Tolkien\u27s Intellectual Landscape (2015) by E.L. Risden

Tolkien\u27s Intellectual Landscape (2015) by E.L. Risden, book revie

Tolkien’s Theology of Beauty: Majesty, Splendor, and Transcendence in Middle-earth (2016) by Lisa Coutras

Book review by John Wm. Houghton of Tolkien’s Theology of Beauty: Majesty, Splendor, and Transcendence in Middle-earth (2016) by Lisa Coutra

The Flame Imperishable: Tolkien, St. Thomas, and the Metaphysics of Faërie (2017) by Jonathan S. McIntosh

Book review by John Wm. Houghton of The Flame Imperishable (2017) by Jonathan S. McIntos

Laughter in Middle-earth: Humour in and around the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien (2016) edited by Thomas Honegger and Maureen F. Mann

Book review of Laughter in Middle-earth (2016), edited by Thomas Honegger and Maureen F. Man

ICT and the Environment in Developing Countries: an Overview of Opportunities and Developments

Both developed and developing countries face many environmental challenges, including climate change, improving energy efficiency and waste management, addressing air pollution, water quality and scarcity, and loss of natural habitats and biodiversity. Drawing on the existing literature, this paper presents an overview of how the Internet and the ICT and related research communities can help tackle environmental challenges in developing countries. The review focuses on the role of ICTs in climate change mitigation, mitigating other environmental pressures, and climate change adaptation.information and communication technology (ICT), environment, climate change, mitigation, adaptation.

Estimating the potential impacts of open access to research findings

Advances in information and communication technologies are disrupting traditional models of scholarly publishing, radically changing our capacity to reproduce, distribute, control, and publish information. The key question is whether there are new opportunities and new models for scholarly publishing that would better serve researchers and better communicate and disseminate research findings. Identifying access and efficiency limitations under the subscription publishing model, this paper explores the potential impacts of enhanced access to research outputs using a modified Solow-Swan model, which introduces ‘accessibility’ and ‘efficiency’ parameters into calculating returns to R&D. Indicative impact ranges are presented for Government, Higher Education and Australian Research Council R&D expenditures. We conclude that there may be substantial benefits to be gained from more open access to research findings

Open research data: Report to the Australian National Data Service (ANDS)

Main points Research data are an asset we have been building for decades, through billions of dollars of public investment in research annually. The information and communication technology (ICT) revolution presents an unprecedented opportunity to ‘leverage’ that asset. Given this, there is increasing awareness around the world that there are benefits to be gained from curating and openly sharing research data (Kvalheim and Kvamme 2014). Conservatively, we estimate that the value of data in Australia’s public research to be at least $1.9 billion and possibly up to$6 billion a year at current levels of expenditure and activity. Research data curation and sharing might be worth at least $1.8 billion and possibly up to$5.5 billion a year, of which perhaps $1.4 billion to$4.9 billion annually is yet to be realized. Hence, any policy around publicly-funded research data should aim to realise as much of this unrealised value as practicable. Aims and scope This study offers conservative estimates of the value and benefits to Australia of making publicly-funded research data freely available, and examines the role and contribution of data repositories and associated infrastructure. It also explores the policy settings required to optimise research data sharing, and thereby increase the return on public investment in research. The study’s focus is Australia’s Commonwealth-funded research and agencies. It includes research commissioned or funded by Commonwealth bodies as well as in-house research within research-oriented agencies wholly or largely funded by the Commonwealth. Government data or public sector information is a separate category of publicly-funded data – although there is some overlap at the margins (e.g. Commonwealth Government funding for Geoscience Australia). Main findings For the purposes of estimation, we explore a range of research funding and expenditure from total Australian Government funding support for research to the sum of government and higher education expenditure on research by sector of execution. The lower bound estimates are based on the labour-cost share of research funding and expenditure ($4.3 billion to$6.4 billion per annum), and upper bound estimates on total research funding and expenditure ($8.9 billion to$13.3 billion per annum)

Excepting the future

This report makes the economic case for flexible copyright exceptions and extended safe harbour provisions. Copyright can strengthen the incentive to create by affording rights holders exclusive rights to exploit their work. This can bring into existence work that would not otherwise exist, generating economic benefits. A content owner’s exclusive rights are subject to limitations and exceptions.Excepting the Future makes the the economic case for flexible copyright exceptions and extended safe harbour provisions. These mediate the respective rights of the myriad participants in the copyright eco-system, where intellectual property (IP) outputs are, to an increasing extent, developed from IP inputs, where creators are also users, users are creators and copyright material cannot be distributed digitally without copies being made. A companion report, Exceptional Industries, reveals the economic contribution to Australia and other countries made by industries relying on such limitations and exceptions to copyright. In Australia in 2010 this includes: Contributing 14% of Australia’s annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP), or 182 billion;  Employing 21% of our paid workforce, almost 2.4 million people;  Paying wages and salaries of 116 billion.   This report was prepared for the Australian Digital Alliance by John Houghton and Nicholas Gruen, Lateral Economics

The challenges of energy - response to Moody-Stuart

Sir Mark has lucidly addressed the growing demand for accessible energy throughout the world, the need for basic provision of energy to one third of the world's population and the conflicts that arise between the ways in which energy is supplised and used and the constraints of sustainability. It is, of course, the innovation, creativity and activity of industry that will provide solutions to the problems we face. It is therefore appropriate and helpful to hear form one of the leaders of the energy industry. The vision he presents i one of a vibrant, innovation, market-driven industry operating within a regulatory framework that gives the maximum flexibility for creative solutions. The greatest challenges faced by the world energy sector are concerned with environmental sustainability. Because the emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide spread rapidly around the globe, sustainability has to be considered on a global basis and global solutions are rquired. International agreements concerning action, for instance the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC), need to be based on sound science and on four widely accepted principles, namely the Precautionary Principle, the Polluter Pays Principles and the Principles of Sustainable Development and Equity. The challenge to the FCCC is to devise mechanisms and arragements that will bring about substantial reductions in greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere and that also satisfy there principles. A recent Energy Review from the Policy Innovation Unit of the UK Government's Cabinet Office has considered in detail how a sustainable energy strategy can be developed. Finally, reasons are given for optimism that, given the necessary commitment by the world community, a sustainable energy strategy for the world can be developed and realised during the 21st century

Tolkien and the Classical World (2021), edited by Hamish Williams

Book review, by John Wm. Houghton, of Tolkien and the Classical World (2021), edited by Hamish William