Technology Blog

source: BMC launches first OA journal of veterinary medicine

source: More on ACS v. PubChem

If these two new OA declarations weren’t issued today, then at least I didn’t learn about them until today.

1. The Vienna Declaration has been promulgated for signatures in advance of the Chaos Control 2005 conference (Vienna, June 15-16, 2005). Excerpt: ‘[1] Digitalization and networking allow easier access to information in a historically exceptional manner. Anything can potentially be accessed, copied, and modified. This will change information processing in a way unknown so far opening up the opportunity for a major progress in accessibility of knowledge…. [8] Scientists are challenged as role models when handling freely available knowledge. Scientific institutions shall recommend their scientists to particularly make state-aided research results available easily and free of charge. Simultaneously, it is task of the state to offer compensation for possible disadvantages caused hereof.’

2. The Thiruvananthapuram Declaration was issued by the Free Software, Free Society conference (May 28-30, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India). Excerpt: ‘[N]ew Information and Communication Technologies [have] transformed the process of knowledge construction and dissemination in our society….Human history is calling us to take note of this change. Creative works today live in a digital world, travel at the speed of light, get transformed in seconds, become part of several other creations, and grow in a number of other ways. As society transforms drastically, we…urge our world to take note of the immense potential opening up for humanity, and to ensure that technology is harnessed in the needs of the time to tackle the wider concerns of our planet….To face the challenges of the day, we need a new model of development centered around non material aspects of life — including collaboration, sharing, and compassion. Such a society is evolving today on the foundations of freedom, collaboration and shared knowledge.’

source: Two declarations in one day

I got a spiffy new Vaio back in March, which came with a trial edition for Microsoft Office 2003, which I eventually activated and used. I’ve used this sw for years, and probably use more of the power features than 95% the norm, but it’s a classic problem of an over-engineered product. And what is the cost barrier they need to overcome with me? The sub-$100 employee discount version. I’ve installed OpenOffice and we’ll see how it goes. Maybe I’ll need the upgrade, and maybe not.

One thing’s for sure though: the dinosaur campaign is a sure-fire dissuader. I haven’t commented on it previously but it’s been going on for months, and is — bafflingly — still in progress (some choice Flash platitude filled marketing here).

Microsoft exec’s need to revisit The Innovator’s Dilemma to get their thinking back in line with the reality of their market position. If your product has been goldplated to the point where customers no longer see value in the cost and disruption involved in an upgrade, you sure as hell don’t mock them for being… For being what exactly? For being customers who find your past products useful enough to keep wanting to use them?

I am no one’s advertising maven but this is where you’re supposed to tell them why it’s in their absolute money-making interest to upgrade right now. You can’t berate people into product adoption, certainly not in the current climate of business IT investment. The mere fact that this campaign exists is admission that there is no value proposition for customers: they’re seeking to play on emotions of being “behind the times” to sell their upgrade. What’s in it for customers? Features that will probably be never used, and the satisfaction of having “evolved” (to far more memory intensive applications). What’s in it for Microsoft? More money upfront of course, but the more subtle benefit is that every copy will need to be validated (as was not the case previously). From the Microsoft website:

Product activation is a technology created to help protect consumers and software manufacturers by reducing software piracy; it helps verify that you have a genuine, high-quality, virus-free copy of Office XP that has not been used on more personal computers than is permitted by the software license.

And sure, I’m antipiracy, but that’s not a feature that’s valuable to me as a user. Microsoft’s policy of bundling OS with each new pc, yet not allowing license transferability (I think I bought about 4 Windows 2000, and so far 2 Windows XP licenses) doesn’t bode well for user experience during the inevitable sytem restores, reclones, and hardware upgrades.

And upgrading is such a hassle with Microsoft products! I’ve never sat in front of one single install — even reclones — where Outlook has ever behaved and looked exactly the same. It can be argued that’s due to the vicissitudes of Exchange and various service packs and whatever, but it’s just bogus. The amount of customization it takes to make Office usable out of the box is insane - from turning things off (clippy, all that clipboard eyecandy, the pseudo-useful menu hiding) to pointing at defaut directories to configuring my toolbars with additional buttons.

You know, it’s only during upgrades and reinstalls that I really ever feel like a loser for using Microsoft products. That I ever feel like I’m flailing with a large, sensory obstructing dinosaur head on.

Note: in cleaning out my drafts 12-Jun I realized that I both needed to post this item and to write up a real review of the current state of Open Office after having put it through its paces, so I’ve backdated this.

This post was written by eleanor, source: OpenOffice 1.1.4: motivation for switching and review

Women make up more than 1/2 of the population but sometimes it seems that the Internet has ignored this fact.

Or the sheer enormity of the Internet does not make it easy to find information, resources and items of interest for women in the Cleveland area.

