Unglue.it, a crowdfunding ebook platform

Posted by Celia Walter | 18 May, 2012

May 17, 2012 — Unglue.it (http://unglue.it) is launching on May 17, 2012, at noon EDT, with campaigns for books from five initial authors and publishers:

Michael Laser, 6-321
Joseph Nassise, Riverwatch
Nancy Rawles, Love Like Gumbo
Budding Reader, Cat and Rat
Open Book Publishers, Oral Literature in Africa, by Ruth Finnegan.

...

About Unglue.it: Unglue.it (http://unglue.it) is a crowdfunding platform which rewards rights holders for making their ebooks available to the world under a Creative Commons license (http://creativecommons.org). Unglue.it runs campaigns for previously published books, allowing book lovers to pledge toward giving them to the world. When rights holders’ target prices are reached, they receive funds in exchange for issuing an unglued ebook edition which can be freely read, copied, and shared, noncommercially, worldwide. For more information, see http://unglue.it/press...

Link to full article: InfoDOCKET

Post in Abbreviations | comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

South African theses and Dissertations online

Posted by Celia Walter | 14 Mar, 2012

National ETD Portal South Africa: South African theses and Dissertations
This site is run by the South African National Research Foundation (NRF) in collaboration with the Committee of Higher Education Librarians of South Africa (CHELSA).It provides access to the full text of many thousands of doctoral PHD and some other dissertations produced in South African universities. These cover the full range of science, social science and humanities topics. There is some coverage from as early as the 1970s although there are larger numbers of post 2009 records. Search by keyword or browse.From LSE Library New Research blog

Post in Digital collections and Libraries, Dissertations and Theses, South Africa, Abbreviations | comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Knowledge divides : World Social Science Report, 2010. International Social Science Council (UNESCO)

Posted by Celia Walter | 9 Nov, 2010

...The Report reaffirms UNESCO’s commitment to the social sciences, and our desire to set a new global agenda to promote them as an invaluable tool for the advancement of the internationally agreed development goals. UNESCO, with its emphasis on the management of social transformation, is concerned that the social sciences should be put to use to improve human well-being and to respond to global challenges. As long ago as 1974, UNESCO’s General Conference adopted a Recommendation on the Status of Scientific Researchers which emphasized ’the need to apply science and technology in a great variety of specific fields of wider than national concern: namely such vast and complex problems as the preservation of international peace and the elimination of want’.

Today, the social sciences bring greater clarity to our understanding of how human populations interact with one another, and, by extension, with the environment. The ideas and information they generate can therefore make a precious contribution to the formulation of effective policies to shape our world for the greater good.

Yet, social scientific knowledge is at risk in the parts of the world where it is most needed. The huge disparities in research capacities across countries and the fragmentation of knowledge hamper the capacity of social sciences to respond to the challenges of today and tomorrow. While we may be building a ’knowledge society‘, it is one that looks very different depending on one’s regional perspective. Social scientists produce work of outstanding quality and tremendous practical value, but, as this Report illustrates, social scientific knowledge is often the least developed in those parts of the world where it is most keenly needed – hence this publication’s title, ’Knowledge Divides’.

Global divides reproduce themselves in each generation, in our institutions and in our methods of creating and using knowledge. Global divides affect all indicators of human development, hampering the accumulation, transmission and use of knowledge in our societies, to the detriment of equitable development. Consider the world’s one billion poorest who live on less than US$1.25 per day. There is a consensus that their lot should urgently be improved but why do well intentioned policies so often produce so little? We may, perhaps, need better intentions; we certainly need better and more accessible knowledge that can provide policies with the evidence that they need to make a difference.

Social scientific endeavour is also poorer for its bias towards English and English-speaking developed countries. This is a missed opportunity to explore perspectives and paradigms that are embedded in other cultural and linguistic traditions. A more culturally and linguistically diverse approach by the social sciences would be of tremendous value to organizations such as UNESCO in our efforts to foster mutual understanding and intercultural dialogue. From Docuticker.com

Post in Social Sciences, Abbreviations | comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Right to Know Campaign: "Let the Truth Be Told! Stop the Secrecy Bill"

Posted by Celia Walter | 9 Sep, 2010

Over 200 civil society organisations and numerous prominent individuals have endorsed a civil society statement titled "Let the Truth Be Told! Stop the Secrecy Bill".

The statement characterises the Protection of Information Bill as fundamentally undermining the struggle for whistleblower protection and access to information and as reminiscent of our apartheid past. The statement calls for a redrafting of the Bill to comply with the constitutional values of access to information and freedom of expression.

The Right to Know campaign will also be announcing plans to raise public concern about the Protection of Information Bill and other threats to the freedom of expression through a week of action that will commence on 19 October 2010 (the commemoration of Black Wednesday). The statement will remain open for further endorsements through the campaign website.

The 200 odd organisations endorsing the statement include Afesis-Corplan, the Alternative Information Development Centre, Amnesty International, Black Sash, Ceasefire Campaign, CIVICUS, Democracy Development Programme, Diakonia Council of Churches, Earthlife Africa, Freedom of Expression Institute, Gay & Lesbian Network, Idasa, Institute for Security Studies, Open Democracy Advice Centre, M&G Centre for Investigative Journalism (amaBhungane), National Welfare Forum, Palestine Support Committee, Professional Journalists’ Association, Section27, South African History Archives, and the South African National Editors Forum as well as various social movements including Equal Education, Social Justice Coalition, Social Movements Indaba, Treatment Action Campaign, and the Unemployed People’s Movement.

Over 400 individuals have also endorsed the Statement, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nadine Gordimer, Prof Kader Asmal, Zakes Mda, Dr Max Price, Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Zackie Achmat, Pieter-Dirk Uys, Mary Burton, Mazibuko K Jara, Andrew Feinstein, Richard Spoor, Andre Brink, Terry Bell, Laurie Nathan, Pierre de Vos, Max Du Preez, Paul Graham, Pippa Green, Prof Hoosen Coovadia and Breyten Breytenbach.

A full list of endorsing organizations and individuals will be released at the Statement launch.

http://www.right2know.org.za/

Resources

The documents for download below contain all the information needed to stay informed on how the bill will affect society.

Included is the actual bill that is being proposed, as well as a plain language version of the bill and various submissions to parliament by civil society.

The page is regularly updated with the latest documentation on the bill.