Digital Opportunity Investment Trust
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2008-04-18T01:21:55Z
Yellowdesk
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Removed {{future}}. The text and cited sources are fully capable of indicating the contingent nature of the topic.
'''Digital Opportunity Investment Trust''' (DOIT) is a proposal to create a [[United States]] federal trust to distribute, for [[education]]al purposes, funds to be raised by public [[auction]]s of [[license]]s to use [[radio frequency]] bands.
==Concepts==
According to advocates at the [http://www.nhalliance.org National Humanities Alliance], DOIT would receive funds from [[Federal government of the United States | U.S. government]] lease [[revenues]] and distribute them through [[Grant (money) | competitive grants]] for projects to (1) apply [[information technologies]] in education and skills [[training]]; (2) [[digitize]] collections of libraries, museums, universities and [[public television]] stations; and (3) develop tools for education and [[digital technology]].<ref>{{cite web | author=Digital Promise Project | title=The Digital Opportunity Investment Trust | publisher=National Humanities Alliance | year=2006 | url=http://www.nhalliance.org/had/2006/sourcebook/additionalissuebriefs/2006DOIT.pdf }}</ref>
==U. S. government funding for humanities and arts==
The [[National Endowment for the Humanities]] and the [[National Endowment for the Arts]], created by the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of [[1965]]<ref>{{cite web | author=NEH Public Affairs Office | title=National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act | publisher=National Endowment for the Humanities | year=2006 | url=http://www.neh.gov/whoweare/legislation.html }}</ref> (P.L. 89-209), currently have the largest shares of [[United States]] government funding for programs in [[humanities]] and [[The Arts | arts]]. The [[fiscal year | FY]] [[2006]] [[Appropriation (law) | appropriations]] for these two agencies are US$140.9 million and US$124.4 million. Appropriations in recent years (in US$ millions) are shown in the following table:<ref>{{cite web | author=Sourcebook | title=National Endowment for the Humanities | publisher=National Humanities Alliance | year=2006 | url=http://www.nhalliance.org/had/2006/sourcebook/nehbackground/nehbrief06.pdf }} See "Funding History."</ref> <ref>{{cite web | author=National Endowment for the Arts | title=Appropriations History | publisher=U.S. Department of the Interior | year=2006 | url=http://www.nea.gov/about/Facts/AppropriationsHistory.html }}</ref>
Fiscal Year 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Humanities 174.0 177.4 177.5 172.0 110.0 110.0 110.7 110.7 115.3 120.0 124.5 124.9 135.3 138.1 140.9
Arts 176.0 174.5 170.2 162.3 99.5 99.5 98.0 98.0 97.6 104.8 115.2 115.7 121.0 121.3 124.4
Potential funding for DOIT as described above, although relatively small as compared to United States government support for education (US$71,545 million in FY 2006<ref>{{cite web | author=Education Overview | title=Budget News | publisher=U.S. Department of Education | year=2006 | url=http://www.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget06/06action.pdf }}</ref>), would represent a major increase above the funding levels historically provided for humanities and arts.
==Federal grants and demonstration projects==
The [http://www.fas.org Federation of American Scientists] has received [[Federal grant | grants]] from the [[United States]] government to demonstrate the potential of a Digital Opportunity Investment Trust. US$1.34 million in funding was provided through three [[United States Congress | Congressional]] [[Earmarking | earmarks]].<ref>{{cite journal | author=U.S. House of Representatives | title=Making Further Continuing Appropriations for the Fiscal Year 2003, and for Other Purposes | journal=Conference Report 108-10 | year=Feb 12 2003 | pages=p. 1155 (item 8) | url=http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=108_cong_reports&docid=f:hr010.108.pdf }} "Federation of American Scientists, Washington, D.C., for Digital Opportunity Investment Trust...$750,000" (before general rescission of 0.65 percent)</ref> <ref>{{cite journal | author=U.S. House of Representatives | title=Making Appropriations for Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies for the Fiscal Year Ending September 30, 2004, and for Other Purposes | journal=Conference Report 108-401 | year=Nov 25 2003 | pages=p. 766 (item 15) | url=http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=108_cong_reports&docid=f:hr401.108.pdf }} "Federation of American Scientists, Washington, DC, for a biopreparedness demonstration project involving the use of interactive simulation for training...$100,000"</ref> <ref>{{cite journal | author=U.S. House of Representatives | title=Making Appropriations for Foreign Operations, Export Financing and Related Programs for the Fiscal Year Ending September 30, 2005, and for Other Purposes | journal=Conference Report 108-792 | year=Nov 19 2004 | pages=p. 1247 (item 19) | url=http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=108_cong_reports&docid=f:hr792.108.pdf }} "Federation of American Scientists for Digital Promise, Washington, DC, for creating a Digital Opportunity Investment Trust (DO IT) project...