Abstract
News from IFLA
Unless otherwise indicated, further information about IFLA activities is available from: International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), PO Box 95312, 2509 CH, The Hague, Netherlands. Tel: +31 70 3140884. Fax: +31 70 3834827. Email: ifla@ifla.org
Arab Parliamentary Libraries Network established
The first regional meeting of Arab parliamentary libraries was held at the Arab Institute for Parliamentary Training and Legislative Studies in Beirut, Lebanon, Jan. 19–20, and attended by librarians and research staff from the parliaments of Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates. The participants laid the groundwork for the creation of the new Arab Parliamentary Libraries Network (APLN), drafting the Network’s constitution, electing the Network’s executive committee, and devised a plan of action for future development.
2012 IFLA Presidential Programme
The IFLA Presidential Programme Spring Meeting on the theme, ‘Indigenous Knowledges: Local Priorities, Global Contexts’, was held at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, from 12–14 April 2012. Hosted by IFLA President Ingrid Parent, the meeting provided an opportunity for all those interested in indigenous and traditional knowledge and its creation, organization and access to better understand the local and global issues under discussion in various parts of the world and by many types of cultural, heritage, and community groups and organizations.
FAIFE Spotlights
FAIFE Spotlights focus on urgent events and give a fresh analysis of freedom of speech issues. Spotlights are written by FAIFE Committee Members, the Chair or other experts in order to draw attention to an emerging situation. Recent spotlights include the following:
Policing the Internet is not a Job for a Corporation. Hanna Nikkanen
In light of recent legislation in the US (SOPA and PIPA), and a decision in the Netherlands that orders Dutch ISPs to block access to the Pirate Bay website, this new FAIFE Spotlight by Finnish journalist Hanna Nikkanen is very timely. In it, she explores the dangers of threatening private companies with fines if they do not enforce strict bans on access to copyrighted material – and points how that when complying with such rulings these companies will almost certainly interpret the law in a more restrictive manner than necessary in order to protect themselves from the financial consequences of not doing so. The end result is that punishing the providers of communications infrastructure for making available copyright-violating material instead of the actual culprits will end up exposing innocent internet users to side effects that infringe on their basic rights – such as restrictions on freedom of speech.
The problem of blasphemy and defamation of religion laws. Paul Sturges
Precisely on the day the first words of this Spotlight were written, a newspaper story reported that in a court in Tomsk, Siberia, state prosecutors have filed a case seeking to ban the Bhagavad Gita on the grounds that it is extremist and insults non-believers. At the same time, Hare Krishna members have demonstrated against this outside the Russian consulate in Kolkata and in the Indian parliament ministers have called the case an insult to Lord Krishna. (Guardian, 2011) What is happening here? To a detached observer, it seems to be that in Tomsk we have an official move to censor a religious document on the grounds that it is offensive to believers in other religions, and maybe also an incitement to mistreatment of some kind directed at those believers. At the same time we have in Kolkata an attempt to prevent this on the grounds that the legal process is an insult to a possibly mythological, but certainly long dead, object of religious devotion. There may also be an implication here that the process is a threat to believers.
New IFLA Membership category: Non-Salaried Affiliate
IFLA announces a new way for retired professionals–or those in between jobs–to join or continue as IFLA affiliates at a special rate. The category of Non-Salaried Affiliate is open for individuals who are not currently in paid employment and do not expect to be within the next three months. Non-Salaried Affiliates is set in the group of Individual Affiliates within IFLA Membership. The 2012 fee for this category is EUR 59.
Non-salaried Affiliates will have free membership registration with one Section of their choice and where applicable with the Regional Section. As with all Affiliates they will have no voting rights. Non-Salaried Affiliates will have all other member services and entitlements that are applicable to Affiliation membership. Individuals joining in this category or changing over to it will have to confirm that they meet the qualifications and agree to inform IFLA as soon as this status changes.
Further details: Tatjana Hoeink, Membership Officer at IFLA Headquarters.
News from SciDev.Net
For further information about SciDev.Net, contact: Science and Development Network, 97–99 Dean Street, London W1D 3TE, United Kingdom. Telephone: +44 (0)20 7292 9910. Facsimile: +44 (0)20 7292 9929. Email (general enquiries); info@scidev.net Website: http://www.scidev.net/en/
The following news items are edited versions of items highlighted in SciDev.Net Weekly Updates, available free of charge from http://www.scidev.net/en/user/signup
Jordan to be centre of Arab science e-network
Farah Atyyat. 23 January 2012
Jordan has been chosen to be the ‘brain’ of an Arab science network that, it is hoped, will get scientists across seven countries talking and collaborating with each other. The country will become the hub of new regional science collaborations and the launch pad for projects to get research institutes within countries much better connected through broadband Internet. Jordan's role was announced in the first annual meeting of the Arab States Research and Education Network (ASREN) in Amman last month (12–14 December).
The Amman conference also called for the acceleration of the third phase of the EUMEDCONNECT project, which connects nations' research and education networks. The first and second phases of EUMEDCONNECT, which began in 2004, concentrated on linking Mediterranean researchers with their European counterparts, with the third phase extending this connectivity to Arab countries.
