Why develop English Communication Skill Today?

Why develop English Communication Skill Today?Learning to speak English will allow you to communicate with a massive number of people around the globe so it is known as an international lingua franca.Learning the English language is important in today’s world. When you consider that approximately 375 million people in the world speak English as a mother tongue (first language), an equally large number of people speak English as a second language, and around 750 million people speak English as a foreign language, English is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. In addition over one billion people currently learn English. It's an official language in over 50 countries around the world. In fact, it is estimated that one in four people learn English as a foreign language and you could be one of them. The total number of people who can speak English, including those who speak it as a second language, is well over a billion.English is the global language of communication and businesses today use English. Also in today’s international market learning English as a foreign language or second language has almost become a necessity as English is the language of communication in International Business, and International Politics.Most academic publications across a range of fields are in English. Internet and media has been dominated by the English language.As the main language of most of the world’s largest companies and producers, English has emerged as an international language of commerce. Those who can speak not only their own tongue but also English have a distinct advantage both at home and abroad as the businesses of the world operate more and more globally.The total number of people who can speak English, including those who speak it as a second language, is well over a billion.The ability to communicate in English is essential to work in all the fields in any industry.Delivering excellent customer service, meeting new people from all over the world, learning about different technologies & cultures and working in a team at various locations and all of these are possible with a sound knowledge and skill of English.
In an increasingly inter-connected world, a good knowledge of English is a great advantage for many jobs. English is the most widely used language for international business.English is a relatively easy language to learn. With a little practice, you should soon find yourself able to get by in most everyday situations.Wish you all the best towards happy journey of English communication skill development.

Digital healthcare: the impact of information and communication technologies on healthcare

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have the potential to transform radically the delivery of healthcare and address future health challenges, such as an ageing population and an increase in chronic diseases. Whether they actually do so will depend on the design and implementation processes sufficiently accounting for the users' needs, and the provision of adequate support and training after their introduction.
The Royal Society established a working group in May 2005 to look at developments in ICTs and their potential impacts on, and implications for, health and healthcare over the next 10-15 years. The working group included experts in range of subjects including computing, economics, engineering, information systems, medicine, nursing and social science.
An open call for evidence was issued in May and a range of organisations and individuals submitted written evidence by September 2005. Three workshops were held with scientific and technological experts, healthcare professionals and patient groups' representatives to ensure the working group was aware of the views of the various stakeholders concerned with healthcare information and communication technologies.
The report makes recommendations relating to:
the design, implementation and evaluation of ICTs access and ownership of data ensuring interoperability the impact on roles and responsibilities of healthcare professionals, patients and carers learning, training and support.

