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JAN
18 2005
* Livingston County: County
turns to online auction business
The county is about to jump into the world of
online auctions. At today's meeting, the Board of
Commissioners will consider a plan to use a company called
BidNet to conduct Internet auctions to sell excess county
property. A memo from Purchasing Agent Roberta Bennett to
the board's Finance Committee last week said that BidNet
would get 5 percent of the sales, but that compares well to
the 8 percent to 11 percent fees under the previous system
of yearly sales, not to mention labor costs. The county
would not ship items sold through the online auctions -
buyers would have to pick them up in person. Payment options
would be money order, certified check or cash presented at
the time of pickup.
Source: Daily Press and Argus, http://www.hometownlife.com/Hometownlife/NewsSearch.asp?pageType=Story&StoryID=80877
*
Caledonia: High school students help preserve
veterans' war stories
Caledonia High School students have helped preserve history.
Tenth-grade American history students videotaped their
interviews with about 40 World War II, Korean War, Vietnam
War, and Gulf War veterans and presented the interviews to
their classmates. The videotapes were then given to the
Michigan Military Preservation Society to help in the
society's effort to document veterans' war stories. The
students said hearing the veterans' firsthand experiences
taught them about aspects of war not covered in history
books.
Source: Advance Newspapers, http://www.mlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-1/11060832833400.xml?advancenewspapers?NEK
JAN
19 2005
* Midland: DDA drops plans for
WiFi access
Plans for a downtown Midland connection for 'Net surfers
with PDAs, cell phones or laptops won't happen in the near
future. The Midland Downtown Development Authority had
supported a plan to place three antennas for wireless
service so PDA, cell phone or laptop users could sit in
their cars or on park benches and get their e-mail or surf
the Internet. DDA Executive Director Christin O'Callaghan
had worked with Mercury Network of downtown Midland to study
the idea but, because the equipment would cost more than
$3,000, the DDA would have had to seek bids for the work.
O'Callaghan said wireless fidelity, or WiFi, won't be
feasible for the time being because technology is changing
so rapidly. The proposed antennas might become obsolete in
three to five years, so spending $12,000 to $15,000 for the
wireless service isn't a good idea, she said.
Source: Midland Daily News, http://www.ourmidland.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13779324&BRD=2289&PAG=461&dept_id=472542&rfi=8&xb=hojof
*
Livingston County: Livingston considers regional call
center
Livingston County could have a regional full-service,
24-hour 211 call center up and running by this fall. The
center would let people dial 211 to find out how to connect
with community service agencies so they can receive services
or volunteer. "The call center employees would
give the caller a phone number and the name of a contact
person," said Bob Sweeney, the director of allocations
and assessments for Livingston County United Way. Sweeney
said an agreement to set up the center will be announced in
"the next month or so."
Source: Detroit News, http://www.detnews.com/2005/livingston/0501/19/B05L-63993.htm
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Clawson: After-school programs to begin in Clawson
When the second semester begins, students at all Clawson
schools will have more opportunities to increase their
academic success. At the elementary school level, the
after-school program will expand on an educational program
that already exists. Students at Schalm and Kenwood
currently use an individualized, computer-based learning
program that reinforces basic reading and math skills.
Now, the computer labs will stay open for one hour after
school on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays so kids can
enhance their skills even more. “The better they do
in this program, the better they do in their classroom
work,” said Schalm Principal Patricia Pell. “It can
affect a lot of children. Any chance we have to get them in
there, it does help.”
Source: Royal Oak Review, http://www.candgnews.com/editorial/2005/january/19/royaloakreview/afterschool.html
JAN
20 2005
* Ingham, Eaton, Clinton, and
Shiawassee counties: Computer classes aim to teach
job skills
Organizers of a four-year-old Lansing program that
teaches disadvantaged people to use computers can provide
more services with a new $104,000 federal grant. Closing the
Digital Gap will start a pilot program next month that will
employ a case manager to help students find jobs in
technology. The new program will require participants to
pass reading and writing tests. "We want to show that
people with some type of training and skill are able to get
IT-related jobs," said Marcus Jefferson, the program's
director. Closing the Digital Gap serves adults and middle
school- and high school-age children who live in Ingham,
Eaton, Clinton and Shiawassee counties.
