Study: Social Isolation and new technology: Pew Internet - Internet use leads to more diverse networks

EJC Media reports on an interesting study from the Pew Research Center, via AP: - source here.

"A new study confirms what your 130 Facebook friends and scores of Twitter followers may have already told you: The Internet and mobile phones are not linked to social isolation. Online activities such as e-mail, blogging and frequenting Internet hangouts can even lead to larger, more diverse social networks, according to the study released Wednesday by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

The study refutes research earlier in the decade suggesting that people's growing embrace of technology has come at the expense of close human connections. The Internet also hasn't pulled people away from public places like parks, cafes and restaurants — just the opposite.

The study, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points and accounted for differences because of age, education and other factors, also found that people now tend to use cell phones more than landlines to stay in touch with closest family and friends. (AP)"

Social Isolation and new technology - The Pew Report
The report is available on the Pew Centre  as a PDF, here,  and also onscreen, here 

About Pew Research Center
From the Pew Internet site : 'The Pew Internet & American Life Project is one of seven projects that make up the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan, nonprofit "fact tank" that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. The Project produces reports exploring the impact of the internet on families, communities, work and home, daily life, education, health care, and civic and political life.

Read More»

Public libraries and the Internet 2008-2009: Issues, implications, and challenges , Bertot, Jaeger, et al

 
Public libraries and the Internet 2008-2009: Issues, implications, and
challenges
John Carlo Bertot, Paul T. Jaeger, Charles R. McClure, Carla B. Wright,
and Elise Jensen

'This paper presents an overview of methods, findings, issues, and implications from the 2008 Public Libraries and the Internet national survey, including comparisons to data from previous studies. Since 1994, these surveys have chronicled the expansion of the Internet as a primary library service. The 2008 survey includes key data about the many facets of public libraries as community Internet access, training, and service centers, from the number of workstations and connection speeds available to the most common Internet services and training. The findings from the 2008 survey reveal impacts of the global recession on public libraries and their ability to meet the needs and expectations of patrons, communities, and all levels of government. ..' more

Source First Monday, here

TED Special : Charter for Compassion Countdown

CHARTER FOR COMPASSION TRAILER
from TED Prize on Vimeo.

Karen Armstrong
In February 2008, Karen Armstrong won the TED Prize and called for the creation of a Charter for Compassion to bring together people of different religions and moral codes in a powerful common cause.
The Charter launches November 12, accompanied by thousands of self-organized events, services and sermons.

TED, has given out more details of their upcoming support for the Charter for Compassion,with a call to get involved. I am wrting to say yes - what about  you?


Charter for Compassion
In February 2008, Karen Armstrong won the TED Prize and called for the creation of a Charter for Compassion to bring together people of different religions and moral codes in a powerful common cause. The Charter launches November 12, accompanied by thousands of self-organized events, services and sermons.

Six advance talks
In advance of the launch, TED are also sharing six short talks on compassion from six different perspectives -- from a Rabbi, an Imam, a Reverend, a Tenzin, a Swami and a secular voice of compassion. TED believes that , 'iogether, these six speakers bear witness to the fact that compassion and the Golden Rule lie at the heart of all religion and all morality. They hope that in the week following the launch, 'thousands of sermons on the nature of compassion will be preached all over the world ... thousands of discussions will be held around dinner tables ... thousands of ideas will be shared.'


75 events worldwide
Over 75 events are currently planned across the globe to help launch the Charter for Compassion.


Get involved?
TED are calling for help to  launch the Charter by attending one of these events or hosting your own; email, blog, write, broadcast, or offer media space for Charter banners, widgets, and videos.

Sounds a plan!

WOMAD lineup 2010

WOMAD 2010 lineup

Just out from the New Plymouth WOMAD people is this release on  next years line up on New Zealand for WOMAD New Zealand 2010. The line-up has more than 250 performers from 19 countries.

Highlights include, an African music legend,French punksters, an original member of the Buena Vista Social Club, eight horn playing brothers and “the voice of the Sahara” .

Artists hail from almost every corner of the globe – Africa, the Middle East, Europe, the Americas, Australia and New Zealand.

International
Heading the line-up of music for the three-day festival is Ethiopiques featuring Ethiopian music legend Mahmoud Ahmed (2007 BBC Radio World Music Award – Africa winner) together with a 10-piece band.

