August 2005 - LIS-Forum - ncsi.iisc.ernet.in

Re: [LIS-Forum] For Conversion Rates
by vijaya kumara 23 Aug '05

23 Aug '05

Hi Sridhar, You can use the following URL/ web pages to convert one currency to another Currency calculator: http://www.x-rates.com/calculator.html Ten year currency converter: http://www.bankofcanada.ca/en/rates/exchform.html Currency converter: http://www.x-rates.com/ The Universal Currency converter: http://www.xe.com/ucc/ 164 Currency Converter : http://www.oanda.com/convert/classic Regards Dr. Vijayakumar M \ \ | / / \ \ ~ ~ / / | @ @ | ---------------oooo------ (_)-------------oooo------------------ Vijayakumar M, HOD - Library, MVJ College of Engineering (an ISO Certified Institution) Channasandra, Bangalore - 560 067, Karnataka, India Tel:+91-80-28452324 Ext. 234 library(a)mvjeducation.com or coolvg(a)gmail.com --------------------------------- Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page Hi Sridhar, You can use the following URL/ web pages to convert one currency to another Currency calculator: http://www.x-rates.com/calculator.html http://www.x-rates.com/calculator.html Ten year currency converter: http://www.bankofcanada.ca/en/rates/exchform.html http://www.bankofcanada.ca/en/rates/exchform.html Currency converter: http://www.x-rates.com/ http://www.x-rates.com/ The Universal Currency converter: http://www.xe.com/ucc/ http://www.xe.com/ucc/ 164 Currency Converter : http://www.oanda.com/convert/classic http://www.oanda.com/convert/classic Regards Dr. Vijayakumar M \ \ | / / \ \ ~ ~ / / | @ @ | ---------------oooo------ (_)-------------oooo------------------ Vijayakumar M, HOD - Library, MVJ College of Engineering (an ISO Certified Institution) Channasandra, Bangalore - 560 067, Karnataka, India Tel:+91-80-28452324 Ext. 234 mailto:library@mvjeducation.com library(a)mvjeducation.com or mailto:coolvg@gmail.com coolvg(a)gmail.com http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=34442/*http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page

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Information about Free library software
by meh jab 23 Aug '05

23 Aug '05

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Can anybody provide information or Websites related to free Library Software. Thanks in advance. Mehjabeen Khan (Librarian) Aishabai college of education Mumbai --------------------------------- Check out Yahoo! India Rakhi Special for Rakhi shopping, contests and lots more. http://in.promos.yahoo.com/rakhi/index.html Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Can anybody provide information or Websites related to free Library Software. Thanks in advance. Mehjabeen Khan (Librarian) Aishabai college of education Mumbai Check out Yahoo! India Rakhi Special for Rakhi shopping, contests and lots more. http://in.promos.yahoo.com/rakhi/index.html

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IFLA/OCLC Early Career Development Fellows for 2006 - Announced
by Rajesh Chandrakar 23 Aug '05

