Ruth Rikowski's 21st News Update

RUTH RIKOWSKI
News Update No.21

This 21st News Update begins with a focus on my publications, talks and work experience in the computing and information field.

It then goes on to include a number of other news items, including information about Tony Ward’s work on critical pedagogy; a talk given by Tom Palmer at a Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) London meeting on his forthcoming book ‘Long Overdue’ as well as some information about future CILIP London events and information about the refereed international symposium ejournal ‘Research in Comparative and International Education’.

A. RUTH RIKOWSKI’S PUBLICATIONS, TALKS AND WORK EXPERIENCE IN THE FIELD OF COMPUTERS, INFORMATION AND LIBRARIES

RUTH RIKOWSKI’S PUBLICATIONS ON COMPUTERS, INFORMATION AND LIBRARIES

BOOK
Change management process: implementation of Unicorn Library Management Computer System at Clifford Chance Ltd, an International Law Company Chapter in Library Management Trends and Opportunities, Edited by Roshan L. Raina, Dinesh K. Gupta and Ramesh C. Gaur, Excel-Manlibnet, New Delhi, 2005. pp. 195-213

ARTICLES
The Essential Bridge: a new breed of professional? In Managing Information, April 2000, Vol. 7, No. 3, pp. 40-45
This article examines the relationship between the library and information department and the computer and I.T. department.Females, Computers and Libraries In Managing Information, July/August 2003, Vol. 10, No, 6, pp. 6-10 Computers/I.T., the Information Profession and the gender divide - where are we going? (unpublished paper – I will be seeking publication of this at a future date)


RUTH RIKOWSKI’S TALKS ON COMPUTERS, INFORMATION AND LIBRARIES

2001
Spoke at the Open University, to library and information staff. Talk entitled Looking ahead in the information world, on 27th September 2001. Talk focused on I.T. and Knowledge Managment issues for the library and information profession in the futureGave a talk to MSc students at University College London, in the Library, Archives and Information Department, based on my article The Essential Bridge.Talked about the relationship between I.T. departments and library departments

2003
Gave a talk at the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) Umbrella Conference, in Manchester on 4th July 2003.Talk entitled: Building the Essential Bridge: the relationship between library/information departments and computer/information technology departments. Talk based on my article The Essential Bridge.Invited to give talk by Multimedia Information and Technology Group of CILIP


RUTH RIKOWSKI’S INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS AND LIBRARY WORK EXPERIENCE
I have implemented library management computer systems in two organisations – Clifford Chance London Ltd (a law company) and Havering College of Further and Higher Education. I took Clifford Chance through the initial implementation stages of the Unicorn library management computer system which had then been recently purchased (back in 1999-2000). Whilst at Havering College, I oversaw the complete implementation of the Dynix library management computer system that they had just purchased (back in 1996). The system had to be implemented in a very short space of time – before term started, so it proved to be a very challenging but exciting project. I also assisted with the implementation of Dynix in the London Borough of Newham public library service from 1993-1995.

Finally, I took the library and archive department at the Tate Gallery through a large upgrade of its Unicorn library management system in 1999. I also assisted with the conversion of the card catalogue on to their Unicorn computer system.


FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT MY WORK ON GLOBALISATION, KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
I am endeavouring to place my work, research, writing, publications and talks within the fields of information technology, knowledge management and globalisation into a coherent whole. They are all topics that are at the sharp edge of capitalism – where global capitalism is being driven to go. In my published work, I place all these topics within an Open Marxist theoretical framework and am continually developing my work on these areas. The gender/I.T. area is one that I would particularly like to develop, if time permits, given the serious discrimination that females suffer from in this new I.T. age – an age from which, whilst exciting, there is also really no escape. There is also serious discrimination against females within the whole writing and publishing field. I have found – although some might argue that this is partly of females own making. More accurately, though, I would say it is the socialisation processes which they have undergone, which sometimes undermines their confidence and their willingness to take the necessary risks. But if the necessary risks are taken, other problems still arise – discrimination rears its head in many different guises!

I am also keen to develop my Open Marxist theoretical analysis further in these areas, in general. Once again, though, there are never enough hours in the day!


On a final note if anyone wants any copies of my articles on the I.T. area and/or would like hard copies of selections of my other published works, then just get in contact with me.



