1267735607Content WireDeskartificial intelligence,Internet,TechnologyWho is Afraid of General Artificial Intelligence?<div>Questions and answers with Ben Goertzel</div><div>I was searching for answers to an old issue that bugged me for years: is there anything like 'chinese logic'. By chinese logic I refer to odd reasoning patterns, that do not seem to follow what in the west is called 'logical thinking'. Plenty of that in the real world.</div><div> </div><div>The question, after the laughs and the jokes, was more or less animately debated on various online discussion groups, and included notable scholars. Many answers, especially those from clever mathematicians, seemed to suggest that all logical systems are based on FOL (first order logic), and if it's not FOL, is not logical. Hm. Admittedly I am no logician, but having travelled far and wide, and lived in different countries I was under the impression that people in different parts of the world seem to reason somewhat differently, (not sure if FOL or not, and frankly I could not care less) and I wondered if so, why.</div><div> </div><div>One particular online search yielded a book entitled 'Chaotic Logic', by Ben Goertzel.</div><div> </div><div>Chapter six starts with a brief exposition of the Saphir Whorf theory, which explains (proves?) how 'language shapes categories', and reminds readers that also Lakoff addresses specifically that point. Section 6.1.2. (to my joy) is entitled Chinese and Western Modes of Thought, and it actually provides additional arguments in favour of a chinese logic hypothesis. This made me laugh (in a good way), and felt that maybe my suppositions about chinese logic were not that outrageous. My quest by now had drifted. Who is this researcher who does not think of AI narrowly like others I have come across before? Are there others like him? What school of thought do they belong to? It turns out that Goerzel in addition to being an AI researcher, a book writer, an entrepreneur and a family person, is also an aspiring immortal,A wikipedia entry says he is a member of the Order of the Cosmic Engineers. Aw. </div><div> </div><div> I am rather open minded (being myself the founder of the Order of the Masters of the Universe, I am in no position to raise eyebrows). It also looks like Goerzel is leading the AGI research effort, which stands for 'Artificial General Intelligence'. Something I had not heard of before. AGI is having their third annual conference in Lugano later this week. The conference was scheduled to have a keynote speech by Ray Solomonoff, pioneer of Machine Learning, founder of Algorithmic Probability Theory, father of the Universal Probability Distribution, creator of the Universal Theory of Inductive Inference, who sadly passed away last November. A memorial Solomonoff's lecture is scheduled, and I hope to be there. </div><div> </div><div>I thought I should meet these legendary AGI folks, and before doing so it may be a good idea try to have a better understanding of what AGI is all about about, so I dig in. Ben kindly answered the following questions by email, edited for legibility.</div><div> </div><div>Can you provide some insights into the conference programme?</div><div> AGI is a subset of the broad field of AI, focused on making systems that have the same sort of capability for learning, self-understanding and generalization that humans possess. Much of the work presented will be theoretical in nature. Significant progress is being made in joining together the abstract mathematical theory of intelligence with practical work being done building intelligent systems such as humanoid robots, and this theoretical unification should lay the groundwork for exciting future progress in the field. Regarding what may be transparently interesting to the layperson we will have a demonstration of some intelligent robots that learn from experience, from Juergen Schmidhuber's lab at IDSIA, some demonstration of machine learning software developed at Google, which is used inside some of their commercial applications to supply greater linguistic intelligence and some demonstration of intelligent virtual dogs in an online virtual world, which possess the ability to learn and communicate in simple language, and will be embodied in a children's game to launch in early 2011.</div><div> </div><div> Can you summarise briefly how AGI differs from narrow AI? Is it research methods, paradigms, implementation, philosophy</div><div> AI is a broad field encompassing many kinds of intelligent computer systems, but over time it has come to focus mainly on highly specialized, task-specific intelligent systems, i.e. "narrow AI". AGI is a subset of the broad field of AI, focused on making systems that have the same sort of capability for learning, self-understandingand generalization that humans possess. Examples of practical AGI systems would be: </div><div> - a robot that could go to preschool or college</div><div> - an online question-answering system that could answer questions with real understanding</div><div> - an artificial scientist that could come up with its own research ideas, do the research, and write a paper on it.</div><div> </div><div>Designing a robot that learns like a human be great, but surely sending it to school would only result in unnecessary fees? That does not sound very practical from where I stand.</div><div>Of course a robot college student is not that useful, it's just an example of a criterion for AGI. If you could make a robot college student, you could also make a robot scientist that would do everything a real scientist does and better... </div><div> </div><div>An online Q/A system that works would be helpful, like an intelligent knowledge base,right? I can see the use for that.</div><div> "Ask Jeeves" didn't work -- current question-answering systems are very crude and display "understanding" only in very limited domains to which they were specially customized.... There are no computer programs that can carry out halfway intelligence conversations, not even in simple roles like librarian or customer support agent... </div><div> </div><div> In terms of 'results' what can we say is an achievement?</div><div>There are many tests for "human-level AGI" such as:</div><div> - ability to pass a university class </div><div>- ability to pass the third grade</div><div> - the Turing Test (ability to fool judges that it's a human in a conversation) </div><div>- ability to write publish a high-quality scientific paper based on its own ideas and work.</div><div> </div><div> However, evaluating **interim progress** toward these grand goals is a difficult problem and a source of contention within the field, and is in fact the topic of the final workshop at the conference, the "AGI Roadmap" workshop.</div><div> </div><div> What would be the best examples of AGI that we can look at now? Or is it still all work in progress? </div><div>It's all work in progress. But the example demonstrations mentioned above are about as good as anything...</div><div> </div><div>What is the common denominator of AGI approaches, I mean why would the example you mention fall under AGI, what makes them so? </div><div>The common denominator is the ability to transcend particular specialized domains, and transfer what is learned in one domain to help understand a different domain. To do this in an everyday human context turns out to be a subtle thing, and to require such phenomena as understanding of self and others </div><div> </div><div>In what way does AGI achieve the above, that AI did not? </div><div> Well, no one has yet achieved human-level or transhuman general intelligence in a machine. However, the **goal** of AGI research is different from the **goal** of most AI research. If your goal is to make a machine that can spot fraudulent credit card transactions, drive a car, or win at chess, then probably that is what you're going to create -- a machine that can do **just that** and nothing else.. The original founders of AI didn't know enough to draw a distinction between narrow-AI and AGI ... they thought that one could work toward AGI via narrow-AI.... They didn't understand that one could create a champion chess program that would operate in such a non-human-like matter and lack general intelligence...</div><div> Many AI researchers **still** think that way -- they still think that by creating highly specialized systems solving particular problems intelligently, one can work toward human-level AGI. But most of us who classify ourselves as "AGI researchers" think differently: we think that to achieve human-like AGI, one is going to have to directly and concentratedly work toward that goal, rather than working toward specialized applications... </div><div> </div><div> </div><div>You still have not said much about 'how' general intelligence is achieved are there specific design features, for example, that would characterise an AGI system in terms of architecture, or something.... </div><div> Different researchers have different theories of how to make an AGI ... Some look to neuroscience, some to psychology, some to comp sci and math for inspiration ... There is no consensus on what is the right path, this is a topic of the conference </div><div> </div><div>How do you see the role of the web in relation to AGI? How do you think we can we make the web more intelligent?</div><div> AGI and the Web, hmmm? Well, if you think about Tim Berners Lee's "Semantic Web" notion, you can see that it probably won't be realizable till something resembling human-level AGI has been created. The Semantic Web is based on the idea that every Web page will be marked up with structured meta-data describing the meaning of its contents: e.g. prices will be marked up as prices in appropriate currencies, opinions will be marked with their holders and their strengths, etc. If this markup were there, it would allow the Web tobe searched, organized and utilized in all sorts of new ways. But the reason the idea has not caught on, is that people who make Web pages don't want to be troubled to add all that markup data to the pages they write. What is needed is an automated (AI) system to read pages and add the semantic markup. But, Google and many other companies have tried to achieve this with narrow-AI natural language processing technology, and succeeded only to a very limited extent. Some sort of AGI with deeper understanding of the meaning of the text seems to be required. Of course, from the AGIs point of view, once it can read the text on the Web with understanding, it will go from being an ignorant baby mind to the most knowledgeable mind on the planet...</div><div> </div><div>AGI 2010, University of Lugano 5-8 March</div><div> </div><div>http://Novamente.net </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div>http://content-wire.com/who-afraid-general-artificial-intelligence1264015489Content WireDeskAdvertising,Internet,Semantic Technologies,semantic technologies,syndicated content,syndication,users experienceSemantic Content Syndication Needs User TestingStructured content horizons for online content!Recently, the publishing of structured, semantic information as linked data [1] has gained momentum. A large number of linked data providers publishes more than 200 interlinked datasets amounting to 13 billion facts. For ordinary users on the Web, however, this information is not yet very visible and (re-)usable. A new approach for the syndication and use of linked data based on the definition of templates for linked data resources is presented in a new content syndication service for linked data, called LESS [2], a collaborative web platform for editing and publishing of syndication templates. It should therefore become easier with such a system to publish templates for common types of entities can then be combined with specific, linked data resources or results from semantic query language (SPARQL) and integrated into a wide range of applications, such as personal homepages, blogs/wikis, mobile widgets etc. To improve the reliability and performance of linked data, LESS caches versions either for a certain time span or for the case of inaccessibility of the original source. It supports the integration of information from various sources as well as any text-based output formats. This allows not only to generate HTML, but also diagrams, RSS feeds or even complete data mashups without any programming involved. At this stage the system targets primarily the usability aspect of linked data for end users, say the researchers behind the project. Another important problem of the linked data web that the system aims to tackle are are quality issues, in particular with regard to performance and reliability of linked data endpoints. As a result, a blogger writing about a recent trip to Berlin can easily integrate a nicely formatted fact box with important information about Berlin obtained from Wikipedia into her blog post, and a community of science fiction fans can integrate lists on a recent BBC programming matching their preferences into their community portal. Wikipedia authors could use LESS to generate pages with lists from DBpedia content. Citizen scientists interested in earthquakes could display recent earth crust activity in their region on a map without having to do any programming. The system supports the integration of information from various sources as well as any text-based output formats. This allows not only to generate HTML, but also diagrams, RSS feeds or even complete data mashups without any programming involved. Test it yourself (http://less.aksw.org), the developers would like to receive feedback. http://less.aksw.org [1]http://linkeddata.org/ [2]http://www.informatik.uni-leipzig.de/~auer/publication/semtem.pdfhttp://content-wire.com/semantic-content-syndication1254686605Content WireDeskAdvertising,Internet,Internet,semantic,semantic technologiesThe Rise of the Semantic EnterpriseThe prospect of a Web of information and knowledge supporting systems capable of automating reasoning, inference, and decision making has been challenging Web researchers, developers, and “real-world” Web users since the publication of the Semantic Web vision. The main challenge for businesses is to learn how to leverage the Web’s full potential, which is expected to be exponentially higher in “semantically enabled” environments. Businesses are warming up to the idea of semantics and are becoming impatient to leverage the “magic,” but few understand what semantics really mean. There is a bit of a joke in the IT community that any old idea presented with a “semantic” twist (semantic enterprise,semantic search and retrieval, etc.) is going to benefit from the buzz and contribute to the mushrooming of “Semantic Web ware,” which includes software, toolkits, platforms, environments, standards, protocols, and a lot, a lot of talk, sometimes with limited appreciation of the core issues. Semantics in relation to information technology and data models is nothing new. It is even fundamentally something rather simple, but when it comes to semantics and the Web, with everything that the Web represents, the challenges inevitably become significant. In this article, I discuss and clarify some assumptions in relation to the notion of the semantic enterprise and the firewall and to place “semantics” in the context of an evolving Web. What Do You Mean, Er ... “Semantic”? In relation to the Internet and the Web, the notion of semantics remains very open to interpretation, probably because the overall concept of semantics in W3C is deliberately broad [read: a bit vague]. The distinction between syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic “dimensions” in linguistic and communication theory was credited to American semiotician and philosopher Charles Morris, but in common everyday IT language, semantics refers to the study of the meaning of words, as opposed to syntax, which refers to the structure of words and languages, such as grammars (be they natural language or computer grammars). It is worth remembering that in the logic of discourse, the distinction between semantics and syntax is sometimes fuzzy. In the context of organizational information, semantics is represented by the relationship between information objects, in their various degrees of granularity (such as data and knowledge), to other information — about the objects themselves, about other objects, or about relations. Such relations, when properly elicited and structured, contain the “intelligence” that we seek from our systems. Cognitive systems (knowledge systems, information systems, intelligent systems, etc.) and the IT infrastructures that are designed to support them should be developed along all three dimensions to be able to communicate intelligently. Today, in relation to the Web, “semantics” is generally defined in terms of what has been established by the W3C (or, by those who may disagree, in contrast to it). The W3C glossary states that the Semantic Web is “the Web of data with meaning.” It refers to a vision of advanced knowledge capabilities — automatic querying and retrieval, reasoning — that can be carried out on the open Internet by agents (i.e., software that has been programmed to do something) thanks to a pervasive “web of content.” For example, a semantic search for a term would not return an unsorted list of relevant and less relevant results that a human must sift through in order to select the most appropriate response. Instead, the results would be presented in the context of a knowledge schema the user has defined. However, the notion of “semantics” started to trickle into data modeling in the 1970s, when IT researchers and scientists started to understand the limitations of the relational data model (which was then becoming dominant) and the practical implications of constraining the data view of the world to tuples and rows. Drawing the Line The “semantic” dimension of information, which initially has been the focus of interest mainly for knowledge architects, now is acquiring relevance also in terms of organizational planning, as real-time information exchange is starting to affect the nature of operations. The first step toward developing a semantic enterprise is to ensure that the terminology used in all existing organizational documentation — from E/R diagrams to data flow charts to key policy documents — is consistent and optimized. It must also be adopted correctly in the metadata and all critical information structures, such as rule catalogs. Before even thinking of becoming a semantic enterprise, an organization must have good vocabularies (keyword catalogs) and schemas to represent the organizational knowledge and processes, with some mapping the “operational logic” using “normalized” natural language form, making sure to label clearly the schema elements and their values. In the future, a policy change published on some regulatory authority’s Web site could well prompt a modification in a regulated organization’s process flow, but this can only happen without disastrous consequences if the terminology and information schemas are valid, harmonized, and consistently implemented, with due support and provision for security measures. When it comes to planning for the semantic enterprise, CIOs and CEOs are going to have to rethink where to draw the lines between public and private. It is how these lines are drawn that will determine the shape of things to come. The ability to balance opportunities and risks is going to be reflected in how technologies are configured and used, which in turn is going to open up new organizational perspectives.    