Unit 6 Report

I definitely just got finished listening to Bosnian rap music! It seems to be a lot more folk-ish than rap music here, and seems to have political messages. Which is interesting to me because NONE of the mainstream rap music in the US is political in nature - I have to search long and hard on iTunes to find non-misogynistic rap music with a message!

One thing I had to look up before reading about this area was to find exactly which countries are in Eastern Europe. I found a GREAT map on Wikipedia - it's hard to see here but the orange-ish area is Eastern Europe:

I also read that these countries (historically and currently) seem to be divided from Western Europe for either political or religious disagreements. It seems like such a shame that an area of the world so rich in culture can’t share their histories!

As I was reading through the information on the Digital Divide I began to wonder, what was it like when books were being printed for the first time, before there were libraries? Was there a print divide? I'm assuming that libraries were created to close this gap; how will we close the digital divide? Is it the responsibility of libraries to offer free high-speed Internet access for their patrons? Given the history of libraries (at least public libraries) I would presume that yes, libraries should take on the responsibility of providing access to the Internet. Now, given that I know that libraries have even trouble as it is with budgeting, how can they begin to pay for PCs and high speed Internet? The government should be stepping in – they should be taking more responsibility to prevent the digital divide. By ensuring that rural areas are in a state such that fiber optic cables can be run underground, allowing for Internet access should be the primary responsibility of the government. Not to mention the social implications – why are these people unable to get to digital information in the first place? My guess is because of an already corrupt economic system. Unfortunately, the information ‘have nots’ are only going to get farther and farther behind the information ‘haves’. Even though the article we read is a bit dated, this continues to be a huge issue. As my friend Sam Kome said, ‘you don’t have to travel the world to find the information poor; it lives in our own backyards’.

This is a problem that needs to be remedied from the ground up. Every child in every school needs to learn how to use the Internet properly and how to find trustworthy information online. Not only should the government ensure access to the Internet, they need to make sure that people in rural areas know how to use it – and the public school system is a great place to start.

By changing who has access to digital information, we can change the hierarchy. Giving people information is the most powerful gift in the world. It goes right along with ‘Give a man a fish and he eats for a day; teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime.’ Give people access to information and you will dramatically change their lives.

As I was reading through some of the information on specific countries, I realized how unfortunate it is that in Croatia telecommunications services are being monopolized. As the government makes attempts to provide access to information, corporations are taking advantage of this unfortunate situation. From the document, however, it sounds like the government is fairly aware of the problem and working towards remedying it.

These countries are so different from Finland – the difference I think is the level of commitment made by the government. Finland’s government seems to be educating people at all levels and working with corporations to give rural areas Internet access.

Allowing Turkey into the EU is an interesting topic. I see both sides of the issue – if they meet all the criteria then, yes, technically they should be allowed into the EU. It also seems that all the reasons people are giving for Turkey not being in the EU are predicaments that other countries are in – countries that are already in the EU. For instance, Wikipedia says that Turkey hasn’t been accepted yet for economic reasons (because they are poor) – though not as poor as Bulgaria and Romania - who will become full members next year).

It seems that the EU’s current stance is that while Turkey’s government has made attempts to radically change its policies to match those of the EU, they’re not quite there yet. In all fairness, Turkey should meet the qualifications that everyone else has to meet. It seems that everyone is so apprehensive about it because Turkey is essentially part Middle Eastern, part European. If religious bias is what is keeping Turkey out, then the EU isn’t the organization it should be.

While the EU seems to be a good thing (in general) – regulating currency and banding together, I worry about exports. Mary mentioned in her slides that France wants to be the only country producing wine – boy I bet that made Italy VERY angry. And what if I like Italian champagne? While regulating the currency and organizing policies (like making LIS education standards the same from country to country) I really worry that some of the countries in the EU will loose their culture, the same culture that attracts so many tourists there and makes people proud of their heritage.

The information on CEENet was very cool! It seems wise that these countries band together and share information. One thing I noticed was that Turkey was on the list of members of CEENet – the EU seems to be committed to uniting the countries, but technology and this type of education probably isn’t on the top of their list of priorities. CEENet provides a means for educators to work together and solve common problems, working as one unit. My rule is always two heads are better than one and I think CEENet has that idea in mind. These countries can get along and work together because there is no underlying political agenda – they exist simply to educate and share information.

The National Library of Estonia had interesting information on cartography. In their collection they have maps dating back to 1856 of the local area:

It’s interesting to look at that map and then this one from 1937:

I just love learning some of the histories of these countries!

As a side note, while the National Library of Ukraine’s site was NOT in English, they have a beautiful library:

To end on a happy note, the video of Prague was beautiful – I had no idea! One of my friends teaches English there and I am definitely going to visit!