B. OTHER NEWS ITEMS


1. TONY WARD FROM NEW ZEALAND AND CRITICAL PEDAGOGY
I received a lovely email from Dr. Tony Ward, Higher Education Facilitator, Academic Programme Developer and Urban Design Consultant in response to my previous Update (20th), which he saw on my blog. He began by saying how grateful he was for the blog item I wrote about the critical pedagogy group at Kingston University (Item 7) – also referred to in Item 2 below. I discovered Tony has over 40 years experience of teaching at top Universities on three continents (including UC, Berkeley in the US). Furthermore, that for 20 years he worked as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Auckland, School of Architecture. He also ran a Community Design Studio programme, working mostly in the indigenous Maori community. He actually taught Community Architecture at Kingston University in 1966 as well.

Tony developed a specific form of Critical Pedagogy for his design studio for many years and students worked collectively on real-world design projects for clients who would not otherwise have been able to afford it. Tony has now retired and has developed a website as a free educational resource, and passes on the knowledge and experience that he has acquired from forty years of practicing Critical Pedagogy. The website comprises more than 60 free and fully-illustrated downloadable PDFs in a range of disciplines covering issues such as: critical theory, critical practice, critical pegagogy, cultural studies, colonisation, postcolonialism, postmodernism, hegemony/education, critical psychology, critical design, critical aesthetics, critical health, critical tourism, indigenous studies, critical education, critical rationality, critical urbanism, critical sustainability, sustainable community, critical space, ideology and design, ethical cleansing and urban design etc. etc.There are also several downloadable bibliographies and glossaries, as well as useful links. The URL is: http://www.tonywardedu.com/

His only request is that visitors to the site leave comments in the “Contact” page so that he can gauge its effectiveness and make regular improvements.


2. SARAH AMSLER AT KINGSTON UNIVERSITY CONNECTING WITH VICTOR RIKOWSKI
I have had some fruitful email communication with Dr Sarah Amsler, Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Kingston University, following on from my write-up about the critical pedagogy group at Kingston University, in News Update No. 20, Item 7. Sarah emphasised how important she thought critical pedagogy was.

Sarah said that she admired our website, and that it was the first time that she had ever seen the whole family involved with “critical thinking and action” in this way. I thanked her, and said that she was the first person to voice this view so clearly and that when I set the website up I had all this very much in mind, and also wanted to provide an outlet for us all. She said that her students will shortly be reading our son Victor’s piece on education, which is entitled ‘Problems in Education Today’, in Information for Social Change, Issue No. 23, Summer 2006 - see http://libr.org/isc/toc.html. She is also hoping to invite Victor Rikowski to go and talk to her students about some of the issues that he raises in his article, and some other related critical pedagogical issues. So, many thanks Sarah for these kind words and let us hope that it will lead to further development of critical pedagogy issues, and in particular, that it will encourage more young people to engage in a critically constructive way.


3 TOM PALMER’S TALK AT A CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION PROFESSIONALS (CILIP) LONDON MEETING ON 13TH NOVEMBER, 2007
Victor and I attended a CILIP London meeting on Tuesday 13th November 2007, at ‘The Sekforde Arms’ in EC1, which proved to be very interesting. The speaker was Tom Palmer, and he was talking about a book which he is currently writing, entitled ‘Long Overdue’. He has travelled around the UK visiting various public libraries, talking to people and making extensive notes. The book is about these travels and his passion for the public library. He has travelled from Beleek to Lowestoft, and this included travelling in a mobile that visited farms. He also spent 4-days on his travels in Sheffield.

Tom was very keen to do this project, because libraries have transformed his life, he said, and he wanted to see whether they had benefited some other people in the same sort of way. Indeed, he wanted to explore the extent to which people wanted to celebrate their public libraries. He spoke to someone that had a passion for languages, for example. They used public libraries to develop this passion still further, and this finally resulted in them obtaining an academic job. He also went to Wakefield prison. An interesting discussion followed on from this, and the difficulties that prisoners who are keen on the library and reading can have. In particular, prisoners can usually only have visits from the library once a fortnight. Tom said that the Premier League Reading Star Scheme has been very successful in prisons.

Tom very much enjoyed all these travels and talking to people about the public library, but it proved costly – he actually spent approximately £5000 on it all. So, when he was offered a book contract to write children’s fiction stories, around football themes, he could not refuse! So, at the moment, this is taking priority over ‘Long Overdue’, but he hopes to return to ‘Long Overdue’ before long, and would like it to be published in about one years’ time, if possible. I think the meeting helped to reinforce the importance of his book for Tom. He said that he might even include something about the meeting in the book, especially as there were a lot of fruitful contributions from the audience.

