Monday 30 March 2009

Ruth Rikowski's 27th News Update


RUTH RIKOWSKI
News Update No.27


To begin with I would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year. It is some while since I have sent round an Update; finally, I have found a window of opportunity. There are now quite a few important news items that I would like to share with you! In particular, I have written a long piece which was inspired by me hearing Michéle Roberts speaking at CILIP Members’ Day on 16th October 2008, and this is now on our website. I have not, as yet, got another blog sorted out, but hope to do that in the not-too-distant future.



1. PIECE INSPIRED BY MICHÈLE ROBERTS - WRITTEN BY RUTH RIKOWSKI
Firstly, then, I went to hear Michéle Roberts (author of 12 novels) speaking at CILIP (Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) Members’ Day on 16th October 2008, and really loved it. In fact, I was so inspired that I decided to write a very long piece about it, relating it to some of my own experiences (as I surprisingly found that I quite had a lot in common with her!). This long article is now available on our website, and is entitled ‘Michéle Roberts: novelist and radical feminist – Comparisons with Michéle Roberts and Ruth Rikowski: writers, book lovers, feminists, radicals, librarians and pro-activists’. It is available at:
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Michele%20Roberts


Shorter versions will also be published in CILIP London News and in Managing Information in Spring 2009.



2. THE VICKERYS
A year or so ago, I met up with some second cousins of mine, on my mother’s side, for the first time. We got talking about the Vickery’s – our great grandparents. Some information about the Vickery’s is included in the piece that I have just written (see item 1 above). But I think readers might well be interested to have a little more information included separately in this Update – so here goes.

My great grandmother, Emma Sophia Vickery (neé Michael), was one of the first, if not the first woman to obtain the formal teaching certificate in England (as opposed to just being a teaching helper). Apologies for being just slightly vague here, but I have yet to check out the official historical records (and I have no idea, at this stage, how easy or difficult that will prove to be). A second cousin of mine, Deborah Dawes, informed me that her parents did a lot of research on the family, which included going to Cornwall, where the Vickery’s lived for a period. Whilst some bright women were teacher helpers in the 19th century, to go and study and obtain the actual certificate took a lot of courage, determination, as well as intelligence, of course. So, obviously, I am very proud of all of this.

What I do know for an absolute fact is that both my great grandparents, Charles Palmer Vickery and Emma Sophia Vickery ran a school in Cornwall at the end of the 19th century (which obviously led on from the 1870 Education Act). Indeed, they can be found listed in the Cornwall Online Census Statistics 1881
http://209.85.135.104/search?q=cache:TF8w-d59XWoJ:freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kayhin/82320.html+Cornwall+Census+Stats+1881+Emma+and+Charles+Vickery&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=uk&ie=UTF-8 (item 78). When I was a child I remember my mother, Mabel Elsie Turney (neé Vickery), proudly showing me a photograph of them both, outside their school. Rather amusingly, my great grandfather was standing on a box, because he was shorter than my great grandmother, but did not want to appear shorter in the photograph! Later, incidentally, my great grandmother ran a shop, and then my grandmother, Elsie May Vickery, also ran a shop.

Whilst my grandfather (my mother’s father), Clement Augustine Vickery, was a Captain in the Merchant Navy, and wrote 2 books on nautical matters, and later taught nautical studies. One of the books he wrote is entitled ‘Stability of Ships – mates, masters and extra masters’, published by Imray Laurie, Norie and Wilson, I believe. Unfortunately, I have never seen the books, but I know that a cousin of mine (Christopher Littler), who lives in Spain and France has copies of the books. My grandfather is also listed in the ‘Index to the Captains Registers of Lloyd’s of London (Guildhall Library Ms 18567)’. See:
http://209.85.129.104/search?q=cache:A_-Xe2xHwmsJ:www.history.ac.uk/gh/capsV.pdf+Clement+Vickery&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=20&gl=uk&ie=UTF-8

In the entry it states: VICKERY, Clement Augustine b. Falmouth 1883 002376 South Shields 1907 & London,1908. Steamships Extra Steam 1908, Vol.86 1907-1911

My mother’s eldest sister, Sophia Levice Olivia White (neé Vickery) was also a junior school teacher all her working life in Wanstead, Essex, following on from winning a scholarship and attending Cheltenham Teacher Training College, around 1930 (she was born in 1910). Furthermore, my second cousin, Deborah Dawes, was a foreign languages teacher in an independent school, all of her working life, following on from obtaining a languages degree from Oxford. Also, another cousin of mine, Nigel Leaney, (who is roughly the same age as me) writes a column for a dog magazine.

So, my family has a lot to be proud of in many ways. The Vickerys, in general, really valued books, education and music. Whilst I came from the East End of London, my mother’s family was more middle class than my father’s, in terms of culture and education, rather than material possessions.



3. REVIEW ESSAY BY RUTH RIKOWSKI OF PAULA ALLMAN’S BOOK ‘ON MARX’ IN ‘POLICY FUTURES IN EDUCATION’
A review essay of mine (of some 4,000 words) on Paula Allman’s book ‘On Marx’, Sense Publishers, 2007, has just been published in Policy Futures in Education, Vol. 6, No. 5, 2008. See: http://www.wwwords.co.uk/pfie/content/pdfs/6/issue6_5.asp



4. COMPULSORY REDUNDANCIES IN LONDON BOROUGH OF NEWHAM LIBRARY SERVICE, FOLLOWING ON FROM REVIEW AND RESTRUCTURING
I was very shocked to find out from former colleagues that some 20 people are being made compulsory redundant in the London Borough of Newham Library Service (and that these redundancies will all have taken place by the end of March 2009). The plan, apparently, is to merge Libraries with Local Service Centres.

This is the third review that has taken place in Newham Library Service since 1993. I was still working for Newham when the first review took effect. Half the posts were deleted and we had to apply for jobs in the new structure. I obtained the post of ‘Training Officer’, which was subsequently deleted. I decided that enough was enough, and sought employment elsewhere – I obtained the post of ‘Support Librarian’ at Dynix, a library software company that has now merged with Unicorn.

However, this latest review is on a completely different scale (with many qualified and experienced staff being lost), and I cannot envisage what type of library service will be left as a result of all of this.

Anyway, I wish my former colleagues all the very best with all their future endeavours – whatever they might be.



5. REVIEWS OF GLOBALISATION AND LIBRARY BOOKS IN ‘PROGRESSIVE LIBRARY JOURNAL’
Given this latest news in regard to Newham library service (in item 4 above), now seems to be an appropriate time to refer to 2 book reviews about books which examine the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and libraries – GATS being the World Trade Organisation Agreement that threatens state-funded services, including libraries. These were published in Progressive Librarian: a journal for Critical Studies and Progressive Politics in Librarianship, Summer 2007, Issue 29. Reviewing and restructuring library services can be a way of introducing the commercialisation and marketisation of services, of course.

The first is a book review by me of Samuel E. Trosow and Kirsti Nilsen’s book, Constraining Public Libraries: the World Trade Organization’s General Agreement on Trade in Services, Metuchen NJ, Scarecrow Press, 2006 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Constraining-Public-Libraries-Organizations-Agreement/dp/0810852373/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1231362425&sr=8-1) (on pp.79-81).


The second is a review by Samuel E. Trosow of my book, Globalisation, Information and Libraries: the implications of the World Trade Organisation’s GATS and TRIPS Agreements, Chandos Publishing: Oxford, 2005 (on pp.82-84)

Trosow concludes his review saying that my book “…should be read by anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the global processes that are at work in promoting the commercialisation and privatisation of public services” (Trosow, 2007, p. 81).

I conclude my review by recommending Trosow and Nilsen’s book, and saying that “…hopefully, together, we can start to “blow the lid” on this global capitalist agenda and, indeed, uncover the hidden (and not so hidden) global capitalist trade agenda for libraries and information” (Rikowski, 2007, p. 84)



6. LIZ TAYLOR – KM CONSULTANT
Liz Taylor, a former Knowledge Management (KM) masters’ student of mine at London South Bank University, now runs a KM consultancy business. She also has 2 books published with Chandos Publishing (one of which I commissioned). She has just sent me some further information about all this, for inclusion in these Updates, and this is below.


INTRODUCTION TO TKM
Liz Taylor has recently started a consultancy business, Tkm Consulting, focusing on a number of knowledge and information management areas, as well as practical advice on complying with information-related legislation across the UK.
Liz’s expertise is in the evaluation of processes from a knowledge and information perspective. Most of her work has the key aim of producing tangible benefits for organisations through the enhanced management of information and knowledge assets associated with core business processes. The main areas that Liz deals with include:

• Knowledge and information management
o identification of key information and knowledge sources and strategies
o engineering of processes to maximise the potential of intangible assets
o mapping knowledge and information flows which can help improve the effectiveness of communication and security
o identifying opportunities to capture and re-use knowledge and information
• Practical management of information-related legislation
o review and development of practical procedures to facilitate compliance, including freedom of information and data protection
o practical guidance to achieve practical compliance on a case by case basis
• Training
o Offers a variety of training in information and knowledge management and on how to become compliant with information-related legislation.

Liz has worked on a wide range of projects in across both the public and private sector. One of the most recent initiatives was working in partnership with Sitekit, a specialist web content management company. The project focused on web solutions to assist public sector organisations comply with publication scheme requirements of the Freedom of Information Act. The resulting product significantly reduces the resource implications of compliance with the legislation through the automation of legal requirements for organisations, which won an International Award in Content Management.

LIZ TAYLOR’S BOOKS – ‘Freedom of Information: towards compliance’ and ‘Knowledge, Information and the Business Process’
Liz has written two books covering the areas she works in and they both take the format of a practical guide for organisations. The first book, ‘Freedom of information: working towards compliance’, was published in 2004 by Chandos Publishing, Oxford. It was a guide towards achieving compliance prior to the legislation coming into force across the UK and it can still provide a useful tool to evaluate or re-evaluate procedures for compliance.

Liz Taylor’s second book, ‘Knowledge, information and the business process: revolutionary thinking or common sense?’ was published in 2007, by Chandos Publishing, Oxford, and has enjoyed very good international reviews. Aimed at the practitioner, the key focus of this book is to integrate elements of information and knowledge management, with the business process and intellectual capital. The book questions some of the fundamental concepts and principles used to manage information that can be associated with business processes. Specifically, it addresses the argument to more effectively evaluate the contributions of human and systems capital (which are defined) to a process, highlighting the need to make more conscious decisions about what role each will perform in the developed process.

The book begins by discussing practical definitions of each of the terms used and then covers the integration of the intellectual capital with business processes; provides a practical guide on analysis of the complete business process (including products and customers) from a human and systems capital perspective and provides practical frameworks that enable readers to implement the suggested strategies regarding the development of intellectual capital round business processes, which are explained throughout the book.

