Explorations

The Story of Cinderella Is Popular Around the World

Sergei Prokofiev’s ballet version of “Cinderella” is a favorite with choreographers and dance lovers. Transcript of radio broadcast:

03 June 2008

VOICE ONE:

I’m Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Shi rley Griffith with EXPLORATIONS in VOA

Special English. Today we

explore the ballet version of one of the most popular stories

ever told. Throughout history, in cultures around the world,

the story of Cinderella has remained a favorite. We tell

about the music Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev wrote

for his version of “Cinderella.”

And, we visit the artistic director of the Washington Ballet

as he and his dancers work together to perform this famous

ballet.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Her name may be Yeh-shen, Cendrillion or Aschenputtel. But her story is always about a caring young woman who overcomes her difficult family life with the support of a magical helper. This helper makes the dreams of Cinderella come true. And, by the end of the story Cinderella is repaid for her goodness when she marries the man she loves.

One of the earliest versions of the story comes from ninth century China. Yeh-shen talks to a magic fish, which makes her wishes come true. The Algonquin Native American version is about Rough-Face Girl, whose kindness and inner beauty win the love of an invisible warrior spirit.

VOICE TWO: The Washington Ballet’s Brianne Bland as Cinderella

The seventeenth century French writer Charles Perrault included another version in his book, “Tales of Mother Goose.” His version is one of the most famous. Cinderella lives with her father's second wife and the woman's daughters.

Cinderella's stepmother and stepsisters are unkind to her

and make her do all the work in the house while they

prepare for a party given by the ruling prince.

Cinderella’s fairy godmother gives her beautiful clothes to

wear to the party. She magically turns a pumpkin and

mice into a carriage pulled by horses so Cinderella can go

to the party. But, the godmother warns Cinderella that she

must return home by midnight, when all of her magical

belongings will turn back into their normal forms. After the

party, Cinderella hurries home but leaves her shoe behind.

This glass slipper helps the prince search for and find

Cinderella so that they can marry and live together happily ever after.

VOICE ONE:

The story of Cinderella has influenced many creators of books, movies, songs, and dances. One of these was Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev. In nineteen forty, he began working on a new musical version of the ballet. But he did not finish the ballet until nineteen forty-four because he took time to write his opera “War and Peace.” During these years, Europe was torn apart by World War Two. Some of this tension can be heard in the music Prokofiev wrote for

"Cinderella." Some of the music is very light and beautiful, but at other times it is quite dark and tense.

VOICE TWO:

Prokofiev’s “Cinderella” was first performed at the Bolshoi

Ballet in Moscow in nineteen forty-five. Prokofiev’s

musical score does not say exactly what must happen in the

story. But it does make musical suggestions. For example,

in an early scene, the stepsisters receive much needed

dancing lessons before the party.

(MUSIC)

While the scene where Cinderella and the prince dance

together is a gentle musical expression of love.

(MUSIC) Cinderella and her stepsisters, performed by Aaron Jackson and

John Goding

Sergei Prokofiev

There is also a clear moment in the score when Cinderella realizes it is time for her to return home from the party.

(MUSIC)

And, Prokofiev also created musical moments for dances influenced by other cultures. For example, when the prince searches for Cinderella, he travels to a land influenced by Spanish music.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

The music permits choreographers to use their imaginations to create dances for new versions of the story. For example, in the nineteen eighties, French choreographer Maguy Marin created a “Cinderella” for the Lyons Opera Ballet. In it, the characters are all toys living in a doll house. The dancers wear face coverings and padding to look like dolls. For the party scene, they come together to play children’s games like jumping rope.

In nineteen eighty-six, Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev’s "Cinderella" was performed at the Paris Opera Ballet in France. This story was set in the nineteen thirties. Cinderella dreams of becoming an actress. Her magical supporter is a movie producer who introduces Cinderella to her prince, a famous actor.

In the nineteen nineties, choreographer Matthew Bourne set his “Cinderella” during the bomb attacks that hit London, England during World War Two. The prince character is a pilot who meets Cinderel la when he is wounded and stays for a short time in her family’s home. After he meets Cinderella, he must search for her in the war-torn city streets.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Last month, the Washington Ballet performed “Cinderella” at the Warner Theater in Was hington, D.C. We wanted to understand how a choreographer creates the dance steps for such a large production. So we talked to Septime Webre, the artistic director of the Washington Ballet. We asked him why he chose to perform this ballet this year. The Washington Ballet last performed Cinderella in two thousand three.

