Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology

young people and computing 523Finkelstein, Anthony. “Y2K: a Retrospective View.” Computingand Control Engineering Journal, vol. 11, no. 4, August 2000,156–159. Available online. URL: http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/A.Finkelstein/papers/y2kpiece.pdf. Accessed August 23,2007.Manion, M., and W. M. Evan. “The Y2K Problem and ProfessionalResponsibility: A Retrospective Analysis.” Technology in Society22 (August 2000): 351–387.Yahoo! Inc.Yahoo! (NASDAQ symbol: YHOO) has played an importantrole in the development of Web services. In 1994 Stanfordstudents Jerry Yang and David Filo developed the firstpopular directory of Web sites (see portal). Realizing thatthe millions of Web users flocking to their site provided anopportunity for advertising and services, the two partnersincorporated Yahoo! in 1995. (In 1996 the company wentpublic and raised $33.8 million, a significant amount ata time when the business potential of the Web was onlybeginning to be appreciated.)Yahoo! continued to grow, and the company acquireda number of other online services, which they used to provideWeb-based e-mail, Web hosting, and news. But havingflown so high, Yahoo! had far to fall when the dot-com marketbubble burst in 2001: A stock that had traded at around$130.00 per share fell as low as $4.06.However, Yahoo! proved its resilience as one of the fewearly dot-coms to survive and has continued to thrive inthe post-bubble era since 2002. The company made strategicpartnerships with telecommunications companies suchas BT and Verizon. Yahoo! entered a continuing strugglewith another Web services powerhouse (see Google) whileacquiring new media sites (such as the photo-sharing serviceFlickr and the social “bookmarking” service del.icio.us), and creating new services (see blogs and bloggingand social networking). Yahoo! also provides onlinestorefronts, competing in that venue mainly with eBay.Yahoo! has a strong international presence, which, however,led to a controversial case where the company provideduser information to Chinese authorities that led toimprisonment of two dissidents on charges of passing statesecrets. (A lawsuit by the families of the dissidents wassettled by Yahoo.)Yahoo!’s main source of revenue remains search-relatedadvertising. The company may have received a competitiveboost in 2007 with a new online advertising system called“Panama,” catching up to similar technology previouslydeployed by Google. In fiscal 2007 Yahoo! had revenue of$6.7 billion and earned about $730 million. At the timeYahoo! had about 13,600 employees.In 2008 Yahoo! became the target of a takeover bid byMicrosoft. Although this has met with at least initial rejection,rumors continued, including the possibility that TimeWarner might acquire the company and merge it with itsAOL division.Further ReadingAngel, Karen. Inside Yahoo!: Reinvention and the Road Ahead. NewYork: Wiley, 2002.Fost, Dan. “Web Portal Works to Integrate the Companies It HasAcquired.” San Francisco Chronicle, December 24, 2006, p.F1. Available online. URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/12/24/BUGUIN3TKS1.DTL. AccessedDecember 4, 2007.Kopytoff, Verne. “‘Panama System Helping Yahoo Compete.” SanFrancisco Chronicle, April 8, 2007, p. D1. Available online.URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/04/08/BUGKNP3UD91.DTL. Accessed December 4, 2007.Snell, Rob. Starting a Yahoo! Business for Dummies. Hoboken, N.J.:Wiley, 2006.Wagner, Richard. Yahoo! SiteBuilder for Dummies. Hoboken, N.J.:Wiley, 2005.Yahoo! Available online. URL: http://www.yahoo.com/. AccessedDecember 4, 2007.young people and computingComputers and technology play a role in the lives of mostyoung people that many adults have difficulty comprehending.Children in industrialized countries are liable toencounter video games even before they arrive at school.Once there, they will be exposed to a considerable amountof educational software, depending on their school’s affluence(see education and computers). Upon returningfrom school, there are more sophisticated games, MySpacepages to keep updated (see social networking), sophisticatedtools for creating music and video, and, of course, theInternet in all its vast diversity. Meanwhile, a web of incessantmessages (see texting and instant messaging) islikely to keep the youngster in touch with friends.ChallengesA major positive aspect of young peoples’ involvement withcomputer technology is that, as with learning a second language,learning the “language” of the digital world is easiestfor the young. The capabilities and opportunities for creativityoffered to today’s teens are astonishing—as are manyof the impressive results that can be seen in young peoples’blogs, Web sites, and YouTube videos. It is also widelybelieved that children will need to master current andemerging technology in order to be competitive as adults.At the same time, adults and parents in particularremain concerned about the dangers and drawbacks ofteens’ pervasively digital life. A 2007 survey by the PewInternet & American Life Project found that a majority ofparents whose children were online had rules about whattheir kids could see or play—and for how long each day. Ingeneral parents seem to be becoming somewhat less enthusiasticabout their children’s online activities even as thelatter’s positive attitude toward the technology continuesto increase. Use of protective software (see Web filter) iscommon, although tech-savvy teens have a way of stayingahead of the curve of parental restrictions.Common parental concerns include:• potential exposure to online sexual predators or bullying(see cyberstalking and harassment)• viewing of inappropriate material such as pornographyand highly violent games