The book is set out in a way to help the reader follow the practical advice and activities, with the chapters including the following:
• Introduction - the current environment; practical opportunities to expand the concepts; the way forward?
• Intellectual capital - definitions in context; capital relationships; introduction to the business process
• Human capital - the organisational perspective; relationship with corporate learning and development; tacit knowledge and the individual; contributions and collaboration; knowledge transfer
• Systems capital - information and communication; tools and enablers
• Examining the process (I) - the process jigsaw; inputs, outputs and by-products
• Examining the process (II) - creation of knowledge; influencing factors
• The future? – the information and knowledge management vision; next steps

For further information on either Liz Taylor’s consultancy business or her books, please see her website http://www.tkmconsulting.co.uk.

If you wish to get in contact, her e-mail address is liz@tkmconsulting.co.uk. “



7. MIKE NEARY’S INAUGURAL PROFESSIORIAL LECTURE
Glenn Rikowski and I went to Mike Neary’s Inaugural Lecture for his Professorship at the University of Lincoln on 2nd December 2008. Mike is Dean of Teaching and Learning and the Director of the Centre for Educational Research and Development at Lincoln. See:
http://www.lincoln.ac.uk/home/lincolnacademy/index.htm
Mike Neary considered both in breadth and depth how academics can critically engage with the issues around the marketisation and commercialisation of higher education, through their teaching practice. He is particularly enthusiastic about encouraging undergraduates to undertake their own research, and through this won a large ESRC grant and went on to establish the Reinvention Centre for Undergraduate Research at the University of Warwick.

It was a very inspirational talk and we went out for a nice meal afterwards as well, with several others that were there.

We wish Mike all the very best in his new position.



8. ESSAYS BY THREE OF GLENN RIKOWSKI’S EDUCATION STUDENTS ON OUR WEBSITE
We have a ‘Contributions’ section on our website (see http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=contributions) which invites other to submit articles and short pieces to us, for inclusion on our website. Some of Glenn Rikowski’s students have sent him pieces, and 3 of these are now available on our website. Further details are listed below.

a. ‘New Labour and Variable Tuition Fees in Higher Education: a Critical Review of New Labour’s Policy towards Variable Tuition Fees in Higher Education’ by Alison Tuffs,
Education Studies Student, School of Education, University College Northampton, February 2004. Available at




b. ‘Paul Willis and Learning to Labour’ by James Thomson
An essay written for EDU3004 ‘Education, Culture & Society’, Education Studies, School of Education, University of Northampton, 3rd December 2007
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/index.php?page=contributions&sub=Paul%20Willis%20and%20Learning%20to%20Labour%20-%20James%20Thomson


James Thomson wrote this essay when he was a final year Education Studies student at the University of Northampton. The original title was: ‘Briefly outline the key features of Paul Willis’ (1977) study, Learning to Labour. Why did the Lads reject schooling? What is the relevance of Willis’ study for schools today?’

c. ‘The Role of Business in Education’ by Sharon Illiff
This piece examines the arguments for and against the role of business/private enterprise in education using relevant policy statements from at least two political articles, downloaded from the internet
An Essay by Sharon Illiff, a First Year Education Studies Student, School of Education, University of Northampton, April 2007
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/index.php?page=contributions&sub=The%20Role%20of%20Business%20in%20Education%20-%20Sharon%20Illiff




If anyone is interested in submitting material for inclusion in this ‘Contributions’ section, then do get in touch with us.



9. PROGRESS OF CILIP NETWORK OF EXPERTISE AND INTEREST
On CILIP (Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) Members’ Day on 16th October 2008, the formal launch of the CILIP Network of Expertise and Interests also took place and I attended this. There were quite a few people there, and a lot of interest. The Network has been set up by Gwenda Sippings and Lyndsay Rees-Jones. There are now some 100 people that have joined the network (of which I was one of the founding members) and I hope that others of you will join – see www.cilip.org.uk/network. The only condition is that you have to be a CILIP member!



10. PAUL CATHERALL HAS A NEW JOB AS ’E-LEARNING SUPPORT LIBRARIAN (LAUREATE),’ AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL
Many congratulations to Paul Catherall who recently obtained a new post as ‘E-Learning Support Librarian (Laureate) at the University of Liverpool.
Paul worked at Glyndŵr University, (formerly North East Wales Institute for Higher Education) as the ‘Web Developer for Information and Student Services’ for quite a number of years prior to this. He has also written a book for Chandos Publishing (which I commissioned him to write), and is the webmaster for Information for Social Change and for the Career Development Group, Wales (a CILIP Special Interest Group).

I feel sure that this new position will enable Paul to utilise his breadth and depth of knowledge and expertise more effectively, and I wish him all the very best in his new post.


Many thanks to Liz Taylor for providing the information for item 6.



8th January 2009

Ruth Rikowski's 26th News Update




RUTH RIKOWSKI
News Update No.26


I am gradually starting to recover following on from studying for the teaching certificate and the huge amount of work that I seemed to have, in general, over the last academic year. I have, indeed, been getting some rest over the last few weeks, but am still trying to catch up! Anyway, I have now officially passed the teaching course, I am very pleased to say, and can now add ‘CLTHE’ (for Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education) to the many letters after my name!

However, I thought it was important to send out an Update now, as my blog will be closing down as of 31st October 2008. This is not my doing at all – AOL are closing down all their journals and blogs, and we have just been alerted to this, with no reasons given, no clear replacement offered etc. Oh well – such is life. I guess there is now a need for an alternative blog – WordPress seems to be the obvious choice. I will keep you informed of any decision, of course.

Meanwhile, a selection of news items are outlined below, which I hope you will enjoy.


1. GENDER/ICT ARTICLE BY RUTH RIKOWSKI NOW OUT IN ‘POLICY FUTURES IN EDUCATION’
A long article of mine, on the topic of gender and ICT has just been published, in Policy Futures in Education (Vo. 6, No. 4, 2008). It is entitled ‘Computers/Information and Communications Technology, the Information Profession and the Gender Divide: where are we going?’ and is an issue on theme of ‘Commercialisation, Internationalisation and the Internet’, guest edited by Chris Armbruster. My article considers a variety of inequalities that females suffer from within the computing, information and communications technology field. See: http://www.wwwords.co.uk/pfie/content/pdfs/6/issue6_4.asp#10



2. VICTOR VERNE RIKOWSKI NOW STUDYING AT BANGOR UNIVERSITY
Our middle son, Victor Rikowski, has just started studying for a degree in Music and Creative Writing at Bangor University, North Wales. It is in a beautiful, idyllic location, beside both the sea and the mountains, and Victor is really loving it.


3. LIZ TAYLOR
Liz Taylor was a masters’ student of mine at London South Bank University (2001-02). I subsequently commissioned her to write a book for Chandos Publishing on the broad topic of her dissertation (which she got a distinction for). She also wrote a report on Freedom of Information for Chandos. Here is more information about the 2 Chandos Publications:


‘Freedom of Information: towards a compliance’, 2004 – see http://www.chandospublishing.com/chandos_publishing_catalogue_search_booklist_results.php?ID=29


‘Knowledge, Information and the Business Process: revolutionary thinking or common sense?’, 2007 – see
http://www.chandospublishing.com/chandos_publishing_catalogue_search_booklist_results.php?ID=34


Liz Taylor now has her own Knowledge Management Consultancy Business – see http://www.tkmconsulting.co.uk'


As it says on the website:
“Tkm specialises in unleashing the value of intangible assets within your organization…”

I wish Liz every success with both her business and her books!


4. INFORMATION FOR SOCIAL CHANGE – ‘RADICAL BOOKSHOPS’ ISSUE IS NOW OUT
The latest issue of Information for Social Change is now out. It is edited by Martyn Lowe, and is on the theme of ‘Radical Bookshops’
See: http://www.libr.org/isc/toc.html




5. ‘CRITICAL PEDAGOGY: IN SEARCH OF DEMOCRACY, LIBERATION AND SOCIALISM’ – FORTHCOMING BOOK EDITED BY SHEILA MACRINE, PETER MCLAREN AND DAVE HILL, ROUTLEDGE, 2009
An article that first appeared in the summer 2006 issue of Information for Social Change, (which was a special issue on the theme ‘Education for Social Change’, edited by Glenn Rikowski) is now to be published in an edited collection. The article is by Dave Hill and is entitled ’Class, Capital and Education in this Neoliberal and Neoconservatism period’
http://libr.org/isc/issues/ISC23/B1%20Dave%20Hill.pdf


It will be appearing in the book:
‘Critical Pedagogy: In Search of Democracy, Liberation and Socialism’, edited by Sheila Macrine, Peter McLaren and Dave Hill, Routledge: London, 2009



6. REVIEWS OF MIKE COLE’S BOOK ‘MARXISM AND EDUCATIONAL THEORY: ORIGINS AND ISSUES’ IN ‘JOURNAL FOR EDUCATION POLICY STUDIES’
There are 2 reviews of Mike Cole’s book ‘Marxism and Educational Theory: origins and issues’, London: Routledge, 2008, in the ejournal ‘Journal for Education Policy Studies’. One review is by Julia Hall; the other by Kelvin McQueen. See
http://www.jceps.com/index.php?pageID=article&articleID=127




7. VANESSA BEARD’S NEW WEBSITE
Vanessa Beard contacted me nearly a year ago, following on from her doing a google search on ‘John Bond’ (a dear, elderly friend of mine that sadly passed away last year). The google search took her to the article about my parents that is on our website, which includes something about John in it. The article is entitled: ‘Stanley and Mabel Turney and the Peace Pledge Union: experiences of being bought up in a family advocating peace’ and is available at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Turney[a]s%20and%20PPU


Vanessa and I subsequently met up, which was lovely. We discovered that John had been a powerful and positive influence on both of us.

Vanessa is very keen on photography and has recently launched her own website with some of her photographs (including one of John Bond) and her drawings. See www.vanessabeard.co.uk


8. GLENN RIKOWSKI’S NEW BLOG
Glenn Rikowski has already started up a new blog (leading on from closure announcement of AOL blogs). His blog is with WordPress and is called ‘All that is Solid’. See

http://rikowski.wordpress.com/




Best

Ruth
Ruth Rikowski, BA, DipLib, MSc, MA, MCLIP, CLTHE
20th October 2008

Ruth Rikowski's 25th News Update


Twenty-Fifth News Update

RUTH RIKOWSKI
News Update No.25


At last, I have completed the second and final portfolio for my teaching certificate. I wanted to send out an Update post-haste after its completion (as another 2 months have already passed since the last one), so I am circulating one now, with a select few, but very important items. More will follow in due course.

The summer is proving to be a real ‘mixed bag’ for us. It started out with Glenn and I going to Rhodes, which was brilliant (see below); only shortly to be followed on our return by Glenn slipping on a wet floor in a chicken take-away, resulting in him getting 2 fractures in his left elbow! You can imagine how painful and distressful that has been!


1. GLENN RIKOWSKI AND RUTH RIKOWSKI PRESENTING PAPERS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF THE AEGEAN, RHODES, GREECE
So, anyway, our summer break started off very wonderfully indeed, with Glenn and I flying out to Rhodes, one of the lovely Greek islands, of course. We were invited to speak at the University of the Aegean in Rhodes, by Dr. Dionyssios Gouvias, who is a Lecturer in Education Policy in the Department of Pre-School Education and Educational Design at the University there.

