This blog has moved

I have moved to Wordpress for this blog. Please come and visit me there.

Web page update

I hae added new material to the Communication web pages What's New: Success Tips Leadership Communication Articles PowerPoint Tips: Create invisible buttons Words of the Heart Book Review Portable Writing: The Secret to Living Your Dreams with 25 Projects to Fund Your Freedom communication, leadership, Writing

Music therapy develops communication

" ... Music therapists take advantage of the ways mind and body are stimulated when people listen to and make music to hone motor and brain functions, said Al Bumanis, spokesman for the American Music Therapy Association..." Read the whole article ... music therapy, communication

Multicultural Anthology

The Multicultural Writers Association of Australia is seeking submissions in prose (up to 5,000 words) and verse (up to 50 lines) for a national anthology. The anthology, with the proposed title 'Culture Is...' aims to share experiences of living in Australia.Submissions should be sent to:

The Secretary

Multicultural Writers Association of Australia

P O Box 192

Kent Town

SA 5071

Verse contributions can also be submitted via email: vbalnaves@hotmail.com

Further information is available from the Association's secretary, Vanessa Balnaves, at the above email or by phone, 0413 127 211.

From AustLit

Amnesty rebukes search engines

Human-rights group says filtered results hurt Chinese users Technology giants Yahoo, Google and Microsoft need to establish a stronger stance on human rights by revealing more details about how they're filtering information and cooperating with the government in China, Amnesty International said Thursday. Read on ... censorship

Kibble and Dobbie Awards for Women Writers Announced

From Austlit

Brenda Walker's The Wing of Night is the winner of the 2006 Nita B. Kibble Award.

The annual prize is awarded to a woman writer of 'a published book of fiction or nonfiction classifiable as "life writing".'

The Dobbie Award, a similar prize but for a first published book, went to Carrie Tiffany for Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living.

Walker was especially delighted with her win 'because it is a prize about women's connections, and my book is all about how rural women connected with each other when the men were away at war, and how the connections forced by the war led to unlikely alliances.' (Australian, 11 May 2006)

Judging panel chair Elizabeth Webby noted that 2006 was the first time in the Kibble's twelve-year history that all finalists were works of fiction. 'There have been several articles recently about the decline of literary fiction so it was a pleasure to see it was a particularly strong year for fiction.' (Sydney Morning Herald, 11 May 2006)

The other finalists were Heather Rose's The Butterfly Man and Kate Grenville's The Secret River

women writers, Australian literature

Website update

I have just updated the Communication web pages at Pivotal Points.

The new Success Tips are in Public Speaking and Communication.

The new articles are Practicing Servant-Leadership

and

What You Can Accomplish in 6 Minutes.

communication, public speaking, leadership, meetings

ABR Poetry Prize to Judith Bishop

Judith Bishop is the winner of the 2006 Australian Book Review (ABR) Poetry Prize with her poem, 'Still Life with Cockles and Shells'. The poem, a response to a 17th century Italian painting, is described by the judges as 'unfailingly poised and suggestive', with not an 'otiose or misplaced' word. Bishop, a linguist, portrays herself as 'a "globalist" when it comes to language, and also, therefore, to poetry. I am just in love with the fact that each language brings with it a new horizon of experience; and each good poem does the same in miniature.' (ABR, no. 280, April 2006)

From Austlit poetry

the downside of Google

The readers editor on ... the downside of Google Stephen Pritchard Back in the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth, journalists seeking enlightenment and chasing a deadline relied on their dogeared contacts books to find experts, spokesmen and pundits. Today, we still reach for those phone numbers, but we also have an infinitely more powerful aid in our research - the internet. Search engines such as Google find acres of instant information and more 'experts' than you can shake a stick at, but every computer screen should carry the warning: 'Beware: all is not as it seems.' Read on … information literacy

Distinguished Poet Honoured in Premier's Awards

From Austlit

Rosemary Dobson, one of Australia's foremost poets, received the Special Award in the 2006 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards. The Special Award is designed to recognise work 'not readily covered by the existing categories' or for a 'writer's achievements generally'. Dobson, who turns 86 in June, has published more than a dozen collections of poetry. Both her first and most recent selections were in booklet form, beginning with Poems (1937) and finishing – to date – with Folding the Sheets and Other Poems (2004).

Books in the intervening years include the prize-winning volumes The Three Fates and Other Poems (1984) and Untold Lives and Other Poems (2000). The citation for Dobson's award noted the remarkable circle of poets that gathered in the Canberra area in the 1970s. Among Dobson's acquaintances were David Campbell, A. D. Hope, R. F. Brissenden and Judith Wright; an assembly that generated fine writing and deep friendships.

The citation concludes: 'The level of originality and strength of Rosemary's poetry cannot be underestimated, nor can the contribution she has made to Australian literature. Her literary achievements, especially her poetry, are a testament to her talent and dedication to her art and we should feel honoured to know her.'

Other winners in the 2006 Awards include:

Kate Grenville for The Secret River (Fiction)

Jacob G. Rosenberg for East of Time (Non-Fiction)

Jaya Savige for Latecomers (Poetry)

Ursula Dubosarsky for Theodora's Gift (Young People's Literature)

Kierin Meehan for In the Monkey Forest (Children's Literature)

Steven Lang for An Accidental Terrorist (New Writing)

andThomas Murphy for 'Strangers In Between' (Drama)

A complete list of winners, with judges' comments, can be viewed on the Arts New South Wales website.

communication, Australian literature

THE INJUSTICE COLLECTOR

Is James Joyce’s grandson suppressing scholarship?

Read the article

The story continues ...

From AustLit The Story Continues...AustLit's April/May Newsletter reported on a perceived takeover in the writing and transmission of Australian history. ('Move Over History Wars – the Novelists are on Their Way') Led by historian and writer Mark McKenna, the argument ran that, in part because of recent disputes between Australian historians, 'writers of fiction are now more commonly seen as the most trustworthy purveyors of the past.' McKenna's fears will not be allayed, therefore, by Allen & Unwin's announcement that it plans to publish a three-volume 'People's History of Australia' to be written by Thomas Keneally. Keneally says that he 'will aim to cast a new lens over Australia and its people, so that you can see it in unexpected lights.' He hopes his work will surprise his readers and that they will be 'hearing from people they have never heard from before.' According to Allen & Unwin Chairman, Patrick Gallagher, '[n]o writer can better capture the essence of the Australian people than Tom Keneally ... we're all looking forward to publishing a series that will be of lasting importance to all Australians.' The first volume in the set is due for release in late 2008. (Allen & Unwin media release, April 2006) Australian history, communication

Public Speaking skills

Overcomethe fear of public speaking and polish your presentation skills. For tips, articles and links to useful information, visit Pivotal Public Speaking public speaking, presentations, communication

ABC to launch new book club programme

Via AustLit

ABC Television will soon launch the First Tuesday Book Club hosted by journalist and publisher Jennifer Byrne.