Source: Lansing State Journal, http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050120/NEWS01/501200337&SearchID=73197046577237
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Canton: Board meetings to go paperless
Canton trustee and Planning Commissioner Melissa
McLaughlin remembers when the packets that commissioners got
for the meetings were so big she asked for a wagon to carry
them in. But no more. "We're producing a phone book
stack of notebook paper every two weeks," McLaughlin
said. "That's just insane." The phone book has
turned into a laptop - as in computer. This month, trustees,
planning commissioners, elected officials and township
department heads received laptop computers and electronic
board packets. That huge paper packet is now all there on a
tiny compact disk. And so far everyone seems happy with the
changeover.
Source: Canton Observer, http://www.hometownlife.com/Hometownlife/NewsSearch.asp?pageType=Story&StoryID=81090
JAN
22 2005
* Washtenaw County: 'Wireless
county' envisioned
David Behen can imagine the whole of Washtenaw
County's 761 square miles as a wireless hot spot by 2007.
The county's information technology director acknowledges it
is just a vision at this point, but he wants to have
everyone - urban and rural - able to check e-mail or go on
the Internet from home or automobile, using radio
frequencies instead of wires. Now, wireless access hot spots
are limited to so-called Internet cafes, homes and certain
businesses and academic institutions. But the county and
such initial collaborators as the IT Zone, Washtenaw
Development Council, the Michigan Broadband Development
Authority and local cities and universities hope to turn the
drawing-board proposal for high-speed wireless access into
reality. "We see this as a partnership with the private
sector," Behen said.
Source: Ann Arbor News, http://www.mlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-11/1106392315318410.xml?aanews?NEA
JAN
23 2005
* Fenton Township: Team helps
hikers find their way
High-tech maps now show hikers, snowshoers and cross country
skiers the way to miles of trails around a 174-acre Fenton
nature sanctuary, thanks to two former Davison schoolmates.
"People can see exactly where they're going and how
far," said Bob Roehrig of Fenton Township. He's a
volunteer steward at the Dauner-Martin Nature Sanctuary,
which can be accessed off Leroy Street and Dauner Road. The
maps are a $3,000 gift in time and expertise from North
Arrow Technologies of Fenton Township. It's a Geographic
Information Systems consulting firm owned by Jason Taylor of
Fenton Township and Jeff Lewis of Burton.
Source: Flint Journal, http://www.mlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-1/110633162774510.xml?fljournal?DFNE
JAN
24 2005
* Kenowa Hills Schools (Grand Rapids):
Parents get online look at youngsters' grades
Richard Cousineau has no problem tracking his daughter's
grades. Every Friday, he goes online to find out how Kenowa
Hills seventh-grader Chara Cousineau is doing. "It used
to be that, after five or six (weeks of classes), you would
get a progress report and all of a sudden you would find out
they're not doing good," Cousineau said. "Now, you
can really stay on track. It's a phenomenal thing. You don't
find out too late." Parents in a growing number of
local school districts are finding it easier to track their
children's grades or attendance. Online grade access is
available in Belding, Byron Center, Cedar Springs, East
Grand Rapids, Kenowa Hills, Kentwood and Wyoming. Other
districts, including Caledonia, Forest Hills, Lowell and
Zeeland are getting online report card programs up and
running, while West Ottawa is accepting bids to buy one.
Source: Grand Rapids Press, http://www.mlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-19/110658154110040.xml?grpress?NEG
JAN
25 2005
* Flint: Webmaster hopes to
spin Flint's history on Internet, film
Shawn Chittle grew up on Flint's west side,
literally in the shadows of the Flint Truck Assembly plant
on Van Slyke Road. But it wasn't until after he left the
state - and the Midwest - that he saw the importance and
legacy of his hometown, he said. Chittle plans to launch an
interactive Web site devoted to the city, its history and
its most noteworthy personalities sometime this summer to
coincide with Flint's 150th birthday celebration. He expects
to spend $10,000 to $15,000 on the project "as a gift
of mine to the city." For now, he's advertising on the
Internet and soliciting stories from present or former Flint
residents through the Web site, FlintHistory.com.