We spoke and facilitated 2 summer workshops (3 hours each), on 4th July 2008 for the new MA program at the university. The Post-Graduate Program is entitled ‘Gender and New Educational and Employment Environments in the Information Age’. For more information about this, see:




There were 4 main themes on the programme. Glenn presented his paper and facilitated the workshop ‘Special Issues on Gender and Employment – new forms of employment’ and I presented a paper and facilitated the workshop ‘Special Issues on Gender and New Technologies’. The other themes on the program were ‘Special Issues on Gender and Education – New Forms of Education’ and ‘Special Issues in Research Methodology’.

My paper was based on a subject that I have a lot of work experience in, as well as some published works; this is on the topic of gender and information technology. My talk at the University of the Aegean was actually based on a forthcoming article of mine, entitled:
‘Computers/Information Technology, the information profession and the gender divide: where are we going?’ This is to be published in
Policy Futures in Education, Vol. 6, No. 4, 2008. See:
http://www.wwwords.co.uk/pfie/content/pdfs/6/issue6_4.asp


This article builds on my previous work on this topic - see my Updates 21 and 23, for information about my system/IT work experience in libraries. An article of mine entitled ‘Females, Computers and Libraries’ was published in the July/August 2003 issue of Managing Information and I wrote a chapter for the book ‘Library Management Trends and Opportunities’, edited by R. Raina, D. Gupta and R. Gaur (New Delhi, Excel Books, 2005), about implementing the Unicorn Library Management Computer System at Clifford Chance, a large international law company.

The magazine Information Age (see www.informationage.com) has also been taking a lively interest in this topic of late. In particular, it published a very interesting article by Laurie Penny in the May 2008 issue, entitled ‘Gender Gap’ (pp. 23-26). Laurie Penny began by saying “Where have all the women gone? Despite a persistent IT skills shortage in the UK and regardless of concerted efforts by technology companies, support networks and the UK government, the proportion of female employees in the UK’s IT sector keeps falling.” (p. 23). Information Age has also been taking an active interest in my work in this area (but more about that on another occasion). The gender inequality in I.T. is, indeed, still very significant, which should be a real cause for concern, as we all become more and more embroiled in this I.T. age.

Meanwhile, Glenn Rikowski wrote a paper specifically for the Rhodes workshop, which he then posted on our website. The paper is entitled ‘Against What we are Worth’ - see http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Against%20What%20We%20Are%20Worth.


This is a topic that Glenn and I first discussed and intended to write a paper on together, some 10 years ago now. But there never seemed to be the time – hopefully, there will be some time in the future to develop this further! The question that Glenn explored in this paper is ‘Why is it that men are paid more than women?’ He considered the fact that women are now doing much better in education than men overall, and yet, when it comes to the job market, they still lag behind, and overall earn a lot less than men. So, why does this apparent anomaly exist? This can be explained, objectively, by the fact that men have more value embedded in them than women, we would argue. This sounds quite horrific.


But the point it that the labour power within men is nurtured and developed to a far greater extent than it is in women, on the whole - particularly as women usually take ‘time out’ from labouring, and focus on nurturing the next lot of labour power, i.e. their children, rather than nurturing and developing their own labour power so much. Men tend to be at work longer as well, attend more training courses etc, and thus acquire more skills than women, over time. Interestingly, there is an article on this topic in The Guardian (6th August 2008) by John Carvel, reporting on research from Cambridge university about the difficulties that working women face, and how women still end up doing much more of the caring and the housework than men (see http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/aug/06/equality.gender). And so men become ‘worth’ more than women, in this way, in the job market in capitalism. This is because this value is turned into profit (as I have explained in much of my published material) and it is this process that sustains capitalism. This is not a pleasant fact to accept, but is one worth thinking further about, I would suggest.

The workshops consisted of mature students; the students asked many questions, contributed a lot and also spoke very good English (which was just as well, because we could not speak a word of Greek!). Glenn and I certainly enjoyed facilitating the two workshops with them.

After giving our talks, we had time to look around the island, particularly the Ancient City, which we loved; do lots of swimming. and have a relaxing, enjoyable and effectively free holiday, (preparing and giving the papers was obviously work, but enjoyable work!). Michael Peters and Tina Besley were also there, giving talks and facilitating workshops, so we were also able to meet up with them, and that was very nice.

Finally, Chyrssi Vitsilaki, the Director of Postgraduate Programme and Vice-Rector of Finance & Development, at the University of the Aegean, made us very welcome, took us all out for dinner one evening, and invited us back next year. We enthusiastically accepted, of course! So, many, many thanks Dionyssios for inviting us.



2. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT DIONYSSIOS GOUVIAS
In this section, I want to provide some more information about Dionyssios Gouvias, specifically. Dionyssios is doing some very important work, and in particular he demonstrates some of the ways in which the neo-liberal agenda is starting to take a hold. He explained to Glenn and I, for example, that university education is currently largely free for those studying for their first degrees, in Greece (this includes fees, accommodation, books etc). However, Greece looks to Britain as a beacon when it comes to education. So Greece is now following the British trend, and money and targets are starting to drive the agenda.

We first met Dionyssios at a Marxism and Education: renewing dialogues (MERD) seminar, that was held at the Institute of Education, University of London on 3rd May 2006 – this was MERD VIII on the theme ‘Universities plc?’ Dionyssios spoke at this MERD, and in time the plan is that his paper will be published in one of the books in the Palgrave Macmillan series. For more information about MERD VIII see:
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=events&sub=MERD




Leading on from MERD VIII, at my suggestion, Dionyssios wrote an article for Information for Social Change. The details are:

‘Pay as you Learn!’: The ‘Learning Society’ Rhetoric in the EU-Sponsored Research Projects’, in Information for Social Change, Guest Edited by Glenn Rikowski, Summer 2006, No. 23
http://libr.org/isc/issues/ISC23/B5%20Dionyssios%20Gouvias.pdf



Dionyssios also has a number of other published articles. These include:

‘Student employment and parental influences on educational and occupational aspirations of Greek adolescents’ by Dionyssios Gouvias and C. Vitsilakis-Soroniatis, in Journal of Education and Work, Vol. 18, No. 4, Dec 2005, pp. 421-449

‘The ‘Response’ of the Greek State to Global Trends of Educational Policy Making’, (pp. 25-38), in European Educational Policy Research Journal (another Symposium journal) Vol. 6, No. 1, 2007 http://www.wwwords.co.uk/eerj/content/pdfs/6/issue6_1.asp#3



‘The ‘Regulatory’ State and the Use of ‘Independent’ Agencies as Legitimasing Mechanisms of Educational Reform’, in Research in Comparative and International Education, (another Symposium journal), Vol. 2, No. 4, 2007
http://www.wwwords.co.uk/rcie/content/pdfs/2/issue2_4.asp#3



Dionyssios Gouvias teaches primary and pre-primary schoolteachers in the eastern and southern Aegean region. He oversaw a nationwide research project on educational and occupational aspirations of students in technical and vocational schools. He has also given papers at many Educational and Sociological Conferences at Greece and abroad. During his post-graduate studies he took part in various research projects concerning socio-economic transformations and recent demographic developments and links between school and work in Greece.



3. POLICY FUTURES IN EDUCATION USAGE STATISTICS CHARTS – RIKOWSKI’S NO. 1 AND NO. 2!
We are very pleased and excited to announce that Glenn and myself are suddenly No. 1 and No. 2 respectively in the Policy Futures in Education (PFIE) charts. What does this mean, one might well ask? Well, PFIE has a usage statistics page for the most popular articles. This lists the articles in the journal in rank order by the number of downloads for each article (which are in PDF format). See: http://www.wwwords.co.uk/stats/popular.asp?j=pfie&view=total.

Glenn Rikowski with his article
‘Marx and the Education of the Future’, which was published in PFIE in 2004, Vol 2, No. 3 is currently No. 1 in this chart, with 4752 total downloads so far this year (as of 6th August 2008). His article can be viewed at:
http://www.wwwords.co.uk/pdf/viewpdf.asp?j=pfie&vol=2&issue=3&year=2004&article=10_Rikowski_PFEO_2_3-4_web&id=195.93.21.71



Ruth Rikowski with her article, ‘Value – the Life Blood of Capitalism: Knowledge is the Current Key’, which was published in PFIE in 2003, Vol. 1, No. 1 (in the very first issue of PFIE, in fact), is No. 2 in this chart, with 4028 total downloads so far this year (as of 6th August 2008). My article can be viewed at:
http://www.wwwords.co.uk/pdf/viewpdf.asp?j=pfie&vol=1&issue=1&year=2003&article=9_Rikowski_PFIE_1_1&id=195.93.21.68



There are some 250 articles altogether in this list, with a great variety of authors, so we think this is quite some achievement and I hope you agree!



4. ‘GLOBAL KNOWLEDGE CULTURES’, EDITED BY CUSHLA KAPITZKE AND MICHAEL A. PETERS IS NOW OUT.
It is good to see that this book is now out. I have a chapter in it, which is entitled ‘A Marxist analysis of the World Trade Organisation’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights’ (by Ruth Rikowski) (pp.65-82).

Full details of the book are: ‘Global Knowledge Cultures’, edited by Cushla Kapitzke and Michael A. Peters, Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense Publishers, 2007.
ISBN 978 90 8790 218 6 (pbk); 978 90 8790 219 3 (hdbk).
The book is in the series ‘Educational Futures Rethinking Theory and Practice’, Vol 14, Series Editors Michael A. Peters and J. Freeman-Moir. See:
http://www.amazon.com/Global-Knowledge-Cultures-C-Kapitzke/dp/9087902182/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213182201&sr=1-1




5. A MARXIST ANALYSIS OF THE WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION’S AGREEMENT ON TRADE-RELATED ASPECTS OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS BY RUTH RIKOWSKI - NOW FREELY AVAILABLE ONLINE
This article of mine, which was published in Policy Futures in Education, Vol 4, No. 4, 2006 (Issue theme ‘Copyrights and Patents: issues and ethics for education’, Guest Edited by Cushla Kapitze) is now freely available online (as are all articles in Policy Futures in Education 18 months after publication). So, for all those that are interested in reading this article of mine for free, here is the link:
http://www.wwwords.co.uk/pfie/content/pdfs/4/issue4_4.asp#6





6. CHRIS FORD INVITING US TO CONTRIBUTE TO ‘SOLIDARITY’
Chris Ford kindly invited members of the Rikowski family to contribute on an occasional basis to ‘Solidarity’: Workers’ Liberty for International Working Class Solidarity and Socialism. See: http://www.workersliberty.org/solidaritynew



Thanks for the offer Chris and we hope that we will be able to make a valuable contribution!