(MUSIC)

SEPTIME WEBRE: "Prokofiev’s score is one of the great scores written for ballet, and one of the two probably most important ballet scores written in the twentieth century along with Prokofiev’s "Romeo and Juliet." I set the repertoire, and so I wanted every season there to be a narrative arc, a kind of journey for the audience, from beginning to end. Ending the season with a kind of celebration of our humanity and a really romantic love story seemed appropriate."

You might be wondering how Mister Webre invents the many dances in the ballet.

(MUSIC)

SEPTIME WEBRE: "I have a process that has developed over the years. For every hour in the rehearsal room, I have to prepare for about an hour or more. I start with the score, I have it on a CD player, sitting at my dining room table at night drinking cold Mexican beer, and I notate the score in my own notation I have derived in an old composition book. I imagine and map out each dance.

"Then the next day I go into the studio with the dancers. I will essentially start making the work on the dancers. But with the dancers some of what I thought would work the night before doesn’t quite work and we come up together with something that is more interesting."

Many of the dancers have been working with Septime Webre since he began with the Washington Ballet nine seasons ago.

(MUSIC)

We’ve developed together kind of a lingua franca, a shared vocabulary. They understand how I construct steps and I give them a lot of leeway and sometimes actually give them very little instructions and they fill in the blanks.

VOICE ONE:

Watching Septime Webre work with his dancers is an exciting creative process. First he explains the dance steps. His assistant carefully writes them down so that they can be taught to the Pittsburgh Ballet in Pennsylvania where this production will next be performed.

(SOUND)

Mister Webre shows the dancers the outline of the dance. They immediately are able to turn his written notes into a lovely set of movements. He and the dancers had only four weeks to prepare for this ballet. But you would never know this when you saw the final production.

The Washington Ballet performance of "Cinderella" had both historical and magical qualities.

Mi ster Webre’s love of history and design showed clearly in this production. Part of the first act took place in a striking forest of thin white trees. The second act was in a beautiful room influenced by the Hall of Mirrors at the palace of Versailles in France. And the costumes worn by the dancers were influenced by clothing worn in eighteenth century France.

VOICE TWO:

But the most important part of the ballet was its expressive dancers. The Cinderella danced by Brianne Bland was not only lovely in her careful movements. She was also emotionally believable as an actress. The stepsisters were played by men. Their funny actions and expressions made the

audience laugh. There were other funny moments. Septime Webre had young students from the Washington School of Ballet dance the part of bumblebee insects. They wiggled their bodies back and forth before being lifted off the stage by the adult dancers. And the skillful Jester danced by Jonathan Jordan lit up the stage with his strength and power.

The moment when Cinderella and the prince reunited at the end of the story was one of the most expressive moments in the ballet. When they walk off stage arm in arm, every member of the audience could share in their pleasure of living together happily ever after.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

This program was written and produced by Dana Demange. I’m Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Shirley Griffith. To see pictures of the Washington Ballet dancers, visit our Web site, https://www.360docs.net/doc/562632959.html,. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

The Way People Communicate Has Changed Over Time

The telegraph was the first communication device that could move information quickly from one place to another.

10 June 2008

VOICE ONE:

I’m Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Steve Ember with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today, we begin a series of three programs about the Information Age. Our first program tells about the history of communications.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Communicating information always has been extremely important. Throughout history, some information has had value beyond measure. The lack of information often costs huge amounts of money and, sometimes, many lives.

One example of this took place near New Orleans,

Louisiana. Britain and the United States were fighting the

War of Eighteen Twelve. The Battle of New Orleans is a

famous battle. As in all large battles, hundreds of troops were

killed or wounded.

After the battle, the Americans and the British learned there had been no need to fight. Negotiators for the United States and Britain had signed a peace treaty in the city of Ghent,

Belgium, two weeks earlier. Yet news of the treaty had not

reached the United States before the opposing troops met in New Orleans. The battle had been a terrible waste. People died because information about the peace treaty traveled so slowly. VOICE TWO:

From the beginning of human history, information traveled only as fast as a ship could sail. Or a horse could run. Or a person could walk.

People experimented with other ways to send messages. Some people tried using birds to carry messages.

Then they discovered it was not always a safe way to send or receive information.

