E-Lert # 353 / Cyberavis no. 353
Friday November 27, 2009 / le
vendredi 27 novembre 2009
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NEWS / NOUVELLES
New England university presidents back bill for
public access
November 23, 2009
The Presidents of six public universities in New England issued a letter
of support for the Federal Research Public Access Act (S.1373). These six
land-grant universities enroll, together, over 100,000 students, confer
an estimated 17% of the bachelor’s and 20% of the doctoral degrees
in New England, and invest more than $700 million annually on research with
the support of federal grants.*
http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/issues/access/access_supporters/09-1123.shtml
Waterloo region receives big financial boost to
lay groundwork for digital media corridor
RE$EARCH MONEY, Volume 23, Number 18, November 23, 2009
The Waterloo region is laying the groundwork to position itself as the centre of Canada's diverse digital media mobile sector with the establishment of The Communitech Hub: Digital Media and Mobile Accelerator. With majority backing by a roster of area high-tech companies, the $107-million initiative is designed to accelerate the growth of existing businesses and create new firms in a global market projected to be worth $2.2 trillion globally by 2012. Three years in the making, the Communitech Hub is built around the region's strong capacity for digital media hardware and software development with substantial private sector and provincial funding contributing to its budget of $107 million over five years.
Here We Go Again! The Revised Google Book Settlement
Barbara Quint
Information Today, Inc., November 23, 2009
Closer examination of the revised settlement reveals that the changes from
the original settlement are not as major as some coverage has indicated.
The changes are meant more to clarify
and/or render explicit policies, procedures, product features, and rights
holder options already in place. If the settlement is finally settled, a
world of content could become available to web users beyond what Google
Book Search already provides. However, the amended settlement agreement
would change the content significantly.*
http://newsbreaks.infotoday.com/NewsBreaks/Here-We-Go-Again-The-emRevisedem-Google-Book-Settlement-58081.asp
Libraries Innovate to Counter Cuts: Tough times are taking a toll
but spurring innovations in handling collections
Jennifer Howard
The Chronicle of Higher Education, November 22, 2009
The toxic economy has eaten away at staffing levels and at collections-and-acquisitions
budgets of many university libraries. It has deflated endowments and disrupted
plans to build new facilities and upgrade equipment. Librarians, in response,
are doing more than tightening their belts; some see the crisis as a chance
to change the way they do business. It has spurred efforts to devise ambitious
solutions to big problems, such as collaborative storage networks for libraries
to share the costs of housing valuable but burdensome print collections.
The money pinch has also heightened the appeal of open-access research material.*
http://chronicle.com/article/Libraries-Explore-Big-Ideas-to/49227/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Google books hearing set for February 18
Chris Lefkow
Agence France Presse, November 21, 2009
Judge Denny Chin set February 18 for a hearing on the revised settlement
between Google and US authors and publishers that would allow the Internet
giant to scan and sell millions of books online. Chin also granted preliminary
approval to the agreement in a move welcomed by Google but which opponents
said was procedural and had no bearing on whether he will give a green light
to the settlement in February. January 28 has been set as the date for groups
to lodge objections to the class action settlement with his Southern District
of New York court.*
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hB9GzVxtE6RuQXn8xBkF2B17lhOQ
Meet publishers' enemy No. 1: Cory Doctorow
John Barber
Globe and Mail, November 13, 2009
As a successful blogger, a writer who freely gives away his work and sells
it at the same time – and not least, a genuine expert in the suddenly
fraught world of international copyright – this Toronto-born phenom
is well versed in wrecking traditional publishing. For serious students
of the art, Doctorow is conducting an experiment in both giving away and
selling his latest work of self-published fiction, Makers , in every way
possible – and scrupulously documenting the financial results in a
series of columns
in Publishers Weekly .*
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/meet-publishers-enemy-no-1-cory-doctorow/article1362457/
ARTICLES
Innovating Canada for the Digital Age
Dr. Chad Gaffield
RE$EARCH MONEY, Volume 23, Number 18, November 23, 2009
Researchers and students across the social sciences and humanities are at the heart of research and innovation as digital content and the use of digital media become the focus of attention in the Digital Age. There is a new conviction that our capacity for innovation increasingly depends upon a constellation of digital technologies, digital content, and digital literacies. Tom Jenkins, executive chairman and chief strategy officer of Open Text Corp says that "the Internet economy has thus far belonged to the toolmakers who built the infrastructure that made the digital age possible. But the torch is being passed. The future now belongs, at least equally, to the tool users, the creative people, content providers, service deliverers, who have learned how to take the images, sounds, ideas, and concepts and share them digitally." This transformation is an important reason why research in — and graduates of — the social sciences and humanities are becoming increasingly important across the private, public and not-for-profit sectors.
