The Internet Backbone and the American Metropolis

Despite the rapid growth of advanced telecommunications services, there is a lack of knowledge about the geographic diffusion of these new technologies. The Internet presents an important challenge to communications researchers, as it threatens to redefine the production and delivery of vital services including finance, retailing, and education. This article seeks to address the gap in the current literature by analyzing the development of Internet backbone networks in the United States between 1997 and 1999. We focus upon the intermetropolitan links that have provided transcontinental data transport services since the demise of the federally subsidized networks deployed in the 1970s and 1980s. We find that a select group of seven highly interconnected metropolitan areas consistently dominated the geography of national data networks, despite massive investment in this infrastructure over the study period. Furthermore, while prosperous and internationally oriented American cities lead the nation in adopting and deploying Internet technologies, interior regions and economically distressed cities have failed to keep up. As information-based industries and services account for an increasing share of economic activity, this evidence suggests that the Internet may aggravate the economic disparities among regions, rather than level them. Although the capacity of the backbone system has slowly diffused throughout the metropolitan system, the geographic structure of interconnecting links has changed little. Finally, the continued persistence of the metropolis as the center for telecommunications networks illustrates the need for a more sophisticated understanding of the interaction between societies and technological innovations.     

The Effectiveness of an Initial Teacher Training Partnership in Preparing Students to Teach Art in the Primary School

Recent government reform of initial teacher education has increased teachers’ responsibility for training students in schools, bringing about some fundamental changes in the professional relationship between the schools, higher education institutions (HEIs), teachers and students. This paper reports on primary undergraduate student teachers’ and their class teachers’ perceptions of school-based training to teach art. Class teachers were interviewed about their preparedness to train students and questionnaires and interviews were used to gauge students’ views of the effectiveness of university-based courses and the support given to them by teachers. The findings indicate that teachers were able to support students in matters of classroom management and resources but that they were mostly unable to assist them in developing subject knowledge and understanding of art teaching and learning. This raises concerns about teachers’ subject knowledge and their confidence in training students. Our findings suggest that there is significant room for improvement in the partnership arrangements between schools and HEIs in order to better support students’ teaching of art.     

要么发表成果,要么淘汰出局-大学图书馆员的两难困境?

本文考察了发表学术成果的要求对图书馆员获得长期或连续聘用的影响。在对已有文献进行回顾后 ,作者提供了对研究型的、能授予博士或硕士学位的大学进行调查的结果。在 690所答复调查的学校中 ,5 4.3 %实行了长期馆员 (tenure -tracklibrarian)聘用制。其中 ,超过 60 %的学校要求馆员必须发表学术成果 ,3 4 .6%的学校鼓励馆员发表学术成果。在这 3 74所学校中 ,92 .2 %的馆员在为期三年的长期聘用考核中获得通过。作者还对没有通过考核的馆员及据信是为避开考核而辞职的馆员的情况作了分析。