7. ‘ON MARX: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE REVOLUTIONARY INTELLECT OF KARL MARX’ BY PAULA ALLMAN, ROTTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS: SENSE PUBLISHERS, 2007. PART OF THE ‘KEY CRITICAL THINKERS IN EDUCATION’ SERIES – SERIES EDITORS MICHAEL A. PETERS AND TINA (A.C.) BESLEY. ISBN 978 90 8790 192 9 (pbk); 978 90 8790 193 6 (hdbk), $19.95 –

REVIEW ARTICLE BY RUTH RIKOWSKI
I recently wrote a long review article (approximately 4500 words) on this all-important book, ‘On Marx’ by Paula Allman - I included information about this book in my Updates 19 and 20.

In my review article I aim to summarise some of the essence of ‘On Marx’, which was challenging, given the depth of the topic, and the fact that Paula gave herself an extremely difficult task of endeavouring to summarise Marx’s ‘Capital’ Vols I-III in just a few pages. As I point out at the end of my review article:

“The book is based directly on Marx’s work, rather than others reinterpretations (or indeed misinterpretations) of it! Allman’s indepth reading and understanding of the whole of Marx’s work, places her in a unique position to be able to write a book such as this…”

Furthermore, Paula Allman takes Marx’s work forward, demonstrating the relevance of Marx’s theory to education, and to her own revolutionary critical approach, in particular. I also emphasis the fact that, in my view, this provides the reader with an “…opportunity to enjoy the richness of a female mind such as Paula’s [which] should, in my decided view, be very much appreciated and celebrated. “

Professor Michael Peters is going to publish my review article in one of the journals that he edits.



8. ‘ON MARX’ BY PAULA ALLMAN REVIEWED BY VICTOR RIKOWSKI
Leading on from Chris Ford’s invitation (see point 6 above), Victor Rikowski wrote a review of Paula Allman’s book ‘On Marx’ (see point 7 above) for ‘Solidarity’. Victor also quoted from the book when he gave his guest lecture at Kingston University on ‘Problems in Education Today II’ earlier this year. He found Paula Allman’s book very helpful, inspiring and insightful and he learnt a lot more about Marx’s ideas from reading it. The review is also now on amazon.com – see http://www.amazon.com/Marx-Paula-Allman/dp/9087901925/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217483295&sr=8-2.


Michael Peters liked the review, and said that he would like to publish it in Policy Futures in Education as well, which of course very much pleased Victor.






6th August 2008






Best
Ruth

Ruth Rikowski's 24th News Update


RUTH RIKOWSKI
News Update No.24


Well, I have decided that another Update from me is long overdue, even though, I still have not yet quite completed my teaching certificate. It is a long story, but all-being-well it will be completed fairly soon now. So, below is a selection of what have been, for me, some of the most important recent happenings and developments. Here goes…..


1. ‘THE OCKRESS’ BY VICTOR RIKOWSKI, IS NOW OUT
First of all, I am delighted to say that The Ockress is now out. Whatever is this, you might well ask? Victor Verne Rikowski, our middle son, has been working on this project for a couple of years or so now. Being a very creative person, with no shortage of ideas etc., he decided to turn his use of PowerPoint into an art form and designed a complex story on it, with lots of moving images, dialogue and action scenes etc. The result of all this, coupled with his vivid imagination, lead him to design and write The Ockress, which in many ways actually comes across as being somewhat film-like.

The Ockress is a mythological story about a young man named Perlone who is identified by circumstance as ‘The Chosen One’ of a religion that dedicates itself to a number of Gods, Indomnias being the most influential; a religion that is named quite simply as ‘the Faith’. Links to The Ockress are below:

HOME: http://www.theockress.com/ or http://www.theockress.co.uk/

SYNOPSIS: http://www.theockress.com/synopsis.html

THE PAGES: http://www.theockress.com/thepages.html

THE FOREWORD: http://www.theockress.com/foreword.html


The Ockress was written by Victor Rikowski

Designed by: http://www.wearedesigners.co.uk/

© The Ockress, 2007-08. All rights reserved.

Victor Rikowski's MySpace Profile, Victor, is at: http://www.myspace.com/theockress


Victor Rikowski's Online Publications are at:
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Victor%20Rikowski

If anyone would like to make any comments about this project and/or make contact with Victor about this, or any of his other work, then this can be done through ‘The Ockress’ website directly (http://www.theockress.co.uk/contact.html), or by contacting Victor at: victor-the-great@hotmail.co.uk. Or if all else fails, do make contact with him via rikowskigr@aol.com



2. VICTOR RIKOWSKI TALKING AT KINGSTON UNIVERSITY ON ‘PROBLEMS IN EDUCATION TODAY - II’
Victor Rikowski also gave a talk at Kingston University on Tuesday, 8th April 2008, at the invitation of Dr Sarah Amsler, on the theme of ‘Problems in Education Today – II’. This built on an article of his that was published in Information for Social Change in Summer 2006, entitled ‘Problems in Education Today’ – see:
http://libr.org/isc/issues/ISC23/B9d%20Victor%20Rikowski.pdf

This was Victor’s first university talk in terms of it being a guest lecture slot, and it seems that he engaged his audience well, and that there was a good discussion. Victor is now in the process of writing his talk up into an article.

There are important topics for young people today, as they grapple with student loans and debt; many students having to work whilst studying; often having to respond to pressures to conform and put jobs and careers above their own self-development; being faced with an increasing skills-based university agenda and not being encouraged enough to really think critically for themselves. All this, whilst at the same time, they are often being told that they are not motivated enough and cannot read and think for themselves adequately. The older generation that was educated in the 1960s and 1970s has a lot to answer for in regard to what is happening to this younger generation, I think. Glenn Rikowski addresses this very topic in a short article he wrote, entitled ‘The B Generation’, which is available on our website – see: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=B%20Generation.

I also look at some of these issues in a book review of mine that has been published recently in the May 2008 issue of Managing Information. The book is by Tara Brabazon and is entitled ‘The Google University’ (see news item 16 below). At one point, Brabazon says, for example that: “…students must…learn the skill of reading, chewing, spitting out and reingesting difficult writing and monographs” (p. 39). Whilst she also acknowledges that “Much of education teaches students that they are not good enough, that they do not belong and that they are not important” (p.54).

Victor Rikowski will be giving another talk at Kingston University on the same topic in June. This is part of the ‘1st Annual Student Conference: Student Speak; Research, Debate and Action in University Life’ that has been organised by Dr. Sarah Amsler, and will be taking place at Kingston University, in the C-SCAIPE Debating Chamber on 6th June 2008, from 10.00am – 4.30pm (Registration from 9.30am). The conference will include talks, panels, posters, creative performances and discussions. The day is free and includes lunch and snacks. See: http://www.kingston.ac.uk/aboutkingstonuniversity/events/all-events/lectures/events/
For more information and to register, contact Dr. Sarah Amsler at s.amsler@kingston.ac.uk.


3. ‘SOCIOLOGY: THEMES AND PERSPECTIVES’ EDITED BY MIKE HARALAMBOS AND MARTIN HOLBORN, 7th ED, LONDON: HARPERCOLLINS, 2008, ISBN 978-0007245956, £29.99 (pbk) WITH A FOCUS ON ‘CONFLICT PERSPECTIVES IN EDUCATION’
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sociology-Themes-Perspectives-Michael-Haralambos/dp/0007245955/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212144003&sr=8-2

We were delighted to discover that Glenn Rikowski is in the 7th edition of Haralambos and Holborn (he was also in the 6th edition). For those who do not already know, this amazing sociology textbook (which has greatly expanded over the years, and in this 7th edition there are 954 pages), was first published in 1980 “…with the aim of providing a systematic introduction to sociology for UK A level students, undergraduates and the general reader” (Haralambos and Holborn in ‘Preface to the 7th edition’).

Chapter 10 is on ‘Education’, and includes a section on ‘Conflict Perspectives’ (pp. 602-608). This section examines the work of Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Paul Willis and Glenn Rikowski. In regard to Glenn’s work, it focuses in particular on his work on ‘The Business Takeover of Schools’ and ‘Globalisation and Education’. Haralambos and Holborn say that “Over the last twenty-five years, Marxist sociology has become unfashionable. [But] Rikowski has given a new lease of life to Marxist perspectives on education”
(p. 608).

What heartened us, in particular, was the ‘Evaluation of Rikowski’ section, which focused on Richard Hatcher’s criticisms of Glenn’s work. Haralambos and Holborn say that “Critics argue that governments control education and will do so for the foreseeable future. Schools for profit are unlikely to appear as part of present or future educational policy in the UK (Hatcher, 2005)” (Haralambos and Holborn, p. 608). However, Glenn argues that there is no ‘safe zone’ in capitalism in the way that Hatcher seems to be suggesting. In referencing Hatcher, Haralambos and Holborn are referring to the original piece that he wrote, criticising Glenn’s work. This piece, entitled Business Sponsorship of Schools: For-profit takeover or agents of neoliberal change? A Reply to Glenn Rikowski’s ‘Habituation of the Nation: School Sponsors as Precursors to the Big Bang?’, revolves around a discussion of the Education White Paper (October 2005). Glenn posted piece this on his web-log, ‘The Volumizer’ on 7th November 2005 at: http://journals.aol.co.uk/rikowskigr/Volumizer/entries/651. Hatcher’s attack was in direct response to an article that Glenn inserted on his web-log, entitled Habituation of the Nation: School Sponsors as Precursors to the Big Bang? posted to the Volumizer 19th October, 2005 (see http://journals.aol.co.uk/rikowskigr/Volumizer/entries/566), where Glenn bravely attempts to make sense of the White Paper before it had even been released, basing his predictions on press leakages coupled with his in-depth and insightful theoretical Marxist analysis.

Directly following on from this piece Glenn participated in a debate on the Education White Paper on ‘The World Tonight’, BBC Radio 4 programme, which took place on the evening of the release of the White Paper. For more information about this see - A discussion on ‘The World Tonight’, BBC Radio 4 programme, 25th October 2005, 10.00pm, about the UK Government Education White Paper and links with the GATS, Library Services, Education Services and the extension of the commodification process by Ruth Rikowski, available at:http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Education%20White%20Paper.

Also, Discussion on the Education White Paper for England and extension of the commodification process in library and schools, by Ruth Rikowski and Glenn Rikowski, in Information for Social Change, No. 22, Winter 2005.
http://74.125.39.104/search?q=cache:6HL7_-MF_MQJ:libr.org/isc/issues/isc22/22-10.pdf+Ruth+and+Glenn+Rikowski+and+Education+White+Paper&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=uk&ie=UTF-8
Furthermore, we transcribed the radio programme – see: http://libr.org/isc/media/glenn.html

Glenn inserted Hatcher’s attack (saying that Glenn’s analysis of the White Paper was incorrect, yet saying this whilst having the actual White Paper at his own disposal) on his web-log, so that interested people could follow the debate. Glenn wrote a very long reply to this piece by Hatcher (some 20,000 words), entitled ‘In the Dentist’s Chair’, which we then placed on our website:
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=In%20the%20Dentist%5ba%5ds%20Chair, on 31st December 2005, and it is this piece that is also referenced in Haralambos and Holborn.

