciate the warmth, good nature, and underlying care for humanity that often emerge from his unique "Cajun Academic Humor." Boudreaux's stories provide welcome breaks in our ever-busier, ever more fragmented lives, and help us regain a broader, healthier perspective.

"Louisiana Police Investigation" [1.5 Minutes audio]

Unfair competition?
"Louisiana Police Investigation," another Boudreaux story is available
[1.5 Minutes Audio - Cajun Academic Humor]

For more Boudreaux stories – Cajun Academic Humor - go to:
http://www.tltgroup.org/listserv/tlt-swg.html
I hope you enjoy them!

Steve Gilbert
NOTE: David E. Boudreaux, native and resident of Thibodaux, La., is Vice President for Institutional Advancement at Nicholls State University. We appreciate the warmth, good nature, and underlying care for humanity that often emerge from his unique "Cajun Academic Humor." Boudreaux's stories provide welcome breaks in our ever-busier, ever more fragmented lives, and help us regain a broader, healthier perspective.

"Hangover - True Love" [2 minutes audio]

A solid marriage!
"Hangover - True Love," another Boudreaux story is available
[2 Minutes Audio - Cajun Academic Humor]

For more Boudreaux stories – Cajun Academic Humor - go to:
http://www.tltgroup.org/listserv/tlt-swg.html
I hope you enjoy them!

Steve Gilbert
NOTE: David E. Boudreaux, native and resident of Thibodaux, La., is Vice President for Institutional Advancement at Nicholls State University. We appreciate the warmth, good nature, and underlying care for humanity that often emerge from his unique "Cajun Academic Humor." Boudreaux's stories provide welcome breaks in our ever-busier, ever more fragmented lives, and help us regain a broader, healthier perspective.

"Valuable Parrot?" [1.5 minutes audio]

Importance of choosing the right words!
"Valuable Parrot?" another Boudreaux story is available
[1.5 Minutes Audio - Cajun Academic Humor]

For more Boudreaux stories – Cajun Academic Humor - go to:
http://www.tltgroup.org/listserv/tlt-swg.html
I hope you enjoy them!

Steve Gilbert
NOTE: David E. Boudreaux, native and resident of Thibodaux, La., is Vice President for Institutional Advancement at Nicholls State University. We appreciate the warmth, good nature, and underlying care for humanity that often emerge from his unique "Cajun Academic Humor." Boudreaux's stories provide welcome breaks in our ever-busier, ever more fragmented lives, and help us regain a broader, healthier perspective.

Teens Move Past Email ==> Texting, IMing

http://money.cnn.com/2006/07/26/technology/thirdscreen0726.biz2/index.htm?section=money_technology

“Ohmigod, teens are so over e-mail!”

E-mail use is dropping fast among teens - a bonanza for wireless operators, but a troublesome trend for Web portals and online marketers.

By Michal Lev-Ram, Business 2.0 Magazine writer-reporter

July 26 2006: 2:59 PM EDT

SAN FRANCISCO (Business 2.0 Magazine) –

E-mail is so, like, 2005. Just ask the kids: A recent ComScore Media Metrix report shows teen usage of Web-based e-mail dropped 8 percent last year.

In search of a faster, more fluid way to communicate with friends, today's so-called "instant generation" is turning to text messaging and IM instead.

The growing trend spells good news for mobile operators, who last year raked in $70 billion in text messaging revenues worldwide, according to technology research firm Gartner.

But it could spell big trouble for Web portals, which depend on e-mail for much of their traffic. According to Hitwise, a research company that tracks Web traffic, Yahoo (Charts) and Microsoft (Charts) got more traffic to their e-mail Web sites than their main portal pages.

Big bucks from short messages

With charges of up to 15 cents per outgoing and incoming message, it's no surprise wireless network operators are making lots of money from the billions of emoticon-packed text messages young users churn out on their cell phones each year.

While text messaging is far more popular overseas - users in some European countries send more than 100 messages a month - usage in the United States is picking up fast. In the first quarter of 2006, Verizon Wireless's 54.8 million customers sent and received about two messages a day on average, generating nearly 10 billion text messages over three months.

"It's the folded-up note of this time period," Joel Kades, Virgin Mobile USA's VP of strategic planning and consumer insight, says of the growing popularity of text messaging.

Among parents, text-message charges are controversial, if only for the end-of-the-month shock when they receive their bill. But to their credit, mobile operators have gotten smarter about the way they charge young customers for text messages - many are now pushing affordable monthly plans, instead of the more traditional (and pricey) pay-per-message fees.

The always youth-centric Virgin halved its per-message fee - from 10 to 5 cents - to attract avid young texters with fixed budgets.

Earlier this summer, Virgin also kicked off a "penny texting" campaign, promoting new text-message packages that give users a thousand messages for $9.99 a month. A crowd of young texters showed up for Virgin's penny-texting launch party in New York's Times Square last month, where B-list celebrity K-Fed (also known as Mr. Britney Spears) showed up to help spread the affordable text messaging word.

Texts are for kids

Haven't heard of K-Fed? You're probably not the target audience for Virgin's message.

But it's a demographic Maya Bruhis, a 16-year-old who can text with her eyes closed, fits into well. The Palo Alto, Calif. teen sends 10 to 15 text messages a day on her Motorola Razr phone.

"If I want to send quick messages to my friends, I text," says Bruhis in a rare phone call. "E-mails are more for work and school."

Bruhis isn't alone. According to a recent Pew Internet & American Life Project report on teens and technology, nearly two-thirds of teen owners of cell phones use text messaging.

Getting the instant message, too

And when kids aren't on cell phones, they're probably using instant messaging instead of e-mail. The same Pew report found that 46 percent of teens who are online chose IM over e-mail as their preferred method of written communication with friends.

Text messaging and instant messaging sound pretty similar - and in fact, they're converging on cell phones, creating another way for wireless carriers to profit. Many also offer young customers mobile versions of IM services like AIM, MSN and Yahoo Messenger. Often, these are being marketed in the form of monthly plans as well.

"Everybody's got an IM account," says Beverly Wilks, marketing director for Oz Communications, a Montreal-based company that sells mobile IM software and services to network operators such as Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile USA, and Virgin. "What we're doing is extending that presence to the mobile phone, so young users are able to share special moments on the go."

Radicati Group, an analysis company, expects IM use worldwide to reach 46.5 billion messages a day by 2009. There are no estimates on how many of those will be delivered to cell phones instead of computers, but analysts expect mobile IM usage to grow rapidly.

With numbers like those, one can't help but wonder: Are teens, like, really going to stop using e-mail altogether?

Probably not, says Mary Madden, a senior research specialist with Pew Internet who worked on last year's report.

"I really don't think e-mail's going to disappear anytime soon," says Madden. "But for social interactions, it's definitely no longer the bread and butter for teens."

Even if e-mail becomes less popular, that's a troublesome trend for operators of Web portals like Yahoo, Google (Charts), AOL, and Microsoft. All of them offer free, Web-based e-mail to draw users back to their Web sites on a regular basis. If teens log on to check e-mail once daily, rather than several times throughout the day, that will be a major hit to their traffic.

Marketers could switch from Web ads to text-message ads. But carriers and government regulators restrict what kind of ads are allowed. And texts are limited in length, making it hard to craft campaigns. That adds up to a tough message for advertisers hoping to reach teens.