A panel of book lovers and book clubbers will join Byrne to 'consider titles from all genres including fiction, non-fiction, biography, thriller, romance and history.'

ABC Television's Head of Arts and Entertainment, Courtney Gibson, said, '[t]his will be a book-obsessed beast of a show where viewers can get involved by reading the book beforehand and participating in on-line discussion forums.'

Jennifer Byrne, who hosted the ABC's one-off special My Favourite Book in December 2004, says, '[f]or a book addict like myself, this is like rolling in clover ... Our book club will hunt out the best and liveliest of the new [and] the most memorable of the old.' (ABC Television media release, 15 May 2006)

First Tuesday Book Club is currently in production and will be screened for the first time on 1 August 2006. It will continue to air, as its name suggests, on the first Tuesday of each month.

book clubs, books

This blog has moved

I have moved this blog to Wordpress. Please come and visit there.

Conversation : A History of a Declining Art (Hardcover) by Stephen Miller

Stephen Miller gives us a celebration and elegy for the art of conversation. His work at once enlightens and saddens me, two effects that fuse into one."-Harold Bloom

Miller traces the history of conversation from Aristotle to the present day, focussing particularly on the eighteenth century. For him, the Paris salons where Diderot opined and the London coffeehouses where Dr. Johnson imbibed between aphorisms represent conversation's apogee. In America, he feels, it fared less well, even before the contemporary menace posed by the Internet, iPods, and the polarization of the political sphere. Thoreau dismissed conversation as a waste of time, and Melville thought it was a tool of con men. Miller defines conversation as the act of speaking with others without any objective other than enjoyment and exchange, and there is something conversational about his own style, which tends toward anecdote and ignores theoretical approaches that could have enriched his argument. Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

More reviews at Amazon where it is selling from $17.42 books, conversation,

Edublog simile generator

from David Davies who writes ...

" ... So anyhoo in order to help budding edubloggers I’ve created a little edugeek simile generator which may even help you come up with ideas for your post titles..."

Visit the simile generator

education,blogging, communication,

Why Getting the User To Create Web Content Isn't Always Progress communication

States' help needed to ban books: Ruddock

The Federal Government has announced new steps to crack down on books or films that encourage acts of terrorism. The Attorney-General Philip Ruddock says he has written to state and territory Censorship Ministers, asking them to work with the Commonwealth to consider ways to ban the sale of books or films that support violent jihad or glorify suicide bombings. Mr Ruddock has also asked the Classification Review Board to take another look at its decision which found that eight books and one film did not incite or promote violence. Read on ... censorship, communication

Syrian writer to spend 6 months in prison

DAMASCUS, Syria - A Syrian military court ruled that a dissident writer must serve six months in prison after convicting him on charges that include insulting the president, a human rights group said Wednesday. Read on … censorship, communication

Policing company use of technology?

From an article entitled: CIOS GET MARCH MADNESS SANITY CHECK

The hoopla over the basketball tournament is just the latest example of the threats that Internet use, e-mail, instant messaging (IM) and other technologies pose to both the security and productivity of a company.

These technologies are a boon to businesses, but when abused by employees for personal use they can cause problems.

Experts say CIOs must ask themselves just how they can strike a balance between maintaining a positive working environment for employees and safeguarding the company from abuse of these technologies.

Read the whole article

technology in the workplace, >communication

Australians Feature at French Book Festival

From AustLit

Australia was the featured country at the 2006 Comédie du Livre in Montpellier, France.

The festival, which ran from 19-21 May, debated Australian Indigenous culture, Australian literature and the influence of Australian culture on the global stage.

Guest writers included Robert Dessaix, Nikki Gemmell, Janette Turner Hospital, Michelle de Kretser and the French writer (now resident in Perth), Catherine Rey. The guest of honour was Thomas Keneally.

In the lead up to the festival France's main daily newspaper, La Monde, sponsored a literary contest. Questions included 'Which film of Stephen Spielberg is drawn from a novel written by an Australian author?' and 'Which detective novel of Douglas Kennedy has a framework in Australia?' (The answers are: Schindler's List and The Dead Heart.)

The festival is now in its 21st year and attracts up to 300 writers and audiences of 100,000. Australia's participation was supported by the Australia Council and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Australia will continue to build its international profile when it is the featured country at next year's Kolkata Book Fair.

Australian literature, communication,

J.R.R. Tolkien

Tolkien is best known as the author of The Hobbit and its sequel The Lord of the Rings. He began working on his history of Middle-Earth while recovering from the trench fever that he had caught while serving in WWI. He was a professor of English language at Leeds and of Anglo-Saxon language and English language and literature at Oxford. A strongly committed Catholic, Tolkien was a close friend of C.S. Lewis and a member of what famous literary discussion group? More... Tolkien, authors, literature, reading, communication

Candy's Australian script writer receives award

From Aust lit

Neil Armfield, one of Australia's foremost theatre directors, has been awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Literature at The University of Sydney. Armfield, who graduated from the Sydney university in 1977 with Honours in English, has been artistic director of Company B at the Belvoir St Theatre for the past twelve years. He has also 'directed productions for every state theatre company in Australia. His international work includes productions for the Royal Opera Covent Garden, the Lyric Opera Chicago, the Zurich Opera, the Canadian Opera, the Welsh National Opera, the English National Opera, and the Bregenz Festival in Austria.' Armfield was nominated for the honorary degree by Professor Penny Gay and AustLit Board member Professor Elizabeth Webby 'in recognition of his long and distinguished contribution to the Humanities, especially through his work as a director of plays, opera and films both within Australia and overseas.' (The University of Sydney news release, 21 April 2006)

Collaboration Bears Fruit at the Cinema

Neil Armfield has also been in the news with the release of the film Candy – the result of a script writing collaboration with novelist Luke Davies. Davies's semi-autobiographical novel, also titled Candy, was published nearly ten years ago and he and Armfield have been working on the screen adaptation since 1999. Davies told SBS's Movie Show that he enjoyed moving away from his usual experience of 'writing isolation' and learning about 'narrative economy' in the development of a script. Asked whether he used words differently in script writing Davies responded in the affirmative saying: 'everything else I write – a novel, a short story, a poem, a play – the words matter, the language actually matters, but in a sense a screenplay needs to be about as transparent a document as you can write and the words can get in the way if you think you need to be poetic or something in a screenplay. It is only a technical document that is the bridge between the thing that you're adapting and the work that will blossom in its final version on a screen, in a dark cinema, with an audience sitting in front of it.'Believing the 'emotional heart' of the novel remains, Davies explained that he and Armfield achieved that result not by 'using literary methods', but by initially using a voice over and then understanding the film as being 'a building and the voice over was like the scaffolding that we erected while we put the building up and then we had to take the scaffolding down to reveal the beauty of the building.' (SBS Movie Show, 17 May 2006)Candy premiered at the 2006 Berlin Film Festival and was released in Australian cinemas in late May 2006.

script writer, Candy, communication, film

Elmore Leonard’s Ten Rules of Writing

Easy on the Adverbs, Exclamation Points and Especially Hooptedoodle

from the New York Times, Writers on Writing Series.