23 Aug '05

I am affraid, no one from India. It seems that European and American Communities, not taking more from India. However, India list under Developing Countries. I have observations. Lets have a look: Compare with the selection of the IFLA Travel Grants, where only one from India but more than one from other countries. You can also look at the ASIST International Paper Contest, where so far no one held first place where the money involves. But, I appreaciate that more than two papers from India are being selected for best paper every year. Fullbright for Indian professionals in Library and Information Science has closed now. For Commonwealth Fellowship compare to other countries, India has got less number of fellowships. What do you want to say about this? 2006 class of Fellows named at IFLA annual conference OCLC, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) and the American Theological Library Association named the IFLA/OCLC Early Career Development Fellows for 2006 in Oslo, Norway during the World Library and Information Congress: 71st IFLA General Conference and Council. They are: a.. Ms. Maria Cherrie, Librarian, Trinidad & Tobago National Library and Information System Authority, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad & Tobago b.. Mrs. Janete Estevão, Head Librarian, O Boticário Franchising S/A, São José dos Pinhais, Paraná, Brazil c.. Mr. Festus Ngetich, College Librarian, Kenya Highlands Bible College, Kericho, Kenya d.. Mr. Roman Purici, Director, Information Resource Center, U.S. Embassy, Chisinau, Moldova e.. Mr. Salmubi, Head of Library, The State Polytechnic of Ujung Pandang, Makassar, Indonesia View news release ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rajesh Chandrakar, Commonwealth Professional Fellow Scientific & Technical Officer INFLIBNET (INFormation and LIBrary NETwork) Centre An IUC of University Grants Commission Near Gujarat University Guest House, PB No. 4116, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad - 380 009, India Tel. +91-(0)79-26305971/ 8528/ 4695(O), 26873805(R) Mobile: +91-9898087422 Fax: +91-(0)79-26300990, 263007816 E-mail: rajesh(a)inflibnet.ac.in; rchandrakar(a)gmail.com Website: http://www.inflibnet.ac.in ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am affraid, no one from India. It seems that European and American Communities, not taking more from India. However, India list under Developing Countries. I have observations. Lets have a look: Compare with the selection of the IFLA Travel Grants, where only one from India but more than one from other countries. You can also look at the ASIST International Paper Contest, where so far no one held first place where the money involves. But, I appreaciate that more than two papers from India are being selected for best paper every year. Fullbright for Indian professionals in Library and Information Science has closed now. For Commonwealth Fellowship compare to other countries, India has got less number of fellowships. What do you want to say about this? 2006 class of Fellows named at IFLA annual conference http://www.ifla.org/ http://www5.oclc.org/downloads/design/abstracts/08222005/ifla.jpg http://www.atla.com/atlahome.html http://www5.oclc.org/downloads/design/abstracts/08222005/atla.jpg OCLC, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) and the American Theological Library Association named the IFLA/OCLC Early Career Development Fellows for 2006 in Oslo, Norway during the World Library and Information Congress: 71st IFLA General Conference and Council. They are: Ms. Maria Cherrie, Librarian, Trinidad & Tobago National Library and Information System Authority, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad & Tobago Mrs. Janete Estevão, Head Librarian, O Boticário Franchising S/A, São José dos Pinhais, Paraná, Brazil Mr. Festus Ngetich, College Librarian, Kenya Highlands Bible College, Kericho, Kenya Mr. Roman Purici, Director, Information Resource Center, U.S. Embassy, Chisinau, Moldova Mr. Salmubi, Head of Library, The State Polytechnic of Ujung Pandang, Makassar, Indonesia http://www.oclc.org/news/releases/200518.htm View news release ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rajesh Chandrakar, Commonwealth Professional Fellow Scientific & Technical Officer INFLIBNET (INFormation and LIBrary NETwork) Centre An IUC of University Grants Commission Near Gujarat University Guest House, PB No. 4116, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad - 380 009, India Tel. +91-(0)79-26305971/ 8528/ 4695(O), 26873805(R) Mobile: +91-9898087422 Fax: +91-(0)79-26300990, 263007816 E-mail: mailto:rajesh@inflibnet.ac.in rajesh(a)inflibnet.ac.in ; mailto:rchandrakar@gmail.com rchandrakar(a)gmail.com Website: http://www.inflibnet.ac.in http://www.inflibnet.ac.in -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Award for Public Libraries Outside the United States (fwd)
by Shyam Prasad pujar 23 Aug '05