Source: Flint Journal, http://www.mlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-26/1106670146302140.xml?fljournal?NEF
*
Livingston County: Officials work toward more Web
access
A group of business and education officials is
working to find ways to increase access to high-speed
Internet in Livingston County. Glenn Pape, extension
educator at the Michigan State University Extension, said
the group's goals are to assess the needs of the community
and seek ways to meet them. Wireless broadband technology
known as "wi-fi" could make it easier to provide
high-speed Internet access to rural areas, he said.
"The purpose of this group is to assist and expand
community technology to the residents of Livingston County,
and providing access to information technology and training
to fully utilize it," he said. The group, known
as Linking Livingston, is building on the work of a
consultant that was hired with state grant money obtained by
the county in 2003.
Source: Daily Press and Argus, http://www.hometownlife.com/Hometownlife/NewsSearch.asp?pageType=Story&StoryID=82214;
Related story: Business Review, http://www.mlive.com/mbusinessreview/stories/index.ssf?/mbusinessreview/se/stories/20050127_livingston.html
JAN
26 2005
* Dearborn: Dearborn schools
enlist online tutors
The first 24-hour online tutoring program in the state for
middle and high school students was launched Tuesday in the
Dearborn Public Schools to boost standardized test scores,
homework grades and comprehension of classroom lesson plans.
And if it's successful among the district's more than 7,300
middle and high school students during the next five months,
it could become a staple not only in Dearborn but in other
Metro area school districts like Detroit and Troy. Both
school systems have expressed interest in Smarthinking, a
Washington, D.C.-based online tutoring company, and could
run similar pilot programs within the next year, said Neal
Allison, the company's vice president of K-12 services.
Source: Detroit News, http://www.detnews.com/2005/schools/0501/26/B01-70660.htm
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Harper Woods: School participates in distance
learning with the JASON project
Seventh-graders, taught by June Teisan, are joining
other students across the nation in participating in the
JASON Project. This marks the fifth year Harper Woods
students have participated in the program, which Teisan
helped bring to the district. “The students are studying
why the Louisiana wetlands are disappearing, and how to
solve this problem and why it’s important to do so,”
Teisan said. Founded in 1989 by Dr. Robert Ballard,
the JASON Project allows students to participate in real
multidisciplinary research directed by leading scientists,
and provides an opportunity to extend the math and science
learning across the curriculum. Students are given a
password to access the learning programs on the JASON
Project Web site at www.jasonproject.org,
and work in the digital “labs” that simulate bayou life.
Source: Advertiser Times, http://www.candgnews.com/editorial/2005/january/26/adtimes/jason%20project.html
JAN
27 2005
* Washtenaw County: A new
meaning for 'coming of age'
With a $150,000 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
grant, some 40 nonprofit and support agencies and
health-care groups will attempt to revamp the county's
system of services and long-term care for the elderly. The
goal is to make the services easy to get and affordable for
anyone who needs them, said Jill Kind, older adult services
director at Catholic Social Services of Washtenaw. The
Blueprint for Aging Coalition will start by creating a Web
page with information about services and links to many
organizations, creating advocacy groups and planning how to
use resources.
Source: Ann Arbor News, http://www.mlive.com/news/aanews/index.ssf?/base/news-11/1106842273218700.xml
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Alpena County: Protocols being developed for fiber
optic cuts
The importance of having a procedure in place in the event
of a fiber optic cut and what steps are being taken toward
the development of those procedures was addressed Wednesday
at the Alpena County Local Emergency Planning Committee
meeting. Recently, emergency management, law enforcement and
other officials from Alpena County and adjacent counties met
to discuss the ongoing issues with fiber optic cuts and the
problems those situations cause. As a result of that meeting
protocols are being developed regarding what channels to go
to in the event of another fiber optic cut, said Bruce
Wozniak, emergency services coordinator for the county.
Source: The Alpena News, http://www.thealpenanews.com/Archives/2005/January/27/local3.html
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Britton: Britton high school math classes move toward
use of online textbooks
Could it be that in the very near future textbooks will take
a back seat to the Internet? Britton-Macon Area School math
teacher Jon Musolf has taken his algebra I and geometry
classes a step in that direction with an online version of
the textbooks used in his class. For now his algebra I
and geometry classes still refer to their textbooks as the
first source of information, but in class the website is
projected onto the dry-erase board for the class to see.
