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Public access to the Internet (fwd)
by Mailing List Manager 21 Feb '06

21 Feb '06

Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 17:39:17 +0530 From: Subbiah Arunachalam <arun(a)mssrf.res.in> Dear Friends: A few months ago I wrote this article on an invitation from the editors of = a book called "Word matters". The book was released at Tunis during WSIS. I thought you might be interested in this article. Your comments are welcome. Arun = [Subbiah Arunachalam] Public Access to the Internet=0D Subbiah Arunachalam=0D The advent of the Internet brought with it hitherto unheard of possibilitie= s for human creativity, information access, and global communication. When = did these possibilities actually translate into widespread public access to= the Internet? It is difficult to specify a date, but one can identify a fe= w key developments and the key actors behind those developments. =0D Long before the advent of the Internet, the counterculture movement - Vietn= am, alternative technologies, etc. - gave birth to the first community netw= ork, when the Community Memory system was developed in the early 1960s in S= an Francisco by a group of hackers. Then in 1986 the Cleveland Free-Net in = Ohio started a new generation of community networks. Free-Net soon drew tho= usands of new users, and new systems were established in dozens of cities, = mostly in Midwest USA. These free public-access computer networks enabled p= eople not only to exchange and access information but also empowered them. = =0D 1971 saw two key developments: Raymond Tomlinson's invention of a program f= or email[1] for ARPANET, the network of scientists working on Defense relat= ed research, permanently changed the way people viewed computers and human = communication[2], and Michael Hart's Gutenberg Project that made copyright-= free books electronically available[3] led to the creation of huge volumes = of electronic content for sharing world wide. Two more developments took pl= ace in 1973: Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn presented basic Internet ideas bas= ed on ideas for Transmission Control Protocol (TCP, later to be called TCP/= IP) at a meeting at the University of Sussex[4], and ARPANET had its first = intercontinental connection - with the University College of London, Englan= d. The early 1980s saw many institutions not doing defense research accessi= ng the network. =0D By 1985, Internet was already well established as a technology supporting a= broad community of researchers and developers, and was beginning to attrac= t other communities. Electronic mail was being used broadly across several = communities, often with different systems. =0D The first commercial Internet services were offered by PSI and AlterNet in = early 1990. In August 1991, CERN released the World Wide Web, a major miles= tone in the history of the public access to the Internet. On 15 September 1= 993, the Clinton administration formally launched the National Information = Infrastructure initiative in the USA, thanks to the initiatives taken by Vi= ce President Al Gore. The Mosaic web browser version 1.0 was also released = in 1993, and by 1996 the word "Internet" was common public currency, but it= referred almost entirely to the World Wide Web. =0D Although the new development was compared to the highways which in an earli= er generation has transformed transportation, it soon became clear that the= Internet was far more than the 'information superhighway' and capable of p= roviding access to higher levels of intelligently ordered and functionally = enriched distributed information. That is where the Internet differs consid= erably from the traditional library, the place where people went to seek in= formation. =0D The growing popularity of computerized communication prompted discussion re= garding many fundamental aspects of social interaction, including questions= of privacy, community, cultural exchange, ownership of knowledge, and gove= rnmental control of information, all of which are related to public access.= =0D What is public access? =0D Public access includes access to the technology (the computer, connectivity= , bandwidth, etc.) and access to all the content stored in the world's grea= test artificial network, as Newsweek calls the Internet. Of the two, the se= cond is hierarchically above the first, as the technology is subordinate to= the content (knowledge) it can bring in. This is similar to bringing in wa= ter to a village through a pipeline, where clearly the water is more import= ant than the pipes. Both the technology access and the content access can e= ither be free or fee based. The content could be textual, audio, video or m= ultimedia. The connectivity can be through a variety of technologies rangin= g from dial-up using a landline telephone and modem to wi-fi and handheld d= evices (smartphones, game console, etc.). =0D The public can use Internet access to send and receive emails, take part in= listservs and discussion groups, and for searching information. Scientists= use it for collaborative research as well, and the common people use it fo= r talking to others either through chatting or through voice-over-IP. More = recent uses of Internet access include data exchange via P2P technologies, = music sharing, blogging, vlogging, citizen journalism, getting RSS feeds of= news from different sources, and podcasting. =0D Apart