Not anymore! ClevelandWomen.Com is geared toward providing information, resources and fun to the female population of Northeast Ohio - and those who care about them. In fact, we hope that the men in your life will visit and maybe learn what makes you tick…

This post was written by George, source: ClevelandWomen.com

source: What is…a Keystroke Logger?

Clinical Medicine & Research, published by the Marshfield Clinic, and hosted by HighWire Press, is now mirrored at PubMed Central.

Clinical Medicine & Research - Fulltext v1+ (2003+) HighWire | PubMed Central; Print ISSN: 1539-4182 | Online ISSN: 1554-6179.

[Thanks to Brooke Dine, PMCnews.]

source: Clinical Medicine & Research added to PMC

This is sick. This is right up there with Janes triumphant announcements of defense budgets, maybe even beyond because the legal opinion is that whistleblowers are not to be tolerated under the law … no matter how deranged and demented the outrages they might be (secretly) video-taping. Chill on this:

“As an employee she has a legal right to be there, but she’s there to fulfill and execute on the tasks and responsibilities give to her by her employer. She’s not there to fulfill her own private agenda,”
[ Bane of Companies ]

So says the Philadelphia Lawyer, but also so says an author on ‘ethics’. And what was it Lisa Leitten had seen that she’d be bound by NDA to keep to herself? Oh, nothing. Never-you-mind stuff like “…festering wounds, and that tubes were forced into their sinuses for research medicine to be administered, causing them to scream, bleed and vomit. Monkeys were housed alone in cages that were hosed down with the animals still inside, dripping and shivering” — yeah, bad for business if that got out, eh?

source: Bad for Business

Ivyspring international publisher currently publishes two Open Access journals, International Journal of Medical Sciences and International Journal of Biological Sciences. Both titles have recently been added to the collections at PubMed Central.

International Journal of Medical Sciences - Fulltext v1+ (2004+) Ivyspring | PubMed Central; ISSN: 1449-1907.

International Journal of Biological Sciences - Fulltext v1+ (2005+) Ivyspring | PubMed Central; ISSN: 1449-2288.

[Thanks to Jennifer Jentsch, PMCnews.]

source: New OA publisher deposits 2 new jnls at PMC

Another Civic Strategies E-Letter highlights another problem:

some local officials think the bums at the bank need to make more foreclosures — and make them faster.

Reason: The older suburbs are worried that, if a house or two on a street falls into disrepair or is abandoned by a family who can’t keep up the mortgage payments, it can drag down the entire block. Houses that sit empty too long, officials say, attract vandals and arsonists. Cities can help keep up appearances by cutting the grass and repairing the exterior (placing a lien on the property for repayment), but neighbors still worry that the darkened house next door will drag down property values. “Who wants to live in a neighborhood where you have these popping up all over?” one suburban mayor asked.

This is where foreclosures come in, of course. If an owner stops making mortgage payments, banks can foreclose, pay off the liens and back taxes and sell it to someone who’ll maintain the house and pay taxes. Normally, banks don’t need help in doing this, but in the Cleveland area they do. The problem is with the county courts, which are so backlogged and, lawyers say, inefficient that foreclosures can take a year or more to process. That’s a year that a house can sit empty and fall into disrepair while the paperwork sits at the courthouse.

Sounds like we need to work on the court system, not the banks.

This post was written by George, source: Otis White on foreclosures in Cleveland

I wouldn’t call this officer’s behavior unfortunate, I’d call it wrong or illegal or unconstitutional:

The victim John Bell says Officer Devore threatened him. The lawsuit claims the officer said he’ll give Bell until the count of three to hand over the camera or he’ll make his life “a living hell.”

“What’s really wrong with this whole picture is we have a police officer basically robbing a citizen,” said Dean Hoover, victim’s attorney.

The attorney for Bell says it was unreasonable search and seizure, a violation of the 4th amendment.

“The stopping of his car, abduction…made a false police report, which itself is a crime,” said Hoover.

“The officer was wrong,” said Chief Dave Robbins, Hudson police. “His actions were unfortunate.”

What would you call it?

Via Bitter Girl.

This post was written by George, source: Unfortunate?

source: Free access to health journals for developing countries

source: News from the Washington Post

source: OK to re-copyright works from the public domain

I am home after just about a month on the road, and about to leave to pick my family up at the airport. Realizing last month that this would be a time when I would spend little time here, I asked two friends who are publishing a new book to guest blog for the first week of June. Starting tomorrow, Ian Ayres and Jennifer Brown will be discussing their book, Straightforward : How to Mobilize Heterosexual Support for Gay Rights. I’ve not read the book, but I’ve been talking to both of them about these issues since I was a visiting professor at Yale. These are two extraordinary authors, and the debate is certain to be more interesting than the usual stuff on this blog. (Yet another opportunity to see a surprisingly refreshing facet of the three blind mice).