Excerpt from: The Rise of the Semantic Enterprise, (with articles by Paola Di Maio, John Kuriakose, Shamod Lacoul, Hyoung-Gon (Ken) Lee, San Murugesan, Edmund W. Schuster, Bhuvan Unhelkar) Download the Entire Issue from www.cutter.com/offers/semanticenterprise.htmlhttp://content-wire.com/rise-semantic-enterprise1253564256Content WireDeskInternet,Internet,OWL,RDF,semantic,Semantic Technologies,semantic technologies,Semantic ToolsWeb 3.0 vs the Semantic WebWhat's in a name? The term Web 2.0 was never really intended to be a formal definition. In relation to the first generation of static HTML websites, one could see rather intuitively the direction that web 2.0 was taking. Tim O'Reilly widely cited <a href="http://oreilly.com/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html"> mememap and definition</a> helped a lot. Since then, we have come to know Web 2.0 applications as online architectures supporting to different degrees open, interconnecting functionalities, more popularly known as ‘social networks’. The transition to Web 3.0 is even less clear cut, and using the term Web 3.0 interchangeably with the term 'semantic web' makes things even more confusing. Let's take a look at what these expressions really mean, and let's see if we an learn how to use them appropriately. It's all about relationsThe capabilities of what has become known as Web 2.0 are provided by 'relational' technologies, coupled with synchronous JavaScript and XML (aka AJAX) arranged to provide 'interconnectivity' of data and information that they contain, made appealing by intuitive user interfaces. In the relational model, data is arranged logically and represented as unique relations. The sorting and relating of cata in tables makes it possible to leverage (at least some of) the inherent semantic associations that can exist in cata expressed using natural language. Simple queries can be performed to retrieve attribute that pertain to an object or entity has, or what relation there is between objects and attributes. Typical queries are based on operations that correspond to union, intersection, difference, product from mathematical set theory, and selection, projection, natural join, relational division, which are proper to relational algebra as devised by Codd in the seventies. These operations can be performed provided each value in the database is unique. Exact advanced algorithms capable of more precise or faster queries tend to be 'proprietary' and constitute the unique selling point for many software applications. When creating an account and login on web 2.0 applications users create a table (user profile) then the application ill typically store every bit of information entered, and it will even store dynamically as a relational table certain 'behaviours'. Querying and manipulating such information is a trivial task for relational operators. That's why it's possible to see what our friends are doing, what applications and topic may be relevant to us, etc: because all the information is in the same database (the application database). When it comes to the open web, however, querying and manipulating data which is stored in different, closed databases, cannot be done without merging the respective databases. Therefore RDF and OWL (the current semantic web standards) were devised to represent the data outside the database presumably on the web, but on intranet works), the preferred terminology in use is to 'expose' and to 'link'. However semantic queries over 'exposed' data sets still rely on the relational principles, therefore the importance of unique values, such as 'URIs' and 'URLs' and 'URNs' etc. Useful applications can also leverage the semantic capabilities as explained above to integrate heterogeneous data repositories within the same organisation. Web 2.0 and semantic web discussed without understanding the role of relational principles can result in terrible confusion. A good example of limited understanding of semantic web and web 2.0 altogether is provided <a href="http://www.philosophyofinformation.net/publications/pdf/w2vsw.pdf">here</a> . Time to start throwing some old furniture (especially Chairs) out of the window perhaps. Beware of the Happy Semantic BandwagonConfusion has its costs, and it is likely to generate scores of profits for those who are in the business of Selling 'solutions'. They have no intention of shedding clarity, dispel myths about the semantic web, otherwise they would make no money. When considering migrating to semantic architectures, make sure you do not necessarily listen to every researcher, faculty, consortia and their industry partners who are all trying to capitalize on the general lack of understanding of semantics. After over a decade of ignoring or even criticising and attacking the semantic web, many are trying to capitalize on its renewed charm. Semantic capabilities, with a few exceptions such as skills acquisition and high end software packages which are worth their salt, are intrinsically about exposing and linking data. That is likely to require a lot of rethinking, of the kind that money cannot buy. Beware of semantic vapourware currently being aggressively pushed to markets worldwide as semantic technology.http://content-wire.com/web-3-0-vs-semantic-web1222057360Content WireDeskBusiness,Emojo (Affino)Content Management to Maximize Social Marketplace Revenues The Affino eBusiness suite, in its fifth generation introduces the eBusiness Dashboard and the eTest Solution as the latest addition to the eBusiness Suite. Affino 5's new eBusiness Dashboard allows website managers to view all their site's key performance indicators at a glance. The eBusiness Dashboard consists of 50 drag-and-drop widgets, each of which can be tailored to specific timeframes and for tracking defined areas of an Affino eBusiness site. The widgets can be arranged in a series of screens to facilitate rapid review and printing of reports. Key performance indicators include: sales performance, live shoppers, sales conversions, new customers, peak users, site traffic, top contributors, top bloggers, top rated content / media, top networkers, failed searches and who's online. Each widget provides graphical, visualisation and data views of its metrics and allows drilling down into data, from contributor to content to timescale. But knowledge is nothing without action, and the revamped Control Centre gives faster and more direct access to all of Affino 5's Commerce, Community, Content, Design, Media and Promotions management screens to allow immediate site overhauls to meet new and evolving market conditions. For generating revenues, Affino lets site owners make use of more than 10 seamlessly built-in commercial / monetisation engines which include: advertising and sponsorship, affiliates, content commerce (including content and media feeds), donations, events and courses, learning and etests, analytics and information, jobs boards and classifieds, memberships, retail catalogues and digital media stores (including pay-per-view, video-on-demand, downloads and subscriptions), search and tailored services. The social networking and content management solutions have been extended significantly to offer multi-layered memberships. This allows community owners to monetise all forms of community activities whether they are premium communications such as instant messaging or responding to jobs posts; or premium access such as viewing members' profiles, etests or media. Ebusiness sites need to evolve rapidly to stay relevant and Affino 5 is quite singular in empowering its site owners to measure and evolve their online businesses instantly and without the need for developer input or 3rd party assistance. Moreover, owners have the ability to monetise pretty much every aspect of a site and its communities and to introduce premium memberships for value added services and content. Further Enhancements The Affino 5 Control Centre revamp, featuring instant search and kinetic scrolling, is further enhanced by an advanced Flex-based media browser and editor. The new media environment brings about the most elegant, rapid means of media retrieval alongside innovative asset generation from video snapshots and Amazon album cover art. Affino 5 also sees an entirely new eTest application, which combines with Affino's Groups / eCommunity to form a thoroughly modern Social Learning Solution for both education establishments and companies with significant training requirements. Full-featured eTests generate instant automated results with comprehensive reporting options. There are an additional hundreds of smaller enhancements, including Piclens integration, Shopping Basket management, Google Maps integration and Media-enabled Forums. "This is the most powerful and dynamic release of Affino yet. The scope of what Affino now covers and the ease and speed of accessing key metrics and instantly affecting wide-ranging changes makes Affino an essential consideration for those who wish to create a successful business online" said Markus Karlsson, CEO www.emojo.comhttp://content-wire.com/content-management-maximize-social-marketplace-revenues1212563379Content WireDuanesmCMS review,Content Management,content management system DotNetNuke skins for your website with new book<a href="http://www.packtpub.com" target="_blank" title="Packt Publishing">Packt</a> announces the release of its new book <a href="http://www.packtpub.com/dotnetnuke-4.0-skinning-tutorial/book" target="_blank" title="DotNetNuke Skinning Tutorial">DotNetNuke Skinning Tutorial</a> which will help users to create and design skins for their websites. Written by Darren Neese, this book is a practical guide to the fundamentals of skinning. DotNetNuke is an open-source web application framework written in VB.NET for the ASP.NET framework. The application's content management system is extensible and customizable through the use of skins and modules, and it can be used to create, deploy, and manage intranet, extranet, and websites. This book is the ideal introduction to creating skins for websites. This book gives step-by-step instructions to the fundamentals of skinning so that users will be in control of the look and feel of their DotNetNuke site. Web designers or developers who want to customize DNN sites will find this book useful. It will also help users to create more attractive user interfaces. The book is out now and is available with Packt. For more information, please visit: <a href="http://www.packtpub.com/dotnetnuke-4.0-skinning-tutorial/book" target="_blank" title="DotNetNuke Skinning Tutorial">http://www.packtpub.com/dotnetnuke-4.0-skinning-tutorial/book</a>http://content-wire.com/create-dotnetnuke-skins-your-website-new-book-packt1211545155Content WireasbruContent Management,content management system,Internet More Ready-to-Use Applications to CMSAsbru Software released version 6.8 of the Asbru Web Content Management system designed to provide control and simplicity for non-technical users while maintaining flexibility and power for developers. Version 6.8 of the Asbru Web Content Management system is a major upgrade with focus on supplying a number of ready-to-use applications, which makes it easy for organizations to add a variety of functions to their websites. Version 6.8 also adds Landing Page Optimization (LPO) capabilities. Stores and Branches Directory Among the new applications in the latest version 6.8 is a Stores and Branches Directory application. This application enables non-technical users to add searchable lists of stores and branches to their website in just three steps. When a website visitor selects a store a map and details about the store is displayed. Careers and Jobs Directory The new version also includes a Careers and Jobs Directory, that when added to a website enables visitors to search for jobs and submit their job applications. New jobs are easily added by website administrators. Other Directory Applications Other applications include an Organizational Plan Directory, which displays subsidiaries, divisions, roles and responsibilities of organizations and a Classifieds Directory. There is also a General Directory application that can be adapted to suit individual needs. Landing Page Optimization Finally the new version 6.8 of the Asbru Web Content Management system adds Landing Page Optimization functionality that enables web sites managed by the Asbru Web Content Management system to display different landing pages depending on which websites visitors came from and which search queries website visitors used to find the website. http://wcm.asbrusoft.com. http://content-wire.com/asbru-adds-more-ready-use-applications-cms1206901318Content WireDeskaccess digital,Education,Egypt,Internet,Internet,WorldAccess To Knowledge Initiative for Biblioteca AlexandrinaThe Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA) launches its Access to Knowledge (A2K) electronic platform which has been developed over several months to become the leading source of information on Access to Knowledge. This platform aims to raise awareness about the importance of A2K and its role in accelerating development efforts around the world, and in the Arab region in particular, by providing an interactive forum that will be continuously to include latest news and international developments in the field, in addition to the latest articles published on the topic, some of which will be also translated into Arabic to make it available to the widest audience possible. Visitors will also be able to interact and contribute through several discussion forums and periodical consultations that will also host prominent international researchers and practitioners. The BA’s activity comes against the backdrop of the need to remedy the negative effects of obstacles denying developing countries access to international knowledge that would contribute to their development processes and to the advancement of human intellect. Such obstacles result from the rising trend of using international intellectual property protection rules and regulations by developed countries for the purposes of exclusivity, therefore, blocking the use of such knowledge by developing countries to create new knowledge. Being aware of such challenges, and in view of its role in disseminating knowledge and contributing to scientific progress and consequently economic and social development, the BA has undertaken the responsibility to promote for the importance of A2K, especially on the regional Arab level, and moving on to the international level. Within this context, the BA has organized two regional seminars on intellectual property and its relation to development in the year 2005, and A2K and its impact on supporting creativity and innovation in 2006. Various regional and international stakeholders have participated in both events, which enriched the discussions and resulted in practical recommendations. These include the update of the A2K website. <a href="http://www.bibalex.org/a2k" target="_blank">www.bibalex.org/a2k</a>http://content-wire.com/access-knowledge-initiative-biblioteca-alexandrina1201773271Content WireDeskContent-Wire Info,AdvertisingSub-$100 3G Linux Mobile PhoneLinux feature phone will accelerate 3G mass market penetration  NXP Semiconductors, an independent semiconductor company founded by Philips, and Purple Labs, supplier of embedded Linux solutions for mobile phones, jointly announced today the release of a 3G Linux reference feature phone offering video telephony, music playback, high-speed Internet browsing and video streaming at a transfer price below US$100. The new Purple Magic phone serves as a reference design for phone manufacturers creating entry-level 3G handsets, including those targeting mobile markets such as Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. According to the GSA mobile industry trade group, there are now 197 commercial 3G/WCDMA networks in 87 countries, but the adoption of 3G services is concentrated in mature European and Asian markets. The viability of 3G services in emerging markets requires large volumes of affordable data-capable devices - and the 3G Purple Magic has been highly optimised specifically to meet this market challenge. "During the recent holiday period, mobile operators were purchasing entry-level 3G phones for $120 to $145," commented Simon Wilkinson, CEO of Purple Labs. "Leveraging our Linux technology, the Purple Magic design now enables manufacturers to deliver compelling 3G products at a transfer price below $100." The Purple Magic reference phone is based on the NXP Nexperia Cellular System Solution 7210 for 3G, coupled with the Purple Labs Linux suite, and is available as a fully integrated, turnkey solution. Production of an initial quantity of fully working phones has enabled Purple Labs to undertake considerable testing and validation, further reducing investment and time to market for OEMs and ODMs that leverage the Purple Magic design. NXP offers powerful 3G and 3.5G multimedia platforms running on a single ARM926 processor core. The Nexperia Cellular System Solutions with Linux support true UMTS performance, delivering seamless service coverage in 2G and 3G networks as well as advanced multimedia features that allow consumers to take full advantage of next generation applications and mobile operator services. "NXP believes in Linux as the basis for the next generation of mobile handset innovation," said Dan Rabinovitsj, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Cellular Business, NXP Semiconductors. "We've been working closely with Purple Labs to develop Linux-based mobile terminals that meet the cost and performance requirements of the mass market. Our joint achievement is to bring the advantages of an Open OS environment to the mass market based on industry leading silicon and software." www.nxp.com www.purplelabs.comhttp://content-wire.com/sub-100-3g-linux-mobile-phone1201708139Content WireDeskhackers,Internet,similaritiesWeb Applications Security Threat Underestimated Hosting customers left to fend for themselves as attack levels rise Despite the highly publicized attacks on websites worldwide, many web hosting customers remain unprotected against the newest forms of attacks as cyber crime tactics evolve, says Applicure, a leading web application firewall specialist which protects hosting companies and their customers from incoming web server attacks. Hundreds of thousands of web site operators - many with little or no technical expertise - rely on web hosting providers to keep their websites and web applications safe. Yet events such as the recent SQL injection attack that compromised more than 70,000 websites, and the 10,000 web sites serving up malicious code in December, show hackers are exploiting vulnerabilities in web applications with impunity. The combination of traditional firewall technology becoming mainstream and enterprise networks improving their defenses has driven hackers to find more vulnerable targets. Yaacov Sherban, CEO of Applicure, comments: 'Popular entry routes for attacks now focus on web applications including message boards, forums and registration forms, which puts websites of every kind right in the firing line. With many web applications virtually unprotected, it's easy for hackers to deface or shut down the website, or else manipulate the applications to reveal sensitive data. For web host providers all it takes is one customer website to be breached and the whole server, with thousands of hosting customers, can be wide open.' The traditional approach to application vulnerabilities is to scan programs and patch the weaknesses. 'Naturally, hosting companies cannot be expected to scan and patch vulnerabilities in their customers' applications,' says Sherban. 'The good news is that security technology has advanced to the point where attack monitors and specialized web application firewalls can be deployed within minutes, and the additional security is provided to customers as a value added service.' Sherban goes on to say: 'What makes this new technology special is that it detects and intercepts suspicious traffic before it gets to the customer's site, potentially preventing an attack that would otherwise lead to a damaging breach.' www.applicure.com.http://content-wire.com/web-applications-security-threat-underestimated1200584267Content WireJDBusiness,Business,Mobile,mobile commerce,mobile contentSafe Texting for SMS ToolA suite of free web applications allows webmasters, bloggers, and forum users to provide interactive SMS polls, SMS blogging, SMS comment areas and safe two-way texting to over 200 countries. Webmaster SMS Tools from CardBoardFish provides a safe way to receive text messages from visitors to websites, blogs, auctions and social networking profiles. Visitors text a keyword followed by their message to a standard long number, which ensures no premium rate charges. CardBoardFish then forwards this message to any mobile number in over 200 countries. TextMe users can respond to their visitors if they wish by replying to the message. Both the sender and receiver mobile numbers are kept privateWith SMSBlog, users can post updates to their page at any time by sending text messages from their mobile phone. Whether sharing gossip, planning a party or just telling everyone their mood, if it can't wait then SMSBlog is the fastest way to post to the web. SMSPoll is a fun, straightforward application allowing visitors to vote in a poll by text message and SMSComments can be used on a page wherever visitor feedback is wanted making it perfect for placing at the end of an article or post. Asking visitors to send in their comments by text helps to cut down on spam and other nuisance messages.All of the code needed for the tools is generated automatically for the user in an online account, which also provides access to settings and tool management including the ability to block selected mobile numbers. Users can change how their tools look using CSS. A guide is provided to make this feature accessible regardless of CSS knowledge, and several examples demonstrate the basic modifications. The suite is provided tools completely free of charge by utilising its vast international SMS coverage and considerable experience in sending and receiving SMS. CardBoardFish Director of New Media, Ben Fitter says: "With over a billion text messages being sent each week in the UK alone, it's clear that the world has fallen in love with this simple method of communication. Webmaster SMS Tools bridges the gap between websites, blogs and profiles, and the mobile phone, allowing for a more meaningful interaction between authors and visitors."   