''The Battle of New Orleans''

by Eugene Louis Lami, 1839

A faster method finally arrived with the invention of the telegraph. The first useful telegraphs were developed in Britain and the United States in the

eighteen thirties.

information using wires and electricity. The telegraph sent

messages between two places that were connected by

telegraph wires. The person at one end would send the

information. The second person would receive it.

Each letter of the alphabet and each number had to be sent

separately by a device called a telegraph key. The second

person would write each letter on a piece of paper as it was

An early telegraph key

received. Here is what it sounds like. For our example we

will only send you three letters: VOA. We will send it two times. Listen closely. (SOUND)

VOICE ONE:

In the eighteen fifties, an expert with a telegraph key could send about thirty-five to forty words in a minute. It took several hours to send a lot of information. Still, the telegraph permitted people who lived in cities to communicate much faster. Telegraph lines linked large city centers. The telegraph soon had a major influence on daily life.

The telegraph provided information about everything. Governments, businesses and individuals used the telegraph to send information. At the same time, newspapers used the telegraph to get information needed to tell readers what was happening in the world. Newspapers often were printed four or five times a day as new information about important stories was received over the telegraph. The telegraph was the quickest method of sending news from one place to another. VOICE TWO:

On August fifth, eighteen fifty-eight, the first message was transmitted by a wire cable under the Atlantic Ocean. The wire linked the United States and Europe by telegraph. This meant that a terrible mistake like the battle of New Orleans would not happen again.

Reports of daily news events in Europe began to appear in American newspapers. And news of the United States appeared in European newspapers. Information now took only a matter of hours to reach most large cities in the world. This was true for the big cities linked by the telegraph. However, it was different if you lived in a small farming town, kilometers away from

a large city. The news you got might be a day or two late. It took that long for you to receive

your newspaper.

(SOUND: KDKA first broadcast)

VOICE ONE:

On November second, nineteen twenty, radio station

KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania broadcast the first radio

program. That broadcast gave the results of a presidential

election.

Within a few short years, news and information could be

heard anywhere a radio broadcast could reach. Radios did

not cost much. So most people owned at least one

radio. Radio reporters began to speak to the public from

cities where important events were taking place. Political leaders also discovered that radio was a valuable political tool. It permitted them to talk directly to the public. If you had a radio, you did not have to wait until your newspaper arrived. You could often hear important events as they happened.

VOICE TWO:

Some people learned quickly that information meant power. In the nineteen thirties, many countries began controlling information. The government of Nazi Germany is a good example. Before and during World War Two, the government of Nazi Germany controlled all information the German people received. The government controlled all radio broadcasts and

newspapers. The people of Germany only heard or read what the government wanted them to hear or read. It was illegal for them to listen to a foreign broadcast.

VOICE ONE:

After World War Two, a new invention appeared -- television. In industrial nations, television quickly became common in most homes. Large companies were formed to produce television programs. These companies were called networks. Networks include many television stations linked together that could broadcast the same program at the same time.

Most programs were designed to entertain people. There were movies, music programs and game programs. However, television also broadcast news and important information about world events. It broadcast some education programs, too. The number of radio and television stations around the world increased. It became harder for a dictator to control information.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

In the nineteen fifties, two important events took place that greatly affected the communication of information. The first was a television broadcast that showed the East Coast and the West Coast of the United States at the same time. A cable that carried the pictures linked the two coasts.

So Pittsburgh's KDKA, the first commercially licensed radio station

people watching the program saw the Pacific Ocean on the left side of the screen. They saw the Atlantic Ocean on the right side of the screen.

It was not a film. People could see two reporters talk to each other even though a continent separated them. Modern technology made this possible.

VOICE ONE:

The other event happened on September twenty-fifth, nineteen fifty-six. That was when the first telephone cable under the Atlantic Ocean made it possible to make direct telephone calls from the United States to Europe. Less than six years later, in July, nineteen sixty-two, the first

communications satellite was placed in orbit around the Earth. The speed of information greatly increased again.

VOICE TWO:

By the year nineteen hundred, big city newspapers could provide people with information that was only hours old. Now, both radio and television, with the aid of satellite communications, could provide information immediately. People who lived in a small village could listen to or watch world events as they happened.

A good example is when American astronaut Neil

Armstrong became the first person to walk on the

moon. Millions of people around the world watched as he

carefully stepped onto the moon on July twentieth, nineteen

sixty-nine.