Other works of Glenn Rikowski that Haralambos and Holborn refer to include:

1. ‘Scorched earth: prelude to rebuilding Marxist educational theory, British Journal of Sociology of Education,1997, Vol. 18, No. 4

2. The Battle in Seattle: its significance for education, Tufnell Press, London, 2001

3. Globalisation and Education: a paper prepared for the House of Lords Select Committee on Economic Affairs, Inquiry into the Global Economy, 2002
www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/00001941.htm

4. In the dentist’s chair: a response to Richard Hatcher’s critique of Habituation of the Nation, 2005, www.flowideas.co.uk/print.php?page=147

It is wonderful that the originality of Glenn’s work is now really being recognised in this way (and there is more about the development of his Marxist theoretical analysis in the 6th edition of Haralambos and Holborn). History will prove the extent to which Glenn has pushed forward and developed Marxist educational theory. But given the horrors of capitalism, and the extent to which people suffer both individually and collectively within it, let us hope that people will be enlightened sooner rather than later, and that creative thinkers, with new ideas and theories, are able to effectively shine through and that their work can then be used constructively (rather than de-constructively), whereby many people can hopefully benefit.




4. ‘RENEWING DIALOGUES IN MARXISM AND EDUCATION: OPENINGS’ – EDITED BY ANTHONY GREEN, GLENN RIKOWSKI AND HELEN RADUNTZ,
NEW YORK: PALGRAVE MACMILLAN: LONDON, 2007,
ISBN 13 978 1 4039 7496 9; 10 1-4039-7496-9, $79.95

http://www.amazon.com/Renewing-Dialogues-Marxism-Education-Openings/dp/1403974969/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211890612&sr=8-1
**RECENTLY PUBLISHED

Here is news about the recently published first ‘Marxism and Education: Renewing Dialogues’ (MERD) book!!

Glenn Rikowski organised the twice-yearly ‘Marxism and Education: Renewing Dialogues’ (MERDs) seminars, with Tony Green, at the Institute of Education, University of London, for 5 years, from 2002 to 2007 - see
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=events&sub=MERD
for further information about all these seminars.

Leading on from these very successful seminars, Glenn and Tony secured a book contract with Palgrave Macmillan for a Book Series on ‘Marxism and Education’, the aim being to include themes and papers from the seminars themselves, as well as having separate monographs.

MERD III, for example, was on the theme of ‘Pedagogy and Culture’. MERD III was held on the 22nd October 2003 and the speakers that participated in it included: Paula Allman, Carmel Borg, Helen Colley, David Guile, Peter Jones, Peter Mayo, and Victoria Perselli. The session was also reported in the Chronicle of Higher Education by Scott McLemee, 5th December 2003, in a piece entitled ‘Scenes for the Classroom Struggle’ – see http://chronicle.com/free/v50/i15/15a04001.htm

The first book in the series has now been published and it is based on the first 2 opening seminars (which were not theme-based). It is entitled “Renewing Dialogues in Marxism and Education: Openings” and is edited by Tony Green, Glenn Rikowski and Helen Raduntz. Chapters in the book include contributions from Tony Green, Geraldine Thorpe and Pat Brady, Helen Raduntz, Dave Hill, Mike Cole, Elizabeth Atkinson and Mike Cole, Jane Mulldering, Mark Olsen and Michael A. Peters, Rachel Gorman, Helen Colley, Paul Warmington, David Harvie, Gregory Martin and Paula Allman.



5. MARXISM AND EDUCATION: ONLINE RESOURCES

Mainly for the benefit of students (but perhaps useful for others), Glenn Rikowski has put together a document on Marxism and Education: Online Resources. This is to help people interested in applying the ideas of Karl Marx and Marxists to education. Glenn has indicated the main web sites and blogs relevant to this purpose. See:
http://journals.aol.co.uk/rikowskigr/Volumizer/entries/2008/05/23/marxism-and-education-online-resources/1756
Or:
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=14758904&blogID=398306382&Mytoken=4E16640E-E743-40A7-ABD9A93909971CD339494272




6. HELEN RADUNTZ’S REVIEW OF MY BOOK
‘GLOBALISATION, INFORMATION AND LIBRARIES’ IN ‘LIBRARY REVIEW’

It was good to see Helen Raduntz’s review of my book ‘Globalisation, Information and Libraries: the implications of the World Trade Organisation’s GATS and TRIPS Agreements’, Oxford: Chandos Publishing, 2005, finally published in Library Review (Vol. 56, No. 9, 2007, pp. 846-848). Helen is based at the Centre for Research in Education, Equity and Work, at the University of South Australia and is currently writing a Chandos book of her own on intellectual property rights, from a Marxian perspective.

In regard to my book, Helen Raduntz says: “Without doubt Ruth Rikowski’s book is highly relevant, accessible, extremely informative and encyclopedic in scope backed by detailed research. It is a ‘must have’ text not only for those working within the information profession and libraries but also for those who are greatly concerned with the current turn of events in which the intellectual resources of the people of all nations are being brought to the world’s trading table” (p. 846). She outlines some of the main features of my book, but makes it clear that, for her, the most important section is Part 3, which focuses on part of her own particular area of interest (i.e. intellectual property rights) – the WTO’s agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). As she rightly says “The effect [of this agreement] is to transfer intellectual property rights from the political to the market arena where ownership is underpinned by private property rights” (p. 847). She concludes by saying that she highly recommends the book “…as an extremely important contribution towards clarifying a vital set of issues which we must sooner or later face and address” (p. 848).


7. LATEST ISSUE OF ‘INFORMATION FOR SOCIAL CHANGE’ (WINTER 2007) ON THE TOPIC OF ‘LIBRARIES AND SOCIAL EXCLUSION’, EDITED BY JOHN PATEMAN AND JOHN VINCENT, NO. 26
The latest issue of Information for Social Change, on the topic of ‘Libraries and Social Exclusion’ and edited by John Vincent and John Pateman is now available at: http://libr.org/isc/issues/ISC26/ISC%2026%20full%20issue.pdf

The contents include:

‘Social exclusion – where is it going?’ by John Vincent
‘Developing a needs based library service’ by John Pateman
‘He didn’t have to say he was gay’ by John Vincent
‘Public Libraries and the Digital Divide’ by John Pateman
‘Are we all being served’ by Andrew Hudson
‘Reading Orwell in Havana’ by John Pateman
‘Library Services for Newcomers to Canada: embracing cultural diversity’ by Kendra Bender



8. RUTH RIKOWSKI GIVING GUEST LECTURES AT KINGSTON UNIVERSITY, UNIVERSITY OF GREENWICH AND LONDON SOUTH BANK UNIVERSITY ON GLOBALISATION AND KNOWLEDGE, SPRING 2008
I gave some more guest lectures this semester at Kingston University, London South Bank University and the University of Greenwich, which all seemed to be generally well-received. At Greenwich I spoke about ‘Globalisation’ as this topic forms quite an important part of the ‘Introduction to the Tourism Industry’ course that I teach there to first-year undergraduates. At Kingston I spoke on the topic of ‘Knowledge, Knowledge Management and the Knowledge Revolution’, to masters students, referring to my published works on the topic and as well as providing something of an overview. Directly leading on from this, I spoke very specifically on the topic of ‘Value and Knowledge’, demonstrating how important it is today, to extract value from knowledge in this knowledge revolution. At South Bank I gave some interactive lectures on ‘Globalisation and Knowledge’ to masters students, providing information, encouraging participation, and suggesting that students could benefit from thinking and reflecting further on these important topics.



9. THE LATEST ISSUE OF ‘POLICY FUTURES IN EDUCATION’ IS NOW OUT
(VOL. 6, NO. 2, 2008)

‘Policy Futures in Education’ starting from this year, is being published 6 times a year, and the 2nd issue of 2008 (Vol. 6, No. 2) is available at: http://www.wwwords.co.uk/pfie/content/pdfs/6/issue6_2.asp

Contents include:

The Wealth of Networks (Yochai Benkler) discussed by Philippe Aigrain, Leslie Chan, Jean-Claude Guédon, and John Willinsky, with a response by Yochai Benkler, pages 152-175
Roxana Bobulescu. Popularising the ‘New International Political Economy’: the ATTAC movement, pages 176-186

Christelle Garrouste. Language Skills and Economic Returns, pages 187-202

Jon Lauglo & Tormod Øia. Education and Civic Engagement among Norwegian Youth, pages 203-223

Beatriz Fainholc. Educational Technology in Crisis, pages 224-234

Keiko Yokoyama. Neo-liberalism and Change in Higher Education Policy: England and Japan, pages 235-256

Georg Spöttl. Autonomy of (Vocational) Schools as an Answer to Structural Changes, pages 257-264

Scott Graham. Staging the Performances of the Privileged Social Group (PSG): expanding the philosophical foundation of critical pedagogy, pages 265-279

Access to the issue is by personal or library subscription, but all articles become free-to-view 18 months after publication.


10. POLICY FUTURES IN EDUCATION (http://www.wwwords.co.uk/PFIE/)
- CONTRIBUTIONS

Following on from the fact that I am now on the Editorial Board of Policy Futures in Education if anyone is interested in contributing and writing an article for PFIE, and would like to make contact with me in regard to it, then do drop me an email.

You can also subscribe to the free Policy Futures in Education free newsletter – see http://www.wwwords.co.uk/pfie/subscriptions/newsletter.asp


11. ‘EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY AND THEORY’ JOURNAL – EDITED BY PROFESSOR MICHAEL PETERS
As well as being the Chief Editor of Policy Futures in Education, Professor Michael Peters is also the Chief Editor of Educational Philosophy and Theory as well as editing the Symposium e-journal, E-Learning with Michele Knobel and Colin Lankshear
Educational Philosophy and Theory is an international, blind refereed journal and is published 7 times a year, through Blackwell Publishing (available in both hard copy and electronically). It can be found at: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0013-1857


It is published on behalf of the Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia and the first issue was published in 1969!
Print ISSN: 0013-1857; Online ISSN: 1469-5812


Details for subscribing to the journal are available at: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/subs.asp?ref=0013-1857&site=1


As it says on the website: “Educational Philosophy and Theory publishes articles concerned with all aspects of educational philosophy. It will also consider manuscripts from other areas of pure or applied educational research. In this latter category the journal has published manuscripts concerned with curriculum theory…the politics of education, educational history…and higher education.”


Recent special issues of EPAT have included topics such as ‘Critical Thinking and Learning’, ‘Philosophy of Early Childhood Education’ and ‘Philosophy of Education in the Nordic’.



12. ‘E-LEARNING’ JOURNAL
E-Learning, is another Symposium journal, and is edited by Michele Knobel (Montclair State University, USA), Colin Lankshear (University of Ballarat, Australia) and Michael A. Peters (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA).
It is available at: http://www.wwwords.co.uk/elea/
E-Learning is an online-only journal, and is published 4 times a year.
ISSN 1741 8887
Details for subscribing to the journal can be found at:
http://www.wwwords.co.uk/elea/subscriptions/subscriptions.asp


As it says on the website: “E-Learning is a peer-reviewed international journal directed towards the study and research of e-learning in its diverse aspects: pedagogical, curricular, sociological, economic, philosophical and political.”
Furthermore, it aims “…to serve as an international forum to facilitate current research, practice and development of e-learning in education.” It is particularly interested in articles that consider both theory and practice.