from their own homes and offices, the public can access the Internet = from public libraries and cybercafes, and to some extent from educational i= nstitutions and the ever-expanding telecentres as well as hotel lobbies and= airport lounges equipped for wi-fi access. =0D The vast quantities of information that can be accessed by anyone, anywhere= , any time at no cost can be referred to as the information commons. Public= access to the Internet is based on the idea that even in profit-dominated = market economies, communal ownership and control of information resources c= an be efficient and effective [5]. =0D Towards universal access at the world level =0D The major debate today revolves around "universalization" of access. Why is= universalization so important? Researchers like Ernest Wilson worry that, = in the absence of universal access, the rapid diffusion of the Internet int= o the organizations, cultures, and societies of industrialized nations may = widen the multidimensional gap separating them from developing nations, exa= cerbating an already significant moral and practical problem [6]. Larry Pre= ss believes that the Internet's flexible, low-cost communication may lead t= o improved economic productivity, education, health care, entertainment, aw= areness of the world, and quality of life in developing nations and pockets= of poverty within nations, thus reducing disparity [7]. There are a number= of barriers to universal access. While in most of North America and Wester= n Europe, Internet penetration is very high and very nearly every citizen w= ho wants to access the Net can do so, in many parts of the developing world= , and in particular Sub Saharan Africa, only a small percent of the populat= ion can have access, even if the bandwidth is abysmally low and the cost fo= rms a substantial fraction of one's income. The numbers of computers, telep= hones, etc. per thousand inhabitants and the bandwidth in most of these cou= ntries are very low compared to the advanced countries and they are unevenl= y distributed [8]. It is to overcome this "digital divide" developing count= ries are pleading for the setting up of a Digital Solidarity Fund [9]. =0D In many developing countries, efforts are being made to overcome the digita= l divide or the lack of technology by setting up community owned telecentre= s which gather and provide the information needed by the local people. =0D The development of telecentres =0D Telecentres, also known as public access points (France), digital community= centres (Mexico), and so on, differ from cybercaf=E9s in the way they work= . Cybercaf=E9s are mostly intended to provide the people who use them with = an Internet connection, and, where necessary, a very basic introduction to = the equipment. They operate along the lines of a self-service establishment= . Telecentres are intended to accompany community use of the Internet (educ= ation, health, micro-enterprises, and so on). They are generally opened in = neighbourhoods without cybercaf=E9s and are for communities that are a prio= ri excluded from the information society. In addition to making available e= quipment and connections, telecentres provide training and assistance for v= arious uses (helping local people develop community applications, for insta= nce). =0D In practice, the difference between telecentres and cybercaf=E9s is not alw= ays clear-cut, and the two can overlap according to the objectives of the p= eople running them and the development model selected. =0D In fact, there are three main models for the establishment of telecentres: = =0D - Telecentres supported by local or national public authorities. For exampl= e, a town like Brest [10] in France has systematically equipped itself so t= hat each inhabitant has a public access point less than 300 metres from hom= e. Between 1999 and 2001, Argentina implemented a wide-ranging infrastructu= re programme that involved setting up 1,350 Community Technology Centres (C= TCs) [11]. The Indian government took the same approach in the States of th= e North-East [12] and most national plans for the information society now i= nclude telecentre projects under the heading "social inclusion". =0D - Telecentres that are the initiative of a group of local people, a local v= oluntary group or a school. They often receive backing in the start-up phas= e from an NGO [13] or international aid agency. For instance, IDRC, a Canad= ian development agency, and IICD, a Netherlands agency, developed extensive= support plans for telecentres in the early 2000s. UNESCO has also supporte= d many Community Multimedia Centres (CMCs) to promote community empowerment= and address the digital divide by combining community broadcasting with th= e Internet and related technologies [14]. =0D - Telecentres that are designed as private enterprises with authentic busin= ess plans that can only exist in areas where basic needs can be met. Althou= gh their profitable activity brings them closer to cybercaf=E9s, they are n= evertheless dedicated to the needs of the community. =0D The first experiments date back to the late 1990s, and since many telecentr= es have closed down since then, it is possible to identify certain conditio= ns that are essential (although certainly not enough on their own) to the s= uccess of telecentres: =0D - The launch of a telecentre genuinely responding to the needs of local peo= ple, these needs varying considerably not only from one