Library Juice 3:3 - Library Juice is now a book and a blog

Library Juice 3:3 - January 19, 2000 Contents: 1. The Core Values Document 2. New site offers unique activism information 3. Bad Subjects #46 4. San Antonio Inter-American Bookfair & Literary Festival 5. FEN Newswire: Lawsuit Challenges Ban on Anti-Censorship Pamphlet 6. UNESCO to create new program for information activities 7. _UNESCO Thesaurus_ and UNESCO Library 8. Subject Index to Literature on Electronic Sources of Information 9. America Happened to Us (Cinco Puntos Press) 10. Clandestine E-Texts 11. Hermès 5 table of contents 12. FYI France: Vitrolles -- who watches the watchers? 13. Pirates! Fact and Legend 14. Propaganda Analysis 15. Letter from Sandy Berman to City Pages (Minneapolis weekly) Quote for the week: "We need our libraries open to all, so we can prepare our students for the 21st Century." - Martin Luther King, quoted in the program at ALA midwinter, "Celebrating Equity and Empowerment," on Martin Luther King Day. Home page of the week: Deborah Dyll Ultan http://library.wustl.edu/~ultan/ ___________________________________________________________________________top 1. The Core Values Document ALA is working on a Core Values Statement. The first draft is on the web, and still open to comments. A second draft is coming soon. http://www.wwa.com/~dsager/draft.htm For a news item from Library Journal, see: http://www.ljdigital.com/articles/news/thisweek/19991220_13069.asp ___________________________________________________________________________top 2. New site offers unique activism information This is to announce a new web site devoted to alerting the concerned public that there are devices, including some in the commercial and unclassified arenas, which are totally silent and leave no evidence. These devices make perfect "revenge" or "unethical research" crimes routine and easy, and can be purchased by (or built by) the average millionaire. None of the current justice system agencies can protect against crimes committed with these devices. Police are made totally helpless by them. The site is at: http://www.raven1.net (no tilde ~) On the site is a fact-filled 112-page report detailing the how-it-works of these devices and the current usages of the commercial and unclassified technology, at: http://www.raven1.net/uncom.htm Eleanor White, P.Eng., Technical Advisor Citizens Against Human Rights Abuse 430 Cumberland Ave. #312 Hamilton, Ontario Canada L8M 3M9 Days: 905-339-2000 x49 raven1[at]bestnet.org ___________________________________________________________________________top 3. Bad Subjects #46 Includes "Alternative Schmalternative" and "Zines are Dead." http://eserver.org/bs/46/ ___________________________________________________________________________top 4. The Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center 13th Annual San Antonio Inter-American Bookfair & Literary Festival 17 - 19 February 2000 at Trinity University John Phillip Santos Rosario Ferré John Nichols Virgil Suárez Sandra Cisneros Loida Maritza Pérez Bill Moyers Readings, lectures, panels, signings, and workshops with 60+ authors, including Marjorie Agosín, Wendy Barker, Sandra Benitez, Ramiro Burr, Lori Marie Carlson, Lucha Corpi, Martin Espada, Alicia Gaspar de Alba, Patrisia Gonzales & Roberto Rodriguez, Oscar Hahn, Oscar Hijuelos, Ed Hirsch, James Hoggard, David Lida, James Mardis, Angela Shelf Medearis, Carol Moldaw, Charrie Moraga, Dave Oliphant, Hermine Pinson & the Jazz Warriors, Roberto Quesada, Gayle Ross, Raul Salinas, Aram Saroyan, Sheryl St. Germain, Sudeep Sen, Arthur Sze, Carmen Tafolla, Lorenzo Thomas, David Toscana, Alfredo Vea, Marcos M. Villatoro, Donley Watt, and More! For more information: http://www.guadalupeculturalarts.org Display Space Available - (210) 271-3151 For tickets, call (210) 351-7787 All daytime events free ... evening readings $10 / $7 for seniors, students ___________________________________________________________________________top 5. FEN Newswire: Lawsuit Challenges Ban on Anti-Censorship Pamphlet For further information, contact: Judith Krug (ALA), (312) 280-4222 Chris Finan (ABFFE), (212) 587-4025 Judith Platt (AAP), (202) 220-4551 Brian Cartier (NACS), (440) 775-7777, ext. 2201 Claire Safran (ASJA), (203) 227-6271 Kent Willis, Rebecca Glenberg, (ACLU of Virginia) (804) 644-8080 Michael A. Bamberger, (Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal) (212) 768-6756 For Immediate Release Lawsuit Challenges Ban on Anti-Censorship Pamphlet HARRISONBURG, Virginia, January 12, 2000 - Five national groups representing booksellers, publishers, librarians and writers today joined an English teacher and four students in suing a Virginia high school principal who ordered the removal of an anti-censorship pamphlet from the door of the teacherAEs classroom. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court here, accuses principal C. James Slye of violating the First Amendment rights of the teacher, Jeffrey Newton, and the students of Spotswood High School, part of the Rockingham School District in western Virginia. The lawsuit, which is being brought jointly by the ACLU of Virginia Foundation and lawyers from the New York office of Sonnenschein Nath and Rosenthal, also names the school board and the superintendent of schools as defendants. The pamphlet that Slye ordered removed was a list of the books that had been challenged or banned in schools, libraries and bookstores around the country in 1997-98. A version of the list is published each year in connection with Banned Books Week, a promotion of the importance of free expression that began in 1982 and is held in September. Banned Books Week is sponsored by the American Library Association, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the Association of American Publishers, the National Association of College Stores and the American Society of Journalists and Authors. The sponsors have joined the lawsuit as plaintiffs. Slye ordered the pamphlet removed after a parent complained to a member of the school board. He told Newton that the brochure contained three objectionable titles, The Joy of Gay Sex, Understanding Sexual Identity: A Book for Gay Teens and Their Friends, and Women on Top: How Real Life has Changed WomenAEs Fantasies. He threatened to take disciplinary action against Newton if he did not remove the material. Ironically, Slye ordered the removal on September 29, during this yearAEs Banned Books Week. After taking down the pamphlet, Newton sought assistance from the ACLU. The lawsuit requests a court order permitting him to once again post the Banned Books Week pamphlet on his classroom door. "We created the Banned Books Week list to show that even in a free society like ours there is always someone who is trying to censor something," Judith F. Krug, the director of the ALAAEs Office for Intellectual Freedom, said. "Principal Slye has proved our point." Chris Finan, president of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, praised Newton for refusing to accept his principalAEs order without a fight. "Jeff Newton is defending not only his rights, but the rights of his students and the rest of us. The Rockingham schools are lucky to have such a brave and passionate teacher." The plaintiffs are represented by Rebecca Glenberg, the legal director of the ACLU of Virginia, and Michael A. Bamberger, a partner in the New York office of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Those wishing to receive FEN Newswire releases may subscribe on the FEN Clearinghouse: http://www.freeexpression.org/newswire/signup.htm ___________________________________________________________________________top 6. UNESCO to create new program for information activities Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2000 17:08:57 +0100 From: "Plathe, Axel" <A.Plathe[at]UNESCO.ORG> Subject: UNESCO creates new programme for its activities in the area of information To: IFLA-L[at]INFOSERV.NLC-BNC.CA UNESCO is creating a new programme for contributing to a just and free information society with universal benefit. UNESCO's Member States wish that the new programme, which will replace the General Information Programme (PGI) and the Intergovernmental Informatics Programme, promote free and universal access to information which individuals need to participate equitably in the global information society. The programme should also provide an appropriate framework for the preservation and global sharing of information and knowledge and is thus of particular relevance to the archives and library community. Information experts are invited to submit suggestions as to the scope and activities of the new programme as well as to its name at http://www.unesco.org/webworld/future/index.shtml. _____________________________________________ Axel Plathe Information and Informatics Division UNESCO 1, rue Miollis 75015 Paris t 33.1.45.68.44.67 f 33.1.45.68.55.83 w http://www.unesco.org/webworld * Send a UNESCO < > netaid e-card ___________________________________________________________________________top 7. _UNESCO Thesaurus_ [.pdf] http://www.ulcc.ac.uk/unesco/index.htm