Libraries and open society; Popper, Soros and digital information

This paper examines the role of libraries and information services, in promoting the ‘open society’ espoused by Karl Popper and George Soros. After a brief discussion of the nature of an ‘open society’, the paper covers the role played by provision of knowledge and information, of new technology, particularly the Internet, and of critical thinking and digital literacy in the development of this form of society. Conclusions are drawn for the role of libraries and librarians, with seven general principles suggested: • provision of access to a wide variety of sources without ‘negative’ restriction or censorship • provision of ‘positive’ guidance on sources, based on open and objective criteria • a recognition that a ‘free flow of information’ though essential, is not sufficient • a recognition that provision of factual information, while valuable, is not enough • a need for a specific concern for the effect of new ICTs, and the Internet in particular • promotion of critical thinking and digital literacy • a need for explicit consideration of the ethical values of librarie

Beyond crime statistics: the construction and application of a criminogenity monitor in Amsterdam

Criminologists have devoted a great deal of attention to risk factors - also called criminogenic factors - leading to criminal offending. This paper presents a criminogenity monitor which includes 19 risk factors that underlie crime. These factors do not themselves cause criminal behaviour; rather, they must be seen as signals that crimes may be committed. After discussing how the criminogenity monitor was constructed, we apply the risk factors we examined to the situation in Amsterdam, capital city of the Netherlands. The monitor is intended to function particularly as an instrument to rationalise policy-makers' work in targeting and preventing symptoms of crime at three geographical levels: the entire city, its boroughs and its neighbourhoods. © 2012 The Author(s)

The Choice of Ignorance: The Debate on Ethnic and Racial Statistics in France

A researcher or a journalist trying to compare the situation of ethnic and racial minorities in the United States and in France immediately confronts a crippling obstacle. The concept of ‘ethnic and racial minority’ as such is not used in France. This is not simply a matter of vocabulary –something the French typically like to argue about; the problem rather lies in the very incomparability of populations that one is talking about. Many of the categories that do exist in political discourse and public debate can of course be found in statistics. But there are no data describing the situation of minorities in France that could be compared with those produced in the United States. This state of affairs in French statistics – gathering has been the subject of major criticism for some 20 years now; it has gotten to the point that it has triggered a controversy of rare violence between those that would like to see statistics take into account the diversity of the population and those who denounce the danger that such statistics might pose of ethnicizing or racializing society. The media focus on the contentiousness of this debate has been such as to sometimes lose sight of the very existence of discrimination and the flaws of the Republican model that are at the root of the controversy in the first place

Women's Studies and Feminist Scholarship: A "Different Voice" in Academe

Women's studies were the academic outgrowth of the women's movement. Initially there was a push for equality and women were encouraged to move into nontraditional roles; success was equated with success in the male world. As women's studies evolved there was a growing recognition and valuing of feminine qualities, and caring and interpersonal relationships were recognized as playing a meaningful role in the human endeavor. Feminist scholarship and women's studies programs are using feminism as a critique to analyze existing knowledge and in the process are transforming how knowledge is constructed