country to another = but from one village or neighbourhood to another; =0D - Funding for training trainers and not only for equipment; =0D - Provision of freeware enabling technological autonomy and avoiding regula= r reinvestment in applications and upgrades; =0D - Existence of the minimum infrastructure to allow technical functioning (e= nergy, viability of the premises, etc.); =0D - Presence in spaces that are already meeting the needs of local people oth= er than connectivity (health centres, social centres, libraries, and school= s); =0D - Construction of a development model that gradually enables financial inde= pendence from the original donors. Many failures were due to outside subsid= ies running out. =0D Public access points, or telecentres, have developed significantly in Latin= America and the Caribbean and many of them have joined forces in the excha= nge network. [15] =0D Africa is, of course, the continent where such centres have experienced the= most problems in keeping going. Low population density, low literacy level= s, oral culture and the poor quality of supply from operators mean that dev= eloping the telecentres is, on the whole, difficult. On top of these generi= c difficulties, telecentres have also come up against the structural imposs= ibility of finding independent income: in solvent areas, cybercaf=E9s have = sprung up at great speed, preventing the establishment of telecentres ; in = insolvent areas, international donors often became tired of funding project= s that were often over-ambitious from the outset (Africa is the continent w= here North-centred visions of the information society have been transposed = without really taking local needs into consideration, thereby condemning pr= ojects to fall into disuse). [16] =0D India, on the other hand multiplied the telecentre experiments by adopting = different models, including community owned, revenue model and government-s= upported centres. =0D A good example of the community-owned model is the village knowledge centre= s established by the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) in several= villages in southern India. [17] [18] The most well-known use of the Inter= net in these centres is broadcasting, through a public address system advan= ce information on wave heights in the Pondicherry coast, downloaded from a = US Navy website so that fishermen in coastal villages can decide if it is s= afe for them to venture into the sea on a given day. Since this service was= begun in 1999, there has not been a single death in the sea in these villa= ges. In collaboration with OneWorld International, MSSRF set up the Open Kn= owledge Network (OKN), that connects rural communities in Asia and Africa f= or exchanging local content, indigenous knowledge, and traditional practice= s [19]. Besides Internet, OKN uses cell phones and radio for communication.= =0D The ITC's eChoupals are a good example of the revenue model [20]. The Natio= nal Informatics Centre of the Government of India has established many cent= res in the north-eastern states [21]. Thanks to the initiative taken by MSS= RF, a National Alliance, perhaps the largest multi-stakeholder partnership = in development, has been formed to take the knowledge revolution to each on= e of the 638,000 villages in India before the 60th anniversary of India's I= ndependence [22]. The Government of India has come forward to meet a large = part of the costs, to the tune of $1,500 million. =0D While in general technologies tend to exacerbate inequalities and favour th= e early adopters at the cost of those who come in late, thanks to the free = and unhindered flow of information it facilitates, the Internet is inherent= ly a democratizing technology and it can make access to information a level= playing field. How can we translate this inherent potential into reality? = It is here we recognize the great value of the "public commons" approach to= sharing information. =0D Public commons and information sharing =0D Let us see how the public commons approach to disseminating scientific know= ledge is affecting the way scientific research is performed around the worl= d. This example, which has reached maturity, shows the impact of the concep= t of public commons on the spread of global public access to information co= ntent. =0D About 15 years ago Paul Ginsparg, then at Los Alamos National Laboratory, t= hought of a central archive for physics research papers. Now arXiv is flour= ishing with its headquarters at Cornell and has more than 15 mirror sites (= a few of them in developing countries) [23]. Steve Lawrence, then at NEC Re= search, Princeton, started CiteSeer which does not wait for authors to subm= it/deposit their papers but crawls the Net and collects all papers in compu= ter science and related fields [24] . Stevan Harnad at Southampton created = Cogprint, an archive for cognitive sciences [25] . He also wrote a few prov= ocative papers on what he calls a "subvertive proposal" to expand "scholarl= y skywriting", the way scientists are able to write in the internet sky, fo= r everybody to read [26]. Following this impulsion, in the past few years s= cientists have started depositing their research papers - besides publishin= g them in refereed journals of their choice - in interoperable institutiona= l open access archives. The software for setting up these full text archive= s are absolutely free. The interoperability protocol (OAI-PMH [27]) and ass= ociated software that enable a user to trace all papers on a given subject = or by a given author from anyone of the archives (located anywhere in the w= orld) as if they are all in one single (universal) archive is also absolute= ly free.