Being a good author is a disappearing act.

By ELMORE LEONARD

These are rules I’ve picked up along the way to help me remain invisible when I’m writing a book, to help me show rather than tell what’s taking place in the story. If you have a facility for language and imagery and the sound of your voice pleases you, invisibility is not what you are after, and you can skip the rules. Still, you might look them over.

Read the ten rules

writing, communication,

More on the future of books

From Rob Hyndman this time

"...will books continue to be a place where immersive thought and extended time are required, or are they morphing into another channel in the always-on, million-channel universe, full of clicks and links and chats and tunes and videos; full of flashing lights and tinkling bells, an easy rest-stop for those who prefer to skim lightly over the surface of the world’s ideas? And of course, who decides?"

Read on

books, communication

Welcome to the World of Literature!

Gnooks is a self-adapting community system based on the gnod engine. Discover new writers you will like, travel the map of literature and discuss your favorite books and authors. Gnooks literature, books, authors

Winning arguments

How do you win your point in any argument?

Do you debate the facts? Do you use logic and reason?

Do you clearly explain your position?

Do you make the other person's position wrong?

Do you assassinate the character of your arguing partner?

Read on...

debate, argument, consversation, discussion, >communication

Reading - escape to another world

Sara Nelson in her book So many books, so little time

"A friend of mine tells me that he likes to listen to tapes of Trollope novels while negotiating New York City traffic because he likes the clash of his inner and outer worlds: 'The lovely British voice on the tape is saying, "And the vicar went into the parish," just as I'm yelling in my best New Yorkese, "Hey Buddy, up yours!" to the cabdriver on my right.' Reading's ability to beam you up to a different world is a good part of the reason people like me do it in the first place -- because dollar for dollar, hour per hour, it's the most expedient way to get from our proscribed little 'here' to an imagined, intriguing 'there.' Part time machine, part Concorde, part ejector seat, books are our salvation."

books, reading, communication

Just had to share this wonderful piece of writing

... It's from a document called Information Technology and internet culture

The Internet is a magnet for many metaphors. It is cyberspace or the matrix, the ``information superhighway'' or infobahn or information hairball, a looking glass its users step through to meet others, a cosmopolitan city with tony and shady neighborhoods, a web that can withstand nuclear attack, electric Gaia or God, The World Wide Wait, connective tissue knitting us into a group mind, an organism or ``vivisystem,'' a petri dish for viruses, high seas for information pirates, a battleground for a war between encrypters and decrypters, eye candy for discrete consumers of a tsunami of pornography, a haven for vilified minorities and those who seek escape from stultifying real-world locales, a world encyclopedia or messy library or textbook or post office, chat "rooms" and schoolrooms and academic conferences, a vast playground or an office complex, a cash cow for the dot.coms, The Widow Maker, training wheels for new forms of delinquency practiced by script kiddies and warez d00des, a wild frontier with very little law and order, the glimmer in the eyes of virtual-reality creators, a workshop for Open Source programmers, a polling booth for the twenty-first century, a marketplace for mass speech, a jungle where children are prey, a public square or global village, a mall or concert hall, a stake for homesteaders, a safari for surfers, a commercial space much in need of zoning, the mother of all Swiss Army knives, a tool palette for artists, a lucid dream or magic, a telephone or newspaper or holodeck, a monster that has escaped DARPA's control, The Linux penguin, sliced bread, an addiction, the Grand Canyon, and on and on.

Read the whole document

internet, communication, writing

Try the Book Quizz

Welcome to the BOOK QUIZ

"One of the most sophisticated quizzes out there."Fort Worth Star-Telegram

It's like it looked into my soul."Jennifer Weiner author of In Her Shoes

Everyone loves internet quizzes.But so few of them offer the satisfaction of giving the quiz-taker a truly unique identity. Most of them yield a handful of results, almost never more than 10, without recognizing how different people really are.

Here at the Blue Pyramid, we have a novel solution. We're giving you a second quiz with real variety... with 64 (sixty-four) different possible outcomes! It's better than a Choose Your Own Adventure book!

Like the last time we did this, there are only 6 (six) questions that you need to answer to find your exact literary match! Rather than spending your entire day giving us details about yourself, we'll give you the details after getting just six responses from you.

Given that there are so few questions, please think carefully about each answer. We're about to put words in your mouth!

Take the Book quiz

books, quizzes, communication

Communication tips, articles and links

Visit Pivotal Communication web pages for tips,articles and links on writing, reading, conversation, public speaking and more

communication

The John Marsden Award for Young Writers

Express Media is now accepting entries for the 2006 John Marsden Prize for Young Australian Writers.

In 2006 there are four categories:

1) Short Story / First Chapter of a Novel – under 18 – $500

2) Short Story / First Chapter of a Novel – 18 to 24 – $2000

3) Poetry – under 18 – $500

4) Poetry – 18 to 24 – $500

Entries close Thursday 31 August 2006.

Download the submission form and read the guidelines carefully for full details on how to enter.

Winning entries will be judged and announced by John Marsden in December 2006 and published in the summer issue #67 of Voiceworks magazine. All entries will also receive prize money donanted by John Marsden himself.

John Marsden launched this year's competition at the Emerging Writers' Festival on 7 April. Here's what he has said it: 'A long time ago the novel fought its way to the top of the publishing heap, to dominate western literature. Short stories, exquisite, funny and/or powerful as they may be, have been no match for the novel. Consequently there are far more aspiring novelists out there than there are short story writers. For this reason we have decided to expand the John Marsden Writing Competition to include first chapters of novels. In practical terms this may not make much difference to many of the people interested in entering. Many short stories could well be first chapters of novels; and for years now novelists have published chapters from unfinished novels as short stories in literary magazines and in newspapers. But by changing the conditions of the competition we are recognising the primacy of novels, and offering extra support to those who are labouring in garrets or penthouses, with 150,000 words under their belt and still only halfway through, looking enviously at the many competitions for short stories in Australia, and wondering why they are excluded.'

