The DemTech Symposium is a pre-conference of the Canadian Library Association’s Annual Congress and Trade Show, organized by the Information Commons Interest Group. The call for presentations ends March 15. They are looking for presentations on:
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has published their 2009 Alternative Federal Budget. They suggest massive investment into broadband infrastructre.
Communications for Social and Economic Development: A National Inclusion Strategy
Over the last two decades, telecommunications policy has been increasingly driven by an industrial strategy linked to technological innovation and competitiveness. As a result, regulations were dismantled, and with them, a national vision of the importance of the sector to Canadian identity and prosperity.
In order to reestablish its position nationally and internationally, Canada needs a national strategy that promotes social and economic development by making broadband connectivity ubiquitous. In addition, it will require new investments in community-based programs that help Canadians make effective use of the new technologies and an ongoing process of consultation that ensures that the diverse needs of communities are met.
- The AFB will invest $2 billion over five years in a pan-Canadian infrastructure project to extend broadband connectivity to rural areas.
- The AFB will invest $250 million over three years to support new and existing National Public Access Program sites.
- A sum of $750,000 will be set aside to research and verify community broadband connectivity and support requirements.
Writers Wole Soyinka, Salman Rushdie, JM Coetzee and Umberto Eco are among those demanding that Liu Xiaobo be released. He has been in prison in China for a month after signing Charter 08.
This is the title of a great podcast over at the ever enlightening Search Engine (on CBC). Many things are covered, from the exaflood, to dark fiber, to Internet access as a public utility.
Two undergraduate students are pitching their tents inside the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre @ UBC for the next 10 days as part of a national campaign to raise support, awareness and funds for global literacy, according to UBC Public Affairs. Check out the Live-In for Literacy site (with live webcam!). Other participating libraries include Queen’s University, University of Toronto, Concordia University, McMaster University, Laurentian University and Memorial University.
Do you have any good ideas that you think should be in the Federal budget? The government has set up a website with a survey asking you to rank their predetermined ideas, or to give your own (in 50 words or less!). This would be my suggestion:
Investing into broadband infrastructure: more broadband should alleviate the need for traffic shapping. ISPs use the excuse that there is limited bandwidth and therefore they need to manage the Internet. Net neutrality should come out a winner if more broadband becomes available (and, of course, if the CRTC or the government create legislation supporting net neutrality). More broadband should also address the digital divide that still exists in this country.
Friends of Canadian Broadcasting has revealed in an interview (see Dec. 26 audio file) that a document exists in both official languages at Conservative party headquarters in Ottawa which calls for a 200$ million dollar cut to the core parliamentary appropriation of the CBC (CBC’s Parliamentary grant). This document has been in existence prior to the October election. In the interview, it is said that this document flies in the face of a Canadian Heritage report that recommended an increase in CBC funding. From an email that Friend’s sent out, here is what could happen to the CBC:
A $200 million cut to CBC’s parliamentary grant would require amputating a number of broadcasting services on which Canadians depend. For example, in order to save $200 million it would be necessary to scrap most local programming on CBC Radio One and CBC Television throughout Canada, effectively turning CBC into a Toronto Broadcasting Corporation, as well as killing CBC Radio Two and CBC.ca, along with all their French language equivalent services.
Fabulous children’s author Lauren Child, creator of the impossibly endearing Charlie and Lola (I will never not ever eat a tomato! and others) has been recognised for her work with UNESCO’s Programme for the Education of Children in Need. Child spent the last 18 months visiting Unesco projects around the world, “from Mexico to Mongolia.” The result is the documentary, “My Life is A Story.”
From the Christian Science Monitor. An excerpt: “There are people who want to access books,” says the director of the cultural center, Pape Baba Ndiaye, but “sometimes they don’t have money for the transportation. Sometimes they don’t have time.” Furthermore, “there isn’t any funding, and there aren’t enough books. ‘We need the infrastructure: a building, the management system, personnel,’ he adds. ‘We’ll do it, little by little.’”
The annual CNN heroes were announced Saturday night, and Librarian Activist is thrilled to congratulate children’s librarian Yohannes Gebregeorgis, who was among the ten finalists (each of whom receives $25K). Gebregeorgis was recognized for his program, Ethiopia Reads, which has set up numerous libraries in his home country. Yohannes was also the receipient of one of the first ALA Presidential Citations on Innovation in International Librarianship in 2008.