Star of the Buena Vista Social Club, Eliades Ochoa from Cuba is also confirmed for WOMAD New Zealand 2010, along with French gypsy dancehall punksters Babylon Circus; America’s Hypnotic Brass Ensemble featuring eight horn-playing brothers and “the voice of the Sahara”, Mariem Hassan.

Also from Africa comes Dub Colossus, an Ethiopia/UK project featuring Ethiojazz star Feleke Hailu, while from Palestine/Israel comes one of the most beautiful voices in the Middle East, Amal Murkus.
Eclectic American band Calexico,

Scottish singer Eddi Reader (ex Fairground Attraction), legendary accordion player Mairtin O’Connor (Ireland)and Spain’s vibrant Ojos be Brujo also feature for the festival.

Other international acts include Australia’s Blue King Brown, Dutchtheatre with De Stijle, Want; Gochag Askarov from Azerbaijan (recognised by UNESCO as a masterpiece of the world’s verbal and non-verbal heritage); Algeria’s Kamel al Haraachi Chaabi Music; Finnish master musicians Lepisto and Lehti, Mexico-based Nortec Collective; seminalska group Skatalites (Jamaica); Ross Daly and Ensemble from Greece, and DJ Nickodemus (USA) and the Gyuto Monks from Tibet/Australia return to WOMAD.

New Zealand 
The line-up of New Zealand performers includes the NZTrio, collaborating on a special project Lepisto and Lehti exclusively for WOMAD; along with Northland reggae band 1814; songstress Anna Coddington; The Bellbirds (featuring Don McGlashan and Victoria Kelly together with Sandy Mill and Sean Donnelly); House of Shem; Iva Lamkum; LA Mitchell; Ladi6; Pacific Curls and kapa haka performance from Te-Whanau-A-Apanui.

Go to the WOMAD artists page  to find out more.

Apple tablet looks like it is ready for prime time?

image source

Apple tablet specualtion
Speculation that the Apple tablet is coming early next year is heating up. See for example this useful tour to its potential from the Sydney Morning Herald, here.  The device itself looks typical Apple cool; however, more importantly, as the piece notes, there is a lot of speculation that Apple is way down the track talkng to content providers, from newspapers,  to music and movie studios, and ebook publishers.


The business model
The SMH piece also reports that in contrast to the Amazon/Kindle who are looking for 70% of the revenue, Apple is  reported to be looking for the opposite - i.e. 30% to them - 70% to the providor/developer. This seems a huge discrepancy in business case, but again,  it's a useful indicator that the legendary 'new business models' for creatives is starting to come into view.

Platforms
Nothing to say yet as to whether this will be a 3G or WIFI play, or both. As I speculated at the time of the Telecom XT launch, here,  I still think there is a huge opportunity for local lead 3G on-deck content plays from the likes of Telecom XT and/or Vodafone.

However, whoever calls this, I would bet the bank there will be some kind of Apple DRM as well. And given Apple's hard nose reputation for a deal, you can also guarantee that the main thing that is holding things up is getting the partner price ratios right, and that the specs are sitting waiting for manufacture?

Another dream run for Apple?
There have been a few false dawns, but for me this seems like another big breakthrough product for Apple. As for the content deals - bring them on - I'll pay - just make it resonable.

Miss Pokeno nails the issue

Source: Miss Pokeno - via The Armchair Destructivists Action 3.option 9

Normal service resumed after re-boot

back soon 

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life - Mapping the Global Muslim Population

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The Report
Key findings of Mapping the Global Muslim Population,  from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, offer the most up-to-date and fully sourced estimates of the size and distribution of the worldwide Muslim population, including sectarian identity.

"1.57 billion Muslims in more than 200 countries
A comprehensive demographic study of more than 200 countries finds that there are 1.57 billion Muslims of all ages living in the world today, representing 23% of an estimated 2009 world population of 6.8 billion.

While Muslims are found on all five inhabited continents, more than 60% of the global Muslim population is in Asia and about 20% is in the Middle East and North Africa.

However, the Middle East-North Africa region has the highest percentage of Muslim-majority countries. Indeed, more than half of the 20 countries and territories¹ in that region have populations that are approximately 95% Muslim or greater.

More than 300 million Muslims, or one-fifth of the world's Muslim population, live in countries where Islam is not the majority religion. These minority Muslim populations are often quite large. India, for example, has the third-largest population of Muslims worldwide. China has more Muslims than Syria, while Russia is home to more Muslims than Jordan and Libya combined.