http://webmastersms.cardboardfish.com http://content-wire.com/free-textme-tool1200495581Content WireJDBusiness,BusinessTime To Take Information Classification Seriously Warns The ISFRecent high profile date losses have highlighted the need for better information classification and the implementation of data protection measures based on the level of sensitivity and confidentiality, according to the Information Security Forum (ISF). In its latest report, the ISF suggests that because many existing approaches to information classification are overly complex they rarely deliver business benefits and are often simply ignored. “Traditional Information classification is characterised by the ‘Top Secret’ rubber stamp in James Bond films,” says Nick Frost, the report’s author and senior research consultant at the ISF. “Today, information exists in many different forms, from paper documents and verbal communications to the masses of electronic data stored, transmitted and processed. While introducing an effective enterprise wide scheme is daunting, organisations can no longer afford to ignore its importance if further embarrassing data loses are to be avoided.” Information classification requires a consistent process to determine the level of confidentiality of a piece of information; the development of techniques for communicating the level of classification; and the practical implementation of measures to protect information accordingly. But the benefits of successful Information Classification are considerable according to the ISF report. By ensuring that information is adequately protected, good information classification helps to prevent over- or under-engineering of controls, so reducing potential operational overspend and unnecessary drains on resources. Information Classification can also help to enforce better access control policies and be used to demonstrate compliance for legislation such as Data Protection and Privacy along with regulations including HIPAA and Gramm-Leach Bliley. The report highlights that to achieve these levels of success requires participation across an organisation from HR and Legal to IT and Audit, along with Board level support. “Having senior managers with a shared strategic vision and understanding of information classification and the value it can deliver is critical to overcome budgetary and organisational issues,” says the ISF’s Nick Frost: “It is also vital to run a successful pilot project to show a ‘quick win’ to demonstrate the benefits.” http://content-wire.com/time-take-information-classification-seriously-warns-isf1199959446Content WireJDEducation,InternetEspresso Education And Oxford University Press Re-Define ‘Blended Resources’A recipe for success: start with an engaging and structured primary programme from OUP’s Oxford Reading Tree, mix with BAFTA-award winning digital content from Espresso, throw in innovative multi-media ingredients, simmer gently with a splash of imagination and lashings of creativity – and you get a rich and fresh ‘blended resource’ for teachers and pupils. Espresso Education and Oxford University Press (OUP) today announce a partnership to develop and deliver “blended resources”. The companies plan to combine their expertise in the digital and print educational fields to blend the best imaginative, multimedia content with the best structured primary schemes, used in thousands of classrooms around the country. The first set of resources will be based around non-fiction texts from OUP’s Oxford Reading Tree ‘Fireflies’ series, with an initial prototype available for demonstration at BETT 2008. OUP and Espresso will offer teachers: • Electronic cross-referencing to the curriculum to support planning and assessment • A resource that will allow work to be extended beyond the classroom and be shared at home • A range of media that helps engage the interest of children and create excitement and rich opportunities for learning • The chance to motivate children by providing a wide audience for their ideas and writing  The basis of this “blended resource” is not simply the combination of multi-media, video rich resources with print-based resources; it is the enrichment of both ingredients so that the combined blended resource offers greater value to the teacher and the child. For teachers, OUP and Espresso will provide an ideal blend of resources to offer a rich, topic-based lesson. This will include video and picture stimuli for the whole class to foster discussion and speaking and listening; enjoyable activities to assess comprehension and link the video and the book for independent or whole class use, and a real purpose for writing with the opportunity to post reviews to a wider audience. With this exciting new blend, teachers will save time and have instant access to these structured, supplemental resources all linked to Framework objectives. Future resources will draw upon different combinations of these multimedia and print ingredients, thereby ensuring each “blend” meets a unique and targeted objective that fully supports the needs of a rich learning environment.” All Espresso subscribing schools will receive the digital elements of the blended resources as part of their basic subscription. On Espresso, ‘Oxford Reading Tree Fireflies Plus’ will stand as a discrete learning object in its own right. When paired with the Fireflies book and a comprehensive set of teaching notes, the materials on Espresso will bring added value and support a series of lively and inventive literacy lessons Lewis Bronze, CEO Espresso Education stated, “We have partnered with OUP because both companies want to add real value to teaching and learning. We’re delighted to be working closely with such a well-respected organisation and we hope our customers will derive real benefit from the collaboration.” Rod Theodorou, Director of OUP Primary adds, “Teachers have to work hard to mix and match resources every day. We want to save teachers time by doing some of this work for them, and offer this as a free extra service. Teachers tell us they love the character, warmth and creativity of our resources. We knew it would be a fantastic idea to work with Espresso because they share that same passion for rich motivating teaching resources. It’s just a great way to embed ICT and increase creativity in the classroom.” http://content-wire.com/espresso-education-and-oxford-university-press-re-define-blended-resources1196667582Content WireDeskAdvertising,Blogs,CMS review,Collaboration,Content Management,Content Technologies,Emojo (Affino),InternetSocial Content Management Launches Websites and online businesses / eBusinesses are becoming ever more social. Several of the leading web properties gain their competitive advantage from their community members and User Generated Content (UGC), with entire industries being reshaped by the social phenomenon online. There is a real need for an integrated solution suite which combines the key Social and Web 2.0 elements with traditional content management and commerce to produce a proper business platform with multiple revenue streams.What functionalities would a social content management translate into? Content peer review, automated content quality management and effective community workflow allowing members to evaluate content contribution, for example - or networking online with peers, rate content and promote it to the wider community, according to Emojo, a London based development house which this week launches its Affino NX eBusiness Suite with Social Content Management, Social Networking, Social Promotion and Social Media. “This is the most significant release since the launch of the Affino NX platform. By embracing the social dimension we have made it easy for companies to launch social networking campaigns which fully engage and motivate the consumer. We are thrilled to be at the forefront of this social evolution and are excited to be working with the many companies that have chosen Affino to run their social networks.” says Markus Karlsson, CEO of Emojo. <a href="http://www.emojo.com/whitepapers" target="_blank">www.emojo.com/whitepapers</a> http://content-wire.com/social-content-management-launches1193062405Content WireDeskContent-Wire Info,Emergency Response,key industryDHS/FEMA National Response Framework Holes Multiple Problems With Framework The Disaster Accountability Project (DAP) on Monday will submit to the Department of Homeland Security comments on the recently proposed National Response Framework (NRF). Linda Lewis, DAP Policy Analyst and long-time Federal emergency planner/whistle-blower and Ben Smilowitz, DAP Director and former manager of a Red Cross Client Service Center in Gulfport, MS immediately following Hurricane Katrina say that: • "The NRF inadequately considers the needs of non-English speakers who may be foreign visitors or immigrants... Make the draft NRF readily available in Spanish and other languages spoken by a substantial portion of the population" • "Make civil service positions less vulnerable to political pressures from above by embracing meaningful whistle-blower protections for all emergency managers, including those with security clearances; and provide an effective and supportive mechanism for receiving disclosures of inadequacies in emergency planning, exercising and response." • " 'Framework' is indeed a more accurate name for this product ; but it is not entirely accurate. What is needed is a different product - a plan, not a name change." • "The description of the FEMA Director and DHS Secretary's responsibilities conflicts with requirements of the Post Katrina Reform Act." • "Shifting NRF implementation to the DHS Secretary is not consistent with the intent of Congress as described in the Post Katrina Reform Act...The head of FEMA and not the DHS Secretary should be in charge of coordinating federal emergency response." • "Some ESF functions may be inappropriately combined, partitioned or privatized." • "Not all 'lessons learned' are publicly reported or followed up with changes to plans. For example, as TOPOFF 4 prepares to being, the TOPOFF III after-action report still has not been issued." • "Federal exercises frequently ignore recovery or give it lip service if addressed at all... Ensure that adequate exercise time is allowed to cover long-term recovery issues in reasonable detail." • "Logic suggests that the FEMA Administrator would be the coordinator of the federal response, not the DHS Secretary's advisor... The roles of the FEMA Director and Director of Operations Coordination appear to conflict, calling to mind post-Katrina confusion." The Disaster Accountability Project provides accountability and oversight to the nation's disaster prevention, response, relief, and recovery systems through monitoring and policy research. The Disaster Accountability Project's website is http://www.DisasterAccountability.orghttp://content-wire.com/dhs-fema-national-response-framework-holes1192720507Content WireDeskcontent management,content management application,content management applications,content management capabilities,content management infrastructure,content management platform,content management services,content management software,content management solution,content management solutions,content management system,content management systems,content management tools,Internet,Nuxeo,Open Source Content Management SystemsOpen source ECM platform with focus on SOA, scalability and support<div id="mb_0"> <div> <h2> </h2> Nuxeo, pioneer of open source ECM (Enterprise Content Management), is releasing Nuxeo Enterprise Platform 5.1, a new version of its ECM platform, distinguished by its service-oriented architecture (SOA), scalability and flexibility, says the company A high level of support is also available - delivering enterprise-grade functional & technical support, certified software patches and updates, and management tools that are available during every stage of the application lifecycle. <h3>An extensible service-oriented architecture</h3> Nuxeo software is based on the Nuxeo Service Platform (SP), designed specifically for ECM that manages tasks like storage, indexing, search, security, workflow, archiving. Application developers can access these services by embedding the platform core in their Java applications or through distributed technologies typically found within an SOA development such as Java EE remoting, or SOAP and REST Web Services. The platform itself is completely extensible because it is built entirely on an infrastructure of plug-ins and extension points based on the OSGi standard. Developers and integrators can easily create custom configurations and extensions by simply creating a set of plug-ins to adapt the platform without having to touch the platform code. Stefane Fermigier, CEO of Nuxeo says: "Integrators benefit from being able to deliver ECM projects much more quickly and easily, and software developers can use our technologies freely in their applications due to our business-friendly open source licensing." <h3>Nuxeo EP 5.1: enhanced performance and functionality</h3> <ul><li> Advanced search service: based on the NXQL query language (SQL-based) and a flexible configuration system, it offers comprehensive functions for full-text search and multi-criteria requests. </li><li> Data import/export service: designed to both facilitate migration from legacy systems and to ensure that platform users will never be held hostage by their technology providers. </li><li> Enhanced horizontal scalability: this guarantees a virtually unlimited scalability by cloning and load distribution on the services. </li><li> Electronic and physical records management. </li></ul> " <a href="http://www.nuxeo.com/en/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">www.nuxeo.com</a> </div> </div>http://content-wire.com/open-source-ecm-platform-focus-soa-scalability-and-support1191589275Content WireasbruAsbru,CMS,content management,Content Management,workflowsAdvanced Workflow Engine for CMS Asbru Software has released a new version of its Web Content Management system designed to provide control and simplicity for non-technical users while maintaining flexibility and power for developers and web designers. Support for Existing Business Processes In this latest release 6.6 of the system, an advanced workflow engine to manage the publication of website content has been added. The implementation is designed to support almost any organization's existing website publishing business processes. The workflow engine can handle multiple workflow definitions at the same time. Additionally any number of workflow steps is possible so there is no limit to the number of organizational departments that can be involved in publishing of website content. Efficient and Controlled Website Publishing The new workflow engine is fully integrated into the CMS making the publishing of website content very efficient. Users have their own personal workspace, which gives them a quick overview of content allocated to them and waiting for their review. As content moves through the workflow users are alerted via email to new content allocated for their review. It is also possible to configure the system so that any user can view where content is in the workflow process providing control of the publishing process and transparency across the whole organization. Flexible Workflow Definitions Several workflow definitions can be created and enforced for different sections of a website and for various types of content including pages, products, image media, audio files, electronic documents and other files. Additionally the actions and the organizational departments and users permitted for each workflow step are fully configurable. Some steps may for example involve editing the content while other workflow steps only enable users to view the content and approve or reject. Workflow definitions are easily created and diagrams provide a quick overview of all the workflow actions in the system.  <a href="http://wcm.asbrusoft.com">http://wcm.asbrusoft.com</a>. http://content-wire.com/asbru-adds-advanced-workflow-engine-cms1191586786Content WireDeskInternetBritish Telecom Retail joined forces with FON, the WiFi hot-spot sharing community networkCustomers with a BT Total Broadband connection will be invited to join the FON network. BT will also take a stake in, and join the board of, FON. Mark Main , senior analyst at Ovum comments "FON has already signed up over fifteen ISPs including NeufCegetel in France and Time Warner Cable in the US. This latest announcement is a big coup for FON. It means that BT Retail's Broadband customers that join FON can make use of other FON users' WiFi connections anywhere in the world. " Ovum analysts have generally given a fairly cool reaction to FON since it launched in November 2005. "Our main objections have been that there's a big difference between doing someone a favour such as giving someone a lift from A to B and handing over your car-keys to let them take your car there themselves. Broadband tariffs in the UK are often based on volume of data consumed, and anything that leads to more uncertainty over usage in a highly price-conscious market is not necessarily a good thing. BT's lowest priced broadband package has a 5GB user limit and is probably a popular choice; a few hours of extra broadband data per month from a BT Broadband FON customer (Fonero in the parlance) perhaps watching a web TV service such as Joost or 4oD could increase data usage to the point where customers are contacted by BT to upgrade to the next tariff. Or that might well be the user perception, which could be a problem for BT. Security of transmitted data to and from the broadband home (such as e-mail exchanges, chat and form-based data in web pages) by potential Foneros may well be perceived as a problem even if, in reality, it is not. This will be an issue for BT to manage. " "On the plus side the cost to BT is probably fairly minimal and the risks are not great - it may also start to position BT Retail as less of a corporate entity and more of a cool company at least as far as the target consumers are concerned. As a marketing story it is a certain headline-grabber. " " However, most consumers don't frequently take their laptops outside the home, nor are WiFi-enabled pocketable devices particularly widespread at the moment, so we think this will initially appeal to a small segment of users. WiFi performance from inside buildings to outside is poor at the best of times, so performance for applications like VoIP over WiFi it will be unpredictable and not as convenient as a conventional mobile phone to manage. Mobile data usage is most likely to be prevalent where people undertake their leisure activities, not in residential neighbourhoods. Finally we don't think this will lead to a significant number of users choosing to migrate to BT broadband in preference, but it might be nice occasionally to have a bit more choice of hot spots for those frequently on the move. "http://content-wire.com/british-telecom-retail-joined-forces-fon-wifi-hot-spot-sharing-community-network1191583808Content WireDeskDemocracyChinese Press Rejects Publication of Petition For Burma Advert [img_assist|nid=19771|title=Burma Protest September 2007|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=64]Yesterday, a <a href="http://www.avaaz.org/en/stand_with_burma/w.php" target="_blank">petition</a> to China and the UN Security Council to stop the brutal crackdown on peaceful Burmese protesters has been delivered by campaign promoters Avaaz.org to the world in a full page ad in the Financial Times worldwide -- but the ad was rejected by other newspapers like the South China Morning Post and the Singapore Straits Times. [img_assist|nid=19770|title=What will china stand for|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=130|height=291] "The message is an invitation to China to do the right thing in Burma, not an attack" say the petitioners "yet even that seemed too much for media that fear Chinese reprisals. The worldwide outcry to save Burma's peaceful monks and protesters is one more sign of how the world is getting closer, feeling increasingly responsible to each other, and for each other as human beings. We're bringing a voice of humanity to this desperate situation, and we must not be silenced". The petitioners are promoting an international day of action on Saturday and are doubling efforts to make their voice louder: the petition is approaching 600,000 signatures, closing the 1 million goal. http://www.avaaz.org http://www.irrawaddy.orghhttp://www.mizzima.com  More Information <a href="http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/"> Burma Campaign UK</a> <a href="http://www.uscampaignforburma.org">US Campaign for Burma</a> <a href="http://www.soros.org/initiatives/bpsai">Open Society Institute's Burma Project</a> <a href="http://www.hrw.org/doc?t=asia&c=burma">Human Rights Watch, Burma</a> <a href="http://www.freeburmarangers.org/">Free Burma Rangers</a> <a href="http://www.irrawaddy.org/">The Irrawaddy</a> <a href="http://www.cfob.org/">Canadian Friends of Burma</a> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2241026779">Voices of Burma</a> <a href="http://www.dvb.no/">Democratic Voice of Burma</a> <a href="http://www.dassk.com/">Aung San Suu Kyi's Pages</a> <a href="http://www.ncgub.net/">National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (government-in-exile) website</a> <a href="http://burmese.dvb.no/">Burmese language news (courtesy of Nay Shun Oo)</a> Blogs/news: <a href="http://burmese.dvb.no/" target="_blank">http://burmese.dvb.no/</a> <a href="http://myochitmyanmar.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://myochitmyanmar.blogspot.com/</a> <a href="http://mmedwatch.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://mmedwatch.blogspot.com/</a> <a href="http://www.niknayman.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://www.niknayman.blogspot.com/</a> <a href="http://www.myitzima.co.cc/" target="_blank">http://www.myitzima.co.cc/</a> <a href="http://kadaung.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://kadaung.blogspot.com/</a> <a href="http://drlunswe.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://drlunswe.blogspot.com/</a> <a href="http://hittaing.org/" target="_blank">http://hittaing.org/</a> <a href="http://khitpyaing.org/" target="_blank">http://khitpyaing.org/</a> <a href="http://www.ko-htike.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://www.ko-htike.blogspot.com/</a> <a href="http://myatlone.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://myatlone.blogspot.com/</a> <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/" target="_blank">http://news.bbc.co.uk/</a> <a href="http://www.reuters.com/" target="_blank">http://www.reuters.com/</a> <a href="http://www.voanews.com/burmese/" target="_blank">http://www.voanews.com/burmese/</a> <a href="http://www.rfa.org/burmese/" target="_blank">http://www.rfa.org/burmese/</a> <a href="http://redo8888.com/" target="_blank">http://redo8888.com/</a> <a href="http://tharkinwe.blogspot.com" target="_blank">http://tharkinwe.blogspot.com</a> <a href="http://publicenemies.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://publicenemies.blogspot.com/</a> <a href="http://www.narinjara.com/burmese.ASP" target="_blank">http://www.narinjara.com/burmese.ASP</a> <a href="http://www.burmatoday.net/" target="_blank">http://www.burmatoday.net/</a> <a href="http://www.yoma3.org/" target="_blank">http://www.yoma3.org/</a> <a href="http://thanshwe-hunter.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://thanshwe-hunter.blogspot.com/</a> <a href="http://yekyawaung.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://yekyawaung.blogspot.com/</a> <a href="http://phyuphyuthin.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://phyuphyuthin.blogspot.com/</a> <a href="http://maydar-wii.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://maydar-wii.blogspot.com/</a> <a href="http://maynyane.