23 Aug '05

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 22 Aug 2005 09:05:55 -0400 From: Barbara Kountouzi <varvarak(a)mail.med.upenn.edu> To: ifla-l(a)infoserv.inist.fr Subject: [IFLA-L] award for Public Libraries Outside the United States Public Libraries Outside the United States Invited to Apply for Gates Foundation Access to Learning Award Deadline: February 28, 2006 The Council on Library and Information Resources ( http://www.clir.org/ ) welcomes applications for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation ( http://www.gatesfoundation.org/ ) Access to Learning Award for 2006. Each year, the program presents an award of up to $1 million to a public library or similar organization outside the United States that has an innovative program offering the public free access to information technology. Preference will be given to institutions that the Gates Foundation has not funded in the past. U.S. libraries are not eligible to apply. A library offers free public access if it allows all members of the public, including children and young adults, to use its facilities free of charge (without membership or Internet fees). Organizations should show how they make information technology available to the public free of charge and what kinds of technology training they offer to the public and staff. Preference will be given to organizations that reach out to underserved populations, such as poor or disabled patrons, or those from minority groups. A library's programs are considered innovative if they provide access to information technology and services that were previously unavailable to the community. The programs could be relatively new, small ones or long-term, larger initiatives. Program guidelines, an application form, and a list of previous recipients are available at the CLIR Web site. RFP Link: http://fconline.fdncenter.org/pnd/3902/clir For additional RFPs in Science/Technology, visit, http://fdncenter.org/pnd/rfp/cat_science.jhtml

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New eGroup for Medical Librarians
by Sukhdev Singh 23 Aug '05

23 Aug '05

Dear Friends, Here is a new eGroup for Medical Librarians. http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/medlib/ "Place for Medical Librarians and Information Scientist to discuss professional issues. However, it will avoid carrying purely Interlibrary Loan Requests" To Subscribe one may either visit the following link: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/medlib/ or send an email to medlib-subscribe(a)yahoogroups.com --Sukhdev Singh. NIC, http://openmed.nic.in

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1GB File Transfer...!
by Thapar, Amit 22 Aug '05

22 Aug '05

Dear All, it seems to be useful..we can send what ever files we want through this.. you find a file too big to send by email try YouSendIt, a free service that lets you send a file up to 1GB to another PC or person. Just type in the recipient's email id and upload the file. The recipient is then notified by email and has upto 7 days to download the file. No passwords, no software to install, no accounts to create, and normal/secure transfers. This free service can even provide Data Security Encrypted HTTPS session (SSL/TLS) to make sure you data is secure. This useful service is provided free at http://s2.yousendit.com/ Regards, Amit Thapar Library & Information Centre National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education & Research (NIPER) Sector-67, Phase-10 S.A.S.Nagar-160062, Punjab, INDIA Phone: 0172-2214682-87 Ext. 2073 Cell: 09417419457 e-mail: amitt(a)niper.ac.in URL: http://www.niper.ac.in/ "All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism." "Rain drop falling from the sky has nothing in mind except to hit the earth. No matter how tough the drop is, it still reaches its destiny! Be positive always, best of luck... " Dear All , it seems to be useful..we can send what ever files we want through this.. you find a file too big to send by email try YouSendIt, a free service that lets you send a file up to 1GB to another PC or person. Just type in the recipient's email id and upload the file. The recipient is then notified by email and has upto 7 days to download the file. No passwords, no software to install, no accounts to create, and normal/secure transfers. This free service can even provide Data Security Encrypted HTTPS session (SSL/TLS) to make sure you data is secure. This useful service is provided free at http://s2.yousendit.com/ http://s2.yousendit.com/ Regards, mailto:amitt@niper.ac.inURL: http://www.niper.ac.in/ Amit Thapar Library & Information Centre National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education & Research (NIPER) Sector-67, Phase-10 S.A.S.Nagar-160062, Punjab, INDIA Phone: 0172-2214682-87 Ext. 2073 Cell: 09417419457 e-mail: amitt(a)niper.ac.in URL: http://www.niper.ac.in/ "All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism." "Rain drop falling from the sky has nothing in mind except to hit the earth. No matter how tough the drop is, it still reaches its destiny! Be positive always, best of luck... "

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Open Access to Maps and Public Geo-Data
by Shekhar Krishnan 22 Aug '05

