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'U.S. News' Alters Methodology of Its
Controversial College Rankings
According to a report in the July 18th issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education, the magazine U.S. News and World Report will change the methodology of its rankings in a way that will make it harder for any institution to be ranked No. 1 overall. U.S. News will purportedly round colleges' total scores (which are based on such factors as average SAT scores and financial resources) to the nearest whole number rather than the nearest tenth. If the scores had been rounded on last year's list of "National Universities," Harvard, Princeton, and Yale would have tied for first place.
The new methodology may not impress critics of U.S. News, who feel the magazine's college ranking system is fundamentally flawed. One often-heard criticism is that U.S. News favors the richest and most selective colleges and universities while ignoring student success. The article was written by Chronicle staff writer Mary Geraghty and appears on page A34.
Attention, Data-Mart Shoppers
An article in the July, 1997 issue of BYTE magazine evaluates"data warehouses," "data warehousing," and "data marts." In its classic form, a data warehouse is "a subject-oriented, integrated, time-variant, and nonvolatile collection of data supporting management's decisions." Warehousing refers to a set of processes or architecture that merges related data from many systems. On the other hand, data marts tend to be subject or department oriented. Data marts are usually smaller, but in some instances may be larger than data warehouses (if the subject requires it). Data marts are generally more limited in scope, typically focusing on the needs of a specific business unit or function. Data marts generally demand significantly less money and fewer organizational resources to implement and maintain.
The article presents information about several software packages and a representative list of 25 vendors who offer data mart packages. Finally, the article's author cautions about serious data quality problems that may occur when implementing a data warehouse or data mart. The "tolerance level" at startup may be as high as 40% problem data. And data quality problems may persist when timeliness competes with quality. The article was written by consultant Karen Watterson and appears on page 73.
America Online Backs Off Plan
To Give Out Phone Numbers
On July 25th The New York Times reported that the largest on-line service provider in the United States, America Online, has abandoned its plans to begin providing lists of its customers' telephone numbers to telemarketers and other direct-sales merchants. Already beseiged by "junk" e-mail, AOL subscribers angrily reacted to the possiblity of telemarketing calls by the same firms that send "junk" e-mail.
For consumer-privacy advocates the case illustrates the need for increased Government oversight of the buying and selling of consumer information gathered during the course of everyday commerce. With the advent of on-line services like AOL, marketers are able to track each mouse click, chat room visit, received and sent e-mail, and on-line feature used.
Although America On-line has already begun selling lists of its subscribers' names and addresses, which do not contain the subscriber's e-mail address or telephone number. Privacy advocates feel that by adding telephone numbers marketers would not only be able to call on-line subscribers at home but have access to additional information about subscribers.
According to the article, both telemarketers and Government regulators (like the Federal Trade Commission) are still in favor of allowing the Internet marketplace to police itself. Written by Times business journalist Seth Schiesel, the article appears on page C1.