Ruth Rikowski's 18th News Update

Eighteenth News Update

RUTH RIKOWSKI


1. NEW ‘MANAGING INFORMATION’ WEBSITE

The ‘Managing Information’ website has recently been redesigned and is looking very good! See: http://www.managinginformation.com/


2. LATEST ISSUE OF ‘POLICY FUTURES IN EDUCATION’ IS NOW OUT

The latest issue of Policy Futures in Education is now out and is available at: http://www.wwwords.co.uk/pfie/content/pdfs/5/issue5_3.asp
POLICY FUTURES IN EDUCATION (ISSN 1478-2103)Volume 5 Number 3 2007

SPECIAL ISSUE Political Socialization, Childhood and Education: cross-national perspectives

Guest Editors: RUSSELL FARNEN & HEINZ SÜNKER

Introduction, pp. 275-277

Russell F. Farnen. Class Matters: inequality, SES, education and childhood in the USA and Canada today, pp. 278-302
Heinz Sünker and Thomas Swiderek. Politics of Childhood, Democracy and Communal Life: conditions of political socialisation and education, pp. 303-314
David Hemson. The Toughest of Chores: policy and practice in children collecting water in South Africa, pp. 315-326
Daniel German and Caitlin Lally. A Profile of Americans' Media Use and Political Socialization Effects: television and the internet's relationship to social connectedness in the USA, pp. 327-344 Claudia Schertges. Political News and Political Consciousness,
pp 345-356
Dirk Michel. Life-Long Political Socialization, Consciousness and Political Agency in Israel Today, pp 357-372Kariane Westrheim and Solvi Lillejord. A Zone for Deliberation? Methodological Challenges in Fields of Political Unrest, pp. 373-385Linda Shepherd. Exposure to Community Violence and Political Socialization Among Adolescents in Northern Ireland, pp. 386-400

REVIEW SYMPOSIUMThe Access Principle: the case for open access to research and scholarship (John Willinsky) reviewed by Fides Datu Lawton, Cushla Kapitzke and Garett Gietzen, with an introduction by Michael A. Peters and a response by John Willinsky, pp. 401-423

Access to the full current articles is only obtainable by subscription – either by a Personal or Library subscription.

However, all articles become free-to-view 18 months after publication.Personal subscriptions automatically include free access to ALL past issues.

Personal subscriptions can be obtained immediately, upon payment.
For further information see: www.wwwords.co.uk/subscribePFIE.asp

LIBRARY SUBSCRIPTION (institution-wide access). For those working within an institution that maintains a Library, you can ask them to purchase a Library subscription so access is provided throughout your institution; full details for libraries can be found at
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

3. Dr. MIKE NEARY OBTAINS A NATIONAL TEACHING FELLOWSHIP
Mike Neary, a friend and academic collaborator of Glenn Rikowski’s has just obtained a National Teaching Fellowship. There is a report about this, with a very nice picture of Mike in the Times Higher Education Supplement of 6th July 2007, p. 7. Altogether 50 people were selected for National Teaching Fellowships, by the Higher Education Academy.

Mike won the award for the significant work he has done encouraging and enabling undergraduates to undertake research. He is a Reader in Sociology at Warwick University, and with a colleague he set up the ReInvention Centre for Undergraduate Research at Warwick – see: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/sociology/research/current/reinvention/.

From 1st September 2007 Mike will be taking up a new position as Chair, Professor of Teaching and Learning at University of Lincoln, and Dean with responsibility for teaching and learning across the university



4. ‘RSS FOR LIBRARIES’: ANOTHER SIRSIDYNIX EVENT
Below is information about another SirsiDynix event which looks very interesting and useful.
News item from SIRSIDYNIX:
“Free your content! RSS for Libraries
Presented by:
Paul Pival - Distance Education Librarian, University of Calgary, and
Meredith Farkas - Distance Learning Librarian, Norwich University
Tuesday, August 7, 2007, 11 a.m. - noon Eastern / 8 a.m. - 9 a.m. Pacific
RSS feeds - for the Library User and the Library Professional

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is an XML-based format for syndicating content on the Web. It's a common thread behind almost all social technologies. Blogs, wikis, social bookmarking sites, Flickr, podcasts, and many other Web 2.0 sites all have RSS feeds that allow consumers to receive content without having to visit the site where the content actually lives. RSS separates content from presentation, allowing the content to be reused in multiple places and combined with other content to create unique resources. Another great feature of RSS is that it's actually easy to utilize, even for people with little technical background.

