Future Leaders’ Views on Organizational …

Future Leaders’ Views on Organizational Culture :
“Research libraries will continue to be affected by rapid and transformative changes in information technology and the networked environment for the foreseeable future. The pace and direction of these changes will profoundly challenge libraries and their staffs to respond effectively. This paper presents the results of a survey that was designed to discern the perceptions and preferences of future library leaders related to organizational cultures in these times of precipitous change. The study finds that future leaders of academic libraries perceive a significant gap between their current and preferred organizational cultures and that current organizational cultures limit their effectiveness.”
URL : http://eprints.rclis.org/18915/

THE EVOLUTION OF NEWS AND THE INTERNET :…

THE EVOLUTION OF NEWS AND THE INTERNET :
“Importantly, the study shows that many promising forms of news creation and distribution are being
experimented with, some of which are empowered by increasing technological sophistication and resulting
decentralised forms of content creation and broad-based participation. The rise of the Internet and other
technologies radically changes how news is produced and diffused. It enables the entry of new intermediaries that create and distribute news, including online news aggregators, online news publishers,
mobile news actors, citizen journalism and many more. Information providers with very different
trajectories (TV, newspapers and Internet companies) are now competing head-on in a global online news
environment. More recently newspaper websites have seen strong growth in their own pages, with large
newspapers reporting several million unique visitors to their pages per month, increasingly including
readers from abroad, a radical shift from national patterns of established newspapers.”
URL : http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/30/24/45559596.pdf

Building a Sustainable Framework for Ope…

Building a Sustainable Framework for Open Access to Research Data Through Information and Communication Technologies :
The growth in information and communication technology (ICT) has brought about increased pace in information and knowledge exchange. This increased pace is being fuelled in large part by the open exchange of information. The pressure for open access to research data is gaining momentum in virtually every field of human endeavour. Data is the life blood of science and quite unsurprisingly data repositories are rapidly becoming an essential component of the infrastructure of the global science system. Improved
access to data will transform the way research is conducted. It will create new opportunities and avenues for improved efficiency in dealing with social, economic and scientific challenges facing humanity. […]
Despite the admitted benefits of open access to research data, the concept is still bugged by series of factors both legal and ethical which must be resolved in other to derive the maximum benefit arising from open access to data. This resolution will require the development of a sustainable framework to facilitate access to and use of research data by researchers, academics institutions, private individuals and other users. […]

URL : http://idl-bnc.idrc.ca/dspace/bitstream/10625/41336/1/129183.pdf

Educating Europe – Exploiting the benefi…

Educating Europe – Exploiting the benefits of ICT :
This report looks at how information and communication technology (ICT) is playing a key role in the education and training of European citizens. ICT offers far more than a convenient way to deliver educational content. Today, researchers are demonstrating how ICT can actually enhance the learning process for all Europeans and make lifelong learning part of everyday activity.
URL : http://cordis.europa.eu/ictresults/pdf/policyreport/INF%207%200100%20IST-R%20policy%20report-education_final.pdf

ICT for all – Technology supporting an i…

ICT for all – Technology supporting an inclusive world :
This report explores Europe’s vision for a society where every individual can make a valuable contribution. Investments in pioneering and commercially focused research will produce information and communication technologies (ICTs) that should help everyone – including the elderly, disabled and marginalised – to fulfil their potential.
URL : http://cordis.europa.eu/ictresults/pdf/policyreport/INF%207%200100%20IST-R%20policy%20report-eInclusion_final%20studio.pdf

