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Providing Internet access to schools is a top priority for most industrialized nations and for many with an interest in education. What is envisioned are whole classrooms wired up to practically limitless Internet access throughout the school, which will need a lot of money. In the UK, the government acknowledges this and has stated that it will tap the private sector to raise much of the financing for such a costly endeavor. This raises the issue of where the money should be spent should it be raised, which is discussed.

In this article the development of the Digital Audio Broadcasting service in four European countries showing the variability in modes of development is presented. It is shown how the various digital policies exist in analogue radio and the limitations of the technical systems that were shaped by the policies.

In 2005–2006 the research group DRACE (Digital Radio Cultures in Europe) performed a study on how 43 people in key positions related to the radio industry in 4 European countries and Canada viewed the future of radio and which delivery technologies they considered would be most successful. In addition, it analyzed the motives and reasons certain technologies were seen as more promising than others. Finally, it presented 4 different future scenarios for radio media. The study was published in the Journal of Radio and Audio Media, May 2008. In 2005 the future of radio was considered much less obvious and clear than it appeared 10 years previously. Instead of a transition from analog to digital audio broad- casting (DAB), there was a selection of alternative technological options for digital audio delivery. When looking back from 2015 and considering the results of expert interviews, the project group about Public Service Media in the HERA project: Transnational Radio Encounters found interesting perspectives in replicating this study—now looking forward to 2025. By using the same questionnaire and interviewing the same experts (or new persons in the same positions) they could compare the predictions with the present situation, looking for technological, regulatory, policy based, and user-oriented contexts. Furthermore, they could ask the experts to look 10 years forward to 2025. Besides from the interviews, desk studies were performed in order to explore the national similarities and differences as background for the analysis of the scenarios for the 2015 and 2025 studies. This comparative study involves Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, and the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As digital radio broadcasting enters its third decade of operation, few would argue that it has met all expectations expressed at the time of its launch in the mid-1990s. Observers are now more circumspect, with views divided on the pace of transition to an all-digital future. In exploring this mismatch between expectation and actuality, this article considers the introduction of FM radio in the 1950s. It too was expected to replace its forebear (AM) but, like digital radio, its adoption by listeners was slower than anticipated. An examination of published literature, in particular engineering and technical documents, reveals a number of similarities in the development of digital radio and FM. Assumptions about listeners’ needs and preferences appear to have been based on little actual audience research and, with continual reference in the literature to the supposed deficiencies of the predecessor technology, suggest an emphasis in decision making on the technical qualities of radio broadcasting over an appreciation of actual audience preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to recent European estimates, the life expectancy of broadcasting as a free-to-air television platform is not more than 15 years. BBC, Yle and the UK regulator Ofcom have reached this conclusion in their reports about the future of news, media distribution and digital terrestrial television. Although broadcasting is seen as necessary until 2030, all three assume that digital terrestrial television can – under certain conditions – be replaced with delivery using internet protocol. However, it seems that the idea of IPTV taking over digital terrestrial television is just a sophisticated version of ‘black box fallacy’, driven by the expected growth of the new media ecosystem. The problems in replacing a socio-technological system have largely been neglected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Post-Tv: Piracy, Cord-Cutting and the Future of Television, Michael Strangelove (2015) Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 347 pp., ISBN: 978-1442614529, p/bk, £18.99 Digital Broadcasting: An Introduction to New Media, Jo Pierson and Joke Bauwens (2015) Bloomsbury: New York, 176 pp., ISBN: 978-1847887412, p/bk, £34.95 Distribution Revolution: Conversations about the Digital Future of Film and Television, Michael Curtin, Jenifer Holt and Kevin Sanson (2014) Oakland: University of California Press, 260 pp., ISBN: 978-0520283251, p/bk, $29.95 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Kingdom remains one of the world's leading countries in the development of digital radio. However, it is unclear when radio will migrate from analogue to digital broadcasting in a similar way to television, which is progressively switching to digital transmission in a number of countries. When digital radio was first emerging, the industry, regulators and policymakers were broadly united in promoting digital radio as the natural successor to analogue. Yet other groups, such as small broadcasters and a number of consumer groups, expressed doubt that digital radio would, or should, replace analogue. The ensuing years have seen these doubts become more widely expressed, particularly as the United Kingdom's roll-out of digital radio has not been emulated in other European countries, and a switchover in 2015, a deadline anticipated by the UK government, looks uncertain. This article examines the relationship between industry, policymakers and listeners in the process of developing digital radio as a potential analogue replacement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The future of radio is now much less obvious and clear than it appeared 10 years ago. Instead of a transition from analog to digital audio broadcasting (DAB), there is a selection of alternative technological options for digital audio delivery. This article studies how 43 people in key positions related to the radio industry in four European countries and Canada view the future of radio and which delivery technologies they consider will be most successful. In addition, it analyzes the motives and reasons why certain technologies are seen as more promising. Finally, it presents different future scenarios for radio media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital audio broadcasting is a major innovation in radio, one that is at its most advanced in Europe. It has the potential to deliver high-quality audio reception and to increase significantly the capacity of the radio spectrum, with the possibility of an expansion of both the range and diversity of radio programming. Nevertheless, in the UK and elsewhere it remains relatively unknown and under-adopted in comparison with other consumer technologies like digital television. This article examines the origins of digital radio, and considers how this technology is expected to become a mass communications technology, eventually supplanting analogue radio. However, in its present form, there is little that is novel currently being offered on digital radio, and the economic and political contexts in which it is being developed may encourage further concentration of ownership and reduce diversity of choice in listening. Unlike previous innovations then, such as FM broadcasting, there appear to be few compelling advantages of digital radio that will persuade listeners to adopt this new technology. If this new technological system is to succeed, alternative uses must be found for it, and one area for which it might be suited is mobile data communications. The article concludes by suggesting that this might mean that radio becomes of secondary importance to this potentially lucrative application of digital audio broadcasting technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reviews various articles, books and software on computers and the Internet. Excerpts from the July 1945 issue of 'The Atlantic Monthly'; Forward Anywhere software by Judy Malloy and Cathy Marshall; 'Making Multimedia in the Classroom: a teacher's guide,' by Vivi Lachs.