Register below to take part in this FREE webinar.
Paul and Meredith will describe what RSS is and how to use it in a variety of ways in libraries: to make it easier for users to find out about your collections and programs, to push subject-related content to patrons, and to publish dynamic content on a variety of pages. There are many tools that make generating RSS feeds, subscribing to RSS feeds, displaying RSS feeds, and mixing RSS feeds an incredibly simply proposition for those with little technical knowledge. In addition, the presenters will show you how to use RSS to easily keep up with the topics you are interested in without having to visit multiple Web sites each day.

Register for this SirsiDynix Institute webinar at:
http://www.imakenews.com/eletra/go.cfm?z=sirsi%2C197760%2Cb40hkJW7%2C1607781%2Cb9TVkCL
Archive of previous SirsiDynix Institute events. See: http://www.imakenews.com/eletra/go.cfm?z=sirsi%2C197760%2Cb40hkJW7%2C778441%2Cb9TVkCL.
You can check out past events at any time.
For more upcoming 2007 SirsiDynix Institute events, go to http://www.imakenews.com/eletra/go.cfm?z=sirsi%2C197760%2Cb40hkJW7%2C831086%2Cb9TVkCL.”

5. AUGUSTINE ADJEI UNDERTAKING A DISSERTATION ON KM AND CULTURE
A masters student of mine from London South Bank University, Augustine Adjei, is going to undertake his dissertation on Knowledge Management and Culture, which is an area that I wrote a lot about in the KM book that I edited in 2007, (see my signature below for further information about the book and Update No. 17 for further information about the Culture section of the book specifically). Adjei has asked me to be his supervisor, which obviously, I am very happy to do.

6. PAINSWICK LIBRARY IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE: AN UPDATE BY PHILIP BOOTH
Philip Booth inserted the latest information about Painswick Library on his Ruscombe Green blog on 18th July 2007 – see http://ruscombegreen.blogspot.com/

Philip informs us that the District Council at Cabinet approved a £20,000 grant towards the Painswick Gateway project a couple of weeks ago in an endeavour to keep the library open. Whilst Philip is pleased that these funds have been made available, he is disappointed that the fund is not larger. Also, he makes the point that the service should ideally be provided by the whole County rather than the District Council. Philip also provides some background information from Stroud District Council Cabinet papers. As he makes clear, in 2005 Gloucestershire County Council reviewed the long-term provision of libraries across the County. From this, it was decided that Painswick Library would close in 2009. Then, in April 2006 a ‘Friends of Painswick Library’ (FPL) was set-up in an endeavour to ‘save’ the library service. The FPL considered how the building could be better integrated with the assets managed by St Mary’s Church (to the back of the Library) for the benefit of the village as a whole.

A core group of the FPL was established and it concluded that Painswick should purchase and bring the various buildings together for different community and other uses. It also recommended that an independent charitable Trust be set up.

As I have said on previous Updates, Philip has also been linking the threat posed to Painswick Library to wider, global issues, and in particular, linking it to my book on Globalisation and Libraries.

So, the Painswick campaign continues – let us hope that the library can, indeed, be saved in some shape or form, whilst at the same time, we need to remain ever mindful of the bigger picture.


7. REVIEW BY HELEN RADUNTZ OF ‘DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT’ BY CHRISTOPHER MAY, CHANDOS PUBLISHING: OXFORD, 2007
ISBN 10 1843341247’; 13 9781843341246. See:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Digital-Rights-Management-Information-Professional/dp/1843341247/ref=sr_1_15/202-0537876-0486205?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1184783635&sr=1-15

Dr. Helen Raduntz informs me that she has reviewed ‘Digital Rights Management: the problem of expanding ownership rights’ by Christopher May, for a forthcoming issue of ‘Library Review’- see: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/mcb/035/2007/00000056/00000002;jsessionid=e6xmqyp9pyd.henrietta

Helen says:
“I have nothing but praise for May’s lucid presentation in his book ‘Digital Rights Management: The Problem of Expanding Ownership’, not only in providing a holistic account of the political economy of Digital Rights Management, but also for charting the interrelationships of which the deployment of DRM is a part. As an important critical evaluation of current trends in the development and deployment of ICTs and the social implications, it is a book that I have no hesitation in recommending.”Many thanks to Philip Booth and Helen Raduntz for providing information for items 6 and 7 respectively.

Best wishes
Ruth