Unit 5 Report

First of all, I have to say that I LOVE the idea of selling books in vending machines - I just may move to Paris to experience the thrill of going to buy a book in the middle of the night! Everyone makes fun of me because I have books ALL over my house - I have books in every room! Sometimes, you just have to READ! It brings up the idea of being able to access information anywhere, at any time. I know we all have the Internet and can pretty much read about anything we want whenever we want, but there's just something about holding a new book in your hands and Maxi-Livres appreciates that! It seems that when we think of the 'information age' we think of digital information, but we need quick access to other forms of information too!

The article on Finnish technology was great - I know that Finland is the home of hackers everywhere, but I didn't know that their government was so involved with keeping everyone connected. One great thing I learned from the article is how every aspect of the Finnish government is getting involved with information technology and putting money behind it. They also see the importance of testing out new technologies on university students - they are truly the perfect audience for this - they don't have a lot at stake and they are adept at using technologies.

The website also mentioned Finland's famous ftp download site: ftp.funet.fi - I have downloaded software from here, many, many times. But Finland has always been a leader in technology - Linus Torvalds, creator of Linux, is from Finland and many, many hackers call Finland home. Finland is seen as the leader in open source technology - here's part of an online book from Salon - that talks about Finland as an open source society - well actually, they call it THE open source society. It is also the mother-ship, so to speak, of hackers everywhere. Pekka Himanen, another famous Finnish technologist, even wrote a book entitled 'The Hacker Ethic'. Finland is where most "good" hackers go - by good I mean those who do NOT hack for evil and they are huge proponents of an open source society.

For the US to be this supportive of technology, the government would have to step in and WANT to conquer the digital divide. At this point, I'm not so sure that our politicians care about getting information available to people on the other side of the divide - those who cannot access the Internet. If our government would take responsibility for this problem and put some money behind, we could all be better leaders in the information age.

The Bologna Declarations was interesting to read - but I got the most out of the Wikipedia site. I had no idea that European higher education systems were so different! I can't imagine the difficulties that arise from speaking different languages, having different histories and cultures. Every University has its own traditions that should be honored but it is important for the European countries to have a system so that degrees can be transferred across countries.

The Domesday Book by King William the Conqueror has both good and bad qualities. If I were one of the people living in England it would be very bad - who wants to be taxed by a king you don't want ruling the land? However, the fact that he ordered such a survey and was successful is amazing. By ordering two sets of people to go to each home, it must have taken a LONG time! I found this map on Google that shows all of the places survey data was taken from:

Can you imagine sending 2 people per area all over England question everyone?! They even ranked land owners, essentially created a hierarchical class-based system - yuck! History Magazine has this drawing of King William online:

I love the fact that I can see these documents online, read about the history, and see pictures of the actual book (below)! The beauty of the digital age is that it's easy to learn about other cultures and the histories of other places all in the comfort of your home! Of course, I would love to go visit all these places we have seen online, but until I win the lottery, that's just not possible :). I think it is a great resource for kids and adults who are interested in history and want to absorb as much information as possible. Digitizing documents and histories like this supports lifelong learning - and that is always a very good thing.

On to the British Library! I have fallen in love with the British Library's learning site! I mean, look at this:

It's a star-chart from Medieval times and shows how people viewed the body in relation to astrology! Very cool! And here we have Virtuvius's image of the perfect beauty:

Apparently, he believed in the beauty of nature and symmetry. I love that he respected nature so much - especially when it comes to the body. This is a little off topic, but I hate the fact that today's media images do NOT respect nature at all - we're supposed to starve our bodies to be beautiful (at least in their eyes) - and I HATE that. It makes me want to take over the marketing world and fix it! And you MUST click on the Victorian Freak Show gallery!

Now back to the topic - check out the BL's disinformation section. They have a disinformation movie that purposefully tells you both truth and lies about history and you have to figure out which is which. They call it the British Lie-brary! They mention a lot of things you would never hear in the United States - we get lied to daily by everyone from our parents to politicians to media. I posted this on blackboard, but I think it is worth re-iterating!

When I looked through BL's "Memorable Front Pages" I was very saddened by the Titanic pictures - apparently the newspapers reported 'No Lives Lost' for a few days until the harsh truth came in. It's fascinating to think how hard it was to get information back then, when we have so much available to us now. And it is not just the Internet that helps as much as it is the fact that we are constantly connected. The news is changing - there are bloggers everywhere who keep us all informed and up to date! Dan Gillmor's book "We the Media" discusses how journalists and bloggers started out at war with each other and how news sites (like CNN and the BBC) have bloggers of their very own. The book is available online and I highly recommend it! Dan Gillmor actually visited SILS a couple of years ago to talk about blogging and media. (Again I posted this on Blackboard but I want to reiterate! - I think everyone should read this book!)