Get writing for your chance to be read by John Marsden himself and published in Voiceworks Magazine!

writing

communication

How to Talk to Anyone: 92 Little Tricks for Big Success in Relationships (Paperback) by Leil Lowndes .. provides 92 easy and effective techniques to help readers discover how to become a master communicator in life, love, and business. "This gives techniques of body language so that people will automatically like and trust you when they first meet you. This is not dumb stuff but things that really work. Things like "Sticky Eyes" where you keep your eyes locked on theirs.Then there is the "Baby Pivot" where you pivot your entire body to face someone you are just meeting. There is the "Slow Smile" where you start your smile at someone slowly so they don't think you beam at everyone you meet but seem more sincere. This is a very good book and it IS very tricky, but seems like very good advice." "You will enjoy this book. I bought it on clearance at a book store and hoped it would be worth it for the plane ride. It has proved to be fantastic. I have never prided myself on being good at small talk or at introductions, but Lowndes gives you numerous practical tips which can be easily and immediately applied. Although many of these tactics are specifically meant for introductions and first impressions, they can also be used for daily contact with acquaintances and friends as well. (It also feels good to come across some of the tricks and know that you already have been doing that). Unless you live in a cave, you're conversations with others will be more valuable to you than money you use to get this book." More information conversation, communication

How to Talk to Anyone: 92 Little Tricks for Big Success in Relationships

How to Talk to Anyone: 92 Little Tricks for Big Success in Relationships (Paperback) by Leil Lowndes .. provides 92 easy and effective techniques to help readers discover how to become a master communicator in life, love, and business. "This gives techniques of body language so that people will automatically like and trust you when they first meet you. This is not dumb stuff but things that really work. Things like "Sticky Eyes" where you keep your eyes locked on theirs.Then there is the "Baby Pivot" where you pivot your entire body to face someone you are just meeting. There is the "Slow Smile" where you start your smile at someone slowly so they don't think you beam at everyone you meet but seem more sincere. This is a very good book and it IS very tricky, but seems like very good advice." "You will enjoy this book. I bought it on clearance at a book store and hoped it would be worth it for the plane ride. It has proved to be fantastic. I have never prided myself on being good at small talk or at introductions, but Lowndes gives you numerous practical tips which can be easily and immediately applied. Although many of these tactics are specifically meant for introductions and first impressions, they can also be used for daily contact with acquaintances and friends as well. (It also feels good to come across some of the tricks and know that you already have been doing that). Unless you live in a cave, you're conversations with others will be more valuable to you than money you use to get this book." More information conversation, communication

Space communication study

Some may see it as pie in the sky. But experts investigating how humans will communicate in space say their research is necessary because communities will soon form on distant planets. Read on ... communication

Teaching to learn

"I mentioned in a previous post how I learned some skills in scouting better when I had to teach them. They just stuck in my mind better. I urge you to try prepare a lesson to teach if you are struggling with a subject. Something amazing happens when your purpose is to help someone else. It's as if the specifics of the skills are forced into your brain because you have a mission. " Read the whole post training, communication

Slapstick

From the Orange Yeti blog

"I am now quite certain that the Prologue to Kurt Vonnegut's Slapstick is the best and most important Prologue to a piece of fiction ever written.“But then she began to fade away, perhaps because she had more important business elsewhere.”Now, I don’t have the literary bona fides to back that statement up with fact, but God did I enjoy reading that prologue."

Read on ...

books

communiation

Communication Technology: interruption and overload

Communication Technology: Interruption and Overload

A lecture by Laura Dabbish, a doctoral candidate in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.

She writes, "My work seeks to understand the way people attend to communications in work situations to inform the design of tools that increase productivity, and reduce feelings of stress and overload.

In this talk, I will describe a field study examining influences on the decision to attend and respond to email communication. I will also discuss a laboratory study examining the productivity and social implications of awareness displays designed to maintain benefits of connectivity and reduce disruption."

communication

Grow your organisation

For ideas, links and articles to grow your organisation, including management, leadership, publicity, communication and more, visit the Grow Your Organisation blog. Tags: communication, organisations

Haiku and Senryu

…” an informative guide to writing Haiku and Senryu … including: Definition of Haiku, Helpful Hints, Juxtaposition in Haiku, Definition of Senryu, The Difference Between Haiku and Senryu, and also featured is a section on Tanka …” Visit Tags: poetry, communication

World e-book fair

Welcome to the World eBook Fair, the largest showcase for eBooks, eBook publishers, editors, and others in the new world of eBooks.

July 4th to August 4, 2006 marks a month long celebration of the 35th anniversary of the first step taken towards today's eBooks. 35 years ago the United States Declaration of Independence was a first example of hundreds of thousands of eBooks downloadable on the Internet today in a variety of languages totalling over 100.

The World eBook Fair welcomes you to absolutely free access to a variety of eBook unparalleled by any other source. 1/3 million eBooks await you – all free of charge for the month of July.

Read on …

Tags: e-books,

communication

Pulitzer Prize Winner Stanley Kunitz Dies

NEW YORK - Stanley Kunitz, a former U.S. poet laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner whose expressive verse, social commitment and generosity to young writers spanned three-quarters of a century, has died. He was 100.... He served a single one-year term as U.S. poet laureate and was also the Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, the precursor to poet laureate, from 1974 to 1976. His poems included tributes to nature and wildlife, such as "The Snakes of September," the traumatic memories of "The Portrait," in which he recalled his father's suicide, and the spiritual journey of "The Long Boat," with his wish "To be rocked by the Infinite!/as if it didn't matter which way was home." His early work was more formal, more dependent on rhyme and meter, but he anticipated his own evolution with the poem "Change," with its promise of "Becoming, never being." Over time, his verse simplified, crystalized, with Kunitz once observing that he had learned to "strip the water out of my poems." Read more ... Tags: poetry communication

Connecting the digital dots: literacy for the twenty-first century

Literacy today depends on understanding the multiple media that make up our high-tech reality and developing the skills to use them effectively

By Barbara R. Jones-Kavalier and Suzanne L. Flannigan

Prior to the 21st century, literate defined a person’s ability to read and write, separating the educated from the uneducated. With the advent of a new millennium and the rapidity with which technology has changed society, the concept of literacy has assumed new meanings.

Read on …

Tags:

literacy, communication

Common errors in English

The aim of this site is to help you avoid low grades, lost employment opportunities, lost business, and titters of amusement at the way you write or speak.