So excuse my absence. I’ll be back on the 8th.

source: home again

William New, Medical R&D Treaty Debated At World Health Assembly, IP Watch, May 30, 2005. Excerpt: ‘Experts attending the U.N. World Health Assembly this month debated a proposal to create an international treaty on medical research and development aimed at making medical treatment affordable globally while ensuring continuing innovation in the area. The proposed treaty was created in consultation with a variety of non-governmental and government experts, and in February, 162 politicians, academics and non-governmental organisations called on the World Health Organisation to consider the proposal. The treaty was discussed at a Consumers International briefing in Geneva on 19 May. “This is an attempt to look at this issue from the public health point of view instead of the commercial point of view,” said James Love, director of the Consumer Project on Technology (a Consumers International member), and an architect of the proposed treaty….Dr. Tim Hubbard, head of human genome analysis at the The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and another treaty architect, emphasized that researchers have recognised the advantage of access to scientific research through the Internet, although he noted that “openness isn’t just giving things away for free.” But Hubbard said that the argument for patents on data has diminished even while patents are being filed by scientists more than ever. Hubbard added in a statement that “people are dying needlessly because of economic dogma.”‘

(PS: The treaty has a provision mandating OA to publicly-funded research. See Draft 4, Section 13.1. Disclosure: I am one of the drafters.)

source: Medical R&D Treaty debated at UN this month

Ever since I interviewed Dave about blogs for my book, Free Culture, I’ve been thinking a lot about his idea of “amateur journalists.” It is a powerful concept, which rewards careful thought. To see its value, we must remember the original meaning of “amateur,” meaning one who does something for the love of it alone. And when we think of journalism that is regulated by those ideals, it is easy to see why such journalism nicely complements commerical journalism. As he said to me,

“An amateur journalist simply doesn’t have a conflict of interest, or the conflict of interest is so easily disclosed that you know you can sort of get it out of the way.”

It is because I found Dave’s view so compelling that I’ve been worried for sometime about the emergence of advertising in blog space. I’m not against it. I just worry about how it might put pressure on the “doesn’t have a conflict of interest” norm. If the virtue of the amateur is to seek the truth, that virtue could be in tension with the desire to earn more ad revenue. The simplest way to get linkbacks is to say the most absurd things imaginable.

But the more I’ve talked about this with observers and friends, the more I think the real fear is not bloggers tempted by ad revenues. It is instead the emergence of the equivalent of tabloids in blog-space: commercial entities whose sole purpose is to generate ad revenue, who do that by being as ridiculous and extreme as possible.

The danger here is that the conflict has returned. Just as the British tabloids care little about the truth in their path to selling papers, commercial blog-loids care little about the truth in trying to attract eyeballs. And it is here that the cycle turn vicious: for the amateur space feeds the professional troll by careful and repeated efforts to show that claims made are false or outrageous. If you’re paid by the click, who cares why people click.

This creates a dilemma for open and honest disagreement about the facts. For here there is a conflict in interest: the interest of the amateur journalist is not the interest of the professional troll. Yet the only way the amateur can do his job — by quoting and criticizing — is to feed the troll.

We either need a way to cite that doesn’t reward bad behavior. (Copyright law restricts that (Google, for example, would be really angry if you started linking to caches rather than original locations).) Or we need a way to know when to ignore.

In either case, imho, it would be useful to think more about this conflict in interest, if the nature of the amateur space is not to be displaced by something different.

source: of amateur journalists, and professional trolls

I just got back from a short trip to Yongsan with Dan Gillmor. Yongsan is one of two electronics districts in Seoul. One of the larger buildings full of shops was closed for some reason and there weren’t very many shoppers around. This made walking around easier, but probably didn’t give us the full effect. In Tokyo, we have an electronics district called Akihabara which many people compare Yongsan to. There were more similarities than I expected, but some differences. I found in Yongsan, and Seoul in general, places are more spacious than the equivalent areas in Japan. Shops generally seemed cleaner and the districts a bit better organized than in Akihabara. Speaking of smells, many of the smells oddly familiar from Tokyo, although there were some different ones. One thing which contributed to the difference in smells was that there were food markets such as fresh vegetables and grilled meats interspersed in the market, which Akihabara doesn’t have.

Dan was prowling for cheap memory, but either because we didn’t bargain, or because we didn’t know where to look, we didn’t find any.

It was a lot of fun, but it would probably have been more fruitful with a seasoned guide. I would say that overall, there were maybe more shops than Akihabara, but a bit less diversity. (We didn’t see a single Macintosh.) Having said that, I’m not sure we were able to explore the whole thing so my view may not be accurate.

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source: Sniffing around in Yongsan with Dan

source: More on ACS v. PubChem

source: Another journal policy for NIH-funded authors