22 Aug '05

Dear All: :: apologies for cross-posting :: In the wake of the massive floods since 26 July in Mumbai and Maharashtra, a crisis of civic infrastructure and public health has emerged in the city and state, in which the right of citizens to information about their environments is of crucial public importance. Very few citizens of India enjoy open access to maps, satellite imagery, and other geographic information. Collected and brokered by national mapping and space imaging agencies, this geo-data is an essential for understanding civic issues such as planning, housing, infrastructure. Open access to this information can provide a platform for public action, reducing costs and promoting innovation by facilitating citizens' engagement with their local environments and authorities. The Open Knowledge Foundation is hosting a forum at http://okfn.org/ geo/manifesto.php about Open Access to State-Collected Geo-Spatial Data. * All government-collected maps, geographic information and spatial data are public property, and should be open; that is, available for free distribution and re-use under a share-alike license. * Online mapping projects creating freely re-usable geo-data should offer a compatible open license. * Common, standard formats for describing and exchanging geo-data should be adopted internationally. * Ultimately, all state-collected information should be freely available in the public domain, in a structured machine-readable format and in an open standard. Please read the manifesto and, if you agree with the statements it contains, sign up to support it at http://okfn.org/geo/ manifesto.php#signup For more information on the changing policies on maps and geo-data in India, see the 19 May 2005 release of the Press Information Bureau of the Government of India on http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp? relid=9388 _____ CRIT (Collective Research Initiatives Trust) B-43, Shravasti Goregaon-Malad Link Road Malad (West), Mumbai 400064 India http://www.crit.org.in http://www.freemap.in http://www.mappinghacks.com

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Urine-Powered Micro Battery
by Prof. N. Laxman Rao. 22 Aug '05