Tom was asked a number of different questions from the audience. He was asked, for example, how he got the courage to go into libraries to begin with. He said he was frightened first of all, but that he liked the reference library, in particular. He was also asked for his views on ‘Ideas Stores’ in Tower Hamlets in London. Tom said what whilst the stock is good, he did not like the name. Also, that many professional librarians posts have been lost. It was noted that this trend was happening in libraries throughout the country, and that money and performance targets were increasingly driving everything. I made the point that this trend was pervading everywhere, and was not just confined to libraries either. Also, that new universities do not value writing enough as an activity but that instead, they are also too driven by performance targets and money, particularly with the ‘bums on seats’ mentality, re attracting students into the university. Reference was also made to the fact that Tom Coates spoke to the group about a year ago, and there was some discussion about Waterstone bookshops, and the possible impact that these bookshops can have on libraries – given the fact that Tom Coates thinks that public libraries should emulate these bookshops in various ways.

Tom said that if it was not for libraries he would not be in the job that he is in now. So, libraries transformed his life and gave him his professional career and also his writing career. He hated reading until he was 17 years old. He left school at 16 years old with few qualifications and became unemployed. A combination of his mother’s influence and football (he was a Leeds Utd. fan), led him to visit the local library. He particularly enjoyed using Leeds Central Reference library. He became quite obsessed with obscure writers and books by authors with foreign names.

However, as he was a Leeds Utd fan he also became involved with a group of hooligans, and a lot of these people subsequently went to prison. But because of books Tom went to night school instead and then went on to university. He feels that libraries very much ‘saved’ him in this way, and that he has ever such a lot to be thankful to libraries for.

So, one of Tom’s passions has been to get boys that hate reading to learn how to enjoy reading, through football. From my experience, this is a quite a common way for working-class boys to start to enjoy reading and studying – through football. ‘What does that complicated word in The Guardian football column mean?’ – asking such questions can start to lead boys to think about the value of reading and writing. On one occasion Madrid and Leeds were playing away and Tom went to see them, he said. Leading on from this a mainstream publisher gave him a contract to write a children’s fiction book around a football theme, and Leeds library then became involved. Tom never dreamed he would find himself becoming a children’s author but now he is writing these books enthusiastically.

Tom Palmer has now been working for libraries, which began in Bradford, for ten years. He is currently employed by the Reading Agency and the National Literacy Trust on the Reading Partners Project and the Premier League Reading Stars Scheme respectively.
‘Foul Play’ will be the next book of Tom’s to be published, in May 2008. It will be published with Puffin, and will be one of 8 books in a series on football fiction for children, all written by Tom. And then he has ‘Long Overdue’ to write, which will be published by Pomona. So, he is going to be busy!

All in all, this proved to be a very interesting and enjoyable evening. The meeting was also well-attended and there was a good discussion.

For more information about ‘Long Overdue’ see http://www.tompalmer.co.uk/index.php?page_id=29
For more information about Tom’s children’s fiction football books, see
http://thebookaholic.blogspot.com/2006/12/football-reading-and-tom-palmer.html

4 CILIP LONDON FUTURE EVENTS FOR 2008
CILIP London meetings are held on the 2nd Tuesday of every month. Forthcoming CILIP London events for 2008 can be viewed on the CILIP London website. See: http://www.cilip.org.uk/branches/byregion/london/events/default.htm

In particular, the first meeting for 2008, will be held on Tuesday 8 January on the topic of ‘Using librarians' skills sets for knowledge management’ and the talk will be given by Helen Nicol. The next talk will be on Tuesday 12 February, on ‘Why Charter?’ and will be given by Caroline De Bruin.



5. RECENTLY REDESIGNED CHANDOS PUBLISHING WEBSITE
The Chandos Publishing website has recently been redesigned and is looking very good – see http://www.chandospublishing.com/.

6. ‘MARXIST EDUCATIONAL THEORY UNPLUGGED’ BY GLENN RIKOWSKI - PAPER PREPARED FOR THE 4th HISTORICAL MATERIALISM CONFERENCE, 2007
The paper that Glenn Rikowski gave at the 4th Historical Materialism Annual conference on 10th November 2007, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, which is entitled Marxist Educational Theory unplugged, is now available on our website – see http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Marxist%20Educational%20Theory%20Unplugged

There were about a dozen people at the session, with some fruitful discussion. Glenn outlined the development of Marxist educational theory over the last 30 years or so in the first half of his talk. In the second half he demonstrated why he thinks the whole topic needs to be looked at afresh and then how he has begun to develop this, focusing particularly on his work on labour-power as a commodity. He says that labour-power is the weakest link in capitalism. This is very much work-in-progress.