UNESCO Library http://www.unesco.org/general/eng/infoserv/doc/library.html The UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ) Library has recently released a trilingual (preferred terms in English/French/Spanish) Thesaurus of some 7,000 terms that "closely reflects the evolving content of UNESCO documents and publications." Users may browse the online _Thesaurus_ alphabetically or hierarchically. The _Thesaurus_ includes French and Spanish equivalents of English preferred terms as well as separate indexes of French and Spanish terms (with equivalents). Instructions on using the _Thesaurus_ and information on its development are available on-site. [MD] > From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2000. http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/ ___________________________________________________________________________top 8. The January 1, 2000 edition of the "Subject Index to Literature on Electronic Sources of Information" is available at: http://library.usask.ca/~dworacze/SUBJIN_A.HTM The page-specific "Subject Index to Literature on Electronic Sources of Information" and the accompanying "Electronic Sources of Information: A Bibliography" (listing all indexed items) deal with all aspects of electronic publishing and include print and non-print materials, periodical articles, monographs and individual chapters in collected works. This edition includes 1,095 titles. Both the Index and the Bibliography are continuously updated. Introduction, which includes sample search and instructions how to use the Subject Index and the Bibliography, is located at: http://library.usask.ca/~dworacze/SUB_INT.HTM This message has been crossposted to several mailing lists. Please excuse any duplication. ************************************************* *Marian Dworaczek * *Head, Acquisitions Department * *and Head, Technical Services Division * *University of Saskatchewan Libraries * *E-mail: dworaczek[at]sklib.usask.ca * *Phone: (306) 966-6016 * *Fax: (306) 966-5919 * *Home Page: http://library.usask.ca/~dworacze * ************************************************* ___________________________________________________________________________top 9. America Happened to Us (Cinco Puntos Press) The story of _The Story of Colors_ On Monday, March 8 (1999), Julia Preston of the Mexico City Bureau of _The New York Times_ interviewed me by phone about a bilingual storybook we had just published, _The Story of Colors / La Historia de los Colores_. She found it curious and delightful. The book is a Mayan legend about how a bunch of gods went out and found all the colors in the world. Julia, being a correspondent in Mexico, was very interested in the author -- Subcommandante Marcos, the most well-known leader of the Zapatistas who walked out of the jungles of Chiapas on New Year's morning of 1994, and made war on the Mexican government. We talked a long time, Julia and I, about many different subjects. But Preston also was curious about the fact that Cinco Puntos had received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for a book by a revolutionary. I told her that Cinco Puntos bought the rights from the Mexican publisher, Colectivo Callejero, which had published the book in Mexico. The writings of Marcos, I reminded her, are in the public domain. He has given up copyright. I told her the NEA has a long and proud history of publishing important works in translation. Indeed, the NEA's purpose is to support and encourage diversity in the arts. There was nothing particularly unusual about this book. So she called the NEA to verify facts and to ask several questions. The next day, Bill Ivey, the chairperson of the NEA, rescinded funding for the _Story of Colors_. Ignoring two review panels, he made the decision, as they say in Washington, "unilaterally." He was worried, he told the press, that NEA funds might end up in the hands of the Zapatistas. But Cherrie Simon, a public relations person at the NEA, told me the night before that what the NEA was really worried about was the _Washington Times_, the newspaper owned by the Reverend Moon and which is oft-quoted by right-wing-talk-babblers Rush Limbaugh and G. Gordon Liddy. When Bill Ivey informed Julia Preston of his decision, she was upset and contrite. She called me up to apologize. Cinco Puntos was out $7,500. She asked me how I felt about his action. Angry, I said. Ivey's decision was spineless and cowardly. He caved in before there was any pressure. The next day, because of Bill Ivey, Cinco Puntos Press and _The Story