Comparing Repository Types: Challenges and Barriers for Subject-Based
Repositories, Research Repositories, National Repository Systems and Institutional
Repositories in Serving Scholarly Communication
Chris Armbruster and Laurent Romary
Social Science Research Network, November 23, 2009
Armbruster and Romary distinguish four types of publication repository,
namely the subject-based repository, research repository, national repository
system and institutional repository. They note two important shifts in the
role of repositories. With regard to content, a well-defined and high quality
corpus is essential. This implies that repository services are likely to
be most successful when constructed with the user and reader uppermost in
mind. With regard to service, high value to specific scholarly communities
is essential. This implies that repositories are likely to be most useful
to scholars when they offer dedicated services supporting the production
of new knowledge.*
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1506905
What happened to Second Life?
Lauren Hansen
BBC News Magazine, November 20, 2009
Second Life had a Twitter level of hype. Those without a cartoon version
of themselves couldn't even plead ignorance due to blanket media coverage.
Second Life is a virtual world started by the US firm Linden Lab in 2003,
in which users design an avatar to live their "second life" online.
But just as quickly as it had flared, interest ebbed away, and businesses
diverted their resources back to real life.*
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8367957.stm
The Value of New Scientific Communication Models for Chemistry
CARL Lagoze
eCommons@Cornell, October, October 2009
Lagoze bases the discussion of this paper on an NSF sponsored workshop
that was held on October 23-24, 2008 in Washington D.C. He summarizes the
scholarly communication system in chemistry and describes efforts to enhance
scientific communication by introducing new web-based models. Such innovations
are still embryonic and the chemical community has not fully adopted them.
Lagoze proceeds to analyze the reasons for this by identifying specific
characteristics of the chemistry domain that relate to its research practices
and socio-economic organization, and he suggests how these may influence
communication practices, and produce resistance to changes of the current
system similar to those that have been successfully deployed in other sciences
and which have been proposed by pioneers within chemistry.*
http://ecommons.library.cornell.edu/handle/1813/14150?mode=full&submit_simple=Show+full+item+record
[Article published in Nature: http://www.nature.com/nchem/journal/v1/n9/full/nchem.448.html]
Formation professionnelle des bibliothécaires : Un
regard rétrospectif et prospectif
Daniel Renoult
Bulletin des Bibliothèques de France, tome 54, numéro 5
« Cet article raconte l'institution et analyse l'évolution
de la formation professionnelle des bibliothécaires. Issue de l'émergence,
à partir du XIXe siècle, d'un savoir professionnel autonome
qui se détache de l'érudition, elle se structure au XXe siècle,
quasi exclusivement assurée par des professionnels des bibliothèques
au sein d'institutions spécifiques. Vers la fin des années
1980, le processus d'intégration dans l'université coïncide
avec un questionnement sur l'identité professionnelle (entre unité
de la profession et diversification des métiers). Le nécessaire
renouvellement des méthodes qui en découle devra tenir compte
d'un renversement des rapports entre formation initiale et formation continue
et favoriser un échange permanent entre pratiques et recherche. »
http://bbf.enssib.fr/consulter/bbf-2009-05-0063-001
Bibliothèques et handicap à l'heure du numérique
Abdelwahed Allouche
Bulletin des Bibliothèques de France, tome 54, numéro 5
« L'accessibilité des bibliothèques aux personnes
handicapées, entendue au sens large, constitue une obligation légale
en même temps qu'une occasion d'élargir leurs publics. Les
usagers souffrant de déficiences sont mieux pris en compte à
travers des démarches volontaristes de mise en accessibilité
et des évolutions technologiques qui ne sont plus l'apanage des grands
établissements. Le succès de ces démarches repose avant
tout sur la professionnalisation des actions en direction des publics handicapés.
