technology

The issue: Questions about how to use limited financial resources vex school administrators and local governments across the country. Computer technology is critical to the 21^st century economy. So school administrators increasingly see laptops as a way to ensure all children receive tools for success. As laptops fall in price — Google’s Chromebook, for example, starts at $150 — they are becoming more common in the classroom. But do such programs help students learn?

Police forces across the United States use a variety of techniques to deal with situations that may involve violence. Though the wooden baton was once the only less-lethal weapon available, more advanced technologies such as Taser devices are now employed.

Companies such as Apple, Google and Facebook have access to vast and rapidly growing amounts of personal data from their users. How this information should be stored and protected is part of the ongoing debate over online privacy. Although social networking sites and smartphone operating systems offer security preference options, it is unclear if merely offering these privacy controls within the application — and requiring users to proactively “opt in” — is sufficient.

Trying to stay informed about the flurry of changes and shifts within the news media business is no easy task. From the decline in advertising and shifts in ad tech to new digital-ethical puzzles and social media strategies, there are many emerging topics — and many outlets and voices, both new and old, digging into the latest trends.

The vast streams of digital data being produced are proving to be a goldmine for marketers and companies of all kinds, but they also are a promising source of information for journalists.