LibrarianActivist.org

An Indian physicist puts a PC with a high speed internet connection in a wall in the slums and watches what happens.

What he discovered was that the most avid users of the machine were ghetto kids aged 6 to 12, most of whom have only the most rudimentary education and little knowledge of English. Yet within days, the kids had taught themselves to draw on the computer and to browse the Net. Some of the other things they learned, Mitra says, astonished him.

Strong evidence in favour of the $100 laptop? I think so!

(via Reddit)

- JH

May we turn from the usual U.S. bad guys (the Federal Communications Commission) and take a look at the Postal Regulatory Commission for a moment? They’re responsible for setting postage rates in the United States and they’re into some bad stuff. In an interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now, Katrina Vanden Heuvel says that the secrecy of the Postal Regulatory Commission “makes the FCC look like a Vermont commune.” The PRC actually accepted a rate plan from Time Warner (and rejected the one put forth by the U.S. Postal Service) which is going to favour large magazine publishers over small ones. Timeline information is available here.

Says FreePress:

Under the original plan, all publishers would have a mostly equal increase (approx. 12 percent) in the cost for mailing their publications. The Time Warner plan overturned this level playing field to favor large, ad-heavy magazines like People at the expense of smaller publications like In These Times and The American Spectator. It penalizes thousands of small- to medium-sized outlets with disproportionately higher rates while locking in privileges for bigger companies.

The Nation, for example, would be expected to pay $500 000 more per year in postage fees (according to itself). It all goes into effect July 15 unless, of course, we stop it from happening.

Please help tackle this ridiculousness on the FreePress site. Also, have a read through Robert McChesney’s letter to the masses.

If the plans go through, perhaps we Canadians should start looking for facilities to house all the American publishers moving to this side of the border.

Thanks to DD.

-SIO

Britain’s biggest specialist book chain, Waterstone’s, asked its 5,000 staff to name their favourite five books written since 1982, the date Waterstone’s opened its first store. The list features the cream, both male and female, of the modern international literary world of the last quarter of a century - from Umberto Eco and Bill Bryson to Robert Harris and Ian McEwan, from Margaret Atwood and Jung Chang to Zadie Smith and Zoe Heller.

- JH

Reed Elsevier isn’t just charging high prices for journals, no, they’ve also got some rather nasty side projects going on:

From the British Medical Journal: “While promoting world health through its publications, including The Lancet, Reed Elsevier also organises international trade fairs for the arms industry.”

From The Independent: “New allegations on Reed Elsevier’s links to the most controversial parts of the arms trade have emerged, as peace protesters descend today on the AGM in London of the conference and publishing company.”

And a Petition: “Please consider signing the petition below so that Reed Elsevier know that the academic & medical communities disapprove of their supporting the arms trade.”

Petition and boycott: “We consider Reed-Elsevier’s involvement in the global arms trade to be reckless and morally wrong, and we urge Reed-Elsevier to stop organising arms fairs. Until they do, we will not submit our papers to Reed-Elsevier journals.”

More general info from Wikipedia: “He suggested that if academics began to disengage with Reed Elsevier, the company would be likely to end their arms fairs, as arms fairs only comprise a small proportion of their business.”

With thanks to Paul.

-SIO

The Brady Campaign is one of the leading US advocates working to prevent gun-related violence.

- JH