22 Aug '05

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/mech-tech/dn7850 Pee-powered battery smaller than a credit card 18:10 15 August 2005 NewScientist.com news service Shaoni Bhattacharya The first urine-powered paper battery has been created by physicists in Singapore. The credit-card sized unit could be a useful power source for cheap healthcare test kits for diseases like diabetes, and could even be used in emergency situations to power a cellphone, they say. Testing urine can reveal the identity of illnesses, and the new paper battery could allow the sample being tested to also power the diagnostic device. We are striving to develop cheap, disposable credit-card sized biochips for disease detection, says Ki Bang Lee, at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology in Singapore. Our battery can be easily integrated into such devices, supplying electricity on contact with biofluids such as urine or blood. Current biochips need an external reader such as a laser scanner or an external source of power, such as conventional batteries, to perform diagnostic tests. Lees technology houses both the sensors and the battery on one plastic chip. One more drop This design circumvents many of the problems encountered by researchers attempting to shrink down more conventional battery systems for use with bioMEMS devices utilising bio-microelectromechanical systems. Many researchers have tried to design power sources or batteries for systems or bioMEMS devices. However, they have done this by reducing the size of conventional, bulky power systems or batteries, explains Lee. They faced a lot of problems, including difficulties in getting sufficient electrical energy, he adds. The urine-powered battery was able to generate a voltage of about 1.5 volts with a corresponding power of 1.5 micro-watts using just 0.2 millilitres of urine, says Lee. And if a second droplet of urine was added 15 hours after the battery was first activated, the replenished urine could generate still more electricity. The battery is currently suited for use with disposable devices it is not yet ready to power laptops or iPods. "But if, for example, we place a small cellular phone or transmitter on a plastic card, the chip will work as a disposable biofluid-activated means of communication in an emergency, Lee told New Scientist. In this case, the size will be less than that of a credit card. Wrapped sandwich The battery is made of a layer of filter paper steeped in copper chloride, sandwiched between strips of magnesium and copper. This sandwich is then laminated in plastic to hold the whole package together. The resulting battery is just 1 millimetre thick and 60 by 30 mm across slightly smaller than a credit card. To activate the battery, a drop of urine is added and soaks through the sandwiched filter paper. The chemicals dissolve and react to produce electricity. The magnesium layer acts as the anode, losing its electrons. And the copper chloride acts as the cathode, mopping up the electrons. But Lee adds that the voltage, current and capacity of the battery could be improved by different designs or by switching the electrode or electrolyte materials used. He believes the system could be used in home-based health test kits. The long-term goal is for people to be able to buy disposable biochips for a disease test from any pharmacy, he says. Journal reference: Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering (DOI: 10.1088/0960-1317/15/9/S06) Prof.N.LAXMAN RAO, Dept.of Library & Information Science, Osmania University, HYDERABAD- 500 007 (INDIA) President, Indian Association of Teachers in Library and Information Science (IATLIS). Ph:+91-40-27171565 (res): +91-40- 27682290 (off) 9246547599 (Mobile) e:mail-- naglaxman(a)yahoo.com OR naglaxman(a)indiatimes.com --------------------------------- To help you stay safe and secure online, we've developed the all new Yahoo! Security Centre. http://www.newscientist.com/channel/mech-tech/dn7850 http://www.newscientist.com/channel/mech-tech/dn7850 Pee-powered battery smaller than a credit card 18:10 15 August 2005 NewScientist.com news service Shaoni Bhattacharya The first urine-powered paper battery has been created by physicists in Singapore. The credit-card sized unit could be a useful power source for cheap healthcare test kits for diseases like diabetes, and could even be used in emergency situations to power a cellphone, they say. Testing urine can reveal the identity of illnesses, and the new paper battery could allow the sample being tested to also power the diagnostic device. We are striving to develop cheap, disposable credit-card sized biochips for disease detection, says Ki Bang Lee, at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology in Singapore. Our battery can be easily integrated into such devices, supplying electricity on contact with biofluids such as urine or blood. Current biochips need an external reader such as a laser scanner or an external source of power, such as conventional batteries, to perform diagnostic tests. Lees technology houses both the sensors and the battery on one plastic chip. One more drop This design circumvents many of the problems encountered by researchers attempting to shrink down more conventional battery systems for use with bioMEMS devices utilising bio-microelectromechanical systems. Many researchers have tried to design power sources or batteries for systems or bioMEMS devices. However, they have done this by reducing the size of conventional, bulky power systems or batteries, explains Lee. They faced a lot of problems, including difficulties in getting sufficient electrical energy, he adds. The urine-powered battery was able to generate a voltage of about 1.5 volts with a corresponding power of 1.5 micro-watts using just 0.2 millilitres of urine, says Lee. And if a second droplet of urine was added 15 hours after the battery was first activated, the replenished urine could generate still more electricity. The battery is currently suited for use with disposable devices it is not yet ready to power laptops or iPods. "But if, for example, we place a small cellular phone or transmitter on a plastic card, the chip will work as a disposable biofluid-activated means of communication in an emergency, Lee told New Scientist . In this case, the size will be less than that of a credit card. Wrapped sandwich The battery is made of a layer of filter paper steeped in copper chloride, sandwiched between strips of magnesium and copper. This sandwich is then laminated in plastic to hold the whole package together. The resulting battery is just 1 millimetre thick and 60 by 30 mm across slightly smaller than a credit card. To activate the battery, a drop of urine is added and soaks through the sandwiched filter paper. The chemicals dissolve and react to produce electricity. The magnesium layer acts as the anode, losing its electrons. And the copper chloride acts as the cathode, mopping up the electrons. But Lee adds that the voltage, current and capacity of the battery could be improved by different designs or by switching the electrode or electrolyte materials used. He believes the system could be used in home-based health test kits. The long-term goal is for people to be able to buy disposable biochips for a disease test from any pharmacy, he says. Journal reference: Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering (DOI: 10.1088/0960-1317/15/9/S06) Prof.N.LAXMAN RAO, Dept.of Library & Information Science, Osmania University, HYDERABAD- 500 007 (INDIA) President, Indian Association of Teachers in Library and Information Science (IATLIS). Ph:+91-40-27171565 (res): +91-40- 27682290 (off) 9246547599 (Mobile) e:mail-- naglaxman(a)yahoo.com OR naglaxman(a)indiatimes.com To help you stay safe and secure online, we've developed the all new http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail/uk/taglines/default/security_centre/*http://uk.… Yahoo! Security Centre .