=0D Today there are more than 400 such interoperable institutional archives pro= viding access to the full texts of many thousands of research papers. This = is especially helpful to scientists in the developing countries. Peter Sube= r maintains a blog [Open Access News] and reports comprehensively on develo= pments of the open access movement around the world [28] . =0D Along with open access archives, there are also open access journals for wh= ich readers and their libraries do not have to pay a subscription. More tha= n 1,700 journals - including a few hundreds from developing countries - are= now OA journals [29]. =0D Access to knowledge all around the world =0D One can see a parallel between the telecenters and the open access archives= . Both of them are using advances in technology to include the excluded and= making available much needed information at a low cost through the "public= commons" approach. Both of them are overcoming a serious problem by intell= igently marrying technology and the public commons approach. Both of them a= re about sharing and caring. Both of them are eminently suited to increase = the overall productivity of the world as a whole and lead to greater collec= tive happiness. It sounds almost utopian. =0D But many publishers, including some scientific societies, are working to st= all the progress of the open access movement, as they see it as a potential= threat to their business interests. On the other hand many donor agencies,= such as the Wellcome Trust, who fund scientists to perform research are av= id supporters of the movement. =0D In the area of scientific data, as distinct from full texts of research pap= ers, organizations such as ICSU (and CODATA) are promoting the culture of o= pen access. Even Celera Genomics Corp., the for-profit company that sequenc= ed the human genome simultaneously with the public-funded Human Genome Proj= ect, has stopped selling subscriptions for access to its sequence/data and = would donate the data to the National Center for Biotechnology Information,= USA. As Francis Collins of the National Human Genome Research Institute pu= t it "data just wants to be public." =0D Scientists in developing countries need particular attention, says Bruce Al= berts, former President of the US National Academy of Sciences. In his 1999= presidential address [30] to the National Academy of Sciences, USA, he sug= gested "Connecting all scientists to the World Wide Web, where necessary by= providing subsidized Internet access through commercial satellite networks= ," and "taking responsibility for generating a rich array of scientifically= validated knowledge resources, made available free on the Web, in preparat= ion for a time when universal Internet access for scientists is achieved in= both developing and industrialized nations." =0D =46rom cyberspace to the real world =0D In the early days of the Net, there was a feeling that the Net had given us= the freedom to do things independently from the governments and the law of= the land. Indeed, back in February 1996, John Perry Barlow, an Internet ac= tivist, published a "Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace". [31] "= Governments of the industrial world," Mr Barlow declared, "on behalf of the= future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among= us. You have no sovereignty where we gather. You have no moral right to ru= le us nor do you possess any methods of enforcement we have true reason to = fear. Cyberspace does not lie within your borders." And the Internet became= one of citizen advocacy's most important tools used for research, public e= ducation, organizing, political discussion, coordination, and much more. = =0D Unfortunately digital technology also has brought about new forms of inform= ation enclosure that undermines the public's right to use, share, and repro= duce information. Such enclosures threaten to undermine the political disco= urse, free speech, and creativity needed for a healthy democracy. And in re= ality governments can and do have considerable control over what is transac= ted on the Internet. As the Economist pointed out, "the Internet is part of= the real world. Like all frontiers, it was wild for a while, but policemen= always show up eventually." [32] =0D Both the democratic character of the Internet and its ability to reach out = to a 'near infinite' knowledge base have come under question. If the high c= ost, low quality and rarity of Internet access add up to make the first bar= rier to public access to Internet in poor countries, the policies and attit= udes of institutions and governments lead to a second kind of barrier. As t= he Carnegie Endowment for International Peace has found, governments can pr= event their citizens from visiting certain sites they consider harmful to n= ational interest, control access to overseas sites, monitor postings by the= ir citizens, and they can literally isolate their people from the rest of t= he network [33]. Schools and parents may use a filter to save children from= the ever-increasing presence of smut sites on the Net. How can we otherwis= e save ourselves and our children from the menace of the presence in the Ne= t of nudity, sex