of Colors_ were on the front page of _The New York Times_. The phone started ringing before the sun came up, and it didn't stop for three days. During that time, between our distributor and ourselves, we sold out of the first printing of 5,000 copies, and we started selling the second printing of 8,000. The Lannan Foundation -- the same organization that stepped forward to fund the Mapplethorpe exhibition after it too had lost funding -- promptly offered to reimburse us for the money lost. In fact, they doubled it. The story made the major papers across the nation, and it also became big news in Mexico. It was a strange media frenzy, a true boon to Cinco Puntos. But the real ideas and issues got lost in that frenzy, the most important of which is the indigenous struggle for autonomy and land in Chiapas. Also not to be forgotten is the chilling message that Ivey's action sends to artists and arts organizations in the United States. For the last 30 years the NEA has been a major player in a great flowering of literary expression in this country. For the first two-thirds of the century, our literature was dominated by a monolithic structure rooted in universities and New York City media. Then, poets and writers from all sorts of diverse communities -- African American, women, Latino/a, Native American, Gay and Lesbian, geographically or ideologically isolated communities, etc. -- started clamoring for national attention. With the new technologies at hand, people were up all night after their day jobs putting together important books. Meanwhile, the Endowment made diversification of its peer review panels a basic tenet of its philosophy. It was a courageous and truly democratic endeavor. The panels became multicultural, they became multi-racial, they became multi-ideological. Alternative presses in supposedly backwater communities like El Paso bagan to receive funding, and readers throughout the United States began to read and hear different voices. But all these voices speaking at once is contrary to the body politic. Politicians from the right wing, those like William Bennett who staunchly believe in maintaining the purity of inherited European traditions and ideas, began to ask questions. They worried that the monolith was crumbling. Indeed it was. But the NEA and its supporters responded with their own simple question: Why not? This is America, this is a democracy. In the last few years, however, the NEA's critics became more and more vociferous and powerful. The right wing Republican Congress, apprehensive of multiculturalism and its political dissonance, began chopping away at the NEA's funding, threatening even to dismantle the organization altogether. Bill Clinton whimpered and let them do what they wanted. Ivey was hired in 1998 to chair the NEA, and immediately he bagan to hear demons in the hallways. After telling me that he was rescinding funds for _The Story of Colors_, Bill Ivey said to me that it was not a censorship issue. But he is wrong. His decision speaks to all persons and organizations writing a grant to the Endowment. Their choices will be tainted by that decision. Meanwhile, Cinco Puntos has prospered because Ivey was afraid of those demons in the hallways. We sold a lot of books, we received tremendous publicity. But not all writers or small presses will have the same opportunity. Nor will the indigenous communities of Chiapas, the place where the story for this beautiful book was born. Nor will the Zapatistas who are still surrounded by the Mexican Army which, of course, receives generous support from the United States Government. -Bobby Bird Visit the Cinco Puntos Press website at http://www.cincopuntos.com ___________________________________________________________________________top 10. Clandestine E-Texts http://www.vc.unipmn.it/~mori/e-texts/ Edited and maintained by Gianluca Mori of the University of Turin-Vercelli, this site currently hosts the full texts (in French) of seventeen French clandestine manuscripts from the early enlightenment. As Mori notes, the treatises share an anti-Christian attitude, but beyond that their philosophical inspiration varies, "leading sometimes either to a deist (_Examen de la religion_) or to an atheist position (Meslier's _Memoire_, Freret's _Lettre de Thrasybule a Leucippe_)." The treatises are offered in HTML format, some with related links. Links are also provided to several texts on other servers and to related resources. Users may register for email notification of updates to the site, which is also available in French and