Sunni - Shia balance
Of the total Muslim population, 10-13% are Shia Muslims and 87-90% are Sunni Muslims. Most Shias (between 68% and 80%) live in just four countries: Iran, Pakistan, India and Iraq"

Download the full report PDF (62 pages, 10MB)
Source

Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life
The Forum describes its self, here. An Extract on this description is given below: 

"The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, launched in 2001, seeks to promote a deeper understanding of issues at the intersection of religion and public affairs.

The Forum pursues its mission by delivering timely, impartial information to national opinion leaders, including government officials and journalists.

As a nonpartisan, non-advocacy organization, the Forum does not take positions on policy debates.
The Forum functions as both an information clearinghouse and a town hall. As a clearinghouse it tracks and aggregates news and conducts independent research, including surveys, legal backgrounders, reports, books and Q&A interviews.

As a town hall, it provides a neutral venue for discussion. In these roles, the Forum serves as an important information resource for political leaders, journalists, scholars and public interest groups.

Based in Washington, D.C., the Forum is directed by Luis Lugo. The Forum is a project of the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan "fact tank" that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. The Center is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts."

Bound By Law? - a comic book on Fair Use by Duke University, 'Centre for the Study of the Public Domain'

source

New Expanded Edition of Bound By Law?
Duke University, Center for the Study of the Public Domain,  has published an expanded edition of the Center’s comic book on copyright and fair use, with a new foreword by filmmaker Davis Guggenheim and new introduction  by novelist Cory Doctorow

The Menu

• Read a Foreword by Oscar-winning filmmaker Davis Guggenheim
• Read an Introduction by award-winning writer and blogger Cory Doctorow
• Read the Portuguese translation of the comic!
• Plain old html - Read the book!
• Flash animation with page flipping and a magnifier tool.
  
• PDF- the entire comic in one downloadable file
  (8mb) (16mb)
• Hi high res image of the cover for your website or printed work (color optimized for printing) (jpg, 1mb) (jpg, 3mb)
• Remix the Comic! Download individual comic pages (zip, 9mb)
• Translate the Comic! Download text free pages for translation.

Queens Borough Public Library v. Dynix Corporation et al

Queens Borough Public Library vs. Sirsi Corporation
Library Technology Guides, here, reports that, 'The Queens Borough Public Library, one of the largest and busiest libraries in the United States, has filed a major lawsuit against Sirsi Corporation, which currently does business as SirsiDynix.

The lawsuits relates to the Library’s procurement of the Horizon library automation system from Dynix Corporation, which was subsequently acquired by Sirsi Corporation.

The complaint was filed in the United States District Court Eastern District of New York on July 2, 2009. An initial conference is currently scheduled for November 2, 2009"

