“In the past few years, television stations have begun to reformat their screen presentations to include scrolling screens, sports scores, stock prices and current weather news. These visual elements are all designed to give viewers what they want when they want it. However, Kansas State University researchers say that it’s not working. ‘Our conclusion has been that if you want people to understand the news better, then get that stuff off the screen. Clean it up and get it off because it is simply making it more difficult for people to understand what the anchor is saying. We discovered that when you have all of this stuff on the screen, people tend to remember about 10 percent fewer facts than when you don’t have it on the screen.”
Month: April 2005
Nine Out Of Ten Want Mandatory Arts Ed In Schools
Nine of ten respondents to a survey in California believe that arts should be a mandatory subject in public schools. “Arts education has been on the decline in public schools for decades because funding has not kept pace with the rising cost of services. The emphasis on language and math instruction has made subjects such as music susceptible to reduction or elimination. Private fundraising has enabled restoration of programs in some, but not all, public schools.”
Proposed Virginia Performing Arts Center Hits A Speed Bump
“The Virginia Performing Arts Foundation is acknowledging for the first time that it won’t meet a July 1 deadline to raise $93 million for a performing-arts center in downtown Richmond. It’s also no longer hoping to open one of its key attractions – a music hall on East Broad Street – by the target date of 2007.”
Is Laocoon A Michelangelo Fake?
The Laocoon is an iconic piece oif art, an ancient wonder. But “an art historian is claiming that the ancient masterpiece – which fascinated not just Michelangelo but Blake, who engraved it, and Napoleon, who seized it – is not what it seems. She says it was carved by Michelangelo himself. Can this be possible and, if so, what would it mean?”
Australian Book Chain Goes Bankrupt
Collins Booksellers, Australia’s third largest book chain, has declared bankruptcy and owes $7.5 million. “The family-owned company has just $36,000 in the bank but the administrator will try to keep it trading while he seeks a buyer.”
Britain Forgets Its Centennial Composers
1905 proved to be a bumper year for birthing British composers. But you’ll not be hearing much about them this year. “So who’s to blame for centennial neglect? The finger points at craven British orchestras which seldom venture these days from a narrow corridor of safe works. London bands which once begged Lambert to conduct them cannot spare a birthday bouquet. Birmingham, which commissioned a Rawsthorne symphony, will not revive it. The Halle shows no interest in a local hero. Their timidity diminishes the art they exist to serve.”
The Endangered American Libraries
America’s public libraries are under threat. “From coast to coast, budget strains and tax pressures are forcing cities to make hard choices about how to spend limited money, and libraries, much to many residents’ dismay, are taking the hit. Residents are left stunned and outraged at the thought of doing without a beloved national resource. Can’t check out books for the summer, log onto the Internet for free, listen to preschoolers giggle during story time or get help searching for a job? Incomprehensible.”
D.C. Museum Eliminates Guided Tours For Small Fry
The National Gallery of Art is suspending its guided tours for groups of schoolchildren, and “reevaluating” its entire educational focus. The move won’t save a lot of money, since the guided tours were given by volunteer docents, but museum officials had noted a sharp downturn in the number of students participating in the guided tours, and an uptick in the number of children wandering the museum on their own.
After A False Start, Cleveland Back At The Proms
One year after an embarrassing cancellation, the Cleveland Orchestra is returning to the BBC Proms festival this summer for the first time in eleven years. The orchestra’s musicians forced last summer’s cancellation when they refused to allow the BBC to stream online audio from their scheduled concert without additional payment. But since then, the musicians have negotiated a new contract which allows their management to grant such streaming rights to presenters. Music director Franz Welser-Möst will conduct the performance, which will take place in late August.
French Court Slaps Down DVD Copy Protection
“A French court has ordered DVD vendors to pull copies of the David Lynch film Mulholland Drive off store shelves as part of an unprecedented ruling against copy prevention techniques. The appeals court ruled Friday that copy prevention software on the DVD violated privacy rights in the case of one consumer who had tried to transfer the film onto a video cassette for personal use. The ruling could be a major setback for the DVD industry, which places lock software on disks as part of its battle against piracy. The industry blames illegal copying for millions of dollars in lost revenues each year.”