October 2000

How Much Information Is Out There?

The Economist has a Story on A group of researchers at the School for Information Systems and Management at the University of California, Berkeley have doen an interesting study. They say the estimated amount of unique information the world is currently producing each year has reached about two exabytes. While unique content on paper and film grows slowly, shipments of optical and magnetic storage media are doubling each year. In uncompressed form they total 1.4m terabytes.

Want it from the \”Horse\’s Mouth\”?

They have posted Charts, and a lengthy Executive Summary at UC Berkely

October 20, 2000 by Internet School Libraries

How to free refereed literature online

Wired has a nifty Story on E-Journals. With the big puch to E-Publish Journals some insist that simply publishing electronically is not enough –and that open, free access to the full content is needed. Critics insist that peer review is critical to ensure quality control and patient safety. Without peer review, researchers may exaggerate their findings. Some people say that faster publication time compromises quality, others insist that the benefits of electronic publication remain unparalleled by print. So far, few online-only journals have managed to survive.

\”These new online journals will give scientists an alternative,\” Cockerill said. \”They will finally be able to publish their research in high-quality journals, with full peer review, but without surrendering control to a publisher that will limit the subsequent distribution of that research.\” \”There\’s already a threat to paper journals,\” Kassirer agreed. \”Unless journals get on the Internet, their life is threatened.\”

October 20, 2000 by Internet

Commission on Child Online Protection Report

The COPA Commission has released it\’s Report. No endorsement of filtering programs was included. Also be sure to read the Personal Statements of the commissioners.
They recommended 12 things:

Public Education


Government and Industry Should Effectively Promote Acceptable Use Policies.


The Commission recommends allocation of resources for the independent evaluation of child protection technologies and to provide reports to the public about the capabilities of these technologies.


The Commission recommends that industry take steps to improve child protection mechanisms, and make them more accessible online.


The Commission encourages a broad, national, private sector conversation on the development of next-generation systems for labeling, rating, and identifying content reflecting the convergence of old and new media.

Continued…

The COPA Commission has released it\’s Report. No endorsement of filtering programs was included. Also be sure to read the Personal Statements of the commissioners.
They recommended 12 things:

Public Education


Government and Industry Should Effectively Promote Acceptable Use Policies.


The Commission recommends allocation of resources for the independent evaluation of child protection technologies and to provide reports to the public about the capabilities of these technologies.


The Commission recommends that industry take steps to improve child protection mechanisms, and make them more accessible online.


The Commission encourages a broad, national, private sector conversation on the development of next-generation systems for labeling, rating, and identifying content reflecting the convergence of old and new media.

Continued…
Government should encourage the use of technology in efforts to make children\’s experience of the Internet safe and useful.


Government at all levels should fund, with significant new money, aggressive programs to investigate, prosecute, and report violations of federal and state obscenity laws, including efforts that emphasize the protection of children from accessing materials illegal under current state and federal obscenity law.


The Commission recommends that state and federal law enforcement make available a list, without images, of Usenet newsgroups, IP addresses, World Wide Web sites or other Internet sources that have been found to contain child pornography or where convictions have been obtained involving obscene material.


The Commission recommends that Federal agencies, pursuant to further Congressional rulemaking authority as needed, consider greater enforcement and possibly rulemaking to discourage deceptive or unfair practices that entice children to view obscene materials, including the practices of \”mouse trapping\” and deceptive meta-tagging.


Government should provide new money to address international aspects of Internet crime, including obscenity and child pornography.


The Commission urges the ISP industry to voluntarily undertake \”best practices\” to protect minors.


The Online Commercial Adult Industry Should Voluntarily Take Steps To Restrict Minors\’ Ready Access to Adult Content.

October 20, 2000 by Internet Legal Issues

Independent E-book Awards

Some suggested this story.
A group has created the Independent E-book Awards.
Wired has the Full Story, on The e-book-awards.com, the new site is open to independently published electronic books and includes categories for both hypertext and digital storytelling.

\”One should take into account the suitability of the work to be in e-book form and the quality of the complete presentation which often includes multimedia arts,\”

October 20, 2000 by Books EBooks

Bill Says send Meds, not Windows

Wired has a Story on the Digital Dividends conference. A gaggle of important rich geeks and bankers got together to talk about using information technologies to spur development and create markets among the world\’s poor [Read: How to make money off the 3rd world]. It took Bill Gates to set them straight. He says to fix problems of disease and literacy first, then maybe worry about computers later.

\”The percent of growth that an IT firm like Hewlett-Packard will get from people who make less than a dollar a day is minimal,\” Gates said. \”Do people have any concept of what it means to live on less than a dollar a day? There\’s no electricity. Do they have PCs that don\’t use electricity?\”

October 20, 2000 by Politics

Friday Updates

Sorry about last week (no updates). This week, the updates include Goosebumps, Harry in China, online research, the fired librarian, dad\’s pen pal, the weak image, books coem to life, illustrations in kids\’ books, and much much more. See you next week (same LISNews time, same LISNews channel)

Sorry about last week (no updates). This week, the updates include Goosebumps, Harry in China, online research, the fired librarian, dad\’s pen pal, the weak image, books coem to life, illustrations in kids\’ books, and much much more. See you next week (same LISNews time, same LISNews channel)

From Edmondton Journal

After 87 Goosebumps, it\’s time for a Nightmare

\”When R.L. Stine sits down in his plush black desk chair to write, next to a model skeleton sporting sunglasses and beneath shelves packed with his best-selling books, he has just one thing on his mind — terrifying millions of young children.\”

From SF Gate

Big Press Run for Harry Potter in China — But Sales Are Lackluster

\”Harry Potter has arrived in China, riding the biggest initial print run for a work of fiction here since the Communist Party came to power 51 years ago — but it may take a bit of Hogwarts\’ magic to make those books disappear.\”

From Cnet.com

Publishers dig into online research services

\”Three major publishing companies are backing start-up Ebrary.com, an online version of a library research room, searching for a promising niche in digital publishing.