Source of Filing

PDF - here

Yayoi Kusama: Mirrored Years - City Gallery Wellington, NZ

The world's top 100 universities

image source

2009   2008 Rank   
1      1    HARVARD University
2      3    University of CAMBRIDGE
3      2    YALE University
4      7    UCL (University College London)
5      6    IMPERIAL College London
5      4    University of OXFORD
7      8    University of CHICAGO
8     12    PRINCETON University
9      9    MASSACHUSETTS Institute of Technology (MIT)
10    5    CALIFORNIA Institute of Technology (Caltech)
11    10    COLUMBIA University
12    11    University of PENNSYLVANIA
13    13    JOHNS HOPKINS University
14    13    DUKE University
15    15    CORNELL University
16    17    STANFORD University
17    16    AUSTRALIAN National University
18    20    MCGILL University
19    18    University of MICHIGAN
20    24    ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology)
20    23    University of EDINBURGH
22    19    University of TOKYO
23    22    KING'S College London
24    26    University of HONGKONG
25    25    KYOTO University
26    29    University of MANCHESTER
27    21    CARNEGIE MELLON University
28    28    École normale supérieure, PARIS
29    41    University of TORONTO
30    30    National University of Singapore (NUS)
31    27    BROWN University
32    33    NORTHWESTERN University
32    30    University of CALIFORNIA, Los Angeles (UCLA)
34    32    University of BRISTOL
35    39    HONG KONG University of Science and Technology
36    34    ÉCOLE POLYTECHNIQUE
36    38    University of MELBOURNE
36    37    University of SYDNEY
39    36    University of California, BERKELEY
40    34    University of BRITISH COLUMBIA
41    43    University of QUEENSLAND
42    50    École Polytechnique Fédérale de LAUSANNE
43    44    OSAKA University
43    49    TRINITY College Dublin
45    47    MONASH University
46    42    The CHINESE University of Hong Kong
47    50    SEOUL National University
47    45    University of NEWSOUTH WALES
49    56    TSINGHUA University
49    53    University of AMSTERDAM
51    48    University of COPENHAGEN
52    40    NEW YORK University(NYU)
52    50    PEKING University
54    46    BOSTON University
55    78    Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM)
55    61    TOKYO Institute of Technology
57    57    HEIDELBERG University
58    69    University of WARWICK
59    74    University of ALBERTA
60    64    LEIDEN University
61    65    The University of AUCKLAND
61    55    University of WISCONSIN-Madison
63    81    AARHUS University
63    71    University of ILLINOIS, Chicago (UIC)
65    72    Katholieke Universiteit LEUVEN
66    75    University of BIRMINGHAM
67    66    LONDON School of Economics and Political Science
67    88    LUND University
69    95    KAIST – Korea Advanced Institute of Science
70    81    University of YORK
70    67    UTRECHT University
72    68    University of GENEVA
73    77    Nanyang Technological University (NTU)
73    60    WASHINGTON University in St. Louis
75    63    UPPSALA University
76    58    University of CALIFORNIA, San Diego
76    70    University of TEXAS at Austin
78    102    University of NORTH CAROLINA, Chapel Hill
79    73    University of GLASGOW
80    59    University of WASHINGTON
81    106    University of ADELAIDE
82    76    University of SHEFFIELD
83    78    DELFT University of Technology
84    83    University of WESTERN AUSTRALIA
85    54    DARTMOUTH College
86    83    GEORGIA Institute of Technology
87    99    PURDUE University
87    83    University of STANDREWS
89    108    University College DUBLIN
90    62    EMORY University
91    86    University of NOTTINGHAM
92    120    NAGOYA University
92    106    University of ZURICH
94    137    Freie Universität BERLIN
95    124    National TAIWAN University
95    99    University of SOUTHAMPTON
97    112    TOHOKU University
98    93    Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
99    104    University of LEEDS
00    78    RICE University

Source THS

Discovering New Zealand Museums

Discovering New Zealand Museums

View more presentations from PaulRowe.

New Zealand at Museum Association Conference
This is the slide deck from a  MA, UK Museums Association conference, 2009 presentation given by Paul Rowe of Vernon Systems, eHive,  on the NZ Museums Project, Digital New Zealand,  NZ Live, et al.  It offers a really neat summary of how New Zealand manages to make projects talk to each other.

McGovern Online was very pleased to be the IA/ interface design partner to the NZ Museums project.

Letters of a Nation - Australia Post

source

Letters of a Nation
Australia Post, assisted by the National Archives of Australia, the Australian Multicultural Foundation and the Royal Historical Society of Victoria,  have produced  'Letters of a Nation. The project uses letters to provide a first hand story of Australia.

Nice work, And interesting idea.  although I am not 100% convinced by some of the rendering devices. The way the letters come on screen is just great - but some of the pathways to get to them  have a tad too much 'flash' for my tastes.

Partnerships?

Also, I would have like to have learned more about their heritage partnerships - but again,  the pathways that might have got me there were a little over scripted. Maybe I have been watching too much Indiana Jones.
 

Media
Also, and others might like to take note of this - there is not a media person/organisation in the world who will wait for a Flash movie to load to get to a press archive - here.

The real deal
That said -  I love it - some very nice work inside  here

On patrons and sponsors - some handy hints from the good Dr Sam Johnson

 

image source

18th Century patronage and the modern sponsor.
I have been doing some more book reviewing for Idealog Magazine. As part of this  I was musing on the link between 18th century patronage and the modern sponsor.  And as part of that, I remembered the wonderful story of Dr Sam Johnson, who got very miffed with Lord Chesterfield deigning to notice him after his Dictionary was published and he was the talk of the town.

Dr Johnson's Dictionary
Given that  the Dictionary had taken him the best part of nine years to write - and he had long since spend the advance from his publisher, his irritation is hardly surprising.  This is his [slightly edited]  response. I love it - especially as it applies equally well to the art of reviewing!