7. ‘BLENDED E-LEARNING’ AND UNIVERSITY STAFF USE OF ‘SOCIAL SPACE’
We now have a copy of Allison Littlejohn and Chris Pegler’s book Preparing for blended e-learning,Routlege: Oxon, 2007, ISBN 0 415 40360 X (pbk), part of the ‘Connecting with E-Learning Series’ – see http://www.connecting-with-elearning.com/ (referred to in my News Update No 9, Item 4). This is a very useful book for all those interested in and involved with blended learning. There are chapters on a wide variety of topics, including different approaches to blended e-learning, devising blended e-learning activities, choosing e-tools for blended activities and sustainable blended e-learning designs.

On p. 66 there is reference to Glenn Rikowski’s MySpace profile, which is given as an example of academic’s using computing environments for ‘social space’. The screen dump in the book from Glenn’s MySpace profile is on one of the seminars that Glenn organised (with Tony Green) on ‘Education and Social Class’ – this being one of the ‘Marxism and Education: renewing dialogues’ seminars (IX). Littlejohn and Pegler say that:

“Here, Glenn Rikowski of the University of Northampton uses MySpace to formulate ideas on education and social class. In this example the online environment is being used to extend ideas generated during face-to-face seminar sessions.” (p. 66)

Furthermore that:

“Social computing environments have the potential to shift the locus of control in education. They support the idea of the ‘contributing student approach’…” (p.66)

We wish Allison and Chris all the very best with their book.


8. ‘YES, BUT HOW DO WE GET THERE? ALTERNATIVE VISIONS AND THE PROBLEM OF STRATEGY’ BY RICHARD HATCHER, JOURNAL FOR CRITICAL EDUCATION POLICY STUDIES, (JCEPS), VOL. 5, NO. 2, NOVEMBER 2007,
ISSN 1740 2743. CHIEF AND FOUNDING EDITOR – PROFESSOR DAVE HILL
http://www.jceps.com/index.php?pageID=article&articleID=98

Richard Hatcher does not want to let it rest, it seems. This article, which by the title sounds like it is quite a broad, general piece, instead mainly seems to be an attack on the work of Glenn Rikowski, Paula Allman and Peter McLaren. This could make one cynical about academia, even depressed, if one let it, but let us not go down that path! Still, it gives exposure to their work, I guess.

Yet, we also have to face reality. Hatcher does seem particularly determined to try to lessen, indeed rubbish, Glenn’s work for some reason. On p. 5 of the article, he says, for example that some of Glenn’s work is “utopian and reformist” and that:

“Rikowski’s view is idiosyncratic within the field of education…”

On another occasion he says that some of Glenn’s work “…takes him beyond the terrain of Marxism” (p.8), whilst also arguing that he himself will be developing a discussion in his article that “…will enable [him] to develop, from a Marxist perspective, a different strategic conception.” (p. 3). Yet, Hatcher does not include a single reference to Marx – either in the paper itself, or in the quite extensive bibliography at the end. Whilst anyone that knows Glenn’s work at all will know that he quotes extensively from Marx. We live in strange times, it seems, where those that do not quote from Marx are adopting a ‘correct’ Marxist perspective, whilst those that do include such quotes are not!

A little further on in the article he says that Glenn’s:

“…thesis begins from the correct premise that labour power is capitalism’s ‘weakest link’, but draws the erroneous conclusion that because labour power is produced by education therefore education is the strategically most important terrain of class struggle.” (p. 8)

He continues, arguing that:

“This is a fundamental misunderstanding of the significance of education as a field of class struggle. Not only is this mechanical economism not shared by any current on the Left today, it cannot be found in the works of Marx himself or in the historical experience of the Marxist movement (In fact, it echoes the classic reformist position that education is the key to resolving social inequality). The strategic conclusion Rikowski draws actually cuts off and isolates education from the struggles against the capitalist state which provide a basis for the sorts of united fronts McLaren advocates, and which, in the curriculum, provide the bridge for both teachers and students to move towards a critical understanding of capitalist society.” (p. 9)

Quite a lengthy quote here then the purpose of which seems to be to completely undermine Glenn’s work. Glenn’s work on labour-power as a commodity, and his analysis of it as being the weakest link in capitalism, is some of his most important and original work. He is breaking completely new ground here, and history will prove this to be the case, I am sure – as it has done with others that have broken new ground down the ages. Thus, for “idiosyncratic” read “original”! But why do we always have to wait until we are dead? It would be nice to think on a personal basis, that we could have a reasonable life-style in this life, and not have to engage with time-wasting exercises (I have had enough of this myself as well!).

