Friday, September 25, 2009

Ubuntu partnering with Intel and IBM

on moblin 2.1 and a special OS with Lotus for Africa.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10359700-92.html

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/172531/intel_ports_linux_netbook_os_to_desktops.html

Interesting statistics

The record companies or film industry SAY they can't survive in a free internet, but there is someone who can that, and that is...

http://internet-filter-review.toptenreviews.com/internet-pornography-statistics.html

Harvard about what we need to know about ICT for development.

Canada's International Development Research Center and Harvard's Berkman Center are convening a conversation today and tomorrow at Harvard on the future of information and communication technology and development (ICT4D).


http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/09/24/harvard-forum-what-do-we-need-to-know/

New Irex e-readers coming

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6698624.html

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Google Sidewiki

Google Sidewiki is doing the same thing that has been available in Plos journals for a while, the possibility to annotate parts or the whole webpage.

I think it can be very useful.

www.google.com/sidewiki

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Zotero 2.07.1 is out, Dataverse Network 2.0 is out

www.zotero.org www.thedata.org

The case for books. Robert Darnton

Darnton has a pretty good case for books IMHO, here is som excerpt from PublicAffairsbooks


This is a book about books, an unashamed apology for the printed word, past, present, and future. It is also an argument about the place of books in the digital environment that has now become a fundamental fact of life for millions of human beings. Far from deploring electronic modes of communication, I want to explore the possibilities of aligning them with the power that Johannes Gutenberg unleashed more than five centuries ago. What common ground exists between old books and e-books? What mutual advantages link libraries with the Internet? Those questions may sound empty in the abstract, but they take concrete form in decisions made every day by players in the communication industry—webmasters, computer engineers, financiers, lawyers, publishers, librarians, and a great many ordinary readers.




Whatever the future may be, it will be digital. The present is a time of transition, when printed and digital modes of communication coexist and new technology soon becomes obsolete. Already we are witnessing the disappearance of familiar objects: the typewriter, now consigned to antique shops; the postcard, a curiosity; the handwritten letter, beyond the capacity of most young people, who cannot write in cursive script; the daily newspaper, extinct in many cities; the local bookshop, replaced by chains, which themselves are threatened by Internet distributors like Amazon. And the library? It can look like the most archaic institution of all. Yet its past bodes well for its future, because libraries were never warehouses of books. They have always been and always will be centers of learning. Their central position in the world of learning makes them ideally suited to mediate between the printed and the digital modes of communication. Books, too, can accommodate both modes. Whether printed on paper or stored in servers, they embody knowledge, and their authority derives from a great deal more than the technology that went into them.


HARDCOVER
ISBN 978-1586488260
Pub date: 10/27/09
Price: $23.95/30.50 Canada
5 1/2 x 8 1/4
240 pages
Carton Quantity: 40
History, Literature
Selling Territory: W
Rights:

Tips to "developed countries" for copyright reforms

Very good advice to the richest country in the world as well for developing countries IMHO.



Tips for Developing Countries when reviewing Copyright Laws
Denise Nicholson


International intellectual property agreements allow limitations and exceptions to be adopted in national copyright laws. Here are some tips for developing countries when reviewing their copyright laws:-

*
Adopt a maximalist approach – include as many limitations and exceptions as already in copyright regimes around the world – keep door open for new exceptions as technology changes.
*
Try to separate exceptions for entertainment from exceptions for education and libraries in your copyright law.
*
Ensure adequate exceptions for libraries, archives and museums (including provisions for accessing and providing information; digitization; preservation, digital curation (including migration to new technologies as they change).
*
Ensure adequate exceptions for people with sensory-disabilities (e.g. blind, visually-impaired, print- handicapped, blind/deaf, deaf, dyslexic, reading & learning disabilities, etc.)
*
Ensure adequate exceptions for classroom teaching, as well as distance and open learning, literacy training, adult basic education, non-commercial staff training and sharing of information amongst colleagues for research, discussion and information purposes.
*
Do not include protection for non-original databases. (It had little or no positive impact for rightsholders in the EU and created problems for users)". Original databases are protected by copyright like any original work.
*
Keep or reduce the copyright term to the lifetime of the author plus 50 years in terms of the minimum requirements of international IP agreements – Longer terms do not benefit net importers of intellectual property.
*
Do not include anti-circumvention clauses, unless there are clear, balanced exceptions to enable access to information.
*
Do not include public lending/educational lending rights (countries are not obliged to in terms of any international agreements). To date, no developing country has adopted a lending right. IFLA and eIFL do not promote public lending rights for developing countries. See IFLA Position Paper on the Public Lending Right and its Background Paper on the Public Lending Right.
*
Consult the eIFL-IP Draft Law on Copyright Including Model Exceptions and Limitations for Libraries and Consumers . Also see commentary on this draft law.
*
Adopt the best provisions from WIPO Studies on -

Limitations & Exceptions for the Visually-Impaired;

Limitations & Exceptions of Copyright & Related Rights in the Digital Environment