My Lord,
" I have been lately informed, by the proprietor of The World, that two papers, in which my Dictionary is recommended to the public, were written by your lordship. To be so distinguished is an honour which, being very little accustomed to favours from the great, I know not well how to receive, or in what terms to acknowledge.

When, upon some slight encouragement, I first visited your lordship, I was overpowered, like the rest of mankind, by the enchantment of your address, and could not forbear to wish that I might boast myself Le vainqueur du vainqueur de la terre;—that I might obtain that regard for which I saw the world contending; but I found my attendance so little encouraged, that neither pride nor modesty would suffer me to continue it.

When I had once addressed your Lordship in public, I had exhausted all the art of pleasing which a retired and uncourtly scholar can possess. I had done all that I could; and no man is well pleased to have his all neglected, be it ever so little.

Seven years, my lord, have now passed, since I waited in your outward rooms, or was repulsed from your door; during which time I have been pushing on my work through difficulties, of which it is useless to complain, and have brought it, at last, to the verge of publication, without one act of assistance, one word of encouragement, or one smile of favour. Such treatment I did not expect, for I never had a patron before.

Is not a patron my lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and, when he has reached ground, encumbers him with help?

The notice which you have been pleased to take of my labours, had it been early, had been kind; but it has been delayed till I am indifferent, and cannot enjoy it: till I am solitary, and cannot impart it; till I am known, and do not want it.

I hope it is no very cynical asperity not to confess obligations where no benefit has been received, or to be unwilling that the public should consider me as owing that to a patron, which providence has enabled me to do for myself.."

original [unedited] source - here

Dr Johnson's dictionary entry for porridge
'Oats. A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people'

Revolution -Marcia Russell -TVNZ - NZ OnScreen - all episodes

NZ OnScreen
Today, NZ OnScreen put online the other three epsodes of the award winning series, Revolution, This four part series mapped sweeping social and economic change in New Zealand society in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Described as a “journalist's assembly” by its makers, it collected together interviews with the major players and archive footage.

“We wanted to make Revolution because we believed that unless we re-run and re-examine our recent history we are in constant danger of forgetting, and forgetting can render us passive about the present and slaves of the future.” [Marcia Russell - Producer]

It won Best Factual Series at the 1997 Film and TV Awards" See also the book of the series, Revolution, published by Hodder Moa Beckett, 1996
Abe Books, here . Library, here, via Worldcat

The Grand Illusion - Episode Two
This second episode argues that in its first term in office, the Labour Government promoted neoliberal reform via illusory ideas of consensus and fairness, while PM David Lange mined goodwill from its anti-nuclear policy. The interviews include key figures in politics, the public service and business. There are recollections of an age of easy lending and yuppie excess, while those in rural areas recall the downside of job losses.

Episode Three

The Great Divide - Episode Three
This third episode looks at the lurch of the Kiwi stock market from boom to bust in 1987, and the growing philosophical divide between “head boys” PM David Lange and finance minister Roger 'Rogernomics' Douglas. Within two months of the October 1987 stock market crash, $21 billion was lost from the value of NZ shares. Lange and Douglas give accounts of how their differing views on steering the NZ economy eventually resulted in both their resignations.

 

 

The New Country - Episode Four
This final episode sums up, after examining “the second wave” of neoliberal reform when National took power in 1990 shortly after Telecom was sold to American interests. Incoming finance minister Ruth “mother of all budgets” Richardson oversaw a reduction of welfare payments, a shake-up of the health system, and a curbing of union powers. Richardson: "in a human sense I understood that [community outrage], but that wasn’t going to deflect me".

 ###

Note: Revolution Episode One
In August , 2009, I posted on the original episode of this seminal account of the transition of  New Zealand from a heavily regulated command economy to the darling of the free enterpirse, The Economist. As is know, the reality took some geting used to. This series is a timely reminder to that enthusiasm, and of recent attempts to revist what some keep calling, 'unfinished business' Roger Douglas is now back in Parliament. David Lange died in August, 2005.

ICANN CEO Talks About the New Affirmation of Commitments

 ICANN
ICANN moves away from shadow of the US State department with a new "affirmation of commitments" which extends the governance model to include more international partners.

Sources
The Affirmation of Commitments text in full is, here  For more background on the issues and the debate, see TechWorld, here.  NZ Computer world also has a good summary, here .
If you need an explanation of what ICANN's does and why, see here.