Computers, Freedom, Privacy. I'm off to New York for the annual Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference, one of the most important gatherings of… [Dan Gillmor's eJournal] if you can go, you should go, this conference has a fine reputation.

Colin Steele, Phoenix rising: new models for the r …. Colin Steele, Phoenix rising: new models for the research monograph? A preprint in the ANU E-Press Archive, forthcoming from Learned Publishing, 16, 2 (2003) pp. 111-122. Abstract: “There is significant evidence that traditional university presses are continuing to face financial crises. Outlets for research monographs […]

this is the type of thing that sunshine laws in the u.s. should provide. i want everything the president says to anyone public knowledge now, unless it is directly related to national security, and that should be vetted by appointees by a senate committee. Since the EU Council decided in May 2001 to provid …. […]

New RFC Adds “Evil Bit” [Slashdot] this is clearly a necessary addition to any networking protocol, though it needs to be supplemented with the competency bit, because there is nothing so wrong as the incompetent, evil packet….

CSS Examples and Commentary. Tantek Celik has recently released some useful CSS examples (with accompanying commentary) under a Creative Commons attribution license. Check out Tantek's reasoning for the move. [Creative Commons: weblog] you know i see all this work on css, and i do so little with it. I really have to check out css, […]

More on scientific self-censorship….The staff of …. More on scientific self-censorship….The staff of The Why Files has written a balanced and detailed article, Perils of Publication, on the risks of censoring, and not censoring, scientific journal articles in an age of terrorism. The article is based on interviews with Martin Blume, Eugene Garfield, Paul Ginsparg, […]

Michael Fraser has written a very useful Quick Gui …. Michael Fraser has written a very useful Quick Guide to Eprints for the Oxford University Computing Services web site. For readers new to the concept, this guide is just the right length. Apart from the clear introduction, Fraser also gives a bit of news: “Over […]

Survey shows increasing business interest in Open Source software. According to The Register, “A report on business attitudes to open source software published this week indicates steady progress in the UK, with a growing number of CIOs seeing OSS as a means to tackle Total Cost of Ownership, and indications that it is being used […]

A Flat Lens That Breaks The Laws of Nature. A University of Toronto researcher has developed a flat lens that doesn't respect the “normal” laws of nature and could significantly enhance the resolution of imaged objects. NewsFactor has the story. The creation of an unusual flat lens may finally resolve a long-running controversy about the […]

This is a reminder that the U.S. Department of Energy Carlsbad Field Office (DOE/CBFO) makes 31 training/ed material packages available to businesses, government agencies, educational institutions, non-profits, consultants, students, and citizens at no cost to recipients through a federal knowledge sharing program: + Web user, instructor, general employee, training manager, educational administrator, and manager training […]