Category — other research

A humanist future: Now that God is dead: printer friendly version:
God is dead.

Even the confident religions know this. When their god was overwhelmingly alive he did not permit them to mingle with the followers of other gods: Now they come together to increase the volume of their protests against the noisy indifference of the scoffers in the market place. But the god of the marketplace is also dead. Secular confidence in the ability of atheistic rationality to deliver the good society has been undermined by an invasion of the angry ghosts of dead religion and by the ugly excesses of materialist consumerism.

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mmmm nihlism, tasty….

OA library of indigenous knowledge:
T. V. Padma, Digital library to protect indigenous knowledge, SciDev.Net, January 10, 2005. Excerpt: ‘South Asian countries will create a digital library of the region’s traditional knowledge and develop laws to prevent such knowledge being misappropriated through commercial patents. The plan was announced at a two-day workshop held in Delhi, India, last week by the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

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this is very important. if ip does exist, and this is debatable, then much of it has been stolen.

Growing Up Global – written road blog:
“The writers represented here are the “privileged homeless,” according to Pico Iyer, whose brilliant, witty essay opens this collection by those who remember growing up as foreigners with families always on the move. Army brats, missionaries’ children, diplomats’ children, or those whose parents just couldn’t stay put, these adult writers still feel like strangers everywhere, longing to belong even as they fear attachment. There is sometimes a whining note of self-pity– you can hear the therapy session–and, except as metaphor, these restless essayists don’t even see the “streetbums” around them, the millions of child refugees and migrant workers who are truly homeless today. But many of the best writers, including Isabel Allende, Ariel Dorfman, and Tara Bahrampour, speak eloquently about the pain and also the riches of the search for home. Pat Conroy didn’t like the military life: “Each year I began my life all over again . . . and I think it damaged me.” In contrast, Carlos Fuentes found identity in contact, in contrast, in breakthrough. The editors provide excellent commentary and author bios.” —Hazel Rochman

[Read more →]

One-page intro to OA: ”

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(Via Open Access News.)

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this is a nice short overview.

Engineers on TLDs: “

Engineers on TLDs: Do You Want Me With Fries? on CircleID by Vittorio Bertola:

This is why engineering solutions are not carved in stone, and young engineers have always been eating up old engineers since gave engineering to the world. That’s not because the old solutions were better than the new ones, or the opposite, but because new needs and new expectations arose among the users of the technology.

One word: Lovely!

I was one of the 30-something engineers who ‘ask’ for (IDN) TLD.

While I can sense some consensus on stage and off-stage of the need of IDN TLDs, the response I get from 60-something engineers (whose status is close to been ‘God’ right now) revolves around trying to get things 100% right before proceeding.

Don’t get me wrong: I have great respects for elderly engineers who has contributed so much to make Internet what is today – and I always value their wisdoms and advises. But seeking perfect solution is no difference then say ‘no’ – at least to the one making the request.

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(Via James Seng’s Blog.)

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it might also be that 60 year old engineers are embedded in institutions and with that they take a representational role of their understanding of those institution’s interests…. if you make money off of fewer tld’s and your friends make money off fewer…. you might, subconsciously, make more stringent ‘engineering decisions’ than you would otherwise. this is a form of sub-political governance.

:::: open ::::: The Digital Artisans Manifesto: “We are not the passive victims of uncontrollable market forces and technological changes. Without our daily work, there would be no goods or services to trade. Without our animating presence, information technologies would just be inert metal, plastic and silicon. Nothing can happen inside cyberspace without our creative labour. We are the only subjects of history.
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(Via .)

it is worth a read.

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Susan Sontag Dies at Age 71 at The Washington Post (reg. req’d) (Dec 28, 2004)

(Via .)

Digital Learning Cultures in the Information Landscape – Clifford Lynch, Syllabus Keynote: “As executive director of the Coalition for Networked Information, Clifford Lynch has an exceptional view of the changing landscape of information in the digital realm. In these excerpts from his July 19 keynote at Syllabus2004, Lynch takes a look at t”

(Via Online Learning Update.)

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this brings up some oft forgotten issues and questions.

Highly Recommended: “

Bloggers Beware: Debunking Eight Copyright Myths of the Online World

‘Kathy Biehl addresses eight ‘myths’ about copyright law with factual responses, resources and guidelines that are of special relevance to bloggers and website owners.’ [LLRX.com]

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(Via The Shifted Librarian.)

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interesting….

FT.com / Arts & Weekend – Dock of the bay: “As this magazine was going to press, a Guantánamo public affairs officer said the combatant status review tribunals were continuing at the camp despite the judge’s ruling. ‘In the meantime, some legal issues are being argued in Federal Court which may or may not ultimately affect this process,’ he added.”

(Via .)

ummm, doesn’t anyone have the power to intervene in these kangaroo courts?