Random House, Pearson and McGraw-Hill on Tuesday announced their joint financial investment in Ebrary, which lets people research and read articles and books online for free but charges for printed copies.\”

From BND.com

Ex-library worker denies claim

\”Former city public library supervisor Michele Bruss said Tuesday that the Board of Trustees\’ claim that she was fired for divulging confidential information has cost her the opportunity to collect unemployment benefits.

“They said I did something illegal so my unemployment (compensation) was denied,\’\’ said Bruss rebutted the board\’s claim that she released any sensitive information either intentionally or inadvertently. “All I know about the reasons I was fired is what I read in the newspaper.\’\’

From Canoe

Trip to library leads son to father\’s pen pal

\”Call it a case of serendipity in the stacks.

When Daniel Myers Jr., 33, visited the Easton public library for the first time he asked a bystander for help with the microfilm and uncovered, in turn, his late father\’s wartime pen pal.

He credits divine providence for the coincidence.\”

From Sunspot

Librarians: Erasing weak image is an essential part of regenerating public school libraries

\”HOWARD COUNTY once built a school with a wondrous, state-of-the-art library. One parent, a librarian herself in a neighboring county, marveled at the learning resources that awaited her children.

But then her fifth-grader began to report what went on in the library. Instead of letting the kids explore the riches on the shelves, the librarian read them storybooks.\”

From the North West Florida Daily News

Children\’s books come to life

\”Children\’s book author Jerry Pallotta and illustrator Ralph Masiello proved that their ability to connect with kids\’ imaginations works just as well in person as it does on the page during a series of visits to local schools sponsored by the Okaloosa Reading Council.

Pallotta entertained a group of third-, fourth- and fifth-graders at Ocean City Elementary. Tales of growing up on the ocean side proved to be a reservoir of story ideas, he said.\”

Another one from Sun Spot

\”The illustrations in children\’s books aren\’t just for kids.

The nostalgia-tinged images, from realistic to mythical, have struck a chord with adults as well, and it is this audience that a planned exhibit at Ellicott City\’s Mill River Gallery in historic Oella Mill hopes to attract.\”

From the Dispatch

Store helps girl rebuild her library

\”An 8-year-old girl who lost more than 1,000 books in a recent apartment fire soon will be able to start a new library, thanks to a local bookstore.

Ashlee Riggs — known as \”The Reader\’\’ at Columbus\’ Devonshire Elementary School, according to her grandmother — will receive a $125 gift certificate from Half Price Books, Records and Magazines.\”

From Online Athens

A west Georgia library has agreed to remove a free literature table after a man sued because he wasn\’t allowed to distribute Bibles there.
James Flournoy of Luthersville argued that Pine Mountain Regional Library System violated his freedoms of speech and religion.\”

October 20, 2000 by Harry Potter Internet Legal Issues Libraries School Libraries

Wasssup With The Web

SF Gate has a Story on the Digital Divide and how it is still growing, as some racial minorities, the disabled, and low-income families are not jumping online as fast as others.

In other Net News…

The NY Times has a Story on the a Florida appeals court that declared Internet service providers must divulge the identities of people who post defamatory messages on the Internet. This could be a big can of worms!

October 19, 2000 by Internet

Filtering Recommendations

ZDNet is Reporting the COPA Commission declined to recommend the mandatory use of antipornography filters, saying no particular technology yet offers an ideal solution.

\”\”We didn\’t recommend any mandatory practices,\” said Donald Telage, chairman of the commission and an executive at Network Solutions Inc. \”We did consider them, but not even the most-conservative members of the commission felt that was the road to go down.\”


A related Story at the NY Times says the overwhelming majority of Americans say schools should install filters, according to a new national survey commissioned by the Digital Media Forum. 92% said pornography should be blocked on school computers, while 80% said filters should be used to bar hate speech.

October 19, 2000 by School Libraries Web Filters

Trouble brewing for on-line publishers.

The Pfeiffer Report has an interesting Report on online publishing. They say all is not well in the online world, no one is making and money, and that spells trouble. They say since there is no way of supporting the considerable cost of on-line publications, they will begin to fold up shop. Now in the fututre the online versions of magazines and newspapers will simply be an extension of the print versions. Could on-line content really be on the verge of going out of fashion? Is it all about profit?

\”Traditional publishers will be able to incorporate on-line activity as part of the overall publishing project; some major sites will be able to survive with ad-revenues and associated income streams. But for most publications (in other words, the on-line equivalent of the thousands of magazines which fill newsstands around the world) it is still not quite clear what a valid on-line business model could look like\”

October 18, 2000 by Internet Publishing

Gore, Bush Favor Filth Filters

Wired has a Story comparing the 2 major candidates positions on filtering. It turns out they both want them. They just differ a bit on how they want it done:

Gore:

\”I\’ve been involved myself in negotiating and helping to move along the negotiations with the Internet service providers to get a parents\’ protection page every time 95 percent of the pages come up,\” Gore said.


Bush:

\”We can have filters on Internets where public money is spent,\” Bush said. \”There ought to be filters in public libraries, and filters in public schools, so that if kids get on the Internet, there\’s not going to be pornography or violence coming in.\”

October 18, 2000 by Internet Libraries School Libraries Web Filters

LISNews Archives