Right now Musolf's classroom is the only room in the school
that is set up with the textbook technology. The advantage
for both teacher and student is that it's not necessary to
have the book to do class homework. "If a student
leaves a book at school, he or she has the information at
home online," said Musolf. There also are features on
the site that let the students work interactively such as
the graphing features. In addition, the site has links to
instructions on how to use the various types of calculators
used by students.
Source: Tecumseh Herald, http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13835273&BRD=2078&PAG=461&dept_id=380356&rfi=8
JAN
28 2005
* Portage, Lincoln Park:
Different cities, same Web-site wording
"The job of city government is to make it easy for its
citizens to live and work here. It's really that simple....
... And good government should draw praise for the city,
without drawing too much attention to government
itself." Most residents would want to see those nice
words when clicking on their city's Web site. The only
problem is they're seeing them in two entirely different
Michigan communities. In an unusual case of what might be
dubbed municipal cyber-plagiarism, the west Michigan city of
Portage and the Downriver community of Lincoln Park use two
nearly identical paragraphs on their official Web sites to
describe civic goals.
Source: Detroit Free Press, http://www.freep.com/money/tech/websites28e_20050128.htm
*
Cadillac: Results are in - Community youth want more
activities
According to a new survey written and released by
the Youth Advisory Committee to the Cadillac Area Community
Foundation, area youth want more after-school and summer
activities, especially sports. And they would like a Web
site of all local happenings. Sixteen YAC members from
grades 8-12 wrote, administered and compiled the survey
results. Their goal was to find out what stresses teenagers
face, what activities they want and what factors prevented
them from participating in available activities. Their
results pointed out that not knowing what's going on was a
major limit to participation. Providing a Web site with such
information would be helpful.
Source: Cadillac News, http://www.cadillacnews.com/articles/2005/01/28/news/news02.txt
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Bay City: Local students respond to global
emergencies through 'e-Mission'
Sixth-grade students helped save residents of a Caribbean
island from molten lava and hurricane-force winds this week,
and learned a little something along the way. Two groups of
20 Handy Middle School students went on
"e-Missions" Monday and Wednesday at the Bay-Arenac
ISD as part of a lesson plan. The students
"traveled" to Montserrat Island in four emergency
response teams: hurricane trackers, an evacuation team, a
communications team and a volcano team. The Bay-Arenac ISD
provided the connection to the Challenger Learning Center at
Jesuit University in Wheeling, W.Va., where a live video
feed hooked the children up with a simulated mission control
center, said Cliff DuPuy, associate director of media and
technology with the ISD.
Source: Bay City Times, http://www.mlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1106930712215880.xml?bctimes?NEB
JAN
30 2005
* Flint Township: Half of Baker
students log on for college courses
Chuck Gurden, vice-president for graduate and
online admissions, acknowledges he's somewhat surprised by
the success of the Baker College online distance learning
programs. When the concept was initiated 10 years ago,
Gurden was unsure how students would respond. A decade
later, online learning has become an unqualified success,
having experienced a 29 percent enrollment increase for the
fall quarter 2004 over fall 2003.
Source: Flint Journal, http://www.mlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1107094585182921.xml?fljournal?FTNE
JAN
31 2005
* Negaunee: 'Early On' focus of
high school video
When most parents ask their children what they did
at school, the response is usually, "Nothing." But
one Negaunee High School student's video project has given
Early On program parents a glimpse at the real picture.
Early On is a federally funded program that stems from part
H of the Individuals with Disability Education Act. It's
sponsored locally by Marquette-Alger Regional Educational
Service Agency. Early On works with children up to age 3.
The video, produced by Kyle Saari, was a chance to give
Early On parents a look at the activities their children do
day to day. "We have an open door policy for parents to
come in anytime, but sometimes when they visit the kids will
act differently, shyer," Kathy O'Donnell, Early On
program director, said. "So, even though we have this
policy, we were faced with showing the parents what they
(students) do in class."
Source: Mining Journal, http://www.miningjournal.net/news/story/0131202005_new02-n0131.asp
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