The French National Library had a beautiful websites and their digital expositions were incredible! It is yet another place for me to get lost in! My favorite thing to do when I'm poking around on the Internet is to look at the Louvre's site. It is a place I could stay lost in for hours! They don't just show the paintings and sculptures - the website gives you a full history and artistic analysis for them! One of my secret loves is Greek and Etruscan art:

I love looking through this site as a way to take a break for school work!

As always, I enjoyed the tourist-y videos - it gives a personal feeling to the places we are electronically visiting! I am going to Tumbleweed when I go to Paris! I found their website and I will be ordering soon! I think I wrote a little too much about this unit but I really enjoyed learning about Western Europe. There are just too many different things to talk about!

Unit 4 Report

On the History Channel website there are some great video clips about the Aztec Empire. One thing I noticed were the Aztec Pyramids and the hundreds of skeletons found there! I did not know a lot about this so I wikipedia'd 'Aztecs' and found out that human sacrifices were quite frequent in the Aztec culture. Apparently blood was quite important in dedicating various things to their gods. One interesting aspect is the 52-year cycle where the Aztecs believe the end of the world will occur at the end of these 52-year cycles without a proper sacrifice to the gods. Also, some of their sacrifices were based on voluntary sacrifices - what an amazing amount of faith the Aztecs must have had! From what I understand, hundreds of skeletons were found in the Aztec pyramids shown below.

I also learned a lot about their empire and their practices that don't involve human sacrifice. What amazes me is that they were one of the first parts of the world to require education for all children, not just boys as seems to have been the common practice. At age 15, Aztec children were sent to school - before that they were taught by their parents and even had somewhat of a curriculum as they were supervised by government authorities and required to teach their children certain things before this age.

On another topic, the Cuban libraries issue that you (Mary) raise in our lecture notes is very interesting. According to one of the websites we read there are somewhere between 15-20 libraries in Cuba who are trying not to be censored. This situation made me think about the way we view information in the US - we are overly concerned with privacy issues and putting too much information out there about ourselves; I can't imagine having what information I receive being somehow restricted. It is good news that these indepednent libraries exist; the ALA report we read stated that these libraries are backed by foreign agencies with political intent (i.e., ran by political dissidents). Because of this, a lot of the people who run these libraries have been arrested and this threatens the existence of such institutions. What will happen if no one in Cuba can truly have freedom of information? As quoted by the Friends of Cuban Libraries, Fidel Castro said: "Sometimes certain books have been published, the number does not matter. But as a matter of principle not a single book of such kind should be printed, not a single chapter, not a single page, not a single letter!" He did say this in 1971, but still, he's running the country! Limiting information is a bad idea; companies do it to their employees all the time - the managers always know more than their employees and so on up the hierarchy. The troubling problem here is that people cannot form their own opinions without open access to all the information around the issues. Even worse, Friends of Cuban Libraries report that people who visit these libraries are threatened by the secret police and labeled 'social dissidents'. I think I may be talking too much about this one issue but it is unfortunate that Cuba isn't that far away from us and this is going on. I know everyone is essentially waiting for Castro to die so we can open up all kinds of restrictions and I hope this is one of them. It's interesting to think about now with the transfer of power to his brother due to Castro's failing health.

The New Jalisco Library in Gudalajara's design competition does bring up a lot of questions about how we get information and use our information 'space'. In particular, it made me think about my reading spaces in my home. When the weather is nice I like to sit on my balcony and read in my huge chair - we have decorated the balcony to be a haven of sorts (at least for my fiancee and I) with lots of plants, flowers, bird feeder, comfortable chairs, etc. I also have a 'reading chair' that's a big cushy chair with big pillows and a blanket and NO ONE is allowed in my reading chair other than me - it's my space. When I'm doing work for class (like now) I have to sit at my big wooden desk that I've had for years because it puts me in 'work mode'. I LOVE that the design competition has the reading rooms as open spaces and an atrium. I think it's a great idea! They also bring up the issue of how important it is to have closed spaces for meeting rooms and administrative tasks. It's t he ideal working environment (other than the fact that it's imaginary!).

The "Of Majesty and Mayhem" article was a lot of fun to read! Until I read this I thought the Maya were a peaceful people, but apparently as the author states they were very "territorial and violent". From some of the links from the article I found some additional information on Lady Xok - apparently she was quite involved in several rituals that were normally completed by men. The pictures below are lintels Lady Xok dedicated to the courts to adorn the doorways and they show her making a blood sacrifice, talking to a dead ancestor, and preparing her husband for war:




The videos were a lot of fun to watch. My fiancee and I are thinking of going to Cabo for our honeymoon and it looks absolutely beautiful. I also enjoyed the Coyoacan video - especially the music! I have to say though, that the Cayman Islands look like a lot of fun! There just seems to be so many 'touristy' things to do. I'm not sure where we'll end up on our honeymoon but I hope its somewhere in this area!