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://maynyane.blogspot.com/</a> <a href="http://shwebothar.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://shwebothar.blogspot.com/</a> (English) <a href="http://htoomyat.blogspot.com/2007/09/blog-post_1673.html" target="_blank">http://htoomyat.blogspot.com/2007/09/blog-post_1673.html</a> <a href="http://oppositeye.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://oppositeye.blogspot.com/</a> http://content-wire.com/chinese-press-rejects-publication-petition-burma-advert1191414467Content WireDeskSemantic ToolsAccurate Recognition of Logical Document StructureAbbyy, provider of recognition, data capture and linguistic technologies, announced version 9.0 of its document and PDF conversion software. Based on a new recognition platform with Adaptive Document Recognition Technology (ADRT), FineReader 9.0 is the first optical character recognition (OCR) product intelligent enough to automatically deliver editable files in native document formatting. The new version offers up to 35 percent accuracy improvements, particularly with documents containing tables and images from digital cameras.* FineReader 9.0 combines enhanced accuracy in the reproduction of document layouts with new tools, extended document format support, and an innovative interface redesign to provide increased user productivity with less steps and effort spent on OCR tasks than ever before. The ADRT feature recognizes not just the text and basic layout, but the logical structure of a document across multiple pages, producing an improvement in layout retention by up to 32 percent. Because it understands a document as a whole, FineReader is very intelligent in saving and exporting OCR results. It can determine how certain formatting elements should be treated when sending to Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. As a result, the headers and footers, page numbering, footnotes, fonts and styles of the original are retained. For example, footnotes linked with corresponding text on the page, image captions, graphics and tables are automatically grouped with the appropriate object type. Headers and footers can be directly edited or even removed using the Microsoft Word header and footer tools. Text flows are maintained across multiple pages. The new 9.0 recognition platform also recognizes and retains a variety of additional formatting elements including line numbering, signatures, and stamps found in legal and other documents.http://content-wire.com/accurate-recognition-logical-document-structure1191412918Content WireDeskInformation Management Financial Times single licences for corporate customers From April 2008, any organisation that wishes to have digital access to FT content will be invited to subscribe to an FT content licence. These licences are aimed to ensure simplicity and consistency in the supply of the Financial Times’ global business news and analysis. This single licence will create a direct relationship between the Financial Times and its corporate customers and enable them to access Financial Times content via both FT.com and a wide range of third party channels. A list of these third parties is available at http://www.ft.com/corporate, and includes news aggregation services, as well as technology integrators. This new approach is the result of a review of the relationships and practices in providing Financial Times content to corporate customers. At the moment, corporate customers using news aggregation services, pay one price for thousands of sources of content and for the cost of the services. The content licence has been designed to allow users of Financial Times content to pay for content separately. It also allows customers to continue to access Financial Times content via a wide range of third party channels, if they wish to do so. The content licences will apply to all corporations wishing to purchase access to Financial Times content for 10 or more employees. The minimum contract is ?1,990 per annum, the equivalent of ?199 a seat. The cost per seat will decrease as more seats are purchased. The cost of the content licence will be the same irrespective of the channel it is accessed from. Subscriptions to FT.com can continue to be purchased by individuals. The corporate content licences are for corporations that wish to benefit from the economy of purchasing multiple licences and the flexibility of accessing Financial Times content across many platforms. Caspar de Bono, Managing Director B2B, said: “Every day, a worldwide network of outstanding Financial Times journalists provides high quality news and analysis to business decision-makers. As content channels multiply, we want to ensure a fair and transparent means of delivering this valuable content. We also want to ensure that we build close and direct connections with our customers, so as to help understand and respond to their requirements. He added: “We are having very productive discussions with both news aggregation services and technology integrators. We are working together to plan the most effective way to move to this new model. We recognise that there will be a transition period for customers currently under contract and we are ready to discuss ways to manage the transition.” The new access model is being announced six months in advance in order to give customers and third parties plenty of time to make arrangements. Prior to April 2008, the Financial Times will continue to make available two content feeds – one for all Financial Times content on the day of publication, and, separately an embargoed feed delayed by 24 hours. From April 2008, there will be a day-of-publication feed available to those with a Financial Times content licence only.http://content-wire.com/financial-times-introducing-single-licences-corporate-customers-access-financial-times-content-throu1191133386Content WirePDMCommunity,InternetWeakness in Creative Commons License Can cause Unethical ExploitsDuring a recent informal discussions about the localization of Creative Commons licenses in <a href="http://blognone.com/node/5876" target="_blank">Thailand</a><a href="http://blognone.com/node/5876" target="_blank"> </a>some project initiators and legal advisors cursorily discussed some of the implications of such licences, and concluded that the combination of the different licenses offers sufficient flexibility as well as enough guarantees for the authors who may desire to protect their work against undesired usage. A 'non commercial' license for example allows the work to be used non commercially only - although the definition of what constitute commercial is still loose and subject to interpretation. 'non derivative' roughly prescribes that the licensed work can only be used 'as is', and cannot be modified.A few points however were left open for later discussion, as they are not strictly local issues:1. With increased usage of the licenses, there is a greater need to promote education and understanding about how the creative commons work especially in developing countries.The license provider (a private, non profit company with Offices in Boston, Mass) and their worldwide affiliates should be responsible for making recommendations as to how to best choose a license. A lot of creatives may be too naïve about commercial law to realise that cc linceses, unless properly selected, can allow their work, or minor modifications thereof, to be commercially exploited by any company, including large global multinationals without the authors even knowing, or ever making a penny from it.2. There is currently no mechanism in the CC to prevent 'unethical' usage of licensed work. This leaves the creators potentially open to lawsuits, when the images that they make available are used in non legal, or non clear commercial contexts - especially considering the differences in legislation from country to country 3. 'Commons' by definition means: that belongs to the public domain. However, the CC licenses are 'owned' by a private company. It is advocated that everyone licensing their work under 'creative commons', should be entitle to hold company shares, and have rights to vote when it comes to 'creative commons' administrative and legal decisions.The question also was raised about why would the Creative Commons company with legal offices in Boston would want the draft MOU to be regulated by Californian Jurisdiction, but that was more of a side note. Currently there is not much in a CC lincense to prevent that any (unknown) third party can legitimately use an image for something that the authors would not approve of (in an unethical marketing campaign or an unethical website, or for a scam, or even in spam email)Now Virgin Mobile Australia and the Creative Commons 'holding' company are being sued for careless and potentially libelous usage of a creative commons licensed photograph. <a href="http://www.out-law.com/page-8494">http://www.out-law.com/page-8494\</a> While a clearcut definition with what "ethical" means is not easy to agree, it is also true that Creative Commons are still discussing what 'commercial' means, Even 'commercial' is not that straightforward as such.Some authors feel that they are responsible to ensure that the product of their creativity and genius inherits the values and principles and behaviour intended by their creators. and advocate for new legal instruments designed to promote of creativity to adequately such as the creative commons licenses help them support such responsibility.  Discuss <a href="http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/cc-licenses">http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/cc-licenses</a> http://content-wire.com/weakness-creative-commons-license-causes-unethical-exploits1190977994Content WireDeskContent-Wire Info,InternetInternet Security: Burma Dalai Lama Message is Malicious VirusTaking advantage of international concern regarding the daily demonstrations in Burma, a malicious email is circulating claiming to be a message of support for monks and other protesters in Burma from the Dalai Lama The link to HH website is real, but the email carries a malicious attack designed to infect the recipient's PC, warns security firm Sophos.The email reads as follows: 'Dear Friends & Colleagues, Please find enclosed a massage from His Holiness the Dalai Lama in support of the recent pro democracy demonstrations taking place in Burma. This is for your information and can be distributed as you see fit. Best wishes. Tenzin Taklha Joint Secretary Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama' When users open the attached document (filename: hhdl burma_001.doc), it attempts to exploit a Word vulnerability which in turn tries to download a Trojan horse onto the victim's PC. Sophos proactively detects the malicious document as Exp/1Table-B and the Trojan it tries to download as Agent-CGU. Sophos email security experts note that to add even more credibility to the message and to encourage a greater number of victims to open the attachment, a link to official website of the Dalai Lama is included. "The Burmese regime is said to have tried to control news coming out of the country by shutting down internet cafes and controlling computer users' access to the net. People around the world are hungry to hear about the latest situation in the country and support the pro-democracy movement, and may be tempted to read this so-called letter from the Dalai Lama," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos. "Using topical news stories to trick unwary computer users into opening and downloading malicious code is one of the oldest tricks in the book, but it's obviously still working or the hackers wouldn't waste their time on it. We should all use our common sense and question the legitimacy of emails sent out of the blue." Sophos recommends that companies protect themselves with a consolidated solution which can control network access and defend against the threats of spam, hackers, spyware and viruses. More information can be found on the SophosLabs blog: <a href="http://www.sophos.com/security/blog/2007/09/606.html">http://www.sophos.com/security/blog/2007/09/606.html</a>http://content-wire.com/internet-security-burma-dalai-lama-message-malicious-virus1190904423Content WireDeskContent-Wire Info,Content Management,Content Technologies,Internet Emerging Quality Standards for Enterprise Content Management The Content Group will be working with BSI British Standards to develop the first ever Publicly Available Specification (PAS) for Enterprise Content Management. Enterprise Content Management (ECM) has become increasingly important in a business world powered by the internet, where information is expected to be available instantly and at any time of day or night on a global basis. The result is a proliferation of information that is often unstructured and difficult to navigate through and, from a company perspective, complicated or even impossible to manage. The aim of The Content Group's work with BSI is to develop a best practice standard for Enterprise Content Management (ECM) and establish a frame of reference for the entire ECM market. Once completed, the standard will provide definitions and a common understanding of ECM. It will enable benchmarking and ensure consistent, measurable Enterprise Content Management with increased accountability and transparency across the whole information spectrum. The manifold benefits of an industry-wide code of practice for ECM include helping organisations and individuals to understand 'What it is', 'What it can do', and 'How to measure the quality level of any project against a formally recognised specification'. The PAS is intended to be the first step moving towards an internationally agreed standard for ECM. Ben Richmond, Founder and CEO of The Content Group, will be the lead author and will also head up the team involved in producing the standard using a 2-stage stakeholder consultation. The steering panel of stakeholders will review and provide feedback on the best practice standard before it is put out for public consensus. New and existing best practice work in this area will also be considered in the PAS development. This process is designed to develop a credible, usable method through an open and consultative forum. He says "This is a major step forward for our industry. With the unparalleled proliferation of information and the challenges that presents to organisations across the globe ECM has come to the fore. The establishment of an ECM best practice is long overdue and should be seen as critical to the successful development and implementation of an ECM strategy." Mike Low, Director of BSI British Standards comments "BSI British Standards is delighted to be working with The Content Group on this important first step towards a framework for best practice in Enterprise Content Management. The combination of BSI's development capability and the expertise of The Content Group will ensure a PAS that enables stakeholders to better understand ECM and therefore raise the standard in this area." www.thecontentgroup.co.ukhttp://content-wire.com/emerging-quality-standards-enterprise-content-management1190904038Content WireDeskContent-Wire Info,Collaboration,Content Technologies,InternetMigration of Content Speeds Up Team Collaboration Vamosa Content Migrator for Lotus Quickr has been released to enable organizations to unleash the potential of their collective IQ faster by pre-loading documents and rich media into Lotus Quickr team places with market leading automated content migration tools. Lotus Quickr is a Web 2.0 based collaborative content offering, designed to transform the way everyday business content, such as documents and rich media, is stored and shared, to enable more effective team collaboration for innovation. The software aims to enable faster implementation of a set of collaborative content and team services including wikis and team blogs. By migrating content from file servers, intranets and legacy systems into scalable content repositories, Vamosa says it helps organizations implement Quickr faster. Among the new Functionalities: * automatically capture all content stored on existing intranet, file systems and legacy systems before enhancing and loading it into Lotus Quickr team places * standardize, enhance and transform files including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Acrobat to conform to an organization’s document management policies * apply relevant properties, categories and taxonomy metadata automatically to documents and intranet content during the migration phase * implement an organization’s information architecture automatically in the Lotus Quickr content repository, and assign content to the standard templates * automatically maintain the integrity of links held in intranet pages and documents, and ensure that all references remain valid and accessible in Lotus Quickr team places. http://content-wire.com/migration-content-speeds-team-collaboration1190902287Content WireDeskBlogs,Collaboration,Community,Content Management,Content Technologies,RedDot (Open Text)Bridging The Gap Between Editorial And User-Generated Content Until now, organisations looked to bolt-on periphery third party solutions to enhance their web presence with Web 2.0 functionality such as forums, blogs, comments, and ratings. Today, organisations are demanding a persona-driven web access tailored to respective information requirements, using portals and single sign-on. Personalisation concepts now also access user-generated content through the integration of Web 2.0 functions Using metadata such as language, regions, hierarchies, occupational groups, departments, and interests, knowledge can be assigned and accessed accordingly. RedDot New Web Content Management suite now makes the integration of interactive applications and Web 2.0 functions possible in all web-enabled media with new modules for Web 2.0. The new application offers organisations the unique ability to keep all relevant content in a single repository thereby extending the overall business knowledge. Both user-generated content and editorial content become part of the organisation’s managed information assets, thereby contributing to growth. All content, whether editorial or user-generated, can be accessed through centralised search, enhancing the visitors experience well beyond the traditional web paradigm. "Web 2.0 and social computing have reached the enterprise, moving beyond being a technological trend to becoming an essential component of successful web strategies for leading organisations,“ said Daniel Kraft, President of RedDot, the Open Text Web Solutions Group. “Organisations are increasingly demanding seamless integration of Web 2.0 capabilities in our web solutions offering as a key to their success. With the new Web 2.0 capabilities from RedDot, our customers can now achieve a closer relationship with their internal and external target audiences, while preserving the valuable information generated by end-users who contribute and collaborate.” http://content-wire.com/bridging-gap-between-editorial-and-user-generated-content1190900452Content WireDeskCreativity,Digital ArtsContent as Science, Art and Freedom I welcome critical stances of the content industry. Content is like oxygen for the internet, that's what we breathe when we log on. Like the polluted air of an overcrowded urban district, it's often contaminated, and can even be toxic.Among thick clouds of disinformation dust and marketing promotion, occasionally there come whiffs of fresh breeze that bring hope, that beyond the foggy curtain, infinite sources of pure knowledge and wisdom do exist on the internet, and they don't need to be boring either. Not everyone is born a writer, yet, thanks to the magic easy touch connected keyboard, hay presto, anyone can be a content professional, or at least think soGerry McGovern is one of the few persistently critical of the content industry (having most of us moved on to other jobs).In a recent <a href="http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/nt/2007/nt-2007-09-17-content-scientific.htm" target="_blank">post</a> he writes: "content should be more scientific". That strikes a chord. Many chords at once, in fact. If content professionals want more respect, they need to present content as a science, not an art" he writes. Let's talk about science. How to go about it? Facts versus Opinions There were early internet days when one would get paid one dollar a word (and the dollar as pretty good then) to write 'opinion' . Headhunters were scouting internet talents based on the stubborness and their willingness to defend their strong opinions. I always insisted that opinions should be corroborated by facts, but admittedly I was never very popular in the industry When it comes to making an argument, it's the facts that count. At least in a state of law But when we look at the hard facts, a lot of the sugar coating of our glossy world strips off like flaking paint from a damp wall. First, get the facts. When training as journalists (real, professional journalism that is) 'fact checking' is lesson number one. It also happens that 'fact checking' is an essential routine in most reasoning algorithms. I have seen perfectly logical inferences fail due to flaws in their fact checking loops (if a bat is a bird then....). Facts facts facts, with appropriate figures to support them of course. Facts versus other facts vs philosophy (vs fiction) Scientists engaged in petty spats trying to ridicule each other is even more entertaining than British politicians arguing in the House of Commons at Westminster. Try to catch some of it online, cause respectable prime time television is not likely to broadcast such things as scientific spats - while it seems perfectly okay to show politicians literally at each other's throats. Funny world.Surely one can come up with good facts, but will that be 'all the facts', or just some? And of all the fact that we can put our hands on, which is most important and more relevant to the question at hand? Will that depend on a context, on an opinion, or a specific goal?Scientists like to argue about these things, end up becoming philosophers, although some are reluctant to admit it. Scientific writing, is always capped by a clear scope, while content is often like liquid paste that sticks everywyere but you cant tell where its coming from or where it's going.  