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Alexandria library gets Indian touch
by Prof. N. Laxman Rao. 22 Aug '05

22 Aug '05

hi we are proud to know about Dr Swaminathan's nomination to Alexandria library Alexandria library gets Indian touch Chennai, Aug. 21: Egypt has enlisted the services of a renowned Indian scientist to help re-create the great ancient library of Alexandria and to guide its evolution as a world-class referral and res-earch institution on par with the Library of Congress in Washington. Dr M.S. Swaminathan, the father of the Indian Green Revolution, is the only Asian to become a member of the elite board of trustees putting together the Bibliotheca Alexandria, inaugurated in October 2002 at the very spot where Ptolemy I (Soter) had built the ancient library of Alexandria in 288 BC. The $220-million project envisaged putting up a 10-storey concrete cylinder, a third part of which is below the sea level, inclined at an angle of eight degrees a structural masterpiece and an awesome knowledge pool much like its predecessor that was one of the greatest wonders of ancient world. When Suzanne Mubarak, wife of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who is the driving force behind the Bibliotheca Alexandria project, asked me to be part of its board, I readily agreed as it was a very challenging task and I felt I could contribute to make this huge institution user-friendly. I had suggested a braille section for the blind and it was done, Dr Swaminathan told this newspaper. http://www.deccan.com/Nation/NationalNews.asp#Alexandria%20library%20gets%2… Prof.N.LAXMAN RAO, Dept.of Library & Information Science, Osmania University, HYDERABAD- 500 007 (INDIA) President, Indian Association of Teachers in Library and Information Science (IATLIS). Ph:+91-40-27171565 (res): +91-40- 27682290 (off) 9246547599 (Mobile) e:mail-- naglaxman(a)yahoo.com OR naglaxman(a)indiatimes.com --------------------------------- How much free photo storage do you get? Store your holiday snaps for FREE with Yahoo! Photos. Get Yahoo! Photos hi we are proud to know about Dr Swaminathan's nomination to Alexandria library [A] Alexandria library gets Indian touch Chennai, Aug. 21: Egypt has enlisted the services of a renowned Indian scientist to help re-create the great ancient library of Alexandria and to guide its evolution as a world-class referral and res-earch institution on par with the Library of Congress in Washington. Dr M.S. Swaminathan, the father of the Indian Green Revolution, is the only Asian to become a member of the elite board of trustees putting together the Bibliotheca Alexandria, inaugurated in October 2002 at the very spot where Ptolemy I (Soter) had built the ancient library of Alexandria in 288 BC. The $220-million project envisaged putting up a 10-storey concrete cylinder, a third part of which is below the sea level, inclined at an angle of eight degrees a structural masterpiece and an awesome knowledge pool much like its predecessor that was one of the greatest wonders of ancient world. When Suzanne Mubarak, wife of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who is the driving force behind the Bibliotheca Alexandria project, asked me to be part of its board, I readily agreed as it was a very challenging task and I felt I could contribute to make this huge institution user-friendly. I had suggested a braille section for the blind and it was done, Dr Swaminathan told this newspaper. http://www.deccan.com/Nation/NationalNews.asp#Alexandria%20library%20gets%2… http://www.deccan.com/Nation/NationalNews.asp#Alexandria%20library%20gets%2… Prof.N.LAXMAN RAO, Dept.of Library & Information Science, Osmania University, HYDERABAD- 500 007 (INDIA) President, Indian Association of Teachers in Library and Information Science (IATLIS). Ph:+91-40-27171565 (res): +91-40- 27682290 (off) 9246547599 (Mobile) e:mail-- naglaxman(a)yahoo.com OR naglaxman(a)indiatimes.com How much free photo storage do you get? Store your holiday snaps for FREE with Yahoo! Photos. http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail/uk/taglines/default/photos/*http://uk.photos.ya… Get Yahoo! Photos

