On February 26, USC and downtown-based partner St. Barnabas Senior Services will celebrate the grand opening of two local cyber cafes geared toward senior citizens. The Borchardt Cyber Cafe -- with locations near MacArthur Park and Chinatown -- will provide seniors with free one-on-one basic computer training from USC student volunteers. The program includes a three-year interdisciplinary study, co-headed by communication professor Margaret McLaughlin (pictured), which will examine how elderly adults learn and whether a relaxed setting can positively influence their self-efficacy and attitudes toward aging and technology. Communication professor Michael Cody will collaborate on a photo-novella of the project. Read full story»

21 Dean Geoffrey Cowan was quoted in a February 10 Associated Press article about a report released by the Bipartisan California Commission on Internet Political Practices , on which he served as chairman. The report recommended that lawmakers should protect and enhance Internet-based political participation, not regulate it. "Widespread cynicism and substantially decreasing voter participation echo the overall disengagement in political and public life by our nation's citizenry," Cowan said. "In the end, the benefits of engaging citizens in the democratic process through the Internet will far outweigh any potential dangers." AP article»

19 Gina Goodhill , a Communication major and reporter for The Daily Trojan , was recently selected to be a contributing writer for CNN.com's "America Votes 2004 Campus Vibe" site. The weekly feature provides student perspectives on the 2004 election. "There is a definite thrill in being a published reporter and seeing my name and picture on the CNN website," Goodhill said, adding: "In the end, the experience will be valuable not simply as something I can put on my resume, but for the the new challenges that it allowed me to face." Goodhill is one of nine students nationwide picked to write for the "Campus Vibe" site. CNN.com "Campus Vibe"» Goodhill's first article»

18 Annenberg TV News sports director Zeus Ayter (pictured) and the ATVN sports department won first place in the College TV Emmy Awards Magazine Show category. Zeus and company won for putting together the 30-minute "Sports Spectacular 2003." Currently on hiatus, ATVN will resume its regular broadcasting schedule on February 9. ATVN Web site»

Marty Kaplan , associate dean and director of the Norman Lear Center , appeared January 28 on KPCC 89.3's "Talk of the City" to discuss CBS 's refusal to air an anti-Bush ad sponsored by MoveOn.org during the Super Bowl. "People who agree with MoveOn are better served by a system which excludes all such ads, rather than a system which sells them to the people who have the most money," Kaplan said. "I don't think we want to have network executives being in the position of doing the picking and choosing." Kaplan was also quoted January 29 in the Kansas City Star about presidential hopeful Howard Dean. "In the short time between Iowa and New Hampshire, Dean had the time to plummet, then voters had the time to register that plunge, and then Dean had the time to recover," Kaplan commented. Listen to KPCC interview» Kansas City Star article»

On January 26, USC Annenberg dean Geoffrey Cowan and USC Rossier School of Education dean Karen Symms Gallagher hosted the Los Angeles premiere of the PBS documentary, First to Worst . The film, produced by former NPR and PBS education reporter John Merrow , "chronicles the rise and fall California’s public school system, the largest in the nation and home to one of every eight American students." Following the film, Merrow, Gallagher and William Celis , former education reporter at The New York Times , participated in a roundtable discussion led by Martin Kaplan , USC Annenberg's associate dean and director of the Norman Lear Center. Learn more about First to Worst» Watch the discussion on RealPlayer»

17 The United States places too much trust in military strength, resulting in foreign policy that tends toward invasion and forceful liberation, Rudolf Scharping (pictured), the former Secretary of Defense for Germany, told a group of 60 USC Annenberg students and staff Thursday. Scharping's comments came during an Open Forum hosted by Dean Geoffrey Cowan , where other special guests included investigative journalist Charles Lewis and Dan Schnur , the former communications director for Gov. Pete Wilson.

The USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism Program named seven leading arts journalists as 2004 Fellows on Tuesday. Funded by a grant from the J. Paul Getty Trust, the program seeks to improve the quality of arts journalism through three intensive weeks of vigorous debate among established and emerging artists and heads of cultural institutions from many disciplines. "The 2004 Fellows approach the arts from different points of view, but each has tasted what it is like to influence their readership strongly," said Sasha Anawalt , founding director of the program. "Each questions the media’s power, and asks how the arts writer and editor can play an increasingly more significant, positive role." Almost 100 applicants from eight foreign countries and the United States applied for the fellowships. USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism Program» The J. Paul Getty Trust»