The Online Journalism Review discusses the recent increase in news sites requiring registration. The reason?

Media executives cited two recurring themes: the need to form a closer relationship with their readers, and the potential for added revenue. . . . . But when push comes to shove, online newspapers have largely been flying blind about who's coming to their own sites and why. Until now.

While there is no doubt that having users register will be a boon for newspapers interested in the demographics of their online readers, as well as useful for tracking reading patterns (see OJR's Belo: Active and Shifting Audiences), I can't imagine it'll be long before one of the news sites becomes greedy or gets into dire financial straits. You'll go login into your favorite site, expecting to read an article, and instead finding a friendly little message: "I'm sorry, but we have been forced to require a small subscription fee."

"People who use high-speed services to connect to the Internet from home have a much more active relationship with the online world than those who dial up to it over a regular phone line, according to a study to be released today sponsored by the Pew Research Center."

From The New York Times.

Read the report at PEW.

This Philadelphia Inquirer article questions former Governor Tom Ridge's CyberStart program which is bringing computers to preschools throughout Pennsylvannia.

A somewhat interesting article in the New York Times about the fight between libraries and publishers over digital copies of texts.