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