Native group and foundation present Indian Country tech report

Native Public Media and the New America Foundation's Open Technology Initiative today released a study, "New Media, Technology and Internet Use in Indian Country: Quantitative and Qualitative Analyses." The report melds data on tech use among 120 tribes, and case studies of six successful projects. Video of the report's Washington presentation here.

All this, AND Skip Hinton!

Details on most sessions at January's NETA conference are now online. The confab is at the M Resort in Henderson, Nev., about 15 miles from Sin City.

Two PBS docs advance in Oscar race

Two pubTV films are on the short list for Documentary Feature Academy Award nominations, PBS says. Both docs, Food, Inc. on POV and Garbage Dreams on Independent Lens, will air next year. Both now advance to voting by the Documentary Branch Academy. For a full list of films moving foward, see the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences website. Oscar nods will be announced Feb. 2, 2010, with the 82nd annual Academy Awards show on March 7.

Former Tampa pubcaster heads online news venture

Another new media site has sprouted, this time in Florida, reports Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. The online paper, 83 Degrees, is published by Detroit's Issue Media, which has created several other online pubs. It's edited by Diane Egner, former content director at Tampa NPR affiliate WUSF. Local governments, universities and corporations are funding the effort. "“If you’re watching PBS, you know there are certain underwriters for certain programs," Egner told . Each of our partners is underwriting specific issues that we cover.” The site's coverage will include the new economy, innovations, investments, the environment.

Senate satellite bill passes committee

The Senate Commerce Committee on Thursday passed the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (STELA), its version of the satellite reauthorization bill, according to Broadcasting & Cable. The bill allows satellite operators to carry out-of-market network TV station signals for viewers who don't received an adequate signal from their nearby station. It's an issue the Association of Public Television Stations has been working on for several years, much of the time spent in negotiations with the DISH Network. "APTS is pleased with the firm action taken today by the Senate Commerce Committee to end the discriminatory behavior by DISH Network against local public television stations," APTS President Larry Sidman said in a statement. APTS has reached agreements with other satellite providers to carry local pubTV stations.

Cap Hill gets flying T-shirts courtesy of Design Squad

PubTV's Design Squad show was on hand to launch T-shirts into the air at last week's Education Technology Showcase on Cap Hill. The fun with T-shirts showed how engineering could be "used to solve real-world problems," reports TMCNet's Education Technology page. In attendance were Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senators Patty Murray, Jeff Bingaman, Kay Hagan and Ted Kaufman and other officials. The event, sponsored by the Education Technology Directors Association, highlighted programs funded by the National Science Foundation.