Highlights from Syllabus Magazine: Internet2: Making the Connection

After a rousing discussion on the Civil Rights Movement in his American History class, student Jeff Johnson hits his community college computer lab and fires up Netscape, which launches his personal page in seconds across a high-speed Internet2 connection. Before he can get into his site, he’s prompted by a dialogue box asking him to speak into a desktop microphone. Once approved by voice recognition middleware, Jeff can then access a customized calendar, e-mail, news headlines, and course information, including high-quality streaming video clips of the August 1963 march on Washington, DC that his history professor put together.

Sound like a technoid utopian fantasy? Think again.