Digital information and the 'privatisation of knowledge'

Purpose of this paper: To point out that past models of information ownership may not carry over to the age of digital information. The fact that public ownership of information (for example, by means of national and public library collections) created social benefits in the past does not mean that a greater degree of private sector involvement in information provision in the knowledge society of today is synonymous with an abandonment of past ideals of social information provision. Design/methodology/approach: A brief review of recent issues in digital preservation and national electronic heritage management, with an examination of the public/private sector characteristics of each issue. Findings: Private companies and philanthropic endeavours focussing on the business of digital information provision have done some things - which in the past we have associated with the public domain - remarkably well. It is probably fair to say that this has occurred against the pattern of expectation of the library profession. Research limitations/Implications:The premise of this paper is that LIS research aimed at predicting future patterns of problem solving in information work should avoid the narrow use of patterns of public-private relationships inherited from a previous, print-based information order. Practical implications: This paper suggests practical ways in which the library and information profession can improve digital library services by looking to form creative partnerships with private sector problem solvers. What is original/value of the paper? This paper argues that the LIS profession should not take a doctrinaire approach to commercial company involvement in 'our' information world. Librarians should facilitate collaboration between all parties, both public and private, to create original solutions to contemporary information provision problems. In this way we can help create pragmatic, non-doctrinaire solutions that really do work for the citizens of our contemporary information society

Expanding Our Boundaries With Technology

When Kate first came to speak at the ACL Conference at Lee University, I think I\u27m not exaggerating by saying we fell in love with her and she fell in love with us. We enjoyed her and her enthusiasm and she enjoyed us. I was trying to figure out what I was going to plan for another general session at this year\u27s conference and about that time Steve Preston sent me a note saying, \u27Just got a note from Kate, and she is so excited that ACL was coming back here and she wanted to come to the conference. Was there anything she could do?\u27 Our conference theme is about expanding our boundaries in the area of information literacy, which is certainly appropriate. We are also expanding our boundaries technologically. The two things go hand and hand. So, I asked her to come join us today. I\u27m sure all of you know by now, she is the head of SOLINET. For those of you not from this part of the country, it\u27s the largest of the OCLC networks and besides all the usual stuff, they are very well known especially in this part of the country for the wonderful workshops that they put on. So Kate, tell us what\u27s going on

A Forward to the Special Issue on Neoliberalism in Education The Long Road to Redemption: Critical Pedagogy and the Struggle for the Future

A Forward to the Special Issue on Neoliberalism in EducationEducatio

Innovation at the point of sale

On February 27, 2003, the Payment Cards Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia sponsored a conference to examine a variety of new payments options available to consumers paying for goods and services at the point of sale. The conference included diverse representation from the payments industry and Federal Reserve staff. ; Conference presentations and discussions focused on current and prospective payments innovations and their implications for payments providers, merchants, and consumers. The need for alignment among these three parties as an essential condition for the success of payments innovation was emphasized throughout the conference discussion. This event benefited from the inclusion of merchants’ perspectives, which are sometimes seen to be at odds with the goals of payment networks and institutional providers. Although the conference did not resolve the inherent conflict between organizations that drive payments innovation and merchants, it initiated a useful dialogue between industry sectors with divergent views and provided policymakers with a clearer understanding of the interrelationships inherent in retail payments systems.Electronic commerce

Innovation and Business Strategy: Why Canada Falls Short

This article compares the development of labour productivity in the Swedish and the Finnish business sectors and the role of the information and communication technology (ICT) sector in this process. The results show that the Finnish productivity level has been converging towards the Swedish level, but that there is still a significant difference. This trend has coincided with the growing importance of the ICT sector, especially since the mid 1990s. Due to higher productivity and employment growth, the Finnish ICT sector has contributed to this convergence. This is explained by the electrical engineering industry. The Nokia effect has been stronger than the Ericsson effect.Innovation, productivity, business strategy, public policy, market structure, Competition, business climate, business ambition

Spartan Daily, January 30, 1998

Volume 110, Issue 6https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/9222/thumbnail.jp

German capitalism: Does it exist? Can it survive?