Feasibility Study on the AfricaConnect I…

Feasibility Study on the AfricaConnect Initiative :
To be able to fulfil their missions, African research and higher education institutions need access to the global research and education network infrastructure. Unlike their peers on other continents, most African institutions do currently not have such an access.
Within the partnership on Science and Technology, the African and European Union Commissions have
given highest priority to the AfricaConnect initiative as an early deliverable with the objective to support the African research and higher education institutions in their effort to get access to this resource, which is a requirement for the development of knowledge societies. An emerging terrestrial broadband communication infrastructure seems to offer opportunities for African institutions to join.
This one-year feasibility study for AfricaConnect, FEAST, was commissioned by EC late 2008 to explore
the feasibility of deploying a regional backbone connecting dedicated National Research and Education
Networks (NRENs) in Africa to each other and to their peers on other continents via GÉANT, the pan-
European research and education network backbone. The study has been carried out by KTH as main
contractor and DANTE and TERENA as subcontractors. The research leading up to the findings has been conducted via physical visits, workshops and email discussions involving policy makers, regulators, communication operators, infrastructure owners as well as faculty members, students and research and education network communities in about 30 African countries. Many of the contacts come from long-standing institutional and individual cooperation in the areas of research and education.

URL : http://www.feast-project.org/documents/FEAST-Final-Report-2010-03-22.pdf

Dictionnaire politique d’Internet et du …

Dictionnaire politique d’Internet et du numérique : Les 66 enjeux de la société numérique :
Ce dictionnaire est l’ultime démonstration que l’Internet n’est plus un simple segment de la
réalité. Il est la réalité. Comme toutes les révolutions technologiques, il déplace les lignes en
économie, faisant naître de nouveaux produits, donc une nouvelle demande et améliorant la
productivité des entreprises, donc l’offre. Mais à la différence des deux grands bouleversements qui l’ont précédé, la machine à vapeur et l’électricité, il exerce son influence bien au-delà de la sphère économique. C’est, pour l’univers culturel, un ébranlement à la mesure de l’invention de l’imprimerie et de la découverte, en peinture, de la perspective. Livre, cinéma, musique, télévision, théâtre, arts plastiques : l’onde de choc va les atteindre les uns après les autres. C’est, de même, pour le jeu démocratique, un séisme. A cause de l’impact sur les contrepouvoirs, la presse en tête. A cause de l’espace incroyable ouvert à l’opinion publique. A cause de l’accélération des réactions, des émotions, des prises de position qui transforme l’exercice du métier politique. Il faut désormais, au point où en est le net, se poser la question à l’envers : quelle est l’exception ? Quel est le domaine immunisé
face à l’influence de l’Internet ? L’archéologie ? L’agriculture ? La numismatique ? Toutes les activités sont, d’une manière ou d’une autre, concernées. Les religions alors ? La théologie et les rites ne sont pas encore concernés mais la vie des communautés religieuses est déjà affectée, comme celle de toutes les communautés humaines. Dès lors que l’Internet fait corps avec la réalité, l’inquiétude se manifeste comme pour tout changement technologique, par le caractère bienfaisant ou malfaisant de son action. Simon Nora et moi avions plaidé, il y a plus de trente ans, dans notre Rapport sur l’informatisation de la société que l’informatique était neutre et qu’elle deviendrait ce que la société en ferait. Ce qui valait à l’époque pour l’informatique demeure a fortiori vrai pour l’Internet. Celui-ci peut être progressiste ou réactionnaire, libérateur ou aliénant, stimulant ou inhibant, totalitaire ou démocratique, monopoliste ou ouvert, novateur ou conservateur … Nous somme seuls responsables. Le
résultat ne se lira d’ailleurs pas en blanc et noir. Le net peut être gage de progrès dans certains
domaines et régressif dans d’autres. C’est affaire d’intelligence collective. Dans son utilisation. Dans son encadrement juridique. Dans ses échanges avec la société matérielle. Les questions sont abyssales, les réponses sophistiquées. Le dictionnaire de l’Internet en témoigne par la variété des articles et surtout par la qualité des contributaires dont beaucoup n’auraient jamais imaginé, il y a quelques années, s’exprimer sur un tel sujet. Eux aussi sont emportés par cet incroyable mouvement, le web, qui nous enveloppe et nous submerge.

URL : http://www.latribune.fr/static/pdf/Dictionnaire.pdf