acts, drugs, alcohol, tobacco, violence and profanity, cul= ts, racist, extremist, and intolerant groups, illegal gambling and fraudule= nt business ventures? The challenge here is how we can balance our quest fo= r freedom and openness with the need to curb porn, obscenity, and intoleran= ce. =0D That is the greatest dilemma libraries offering public access to the Intern= et face. Whereas almost all public libraries in the USA provide free Intern= et access to their readers, the situation is abysmal in almost all developi= ng countries. =0D As Nancy Kranich has said, public access to the Internet is vital to rekind= le civic participation, and to claim for public space and to promote the pu= blic interest in the digital age. =0D There are two ways of promoting public access to the Internet: =0D - Enabling citizens the world over to use the tools of the information netw= ork to gain access to available information, as well as to create their own= information and circulate it worldwide. =0D - Ensuring free access to essential information, so that the opportunities = provided by the Internet are actually used to spread throughout the world a= ccess by all to knowledge. =0D References=0D [1] http://openmap.bbn.com/ tomlinso/ray/home.html=0D [2] Ian R Hardy, Email history, 1996. http://www.ifla.org/documents/interne= t/hari1.txt=0D [3] http://promo.net/pg/history.html=0D [4] - Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn, =ABTowards Protocols for Internetwork Co= mmunication,=BB IFIP/TC6.1, NIC 18764, INWG 39, - Robert Kahn, Vinton G. Ce= rf, =ABWhat Is The Internet (And What Makes It Work)=BB, http://www.interne= tpolicy.org/briefing/12_99_story.html =0D Ronda Hauben, The international origins of the Internet and the impact of = this framework on its future, talk given at Columbia University on Nov. 4, = 2004=0D [5] Nancy Kranich, The Information Commons - A public policy report, The Fr= ee Expression Policy Project, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of L= aw,2004. http://www.fepproject.org/policyreports/infocommons.contentsexsum.= html=0D [6] Wilson, Ernest, Meeting the Challenges of Internet Inequality, OnTheInt= ernet, Vol. 5, No. 6, November/December, 1999, pp. 26-30.=0D [7] Press, L., The Role of Networks in Developing Nations, Communications o= f the ACM, Vol. 39, No. 2, February 1996, pp. 23-29, http://som.csudh.edu/f= ac/lpress/devwins.htm=0D [8] http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/=0D [9] http://www.dsf-fsn.org/=0D [10] http://www.mairie-brest.fr/cnt/papi.htm=0D [11] http://www.links.org.ar/infoteca/ctc-peru.pdf=0D [12] http://home.nic.in:80/projects/cic.pdf=0D [13] See, for instance, the work in Africa of the French association "Mosa= =EFque du monde" http://mosaiquedumonde.org/association/index.php?lapage=3D= centre=0D [14] http://www.unesco.org/webworld/cmc=0D [15] http://www.tele-centros.org/=0D [16] Annie Ch=E9neau-Loquay : "Ce qui sert le plus en Afrique, c'est la voi= x" http://www.internetactu.net/index.php?p=3D6071 =0D [17] http://www.mssrf.org/special_programmes/ivrp/ivrpmain.htm=0D [18] Subbiah Arunachalam, Reaching the unreached: How can we use ICTs to em= power the rural poor in the developing world through enhanced access to rel= evant information? 68th IFLA Council and General Conference, Glasgow, 2002.= =0D [19] S Senthilkumaran and Subbiah Arunachalam, Expanding the village knowle= dge centres in Pondicherry, Regional Development Dialogue, 2002, vol. 23, N= o. 2, pp.64-84. http://www.openknowledge.net=0D [20] http://www.echoupal.com/=0D [21] http://www.cic.nic.in/=0D [22] National Alliance for Mission 2007: Every Village a Knowledge Centre, = MSSRF/PR/04/55, June 2004. http://www.mssrf.org/special_programmes/mission_= 2007_NA/namain.htm=0D [23] http://arxiv.org/=0D [24] http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/=0D [25] http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/ harnad/=0D [26] For a complete coverage of the impact of Stevan Harnad thinkings on th= e open access movement, see also : Poynder, Richard. Ten Years After. Infor= mation Today, october 14, 2004. http://www.infotoday.com/it/oct04/poynder.s= html=0D [27] http://www.openarchives.org/=0D [28] http://www.earlham.edu/ peters/fos/fosblog.html=0D [29] http://www.doaj.org=0D [30] Bruce Alberts, Science and the World's Future, Presidential address, 1= 36th Annual Meeting of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 26 April 1999= http://www.nasonline.org/1999address=0D [31] Barlow, John Perry. A declaration of the independence of Cyberspace ht= tp://homes.eff.org/ barlow/Declaration-Final.html=0D [32] The Internet's new borders. The Economist, 9 August 2001.=0D [33] Open Networks, Closed Regimes: The Impact of the Internet on Authorita= rian Rule by Shanthi Kalathil and Taylor C. Boas, 2003 by the Carnegie Endo= wment for International Peace.=0D ------------------------------------=0D This text is an extract from the book Word Matters: multicultural perspecti= ves on information societies. This book, which has been coordinated by Alai= n Ambrosi, Val=E9rie Peugeot and Daniel Pimienta was released on November 5= , 2005 by C & F =C9ditions.=0D The text is under the Creative Commons licence, by, non commercial.=0D Knowledge should be shared in free access... But authors and editors need a= n economy to keep on creating and working. If you can afford it, please buy= the book on line (39 =A4)=0D Creative Commons License=0D