People in large cities, small towns and villages saw the

event as it was happening. There was no delay in

communicating this important information.

VOICE ONE: A few years after Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon, the United States Department of Defense began an experiment. That experiment led to a system that could send huge amounts of information around the world in seconds. Experts called it the beginning of the Information Age. The story of that experiment will be our report next week on EXPLORATIONS. (MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This program was written by Paul Thompson. It was produced by Mario Ritter. I’m Steve Ember.

VOICE ONE:

Neil Armstrong stepping onto the surface of the moon

And I’m Barbara Klein. You can read scripts and download audio on our Web site, https://www.360docs.net/doc/562632959.html,. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

The Information Age: The Internet

Computers around the world are connected in an extensive communication system called the Internet. Transcript of radio broadcast:

17 June 2008

VOICE ONE:

I'm Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today we present the second part of our series about communications. We tell how computers are linking people around the world.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Last week, we told about the early history of the

communication of information. We described how the

telegraph was the first important device that could move

information quickly from one place to another. And we

discussed early radio and television broadcasts and the

beginning of satellite communications.

In the early nineteen seventies, the American Department

of Defense began developing a new project. It began

linking major research universities across the United

States. VOICE TWO:

Professors at many American universities do research work for the United States government. The Department of Defense wanted to link the universities together to help the professors cooperate in their work. Department of Defense officials decided to try to link these universities by computer. The officials believed the computer would make it easier for researchers to send large amounts of information from research center to research center. They believed they could link computers at these universities by telephone.They were right. It became very easy to send information from one university to another. University researchers working on the same project could share large

amounts of information very quickly. They no longer had to wait several days for the mail to bring a copy of the research reports.

Girls in Kandahar, Afghanistan, training to use computers and the

Internet

VOICE ONE:

This is how the system works. The computer is linked to a telephone by a device called a modem. The modem changes computer information into electronic messages that are sounds. These messages pass through the telephone equipment to the modem at the other end of the telephone line. This receiving modem changes the sound messages back into information the computer can use.

The first modern electronic communication device, the telegraph, sent only one letter of the alphabet at a time. A computer can send thousands of words within seconds.

VOICE TWO:

The link between universities quickly grew to include most research centers and colleges in the United States. These links became a major network. Two or more computers that are linked together form a small network. They may be linked by a wire from one computer to another, or by telephone. A network can grow to almost any size.

For example, let us start with two computers in the same room at a university. A wire links them

to each other. In another part of the university, two other computers also are linked using the same method. Then the four are connected with modems and a telephone line used only by computers. This represents a small local network of four computers.

Now, suppose this local network is linked by its modem through telephone lines to another university that has four computers. Then you have a network of eight computers. The other university can be anywhere, even thousands of kilometers away. These computers can now send any kind of information that can be received by a computer - messages, reports, drawings, pictures, sound recordings. And, the information is exchanged immediately.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Since it began, this system of computer networks has had several different names. It is now called the Internet. In nineteen eighty-one, this communication system linked two hundred thirteen computers. Only nine years later, it linked more than three hundred fifty thousand c omputers. Today, experts say more than one billion people around the world are linked by computers to the Internet. And, they say, this number will continue to grow.

Almost every major university in the world is part of the Internet. So are smaller colleges and many public and private schools. Magazines, newspapers, libraries, businesses, government agencies, and people in their homes also are part of the Internet.

VOICE TWO:

Computer experts began to greatly expand the Internet system in the last years of the nineteen eighties. This expansion was called the World Wide Web. It permits computer users to easily search for information using software called a browser.

How fast is the World Wide Web part of the Internet system? Here is an example. A computer user in London, England is seeking information about volcanoes in the American state of Hawaii. She types in the words "Hawaii" and "volcano" in a search

engine, such as Google.

The computer produces a list within seconds. She chooses

to examine information from the National Park Service's

headquarters at the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. The

Park Service computer in Hawaii provides information

about the huge volcanoes there, and how they were formed.

It also has other useful information.

Park Service site

The researcher in London looks at the information on her

computer. Then she prints a copy of it. Within seconds she has a copy of the National Park information including pictures. It has taken her less than five minutes to complete this research. (MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Who pays for the Internet? That is not easy to explain. Each network, small or large, pays for itself. Networks decide how much their members will pay for their part of the cost of the local service connecting time. Then all of the large networks decide how much each will pay to be part of the larger network that covers a major area of the country. The area network in turn pays the national network for the service it needs.