Drawing on extensive comparison with the United States, Japan and Britain, the paper describes the "German model" of advanced capitalism as an institutionalized high-wage economy combining high competitiveness in world markets with strong social cohesion and, in particular, low levels of inequality along a variety of dimensions. This combination is explained by a unique set of socio-economic institutions, in particular socially instituted and circumscribed markets, negotiated firms commanding long-term attachment of both labor and capital, a facilitating state relying mainly on indirect means of intervention, widespread associational self-governance by organized groups in civil society, and institutionalized cultural patterns that promote long-term commitments and continuity. These institutions are shown to call forth and support a particular pattern of production, sometimes referred to as diversified quality production, that has in the 1970s and 1980s made possible both high wages and a low dispersion of wages and incomes. In its second part, the paper proceeds to analyze in detail the performance problems of an institutionalized high-wage economy of the German kind, and specifies a set of conditions that must be met for such an economy to remain simultaneously competitive and socially cohesive. The present crisis of the German "social market economy" is discussed in terms of a coincidence of three factors: a possible secular exhaustion of the model as such, the shock of unification, and the constraints imposed by growing globalization of the capitalist economy on national economic governance. -- Auf der Grundlage eines Vergleichs mit den Vereinigten Staaten, Japan und Großbritannien wird das "deutsche Modell" des entwickelten Kapitalismus als institutionalisierte Hochlohnwirtschaft beschrieben, die hohe Wettbewerbsfähigkeit in internationalen Märkten mit starker sozialer Kohäsion und relativ geringer wirtschaftlicher Ungleichheit verbindet. Diese Kombination wird als Resultat einer Reihe typischer sozio-ökonomischer Institutionen erklärt, insbesondere sozial institutionalisierter und umschriebener Märkte; durch Aushandlung regierter Unternehmen, deren Kapital und Arbeit langfristig an sie gebunden sind; einen unterstützenden Staat, der sich vornehmlich indirekter Interventionsformen bedient; weitverbreiteter verbandlicher Selbstregulierung organisierter gesellschaftlicher Gruppen; und institutionalisierter kultureller Muster, die langfristige Bindungen und Kontinuität fördern. Diese Institutionen begründen und unterstützen eine bestimmte Art wirtschaftlicher Produktion, die als diversifizierte Qualitätsproduktion bezeichnet worden ist und in den siebziger und achtziger Jahren zugleich hohe Löhne und eine geringe Dispersion von Löhnen und Einkommen ermöglicht hat. In seinem zweiten Teil untersucht der Aufsatz die derzeitigen Bestandsprobleme einer institutionalisierten Hochlohnökonomie der deutschen Art und nennt eine Reihe von Bedingungen, die erfüllt sein müssen, damit eine solche Ökonomie zugleich wettbewerbsfähig und sozial kohäsionsfähig bleiben kann. Die gegenwärtige Krise der deutschen "sozialen Marktwirtschaft" wird als Resultat des Zusammentreffens dreier Faktoren dargestellt: einer möglichen säkularen Erschöpfung des Modells als solchem, des Schocks der Wiedervereinigung, und der Rückwirkungen der zunehmenden Globalisierung der kapitalistischen Ökonomie auf nationale Formen wirtschaftlicher Steuerung.

IFIs’ Conditionalities, Poverty Reduction, and Employment

the great depression of 1930s, the Bretton Woods twins—international monetary fund (IMF) and the world bank; rather the world bank group1—have over the years emerged as important players of the international financial arena. They are the major component of international financial architecture in addressing global macro and financial stability. The Bank together with the regional multi-lateral development banks (MDBs), such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the Asian and the Pacific region, is making its contribution in building necessary infrastructure needed to initiate and support the development process, the recent reduced emphasis on such projects notwithstanding.

Precision Grouting: Skid-Mounted Equipment

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