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Vacancy: Library Assistant
by Gopalakrishna Venkatappa 21 Feb '06

21 Feb '06

Dear Moderater, Kindly announce the following message. Rush your resume / contact the Librarian (080-55369469 for two posts of Library Asst. Preferred male BLISc for evening shift. Interview on Tuesday the 28th Febrauary 2006 at 10:00 am. Address: BMS Institute of Technology, P.B. No.6443, Avalahalli, Dodballapur Main Road, Avalahalli, Yelahanka, BANGALORE-560064. With regards, Gopalakrishna, Librarian, BMSIT.

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DSpace User Group Meeting, Bergen 2006&satellite Institutional Repository workshop Registration is Open
by noufal palliparamban 20 Feb '06

20 Feb '06

Dear Friends, There is a workshop announcment ..... The University of Bergen is pleased to announce that it will host a two day DSpace User Group Meeting on 20 and 21 April 2006, as part of its commitment to the community. The meeting will primarily be concerned with technology and processes that have been developed to embed DSpace into institutional systems, and the different roles that DSpace has found in this environment, beyond purely that of an Institutional Repository platform. In addition important general developments will be presented, and there will be tutorials for both technical and non-technical DSpace users. Accompanying this will be a satellite Institutional Repository workshop on 19 April 2006, which will address policy, advocacy and open access concerns for institutions working on IRs. This meeting can be attended independently of the main user group meeting. For Detailed Information , Plaese visit http://dsug2006.uib.no/ Regards Noufal.P.P Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur UP, India --------------------------------- Jiyo cricket on Yahoo! India cricket Yahoo! Messenger Mobile Stay in touch with your buddies all the time. Dear Friends, There is a workshop announcment ..... The University of Bergen is pleased to announce that it will host a two day DSpace User Group Meeting on 20 and 21 April 2006, as part of its commitment to the community. The meeting will primarily be concerned with technology and processes that have been developed to embed DSpace into institutional systems, and the different roles that DSpace has found in this environment, beyond purely that of an Institutional Repository platform. In addition important general developments will be presented, and there will be tutorials for both technical and non-technical DSpace users. Accompanying this will be a satellite Institutional Repository workshop on 19 April 2006, which will address policy, advocacy and open access concerns for institutions working on IRs. This meeting can be attended independently of the main user group meeting. For Detailed Information , Plaese visit http://dsug2006.uib.no/ http://dsug2006.uib.no/ Regards Noufal.P.P Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur UP, India Jiyo cricket on http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail/in/mailcricket/*http://in.sports.yahoo.com/cric… Yahoo! India cricket http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail/in/mailmobilemessenger/*http://in.mobile.yahoo.… Yahoo! Messenger Mobile Stay in touch with your buddies all the time.

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RFID Implementation
by Sharad Jadhav 20 Feb '06

20 Feb '06

Dear members, We are checking the possibility of implementing RFID in our library. Documents to be covered in this implementation are Books and Bound Volumes, which are approximately 35,000 in numbers. We would like to know that how much will be the financial expenditure (approx) for implementation of RFID, right from tags, scanners etc. We are currently using LIBSYS Software for library management. Any response will be highly appreciated from those who have earlier implemented RFID or in process of implementation. Thank you in advance. Sharad Jadhav, National Insurance Academy Balewadi, Baner Road, Pune-411045 Phones: +91 20 27204066(D), 27204000/4444(Board) Email ID: sharad(a)niapune.com --------------------------------- Jiyo cricket on Yahoo! India cricket Yahoo! Messenger Mobile Stay in touch with your buddies all the time. Dear members, We are checking the possibility of implementing RFID in our library. Documents to be covered in this implementation are Books and Bound Volumes, which are approximately 35,000 in numbers. We would like to know that how much will be the financial expenditure (approx) for implementation of RFID, right from tags, scanners etc. We are currently using LIBSYS Software for library management. Any response will be highly appreciated from those who have earlier implemented RFID or in process of implementation. Thank you in advance. Sharad Jadhav, National Insurance Academy Balewadi, Baner Road, Pune-411045 Phones: +91 20 27204066(D), 27204000/4444(Board) Email ID: mailto:sharad@niapune.com sharad(a)niapune.com Jiyo cricket on http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail/in/mailcricket/*http://in.sports.yahoo.com/cric… Yahoo! India cricket http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail/in/mailmobilemessenger/*http://in.mobile.yahoo.… Yahoo! Messenger Mobile Stay in touch with your buddies all the time.

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Need to change present LIS Curriculum to meet the changing market requirements
by nagappa.b＠tcs.com 20 Feb '06