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[Fwd: [bytesforall_readers] Free to use and free to edit, Wikipedia is growing fast...]
by Subbiah Arunachalam 21 Aug '05

21 Aug '05

Friends: I received it in the mail today. Best wishes. Arun ---- Free to use and free to edit, Wikipedia is growing fast. Now its founder has announced a series of new projects, writes Sean Dodson Thursday August 11, 2005 The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,1546162,00.html In less than five years, what started out as a small side project with a budget of a few thousand pounds has grown into one of the web's greatest success stories. Wikipedia, the open, editable encyclopedia, and its sister projects have gone from absolutely nothing to 22m entries in less than half a decade. In doing so, Wikipedia - the centrepiece of the Wikimedia empire - has become the most detailed encyclopedia in history. And its breathtaking pace has yet to show any sign of slowing. As an online knowledge database, Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org) has one significant advantage over its expert, professional predecessors: anyone is free to edit it. Equally, anybody is free to delete entries or add new ones. The system works by using editable web pages known as wikis (hence the name), which let ordinary users make changes as they see fit. And, in handing this power to the people, Wikipedia has become more than just a hobby - for some it is almost a religion. Last Friday, the movement held its first ever international conference, Wikimania, in a youth hostel in Frankfurt, with 400 delegates who'd flown in from all over the world. The Wikimedia Foundation is to knowledge what the Open University is to academia, except it operates on an annual budget of $800,000 (Â£450,000) and - perhaps most surprisingly - with a staff of just one person. It is written and administered by a legion of volunteers who work for free. Tens of thousands of devotees, self-confessed wikimaniacs, squirrel away at the world's information, trying to cover "the sum of all human knowledge" in every language spoken by humans - and a few, such as Sanskrit and Old English, that are long dead. As well as the encyclopedia, the foundation also offers a dictionary, a taxonomy of the species and a nascent news service. All operate under the same ideals of openness and public cooperation without the need of financial incentive. At Wikimania, Jimmy Wales, the movement's founder, identified the next pieces of the jigsaw likely to fall into place. In his keynote address, Wales named a list of things "that should be free". While not quite commandments, they amount to 10 ideas about how the "Free Culture Movement", as he termed it, could extend the wiki ethic beyond the pages of its ever-growing encyclopedia. Among the projects under discussion are an online atlas charted by members of the public; a repository of classical music to be performed by student orchestras; a file format to rival the mighty MP3; an online curriculum stretching from kindergarten to university; and an archive of images of paintings by the old masters. In short, Wikipedia is to spread its wings over many more forms of culture. What's more, there are already 10,000 book "modules" being collaboratively written within the pages of Wikipedia. Soon, they will be published under the foundation's banner thanks to a deal with an "on demand" publisher. It could, says Wales, signal a whole new kind of book publishing. He also urged his hardcore following - the various volunteer "chapter heads" who administer the wiki projects and police the site for copyright violations and mindless vandalism - to go forth and multiply. This is important to Wales because while Wikipedia is becoming a wider movement theoretically open to anyone, only an elite of users actually bother. According to the movement's own statistics, there are 3,800 hardcore users making more than 100 edits a month, and another 18,000 who make at least five. Then there is a long tail of casual users who use Wikipedia as just another authoritative source - as they might have once used Britannica or Microsoft's Encarta, making the odd edit only if the urge takes them. As the movement gets bigger, its organisation becomes more difficult. Already there are Wikimedia "chapters" in Germany and France, who help organise fundraising and hand out administration tasks. A UK chapter (http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_UK) is also beginning to form, with a small group of wikipedians meeting in central London every couple of months. One of its regulars, Dave Gerard, a part-time volunteer editor and full-time computer system administrator, freely admits he is "addicted" to Wikimedia and spends several hours every day on work related to the site. Like most editors, his primary