Check it out …

Tags: English

education

communication

What are the implications of Web 2.0 for the publishing sector?

In this presentation Brian Kelly describes how various Web 2.0 technologies can be exploited by the publishing sector.

Read on ...

Tags:

publishing, >web 2.0, >communication

Playing with Words: Poetry that POPS!!! By Molly J. Anderson-Childers This kids-at-heart article presents a variety of ways to find poetic inspiration, tips to editing poetry, and prompts to creating a personal art and poetry book. Read it here Tags: poetry writing creativity

Writers' Digest names the Creativity Portal Web site one of the best web sites

The Creativity Portal Web site has been chosen by Writer's Digest magazine as one of the "101 Best Web Sites for Writers" in their creativity category for 2006. Creativity Portal has been included in the yearly guide published on the Writer's Digest Web site since 2002. Tags: writing communication

Push-button prompts - writing and blogging inspiration

Creativity Portal's Imagination Prompt Generator will inspire you by outputting one of many randomly generated "Imagination Prompts" at the press of a button. We call them Imagination Prompts because they can be used for writing, blogging, art projects, music, discussion, or anything else you need some inspirational prompting for!

Visit the Prompt Generator

Tags:

inspiration writing creativity

The Orange Prize for Fiction

The Orange Prize for Fiction Shortlist 2006 The History of Love by Nicole KraussFind out more Beyond Black by Hilary MantelFind out more The Accidental by Ali SmithFind out more On Beauty by Zadie SmithFind out more Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living by Carrie TiffanyFind out more The Night Watch by Sarah WatersFind out more Tags: communication fiction books

Why face-to-face still matters

We email. We wiki. We blog. We IM. We convince ourselves that as long as we can write well, these are all good forms of communication. Perhaps in some ways even better, since we're not distracted (blinded, biased, seduced) by the person's physical presence.And we are wrong. Read on ... Tag: communication

The dying art of conversation

Chit-chat and small talk have taken the place of proper conversation, according to a project to chart spoken English. So are we really losing the art of profound discussion - who better to ask than two expert conversationalists. Read on … Tags communication conversation

Quirky author dies at 88

DAME MURIEL SPARK, acknowledged as one of Britain’s greatest novelists, has died aged 88 near the Italian village where she had lived for 27 years. She was the author of 22 novels, including The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, which was made into an Oscar-winning film starring Maggie Smith. Read more … Novelist who found her prime away from Miss Jean Brodie The role of fate in life fascinated Catholic convert who became exile in ItalyRead the article Tags: communication authors

Latrinalia - taking bathroom graffit to a new level

I have to say I am fascinated by what people scrawl on toilet walls. It is a tiny picture of lives and values and philosophies often wholly different to mine, or maybe expressing my thoughts with a wit I will never possess. I’m not surprised that study of toilet graffiti is old and taken very seriously. But there’s humour there are well. Fun, then to find his article and its links to further sites on the internet. Latrinalia - Learning From the Scrawls in the BathroomBathroom Graffiti Taken to Another Level— - It's the one private moment one has when out in public.The visit to the latrine, the bathroom, the commode is a time for eureka moments, private thoughts, emptying of contents, and fixing of the unruly hair or smudged mascara as well as a time for many people to scrawl their deep thoughts on bathroom walls. "It's a time when you are able to vent and be open," said Alex Kotch, a Brown University senior who put together a sound installation called "No one will see us." Read on … Tags: communication graffiti latrinalia

Online education - what can it deliver?

If online education can deliver education to people cheaply and easily, then we have a chance to redress the balance in our world.

(And on a personal note, I am fascinated by the global communities we form when we share learning online. The social and cultural implications in the long-term are immense.)

“Seven of the world's largest distance education universities—where students and faculty alike all use some form of computer-assisted learning—are located in developing countries. For these communities, educational resources available via the Internet can offer cutting-edge applications of cyberspace. Yet, roadblocks—from inadequate national communications infrastructures to teachers reluctant to adapt to e-learning—exist for the full success of online education for higher education. Meanwhile, the use of online delivery in corporate training is predicted to overtake higher education usage in developing countries, becoming an estimated $150 billion industry by 2025. This Special Report looks at lessons learned, innovations that work, and the future of ICT in education for developing countries.”

Read the report

Tags:

education elearning communication

Grow your organisation

Visit the Organisations Blog for tips and articles on leadership, public relations, communication and organisational management.

Tags: leadership organisations communication

PowerPoint Templates

PowerPoint Templates for Teachers from Vicki Blackwell. Also includes links to PowerPoint presentations for teachers and other template sites. Tags communication powerpoint teachers

Dealing with contention through computer media - the tone of your emails

Our everyday experience of email is one of mixed feelings. Email can be great. It is fast, convenient, easy to refer to, accessible from just about anywhere in the world. Unfortunately, its use can also be awkward and unpleasant. It is fast (replies can be sent too quickly), inconvenient (casual remarks are brought back to haunt us as promises), and has an unpredictable rhythm (batteries fail on a laptop, wireless goes down, the message recipient doesn't reply when expected). Tone = Emotional Force Possibly the hardest thing of all about email is to judge the 'tone' of messages, or statements within messages. It is easy to say that it is hard to do this because we don't get to see, for example, the smiles or the frowns that accompany the harsh black-and-white of text-on-screen. Certainly, the loss of non-verbal signals is a part of the problem - even with the benefit of smilies ;-> - However, interpretation of what is meant by any message relies on an understanding of the conversation. The tone of the conversation gives us grounds for reading the tone of a message Read on … tags:poetry communication Tags:

Bronwyn's blog

I also have a blog where I can share some of the interesting, crazy, thought-provoking things I find when I'm prowling the net for research. You're welcome to visit. These are the latest posts...

1. Is intolerance too trendy for us to Care for kids?
2. Latrinalia - learning from the scrawls in the bathroom
3. Online education promises much
4. What defines a generation of young women
5. Too busy being unprodutive to learn how to be productive
6. But what about the antioxidants ...?
7. The Selfish gene
8. Is this a scary sign of the times or just another example of "Only in America"?
9. catlovers with too much time on their hands?
10. Changing you - for the better

tag: communication

Support for your public speaking

For articles, tips and courses in public speaking, visit the Pivotal Public Speaking web pages. tag: public speaking

Pulitzer prize winner announced - are we missing something?