13. LAUNCH OF SPANISH EDITION OF THE COPY/SOUTH DOSSIER, APRIL 2008
The Copy/South Dossier (a 210-page document) has now been published in Spanish (release date 28th April 2008). The translation has been prepared by the Intellectual Property AutonomousService (Servicio Autonomo de la Propiedad Intelectual, SAPI), theintellectual property agency of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

I reviewed this important document, which is available on our website – see http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Copy/South%20Dossier




The actual English Press Release for the launch of this translation is below:

“Press Release 28 April 2008
ANNOUNCING THE SPANISH EDITION OF THE COPY/ SOUTH DOSSIER

Issues in the economics, politics, and ideology of copyright in the global South. Researched and published by the Copy/South Research Group May 2006 ISBN: 978-0-9553140-1-8 (printed first English edition).

Not restricted by copyright

THE 2008 SPANISH EDITION OF THE COPY/SOUTH DOSSIER:Edited by Rafael Carreño of the Servicio Autonomo de la Propiedad Intelectual (Intellectual Property Agency of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela)

Download the English 2006 first edition of the Copy/South Dossier here at the official site:http://www.copysouth.org/or here at E-LIS: E-prints in Library and Information Science: http://eprints.rclis.org/archive/00006278/

Download the Spanish 2008 first edition of the Copy/South Dossier here atthe official site: http://www.copysouth.org/or here at E-LIS: E-prints in Library and Information Science:http://eprints.rclis.org/archive/00013262/


In 2005, a group of scholars and activists, mostly from the global South, created the Copy/South Research Group to analyse, criticise, and confront the oppressive nature of current global copyright regimes, such as those defended by the World Intellectual Property Organisation, and similar ones around the globe.


In May 2006, 22 of us, including 15 people from the global South, published THE COPY/SOUTH DOSSIER: Issues in the economics, politics, and ideology of copyright in the global South.The aim of the Dossier was to open up a critical and radical debate on the real impact of copyright laws and how they affect the daily lives of people living in more than 150 developing countries of the global South.


We also highlighted issues that are not unique to the Global South, but also affect both sides of the North-South divide. This publication of more than 50 articles was addressed to researchers, educators, librarians, musicians, activists, organizations concerned about access to knowledge, and all of those who want to learn more about the oppressive global role of copyright laws and, in particular, their largely negative role in the developing countries of the global South.Given the democratic objectives of the Copy/South Research Group, the Dossier was not restricted by copyright. Therefore, it has been accessed openly and freely in both electronic and paper formats by thousands of readers from around the world in English. But English is not spoken by all citizens in the global South. With this in mind, the entire 200-page Dossier was translated into Spanish in late 2007 by an enthusiastic team of voluntary translators from Argentina, Bolivia, Cuba, Mexico, Spain, and Venezuela.But what is still more extraordinary about the Spanish translation is that it was completely coordinated and edited by the Servicio Autonomo de la Propiedad Intelectual (SAPI) of the democratic government of the Venezuelan Bolivarian Republic.


The Dossier provides "useful material to introduce this topic to teachers and students" and does a good job of "summarizing a complex and conflicting situation" for developing countries, Jumersi La Rosa, SAPI's new director, said last week in announcing the release of the Spanish edition. She has written a special new introduction for the Spanish-language edition.The Copy South Research Group is very pleased that the radical message ofresistance found in the Dossier can now be read by thousands ofSpanish-language speakers who are questioning the current copyright regimeand who hopefully will be ignited by the ideas in the Dossier to take up the fight against oppressive regimes based on copyright.You can get a copy of the Dossier in Spanish and English by downloading it, free of charge, at http://www.copysouth.org/. We also still have a limited number of printed and bound copies of the English-language version of the Dossier. If you would to be mailed a copy of the English-language version, which contains eight posters, send us an e-mail (contact@copysouth.org) and include your full postal details.


FINANCIAL SUPPORTERS OF THE C/S RESEARCH GROUP:

1)The Open SocietyInstitute, Budapest, Hungary;

2) HIVOS,The Hague,The Netherlands;

3)TheResearch Fund of Kent Law School, Canterbury, Kent

UK.COPY/SOUTH RESEARCH GROUP 28 April 2008 http://www.copysouth.org/"



14. EUROPEAN SOCIAL FORUM (ESF) BEING HELD IN SOUTH SWEDEN IN SEPTEMBER 2008
The European Social Forum (ESF) is being held in Malmö, in the south of Sweden from 17th-21st September 2008. More than 20,000 people are expected to participate in the forum. ESF is a meeting place for social movements in Europe and works in conjunction with the aims of the World Social Forum (WSF). Throughout the five days seminars and workshops will be mixed with culture, music, activism and demonstrations.
See also: http://esf2008.org/home/another-europe-is-possible



15. ‘THE UNIVERSITY OF GOOGLE: EDUCATION IN THE [POST] INFORMATION AGE’ by TARA BRABAZON, HAMPSHIRE: ASHGATE PUBLISHING, 2007, ISBN 978 0 7546 7097 1, £30.00 (HDBK) – REVIEWED BY RUTH RIKOWSKI
http://www.amazon.co.uk/University-Google-Education-Post-Information/dp/075467097X/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211882958&sr=8-4


My review of ‘The University of Google’ was published in the May issue of Managing Information, Vol. 15, No. 3, pp. 22-23. This is an important book as it addresses some of the issues and difficulties that academics face today, particularly those of us that teach in the new universities. Brabazon says that “A problem has emerged in my teaching during the last few years that requires attention. As each semester progresses, a greater proportion of my students is reading less, referencing less and writing with less clarity and boldness.” (p. 15). However, although she titles the book ‘The University of Google’, she says that the problems are not actually caused by Google itself, but rather that Google encourages poor scholarship, lazy approaches and ‘compliant thinking’ (p. 15). She says that more and more of her time is being taken up with emailing, administrative procedures and answering student enquires etc. It is very commendable that Brabazon is drawing attention, in this way, to the reality of the workplace for many academics today. However, it would have been useful if she had also provided a deeper economic, social and political analysis and endeavoured to explain why she thinks all this is actually happening today.



16. SOCIAL NETWORKING AND SOCIAL TOOLS
A consideration of Brabazon’s book, leads us nicely on to the topic of ‘Social Networking’ and Web 2.0 tools and technologies. All these subjects are now very ‘hot topics’, which the library and information profession suddenly seems to have woken up to, realising their importance as information providers! This ‘bunch of tools’ is far-ranging, including MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, Bebo, Flickr, blogs, wikkis, newsletters etc., etc.


Glenn Rikowski has been very much ahead of his time in this area as well. He started up his MySpace Profile at http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski quite some time ago now, and indeed, was one of the first academics to really make use of this particular tool. As I reported in previous Updates of mine (e.g. 21st News Update) his MySpace Profile was given as an example of academic’s using computing environments for ‘social space’ in Allison Littlejohn and Chris Pegler’s book Preparing for blended e-learning, Routledge: Oxon, 2007, ISBN 0 415 40360 X (pbk).


Here are further details about some of his other social networking tools (including his blogs), and some other related information.


Glenn Rikowski’s web log, the Volumizer.

Glenn's MySpace blog, Wavering on Ether, is at: http://blog.myspace.com/glennrikowski

For Glenn Rikowski at firgoa see: http://firgoa.usc.es/drupal/taxonomy/term/353 (here, his blogs are being picked up in Spain)

Glenn Rikowski on Technorati is at: http://technorati.com/tag/Glenn+Rikowski



So, as can be seen, he has been very active indeed, in these areas. Currently, through his blogs, he is evaluating the benefit of these tools for his students. This work is ongoing.
I have also been to a number of events recently on the topic. This included a Gurteen Knowledge Café on the topic of ‘What will be the impact of Social Tools on KM?’ held on 5th March 2008, and facilitated by David Gurteen himself - see http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/kcafe-km2.0.


This session discussed the value, impact and importance of various social tools today, and whether or not they are likely to eventually lead to Knowledge Management itself becoming a thing of the past. Also, Helen Nicoll’s talk at a Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) London meeting that was held on 9th January 2008, which I referred to in my 23rd News Update. Here Helen focused on KM and the National Health Service (NHS), and in particular the work that she has done on blogging, in this regard.


And finally, the talk that Lisa Goldman gave at Jewish Book Week, entitled ‘The Art of Blogging’, which was held on 29th February 2008 (Jewish Book Week lasted from 23rd February – 2nd March 2008). Lisa Goldman is one of the world’s most famous and successful bloggers and her blog is entitled ‘On the Face’ - see http://lisagoldman.net/. This was a fascinating talk, and Lisa’s enthusiasm for blogging really shone through. In fact, she said that blogging had changed her life! Lisa thinks that blogs are the ultimate in freedom of expression. Lisa Goldman became a successful blogger through her blogging of the Lebanon war of 2006, where she was getting 150,000 hits a day at one point. In fact, it was the first live-blogged war and it was the first-time that bloggers could really demonstrate some home truths during a war so clearly (showing pictures of what had and had not been bombed, for example) and exposing errors and misrepresentations that were made in the mainstream media. For more information about her talk, see http://www.jewishbookweek.com/2008/290208c.php
Then, of course, I have my own blog – ‘Ruth Rikowski Updates’.


The topic of Social Networking is also covered in the May 2008 (Vol. 15, No. 3) issue of Managing Information, including an article by David Lavenda entitled ‘The Social Revolution’ (pp. 4-8). Lavenda says that “Social networking tools are taking the world by storm” (p. 5) and that it “… is an irreversible mega-trend. As part of the “IT consumerization” wave, social networking is permeating organisational boundaries…” (p. 8). He notes the fact, for example, that MySpace logged 110 million unique visitors in January 2008 (an increase of 15% from the year before) and that Facebook logged over 100 million (an increase of 305%). There is also an interesting News item on the Managing Information website (http://www.managinginformation.com/),posted on 18th May 2008, entitled ‘Social Networks Research Receives Doctorate Award’, which highlights the fact that research funding is now being made available for social networking (in this instance, through the Arts and Humanities Research Council). It says that “Although self-evidently blogs and social networking are more tractable than current postal services, there is little or no research into just how much more tractable they really are and whether the deterioration of the latter is simply a consequence of the former.” And so, this research becomes important.


Matthew Mezey also had an interesting small column entitled ‘LIS blogwatch’ in the June issue (Vol. 7, No. 6) of Update (the monthly magazine of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) (on p.9). He refers, for example, to a presentation that took place at the Unicom Social Tools Conference in London that was entitled ‘Letting some light in: challenges and opportunities for mainstream enterprise social computing’.