$500,000" (before general rescission of 0.80 percent)</ref> These funds were used to write a report describing DOIT goals and organization<ref>{{cite web | author=Lawrence K. Grossman, Newton N. Minow and Anne G. Murphy, Eds. | title=Creating the Digital Opportunity Investment Trust: Executive Summary | publisher=Digital Promise Project | year=Oct 2003 | url=http://www.digitalpromise.org/about/report_to_congress/Executive_Summary.pdf }}</ref> <ref>{{cite web | author=Lawrence K. Grossman, Newton N. Minow and Anne G. Murphy, Eds. | title=Creating the Digital Opportunity Investment Trust: Structure and Governance | publisher=Digital Promise Project | year=Oct 2003 | url=http://www.digitalpromise.org/about/report_to_congress/Structure_&_Governance.pdf }}</ref> <ref>{{cite web | author=Lawrence K. Grossman, Newton N. Minow and Anne G. Murphy, Eds. | title=Creating the Digital Opportunity Investment Trust: Rationale | publisher=Digital Promise Project | year=Oct 2003 | url=http://www.digitalpromise.org/about/report_to_congress/Structure_&_Governance.pdf }}</ref> <ref>{{cite web | author=Lawrence K. Grossman, Newton N. Minow and Anne G. Murphy, Eds. | title=Creating the Digital Opportunity Investment Trust: Research and Development Roadmap | publisher=Digital Promise Project | year=Oct 2003 | url=http://www.digitalpromise.org/about/report_to_congress/Structure_&_Governance.pdf }}</ref> <ref>{{cite web | author=Kay Howell, Ed. | title=Learning Science & Technology R&D Roadmaps | publisher=The Learning Federation | year=Sep 2003 | url=http://www.learningfederation.org/lma.pdf }}</ref> and to supplement $0.58 million from four competitive grants<ref>National Science Foundation award IIS-0215673, April 18, 2002, $99913, Gerald Higgins, Federation of American Scientists, Workshop: "The Digital Human, Towards Unified Ontology for Biomedical Modeling and Simulation" [http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/ NSF Awards]</ref> <ref>National Science Foundation award CNS-0226421, September 18, 2002, $75000, Henry Kelly, Marianne Bakia and Kay Howell, Federation of American Scientists, Project: "Simulation-Based Learning Systems for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics: Issues in Design and Assessment" [http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/ NSF Awards]</ref> <ref>National Science Foundation award CNS-0226422, September 20, 2002, $75000, Henry Kelly, Marianne Bakia and Kay Howell, Federation of American Scientists, Project: "Question Generation and Answering Systems R&D for Technology-Enabled Learning Systems." [http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/ NSF Awards]</ref> <ref>National Science Foundation award REC-0428259, October 1, 2004, $331328, Andries van Dam, Brown University, Project: "Computer Simulation for Helping Students of Biology at All Levels Master an Increasingly Complex Body of Information." [http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/ NSF Awards]</ref> in carrying out three prototype projects:
<blockquote>[[Immune Attack!]] -- an advanced video game teaching human immunology from the 9th grade to the college level</blockquote>
<blockquote>Discover Babylon -- a cultural, educational and historical virtual reality of ancient Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq)</blockquote>
<blockquote>Mass Casualty Incident Responder -- a high-stress, interactive real-time decision-making training simulation to teach firefighters and serve as a model for other first responder training</blockquote>
The interactive projects were first demonstrated to the public at a briefing organized by [http://www.newamerica.net New America Foundation], held in the meeting room at 188 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., on May 3, 2006.<ref>{{cite web | author=Katrina vanden Heuvel | title=Playstations for Peace | publisher=The Nation | year=Apr 4 2006 | url=http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut?pid=2302 }}</ref> <ref>{{cite web | author=Michael Calabrese, Lawrence K. Grossman and Kay Howell | title= Serious Games: Strengthening America's Competitive Edge Through Investment in Advanced Technology Tools for Learning | publisher= New America Foundation | year=Apr 2006 | url=http://www.newamerica.net/index.cfm?pg=event&EveID=560 }}</ref> <ref>{{cite web | author=Serious Games Summit D.C. | title=Interactive Solutions for Shared Challenges | publisher=CMP Media | year=2006 | url=http://www.seriousgamessummit.com/ }} Conference announcement.</ref>
==Federal legislation==
The [http://www.digitalpromise.org Digital Promise Project] has sought federal legislation for the proposed Digital Opportunity Investment Trust in the 108th and 109th U.S. [[United States Congress | Congresses]]. H.R. 1396 "Spectrum Commons and Digital Dividends Act of 2003"<ref>{{cite web | author=U.S. Rep. Edward J. Markey, et al. | title=H.R. 1396, Spectrum Commons and Digital Dividends Act of 2003 | publisher=U.S. Library of Congress | year=2003 | url=http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:H.R.1396: }}</ref> was sponsored in March, 2003, by Rep. [[Ed Markey | Edward J. Markey]] (D-MA) with cosponsors [[John Larson | John B. Larson]] (D-CT) and [[Karen McCarthy]] (D-MO). S. 1854 "Digital Opportunity Investment Trust Act"<ref>{{cite web | author=U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, et al. | title=S. 1854, Digital Opportunity Investment Trust Act | publisher=U.S. Library of Congress | year=2003 | url=http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:S.1854: }}</ref> was sponsored in November, 2003, by Sen. [[Christopher Dodd | Christopher J. Dodd]] (D-CT) with cosponsors [[Richard Durbin]] (D-IL) and [[Olympia Snowe | Olympia J. Snowe]] (R-ME). Critics said H.R. 1396 was "really just old wine in a new bottle...the fusion of the National Endowment for the Arts, PBS, and the 'E-Rate' program...which is a federally mandated hidden tax on telephone bills."<ref>{{cite web | author=Adam Thierer, Clyde Wayne Crews, Jr., and Thomas Pearson | title=Birth of the Digital New Deal: An Inventory of High-Tech Pork-Barrel Spending | publisher=Cato Institute | year=Oct 28 2002 | url=http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa457.pdf }}</ref> Although they helped introduce the concepts, the bills in the 108th Congress made little progress and expired at the close of the Congress.