Les conclusions tirées de ces expériences nourrissent des
recommandations adressées aux professionnels des bibliothèques,
tour à tour médiateurs, formateurs et animateurs sensibilisés
à la réalité du handicap. »
http://bbf.enssib.fr/consulter/bbf-2009-05-0040-007
RESOURCES / RESSOURCES
open data commons
Open Data Commons provides legal solutions for open data. In March 2008
it launched the first ever open data license: the Public Domain Dedication
and License (PDDL). Open Data Commons is an Open
Knowledge Foundation project run by its Advisory
Council and is a not-for-profit effort working for the benefit of the
general open knowledge community.*
http://www.opendatacommons.org/
Access to online information and knowledge – advancing human
rights and democracy
Global Information Society Watch, 2009
This report highlights key issues affecting access to online information
and knowledge, including discussions on intellectual
property rights, knowledge rights, open standards and access to educational
materials and libraries. The report also offers an institutional overview
and a reflection on indicators that track access
to information and knowledge. 48 country reports analyze the status
of access to online information and knowledge in countries as diverse as
the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Mexico, Switzerland and Kazakhstan,
while regional overviews offer a bird’s eye perspective on trends
in North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East,
South Asia and Europe.*
http://www.apc.org/en/system/files/GISW2009Web_EN.pdf
Open science at web-scale: Optimizing participation and predictive
potential
Liz Lyon
UKOLN, DCC, and JISC, November 10, 2009
This report draws together and synthesizes evidence and opinion associated
with data-intensive open science from a wide range of sources. The potential
impact of data-intensive open science on research practice and research
outcomes, is both substantive and far-reaching with implications for funding
organizations, for research and information communities and for higher education
institutions.*
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/documents/opensciencerpt.aspx#downloads
Harnessing Openness to Improve Research, Teaching and Learning
in Higher Education
[U.S.] Committee for Economic Development, November 6, 2009
Colleges and universities must embrace the concept of increased openness
in using and sharing information to improve higher education. That is the
core recommendation of a new report from the Committee for Economic Development
(CED). The report was produced by CED’s Digital Connections Council
(DCC), a group of
information technology experts that advises CED’s business leaders
on cutting-edge technologies.*
http://www.ced.org/images/newsroom/2009/cedopennesseducationreportpr09.pdf
Executive summary: http://www.ced.org/images/library/reports/digital_economy/dcc_ed_sum09.pdf
Full report: http://www.ced.org/images/library/reports/digital_economy/dcc_opennessedu09.pdf
EVENTS / ÉVÉNEMENTS
Call for Proposals – 5th Canadian Learning Commons ConferenceA Journey in Progress: Been there! Done that! What’s next!
Kingston, Ontario, June 16-18, 2010
The Queen’s
Learning Commons invites program proposals for the 5th Canadian
Learning Commons Conference that will be held at Queen’s
University. In 2003, Scott Bennett of Yale University suggested that one
of the core
activities of a learning commons is to support “collaborative
learning by which students turn information into knowledge and sometimes
into wisdom.” Seven years later, many changes have taken place: new
methods of communicating; new models of discovery and research; new standards
of accountability for colleges and universities including skills-based outcomes;
changes in teaching methodologies such as inquiry-based learning; changes
in the way course material is delivered; changes in the way students learn
and think; and financial constraints. The conference will present an opportunity
to consider the impact of these factors on the learning commons and what
they mean for future strategic positioning. Is it still the research library’s
role to support? What does it take to help the current generation
of students turn information into knowledge? How will we get there? Can
librarians take the lead? The organizing committee welcomes submissions
that take either a broad or a specific approach to these questions. Poster
or presentation proposals should be sent to CLCC5@queensu.ca
by Wednesday December 9, 2009, include a title, an abstract (no more than
250 words for presentations and 100 words for posters), and biographical
information of presenter(s),
http://www.queensu.ca/qlc/Conference.html
*Text adapted from source / Texte adapté de la source