Italian. [MD] > From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2000. http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/ ___________________________________________________________________________top 11. Hermès 5 table of contents Voici la table des matieres du numero 5 de HERMèS. http://www.microtec.net/~charro/ Presentation L'ideologie californienne par Richard Barbrook et Andy Cameron Traduction Pierre Blouin Les fondements constitutionnels de la liberte academique des professeurs d' universite en droit canadien et americain (troisieme et derniere partie) par Elvio Buono Sur l'idee de communication et d'information : lectures diverses par Roger Charland Au-dela du discours idealiste de l'information. Volet 3 : La veille de l'information ou comment eviter de s'endormir ignorant (et pauvre) par Pierre Blouin Une page d'histoire qui reste a ecrire : la reforme de la formation moyennen moyenne des bibliothecaires en France par Michele Gasc Garlic, vodka, and the politics of gender : Anti-intellectualism in America par Michael Winter L'information fabricante de realite ? Stephen Talbot Montage et traduction de Pierre Blouin Lettre sur le commerce des livres. Denis Diderot Lectures suggerees par HERMES par Roger Charland Les auteurs de ce numero de HERMES Comptes rendus Michael Heim. Electric Language: A Philosophical Study of Word Processing. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999. xxi + 303 pp. Bibliographical references and index. $18.00 (paper), ISBN 0-300-07746-7. Par Susan C. Hines Jean-Marc Mandosio, L'effondrement de la tres grande bibliotheque nationale de France. Ses causes, ses consequences. Paris, Editions de l'Encyclopedie des nuisances, 1999, 129 p. par Roger Charland (à venir très bientôt) Bonne lecture et a bientot ! Roger Charland charro[at]microtec.net ___________________________________________________________________________top 12. FYI France: Vitrolles -- who watches the watchers? In these days of AOL / TimeWarner megamergers, and "paradigm shifts" in information management and access, and the "globalization" of "the American corporate enterprise dream" -- and of growing resistance to same -- it might be useful for all of us to consider what just has happened in Vitrolles, a small city (pop. 203,000) in France. It is happening in their library, in fact... The extremist right - wing Front National party won political control of Vitrolles some time ago. The mayor now is the wife of the party's leading ideologue, and both that couple and their many local and national supporters are vehemently dedicated to propagating their particular political agenda -- throughout their city and, using Vitrolles as a platform, throughout their country. Now comes the question: what books shall the Vitrolles library buy? what materials shall the "40,000 e'tudiants", whom the city proudly advertises in its promotional literature online, be encouraged to / allowed to read? There now is a list -- always, in these situations, there is a list -- the following are the books recommended in October for purchase, by the Vitrolles "e'lue de'le'gue'e a` la culture accompagne'e de la secre'taire ge'ne'rale adjointe a` la vie locale", then to be rubber - stamped by a committee. We are told (reference below) that, "La liste d'ouvrages suivante, e'manant entie`rement du charge' de mission a` l'animation, a e'te' commente'e et valide'e par l'e'lue". There is a furor over this now in France, librarians protesting that their normal selection procedures have been circumvented, railroaded, ramrodded -- nightmarish, such terms, to anyone familiar with the history of the European 1920s and 30s. The actual book choices will make anyone familiar with France and the French, and the way these things are done in too many other countries and have been done throughout history, smile and then perhaps cry a little: * De'sinformation, flagrant de'lit / Vladimir VOLKOFF. - Rocher * Le racisme anti-franc,ais et anti-chre'tien / Henri de Fersan. - Henri de Fersan * La Guerre des Boers / Bernard LUGAN. - Perrin * Napole'on est-il mort empoisonne'?