motivation is to do "some public good". "I've been filling my head with information for decades," he says. "This is a chance to get it all back out again." He is not alone. Ever since the library of Alexandria was built, the dream of amassing vast quantities of information has inspired the world. "What we're doing," says Wales, is building "a world in which every person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge." Just as astonishingly, he thinks it will take just a decade to achieve this ambition. According to Wales, there are more than 22m Wikimedia entries extending across 200 languages. The aim is to provide for "every language in the world spoken by at least one million people" by 2015. If this sounds like chaos, think again: it's more akin to the ideas that fired the imaginations of 19th century political radicals such as Matthew Arnold and Mikael Bakunin. It is anarchy representing a self-regulating cooperative of free thinkers acting voluntarily for a greater common good - and it works in practice, too. There is a rumour, started by a factual error in Time Magazine, that the Wikipedia entries for US presidential candidates George Bush and John Kerry were "frozen" during last year's election campaign, so fierce was invective-laden spam being slapped around by both sides. In fact, the page was closed "less than 2% of the time," according to Wales. Even in the heat of battle, Wikipedia can be relied upon as an impartial and trustworthy source. It should stay that way. Wikipedia will, says Wales, never carry a commercial advertisement, nor rely on government funding. The Wikimedia Foundation is paid for by contributions from charitable foundations and its reading public. Help comes from all quarters: Yahoo recently donated its old servers (banks of which reside in clusters in Paris, Amsterdam and Florida) and the Foundation holds bandwidth-buying fundraising drives. In February, wikimaniacs were so keen to stump up the cash that they overshot their target of $75,000 (Â£42,000) in just a few days. The organisation's entire budget is also online. In more ways than one, Wikimedia is an open book. Which is why it is easy to discover that there are 600,000 articles in the English language volume alone - not counting another 70,000 entries on its sister Wiktionary. More than 1,250 new articles - over 500 an hour - are added every day, and entries are becoming ever more detailed. The average number of edits - the inevitable revisions and corrections - in the English encyclopedia is now more than 10, with the entries increasing in quality as the project matures. That it achieves all this on it's small annual budget is astounding. The fact that it only employs one person is doubly so. Wales started Wikipedia in January 2001, as an offshoot to a failed commercial encyclopedia, Nupedia. He made his first fortune from his days treading the Chicago trading floors in futures and options, and made another with a dotcom that peddled content - including soft porn -in the late 90s. He now describes himself as "independently wealthy". Given that background, it's unsurprising that very little content gets censored. And the site takes a provocative stance on the copyright of old paintings, allowing images to be posted freely on the site. "I've told the National Portrait Gallery I'll see them in court," says Wales. It has so far avoided any serious trouble, though Wikipedia has twice been blocked from China - "We don't know if this was just a mistake" - and once from Saudi Arabia, but only for a few hours in each instance. In February 2002, most participants of the Spanish Wikipedia broke away to establish the rival Enciclopedia Libre, but there is now talk of welcoming them back. It could be said that the mark of a good technology is when Microsoft starts "borrowing" your ideas. Microsoft's Encarta announced in April that it was adopting wiki-style open editing for its for-profit encyclopedia. Others, such as the Free Encyclopedia, have copied the ideas pretty much wholesale. So can the other encyclopedias hope to match Wikipedia's pace? Maybe not, because Wikipedia has become something else. "Books like the Encyclopedia Britannica are nothing else than simple knowledge compendiums without any political soul," says Jean-Baptiste Soufron, a legal adviser to the Wikimedia Foundation. "I am convinced that Wikipedia is the only real encyclopedia of our days because it's the only one that relies on a real political goal: to pursue freedom over content and information." Links Wiktionary www.wiktionary.org Jimmy's blog http://blog.jimmywales.com Wiki Statistics http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Statistics_overview [Thanks to Eddie Fernandes <eddie at fernandes.u-net.com> for sending this in. -FN]

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