What are some of the specifics of these attacks then? Well they are many. Glenn is isolated apparently (“...not shared by any current on the Left today…”). Not that this bothers Glenn particularly – he has never sort popularity in that way. Whilst at the same time Glenn has gone to great lengths to try to reinvigorate Marxism and Education and has very successfully brought many different people together in various discussions of it. This includes the ‘Marxism and Education: renewing dialogues’ seminars that he has organised with Tony Green at the Institute of Education, University of London. These have been successful but have also been a lot of work for Glenn. Glenn also invited Richard Hatcher to speak at one of these seminars incidentally, (MERD VII, on the topic of ‘Education and Alliance for Social Change’ on 26th October 2005), which Hatcher was pleased to be able to do.

Secondly, Glenn has a ‘mechanical economist’ approach apparently. Thirdly, that this work of Glenn’s on labour-power being the weakest link in capitalism, and that education is key in this regard, does not relate to Marx’s work at all. As I have already said, Glenn quotes extensively from Marx. But also, Glenn seeks to develop Marx’s work (as I also do) and does not seek to deify it. But really we cannot spend all our time justifying ourselves in this way! Fourthly, Glenn’s position is ‘classic reformist’. Fifthly, Hatcher is trying to separate Glenn from Professor Peter McLaren – so trying to do quite a thorough job here, re isolating him. And all that from just one paragraph! No wonder Glenn felt driven to write ‘In The Dentist’s Chair’.

In regard to Glenn Rikowski, Paula Allman and Peter McLaren, he says that they:

“…represent in some respects an extreme position which in my view does not provide an answer to the three questions for strategy..” (p. 3) (questions which Hatcher poses at the beginning of the article). He argues that the “…vast majority of teachers in the US and the UK do not share their revolutionary Marxist politics…” (p.5) But they have never suggested that they do, so not quite sure where he is intending to go with that one, or is he just simply arguing that if the majority do not agree with you then your position cannot be right or tenable?

It is also interesting to note that Professors Dave Hill and Mike Cole are largely omitted from these attacks – interesting, because they have both written a lot of material with Glenn, Paula and Peter. So, why are they being spared, one wonders, particularly given the fact that Hatcher attacked Dave and Mike in a British Educational Studies Association (BERA) paper that he gave in the summer – this article in JCEPS is actually a revised version of this paper?

But perhaps, the title of Hatcher’s paper gives the game away – think about it!

Anyway, enough of this!


References

Hatcher, R. (2005) 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?’ 5th November, available on Glenn Rikowski’s the Volumizer, posted 7th November: http://journals.aol.co.uk/rikowskigr/Volumizer/entries/651

Hatcher, R. (2006) A Reply to Rikowski’s ‘In the Dentist’s Chair’, 12th February, posted to them MASSES e-list, at: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/MarxSIG/message/623

Rikowski, G. (2005a) Habituation of the Nation: School Sponsors as Precursors to the Big Bang? An entry in The Volumizer, 19th October, at: http://journals.aol.co.uk/rikowskigr/Volumizer/entries/566

Rikowski, G. (2005b) In the Dentist's Chair: A Response to Richard Hatcher's Critique of Habituation of the Nation, 31st December, in three parts. Available at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=In%20the%20Dentist%5ba%5ds%20Chair



9. GUEST LECTURES GIVEN BY RUTH RIKOWSKI AT LONDON SOUTH BANK UNIVERSITY IN NOVEMBER 2007, ON THE TOPICS OF GLOBALISATION, KNOWLEDGE, THE KNOWLEDGE REVOLUTION, KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER
I am giving some guest lectures at London South Bank University this semester, to masters’ students and third year undergraduates, around some of the topics covered in my published work - which has been rewarding but demanding. Topics covered have included globalisation, knowledge, the knowledge revolution, knowledge management and knowledge transfer. Victor Rikowski also made some of my PowerPoint slides for the presentations colourful and lively.

I have given guest lectures at London South Bank University in the past on topics that I have published material on, including topics such as leadership in the new economy from a Marxist perspective (http://www.flowideas.co.uk/index.php?page=events&sub=Leadership:%20a%20Marxist%20Perspective), globalisation (http://www.flowideas.co.uk/index.php?page=events&sub=Globalisation)
and ‘The way forward for the MBA’, where I have looked at topics such as globalisation, I.T., leadership, knowledge management and knowledge and culture.