/Ben WAIDER - Pygmalion - Watelet * De'sormais seul en face de Dieu / George MATHIEU. - L'a^ge d'homme * Louis XI / Jacques HEERS. - Perrin * 28 sie`cles d'Europe / Denis de ROUGEMONT. - Bartillat * Aubrac / Ge'rard CHAUVY. - Albin Michel * La cre'tinisation par la culture / Alain PAUCARD. - L'a^ge d'homme * Penser l'anti - racisme / Henry de LESQUEN. - Godefroy de Bouillon * Au galop des hussards / Christian MILLAU. - Fallois * Les journaux de tranche'es de la Grande Guerre / Jean-Pierre TUBERGUE * James Connolly / Roger FALIGOT. - Terre de brume * Le Carre' de Pluton / Brigitte BARDOT. - Grasset * Qui veut tuer la France ? La strate'gie ame'ricaine / Daniel REMY. - Gancher * Les larmes de la Re'publique / Christine BOUTIN. - Plon * Le Chagrin et l'espe'rance / Bruno MEGRET. - Cite' liberte' * La semaine buissonnie`re / Antoine BLONDIN. - La table ronde * Secret d'Etat d'un Pre'sident / Michel BASSI, Michel GUERIN. - Le Rocher * Varie'te's / Roger NIMIER. - Arle'a * Les Guerriers de Finn / Michel CAZENAVE. - Artus * Quelques nouvelles du Pays de Galle . - Terre de brume * Jean-Paul II / George WEIGEL. - J.-C. Latte`s * Padre Pio / Enrico MALATESTA. - F.X. de Guibert * Claymore ; T.1 : Eileen / Ersel Maryse NOUWENS. - Gle'nat * Le fer et le feu ; vol. 1 & 2 / STALNER. - Gle'nat * Nouveau dictionnaire de mythologie celtique / Jean MARKALE. - Pygmalion - Watelet No, I have not read these myself, and in all probability I will not. There undoubtedly is someone reading this now who has read at least a few of the above, and may want to defend individual selections. But that is not the point... It is not that Messrs. Volkoff, de Fersan, Lugan, Waider, etc. are bad people, or that they do not write well, necessarily... nor is it that subjects like "anti - French and anti - Christian racism", and "the Boer War", and "Catholicism", and "Qui veut tuer la France ? La strate'gie ame'ricaine" do not necessarily deserve serious and studious consideration, from the "40,000 e'tudiants" of Vitrolles and others. I myself would be interested to read that last - named title -- and I look forward very much to reading "Le Carre' de Pluton" of Brigitte Bardot, some day. But there are at least two things going on here which should alarm anyone, not just those interested in France and the French. The substance of the list, first of all, appears to represent a political platform. Simply judging from the titles and authors it seems that the political program of the Front National is primarily what is being presented: nationalism, conservative Catholicism, "celtic mythology" for pete's sake -- is this to be Wagner redux? -- and people should be reminded that Mlle. Bardot is married to a Front National party stalwart... Second, and more important, is the procedure: legal philosophers make a basic distinction between "substance" and "procedure" and then ignore the former, realizing that the latter is what makes societies tick. And here, in Vitrolles, the "procedure" stinks. A bureaucratic zealot is imposing a political platform on the choice of what "the people" will be able to read, disguising it of course as "the will of the people", saying that "this is what the people of Vitrolles really want to read..." and so on. This is the way these things happen -- it is the way they happened under Hitler, the way things unfolded under Stalin, the way totalitarians and censors throughout the ages have manipulated the media -- read the history, Hannah Arendt and the rest -- arbitrary - or - worse bureaucratic fiat, thinly disguised as "what the people want". Vitrolles, and France, have a serious problem here. Details of the Vitrolles booklist / "comite' de lecture" issue may be read online, in French, at the following address: search on "Vitrolles" in the November, December, and January files -- http://listes.cru.fr/arc/biblio-fr[at]cru.fr/index.cgi But Vitrolles may be a microcosm now of something more, in fact -- more than just France and the French and their problems with their Front National. French readers should take no comfort, in other words, from recent setbacks in the fortunes of the FN; nor should they or foreigners feel that Vitrolles and its FN problems are merely a local French issue. For we all have the Internet crashing in now upon the already severely - unsettled world of publishing and media and entertainment. "Infotainment" is rearing its ugly head in the new AOL / TimeWarner merger -- and the fear as to which shark is swallowing which, and many other fears -- at least the awful possibility that sitcoms and titillation will be all that we have left, once the digital world fully enables the current "Media" empires truly to reach into each of our homes and lives, through our televisions or our refrigerators or our flip - phones or however. In all of this Internet and digital information excitement, no "procedures" are emerging of the sort which legal philosophers, at least, like to see. Perhaps the most innocuous of the dangers which might loom initially in such an unregulated world is "Infotainment" -- sweaty gyrating bodies, cutesy newscasters, booming music, and brainless dialog are not the worst things which might ooze from the information pipe. Far worse might be the new methods -- arising in the vacuum currently being left by the defeat and discouraged retreat of the old -- for selecting and distributing information in health, and education, and legal, and political fields. If mega - corporate "Infotainment" companies are going to dominate the new information channels in _their_ sphere -- defying, or simply ignoring, social regulatory structures which have not kept up with the new technologies -- who will dominate in the health areas, drug companies?... in education, soft drink vendors? Already online advertising is making its way into US schools, and soft drink and other vendors have been fighting each other for turf there for some time -- why should schools serve soft drinks to their students anyway?... and in law and politics?... In Vitrolles, in France, it now is an extremist right - wing political party, the Front National... One of the great arguments for the AOL / TimeWarner merger -- and for the similar "media" mergers which will follow it soon, in the US and Europe and Asia, as mainstream information industries finally embrace the new Internet -- is that the chaotic and diffuse nature of the Internet will _democratize_ the sclerotic and now over - consolidated and centralized Big Media industries. AOL's Steve Case makes this point in his presentations. But sure, Steve: I am a longtime AOL fan, shareholder, and loyal user -- I know it _is_ possible, now, to reach "The Internet" from "AOL" -- but users have to wade through a proprietary AOL front - end which now will be overloaded with TimeWarner offerings -- and you know very well, Steve, how hard it is to get new users to see through that AOL front - end to "The Internet"... it's where our money comes from at AOL, after all, all that difficult front - end "wading"... Critics of the trend -- like a professor of "Media Ecology" at NYU (NPR broadcast), and various irate independent journalists -- worry tremendously that only content owned or at least approved by the giant corporation will get served out over AOL now, that the wrong shark will win in fact, that the tail ultimately will wag the dog. In "Infotainment" this will be bad enough. In politics it will spell disaster. If control over All of Information -- that "convergence" which digital information technologists are so fond of extolling -- now is handed to fewer and fewer large factors in the _political_ process, as well as in Infotainment or possibly even as a result of the Infotainment trend, there is grave trouble brewing. Over centuries societies like France and the US have evolved extremely complex social and political and legal structures for dealing with freedom of information and communication. These structures balance, very delicately, social and political and legal regulation against deliberate gaps allowing freedom from regulation. The structures and balances so - developed in France have been very different from those in the US. Those of India and China and other societies have been even more different. All this now is at risk in our Brave New Internet World. What balance, of regulation and the lack thereof, is going to govern AOL / TimeWarner and other giant Infotainment media mergers? They already are beyond the purview of most individual nation - states to govern. Now, via the Internet, they are "going global". The UN cannot even manage a little Balkan or Middle Eastern War, the EU and NATO run only Europe, the WTO has its tail between its legs from Seattle and may not be an impartial arbiter anyway, the US cannot and should not do everything. So who will be "watching the watchers", as Infotainment and the rest of digital information "globalize"? Judging from the Vitrolles example, the regulatory position in the balancing equation is very much up for grabs, now, and already some very old demons are beginning to re - emerge. Censorship -- thought control -- brainwashing: are the 20th century's greatest nightmares about to become those of the 21st? It is as though, pace Santayana, Franz Kafka's spectres are rising from the gutters to which the previous century washed them, with so much blood. Orson Wells' film of "The Trial" just has been re - released: go see it -- and wonder, just for a moment, whether information really "wants to be free", or whether it just might prefer a more controlled and insidious and ultimately devastating form, in its natural