From kids with cell phones to e-mailing grandmothers, technology shapes how we communicate, and with whom. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the virtual communities of the Arctic Circle. Also, re-wiring your appliances to talk to each other, and why whales in Vancouver have their own radio show.
David Brock, a research scientist at MIT's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, tells Steve Paulson that his team is designing systems that link the Web to robotics. They're playing with self-maintaining supply systems (imagine a refrigerator that orders its own milk when you run out!) and long distance applications in medicine (robots in the OR while the surgeon virtually works on you!).SEGMENT 2:
Journalist Sheldon Teitelbaum spent time with the Inuit in Canada's NorthWest Territories. He tells Judith Strasser that they're technically sophisticated, but have reservations about the missing human dimension in internet communication. Also, Ellen Mickiewicz teaches politics and media at Duke and is the author of "Changing Channels: Television and the Struggle for Power in Russia." She tells Jim Fleming that the Soviets made sure everybody had a TV, and that television played a crucial role during the war in Chechnya and Yeltsin's re- election.SEGMENT 3:
John Ford is Director of Research and Conservation at the Vancouver Aquarium. He tells Steve Paulson about Orca FM - a project that transmits the sounds of killer whales. He says each whale pod has its own dialect and that whales spend their entire lives with their family pods. Also, NPR's Scott Simon talks with Steve Paulson about building a community of regular listeners. Scott hosts NPR's Weekend Edition.Cassette copies are available at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 98-03-29-B.
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