10 THE REFEREED INTERNATIONAL EJOURNAL ‘RESEARCH IN COMPARATIVE AND INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION’ – A SYMPOSIUM JOURNAL
Here is some information about another Symposium Journal (Policy Futures in Education being a Symposium Journal). It is very good to see the growing success of refereed ejournals in this way.

This journal is entitled Research in Comparative and International Education (RCIE). It is a peer-reviewed international ejournal, and is edited by Professor David Philips of the University of Oxford and is available at: http://www.wwwords.co.uk/rcie/index.asp. It is assisted by an Editorial Board and an International Advisory Board of international scholars, with a wide range of expertise in comparative and international studies.

As it says on the website:
“RCIE is concerned with research and its methods. It seeks to publish papers of between 5,000 and 10,000 words which report new research in the field of comparative and international education, broadly defined, or which address theoretical and methodological issues in comparative and international education with clear research relevance. Illustrations (including colour) are encouraged. Largely descriptive or solely policy-based papers are unlikely to be accepted for publication. All papers are blind-refereed by members of the International Advisory Board and others.”

An annual subscription to the journal enables the user to be able to obtain current and past issues online. The journal is published four times a year.
The latest issue of the journal is now available at www.wwwords.co.uk/rcie/content/pdfs/2/issue2_3.asp and its contents are listed below.
RESEARCH IN COMPARATIVE AND INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION (ISSN 1745-4999) Volume 2 Number 3 2007 www.wwwords.co.uk/RCIE

SPECIAL ISSUE: Policy, Education and Conflict

Guest Editor: JULIA PAULSONJULIA PAULSON.

Introduction. Policy, Education and Conflict, pages 172-175

LYNDSAY BIRD. Learning about War and Peace in the Great Lakes Region of Africa, pages 176-190

MAGALI CHELPI-DEN HAMER. How to Certify Learning in a Country Split into Two by a Civil War: governmental and non-governmental initiatives in Côte d'Ivoire, 2002-06, pages 191-209

KARIN DOOLAN & MLADEN DOMAZET. Political Education in Croatian Secondary Schools: an emergency reaction to a chaotic context, pages 210-221

CLARE A. IGNATOWSKI. Framing Youth within the Politics of Foreign Assistance, pages 222-229

MIKAELA LUTTRELL-ROWLAND. Gangs, Soldiers and 'Idle Girls': constructions of youth and development in World Bank discourse, pages 230-241

Z.E. KARPINSKA, RACHEL YARROW & L.M.A. GOUGH. Education and Instability: avoiding the policy-practice gap in an emerging field, pages 242-251

JEREMY RAPPLEYE & JULIA PAULSON. Educational Transfer in Situations Affected by Conflict: towards a common research endeavour, pages 252-271

11 DENISE NICHLSON’S INFORMATION SERVICE: STUDENTS AND OPEN ACCESS PUBLISHING
Denise Nicholson provides a very useful news information service. Here I focus on one of the latest ones she sent round, as a way of illustrating their value, and in case some others might then want to subscribe.

This issue focused on students and open access publishing, and included items such as the following:
1. Student stakes and student action in the open access movement
http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/2007/11/student-stakes-and-student-action-in.html
http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlpubs/crlnews/backissues2007/november07/Student_activism.cf
2. Using open-access articles for student projects
http://www.plos.org/cms/node/271

3. Benefits of Open Access Publishing for students in higher education
http://eprints.rclis.org/archive/00011421/01/Benefits_of_AO_Publishing.pdf

4. Scholarly Electronic Publishing Weblog
http://digital-scholarship.org/sepw2/2007/11/07/sepw-november-7-2007/

This free online service provided by Denise Nicholson covers various topics such as “copyright, plagiarism and other IP related matters; WIPO and WTO matters; Free Trade Agreements and TRIPS Plus; issues affecting access to knowledge, particularly in developing countries; access for sensory-disabled persons; digitization and library issues, open access; open publishing; scholarly communication; useful websites; conference alerts, etc.”

If anyone wants to subscribe to the service, just email their names and contact details to Denise.Nicholson@wits.ac.za

Many thanks to Tom Ward, Sarah Amsler, Ralph Adam and Denise Nicholson for providing information for items 1,2,4 and 11 respectively.

Best
Ruth

25th November 2007