Copyright Limitations & Exceptions for Education – final report due at end of 2009

*
Promote Open Access, Open Source Software & Open Licensing (e.g. Creative Commons, etc.)
*
Create and populate Open Access Institutional Repositories/Research Archives to showcase African research.
*
Encourage authors not to sign over all their rights to publishers – encourage them to retain rights to enable them to place their works in open access institutional repositories, on personal blogs or to include in teaching materials. Encourage them to make use of an Author’s Addendum.
*
Seek expert and free assistance and advice from Access to Knowledge (A2K) organizations/projects/initiatives when reviewing copyright laws, e.g. Electronic Information for Libraries; African Copyright & Access to Knowledge Project (ACA2K); Commonwealth of Learning; IFLA Committee for Copyright and Other Legal Matters (CLM) and Consumers International.

Also consult the following publications (free to download):-

eIFL Handbook on Copyright & Related Issues

and

“Introducing Copyright – a plain language guide to copyright"
(Commonwealth of Learning).

*
Consult the resources on ACA2K website, Wits Copyright Portal and Commonwealth of Learning's Copyright Resources.
*
Lobby your Government officials who attend WIPO meetings in Geneva to call for users’ rights to be enshrined in a balanced international framework. If they are supporting the WIPO Development Agenda in Geneva, why are they not implementing better and more balanced copyright laws at home?



http://www.aca2k.org/index.php?option=com_idoblog&task=viewpost&id=229&Itemid=73&lang=en

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Google target Apps.gov

Open data had their www.data.gov and now they have launched the www.apps.gov

Very impressing, and now Google want to provide 300 000 000 American citizen government service on separate servers.

This is something that I really believe in. Nobody can do it as cheap and stable as Google.

check it out on: www.apps.gov

Cyber-Enabled Discovery and Innovation (CDI)

Cyber-Enabled Discovery and Innovation (CDI) is NSF’s bold five-year initiative to create revolutionary science and engineering research outcomes made possible by innovations and advances in computational thinking. Computational thinking is defined comprehensively to encompass computational concepts, methods, models, algorithms, and tools. Applied in challenging science and engineering research and education contexts, computational thinking promises a profound impact on the Nation’s ability to generate and apply new knowledge. Collectively, CDI research outcomes are expected to produce paradigm shifts in our understanding of a wide range of science and engineering phenomena and socio-technical innovations that create new wealth and enhance the national quality of life.


Read more about this important development here:
http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=503163

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

File sync in Zotero!

Very very good news!

Zotero File Storage is a cloud-based storage solution for PDFs, images, web snapshots, and any other files attached to your Zotero personal and group libraries. Zotero File Storage allows you to access your Zotero-attached files from any computer with a web browser, and you can synchronize these files to any computer with Zotero installed. See the storage FAQ for additional information.

Every Zotero user has been granted 100MB of free Zotero file storage for attached files. In the near future users will be able to purchase additional storage space.


http://www.zotero.org/support/file_sync

Monday, September 14, 2009

Open access alliance: Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of California at Berkeley

Great news! The Danish DEFF report concludes with savings of 70 million Euro every year so we should work harder for open access journals in Norway too. I think it would be about the same in Norway. I am sure that we could have spent 610 million Norwegian Kroner on something better than reducing our ability to communicate scientific results. What about some new nanotech labs?

According to Thomas C. Leonard, University Librarian at UC/Berkeley, "Publishers and researchers know that it has never been easier to share the best work they produce with the world. But they also know that their traditional business model is creating new walls around discoveries. Universities can really help take down these walls and the open-access compact is a highly significant tool for the job."

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2009/open-access-0914.html

Economic policy and intellectual property

I have one theory (that I have just discovered that the Indian scholar Lawrence Liang has written a lot about): I think I see a pattern in IP regulation, and that it resemble how the rich countries always have told the poor countries; Do what we say, not what we do. For example, South-Korea build themselves up by NOT doing what the World Bank told them, while Africa has been practically runned by the world bank and IMF since 1960. Bill Gates build himself up in a regime WITHOUT software patents, but he insist that his followers should follow the new rules. I think free and open standards/software/culture can play the same role for Africa in the knowledge society as tariff protection, subsidies and government support played for South-Korea in the industrialized society?

Look at this article for example: " These data are used to investigate the welfare effects of widespread infringement of foreign works on American publishers, writers, and the public. The results suggest that the United States benefited from piracy and that the choice of copyright regime was endogenous to the level of economic development."
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=495776

Lawrence Liang has some very good points:
"..and the latest allegation is that pirated music and software helps fund terrorist
organizations such as the Al Qaida."
http://www.sarai.net/research/knowledge-culture/critical-public-legal-resources/copyrightculturalproductionandopencontentlicenses.pdf

http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/2009/09/11/funds-for-us-state-dept-global-ip-enforcement-training/
http://www.ifad.org/events/op/2009/wipo.htm
http://www.gov2summit.com/
http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/2009/09/01/un-climate-report-envisions-modified-trips-as-governments-seek-progress/
http://www.msfaccess.org/main/access-patents/the-global-politics-of-pharmaceutical-monopoly-power-by-ellen-t-hoen/
http://www.who.int/dg/speeches/2009/intellectual_property_20090714/en/index.html

This blogpost by Stephen Gowan is very good:

http://maravi.blogspot.com/2009/07/stephen-gowans-obamas-africa-speech.html

Mashup of Google Knol, Plos and Rapid Research Notes

Plos Currents is the new modern era scientific journals that has peer-review and are designed for collaboration and rapid dissemination from scratch. Google is doing a great job for the scientific community and research that will benefit all, as ususal.