I think I've learned more this unit than any other unit; this was surprising because I thought I knew a good bit of information about South and Central America. However, I learned a lot about the history of this area that I would have never known - so much doesn't get taught in history classes! The history of the Aztecs and the Mayas was what interested me the most - I thought I knew a good bit of information of these two groups of people in particular, but I learned so much! The most unfortunate part of this unit was the restriction of information in Cuba. It just astounds me - at SILS we are constantly overwhelmed with theories on information overload and these people are restricted to what information they can have on-hand. This censoring of information reminds me of the Google and China situation. It's so unfortunate that Google, who claimed to be all about information freedom, has censored itself just to expand its market. The censorship of information has to be the most unfortunate aspect of being an information professional.

Unit 3 Report

The Unit 3 material was familiar but still interesting. The everything2 website was absolutely amazing! From that, I learned several things. For one thing, I knew that Americans value independence, I just didn't realize that this means we spend less time with our friends than other cultures. Although, I guess it's true that oftentimes my friends and I find ourselves too busy with other things to spend time together so it makes sense. I have no other culture to compare myself to at the moment. Also, the concept of having 'friends at work' or 'friends at school' was interesting - I know that I tend to develop friends in these patterns but I never thought of it as a cultural thing. I think this website does a really good job of describing American culture. The 'dating rituals' were strange to think about, but I think they did a good job of stressing that dating habits depend on the people involved. Finally I would like to say that they did a good job of describing culture shock and adjusting to culture - when my friends came back from Italy and Greece my freshman year of undergrad it took them quite a while to get back into American culture. In fact, they still talk about how much they miss spending time in their study abroad countries. The steps that the everything2 website described seem right on target.

The Beloit College Mindset List was fun to read. I think that the list is right on target - I think the new freshmen on campus this semester are very different from when I was a freshman at UNC (which was only 5 years ago). I didn't get an email address until I was 12 - my little sister had one at age six! She also played neopets online - the pets that you take care of virtually. I never understood her need to do that - I always wanted the real thing! The credit card thing is really scary - I don't think 18 year olds are as wary of the dangers of running up credit cards as they should be. I just got my first credit card and it rarely gets used! Reading over my list (the class of 2005) brought back warm memories - ahhh, New Kids on the Block :). I also did not realize that I was born the same year as the Mac and the PC - very exciting! I will say they were wrong about one thing - I DO know what cc: and bcc: mean!! I think these lists give huge cultural insights into the US. They're not as laid out as everything2's lists but you can intuit a lot about people based on the year they graduated from college. Especially when it comes to technology - the class of 2005 can't text message nearly as fast as the class of 2010. We also haven't had access to 'high speed' Internet the way current 18 year olds do. Just thinking about the amount of information that is available now is astounding - the class of 2010 can get their hands on information about anything they want to know. I also just thought of another difference - Google didn't come out until I was a teenager; before that we used Yahoo and Dogpile for searching. When I was in high school we got warned about faulty information online and I'm fairly certain that the class of 2010 doesn't get this same speech, they simply already know not to trust everything they read online.

I love the Library of Congress website; particularly their ‘kids portion’ - it seems very kid-friendly. The incredible thing is that kids can get this kind of information online. Also, the classroom collections are amazing! The teachers that use these resources have to very appreciative. Their born digital is my favorite tool. I started flipping around on the website and looked through all their pictures on women's suffrage. I've seen some of these pictures in textbooks but to think that I can access them for free (and from a trustworthy source) astounded me! As a side note, if anyone has seen the movie 'Iron Jawed Angels' you should look at these pictures - they did an incredible job in the movie.

I also took a look at the European collection - this seems like it's going to be a wonderful source for the upcoming units. Take a look at the picture below - it's amazing that I can look at this online!

Then I found a webcast on Science and Technology in Japan that was really cool; it's long and I haven't made it the entire way through yet, but I am very interested in Japanese technology just because they're so far ahead of us in the tech race. Yukio Sato talks about information and technology use in Japan and using these tools to promote business, education, etc. He is a little hard to understand online, but it's a really interesting topic!


Needless to say, this was a great unit. I enjoyed reading about the familiar even though I learned a lot of cool places to find information and I even learned a little about our culture! Watching the Rogers Park video (I made some comments about it on Blackboard) was one of my favorite things in this unit. Knowing that people do respect each other's cultures in this part of America gives me hope for other areas!