As is so often the case, there are the questions about why literary prizes are awarded. Are we missing something? Are we not literary enough to appreciate this book? What were they thinking? And it seems to happen all over the world and across all genres. Today it applies to the latest prize-winner – of the Pulitzer prize. Here is the announcement of the winner: From Yahoo news … NEW YORK - "March," Geraldine Brooks' novel that imagines the life of the fictional father in Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women," was awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for fiction on Monday. For the first time since 1997, the Pulitzer board declined to award a prize for drama. Brooks depicted the life of John March, the father absent for most of Alcott's famed novel of four sisters growing up in Massachusetts during the Civil War. And here is the review also in the news this morning. “ …It is difficult to pinpoint where and when “March” loses its appeal. Although Brooks is a creative writer, she is missing an essential ingredient that makes readers want to continue reading and find out what happens next. Novels based on previously published materials, especially those like “Little Women,” which have found a special place in many readers’ hearts, have a lot to live up to…” Read the whole post Tags: communication books

Rare Shakespeare folio to be sold

The rare first folio is likely to raise £3m when auctioned in July A rare book of Shakespeare's plays, considered to be one of the most important in British literature, is to be auctioned at Sotheby's in London. The complete first folio of the playwright's work had a print run of approximately 750 in 1623. Read on ... Tags: books

Boy wizard beats chef to win top award

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the latest installment in JK Rowling's record-breaking series on the adventures of the boy wizard, was last night named book of the year at the 17th annual British Book Awards.
.  Read on …

Tags:
communication books

Need help with your public speaking?

For articles, tips and links to useful sites, visit the Pivotal Public Speaking blog.

Tags:
Communication public speaking

The latest chapter of the e-book

By Spencer Kelly
While music, games and videos have all enjoyed the move to electronic hand-held devices, maybe it is a bit surprising to think that our favourite way to enjoy the written word is still on paper.  

Read on …

Tags:
books ebooks communication

Training live and online

TRAINING magazine's "Training Live & Online" Certificate Programs "Choose from these online programs starting in April: E-Learning by Design Certificate Program - Project Management Certificate Program - Fundamentals of Managing Training Certificate Program - Creating E-Learning with Flash Certificate Program - Beyond Bullet Points: PowerPoint for Learning Certificate Program - Designing Learning Assessments Certificate Program" Tags: powerpoint e-learning training

Young People's Poetry Week 10-16 April

Young People's Poetry Week is your chance to encourage people to celebrate poetry—read it, enjoy it, write it—in their homes, childcare centers, classrooms, libraries, and bookstores. During the third week of April, the Children's Book Council, in collaboration with the American Academy of Poets (sponsor of National Poetry Month) and the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, sponsors Young People's Poetry Week. You can get 2006 YPPW materials, find a list of ways of Celebrating YPPW, follow links to New poetry for young people, read Articles on sharing poetry and see ways of Promoting YPPW tags: poetry communication

LA Times young Adult Fiction Award

L.A. Times Finalists Named The finalists for the Los Angeles Times prize for young adult fiction have been named. The five nominees are: Looking for Alaska by John Green (Dutton), Black Juice by Margo Lanagan (HarperCollins/Eos), You & You & You by Per Nilsson (Front Street), The Center of the World by Andreas Steinhofel (Delacorte) and I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak (Knopf). The winner will be announced on April 28. Tags: communication library books

Help for your public speaking

For articles, tips and links to useful sites, visit the Pivotal Public Speaking blog tags: public speaking communication

Bye bye Microsoft Word hello ajaxWrite

What if there was alternative for Microsoft Word that would install and open in 6 seconds, read and write Microsoft Word .doc files and run on Macintosh, Microsoft Windows or Linux computers? And oh yeah, it was FREE so consumers didn't have to pay $499 for Microsoft Office. I'm excited to announce that day is here. Read on … open source programs

April 12th - D.E.A.R. Day (Drop everything and Read Day)

April 12 has been named national Drop Everything and Read Day, in honor of author Beverly Cleary's 90th birthday. Cleary's spunky character Ramona Quimby is the day's spokesperson because it was in Cleary's 1981 book, Ramona Quimby, Age 8, that Ramona's school started having D.E.A.R. time. Several organizations have joined with HarperCollins to establish this nationwide initiative, meant to encourage families to take at least 30 minutes a day to put aside all distractions and enjoy books together. Resources and ideas for celebrating the day are available here. Printed materials, including a poster and reproducible handout, can be obtained by contacting HarperCollins.

Books for your dolls house

A dolls house cannot be complete without books. Here are instructions on how to create them for your own dolls.

With formats becoming obsolete so quickly, how will we preserve documents in the future?

Fading fast Deep inside an abandoned iron mine in upstate New York, forklifts move pallets of sealed containers around an atomic storage centre. The facility was set up during the Cold War to protect millions of government and corporate documents.The Iron Mountain Atomic Storage Centre is now part of a vast network of archive centres - a lot like the warehouse that became the final resting place of the Ark of the Covenant in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Each is an Aladdin's cave of priceless treasures storing millions of historic documents that have been painstakingly catalogued, many shrunk onto microfilm and sealed into airtight containers to preserve them for centuries.In an era exploding with digital formats it seems that microfilm has become the last back-up, a simple strip of celluloid film that only needs a torch and a magnifying glass to access it. Read the whole article

Is Google being a fair use user?

by Bessie Mayes Some technology revolutions can be very subtle in the beginning. Perhaps you have noticed that the number of computer commercials outnumber commercials for television products, with the exception of the Super Bowl season of course. The technology markets are driven by the consumer’s desire for convenience, relaxation, and saving time. There are many new technological surprises these days to accommodate those masses too. For instance, Sony Corporation has a new product that may change the way we read books in the future. You are familiar already of course with email, e-journals, and e-commerce, but are you aware of e-paper? Sony’s new device will allow the user to read up to eighty books on a device they call the Sony Reader. The company developed this reader last year, and is now marketing it to the public. The device weights only 9 ounces, and looks just like a book with a LCD screen. The Sony Reader is adjustable, meaning you can manipulate fonts, and is easy to carry around. Just think, instead of thumbing through a paper copy of your favorite novel, you now have the luxury of pressing a button to flip to the next page. However, my question after reading about this new item was how could I acquire a digital book that could interface with this device and how much would I have to pay? What if I told you that someday in the future, you may be able to download your favorite book into your Sony Reader directly from a library’s website? Read the whole article

Talk doesn't come cheap when you're high profile

Celebrities net thousands on lucrative public speaking circuit TALK doesn't come cheap when you're a high-profile journalist, politician or celebrity. Read the whole article from the Irish Independent

wannalearn.com - free instruction on the web

Over 350 categories of free, first-rate, family-safe online tutorials, guides and instructionally oriented Websites!  Visit the site

Conused about copyright? Looking for public domain content?

by Marilyn P. Arnone
(image placeholder)
The purpose of this TIPS column is to provide a brief introduction to three types of copyright issues and provide suggestions of where you can find some public domain sites for acquiring photos, clipart and other media for use in your S.O.S. lessons.  Read on …

Micromodules - short lessons on using the internet

IMSA's Free Online MicroModules teaching and learning packages are short, self-directed lessons covering a wide range of Internet topics.
MicroModules address knowledge, skills and dispositions needed to locate, evaluate and use Internet resources in a learning environment. Taking only 10-60 minutes to complete, the individual modules can be used by anyone from sixth grade through adult learners. Many modules have audio/video components, making them more interesting.

