Unit 12 Report
IFLA is the type of organization I want to join! All of their meetings are in really cool places! :) Aside from that, one thing I really like about IFLA is the fact that they believe: "Appropriately educated, adequately trained, continually learning professionals are a requirement for effective and efficient information services." (From the Education and training site). Without proper education, no information professional could do their job. To that end, no information professional can do their job well without continuing education! I represented SILS at the Information Industry meeting at IBM last spring (it was held by the Dean and some other SILS-folk); the idea behind the meeting was to see what skills employers expected people with MSLS/IS degrees to have. The one resounding issue was that they wanted lifelong learners - students who constantly continued their education! Without IFLA and ALISE this wouldn't be possible.
The ISO website was pretty cool. I once thought that they were only for technical things; however, after searching their website (and seeing your coffee comment), I now know that I can learn the standardized method of determining the starch/glucose content of meat from ISO standard 1396h5:1998! What's so hard to remember about ISO is that their acronym is a backwards (for us Americans anyway) - it's so hard to remember that ISO is the International Organization for Standardization -- why not call it the International Standards Organization?!? Regardless, ISO is a very powerful organization as it provides standards for both industrial and commercial products for the world; as a global business you definitely want them on your side! As an information professional, you have to keep up with the latest standards and follow the rest of the world, less you quickly fall behind.
UNESCO is great because they do so much to promote education and technology in developing countries. For instance, the BBC is helping UNESCO distribute science and technology programs in the developing world. Looking through their site at all of the programs in the 'communication and information' section, it is easy to see that UNESCO really values the use of technology to distribute information. The Internet has truly bound us all together in the information realm and become a very effective communication and education tool. The problem is the digital divide - how can we make this resource available to the "information poor" (as Elfreda Chatman would say)? With orgaizations like UNESCO, educating people in developing countries and making technology available becomes possible.
WIPO is a very important organization and it effects the lives of everyone. Finding a balance between the copyright holders and the copyright users is critical. Having an entity that doesn't stand to gain either way from intellectual property laws is so important! As for WIPO's resources, there was so much to look through! I became engrossed in their pages for students. They even have a WIPO Academy which teaches students not only about intellectual property laws, but also how to develop it.
Speaking of intellectual property, one thing really irritates me about it: photographs! I'm planning my wedding and am currently in search a photographer; apparently, photographers are incredibly expensive. On top of the flat fee you have to buy each individual picture from them and you can rarely buy your negatives! When you can buy the negatives, it costs a TON of money! Why, you ask? Because photographers have the right to say that the pictures of me, from my wedding, belong to them -- even though I pay them to take said pictures. It's really annoying! I get what they're saying from an artistic point of view, but as a consumer, I can't help but feel ripped off by intellectual property laws. OK ... I promise not to rant anymore. :)
The EU site was really cool and full of information! I particularly liked their site on young people. It is very proactive, with lots of 'good citizen' opportunities as well as information on studying, working, and just plain visiting! They have links to news and informaiton on other non-European countries as well. And for the younger kids you have EuropaGo! which has all sorts of games and wall papers to download. My favorite part of the site by far was the site on 'a year in the life of the EU'. They talk a lot about growth and prosperity; someone really analyzed the EU and where it stands and where it needs to go to succeed as a whole. It was really positive to read.
After moving around the BBC site on the EU as well as looking through Wikipedia, I have mixed feelings about the EU. What their doing sounds like a really good thing (in theory), they're trying to help the smaller countries and generally unite as a whole (like making it easier to travel from country to country without switching currency). But I know there are problems doing this - Turkey's attempts to enter the EU show exactly what problems exsist. Trying to preserve the cultures of each of these countries becomes difficult when trying to unite them. It will be very interesting to see how things pan out!
Reading the information on the Geneva Conventions was a very positive way to end our semester! I particularly enjoyed reading the history behind it - it's amazing that one person saw dying soldiers and saw the need for help that turned into something huge! While, unfortunately, I think that not every country follows these rules, it is good to have them; it's just sad that they're not always enforced.
I also liked looking at the country rankings; they were fun to look at but very depressing! The US only ranks number 1 in computer piracy levels! (Although this doesn't surprise me at all). Sweden and Japan rank first in a lot of areas; most interesting to me is that Sweden ranks first in gender equality. They have excellent chocolate AND equal rights for women ... I'm moving!