Hard facts versus Clarity and Simplicity of the Message Having worked as a science and technology correspondent in London for a few years, I have experience in translating 'scientific language' into a message that people can actually make sense of. It takes skills and patience to read three or four journal issues and research papers and then writing a few paragraphs of digestible information. It costs a lot, and it pays little. I once sat for 3 hours in a chamber in Cambridge at the Hitachi Labs with a labourious Japanese researcher who had discovered something important about nanotechnology in microprocessors and he wanted the world to know. I did not understand much about nanotechnology, his English was limited, and he was spitting a lot while trying to explain to me excitedly about his experiments. I managed to grasp the jist of the findings, write a story. With my face covered in nanoparticles of saliva, I learned some of the hard facts of scientific content. Slimy stuff. I will never know if the editors had set me up. Call me paranoid. Good Information Guidelines Pages and pages have been written about quality of information. Today, content is still largely marketing and propaganda, and that is dangerous. Good content should follow the <a href="/submission-guidelines" target="_blank">guidelines</a> for information and good journalism, which shoud always be advocated and followed by content providers. In an ideal world at least.  Content as Art Admittedly, free narrative and personal views have a place of their own, especially when hey are entertaining and <a href="http://www.roughtype.com/archives/2007/09/corpsegenerated.php" target="_blank">fun</a>. Capturing readers' imagination is an art. Art has always been cultivated by 'establishments'. Since early times, the best artists were hired by the Church to decorate chapels and cathedrals, and the best poets and minstrels recruited by the royal courts to entertain bored aristocracy. This has not changed much to date. Most artists - as well as scientists - are still mercenaries, working for those who pay the highest wages, or in some cases, forced to work for those who hold the keys of the chains that tie them. Freedom and a hot meal But there is no art, and no science, without intellectual freedom and a good meal. In so many countries today people still have no freedom to think, and no food on their plates, no clean water to drink. Yet technology is used as the easiest form of escapism, and when given computers the kids play online games every day until late. Few learn how content can improve their lives, make them wise and knowledgeable and more loving, speed up learning, help them build a good society, an economy, make their visions come true. These are the issues that content professionals should be turning their attention to, urgently, if they are interested in the world we live in todayI welcome Gerry's admonition to become more rigorous about content, by all means. Yet I call for content professionals to take a look at the 'world facts' today, and do not turn a blind eye on the sorrow.The hard facts, do tell a real story. However grim, it's likely to be a good one.  Paola Di Maio is a researcher and editor of content-wire.com http://content-wire.com/content-science-art-and-freedom1190111287Content WireSigurdMagnussonblog,CMS review,Content Management,Open Source Content Management Systems,plugin,silverstripeOpen Source Platform sets new website plug-ins standardThe SilverStripe open source website platform, <a href="http://www.silverstripe.com/silverstripe-into-cms-award-finals-now-vote/">a PacktPub open source CMS awards finalist</a>, released their inaugural blog module amidst a buzz of other new features and modules. <a href="http://www.silverstripe.com/silverstripe-releases-blog-module-with-drag-n-drop-widget-system/">The free blog module</a> requires the just-released <a href="http://www.silverstripe.com/silverstripe-2-1-testers-wanted/">Silverstripe 2.1</a>, and features a drag-n-drop system to customise "widgets", or plug-ins; all in a bid to raise the expectation users have when managing their website. The 2.1 release also acts as a call to PHP5 developers comfortable in writing clean object-oriented code, to produce and contribute new widgets for SilverStripe. Serious work has also gone into SilverStripe 2.2, which is also to be released shortly. This release will contain the fruits of 10 programmers each working several months, funded by Google. The upcoming features include - OpenID-based login to forum, and CMS admin - Google Sitemaps, Adwords support - Multi-language backend, and front-end - Hundreds of usability, security and speed improvements - Flickr, Youtube, Technorati and GoogleMaps modules Learn more at http://www.silverstripe.comhttp://content-wire.com/silverstripe-blog-sets-new-standard-free-website-plug-ins1189885297Content WireDeskContent-Wire Info,War,WorldNato's Nuclear Weapons Whereabouts Talk [img_assist|nid=19469|title=|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=85|height=100]Us Air force base in Ramstein, Germany earlier this year was missing from list of NATO nuclear bases scheduled to receive a Nuclear Surety Staff Assistance Visit  According to <a href="http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2007_09/TacticalNuclearEurope.asp" target="_blank">Arms Control website </a>such absence could mean that the United States may have silently removed all 130 nuclear weapons from Ramstein, leaving only one other base in Germany, as wells as the other 20 others in Europe. According to security experts "the timing of a possible withdrawal and the reasons for it remain unclear" , although German magazine Der Spiegel reported i that the weapons deployed in Ramstein may have been withdrawn for safety reasons during construction at the site, Hans Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists says that the bombs were never returned, and that their whereabouts are unknown. NATO may well be going through an extremely slow process of agreeing on a new Strategic Concept possibly by 2009 or 2010, according to sources, but that could that be too late to prevent a nuclear escalation.According to <a href="http://www.nrdc.org/nuclear/euro/euro_pt1.pdf"> research (PDF)</a> published by Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington, in 2005 the Us was 'parking' 480 nuclear bombs in Europe of which 90 in Italy and Turkey respectively The B61 weapons are currently kept 'illegally' in the Us Airbases of Aviano and Gheddi, Italy, and with a destructive capacity up to 107 kilotons, and are the closest to the Middle East save for Turkey, a new EU member state with restricted role with respect to NATO defense policy. "Italy has officially signed international treaties against nuclear weapons, which are not allowed in the territory by legislation approved in 1990" writes today Italian daily <a href="http://www.repubblica.it/2007/09/sezioni/esteri/bombe-atomiche/bombe-atomiche/bombe-atomiche.html">La Repubblica,</a> but according to the newspaper the public is seriously worried and laments the lack of public information and control over the matter. UN Security Council is noted for he absence of is authority in matters of intenational security, inability to control the US aggressive 'defense' policy, and for its failure to prevent international unilateral invasions, such as the occupation of Iraq. With nuclear weapons tensions mounting, lack of transparency in policy and operations, Russia's new bomb, and loss of control over the illegal invasion of Iraq, unease and tension in international relations are increasing.   http://content-wire.com/italy-harbors-90-nuclear-weapons-study-reveals1189604517Content WireDeskEconomy,InternetEmail Alerts by Google are Marketing, Not NewsNews alerts are instrumental to users who want to know in real time when articles containing certain keywords are published on the web. Pity PR companies are taking over.  Online News Alerts are the only way of keeping up with constant flow of news coming from the ocean of content, apart from subscribing to individual feeds from desired sources. Select keywords, add email address, et voila - emails are fired directly to the inbox to alert users when there is something new on the web about their favourite topic. Admittedly, the forest of growing websites is thickening, and it has become difficult to tell what’s news, what’s re-fried, what's gossip, what's plain false, and what's information useful to the reader. It still takes a trained human, or a discerning reader, to tell the difference.  Google alerts Google was among the first to set up news alerts, to which so many have become 'addicted' to. They have been both a blessing and a curse, at times Lately, however, in trying to provide more relevant service, the alerts contain mainly headlines from newswires - public relation companies who get paid to distribute press releases - and mainstream press. Maybe in the days of 'infotainment' the mightly search engine can't tell the difference between 'information' and 'publicity'? News alerts users are complaining that they are not getting the alerts as they used to: "Although in theory I can set a preference to select the source of my alerts - by choosing 'comprehensive', or 'blogs' or 'news' alerts - I no longer receive alerts from all the specialist sites that I want to get the heads up from, unless I subscribe to their RSS feed directly" says J. Meyers, a Us based web editor who produces news and reviews on global politics. "Recently Google seems to be sending out news alerts only if they come from press release distributors or from large paid for news sources owned by global news corporations, and we know what kind of 'news' that is." "I can subscribe to such services directly, I don’t need a search engine for that. I need a search engine to alert me when there is a new story on a website that is not in my bookmarks, or that I would not otherwise know about. I don’t seem to be able to get that anymore" says Meyers Apparently, Google Alerts has started to send out email alerts only if new articles, webpages or blog posts make it into the top ten Google News results, the top twenty Google Web search results or 'top ten' Google Blog Search results for your query, even when the user does not want to narrow them down to such sources.   Top Ten Top ten? Based on Quality? Originality? Traffic? Page ranks? Number of readers? Uniqueness? Truthfulness? Accuracy? Journalistic experience? Rapidity? Richness of content? Diversity? Who can tell?Only Google knows Content-wire, after being alerted by readers, has been looking for an official policy, a rule, guidelines, but it seems that headlines are now selected arbitrarily without necessarily distinguishing between 'pure marketing' alerts from 'information' In fact, mixing the two, rather dangerously. To provide readers with a selection of 'paid' news alerts is great, only if it's balanced by critical, independent and unbiased commentary. Preferably by non-institutional news sources. Anyone wanting to read the news from Reuters and Associated Press, know where they can do so. It's the smaller publishers who need headline distribution to reach their readers, not the established ones. Otherwise news alerts become a pure instrument serving mass media and market forces. This is one of the highest risks for internet media today: that the influence of large vendors takes over the space completely. This is true especially in the IT industry. Many key industry information producers who until today relied on Google alerts to get their word out, are now quietly been dropped, and this is perceived by emerging web based publishers as an attempt to obfuscate their presence on the online news landscape. "A reader who wants to get their news alerts from 'comprehensive' news sources should be able to do so, and should be able to exclude publicity and marketing materials from their headlines, if they so wish" complains a reader who wants to stay anonymous. "Now this does not seem to be possible from Google alerts" This could even lead to claims of unfair competition, thinks a legal advisor from an international competition law David Lassier "By allowing a small selection of websites to provide alerts, Google is ignoring the news coming from 99.9% of the internet, and is exposing the users to an arbitrary selection of alerts not based on clear, published and fair criteria I would be surprised if sooner or later, someone would not complain"   What’s out there Yahoos News alerts are by contrast becoming more comprehensive as if attempting to close the gap that Google is leaving behind, according to observers, who say that search engine Metacrawler.com would be in the best position to fill the news alert gap in the current market. It looks like there is a good market opportunity ahead for a ' really simple news alert service' that can be configured to fit the user profile, and startups should not going to miss this chance.  <a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/particls_launches_advanced_alerts_platform.php" target="_blank">Particles </a> <a href="http://live.grokker.com" target="_blank">Grokker</a> http://content-wire.com/email-alerts-google-are-marketing-not-news1189412259Content WireDeskDevelopment,Economy,Internet,Millennium Villages,Technology,WorldCommunication is Power for Millennium Villages[img_assist|nid=19739|title=|desc=|link=url,http://|align=left|width=95|height=100]The Millennium Villages project is a community-led initiative that aims to lift rural African communities out of the extreme poverty that traps hundreds of millions of people throughout the continent.  Currently working with 79 villages of approximately 5,000 people per village, the project is tackling challenges related to agriculture, health, education, infrastructure, gender equality, business development and other vital issues. The Millennium Villages project is a partnership between The Earth Institute, Millennium Promise and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The integration of information and communications technology plays a critical role in ending the cycle of poverty. Around the world, mobile technologies are proving to be important tools in expediting information sharing and creating pockets of entrepreneurial enterprise among poor, rural communities. At the same time, they also enhance and boost existing systems in education, health care and business. As basic interventions are achieving success in the Millennium Villages, communications technologies can help take the fight against poverty a step further. Ericsson, the world's leading telecommunications supplier, today announced it is partnering with The Earth Institute at Columbia University to provide connectivity to the Millennium Villages project. This partnership is designed to bring mobile communication and the Internet to approximately 400,000 people in 10 African countries where the project is working. Carl-Henric Svanberg, President and CEO, Ericsson, says: "Our commitment to the Millennium Villages is in line with our vision to be the prime driver in an all-communicating world. It will allow us to apply our core technology for social, economic and environmental benefits while at the same time stimulating new business development in emerging markets. "The Earth Institute, led by Jeffrey Sachs, has made a dramatic impact on these communities by driving initiatives that have inspired change. Providing these developing villages with mobile communications will not only improve basic infrastructure such as healthcare, education and safety, but equally important, will be a foundation for fostering economic growth and development." Jeffrey Sachs, who is also Special Advisor to the United Nations Secretary-General, says: "We are pleased to be working with a leader like Ericsson as we continue to make strides in fulfilling the Millennium Development Goals, which aim to reduce extreme poverty and hunger by half while improving education, health, gender equality and sustainability by 2015. "With more than 3 billion mobile subscribers around the world, the mobile phone plays a key role as one of the most powerful tools to fight poverty, particularly for poor communities in remote areas of the world. Mobile technology will not only facilitate communication beyond borders, but will also be an engine for empowerment and a driving force for economic growth." As the dominant telecom supplier in Africa, Ericsson will tap relationships with African operators, including MTN and Zain (formerly known as MTC) and its subsidiary Celtel, in order to develop a comprehensive end-to-end telecommunication strategy in the villages and to drive mobile phone connectivity and coverage build-out to selected areas. Ericsson will also work closely with the operators to identify and develop telecom services and applications customized to meet the needs of the villages. For example, Ericsson will apply its products and solutions to focus on stimulating business opportunities, improving basic needs in the fight against AIDS and malaria, bringing Internet access to schools, boosting agricultural development and providing emergency communications. Ericsson will also help to bring connectivity to power remote and resource-poor areas through the use of renewable energy technologies, as the company has done in other developing markets like India. In the first phase of the partnership, Ericsson and Sony Ericsson will supply a number of mobile and fixed wireless phones to the communities in an effort to bring the benefits of connectivity to areas such as agriculture, health, education and infrastructure. Ericsson and Sony Ericsson have also co-developed a solar village charger for mobile phones that will be provided to each village. This new product concept is capable of recharging at least 30 mobile phone batteries per day and eight phones simultaneously for each village. www.earthinstitute.columbia.eduhttp://content-wire.com/communication-power-millennium-villages1189325286Content WireDeskadoption,advanced technology,beneficial,best practices,Business,business development,business information,business opportunities,business partners,business professionals,China,collaboration,customer service,deploy,finance,global economic,global technology,information technology,initiative,innovations,key business,key industry,leading technology,networking,public sector,sectors,software platform,stable,strategic technology,Technology,technology companies,technology platform,telecommunications,trainCisco in Xiamen, China Cisco China it is working with the Xiamen Municipal Government to promote the development of Xiamen's information and communications technology (ICT) capabilities, with a focus on the software industry.The collaboration is aimed at establishing a long-term, stable and mutually beneficial strategic tie between Cisco and Xiamen. As part of the initiative, Cisco will deploy its advanced TelePresence communications solution in Xiamen, a major seaport on the southeast coast of China, in the Fujian province. Cisco will be assisting the Xiamen Municipal Government in preparing and implementing ICT development strategies. The company plans to provide support for the development of the Xiamen software industry, participate in building the online public service and technology platform of the Xiamen Software Park, jointly set up the Cisco Innovations Experience Center, train networking professionals for the city and develop local Cisco channel partners. The municipal government will also be the first customer in the Asia-Pacific public service sector to deploy the Cisco TelePresence Meeting solution. Deployment of the Cisco TelePresence demonstration platform, scheduled to take place at the Cisco Innovations Experience enter in the Xiamen Software Park, marks the first use of the Cisco TelePresence technology in the Asia Pacific public sector. This will have profound implications for the widespread adoption of the technology among governments. The Xiamen Municipal Government has stated that it places great importance on its ICT development strategy and welcomes multinational companies like Cisco to bring leading networking technologies and global best practices to the area. With a long and cooperative history with the Fujian province in key sectors such as finance, telecommunications and education, Cisco held the third board meeting of the Networking Academy at the end of last year in Xiamen, where it explored the prospect of providing greater education in networking technologies. Cisco China also set up an office in Fuzhou, the capital city of Fujian, in January of this year to explore opportunities to become involved in economic developments across the Taiwan Strait with local governments, businesses and partners. http://content-wire.com/cisco-xiamen-china1189320120Content WireDeskaccountability,addressed,automation,checks,conflict,Democracy,direct access,disaster recovery,document management,document management systems,Emergency Response,government agencies,human rights,Human Rights,mobile services,new research,news service,news site,one of the few,priority,project management,public access,research director,specifically,stakeAccountability Project for Public Emergency Response[img_assist|nid=19731|title=|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=72|height=75] The United States Government Accountability Office has released <a href="http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d07454.pdf">a 320 page report</a> (PDF) admitting that "DHS has made limited progress in the areas of emergency preparedness and response."  