S. 1023 "Digital Opportunity Investment Trust Act"<ref>{{cite web | author=U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, et al. | title=S. 1023, Digital Opportunity Investment Trust Act | publisher=U.S. Library of Congress | year=2005 | url=http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:S.1023: }}</ref> was sponsored in May, 2005, by Sen. [[Christopher Dodd | Christopher J. Dodd]] (D-CT) with cosponsors [[Conrad Burns | Conrad R. Burns]] (R-MT), [[Richard Durbin]] (D-IL), [[Olympia Snowe | Olympia J. Snowe]] (R-ME) and [[Ted Kennedy | Edward M. Kennedy]] (D-MA). As of spring, 2006, it is pending hearings in the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. H.R. 2512 "Digital Opportunity Investment Trust Act"<ref>{{cite web | author=U.S. Rep. Ralph Regula, et al. | title=H.R. 2512, Digital Opportunity Investment Trust Act | publisher=U.S. Library of Congress | year=2005 | url=http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:H.R.2512: }}</ref> was sponsored in May, 2005, by Rep. [[Ralph Regula]] (R-OH) with cosponsors [[Paul Gillmor | Paul E. Gillmor]] (R-OH), [[Ed Markey | Edward J. Markey]] (D-MA), [[Rush D. Holt Jr. | Rush D. Holt, Jr.]] (D-NJ), [[Major Owens | Major R. Owens]] (D-NY), [[Richard Baker (politician) | Richard H. Baker]] (R-LA), [[Sherrod Brown]] (D-OH), [[Nita Lowey | Nita M. Lowey]] (D-NY), [[Allyson Schwartz | Allyson Y. Schwartz]] (D-PA), [[Jim Sensenbrenner | F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr.]] (R-WI), [[Frank Rudolph Wolf | Frank R. Wolf]] (R-VA) and [[Rick Boucher]] (D-VA). As of spring, 2006, it is pending hearings in the Subcommittee on Select Education.
Although they carry the same title, S. 1023 and H.R. 2512 differ in some provisions. Both require 30 percent of the proceeds of each auction of [[radio frequency | radio frequency spectrum]] to be deposited in a [[United States]] federal trust fund, and both allocate 21 percent of the interest from the fund to [[Public broadcasting | educational television]] stations supported by the U.S. [[Corporation for Public Broadcasting]]. Both specify that the trust fund is otherwise to be used for the following purposes:
<blockquote>"to help underwrite the digitization of the collections in the Nation's universities, museums, libraries, public broadcasting stations, and cultural institutions"</blockquote>
<blockquote>"to support basic and applied research, development, and demonstrations of innovative learning and assessment systems as well as the components and tools needed to create them"</blockquote>
<blockquote>"to use the research results developed...to create prototype applications designed to meet learning objectives in a variety of subject areas and designed for learners with many different educational backgrounds"</blockquote>
S. 1023 authorizes the trust fund management to cooperate with [[business]] and [[Non-profit organization | nonprofit]] organizations by "seeking new ways to put telecommunications and information technologies to work in their areas of interest." H.R. 2512 makes use of the fund subject to Congressional [[Appropriation bill | appropriation]], but S. 1023 does not. In that respect, the [[United States House of Representatives | House]] bill follows the model of the Land and Water Conservation Fund,<ref>See reference [3].</ref> while the [[United States Senate | Senate]] bill follows a model similar to the [[Smithsonian Institution]].
==External links==
*[http://www.digitalpromise.org Digital Promise Project], hosted by the [http://www.fas.org Federation of American Scientists]
==References==
<references/>
[[Category:Independent agencies of the United States government]]
[[Category:Broadcasting]]