20 Feb '06

Dear All, Its a very good practice that SHPT School of Library Science, SNDT Women's University, Mumbai has 3 days internship programme as a part of the BLISc course. I would like to suggest / recommend that all LIS schools should provide atleast "six month internship" in BLIS OR MLIS. If required LIS school can cutdown the few traditional subject(s). Let the student learn practically instead theory. By this students will get handson experience. Like other professional courses LIS also introduce the internship. What LIS schools shall do for improvement of Curriculum: 1. Work more towards marketing of our products/students. 2. Introduction of Communication skills to meet the MNCs requirements. 3. Introduce or Enhance the KM subject. 4. Teaching of office automation and Library softaware in depth. 5. Introduce the Long term internship (atleast 6 months) by that the students will more information about the field before joining the workforce. 6. Start inviting corporate sectors, Good B-schools, etc. for campus interview both for internship as well as placement. Regards Nagappa Veerappa Bakkannanavar Library & Information Centre Tata Consultancy Services Limited 1. Software Units Layout, Hitech City, Madhapur, Hyderabad Tel. 040-55672533/31 Mailto: nagappa.b(a)tcs.com Website: http://www.tcs.com Notice: The information contained in this e-mail message and/or attachments to it may contain confidential or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, any dissemination, use, review, distribution, printing or copying of the information contained in this e-mail message and/or attachments to it are strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us by reply e-mail or telephone and immediately and permanently delete the message and any attachments. Thank you Dear All, Its a very good practice that SHPT School of Library Science, SNDT Women's University, Mumbai has 3 days internship programme as a part of the BLISc course. I would like to suggest / recommend that all LIS schools should provide atleast �"six month internship" in BLIS OR MLIS. If required LIS school can cutdown the few traditional subject(s). Let the student learn practically instead theory. By this students will get handson experience. Like other professional courses LIS also introduce the internship. What LIS schools shall do for improvement of Curriculum: 1. Work more towards marketing of our products/students. 2. Introduction of Communication skills to meet the MNCs requirements. 3. Introduce or Enhance the KM subject. 4. Teaching of office automation and Library softaware in depth. 5. Introduce the Long term internship (atleast 6 months) by that the students will more information about the field before joining the workforce. 6. Start inviting corporate sectors, Good B-schools, etc. for campus interview both for internship as well as placement. Regards Nagappa Veerappa Bakkannanavar Library & Information Centre Tata Consultancy Services Limited 1. Software Units Layout, Hitech City, Madhapur, Hyderabad Tel. 040-55672533/31 Mailto: nagappa.b(a)tcs.com Website: http://www.tcs.com Notice: The information contained in this e-mail message and/or attachments to it may contain confidential or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, any dissemination, use, review, distribution, printing or copying of the information contained in this e-mail message and/or attachments to it are strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us by reply e-mail or telephone and immediately and permanently delete the message and any attachments. Thank you

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New Openings
by Thapar, Amit 20 Feb '06

20 Feb '06

check employment news of 18-24 feb 2006 on page 17. Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi requires SLIA in pay scale of 5500-9000. apply within ten days of publication of advertisement. Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi has advertised the posts of semi-professional assistant. refer to employment news of 18-24 feb 2006 on page 37. scale is 4500-7000. last date of submission is 10th april 2006. don't miss these opportunities !!!!!!!!!!!! best of luck to all professionals.. amit@niper Cell: 9855701060 / 9417419457 e-mail: amit_thapar(a)yahoo.com URL: http://www.niper.gov.in/ check employment news of 18-24 feb 2006 on page 17. Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi requires SLIA in pay scale of 5500-9000. apply within ten days of publication of advertisement. Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi has advertised the posts of semi-professional assistant. refer to employment news of 18-24 feb 2006 on page 37. scale is 4500-7000. last date of submission is 10th april 2006. don't miss these opportunities !!!!!!!!!!!! best of luck to all professionals.. mailto:amit@niper amit@niper Cell: 9855701060 / 9417419457 e-mail: mailto:amit_thapar@yahoo.com amit_thapar(a)yahoo.com URL: http://www.niper.gov.in/ http://www.niper.gov.in/

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Re: Information and Library Studies MSc
by Mailing List Manager 20 Feb '06

20 Feb '06

Date: Sat, 18 Feb 2006 11:57:39 +0530 From: K.R. Mulla <krmulla(a)gmail.com> Hi Dear all.....! Information and Library Studies MSc Overview The MSc in Information and Library Studies has been established for over thirty years and has an excellent record of student success, both academically and in terms of subsequent professional employment across the information sector. Information professionals provide essential expertise in our knowledge-based society. Information and its effective communication is a fundamental and vital activity within all areas of industry, commerce, education, and social life. Professionals working in this broad area provide expertise in the collection, storage, retrieval, and management of information. This necessitates an understanding of the need for libraries and information services, the ways in whichthey are used; the wide variety of information sources available; as well as a firm grasp of the underlying theories and principles of management, information retrieval, and Information Technology. MSc Information >and Library Studies provides all of these things and more. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Funding For 2005/2006 SAAS funding is available and all eligible applicants to the on-campus course will be considered for an award, see Student Awards Agency for Scotland. Information on this can be found by contacting the Admissions Office at PostgraduateAdmissions(a)rgu.ac.uk. or by linking to: http://www.rgu.ac.uk/abs/postgraduate/page.cfm?pge=5352 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Career Opportunities Take a look at what jobs are currently available in the sector by viewing Lisjobnet.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Professional Recognition The Information and Library Studies Course is fully accredited by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP). The next accreditation is due in the summer of 2010. CILIP accreditation means that the course is recognised, around the world, by other professional bodies such as the American Library Association. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contact the Course Leader Dr Peter Reid Aberdeen Business School Management Building The Robert Gordon University Garthdee Road Aberdeen AB10 7QE Tel: +44 (0)1224 263900 Fax: +44 (0)1224 263939 Email: p.reid(a)rgu.ac.uk

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12th Annual Lecture on Informatics & Launch of Open J-Gate
by mouna 20 Feb '06