On the same issue, the US Senate’s Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs <a href="http://hsgac.senate.gov/index.cfm" target="_blank">has heard </a>The Honorable David M. Walker, Comptroller General, United States Government Accountability Office and The Honorable Paul A. Schneider, Under Secretary for Management, U.S. Department of Homeland Security.<div>Also, since Katrina, members of Congress urged the Red Cross <a href="http://www.redcross.org/report/bogoct2006/" target="_blank">(PDF)</a> to develop a new governance structure. </div><div> </div><div>“The latest findings confirm that Homeland Security and FEMA are dysfunctional. There have been countless reports since Katrina and many make the same recommendations, over and over" </div>says Ben Smilowitz, Director, Disaster Accountability Project. "Instead of hearing from Homeland Security’s top brass, Congress ought to hear from whistleblowers within the department. We are in the middle of a hurricane season that produced two category five storms in as many weeks. Homeland Security’s leadership should be investigated.” "One thing in particular that's of specific interest to me", Ben says,"are the new whistle-blowing procedures discussed in the report. My understanding is that whistle blowing reviews are still internal. While the American Red Cross contracted out the collection of whistle- blower reports, the public still does not have access to information about what is reported..... this underscores my concern regarding a lack of public accountability in the nation's lead agency for Emergency Support Function Six (Mass Care)" Any function so important to the well-being of all Americans (and our visitors) should be completely transparent, Ben thinks  Ben's story After Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, Ben Smilowitz, who later founded the Disaster Accountability Project, contacted the Red Cross to volunteer and was sent to Gulfport, Mississippi There, he tells, he managed a Client Service Center from mid-September until early October. "While the site provided as much as $20 million in 20 days to nearly 20,000 households, the actual support each household received was minimal" [img_assist|nid=19732|title=Ben with Rev Harris|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=100|height=99] Could you give more details? The center was unable to meet the needs of the community despite significant public relations and fundraising efforts by the American Red Cross misrepresenting the opposite. We wrote checks for $360 per person. $660 for two in a household, $960 for three, $1265 for four, $1565 for five or more in a household. After Katrina, $360 was petty cash for someone that lost everything. Many people walked in without anything--- everything had been destroyed in the storm. You say that the center was unable to meet the needs of the community, explain more what you mean here please - what do you think was the problem, and what the cause Specifically, I think that an organization fundraising this heavily is not likely to disclose its shortcomings. I see this as a great conflict of interest. Disaster survivors need disaster relief groups that will serve as advocates and be honest about the extent of their abilities and limitations in providing disaster relief services. This is why I believe that the public affairs work by the American Red Cross after Katrina was deceptive.... the public was not told about the problems, only the successes. Because the problems were shielded from public scrutiny, they were not addressed and suffering was exacerbated. If my experience means anything, as a manager of a Red Cross "Client Service Center after Katrina, I was told that I'd be fired if I talked to the media without calling public affairs first...I continued to talk about service gaps (facts only) and was relieved of my service in the middle of the day by Red Cross security and was driven to the airport in Mobile, AL..... To which media did you talk, and what issues/facts, did you report?I spoke with a few reporters. One from a radio station in Syracuse, CNN showed up one day, and one more reporter, I think from an AL or L television station. I shared this information: We had and unresponsive infant at our site because of the heat and long lines, mothers bringing babies that weren't their own to move up in the line, an inability to provide tetanus shots and IVs, a complete cut in National Guard medics and 1/4 the National Guard members you had the day before, only one or two tents (provided by the damaged church next door) that were only enough to cover a small percentage of those waiting for services, no automation and less efficiency because of it, critical supply shortages on some days (i.e. no salts, meals).... I don't think I was directly quoted on much... and I wasn't negative, just eager to make sure gaps in services were made public and addressed. Also, Hurricane Rita struck Louisiana around the same time and a lot of the news shifted to Rita for a few days. Another interesting twist, is that a few days after I left, one of the security guards that drove me to the airport called me to let me know about another problem he was experiencing, related to Red Cross services being provided, with a request that I help publicize it. You say that 'reported' gaps were addressed faster than unreported ones, can you give some examples? Yes. I call it the Anderson Cooper effect. I remember watching him report that a number of FEMA trailers were sitting in Arkansas or Tennessee unused. A couple days later, I watched him report that because of the news story and publicity, the trailers were getting moved to the Gulf Coast and being put to use. It's that kind of publicity that often broke through the red-tape and led to problems and gaps in services getting addressed. Did you sign any contract/agreement which bound to confidentiality while in volunteer service for the RC?I'm sure I signed an agreement that I'd follow a code of conduct, rules, etc. However, during a crisis, critical supply shortages on some days (i.e. no salts, meals) .... staying quiet is not an option or a service to the public, even if it means getting sent home. Regardless, lives were at stake, we were providing a public function (ESF-6 of the National Response Plan) and the Red Cross was getting reimbursed by the Federal Government for billions of dollars of aid. The big rule was that we could not compromise the privacy of the clients/survivors at our site and that is something I did not do. When I asked my supervisors to document why they were sending me home in my evaluation, they would not. I was given high marks and was told I was getting sent home because my three-week service term had expired.. a direct contradiction of what I was told by the public affairs coordinator who told me that if I talked before calling public affairs, I'd get fired. What does the Disaster Accountability Project do? The mission of the Disaster Accountability Project is to provide accountability and oversight before, during, and after disasters through monitoring and policy research. We focus on both immediate and long-term disaster accountability and oversight. Our Disaster Accountability Monitor network attempts to verify reports that we receive via the hotline. We publicize reported gaps in services in an effort to make sure that they are addressed by the responsible organizations or agencies. After Katrina, publicized gaps in services were more likely to be addressed than those that were not. Long-Term, our website is tracking the hundreds (soon thousands) of post-Katrina recommendations to improve the nation's disaster prevention, response, relief, and recovery systems. While we are going through reports, collecting recommendations on our website, and tracking their progress, we have a public-engagement tool that allows the public to help track recommendations and submit that information. We will do our best to verify the information we receieve and post it as soon as possible. Right now, our top priority is recruiting Disaster Accountability Monitors and Bloggers and fundraising to hire a staff person and maintain the site. How are the reports on your website verified? We do not endorse them. But we are looking to see what has been done about the recommendations in each report. Given our nation's lack of preparedness, I think it makes sense that we consider as many options as possible and I'd like to hold our leaders accountable to that. Each recommendation on our website has citation information and with that, anyone can access the report the recommendation came from.... and people can decide for themselves how much weight they want to give each recommendation. How is the Disaster Accountability Project funded? Good question. We're not. The idea for this project was conceived in Fall 2005, planned between February - July 2007, and officially launched in August 2007. Hiring a staff position is now a top priority and we need funding to both achieve that goal and maintain the Project. Please help!www.disasteraccountability.org  [img_assist|nid=19734|title=|desc=Photo courtesy of www.ecbt.org|link=url,http://www.ecbt.org/parents/disasterrecoverystory.cfm|align=left|width=640|height=312]http://content-wire.com/accountability-project-public-emergency-response1189253722Content WireDeskbusiness development,business information,business need,business partners,business process,Democracy,Development,disaster recovery,economy,Economy,Education,global economic,market opportunity,priority,private capitalOperation Capitalism For the PoorHoping to expand capital markets where there is no hope, Operation HOPE, a financial literacy and empowerment nonprofit, says it will provide free Emergency Financial First-Aid Kits (EFFAKs) and Preparation & Recovery Seminars to help Americans prepare for the challenges they might face after a disaster or personal emergency. The organisation operates with more than 400 private sector partners, 1,500 nonprofit and school partners, and 100 government partners, in 30 U.S. major markets and South Africa. Through its global initiatives and three principal programs, Banking on Our Future, HOPE Coalition America, and HOPE Centers, Operation HOPE has raised more than $400 million for its "silver rights" mission to make free enterprise and capitalism relevant and accessible to underrepresented and disenfranchised communities. Somehow, that sounds wrong. Is there no other way out of poverty than 'capitalism'? What about a nice and sweet 'social market economy without excessive speculation'? "Operation HOPE is recognizing National Preparedness Month, September 2007, by encouraging individuals and families to complete an Emergency Financial First-Aid Kit. By filling out an EFFAK before an emergency or disaster occurs, you can ensure that you have available all the general and financial information you will need to start the recovery process. You might not realize it now, but to rebuild your life after a catastrophe such as Katrina or any other natural disaster, you'll need to have immediate access to information that is normally destroyed or not accessible, like insurance policies, copies of personal identification, account numbers, prescriptions, birth certificates and pictures of ruined furniture. The EFFAK was designed to help citizens prepare for such an event," says John Hope Bryant, Operation HOPE Founder, Chairman and CEO. Nice trick. Really well timed campaign, in times of Hurricane. Who wouldn't fall for that, eh? Formed as Operation HOPE's financial emergency preparedness and recovery division, HCA's partners include, not surprisingly, FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security. The division offers free financial information and guidance on emergency budgeting and payment strategies known as "economic triage" in times of emergency or disaster. I wonder if they also sell insurance. a nice package for the whole family 'we'll fetch you with priority if you call the toll free number' Dont ask me why, but it sounds like someone has spotted the business opportunity   www.operationhope.org Dont fall for ithttp://content-wire.com/operation-capitalism-poor1189253043Content WireDeskcomputer,development time,global technology,innovation,look forward,new research,new technology,research and development,science,senior research,senior technology,senior vice president,strategic technology,supercomputer,Technology,technology research,vice presidentCray Opens Development Center in Austin Global supercomputer leader Cray Inc. has opened a new engineering development center in Austin, Texas. "Austin has a very strong high-tech community in both hardware and software and provides a deep pool of technology and engineering talent," said Peg Williams, senior vice president of research and development at Cray. "We look forward to becoming part of the community and, at the same time, advancing Cray's leading-edge technological strength and innovation in HPC." Austin's status as a technology hub, the close proximity to a number of strategic development partners and the University of Texas, with its strong computer science and computer engineering programs, were key factors in the company's decision to open a facility in the area. Located at 6200 Bridgepoint Parkway, engineers in the new Austin office will focus on developing boards and custom ASICs for Cray's high-end custom supercomputers, along with supporting future software development. In addition to the new Austin office, Cray has engineering facilities in Seattle, Mendota Heights, Minnesota and Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. Cray's corporate headquarters are located in Seattle. www.cray.com http://content-wire.com/cray-opens-development-center-austin1189252894Content WireDeskacquiring,business model,business models,direct access,investments,market opportunity,market share,marketplace,models,new business,new technology,notebook,strategic technology,TechnologyGateway acquisition brings direct sales expertise to Acer. Acer increases access to European markets where currently challenged. Lenovo's move into European markets via their intended play on Packard Bell now blocked. On Monday, August 27, 2007 Acer Inc. announced that it will be acquiring rival PC maker Gateway Inc. Through this strategic play, Acer gains access to Gateway's expertise in the direct sales build-to-order business model—a model new to Acer. In addition, through Gateway's investments in Packard Bell, Acer will gain access to the European marketplace, an arena it has had difficulty entering in the past. Of further interest, Acer's acquisition essentially blocks Lenovo's move to acquire Packard Bell, a move likely motivated by Lenovo's interest in increasing its market access in Europe. Tactically, Gateway's mid-level desktop products and eMachines low-end desktop models provide an opportunity for Acer to broaden its desktop portfolio. Acer's notebook portfolio is already well populated. In the US marketplace, Acer can gain immediate market share increase through the acquisition of a competitor. Gateway is still a player in the US market's largest electronics retailers, Best Buy and Circuit City. www.in-stat.com http://content-wire.com/gateway-acquisition-brings-direct-sales-expertise-acer1189242161Content WireAllenHarkleroadapplication developers,ASP.net 2.0,CMS,content management,Content Management,content management application,content management system,database management,images,internet,management application,promises,simplistic,Web 2.0,web based,Web CMS,web content,web content management,web content management system,web server,web users Content Management Without FrustrationAnother content management system promises to enable businesses to better manage their websites. GMP CMS 2.0 is an ASP.net 2.0 web application with a Microsoft SQL Server backend that empowers users with effortless and simplistic website management. Easy Setup GMP CMS 2.0 promises content with a simple 3 step process, say its developers: upload the files, add your database connection and license key to the web.config and run a single script. Once CMS 2.0 has been set up users can create the website, upload media, upload images, etc. via web browser and even edit the website style (CSS) in the administrative area via web browser. Cross-browser compliant, the system works the same with Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari or any gecko based browser engine on Linux, Macintosh, Windows and UNIX. www.gmpcms.com http://content-wire.com/gmp-services-inc-announces-content-management-system-2-01189097826Content WireDeskAdvertising,belief,criterion,existence,human rights,images,inevitable,informational,intelligence,intention,mainstream,manipulation,Media,Politics,provide tools,public sector,recent research9/11, How Can American Media live with the official version of the story? <div> <div> By Giulietto ChiesaSeptember 11th, 2001 was a changing point in history and irrevocably altered the global agenda. Many Western convictions were shattered following this tragic and astonishing attack in which three thousand innocents lost their lives. The event sparked a United States military offensive that has resulted in two wars and has changed not only the world's geopolitical situation but also the balance of power that had been established in the preceding decades. Although the culprits were presented to the world with amazing rapidity, it took more than three years to for the United States Congress to form the 9/11 Investigation Commission to formulate an overall explanation of the facts surrounding the attacks and their organization. Only one (alleged) culprit has been found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment by a regular trial. However, after a careful analysis of the official version, what emerge are not only the numerous lacunas in investigation procedure, but also the clear dishonesty of several other points. The lack of credibility, official reticence and some obvious inconsistencies of the official story raise additional, extremely serious questions. There is no need to lie when the truth is clear. When the powers that be lie, it means there are truths they want to hide. The existence of these falsehoods leads us to believe that the kamikazes did not act on their own, but had powerful allies at various levels of the American establishment, in the machinery of defense, and in the country's intelligence agencies. The media – especially the American media, excepting a very small minority – have accepted the official version. In the years following the attacks a deafening curtain of silence dropped over mainstream the mainstream and journalists applied the axiom of contemporary reporting: “what shouldn't be true, isn't” (Gore Vidal). We do not accept this criterion. In light of the outstanding importance of 9/11 and its global aftermath we cannot tolerate these numerous omissions, and apparent thoughtlessness, carelessness, and blaring silence. The "inefficiency-incompetence" theory does not bear out even the most basic analysis. The inadequacy of this theory leads us to suspect a deliberate intention to keep the truth from reaching the general public. Faced with the multitude of unexplained curiosities surrounding the event, a crucial turning point in our collective history, we are obliged to question and search for answers. In recent years, the numerous attempts to search for this truth have yielded a massive inventory of rigorously examined data, analysis, and images; this evidence confirms our every suspicion. We want to offer our contribution to this body work, knowing that peace and democracy face terrible risks until light is shed on the responsibility for these attacks and how they were effectively carried out. Experts have written that the truth regarding September 11 th will not be discovered in this generation. We cannot replace the work of investigators who worked with primary data gathered in the field and eyewitness testimony. However, the data they produced contain obvious deceit and imprecision. Our work cannot possibly provide a complete reconstruction of the truth about the entire scenario; it consists nonetheless in verifying whether and how other reconstructions (the official story and the other studies carried out by scholars, journalists, researchers, intelligence agents, and other sector experts) are compatible with the known facts, and whether they are logical, scientific deductions. Only after illustrating the inconsistencies shall we move forward, in search of possible explanations. The titanic task of collecting and analyzing data requires teamwork. We believe in collective research, the aim of which is to produce a series of multimedia informational tools, especially targeted at the experts and journalistic community. A preliminary survey of the available information allows us to conclude that the level of knowledge regarding this event and its implications is extremely low, even among politicians and the media. We are aware that treating this subject exposes us to two risks: the more minor risk of being grouped in the category of paranoid, conspiracy-theorists; and the greater risk of becoming exposed to inevitable attack from the mainstream media, in other words, those who've kept silent until now. For this reason, this project has sought the involvement of specialists in the various fields of investigation. These individuals provide the necessary guarantees to avoid manipulation and factious misinterpretation of our work. We are also aware that judgment about the dimension of complicity - official or unofficial - might be very varied. However we are all united by the belief that the importance of this issue renders independent inquiry is absolutely indispensable. This must be done not only in the name of the victims, but also in the name of world peace, and our very status as citizens as civil and human rights have been seriously compromised since 9/11, as have the basic norms of the international community. </div> </div> <div><div>Giulietto Chiesa, Franco Fracassi </div> <div>Megachip organisation's working group on 9/11 </div><div> </div><div>www.zerofilm.it </div><div> </div></div>http://content-wire.com/9-11-how-can-american-media-live-official-version-story1189096112Content WireDeskcomputer,failure,intelligence,pilot,scientists,six months,suicide,War,WorldThe towers, Bush, The War in Iraq and Checking the Facts<div align="center"> <div align="center"> <div align="left"> <div align="left"> <div> <div style="margin: 6pt 3.6pt 0pt 14.2pt">[img_assist|nid=19720|title=9/11|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=80]The United States spends 892 billion dollars every year to protect its citizens and its territory. It is the “best protected country in the world,” according to President George W. Bush. Nevertheless, on September 11th the very heart of America was attacked; 3000 defenseless American citizens were killed on their own soil. According to the official version, this tragedy was the result of a well-conducted operation by nineteen hijackers of Arab origin, commanded by a man that lives in a cave in Afghanistan. Who in America should be blamed for the failure to protect the US territory? According to the official version, the result of a hasty and incomplete investigation, the chain of civil and military command on that day had fallen victim to a spontaneous series of accidents and coincidences. This explanation lacks credibility. Statisticians have calculated that the probability of so many negative events occurring all at the same time is one in sixty-two million. This leaves us with two, and only two, possible explanations: this breakdown was either the result of government inefficiency and negligence, or of government complicity. When the United States was attacked at Pearl Harbor, 2341 soldiers and 68 civilians lost their lives. Walter Short, Commander of the Hawaii Defense Army and Husband Kimmel, Commander of the Pacific Fleet were held responsible, were disciplined and were removed from duty as a result of their negligence. After the catastrophe of September 11th, no one was either disciplined or removed from duty: not Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, nor those responsible for the civil security and Air Force Defense of the United States. Therefore, the official version of events would suggest neither inefficiency nor negligence in the chain of command. Considering the tragedy that occurred in the best-defended country in the world, there is no other logical explanation than this: on September 11th the chain of defense command had been deactivated. The second theory, complicity, remains the only reasonable explanation. Five years on, no credible evidence has been presented to explain exactly how the attacks were organized, planned and put into action. Everyone knows (or thinks) it was orchestrated by Osama Bin Laden who sent 19 members of Al Qaeda to hijack planes and fly them on suicide missions. The fact is that there is no concrete evidence that implicates Osama Bin Laden, Al Qaeda or any of the 19 hijackers. There has been a lack of serious investigation and insufficient sharing of information on this case. On 11 March 2002, George Tenet, at the time director of the United States Central Intelligence Agency, declared, “That summer we had received some general information that terrorists were planning some major operations in the United States. However, we never had enough information to prevent what happened.” Two months later, on May 8, 2002, Robert Mueller, director of the Unites States Federal Bureau of Investigations, stated: “There was nothing we could have done to predict or prevent the attacks.” Dan Rather, America’s most famous anchorman, said on BBC NewsNight “We didn’t investigate because we were afraid of being lynched.” Many questions have arisen; too many black holes with no answer. Too many mistakes were made and too many lives were lost. </div><div style="margin: 6pt 3.6pt 0pt 14.2pt">A recent investigation on 9/11 begins here: starting from ZERO and reconstructing the facts. </div> </div> </div> <div align="left"> </div> <div align="center"> <div align="center"> <div align="center"> </div> </div> </div> <div align="left"> </div> <div align="left"> <div> <div style="margin: 6pt 3.6pt 0pt 14.2pt">ZERO is a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3hbutnYOYM&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ezerofilm%2Eit%2FIlFilm%2FPresentazione%2Ftabid%2F62%2Fen%2DUS%2FDefault%2Easpx" target="_blank">documentary </a>film that breaks down the wall of silence; it is a detailed journalistic investigation supported by interviews filmed all around the world with experts, scientists, journalists, politicians and witnesses; exclusive public and private archival footage and sound recording; official documents; computer graphic reconstructions; animation; 2D and 3D graphics. ZERO also has a theatrical component which has included the participation of celebrated artists and enriches the film’s narrative. The documentary is divided into six parts: </div> <ol><li>How and why did the World Trade Center collapse?</li><li>What happened at the Pentagon?</li><li>How is it possible that the world's most powerful air defense strategy failed on 9/11 and no one was held responsible?</li><li>Who are the hijackers and how did they act? Were they able to pilot a Boeing?</li><li>What is Al Qaeda and what are its links with US intelligence?</li><li>Why were investigations on the hijackers that had started prior to 9/11 stopped by top-level FBI officials and why did subsequent investigations last only 2 days?</li></ol></div><div><a href="http://www.zerofilm.it/IlFilm/LeFonti/tabid/63/en-US/Default.aspx" target="_blank"> The People</a></div><div><a href="http://www.zerofilm.it" target="_blank"> Zero.it website </a></div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>http://content-wire.com/towers-bush-war-iraq-and-checking-facts1188895853Content Wirestevennadditions,authoring tool,CMS,collaboration,content management,Content Management,content management systems,content management tools,content migration,content repository,Content Technologies,Daisy,development environment,development tools,document management,document management systems,environments,improvements,management environment,management tools,migration,new release,open source,Open Source Content Management Systems,productivity,repository,source code,workflowOpen Source Content Management: Daisy 2.1. Gets Real[img_assist|nid=19715|title=|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=94|height=100]Outerthought released Daisy 2.1, their flagship open source CMS.The 2.1 release contains numerous feature additions and productivity enhancements, and is the result of Daisy being used in an increasing number of real-world projects by both Outerthought and selected partners. Most notable additions are: * a new Spring-based runtime container for the document repository that makes developing additional or third-party components a lot easier, backed also by a simplified build setup * support for document variables, i.e. for managing parametrized content * the addition of a document pre-save interaction hook which can be used for eSignature support in controlled authoring environments * a WYSIWYG (HTML-based) document version diffing tool which has been developed in collaboration with the Google Summer of Code program * various important improvements of the Daisy query language and publishing environment Daisy supports jBPM-based workflow and sports a set of content migration tools since the last release. The development of Daisy 2.1 has been supported in parts by customer projects, by a number of funding customers, and by Outerthought itself. All things Daisy can be found at www.daisycms.org.http://content-wire.com/outerthought-releases-daisy-2-11188823975Content WireDeskacquired,adoption,business content,business information,business opportunities,business solutions,chief executive,content acquisition,content integration,content management,Content Management,content management services,content management software,content management solutions,content management system,content technology,global content,global provider,global technology,gross revenue,information technology,integration software,leading technology,management market,management product,management requirements,management solutions,management technology,new business,new product,new technology,penetration,product integration,prospects,revenue growth,revenue opportunities,SDL,signs,six months,system integration,technology integration,technology provider,technology solutions,translation,translation technology,Tridion,web content,web content management,web content management systemSDL interim results not as bad as expectedTridion contribution of revenue of £3.8m and £1.8m of profit before tax SDL, provider of Global Information Management (GIM) solutions that acquired Content Management company Tridion earlier this year, has announced its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2007 today. Overall, the results seem to show signs of revenues increase, says the company Highlights include: <ul><li>Results ahead of market expectations </li><li>Gross Margin up 2% points to 52% compared to the first half of 2006 </li><li>Tridion contribution of revenue of £3.8m and £1.8m of profit before tax </li><li>Successful integration of Tridion with encouraging early signs of cross-selling opportunities </li><li>Strengthening of product set with acquisition of Passolo for €2m </li><li>Strong market penetration: SDL supplies technology and/or services to the world’s top 10 brands </li><li>Significant new business wins including Intel, Phillips and Greater London Authority </li></ul> Mark Lancaster, Chairman and Chief Executive of SDL, comments“We are pleased to announce a strong performance for the half year, ahead of market expectations. We continue to see solid organic growth driven by the increased adoption of our technology and a growing awareness of our solutions. In addition, the acquisition of Tridion, a leading web content management software company, has integrated well into SDL, contributing to the growth in the period. “Looking ahead, we remain confident in our prospects for the full year. Overall, we are encouraged by the progress achieved to date and anticipate to see continued growing interest in Global Information Management Solutions. Our newly acquired web content management capability combined with SDL’s Translation Management System, make for a compelling proposition to address the complex requirements of an evolving market place. We anticipate that this combined offering will deliver continued growth in the longer term.” www.sdl.com http://content-wire.com/sdl-interim-results-not-bad-expected1188815261Content WireDeskaccounting,email,global network,global provider,hackers,home networking,Internet,internet,invitation,launch,malware,music,networking,proportion,single point,six months,six percent,spam,stock,take advantage,third parties,three months,variants,virus,web based,web pages,web usersTop of the Virus PopDramatic drop during holiday season A dramatic drop in malware spreading in the form of email attachments, with just one infected message in every 1,000 emails in August, compared to one in 322 during the first six months of 2007. Spam, however, has continued to be a problem - much of it linking to malicious websites designed to infect users. A series of large-scale attacks have been made via spam email, directing users to infected webpages with the promise of ecards, pictures of nude celebrities, YouTube movies, and pop music videos. People visiting the sites are running the risk of having their PCs infected by malicious code which can then steal personal information, spam out more malware and junk email, or launch distributed denial of service attacks against innocent parties, according to Sophos, provider of IT security and control  The figures, compiled by Sophos's global network of monitoring stations, show The total number of infected webpages continues to grow, albeit at a slightly slower rate than the month before. During August, Sophos detected an average of 5,000 new infected webpages each day, compared to 6,000 in July. There was also a sharp spike in spam activity in the middle of August due to one of the world's biggest ever single spam campaigns designed to manipulate stock prices. The top ten list of web-based malware threats in August 2007 reads as follows: 1. Mal/Iframe 47.8% 2. Mal/ObfJS 17.7% 3. Troj/Decdec 14.0% 4. Troj/Fujif 4.3% 5. Mal/EncPk 2.5% 6. Troj/Psyme 2.2% 7. Mal/Packer 1.1% 8. Troj/Pintadd 1.0% 9. VBS/Redlof 0.7% 10. Mal/Behav 0.5% Others 8.2% Mal/Iframe and ObfJS have retained their positions at the top of the chart. Meanwhile, Decdec has crept up to third place, accounting for 14 percent of this month's web-based malware, up 11 percent on July. "Cybercriminals are successfully using email and the web in co-ordination to infect innocent internet surfers," said Carole Theriault, senior security consultant at Sophos. "Home users and businesses alike need to take more steps to protect themselves from online threats, or risk being hit time and time again. It should be clear for everyone to see that businesses, web hosts and ISPs are failing to properly defend their websites. Fraudsters are continuing to find rich pickings on the internet, duping users into handing over their personal information." The top ten list of countries hosting malware-infected web pages in August 2007, reads as follows: 1. China (inc. Hong Kong) 44.8% 2. United States 20.8% 3. Russia 11.3% 4. Ukraine 7.7% 5. Poland 2.4% 6. Germany 1.6% 7. Netherlands 1.1% 8. Italy 0.9% 9= Canada 0.8% 9= United Kingdom 0.8% Others 7.8% Whilst the top three countries hosting malware-infected webpages during August have remained unchanged from July, the percentage of malicious pages hosted by them has dropped by ten percent to 76.6 percent. The proportion of infected pages hosted by the Ukraine has more than doubled in the last month, and the Netherlands, Italy and Canada have all re-entered the chart. "While more than three quarters of infected webpages are hosted in just three countries, that doesn't mean you only get hit if you visit websites based in those areas," explained Theriault. "Hackers are hijacking websites around the world to make them point to malware on sites based in China, the USA, and Russia. Cybercriminals don't discriminate when it comes to targeting the web - they're just out for all they can get." The top ten list of email-based malware threats in August 2007 reads as follows: 1. W32/Netsky 30.5% 2. W32/Zafi 20.0% 3. W32/Mytob 15.0% 4. Troj/Pushdo 10.8% 5. Troj/Dloadr 4.8% 6. W32/MyDoom 4.4% 7. Mal/Dropper 2.3% 8. W32/Bagle 2.1% 9. W32/Sality 1.8% 10. W32/Traxg 1.2% Others 7.1% While the Pushdo Trojan horse has been around since March, it is a newcomer to the top ten, accounting for 10.8 percent of all email borne malware during August. Its rise is down to the fact that around four new variants of Pushdo are currently being spammed out every day, in a bid to try and bypass security systems. "Most malware writers seem to be taking an extended holiday from spreading their malicious code via email attachments, and are using spam and the web instead to infect users," said Theriault. "Criminals are hard at work trying to slip past filters at the corporate gateway, and businesses must ensure that their security solutions are kept up-to-date to defend against new virus variants and new spam techniques before they can strike." During August, Sophos continued to see hoaxes and chainletters spreading between internet users via email. One new hoax, which took advantage of the growing popularity of social networking websites, warned that Facebook users who accepted a friend invitation from a user called Bum_tnoo7 would be opening themselves up to identity theft. Sophos does recommend that users of social networking websites take steps to protect their identities online but this particular warning is bogus. <a href="http://www.sophos.com/"> </a>http://content-wire.com/top-virus-pop1188814244Content WireDeskcomputer,game,global technology,logic,mobile phone,new technology,score,Technology,trainPump up your cortex With Mobile IQ Trainer[img_assist|nid=19704|title=|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=100]All Muscles and No Brain? Intellectual stimulation to train brain. Many hink that video and mobile games are a waste of time and consume your precious eyeballs for nothing, now a new Mobile IQ trainer claims that it can help improve memory and boost IQ, all via your mobile phone. Ojom GmbH, creator and global publisher of mobile phone games, launched Mobile IQ Trainer, offering mobile users a number of intellectually-stimulating and fun games, including Sudoku. The game can improve your processing speed and IQ, and the format has proven to be globally successful and now it comes to your mobile, so get those synapses snapping and train your brain. As the game is on your phone, you have the freedom train your brain anywhere from on the train to playing at home. The game's instructions are easy to understand and are delivered via the game's own friendly talking robot, Bob, say the developersThe game starts with an introduction from your quirky guide; Bob, who offers you a variety of games to increase your brain power. The first time that you play you have an initial IQ score to let you know the 'age' of your brain, which you can improve the more you play. Mobile IQ Trainer contains many challenging games of arithmetic, algebra, spatial thinking, memory, and logic puzzles that you can play as part of your challenge to become a genius. Bob, your in game computer nerd, adds some extra fun to the game, with comical comments and words of encouragement to motivate you to keep up your daily training. Marc Buße, channel manager, of Ojom GmbH, said: "This is a fun packed and addictive game which gives the player a fun and intellectually rewarding gaming challenge. With a combination of skill and logic the player can hone their IQ potential and have great competitive fun at the same time." www.ojom.com.http://content-wire.com/pump-your-cortex-mobile-iq-trainer1188814035Content WireDeskcontent integration,content technology,Culture,Education,email,information technology,integrations,Internet,internet,mobile content,mobile phones,mobile services,networking,new technology,parents,technology integration,technology provider,video content,video services,web content,web pages,wireless servicesSocial Networking For Schools World of content for education Provider of online K-12 school-to-home communication services,HomeworkNOW.com is using tools such as YouTube.com, Facebook.com to help kids network with a sense of purpose Today HomeworkNOW.com provides school personnel with the ability to communicate homework, classroom activities, school announcements/emergencies, notes, files, and more to parents/students via Web browser, email, mobile phones, and soon interactive TV. “We are pleased to announce these content integrations and continue to make vital school information more accessible to students and parents,” commented Nick Rago, HomeworkNOW Co-Founder. “We strive to keep busy parents involved with their children’s education and make it easier for students to stay connected to school. Both are vital ingredients in ensuring a better educational experience for our youth. Most importantly, we make school-to-home technology available to schools at a cost next to nothing.” The new content integrations further advance the means in which school administrators, teachers, students and parents stay connected: * YouTube: The integration with YouTube gives teachers and administrators the ability to easily record, upload, and integrate video content into their HomeworkNOW.com class and school content pages. The integration makes video instruction, video announcements, use of supplemental educational video, publishing of student productions, and much more possible. * Facebook: A popular social networking site, Facebook.com is used daily by many high school students. Through a HomeworkNOW Facebook app, high school students will soon be able to link their my.HomeworkNOW.com and Facebook accounts to see school announcements, alerts, and classroom assignments directly through their Facebook account. * Verizon Wireless: Through the Mobile Web feature of Verizon Wireless phones, subscribers are able to easily access HomeworkNOW.com to view vital school information such as homework assignments, school announcements, closings, emergencies and more. SMS alerting of school alerts and classroom information is also available. www.homeworknow.com http://content-wire.com/social-networking-schools1188813699Content WireDeskAmsterdam,buzz,Creativity,digital video,industry news,investors,Ireland,news content,news site,showcase,video contentHotbed of Digital Creativity from Ireland to Amsterdam[img_assist|nid=19703|title=Amsterdam|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=75|height=100] New heights for digital hub   crea8ivity.com is a showcase for the best of digital Northern Ireland for international buyers, commissioners, investors and developers - designed to let them see what Northern Ireland's creative digital industry has got to offer. It's also a community site where people from al over the world who are passionate about digital content can talk, exchange ideas and get together. In short it's a community of people exchanging opinions, and solving problems, by sharing ideas and solutions. It just so happens that all of this content comes from Northern Ireland based companies, says Jeffrey Peel, of crea8ivity.com who sounds as if he is having a good time in Amsterdam, from where he says "We'll be feeding news and video clips back to our crea8ivity.com community about the buzz in Amsterdam, We want to meet, greet and network with as many buyers as possible. Over the course of the show we plan to get reactions and comment from some of the most exciting exhibitors and delegates and shoot some video too if we get a chance! "We'll get on-the-spot reactions from them and others and tell the world about it all