state. In Vitrolles, in France, citizens are facing this awful possibility on a daily basis now. Sort of takes the bloom off of the Internet rose... "Oh well", as one of our youthful sons says -- and Happy New Year anyway, everybody. --oOo-- FYI France (sm)(tm) e-journal ISSN 1071 - 5916 * | FYI France (sm)(tm) is a monthly electronic | journal published since 1992 as a small-scale, | personal experiment, in the creation of large- | scale "information overload", by Jack Kessler. / \ Any material written by me which appears in ----- FYI France may be copied and used by anyone for // \\ any good purpose, so long as, a) they give me --------- credit and show my email address, and, b) it // \\ isn't going to make them money: if it is going to make them money, they must get my permission in advance, and share some of the money which they get with me. Use of material written by others requires their permission. FYI France archives may be found at http://infolib.berkeley.edu (search fyifrance), or http://www.cru.fr/listes/biblio-fr[at]cru.fr/ (BIBLIO-FR econference archive), or at http://www.fyifrance.com . Suggestions, reactions, criticisms, praise, and poison-pen letters all will be gratefully received at kessler[at]well.sf.ca.us Copyright 1992- , by Jack Kessler, all rights reserved except as expressed above. --hjlm-- ___________________________________________________________________________top 13. Pirates! Fact and Legend http://library.thinkquest.org/16438/pirate_fact.shtml Find facts about piracy from ancient times to the present at this comprehensive and well-researched site. See the types of piracy; biographical information on famous pirates, including Anne Bonny, Edward "Blackbeard" Teach, Henry Morgan, Jean Laffite, Mary Read, Sir Francis Drake, and Captain William Kidd; vocabulary; ship information; and more. Legend contains a bibliography of titles, fiction, poetry, and movies about pirates; common misconceptions; information on pirate treasure; and links to other related sites. The author also has a discussion board for questions not answered by the material on the site. Another excellent ThinkQuest site. - msc From Librarians Index to the Internet http://lii.org ___________________________________________________________________________top 14. Propaganda Analysis http://carmen.artsci.washington.edu/propaganda/ This site presents an exploration of propaganda, or "opinion expressed for the purpose of influencing actions of individuals or groups." Common fallacies in argument and logic are described, including name-calling, "glittering generalities," and euphemisms. Examples are available of wartime propaganda from World War I; and of usage by Newt Gingrich, the Democratic National Committee, the International Socialist Organization, the International Workers Organization, and the John Birch Society, among others. A gallery of excerpts from eight films is included. Requires RealPlayer. - dl From Librarians' Index to the Internet http://lii.org/ ___________________________________________________________________________top 15. Letter from Sandy Berman to City Pages (Minneapolis weekly) 12-7-00 Josie Rawson City Pages 401 North 3rd St. Ste 550 Minneapolis, MN 55401 Dear Josie, To confirm yesterday afternoon's voicemail message: If I had a "magic wand," I'd Eliminate hunger, homelessness, and want by ensuring that everyone has an income above the poverty line and access to both decent, affordable shelter and full medical care. But it doesn't require a "magic wand." These things can be achieved through public policies like single-payer health insurance, living wage laws, investment in low-rent housing, and "welfare reform" designed by poor people themselves. With renewed thanks for asking -- plus heartiest holiday greetings, Sanford Berman, Librarian/Author/Editor/Activist 4400 Morningside Road Edina, MN 55416 612-925-5738 ___________________________________________________________________________top L I B R A R Y J U I C E | http://libr.org/Juice/ | | Library Juice is supported by a voluntary subscription | fee of $10 per year, variable based on ability and | desire to pay. You may send a check payable in US funds | to Rory Litwin, at PO Box 720511, San Jose, CA 95172 | | Original material and added value in Library Juice | is copyright-free; beyond that the publisher makes | no guarantees. Library Juice is a free weekly | publication edited and published by Rory Litwin. | Original senders are credited wherever possible; | opinions are theirs. 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