Potter magic reignites novel interest

News that 'Harry Potter' heart-throb Daniel Radcliffe is starring in the film adaptation of Michael Noonan's The December Boys has sent international publishers racing for their cheque books.  Read more

Parents complain about book's undertones

SAVANNAH, Mo. - A children's book about two male penguins that raise a baby penguin has been moved to the nonfiction section of two public library branches after parents complained it had homosexual undertones. The illustrated book, "And Tango Makes Three," is based on a true story of two male penguins, named Roy and Silo, who adopted an abandoned egg at New York City's Central Park Zoo in the late 1990s.  Read the whole article

e-Tutoring courses

An exciting range of courses developing e-tutoring skills is being launched Spring 2006.
The courses are in line with a curriculum developed as part of the European ISEeTT project (Implementing Standards for European eTutor Training) for people involved in online and blended learning.
What are the courses? There are 6 courses to choose fromRead more

Pride, prejudice and happiness - readers choose happy endings

“· 41% prefer novels that make them feel better · Young people most likely to welcome sad finale
A truth which has the downside of keeping many true artists poor in garrets and many false ones rich in mansions was universally acknowledged yesterday. It is that most of us crave overwhelmingly a happy ending to a novel; and that Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice - in which Elizabeth and Mr Darcy ride off to Pemberley in the sunset and live happily ever after - is our runaway favourite of a perfect ending.”

  Read the whole article

Something to sink your teeth into?

 By Seana Mulcahy
Greetings from the world of now-I've-heard-everything. I don't think I'm the last to know, but I sure might be. I was just made aware of a new cyber-dating trend called "toothing." Apparently it began as a hoax by a British Internet journalist a couple of years ago. Ste Curran, then editor at large at the magazine Edge and ex-journalist Simon Byron created an online forum for folks with Bluetooth-enabled devices that wanted to find a date, a partner or other types of "encounters."
According to Wikipedia, in toothing a Bluetooth device is used to "discover" other enabled devices within about 30 feet (10 meters), then send the expression toothing? as an initial greeting.
There are bars in Japan where men and women program their likes, dislikes, what they want in a mate, etc. into a device. They then drink, dance, hang out with their friends as they normally would. However, when someone who matches their profile is within short range, an indicator will flash. I guess this has been successful for a few years now. It makes sense, as the culture in Japan is very different. Men don't typically walk up to women in bars and ask them out there.  Read the whole article

Interactive fiction

Three new interactive fiction Pieces in Inform 7

Google's literary land-grab

Publisher Nigel Newton calls for a boycott of the Google search engine in protest at its plans to scan books
If you click on Great Expectations by Charles Dickens in Google Book Search, you may find yourself taking an unexpected journey. Google's ambient advertising programme hotlinks to a dating agency called Great Expectations Dating ("Find Your True Love Today"). How crass is that? We can be sure that Dickens would have thought it so. Indeed, he would probably have reserved a special vituperation for Google's literary land-grab.  Article continues

The Deepening - reading online and saving trees

Every month, The Deepening publishes a new issue containing the best short stories by premier authors, stories that span every wholesome fiction genre, including: Action-Adventure, Children's, Crime, Detective, Crossover, Fantasy, Graphic Fiction, Historical, Horror, Humor, Literary, Mainstream, Mystery, Paranormal, Psychic, Spiritual, Supernatural, Romance, Science Fiction, Slipstream, Thrillers, Westerns, and Young Adult. Read and review the stories yourself. online with the authors.In time, The Deepening will also feature episodic novels as well as traditional novels available for download or to read online.One of The Deepening's primary goals is to save trees while bringing the best fiction to readers in an affordable, fun, and easy-to-use electronic format.

Investigation into the effect of comedy on national identity

Researchers have won a $300,000 taxpayer-funded grant to study how comedies such as Kath and Kim affect our national identity.Kath and Kim executive producer Rick McKenna says he is shocked as the amount is more than what the cast would earn in a series."I would have preferred to see the $300,000 spent on either producing more comedy or on medical research for children, or something," Mr McKenna has told the Sunday Herald Sun.The Australian Research Council is funding the three-year study that will focus on local comedy from the 1950s until now. Read the whole article

Milions celebrate NEAs Read Across America Day

Reading Tour 2006 Culminates in New Orleans As Celebrities, Athletes, Politicians Join NEA to Deliver New Books to Gulf Coast Public Schools
(Chalmetter, La.--Mar. 2, 2006)The ninth annual National Education Association's Read Across America Day was more than the nation's largest reading celebration. With nearly 45 million participating nationwide, it was the party with a purpose that brought together celebrities, athletes, politicians, education leaders and other notable public figures for a very special cause: to bring the gift of reading to children who have been affected by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma.   Read the whole article

Independent foreign fiction prize - the shortlist

Great novels can triumph over tragedy: Boyd Tonkin salutes the shortlist for this year's Independent Foreign Fiction Prize  Read the article

AbbreviationZ.com

AbbreviationZ.com
http://abbreviationz.com/
“Launched on 2001, AbbreviationZ.com is the largest human-edited acronyms and abbreviations directory on the internet with more than 350,000 entries classified by over 120 different categories and sub-categories.
The new innovative meta-search feature allows users, who are searching for acronyms and abbreviations definitions on the local AbbreviationZ.com directory, to locate additional meanings on the internet by using a meta-search engine, which is based on proprietary natural-language-processing algorithms, that lookup and parse multiple search-engines simultaneously.”

Australian author wins SF award

Canadian Published Australian Author WINS Coveted Top Australian SF Award. [Calgary, AB, Canada: February 27, 2006] EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing issued a statement today  announcing that the science fiction novel ECLIPSE, by Australian author K.  A. Bedford, is the hands down winner of the coveted Australian Aurealis  Award for best science fiction novel of 2005.