Furthermore, there is an informative piece about social networking and social computing in the April 2008 issue of Information Age. This article is by Pete Swabey and is entitled ‘Power to the People: business use of social networking is fuelling a revolution in collaboration and knowledge sharing’ (pp. 18-20). Swabey notes the difference between these social tools, and more traditional knowledge management systems. The latter “…organise content around document definitions or business processes.” (p. 19). Whilst: “A system [i.e. a social network system]built around individuals with content supplied by them not only mirrors the way most people think about their organisations, but it provides users with an opportunity to define their personal and professional roles within the organisation. This provides a powerful psychological incentive to engage with the system” (p. 19). This does not mean that KM will become redundant though, as far as I am concerned (as was suggested at the Gurteen Knowledge Café). Instead, it just that knowledge will be managed in a different way, in the future. Subtle means are now required for the creation and extraction of value from knowledge. Swabey is of the opinion that "For the next generation of employees, the social network is the most accessible and practical way of systematising knowledge transfer..." (p. 19)


So, these are all important areas. However, we need to try to make sure that we are not fooling ourselves into thinking that tools and technologies such as these will solve all our problems. Issues about using time and resources productively; trust and related-health issues still very much exist. And, ultimately, of course, we must never lose sight of the fact that all this operates within global capitalism, where value, wealth creation and profits come before people.



Many thanks to Michael Peters for providing information for items 11 and 12, and to Zapopan Martín Muela Meza and Mikael Böök for providing information for items 14, 15 respectively.



Best
Ruth




31st May 2008

Sunday 29 March 2009

Ruth Rikowski's 23rd News Update


RUTH RIKOWSKI
News Update No.23


The silence from me (nearly two months already I see) is not because I have not had much to impart to you all of late. Far from it, in fact – I am snowed under on that front as well! Rather, it is because this teaching certificate (Certificate of Learning and Teaching in Higher Education - CLTHE) that I am currently studying for is proving to be very demanding and at times seems to be taking over my life! Just as well it is only for a short duration – that is all I can say. On a practical level, what this means unfortunately, is that it is very unlikely that I will be sending out any more of my Updates until after Easter, at least.

However, there are a number of important items that I really did want to share with you all. These are listed below (and other items will have to wait – apologies to all those concerned here).



1. ‘DIGITAL LIBRARIES’ SPECIAL ISSUE OF POLICY FUTURES IN EDUCATION, EDITED BY RUTH RIKOWSKI AND ISAAC HUNTER DUNLAP, IS NOW OUT.
The special issue of Policy Futures in Education (the refereed international ejournal) on ‘Digital Libraries’ which I have edited with Isaac Hunter Dunlap is now out. Further details are below:
Policy Futures in Education
Volume 6 Number 1 2008
Available at http://www.wwwords.co.uk/pfie/content/pdfs/6/issue6_1.asp


SPECIAL ISSUE ONDIGITAL LIBRARIES

Guest Editors: RUTH RIKOWSKI & ISAAC HUNTER DUNLAP


Isaac Hunter Dunlap & Ruth Rikowski: Introduction. A Library Revolution of Digital Proportions


Ruth Rikowski: Digital Libraries and Digitisation: an overview and critique


M. Paul Pandian: Digital Knowledge Resources


Heather Joseph: SPARC: creating innovative models and environments for scholarly research and communication


Tom Peters: Meeting and Serving Users in Their New Work (and Play) Spaces


Lori Bell, Mary-Carol Lindbloom, Tom Peters & Kitty Pope: Virtual Libraries and Education in Virtual Worlds: twenty-first century library services


Jia Liu: Digital Library and Digital Reference Service: integration and mutual complementarity


Mengxiong Liu & Peggy Cabrera: The New Generation of Citation Indexing in the Age of Digital Libraries


Susan Copeland: Electronic Theses and Dissertations: promoting 'hidden' research


Paul Catherall: Learning Systems in Post-Statutory Education


Tatiana Nikolova-Houston & Ron Houston: Building the Virtual Scriptorium


Yehuda E. Kalay: Impacts of New Media on Scholarly Publishing


Isaac Hunter Dunlap: Going Digital: the transformation of scholarly communication and academic libraries


BOOK REVIEWS

Building Knowledge Cultures: education and developments in the age of knowledge capitalism (Michael A. Peters, with A.C. (Tina) Besley), reviewed by Ruth Rikowski

Constraining Public Libraries: the World Trade Organization's General Agreement on Trade in Services (Samuel E. Trosow & Kirsti Nilsen), reviewed by Ruth Rikowski

Libr@ries: changing information space and practice (Cushla Kapitzke & Bertam C. Bruce, Eds), reviewed by Ruth Rikowski

Open Source Database Driven Web Development: a guide for information professionals (Isaac Hunter Dunlap), reviewed by Ruth Rikowski


Access to the full texts of current articles is restricted to those who have a Personal subscription (at a very reasonable rate), or those whose institution has a Library subscription. However, all articles become free-to-view 18 months after publication.


Free-to-view articles in Policy Futures in Education by Ruth and Glenn Rikowski:


Rikowski, R. (2003) Value - the Life Blood of Capitalism: knowledge is the current key, Policy Futures in Education, Vol.1 No.1, pp.160-178: http://www.wwwords.co.uk/pdf/viewpdf.asp?j=pfie&vol=1&issue=1&year=2003&article=9_Rikowski_PFIE_1_1&id=195.93.21.68


Rikowski, G. (2004) Marx and the Education of the Future, Policy Futures in Education, Vol.2 Nos. 3 & 4, pp.565-577, online at: http://www.wwwords.co.uk/pdf/viewpdf.asp?j=pfie&vol=2&issue=3&year=2004&article=10_Rikowski_PFEO_2_3-4_web&id=195.93.21.71%20

Subscriptions
PERSONAL SUBSCRIPTION (single user access). Subscription to the 2008 issues (i.e. full access to the articles in Volume 6, Numbers 1-6) is available to individuals at a cost of US$44.00. Personal subscriptions automatically include free access to ALL PAST ISSUES. If you wish to subscribe you may do so immediately at: http://www.wwwords.co.uk/subscribePFIE.asp


LIBRARY SUBSCRIPTION (institution-wide access). If you are working within an institution that maintains a Library, please urge them to purchase a Library subscription so access is provided throughout your institution; full details for libraries can be found at: http://www.symposium-journals.co.uk/prices.html
For all editorial matters, including articles offered for publication, please contact Professor Michael A. Peters: mpet001@uiuc.edu

In the event of problems concerning a subscription, or difficulty in gaining access to the journal articles, please contact the publishers at: support@symposium-journals.co.uk



2. RUTH RIKOWSKI NOW ON EDITORIAL BOARD OF POLICY FUTURES IN EDUCATION
I am delighted to inform you that I am now (as from mid January 2008) on the Editorial Board of Policy Futures in Education. See:
http://www.wwwords.co.uk/pfie/editorialboard.asp


3. 'ELECTRONIC THESES AND DISSERTATIONS: PRAGMATIC ISSUES AND PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS’ by SUSAN COPELAND, GAIL McMILLAN AND SIDDHARTHA SHAKYA, CHANDOS PUBLISHING: OXFORD, 2008, £57.00 ISBN 1 84334 342 8(hdbk); £39.95, ISBN 1 84334 341 X (pbk)
Susan Copeland, one of the contributors to the ‘Digital Libraries’ issue has a book coming out about e-theses, which she has co-authored with Gail McMillan and Siddhartha Shakya. This is to be published with Chandos Publishing. Susan has led various projects to promote the development of theses and dissertations in electronic format. This book provides a practical guide, as well as an overview of recent developments in the field. It covers many topics, including information about why it is useful to make this research output available on the Web, practical advice on how to include e-theses in institutional repositories and related training issues. I wish Susan, Gail and Siddhartha all the very best with their book.


4. E-THESES CONFERENCE AT THE ROBERT GORDON UNIVERSITY, ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND, 4th-7th JUNE 2008
Susan Copeland also informed me about an E-Theses Conference, which is taking place this summer where she works, that she is involved with. This is the:
11th International Symposium on ‘Electronic Theses and Dissertations’, to be held at The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland, 4th-7th June 2008.
For further details see: http://www2.rgu.ac.uk/library_edocs/etd08/home.htm .
As it says on the website,
“The purpose of "ETD 2008: Spreading the Light" will not only be to present research outcomes and demonstrate new developments and initiatives in the field of electronic theses and dissertations, but also to encourage even more universities around the world to become a part of the NDLTD [The Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations]and to promote free, open and long-term access to online scholarship.”

If anyone would like to submit a proposal to speak or would like to attend, I am sure that the organisers would be more than pleased to hear from you.



5. LONDON SOUTH BANK UNIVERSITY (LSBU) STRATEGY: A CRITIQUE by RUTH RIKOWSKI
As part of the portfolio for my teaching certificate (CLTHE) I had to read and consider some of the London South Bank University (LSBU) strategies and write a critique of them. I examined the following strategies: the Faculty of Business, Computing and Information Management Learning and Teaching Plan (2005/6 – 08/09); the LSBU Learning and Teaching Strategy (2005/06 – 2007/08); the LSBU Centre for Learning Support and Development – Development Plan (2006/07 – 2008/9) and the LSBU People Development Strategy and Corporate Learning and Development Plan (2006/07 – 2008/09).

This was not something that immediately appealed to me, but the deeper I got into the subject, the more fascinating it became! Alison Britton, the leader of the CLTHE course, thought it was an important and neglected topic, I think, which is one of the reasons why she asked us to look at it all. The result of which was that I wrote a detailed piece, which I think could prove to be useful to others! So, for this reason, I decided to make it available on our website, and it is now at:
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=LSBU%20Strategy.
If any of you have any thoughts and comments in regard to it, then I would be very interested to hear from you!


6. ‘COMPUTERS/INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, THE INFORMATION PROFESSION AND THE GENDER DIVIDE: WHERE ARE WE GOING?’ by RUTH RIKOWSKI, TO BE PUBLISHED IN POLICY FUTURES IN EDUCATION, MID 2008
This article of mine, which considers the topic of females and computing, with a particular focus on the information profession, is to be published in Policy Futures in Education, Vol. 6, No. 4, 2008, in a special issue on the theme of ‘Commercialisation, Internationalisation and the Internet’, edited by Chris Armbruster.

Females suffer much discrimination in this I.T. age, and this is a very important topic, which urgently needs to be considered further and addressed, in my view. I became acutely aware of this when I worked in the I.T. field (working closely with computer programmers, I.T. technicians etc and implementing and upgrading systems) and felt very impassioned about it and driven to write this long piece. Issues covered include topics such as the isolation which females can suffer from when working alongside male computer experts; the undermining of female confidence in computing; gender socialisation processes; women in computing academia; computer software, screen designs and layouts (which is largely designed by men) and the type of I.T. work (which tends to be more passive) that often falls to females. As we all largely have no option other than to move into this fast-changing, all-be-it exciting I.T. age, I would suggest that females need to be taking a much more pro-active role in it.
This issue of PFIE is currently in production. See:
http://www.wwwords.co.uk/pfie/content/pdfs/6/issue6_4.asp




7. FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT MY I.T. WORK EXPERIENCE
In my News Update No. 21, I included a section about my I.T./library work. However, I omitted to refer to the period when I worked for a library software supplier (Dynix) in 1995-6. I worked on the support desk there, and had to deal with many complicated problems from Dynix clients (mainly by telephone). I learnt a lot from it, and it was a very interesting and useful experience – working alongside computer programmers, technicians, librarians and information professionals.