through our site." http://content-wire.com/digital-creativity-ireland-amsterdam1188563972Content WireDeskaccountability,benefit,boundaries,charity,circumstances,corporations,decisions,Democracy,Development,development environment,development time,economy,Economy,global economic,health care,help companies,human rights,Human Rights,inevitably,love,money,money to be made,necessarily,new economy,one of the few,open source,open source world,prioritize,public sector,real estate,real time,relationship,repeatedly,respect to,reveal,single source,six months,six percent,take advantage,three months,time and money,time it takes,time spentThe Ten Most Important Lessons Learned - Two Years of KatrinaBy Bill Quigley  One. Build and rebuild community. When disaster hits and life is wrecked, you immediately seem to be on your own. Isolation after a disaster is a recipe for powerlessness and depression. Family, community, church, work associations are all important – get them up and working as fast as possible. People will stand up and fight, but we need communities to do it. Prize women – they are the first line of community builders. Guys will talk and fight and often grab the spotlight, but women will help everyone and do whatever it takes to protect families and communities. Powerful forces mobilize immediately after a disaster. People and politicians and organizations have their own agendas and it helps them if our communities are fragmented. Setting one group against another, saying one group is more important than another is not helpful. Stress and distress is high for everyone, but community support will multiply the resources of individuals. Build bridges. People together are much stronger than people alone. Two. Self-reliance. Your community must be ready to re-settle your property as soon as possible and care for those most in need. Prioritize help for the elderly, the sick, children and women, especially the poor. The prime cure for helplessness is taking control over your own life and joining others to fight for justice. Groups and people will want to treat you like a victim – say you are traumatized and incapable of making basic decisions about yourself. They will tell you they know best and act like they know best. Tell them to get lost. Three. Tell your own story. Sharing our stories, successes and failures, is a way to connect and educate ourselves. Connecting with others nationally and internationally who have been through disasters is the very best thing that you can do. Disasters and the corporations that cause them and profit from them do not respect national boundaries. Look for global justice connections. Learn from those who have been through this before. They will tell you - do not let anyone say who you are or what is best for your community – say it yourself. Those in power will blame circumstances outside their control for what happened and inevitably they will blame the victims of the disaster. Those in power will tell the people’s story in ways that makes the powerful look good. If others do not tell the truth – you do it and get your stories out. Real allies help lift up the voices of the people. Four. Value every single human life equally. Every religion and human rights recognizes that every single person is entitled to human dignity. There are no forms to fill out, no criteria to meet. Every single person no matter their race or gender or economic situation has equal value. Every person has the right to participate in the response to the disaster equally. Every single person and family has the right to repair and rebuild and participate in the decisions being made. The exact opposite occurs after a disaster. The people with economic and political power get together and decide what has to happen. They also decide which people are “worthy” of getting help first. They consider poor working people disposable and movable. Since this is an emergency, they say there is not time to allow regular people to participate in the decisions. If every single person is not treated equally before the disaster hits, they certainly should not expect to be treated fairly after. Five. Don’t wait for a leader – become one. Resist the tendency to think someone else is going to come save you. There is no leader out there. We must each become leaders and followers in order to bring about the change that is needed. Each of us is challenged to get beyond our pre-disaster comfort zone. New leadership is essential to avoid just repeating the mistakes that contributed to the disaster. Those who work for human development instead of real estate development will be repeatedly criticized as “obstructionist” by those who do not value every life equally. Be prepared for these criticisms. That is what they said about Mandela, Gandhi, ML King. Good company. Six. Prepare for a Love-Hate Relationship with the Government. After disaster, only the government has the resources to help fix major problems for the social good. We must hold them accountable and demand that the public sector mobilize and assist in an equitable way. At the same time, we cannot wait for the government. Nor can we necessarily listen to the government. After a disaster, the government will immediately be manipulated by those in power. We must both critique the government and build our own alternative community supports. Seven. Government will help businesses first and second and third, and if there is anything left, maybe fourth. Who is in charge of government before the disaster? Governments will look to privatize the public sector – housing, health, education, transportation, every system after a disaster. That was what they wanted before the disaster, so the disaster offers them an opportunity to move their plans into action. Corporations see disasters as opportunities. They look for valuable land that poor people were living on before the disaster. They decide that there is a better economic use for that land. Then they will push the government to come up with some excuse to take the land for other uses. You will quickly see that those with power and money before the disaster end up with more power and more money after the disaster. You will see that 98% of the money distributed in a disaster ends up enriching corporations. Our most colorful example is the blue tarps that the government put on the roofs of houses after Katrina. The main contractor, Shaw Group, got $175 a square to put on the tarps. The subcontracted the work out to another corporation for $75 a square. The second corporation subcontracted the work out to a third corporation for $30 a square. Who in turn subcontracted it out again to guys who did the work for $2 a square. Two dollars a square for the actual worker is less than 2 percent of what the government paid out – guess who got the money. Wonder why the Gulf Coast is not fixed up yet? This is not an accident. It is not that the system isn’t working. It is working for the benefit of those who create and fund and manipulate it. Read Naomi Klein’s THE SHOCK DOCTRINE: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. It spells it out in detail. If government works primarily for corporations before the disaster, after the disaster it will be a hyper corporate-friendly environment. Eight. Disasters reveal the structural injustices in our communities in race, gender and class and are thus learning and action opportunities. Wonder about the role of race, class and gender in society? Watch what happens when disaster strikes. Who is left behind during the disaster? Who is left behind in the repair and rebuilding and planning and decision-making? Disasters illuminate injustices. There is tremendous educational opportunity to look at what really matters in our society after a disaster. The curtains are pulled back. The bandages are ripped off. Our histories of injustice are laid bare for all to see. International human rights create great opportunities to reframe the justice discussion. But just looking is insufficient. Join in solidarity with the same folks who are left out. If a disaster can be an opportunity for those interested in unjust economic advantage, why cannot we change the pattern and make it an opportunity to redistribute justice in our communities and right the wrongs that created what all can now see? Nine. A justice-based reconstruction will not be funded. Money will flow. Charities, churches and governments will send money for charitable help. If your community is trying to create a more just community than the one destroyed by the disaster, there will not be funding for that. If you are trying to make the community fairer for and with the poor, the elderly, and those who lived in unjust circumstances before the disaster – get ready to raise your own funds for your organization. Funding for charity will come, but funding for justice will not. We must insist on some transparency and accountability from the non-profits and foundations and others who have raised and spent billions in the names of those in distress. They cannot be allowed to operate like multi-national corporations – they must open their books and involve people in their decision-making. Solidarity not charity is one of the great demands to come out of Katrina from the Common Ground collective. Another is “Nothing about us without us is for us” from Peoples Hurricane Relief. After Katrina, it again became clear that decades of oil development has literally destroyed the natural protections around the gulf coast. Yet the disaster actually enriched the oil companies who helped cause it, creating their biggest year of profit in some time. Yet, do you hear the voices of those calling out for the oil corporations to be held accountable for what they have caused? Those voices are small and unfunded. But they, like so many others calling for justice, are out there and will one day be heard. Ten. Love is the answer – justice work is a commitment for the long haul. When disaster hits, there is a natural urge to work around the clock to try to set things right. After a few weeks or months, it will become clear that is not sustainable. Working 24 hours a day is going to make you as crazy as the government. No one likes a crank – even if they are working for justice. Building communities of resistance and working for human development is long-term work. Love is a tremendous source of energy. But we have to love ourselves as well so we can keep living this resistance with others. We have and will continue to make mistakes. We have to get back up, dust ourselves off, forgive ourselves and others, and get back to working in community to create a more just world. It is important to laugh too. Remember that last job held by the guy in charge of disasters for the entire US government was as head of an association of dancing horses! We can’t make this stuff up. We have to love and laugh along with our tears and rage and keep learning new lessons. Bill is a human rights lawyer and law professor at Loyola University New Orleans. He can be reached at Quigley@loyno.edu http://content-wire.com/ten-most-important-lessons-learned-two-years-katrina1188382919Content WireDeskapplication developers,application tools,automation,content management,Content Management,content management application,content management systems,content management tools,data management,functionality,Internet,internet,logic,management application,management environment,management functionality,management tools,new data,new release,news content,OWL,OWL,queries,RDF,RDF,real time,relationships,schemas,semantic,Semantic Technologies,semantic technologies,user interface,web based,web content,web content management,web pages,XML content managementTowards the semantic web: Easy RDFTwo new tools to take the future of the web a step closer Most of us have a rough idea by now that it all starts with having content published on websites using decent schemas. For now, the semantic web relies on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_Description_Framework">RDF</a>, and that if content is published in RDF, then <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_Ontology_Language"> OWL</a> can be easily mapped Simply put, RDF supports the 'syntax' of the content, OWL supports the semantics, as well as lots of other meaningful information about relationships, logic, axiom that will help us use the content to enable process automation. Or at least, to try. It's a start. Right now RDF and OWL use 'triples, subject-predicate-object expressions In the future, we might step up our statements to 'quadruples', perhaps. In the meantime we take semantic statements at face value, in the absence of alternatives, but to have content into RDF is a skilled task, a specialized functionality How come we cant just produce RDF dynamically, in the same way that our systems produce RSS, or other types of feed? Today, two new tools were announced. First a Firefox extension of Tabulator (alpha release) Based on code from the original Tabulator web application, the Tabulator Extension integrates the ability to browse linked data directly into Firefox. After installing the extension, pages served as application/rdf+xml and text/n3 will be automatically loaded into a Tabulator outline view for easy browsing, wish the developers A single store contains all of the data found during a Firefox session, smushing the data from all loaded documents together as you continue to browse. Queries can then be generated across the entire store in the same way as the original Tabulator web application. James Hollenbach, from the Tabulator team says: "New in this version is the ability to directly edit files in real time through the outline interface. This feature is still largely in testing (it allows the user to enter values that should not be valid in many cases), but it is a very powerful interface for quickly editing RDF. A testing environment for editing <a href="http://dig.csail.mit.edu/2007/wiki">Here</a> At Web2express, Aj Chen acknowledges that one of the big challenges facing semantic web is to encourage people to put out their data in semantic format on the web. "I have been looking into practical areas where semantic web can make real difference. Datafeed is such an area, I believe." Aj just released a free new online tool - unified data feed on web2express.org to help people create data feeds for products, news, events, jobs and studies. Besides the feeds, all of the data are also openly available as RDF. The semantic web happens a small step at the time. Tabulator http://dig.csail.mit.edu/2007/tab/ Web2express.org http://web2express.org/ufeed/http://content-wire.com/towards-semantic-web-easy-rdf1188316608Content Wiremary.parsonscontent delivery,content management,Content Management,content management capabilities,content management platform,content management software,content management solutions,data management,database management,delivery platform,digital delivery,extensible,functionality,IETM,intelligent content management,interactive electronic technical manual,interactive intelligent content,management capabilities,management functionality,management platform,management product,management solutions,menus,multimedia content,new data,new product,notion,proprietary,publishers,rich media,rich media content,search software,software platform,user interface,web content,web content management,XML,XML content management,XyEnterprise XML Delivery Capabilities in A PackageFiltering Model, Interactive 3D Simulation, and Full-Text Searching Introduced   XyEnterprise, developer of XML content management and multi-channel delivery solutions, is releasing ContentaView 3.3, an updated version of the company’s intelligent information delivery software for interactive, textual and multimedia content via Web or DVD/CD-ROM. The new version adds a filtering model for S1000D, an international specification for the management and production of technical publications, as well as other digital data standards. ContentaView’s extensible filtering model can be configured to support legacy data, proprietary data, and other emerging standards, says the company. "Filtering by language, skill level, configuration or other variables eliminates the need to search the entire database for applicable content, and reduces redundant authoring, allowing true reuse and repurposing of content," says Andrew Trese, Technical Product Manager, XyEnterprise. "Filtering epitomizes the notion of ‘right content, right time, right user’ and now you can add right context." The configurable presentation layer allows publishers to customize anything within the user interface – colors, buttons, layout, menus and print output designed to give control of both look and feel as well as functionality into the hands of the publisher. www.xyenterprise.com/products. http://content-wire.com/xyenterprise-offers-powerful-delivery-capabilities-one-complete-package-release-contentaview-3-3-01185539442Content WireDeskacquired,Companies,direct marketing,entities,financial management,financial services,gross revenue,key industry,management product,management technology,management tools,margins,marketing,natural fit,presence,product strategy,return on investment,revenue growth,search engine,search technology,technology companies,technology provider,turnover,twelve months,unprecedented,unprecedented performance,unprecedented searchTradeDoubler Acquires The Search WorksTradeDoubler has acquired all shares in The IMW Group, which includes The Search Works and those companies trading as The Technology Works TradeDoubler AB announced its acquisition on July 25th of all the issued shares in Interactive Marketing Works Ltd and its subsidiaries (‘The IMW Group’). The purchase price amounts to £56 million. The IMW Group consists of two trading entities, ‘The Search Works’, a well established search engine marketing agency and ‘The Technology Works’, a technology provider for search engine marketing, whose products include ‘BidBuddy®’ - a search management technology. The IMW Group is a profitable and well managed company which has built up a significant client base, including such brand names as Asda, Comet, EasyJet, First Choice, Interflora and The Carphone Warehouse. The Group has a strong reputation within the industry for professionalism and driving return on investment for its clients. The Group was founded in 1999 and currently employs 108 staff. Turnover for the rolling twelve months preceding June 2007 amounted to £69 million and gross profit for the same period was £7.8 million. The acquisition complements and expands TradeDoubler’s existing performance-based product portfolio which includes affiliate marketing, online advertising campaigns, pay-per-call and an online tracking and ad-serving technology. The newly combined offering has great synergies for both TradeDoubler’s and The IMW Group’s client bases. Search engine marketing and affiliate marketing are the largest direct response online marketing channels, with significant growth forecasted in both areas. The Search Works is active in the UK, while The Technology Works has additional presence in Europe and in Asia. TradeDoubler has an extensive presence throughout Europe which spans 18 countries. “Product expansion and further internationalisation are key components in TradeDoubler’s growth strategy. The acquisition addresses both these areas by rolling out The Search Works and The Technology Works throughout Europe and by utilising The Technology Works’ Asian foothold to assess the roll out of TradeDoubler’s product offerings into Asian markets.” says William Cooper, CEO, TradeDoubler. Nick Hynes, CEO, The IMW Group adds, “There is a natural affinity between TradeDoubler’s products and services and the search management technology that we offer. We also believe there is a strong cultural fit between our two organisations. Together we will be able to offer unprecedented online marketing services and tools to a range of clients across Europe and beyond.” TradeDoubler also released its second quarter financial results today and reported strengthened gross profit margins and solid revenue and gross profit performance. Revenues for the period from April to June 2007 increased by 27.9%, compared to the same period in 2006, to reach SEK 512.6 million (approx €56m) and gross profit was up 25.4% to SEK 143 million (approx €15.5)http://content-wire.com/tradedoubler-acquires-search-works1185201859Content Wiremary.parsonsContent-Wire Info,business applications,business benefits,business content,business information,business opportunities,business user,content infrastructure,content integration,content technology,electronic publishing,IETM,information technology,infrastructure,integration platform,key business,marketplace,media publishing,metadata,new business,new generation,new technology,news content,next generation,personalization,perspective,rich applications,rich media,rich media content,synergy,technology companies,technology integration,technology platform,user experienceImproving User Experience Through Rich MediaA new white paper focused on next generation Interactive Electronic Technical Manuals (IETMs, authored and Published by InfoTrends, explores rich media technology, use cases for IETMs and XyEnterprise’s ContentaView as a platform for deploying such a solution.  The paper provides a comprehensive review of market opportunities, key trends, business benefits and future perspective, including: •Technical publication challenges •XML Content and metadata, including single-source publishing •Improving the user experience •Leveraging XML for personalization and infrastructure integration •Emerging IETM opportunities in the commercial sector “What got us excited about this technology was the synergy with the needs we’ve begun seeing unfold in the marketplace. More and more companies are turning to richer media applications to personalize the user experience and to provide more contextually relevant information,” says Mike Maziarka, Director, InfoTrends. www.xyenterprise.com/news.  http://content-wire.com/new-technical-white-paper-available-download