Doctorow's The March wins top award

The PEN/Faulkner Foundation will announce today that E.L. Doctorow has won its 2006 fiction award for his novel "The March." It is the second PEN/Faulkner award for the much-honored Doctorow, who won in 1990 for "Billy Bathgate" and whose 1975 novel "Ragtime" established him as a writer capable of combining literary ambition and commercial success.  Article continues

Short story competitions - enter now

~Spring 24-Hour Short Story Contest Now Accepting Entrants~Start time for the Winter 24-Hour Short Story Contest will be12:00 p.m. (noon) central time on Saturday, April 29, 2006!Participation is limited to 500 entrants. Contests alwaysfill up, so don't delay if you want to sign up! You can seethe list of prizes (first prize is $300) and sign up here:http://www.writersweekly.com/misc/contest.html

Tom Howard/John H. Reid Short Story Contest - Closing NextMonth March 31 deadline. 14th year. $3,000 in prizes. Submitany type of short story, essay or other work of prose. Bothpublished and unpublished work accepted.http://www.winningwriters.com/

Reading is fundamental, UK

Reading Is Fundamental, UK is an initiative of the National Literacy Trust that helps children and young people (aged 0 to 19) to realise their potential by motivating them to read.
We promote the fun of reading, the importance of book choice and the benefits to families of having books at home. Our projects provide motivational activities, opportunities for family and community involvement, and free books for children to choose and keep.

Chorus of protests against China editor's demotion

BEIJING (Reuters) - A group of 13 Chinese academics and editors have written to President Hu Jintao and other Communist leaders, joining a chorus of protest against a decision by censors to demote the top two editors of a progressive weekly.

Reading challenge to challenge illiteracy

A national reading program to tackle the problem of illiteracy in Aboriginal communities is set to be launched at a major literary conference in Melbourne.
The Australian Readers' Challenge will be launched during the Writers at Como conference in front of Pulitzer Prize winner Frank McCourt and prominent Australian writer John Marsden.
The challenge is a project encouraging readers from preschoolers to adults to read 10 books, including seven from a set book list.

Pulp friction

Internet companies are racing to get books online, but publishers are understandably wary

“INFORMATION wants to be free,” according to a celebrated aphorism from the early days of the internet. Yet this ethos has been creating new headaches recently. As search-engine firms and others unveil plans to place books online, publishers fear that the services may end up devouring their business, either by bypassing them or because the initiatives threaten to make their copyrights redundant.   Article continues

MSN Search announces MSN Book Search

MSN is working with the Open Content Alliance to bring millions of publicly available print materials worldwide to the Web.
2005 —MSN Search today announced its intention to launch MSN® Book Search, which will support MSN Search’s efforts to help people find exactly what they’re looking for on the Web, including the content from books, academic materials, periodicals and other print resources. MSN Search intends to launch an initial beta of this offering next year. MSN also intends to join the Open Content Alliance (OCA) and work with the organization to scan and digitize publicly available print materials, as well as work with copyright owners to legally scan protected materials.

Read the whole article

Censorship struggling in China

Despite Web Crackdown, Prevailing Winds Are Free

"The Internet is open technology, based on packet switching and open systems, and it is totally different from traditional media, like radio or TV or newspapers," said Guo Liang, an Internet specialist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "At first, people might have thought it would be as easy to control as traditional media, but now they realize that's not the case."
If the Internet is at the center of today's struggle over press freedom, it is only the latest in a series of fights that the government has so far always lost. Under the veneer of resolute state control, one sector after another, including book publishing, newspapers and magazines, has undergone a similar process of de facto liberalization, often in the face of official hostility. The first wave came in book publishing, where beginning in the 1980's censors found themselves unable to suppress books that were critical of state policy or expressed divergent views on ideological matters. A big part of the reason for the weakening of the censors was the introduction of a market economy, where publishers had to seek profits to support their activities. Turgid, politically correct books that delighted the censors sold poorly, so profit-seeking publishers sought to get bolder, often provocative writing into print.

Read the whole article

Self publishing

By Ken Rubino
Whether it be ego, passion, or just a desire to disseminate information on a topic we believe we’re knowledgeable about, there is an opinionated writer inside a lot of us. The relatively recent proliferation of individual Web sites and blogs certainly demonstrates this. -->http://www.infotoday.com/linkup/lud011506-rubino.shtml

Do it yourself media production

Someone call Karl Marx
The means of production is in the hands of the masses and a revolution is under way

Documenting your existence used to be simple. Snap some photos. Keep a diary. Memories would gather dust in an attic, to be dug up by a future generation like lost scrolls. But now you can shoot a home movie in high definition on a small camcorder, cut it with the same software used by Oscar-winning editors, get your son's garage band to lay down a soundtrack, burn the video onto a DVD, post it on a website, send it to friends by cellphone, and promote it in a podcast that you record while driving to work. If you happen to pass a plane crash on the way home, as a "citizen journalist" you can shoot the accident scene and get it on the evening news.

Read the whole article

Internet power

'Little Red Book' story gets wide publicity A Standard-Times story about a UMass Dartmouth student who was visited by federal agents for requesting a copy of Mao Tse-Tung's "Little Red Book" has received worldwide attention, thanks to the Internet. (image placeholder)The story, which appeared Saturday, discussed a student's claim that he was visited by federal agents after requesting the book through an interlibrary loan. The account was immediately picked up by numerous Web logs and chat rooms, and by Monday had reached a world-wide audience.

Article continues

Jewish book week

‘fast-becoming one of Britain’s leading literary festivals’.
Jewish Book Week 2006

25th February – 5th March 2006

Lagardere to buy Time Warner books

Lagardere to buy Time Warner books for $538 mln
LONDON/PARIS, Feb 6 (Reuters) - French media group Lagardere has agreed to buy Time Warner's  book publishing arm for $537.5 million, fulfilling its long-standing ambition of entering the U.S. book market.  
Article continues

Ability for grammar hardwired into humans

Scientists Find Ability For Grammar Hardwired Into Humans

Researchers have long wondered why certain fundamental characteristics of grammar are present in all languages, and now a team of scientists at the University of Rochester has found evidence that these properties are built into the way our brains work. The report, recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, examines deaf individuals who have been isolated from conventional sign, spoken, and written language their entire lives, and yet still developed a unique form of gesture communication.

Article continues

Men and women behave differently on the internet

Men Find Experiences on the Internet; Women Prefer Human Connections
In a recently released Memo/Report on the use of the Internet by both men and women from PEWInternet, Deborah Fallows, Senior Research Fellow at the Pew Internet Project and author of the new report, writes that men pursue many Internet activities more intensively than women, and that men still try the latest technologies first. Fallows continues, though, noting that women are catching up in overall use and are framing their online experience with a greater emphasis on deepening connections with people. Read the whole article