DigitalKoans

What was new and interesting during the week of 4/23/07? (Brief quotes follow article/Web page titles.)

• "Announcing TAPoR version 1.0"
  

  We have just updated the Text Analysis Portal for Research (TAPoR) to version 1.0 and invite you to try it out.

• "CCi Affiliate Scholarship Campaign Launches Today"
  

  This year’s iSummit (taking place in Dubrovnik, Croatia from June 15th through 17th) will bring together more than 250 key players for two days of intense discussion and debate about our digital freedoms and the future of the Internet. It is critical to assure that a truly global legal perspective is represented at this important conference. . . . In order for Creative Commons to provide affiliates with scholarships to attend this critical conference, we need your help in raising $50,000 within the next two weeks. This is a daunting task, but we strongly believe that you, our community, will help us reach this goal.

• "Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes"
  

  On a personal level, I [Roy Tennant] am leaving the California Digital Library for OCLC.

• "DC Collections Profile Reviewed"
  

  One of the items on the UB agenda was to review an updated version of the Dublin Core Collections Application Profile prepared by the Collection Description Application Profile Task Group, and I’m pleased to note that—as Ann Apps reports here—the UB approved the profile as "conforming" to their current criteria for a DC application profile (DCAP): essentially, it’s compatible with the DCMI Abstract Model (DCAM); it’s internally consistent; and the documentation conforms to current guidelines.

• "Dell Will Once Again Offer XP on Home PC and Notebook Models"
  

  Dell will again offer the Windows XP operating system due to high customer demand on the company’s community feedback forum, IdeaStorm. Dell, like most major PC manufacturers stopped selling Windows XP licenses with its PCs after the launch of Windows Vista.

• "European Digital Library Suggests Model License to Cover Orphan Works"
  

  A European Union "High Level Expert Group on Digital Libraries," including stakeholders from the British Library, the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, the Federation of European Publishers, and Google, has prepared an advisory report suggesting a voluntary license scheme to deal with copyright issues hampering the progress of library digitization efforts.

• "European Science Foundation Report Examines Peer Review Issues"
  

  The European Science Foundation (ESF), France, has published a report which reveals some concern on the shortcomings of peer review and outlines some possible measures to cope with them.

• "European Travels and the ICA-AtoM Roadmap"
  

  ICA-AtoM is an open source archival description application. The name is an acronym for "International Council on Archives—Access to Memory."

• "Head of MPAA Calls for DRM That Allows for ‘Managed Copying’"
  

  Most of Glickman’s comments focused specifically on allowing "managed copying"—the ability for consumers to move content from disc to PCs and portable devices—for high-definition DVDs, which he said he expects will happen later this year. But some of his comments make clear that some sort of "managed copying" is the goal for content delivered in any digital format, including online downloads and streams.

• "‘Ignore the US Copyright Bullies’"
  

  Internet law professor Michael Geist says countries should resist US bullying tactics over copyright and intellectual property.

• "IPRED2 Slips Through, Fight to Continue"
  

  The European Parliament has just voted to pass the Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED2) without substantive amendment, despite growing public opposition from across the European Union.

• "Judge Denies RIAA Request to Reconsider Attorneys’ Fees Award"
  

  A federal judge has denied the RIAA’s motion for reconsideration of his attorneys’ fees award in Capitol v. Foster.

• "Killed By DRM: e-Books"
  

  After years of hype, e-books may yet be the next big thing. Even with decent handsets (like the Sony’s Reader, pictured) and stabler standards, however, it’s a technology tainted by a history of aggressive DRM.

• "Knowledge Beyond Authority Interview with Michael Hemment"
  

  Michael Hemment is Research Librarian and Head of Scholarly Research Initiatives at Widener Library, here at Harvard University. Recently, MediaBerkman producer Colin Rhinesmith sat down with Michael to discuss a number of pressing issues in the research field.

• "Lawmakers Propose Reversal of Net Radio Fee Increases"
  

  A bill introduced in Congress Thursday aims to overturn a controversial royalty fee increase that Internet radio advocates say threatens to cripple their services.

• "LC Launches Blog"
  

  The Library of Congress turned 207 years old yesterday, and for the anniversary launched its first-ever blog, which is either proof that blogging has become indispensable or maybe just that blogging has jumped the shark.

• "Meet More Digitization Pioneers: The LOCKSS Team, Vicky Reich & David Rosenthal"
  

  History is so important but often overlooked when it comes to online info retrieval and digitization. That’s why a big kudos goes to the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program at the Library of Congress with their new series honoring digitization pioneers.

• "Net Neutrality Advocates Thank AT&T CEO for Shooting Off His Mouth"
  

  Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND), one of the driving forces behind the Senate’s Dorgan/Snowe Net neutrality bill, joined the call to offer his thoughts on why a bill is needed. He recalled reading a quote last year from Ed Whitacre in BusinessWeek in which Whitacre complained about companies that used "his pipes" and did so "for free."

• "OCLC’s WorldCat Local: A Promising Development for Library Patrons"
  

  The core of the service consists of a triple-tiered display of catalog search results from the local library, then from any consortia, and finally from the whole WorldCat. Relying on the expanding content collection in OCLC’s WorldCat.org (www.worldcat.org), the new service even reaches millions of periodical articles, plus government reports, medical scholarship, and educational material.

• "Ohio University Restricts All P2P File Sharing Software"
  

  Citing the burdens of responding to the RIAA’s flood of pre-litigation letters, Ohio University has decided to monitor its network in order to block all use of P2P file sharing software. Students caught using the software will have their network access disabled.

• "Siva Vaidhyanathan Questions Google Book Search"
  

  Friday at the Drexel University Libraries’ Scholarly Communication Symposium, Siva Vaidhyanathan raised some serious questions about the partnership between libraries and Google in a powerful and provocative analysis of Google Book Search.

• "Thomson Reports 1st Q"
  

  Thomson reported an 11% top line gain and an 8% operating profit gain to start off the year.

• "Wiley Threatens Scientists with Copyright Law—UPDATED"
  

  "We [Society of Chemical Industry] apologise for any misunderstanding. In this situation the publisher would typically grant permission on request in order to ensure that figures and extracts are properly credited. We do not think there is any need to pursue this matter further."

• "YouTube Is Not a Crime: EFF and Viacom Settle Up"
  

  The EFF has dismissed its lawsuit against Viacom. The suit was originally filed last month on behalf of MoveOn and Brave New Films after Viacom sent a massive number of DMCA takedown notices to YouTube which resulted in the removal of content that was in no way related to Viacom.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 26th, 2007 at 10:57 pm and is filed under Flashback: Weekly News. Comments closed here. Read and add comments at http://www.digital-scholarship.org/digitalkoans/.