Each person who has a computer at home pays a company that lets the computer connect to the Internet. These companies are called Internet service providers.

ISP's charge about twenty dollars a month for a slow dial-up connection to the Internet. A computer user with a high-speed wireless connection pays at least forty dollars a month. Wireless connections generally link computers to the Internet with a special technological device called a router.

VOICE TWO:

The United States used to have the largest number of Internet users in the world. However, in April, the USA Today newspaper reported that China now has the largest number of people using the Internet. Estimates from a Chinese research group said more than two hundred twenty million people in China were using the Internet as of February. That is about seventeen percent of the Chinese population.

The newspaper said the United States had two hundred sixteen million Internet users at the end of last year. That is seventy-one percent of the population. The Internet World Statistics Web site notes several other countries where more than sixty percent of the people use the Internet. They include Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, Australia and South Korea.

Studies have shown that people use the Internet for communication and for research. Much of that research leads to buying products on the Internet. More people than ever are now using the computer for e-commerce – to buy and sell products electronically.

VOICE ONE:

Some governments, private groups and individuals have criticized the Internet. Some governments do not trust the Internet because they say it is difficult to control the information that is placed there. Some government officials say extremist groups place harmful information on the Internet. They say dangerous political information should be banned. Other groups say it is difficult to protect children from sexual information and pictures placed on the Internet. They say this kind of information should be banned.

Other critics say that it is becoming extremely difficult to know if you can trust the information that is found on the Internet. They wonder if the information is correct. Still other critics say the Internet is no longer a free exchange of information and ideas. They say it has become a big business that sells products, services and information. They want the Internet to be used only for research and education.

Next week we will examine some new technologies that have developed with the help of the Internet. Many of these technologies are being used in education.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This program was written by Paul Thompson. It was produced by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Barbara Klein. Our programs are online with pictures, transcripts and MP3s at https://www.360docs.net/doc/562632959.html,. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

Teaching With Technology in the Information Age

The growth of the Internet has led to new technologies. Many are being used today to create valuable learning environments in education. Transcript of radio broadcast:

24 June 2008

VOICE ONE:

I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today we finish our three-part series about communications.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

In our first two programs we discussed the history and importance of communicating information. We talked about the development of the Internet. This has made it possible for almost anyone with a computer to share in what is called the Information Age.

Research shows that the Internet's World Wide Web is especially popular with young people. As a result, colleges and universities are recognizing the learning gains that can be made with

Web-based instructional technology. For example, George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia offers its professors training in instructional technology. G.M.U. teachers can learn how to use the latest Web tools to improve their classes.

VOICE TWO:

Rick Reo is an instructional designer at the university. He

says the education profession has entered the Web 2.0

period. He says Web 2.0 is a marketing term that defines a

renewal of the Web since the start of the twenty-first

century. Any kind of Web-driven tool that is interesting,

useful, easy to learn and free is Web 2.0, says Rick Reo.

VOICE ONE:

One such tool is a social networking service. This is a Web site that helps people find others like themselves, create

personal identities, exchange resources and work together. Facebook and MySpace are two social networking Web sites popular in the United States and around the world.

Rick Reo

Educause is a nonprofit organization that supports the use of information technology in education. The group says up to ninety percent of American college students have created Facebook Web sites. Social networking sites also provide teachers a way to reach their students outside of the classroom. Rick Reo says students use Facebook or MySpace as often as they check their university e-mail.

VOICE TWO:

Social bookmarking is another Web 2.0 technology that has many educational uses. Professors can use the tool when doing personal research. It can also add to classroom learning. When you save the address of a Web site that you want to visit again on your computer, you are bookmarking it. Social bookmarking sites let people store collections of bookmarks. These can be shared with other people or made private.

When you bookmark a Web site, you also tag the site with descriptive words. For example, you might tag the https://www.360docs.net/doc/562632959.html, Web site with the words: English, teaching, learning, news and information. Tags help users organize their bookmarks. Users can also see how many other people have used a tag. And they can search for all resources that have been given that tag. Rick Reo says social bookmarking is especially useful when creating a collection of resources to be shared with others. A biology teacher, for example, might ask her students to bookmark Web sites about flowers and plants. The students work collectively to create the list. When it is finished, the students have a group of resources that will help them finish their project.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Podcasting is also a very popular instructional technology.