8. 2008 CHANDOS PUBLISHING CATALOGUE – HARD AND ELECTRONIC COPIES NOW AVAILABLE
I now have copies of the 2008 Chandos Catalogue – both in hard copy and electronic copy. If any of you would like copies, then do let me know. The catalogue now contains a wealth of titles on a wide-range of different topics, including the Internet, libraries and information management; knowledge management; information literacy; publishing; intellectual property and management and business.



9. ‘EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES FOR KNOWLEDGE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT’ BY PAUL PANDIAN AND C.R. KARISIDDAPPA, CHANDOS PUBLISHING: OXFORD, 2008
Dr Paul Pandian and Dr. C.R. Karisiddappa’s book, which I commissioned and referred to in a previous Update, is now out.
The book “examines various factors that contribute to an enabled environment foroptimum utilisation of information resources”. The contents of the book are very varied, including areas such as: digital knowledge resources; emerging technologies for sharing electronic resources in a distributed environment; emerging technologies in authentication and unified portal models for sharing electronic information resources. I wish Dr Pandian and Dr Karisdappa all the very best with their book.

Full bibliographic details are:‘Emerging Technologies for Knowledge Resource Management’by Dr.M. Paul Pandian and Dr. C.R. Karisiddappa. Oxford: Chandos Publishing, 2007Pages: 212p ISBN 1 84334 370 3, £39.95 (pbk); 1 84334 371 1, £57.00 (hdbk) http://www.chandospublishing.com/catalogue/record_detail.php?recordID=187
10. CHANDOS AUTHOR WINNING AN AWARD FROM THE INDIAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION
Dr M P Satija, Professor and Head, Department of Library and Information Science at the Guru Nanak Development University, Amritsar and a Chandos author of ‘Theory and practice of the Dewey decimal classification scheme’, 2007 - see http://www.chandospublishing.com/chandos_publishing_catalogue_search_booklist_results.php?ID=121), recently received the prestigious Indian Library Association (ILA) Life Time Achievement Award 2007. Dr Satija has authored 20 books published in India, UK, USA, and 150 papers published in National and International journals. He is associated with many national and international library organizations and has served visiting professor in India, Holland and Sri Lanka.


11. HELEN NICOLL’S TALK, ‘THE BUSINESS OF KNOWING’ (WITH A FOCUS ON KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND THE NHS) AT A CILIP LONDON MEETING, ON 9th JANUARY 2008
Helen Nicoll, from NHS ‘Connecting for Health’ (Capacity and Capability Programme Manager), gave a very interesting talk at a CILIP (Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) London meeting on 9th January 2008, which I went along to. The talk was entitled ‘Web 2.0, Knowledge Management and the corporate librarian’.

Helen discussed many issues such as how do people learn; the importance of blogs and how to access good blogs (such as through Technorati); communities of practice; the transferability and interchangability of skills, information and knowledge (particularly between librarians and educators); the value of technology and related online environments for effective knowledge sharing; video conferencing, tele-conferencing and Web 2.0 as well as the value and importance of knowledge sharing in general.

Some of the key points raised and later discussed were the value of KM (and IM) in general, and Web 2.0 in particular; the need for educationalists and librarians to work closer together and the value of using technologies alongside face-to-face contact.

Helen also recently achieved a distinction for her M.Ed dissertation in Training & Development, which included interviewing Project Managers about blogs and related topics.

Helen, indeed, is very keen on blogs, in particular, (and they certainly can be an effective part of KM!) and following on from the meeting she inserted an item about this meeting on her blog. See:
http://thebusinessofknowing.blogspot.com/2008/01/cilip-event-web-20-knowledge-management.html


In this blog item, she also referred to the book that I have edited on knowledge management, so thanks Helen for that!


Helen said that she usually gives talks with all the I.T. itinerary at her disposal (PowerPoint etc), and was a bit shocked at first to discover that there was none at the CILIP London meeting, as the meetings are held in a room above a pub (the Seckforde Arms). She said that she was not quite sure how she was going to handle it, but that she was very pleasantly surprised. Here is what she actually said on her blog in regard to this:

“I felt incredibly comfortable with just sitting there, talking to people, without thinking about what my slides said, without worrying about whether I'd missed bits, whether the videos would work...all that distracting stuff you get with technology. I could listen to what I was saying, listen properly to questions, watch the group for non-verbal cues (like nodding off, head shaking, frowning) which I'd probably have missed had I been concentrating on the technology I was using to present with. I felt like, almost anyway, a storyteller. I'm going to try to avoid PowerPoint in future...

Wow – I thought that was really something, especially as I had the same feeling when I gave a talk at a London CILIP meeting about one year ago now, on my work on globalisation and libraries. In fact, I felt, and still do feel, that it was one of the best talks that I had ever given! Like Helen I found that I was able to establish a really good rapport with my audience and there was a very good discussion. I always aim to invite contributions, discussions and interjections from the audience, but sometimes that works, and at other times it does not work so well. After all, one of my aims is to try to change the world in some small way, so finding out what other people think on the matter is important! The audience themselves at my talk at the CILIP London meeting were very receptive, wanted to participate and had clear views of their own, which obviously helped! I think that Ralph Adam, who organises all these talks, should be congratulated for obtaining this very successful formula for talks and presentations and perhaps others might want to follow his lead!

I am also incidentally developing the idea of the ‘interactive lecture’ further in my teaching practice, particularly through my teaching observations at London South Bank University (as part of the CLTHE course). This can be seen, in one sense, to be an attempt to bring the lecture and seminar together. Obviously, there are limitations – space, numbers etc, but I think it is a useful direction for lecturers to be moving in. Students are given some information in the lecture, and whilst it is still fresh in their mind, they can then discuss it further in a structured way. This can also be followed up with further lectures, seminars, tutorials and interactive lectures (whatever seems most appropriate), as and when. This should help to overcome dry lectures and non-participatory seminars. Tariq Tahar (2008) speaks enthusiastically about the interactive lecture in this months’ Times Higher Education saying that:

“The interactive lecture is now seen as the future, the students no longer merely the passive recipients of information.” (Tahar, 2008, p 39, in ‘Are You Reaching Those at the Back?: some academics routinely lecture to hundreds of students, but is this still the best way to teach?’, Times Higher Education, 10th January, pg37-39)

It is an interesting idea anyway, I think, and is something that I intend to develop further.



12. REVIEW OF MY ‘GLOBALISATION’ BOOK IN ‘LIBRARY HI TECH’ BY IAN FOURIE, VOL 25, ISS NO. 4, 2007, pp. 623-625
There was a good review of my book ‘Globalisation and Information’ by Ian Fourie, University of Pretoria, South Africa in Library Hi Tech, towards the end of last year. Fourie rightly says that I “…feel passionately about an Open Marxist theoretical analysis in considering…’global capitalism’…” (p. 623). Note though is made of the fact that there are rather a lot of introductions, conclusions and summaries. However, this was largely due to the fact that I was trying to make a very complex subject clear and easy to understand, as well as covering a very wide area (with the extensive international dimension that I explored) and doing all this in quite a short space of time. Never-the-less, the concluding comment is very heartening, with Fourie saying that it:

“… is an excellently researched publication written by an expert who is passionately against a TINA philosophy (There Is No Alternative – to capitalism). It should be read by all librarians and information professionals, and especially by decision makers in the field, as well as the leaders in professional associations.” (p. 625)


13. ‘KIZI TEBEŞIR’ – TRANSLATED BY EĢITHIM SŐYLEŞILERI RED CHALK : A TRANSLATION OF ‘RED CHALK’ BY PETER MCLAREN, GLENN RIKOWSKI, MIKE COLE AND DAVE HILL, IN TURKISH
Glenn was very pleased to receive a copy this month, of ‘Red Chalk’ in Turkish. The English version was published by the Institute for Education Policy Studies: Brighton, 2002 - see http://www.ieps.org.uk.cwc.net/redchalk.html - ‘Red Chalk: on schooling, capitalism and politics’ by Mike Cole, Dave Hill, Peter McLaren and Glenn Rikowski, ISBN 0 952204205, £7.00
It has now also been published in Turkish by Birinci Baski: Kasum, 2006,
ISBN 9944 5724 8 9. As well as 'Red Chalk' itself the book also includes a translation into Turkish of an e-dialogue between Glenn and Peter McLaren that first appeared in 'Cultural Logic' in 2001.



14. ‘RESISTANCE TO RESTRUCTURING?: POST-FORDISM IN BRITISH PRIMARY SCHOOLS’ BY GLENN RIKOWSKI AND SHAUN FIELDING

In 1996, Glenn Rikowski wrote a paper with Shaun Fielding on: "Resistance to Restructuring? Post-Fordism in British Primary Schools". This article is now online on our website (as from 26/01/08). Fielding, S. & Rikowski, G. (1996) Resistance to Restructuring? Post-Fordism in British Primary Schools, School of Education, University of Birmingham, June: See http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Post-Fordism%20in%20Primary%20Schools




15 GLENN RIKOWSKI ALSO NOW ON EDITORIAL BOARD OF POLICY FUTURES IN EDUCATION
Glenn Rikowski is also now on the Editorial Board of Policy Futures in Education (late January) See: http://www.wwwords.co.uk/pfie/editorialboard.asp



16. ‘ROBERT OWEN: EDUCATION THE FUN WAY? BY NEIL SOUTHWELL

An article by Neil Southwell, from the School of Education, University of Northampton has recently been inserted on our website (on 9th January 2008), under the ‘Contributions’ section. See:

http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=contributions&sub=Robert%20Owen%20on%20Education
If anyone is interested in contributing to this section then do get in touch. It is an area that we would like to develop, but as always, there is the problem of time (or rather, the lack of it!)


17. POPULAR EDUCATION IN VENEZEULA: SHARED EXPERIENCES IN PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY: A ONE-DAY SEMINAR TO BE HELD AT KINGSTON UNIVERSITY, ON 9TH FEBRARY 2008
Sarah Amsler has informed me about this interesting seminar which is taking place at Kingston University, from 11am-4pm on 9th February 2008, in the C-SCIAPE Debating Chamber. The seminar will discuss “… the politics and possibilities of popular education in Venezuela, widening participation and the transformation of higher learning.”


There will be talks and workshops with the following people:
Edenis Guilarte, Simon Rodriguez University, Caracas
Dr. Andy Higginbottom, Kingston University
Pablo Navarrete, Red Pepper ‘Venezuela’ blog
Dr. Sara Motta, Nottingham University
Thomas Muhr, University of Bristol


The event is sponsored by the Kinston University Institute of Social Science and Departments of Sociology and Criminology and International Politics and Human Rights
To book a free place or for more information, please contact Dr. Sarah Amsler at s.amsler@kingston.ac.uk



Many thanks to Susan Copeland, Glyn Jones and Sarah Amsler for providing information for items 4, 10 and 17 respectively.


Best
Ruth

24th January 2008