ASREN's member countries are Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Palestine, Syria and Tunisia. The initiative was launched in December 2010 under the patronage of the League of Arab States, the Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization and the UN Global Alliance for ICT and Development (UN-GAID).
Software apps for African farmers win prizes
Gilbert Nakweya. 8 February 2012
The increasing use of software applications (widely known as apps) in solving Africans' problems has been highlighted by the three winning entries of the Apps4Africa: Climate Challenge contest. The regional competition encourages participants to address local climate change challenges through the development of web-based and mobile applications in the East African region.
The first prize, worth US$15,000, was awarded to Grainy Bunch, a national supply chain management system which monitors the purchase, storage, distribution and consumption of grain across Tanzania. It was followed by the Mkulima Calculator team from Kenya, who won US$7,000 for an application designed to help farmers know when to plant crops and how to select suitable crops for a particular location using climate and weather data. Agro Universe, a mobile and web-based application from Uganda, took the third prize of US$3,000. The contest was supported by the US Department of State.
From ICT Update
ICT Update is a bimonthly web magazine (http://ictupdate.cta.int) with an accompanying printed bulletin and an email newsletter. It is published by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) ACP-EU, PO Box 380, 6700 AJ Wageningen, the Netherlands. Email: ictupdate@cta.int
From Issue 64 – Value chains. February 2012
Examples of articles in this issue:
Creating stronger links
Andrew Shepherd
At the heart of the value chain concept is the idea of farmers, traders, processors and distributors working to produce and deliver goods and services to consumers, adding value at each stage. The difference between this and a traditional marketing chain is that value chain activities are coordinated, with considerable collaboration throughout the process. ICT developments are moving so fast that it is difficult to predict how value chains will be using them in the coming years. However, we must be wary of being totally seduced by what technology has to offer. ICTs are only as good as the information they communicate.
The value of communication
Bjorn Furuholt and Edmund Matotay
Improved access to cell phones has resulted in great changes through the entire cycle of farming life and along every link of the value chain. More than any other technology, cell phones have spread at a breathtaking rate in developing countries. The immense potential that mobile technology has for development cannot be over-emphasized. Our educated guess is that mobile technology will quickly grow to make the Internet affordable even for poor people in rural Africa, helping them to become citizens of the Global Village in the near future.
A new voice on the market
Anna Bon
A project to improve environmental conditions for farmers in West Africa is developing a voice-based market information system. The Web Alliance for Regreening in Africa intends to develop the system further to create a speech-operated world wide web. Voice-based services may bring new opportunities for people to exchange information about regreening activities, or about prices at the local market, about health or legal issues, local news or about music and entertainment.
Talk about shared experience
Roderick St Clair
The East Caribbean project uses radio, podcasts, blogs and social networks to provide information on agricultural value chains to farmers and related businesses in the region.
Answering farmers’ needs
Adewale Adekunle
A multi-purpose ICT centre in Nigeria facilitates discussion among those involved in value chains, including researchers. The approach has now expanded to more countries.
A smart fishing suite
Kim Mallalieu and Mark Lessey
A range of cell phone applications, known as mFisheries, improves market connections, supply chain efficiency and safety at sea for small-scale fishers in Trinidad and Tobago.
News from INASP
Unless otherwise indicated, further information about INASP activities is available from: INASP: International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications, 60 St Aldates, Oxford OX1 1ST, United Kingdom. Tel: +44 (0)1865 249909. Fax: +44 (0)1865 251060. Email: inasp@inasp.info Web: www.inasp.info
INASP newsletter
The Winter 2011 issue of the INASP Newsletter (no. 46) is now available online in English and Spanish. This issue focuses on the theme of partnerships.
English edition: http://www.inasp.info/media/www/documents/INASP-Newsletter-46-en.pdf
Spanish edition: http://www.inasp.info/media/www/documents/INASP-Newsletter-46-es.pdf
Articles in this issue include the following:
Breaking down the barriers: Building an African working group on research information
Jonathan Harle
A mutual understanding: The ups and downs of collaboration and partnership
Kate O’Shea
Awareness matters: Demand spikes for the TEEAL agricultural library after new outreach campaign in the Americas and the Pacific
Nicole Joos
A win-win situation: The INASP internship programme
Dr Fran Deans
Making sense of science: SciDev.Net’s news, views and information about science, technology and the developing world
Clair Grant-Salmon and Tracy Irvine
AgriOcean Dspace: FAO and UNESCO-IOC/IODE combine efforts in their support of Open Access
S. Dister, M. Goovaerts, J. Keizer, D. Slipetskyy, I. Subirats
Recent case studies and reports available for download from the INASP website, in print quality and web-optimized versions, include:
Learning from Experience: The AuthorAID mentoring scheme in action
Daniel S. Korbel
If You Know Where to Look: Improving usage of electronic resources at Daystar University
Rosemary Gitachu
Seeing the Big Picture: Open Learning Exchange Rwanda strategy in promoting, monitoring and evaluating e-resources in Rwanda
Jacques Murinda