The term was invented with the Apple company's iPod in

mind. IPods are small digital audio players that permit

users to download music from their computer directly to

the device for listening later.

The term podcasting no longer relates only to the iPod. It

involves any software and hardware combination that

permits the user to download audio files and control when

those files are heard. Anyone with a modern computer can create, make available and download a podcast from the

Internet.

VOICE TWO:

Podcasting also makes education transportable. Teachers can make their talks, or lectures, available to students who miss the class. Podcasts also let students hear what other experts

Different versions of Apple's iPod

have to say. Remember that biology teacher who asked her

students to bookmark Web sites about flowers and plants?

She might also ask her students to report about that

collection of resources in a podcast.

Rick Reo says George Mason is one of many "iTunes

universities" around the world. Apple has opened its

iTunes store to universities. Podcasts created by the

schools are stored on Apple's computer servers. Anyone

can download the free educational material at Apple's iTunes store. Stanford, Yale, Duke, and the Massachusetts

Institute of Technology are other universities offering audio and video downloads. VOICE ONE:

Podcasts are fed to computers using a technology called RSS. Many creators of information on the Internet offer it directly to people using RSS feeds. Our biology teacher example might ask her students to register for RSS feeds from five popular science Web sites. To receive those feeds, students need to register for a free RSS reader, or aggregator. Google and MyYahoo both offer RSS readers.

Once the students register for a free RSS reader, a connection has to be made between the reader and the student's favorite science Web sites. Establishing these connections is called subscribing. It is easy to do. Just look for an RSS sign on the site.

Using RSS technology helps people easily get new material from Web sites that interest them. Did you know that Special English offers RSS feeds? You can find a link to RSS on our Web site, https://www.360docs.net/doc/562632959.html,.

VOICE TWO:

Wikis have also become a popular Web 2.0 technology in education. Let us go back to our biology class. Suppose the teacher decided to take her class on a camping trip to collect plants and flowers. The students would need to work collectively to decide what to bring on the trip. A wiki can help.

A wiki is a Web site where anyone can create, edit or change information collected on the site. Audio, video and pictures can be added to a wiki as well.

VOICE ONE:

The most popular wiki on the Internet is Wikipedia. It is a free encyclopedia of information about people, places, things, events and ideas that anyone can write, add to or edit. Wikipedia was launched in two thousand one. Today, it includes more than ten million articles in more than two hundred fifty languages. More than two million articles are in English. Each article offers links to other Wikipedia articles or to other Web resources.

Professor Suzan Harkness works with

an iPod at the University of the District of Columbia in Washington. She can record lectures as podcasts.

Educause reports that Wikipedia is the eighth most visited Web site in the United States. College students use it as a main research tool. However many schools look at the tool with a critical eye. That is because a person can put incorrect information on Wikipedia. The history school at

Middlebury College, for example, has banned Wikipedia in student research. The ban was ordered after several students repeated the same wrong information from a Wikipedia artic le.

Other universities are using Wikipedia to teach students how to write without expressing an opinion. At Columbia University in New York City, professors have had their students create or edit Wikipedia articles to learn how to write in a neutral way.

VOICE TWO:

Perhaps the best known form of Web 2.0 activity is the

Web log, or blog for short. There are reportedly more than

one hundred million blogs around the world. A blog is an

online collection of personal comments and links to other

Web sites. Anyone can create a blog using sites like

https://www.360docs.net/doc/562632959.html, or https://www.360docs.net/doc/562632959.html,. Bloggers often work

together in small communities. They read each other's

posts, link to them or report what other bloggers say.

Each individual post on a blog can become a discussion through comments left by readers. There are personal

blogs, political blogs and entertainment blogs, just to name

a few. In higher education, professors use blogs to communicate their opinions or to create a

discussion with other educators. Students are also using blogs for personal expression or as part of their classes.

VOICE ONE:

There are many other ways that information technology can be used in education. We have only reported about a few of them. For example, there are virtual worlds and gaming, Web-based self-publishing and photo-sharing. When it comes to information technology in higher education, Rick Reo at George Mason University says the sky is the limit.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This program was written by Jill Moss. It was produced by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember. VOICE ONE:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Eighth grader Eyck Freymann works

on his political blog from his home in

New York