Loaded laundry
Computers in the laundromat? Instant messaging from the barber shop? A Penn State researcher says these possiblities should become realities if the digital divide is to be closed.
Lynette Kvasny, assistant professor of information sciences and technology, found that having knowledge of information technology had minimal impact on improving the economic opportunities usually associated with such knowledge among tradtionally underserved groups.
Minorities, rural populations, and inner-city and low-income residents should also have access to computers in their daily lives.
Kvasny suggests that computers should be placed in laundromats, churches and barber shops, because technology will have the best chance of bridging the digitial divide if it is part of a person's daily life .
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Mood music
Americans choose music based on more than just enjoyment, two Penn State Altoona professors found.
Valerie Stratton, associate professor of psychology, and Annette Zalanowski, associate professor of music, discovered that people also pick music based on their mood. Time of day and others present also affect music choices.
The researchers suggest that because people are accurate at choosing music that will be most pleasurable to them, they should be given options when music is being used to manage their moods and emotions such as in hospital rooms or therapy.
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Who's in your bed?
More infants in the United States are sleeping in their parents' beds, putting them at a greater risk for injury, a new study shows. Babies can fall out of bed and get hurt, or suffocate if an adult rolls over on them.
The study showed cultural differences in this practice. Black infants were four times as likely as white infants to share their parents' bed, while Asian infants were three times as likely.
The researchers suggest infants might sleep in their parents' bed because their parents do not have a crib. Some families may do this because it is a family tradition.
The study, in this month's issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, suggests that further research on the benefits and hazards of the practice be performed.
-- Compiled from staff and wire reports