20 Feb '06

Informatics (India) Limited, Bangalore, Cordially invites you to the 12th Annual Lecture on Informatics & Launch of Open J-gate Date & Time: February 27, 2006, 5.45pm to 7.45pm Venue: The Auditorium, Indian National Science Academy, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi 110 002 Dinner: 8.00 pm Speakers: Dr. Jean-Claude Guedon, Professor, University of Montreal, Canada OSI Information Program Sub-Board member Beyond Plutocracy: Open Access to globalize scientific communication Prof. V N Rajasekharan Pillai Vice Chairman, University Grants Commission, New Delhi Open Access: Researchers Perspective Presided by Dr R A Mashelkar Director-General, Council for Scientific & Industrial Research and, Secretary, Dept of Scientific & Industrial Research, New Delhi Open J-Gate Launch by Prof. Jean Claude Guedon Launching Open J-Gate www.openj-gate.com J-Gate (www.J-gate.informindia.co.in) is an e-journal portal for scholarly, research and professional journals. It is a searchable database of index to articles published in 13,800+ e-journals. Every article in J-gate is linked to full-text. All major institutions - IITs, IIMs, ICMR Labs, and Universities use J-Gate and its customized solutions for accessing journal literature through Internet. Open J-Gate The J-Gate coverage includes over 2,500-open access journals. About 1,500 of these are peer-reviewed research journals. J-Gate is the only service in the world to index articles from the largest number of open access journals. Responding to the Open Access movement in the world for scholarly and research literature, Informatics is launching Open J-Gate as a separate free portal to access open access literature. Currently Open J-Gate has indexed over a million articles published since 2001. Informatics plans to go back in coverage to all available years for these 2,500+ journals. As the portal name suggests, access to Open J-Gate is free to all students and researchers. Informatics is proud to launch and dedicate Open J-Gate as Indias contribution to the cause of promoting global science communication. (The support of Open Society Institute, New York, USA Is gratefully acknowledged) _________________________________________ N V Sathyanarayana Chairman & Managing Director Informatics (India) Ltd Bangalore 560 003 sathya(a)informindia.co.in www.informindia.co.in

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OpenMED@NIC is now 1K strong
by Sukhdev Singh 20 Feb '06

20 Feb '06

Dear Friends, Biomedical Archive - OpenMED@NIC < http://openmed.nic.in > now has morethan One Thousand documents. Hopefully in future, more and more authors would be archiving their published and valueable research output here. It has been proved time and again that visibility of research improves its impact. No wonder why more and more journals are now allowing their authors to self-archive their papers<http://romeo.eprints.org/stats.php > While Open Access movement has been gaining momentum world-wide, We all have to introspect - Are we doing enough? --Sukhdev Singh, NIC.http://openmed.nic.in

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ALA acrediated MLIS Why not Indian MLISC considered worlwide
by kumar lis 19 Feb '06

19 Feb '06

Dear Professionals, Why Our Indian MLISC degrees are not considered for a postion in US. Even though Many of the companies recruiting persons having Indian B.E,/M.B.A,/M.C.A.Why Indian MLISC degree holders are not recruited. Where our MLISC degree stands ? What kind of standards do they need in MLISC degree?To whom should we contact regarding this? Are there any initiatives taken to recognize Indian MLISC world wide.It is better to change the curriculum /Syllabus of Indian MLISC and standardize it to Uniquely if needed otherwise we should fight to recognize ourselves. why our senior Library professionals are not bothering regarding this.My sincere appeal to senior professionals is to resolve this problem. Can any body give list of colleges offering ALA accredited MLIS through out the world(that you know) or colleges you know those offering ALA accredited MLIS degrees Through ONLINE courses or DISTANCE learning courses. Kumar. --------------------------------- Yahoo! Mail Use Photomail to share photos without annoying attachments. Dear Professionals, Why Our Indian MLISC degrees are not considered for a postion in US. Even though Many of the companies recruiting persons having Indian B.E,/M.B.A,/M.C.A.Why Indian MLISC degree holders are not recruited. Where our MLISC degree stands ? What kind of standards do they need in MLISC degree?To whom should we contact regarding this? Are there any initiatives taken to recognize Indian MLISC world wide.It is better to change the curriculum /Syllabus of Indian MLISC and standardize it to Uniquely if needed otherwise we should fight to recognize ourselves. why our senior Library professionals are not bothering regarding this.My sincere appeal to senior professionals is to resolve this problem. Can any body give list of colleges offering ALA accredited MLIS through out the world(that you know) or colleges you know those offering ALA accredited MLIS degrees Through ONLINE courses or DISTANCE learning courses. Kumar. http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/tsmileys2/06.gif Yahoo! Mail http://pa.yahoo.com/*http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=38867/*http://photomail.mai… Use Photomail to share photos without annoying attachments.

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