"The successful development of open access publishing by organizations including the Public Library of Science (PLoS) in recent years is a dramatic illustration of how the Internet is revolutionizing scientific communication. Today, after several months of work, I’m delighted to announce that PLoS is launching PLoS Currents (Beta) – a new and experimental website for the rapid communication of research results and ideas. In response to the recent worldwide H1N1 influenza outbreak, the first PLoS Currents research theme is influenza."

http://www.plos.org/cms/node/480

http://knol.google.com/k/plos/plos-currents-influenza/28qm4w0q65e4w/1%23#

Denmark to save 70 million Euro every year with Open Access

Excerpt from the announcement:

"The full report is available here:
Open Access – What are the economic benefits?

A comparison of the United Kingdom, Netherlands and Denmark



The reports of the three countries can be downloaded below:

* JISC report: Economic Implications of Alternative Scholarly Publishing Models: Exploring the costs and benefits
* SURF report: Costs and Benefits of Research Communication: The Dutch Situation
*

DEFF report: Costs and Benefits of Alternative Publishing Models: Denmark"

http://www.knowledge-exchange.info/Default.aspx?ID=316

Friday, September 11, 2009

Why following the rich countries rules never makes sense

Following the intellectual property regulations from the rich world is like following "free trade" receipe in the industrialized world. It won't work.

Here is a very good blogpost on that:

http://maravi.blogspot.com/2009/07/stephen-gowans-obamas-africa-speech.html

Problems with intellectual property

Intellectual property is ready for reform in everything from food security to global health. Here are some recent links that is taboo to talk about in the rich world right now. Almost everyone hate to talk about it and if they do they deny the problems more or less completely. Most people are even willing to abondon the democracy to protect the income system that is based on unfear exploitation of the worlds poor through IP-regulation.

http://www.ifad.org/events/op/2009/wipo.htm
http://www.gov2summit.com/
http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/2009/09/01/un-climate-report-envisions-modified-trips-as-governments-seek-progress/
http://www.msfaccess.org/main/access-patents/the-global-politics-of-pharmaceutical-monopoly-power-by-ellen-t-hoen/
http://www.who.int/dg/speeches/2009/intellectual_property_20090714/en/index.html

So far in the Norwegian election, it seems that the majority of Norwegian don't care about using the billions of dollar from the oil fund to oilsand extraction. Almost nobody cares.

They also don't care about massive surveillance of almost all digital information.

If the Norwegian politicians give a damn in climate change, forget everything they have learned about free expression, how can they travel to places like Afghanistan anThey are not interested in much else than keeping the status quo.d kill for free expression,or travel to conferences around the world and talk about the importance of reduction of CO2? Why are they spending 1 percent of GDP every year on developing countries when they earn ten times (?) through the deeply unfear international ip-regulation?

Some times I have problems to see the principal differences between the "well-functional social democracies" and corrupt regimes in the developing world. Both don't care about climate change, and both have their victims. The Norwegians build more and bigger palaces than dictators in the third world and give a damn how and where the money come from. Both give a damn about the future for anyone else than themselves.

Am I wrong?

http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/2009/09/11/funds-for-us-state-dept-global-ip-enforcement-training/

Wednesday, September 02, 2009

Open Hardware

When Pixel Qi and Backblaze and a few other start up the open hardware race I think we will see some interesting disruptive forces.

"What if I told you that you could build a petabyte-sized cluster for around $120,000?

Now compare that to a couple of million dollars via a storage company like EMC Corp. or a server maker such as Sun Microsystems."

http://gigaom.com/2009/09/01/open-source-hardware/

They actually sell very cheap back-up too: "Hassle free back up for $5/Month Unlimited
$5 per month per computer (or get two months free by purchasing a year for $50!)"

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Immigrants economic value for Norway

I did'nt know that we can thank Farouk al-Kasim, a young Iraqi geologist in may 1968 for the oil exploration in Norway.

But al-Kasim’s most immediate problem on arriving in Oslo that morning was how to fill the day: his train to Solfrid’s home town did not depart until 6.30pm. “I thought what I am going to do in these hours?” he says. “So I decided to go to the Ministry of Industry and ask them if they knew of any oil companies coming to Norway.


“Farouk is perhaps the greatest value creator Norway has had,” says Olsen.


http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/99680a04-92a0-11de-b63b-00144feabdc0.html