I'm sad that our class is ending! But I have learned so much about how other countries handle information management; it's been eye-opening to find other ways to do things. It's also been sad to read how far ahead of us other countries are in attempting to close the digital divide. If I had to sum up what I learned in this class in one sentence, I would say: The Internet is here to bind us together and provide education for everyone; as we move towards the future, it will be interesting to see not only who steps up and how they do so, in making the Internet as it was meant to be: an open space to play and learn for everyone, regardless of where they are.
The ISO website was pretty cool. I once thought that they were only for technical things; however, after searching their website (and seeing your coffee comment), I now know that I can learn the standardized method of determining the starch/glucose content of meat from ISO standard 1396h5:1998! What's so hard to remember about ISO is that their acronym is a backwards (for us Americans anyway) - it's so hard to remember that ISO is the International Organization for Standardization -- why not call it the International Standards Organization?!? Regardless, ISO is a very powerful organization as it provides standards for both industrial and commercial products for the world; as a global business you definitely want them on your side! As an information professional, you have to keep up with the latest standards and follow the rest of the world, less you quickly fall behind.
UNESCO is great because they do so much to promote education and technology in developing countries. For instance, the BBC is helping UNESCO distribute science and technology programs in the developing world. Looking through their site at all of the programs in the 'communication and information' section, it is easy to see that UNESCO really values the use of technology to distribute information. The Internet has truly bound us all together in the information realm and become a very effective communication and education tool. The problem is the digital divide - how can we make this resource available to the "information poor" (as Elfreda Chatman would say)? With orgaizations like UNESCO, educating people in developing countries and making technology available becomes possible.
WIPO is a very important organization and it effects the lives of everyone. Finding a balance between the copyright holders and the copyright users is critical. Having an entity that doesn't stand to gain either way from intellectual property laws is so important! As for WIPO's resources, there was so much to look through! I became engrossed in their pages for students. They even have a WIPO Academy which teaches students not only about intellectual property laws, but also how to develop it.
Speaking of intellectual property, one thing really irritates me about it: photographs! I'm planning my wedding and am currently in search a photographer; apparently, photographers are incredibly expensive. On top of the flat fee you have to buy each individual picture from them and you can rarely buy your negatives! When you can buy the negatives, it costs a TON of money! Why, you ask? Because photographers have the right to say that the pictures of me, from my wedding, belong to them -- even though I pay them to take said pictures. It's really annoying! I get what they're saying from an artistic point of view, but as a consumer, I can't help but feel ripped off by intellectual property laws. OK ... I promise not to rant anymore. :)
The EU site was really cool and full of information! I particularly liked their site on young people. It is very proactive, with lots of 'good citizen' opportunities as well as information on studying, working, and just plain visiting! They have links to news and informaiton on other non-European countries as well. And for the younger kids you have EuropaGo! which has all sorts of games and wall papers to download. My favorite part of the site by far was the site on 'a year in the life of the EU'. They talk a lot about growth and prosperity; someone really analyzed the EU and where it stands and where it needs to go to succeed as a whole. It was really positive to read.
After moving around the BBC site on the EU as well as looking through Wikipedia, I have mixed feelings about the EU. What their doing sounds like a really good thing (in theory), they're trying to help the smaller countries and generally unite as a whole (like making it easier to travel from country to country without switching currency). But I know there are problems doing this - Turkey's attempts to enter the EU show exactly what problems exsist. Trying to preserve the cultures of each of these countries becomes difficult when trying to unite them. It will be very interesting to see how things pan out!
Reading the information on the Geneva Conventions was a very positive way to end our semester! I particularly enjoyed reading the history behind it - it's amazing that one person saw dying soldiers and saw the need for help that turned into something huge! While, unfortunately, I think that not every country follows these rules, it is good to have them; it's just sad that they're not always enforced.
I also liked looking at the country rankings; they were fun to look at but very depressing! The US only ranks number 1 in computer piracy levels! (Although this doesn't surprise me at all). Sweden and Japan rank first in a lot of areas; most interesting to me is that Sweden ranks first in gender equality. They have excellent chocolate AND equal rights for women ... I'm moving!
I'm sad that our class is ending! But I have learned so much about how other countries handle information management; it's been eye-opening to find other ways to do things. It's also been sad to read how far ahead of us other countries are in attempting to close the digital divide. If I had to sum up what I learned in this class in one sentence, I would say: The Internet is here to bind us together and provide education for everyone; as we move towards the future, it will be interesting to see not only who steps up and how they do so, in making the Internet as it was meant to be: an open space to play and learn for everyone, regardless of where they are.
Labels: international organizations
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