Getting the News Out in Times of Disaster1

Ricky Telg2During late spring 1998, Florida experienced devastating wildfires. The firestorm, caused by severe heat, drought and lightning strikes, was one of the worst wildfire disasters in Floridas history. Nearly 2,300 blazes raged in the state, burning half a million acres, damaging or destroying more than 300 homes, and causing timber losses in excess of $300 million. More than 10,000 firefighters, representing 47 states, and 150 aircraft battled the blazes. As the wildfires became more severe, local, national, and international reporters descended on Florida to cover the story.
Following the 1998 wildfires, the Governors Wildfire Response and Mitigation Review Committee, a group of state government officials, technical experts, members of the public and other stakeholders, was formed to assess the wildfires and to formulate recommendations on how Florida could better manage its wildfire risk. The committee recognized that "communication during a major disaster has not been adequately improved and remains a critical issue requiring additional effort" (1998, p. 7). In addition, University of Florida researchers conducted a study (1999) to assess how Florida firefighter public information officers perceived their communication effectiveness with reporters during the 1998 wildfires. Questionnaires were sent to public information officers (PIOs) in the Florida Fire Chiefs Association and to reporters, representing newswire agencies, newspapers, and television and radio stations that were in areas impacted by the wildfires. This fact sheet is based on the recommendations drawn from the Florida firefighter PIO study. However, the recommendations can be generalized to PIOs who communicate with the media during other disaster situations.
"Catering" to ReportersOverall, Florida firefighter PIOs perceived that they effectively communicated with the media during the 1998 wildfires. Reporters, overall, were slightly less favorable with PIOs communications efforts, and newspaper reporters - in particular - were quite critical of PIOs. This may be a result of their perception that PIOs catered more to the "10 a.m., 3 p.m. and 9 p.m." deadlines of television reporters for the noon, 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts. Previous studies of disaster coverage have indicated that broadcast media are the primary distributor of immediate news during a disaster. It would follow, then, that PIOs may spend more time with television and radio reporters, because they provide more immediate news to local citizens. Local reporters said that PIOs spent more time helping national reporters, when more should have been done to assist the local journalists in providing immediate information to area residents. A PIO mentioned that the "out-of-town" media were more demanding than local reporters. Many PIOs said that part of their job during crises is public relations: showing fire-fighting efforts in action. Providing communications support to local reporters, therefore, would promote this public relations effort in the communities where local and state tax money are used to support firefighters.
Need for Communications TrainingMost of the firefighter PIOs in the Florida study had media communication training, experience, or education. Yet, they said they should have had more communication knowledge and skills to better prepare them for the 1998 wildfires. This belief coincides with the recommendations from the report of the Governor's Wildfire Response and Mitigation Review Committee (1998). The report noted: "There is a need for comprehensive emergency public information officer training at the state and county level, in cooperation with associations that are capable of dispatching public information officers during an emergency event" (p. 21). One area that should be stressed in training sessions is the need for immediate online information. Although only one PIO mentioned the need for online wildfire-related information, several reporters mentioned its need.
Recommendations for PIOs During Disaster-Related News CoverageThe UF researchers suggested several recommendations on how PIOs can more effectively communicate with the media during a wildfire crisis. The communications-related recommendations below are based on the firefighter PIO study:
Before the Disaster/CrisisDesignate a PIO in each emergency relief organization. The PIO duties could be part of a persons regular emergency relief duties. Having a designated PIO on-staff provides reporters with a central spokesperson in everyday and emergency situations.
Organize a "what if" brainstorming session with others in your office. Come up with "what if" scenarios about potential crisis and disaster situations. Determine steps on how you would respond to the "what if" crises.
Have a crisis communication/emergency communication plan before a disaster strikes. With an emergency communication plan in place, PIOs will be able to respond and perform in a proactive stance, as opposed to a reactive mode, thus better controlling the information and news coverage in a disaster.
Select disaster/crisis communication teams. Who is responsible for communicating with the media during a crisis? Who fields telephone calls? Who makes decisions about what to say to the media? Everyone in your office should know who are on the crisis communication and crisis management teams.
Provide all PIOs with communications-related training opportunities. Ephasize topics PIOs believe to be important when communicating with the media. It is not enough to have a designated PIO on staff; that PIO should be properly trained in communication methods. (Many PIOs are volunteers.) The following topics were identified by Florida firefighter PIOs as necessary in an overall communication training program:
Disaster scene preparedness.
Crisis communication techniques.
Media relations (understanding how the media work).
Computer skills, specifically on how to communicate in an on-line environment and how to develop World Wide Web pages.
Speaking skills, such as media interviewing techniques and public speaking.
Writing skills (news writing and news releases).
Information-gathering skills.
Initiate World Wide Web page development training for PIOs or a designated person on staff. Reporters and the general public are becoming more adamant about getting almost immediate, online information. Firefighter PIOs did not recognize the need for online information to be strong; however, reporters in the study said otherwise. As much emergency information as possible should be made available on the Web.
During the Disaster/CrisisGather and classify information into categories, such as facts and rumors. Facts should be routinely updated; rumors should be verified or exposed as myths.
Cater to local media before national media. Local reporters will provide immediate, important information to area constituents.
Remember newspaper reporters have information needs. The immediacy of television and radio coverage may have caused PIOs in the firefighters study to provide more resources to television reporters and video photographers. However, newspaper reporters information and photography needs also should be provided for during wildfire coverage.
Consider "media pool coverage," especially of video footage, and/or media tours to disaster-damaged areas. This should be a standard feature at all emergency command center sites and not change from site to site.
Be accessible or designate someone to be accessible to the media at all times. Reporters should have a contact person's telephone number, cellular phone number, fax number and electronic mail address for around-the-clock contact.
Provide necessary resources (cellular phones, laptop computers) to PIOs in the field.
Provide other automated services, such as a 24-hour telephone hotline, for the public to use for emergency updates.
Get the facts. Miscommunication heightens during a crisis and can be exaggerated by half-truths, distortions, or negative perceptions. Get to the heart of the real story and tell it.
Take the offensive when a serious matter occurs. Be active, not reactive. Tell it all; tell it fast.
Deal with rumors swiftly. Tell only the truth about what you know to be fact. Do not repeat others opinions, hearsay, or possibilities.
Centralize information. Designate one spokesperson. A central spokesperson provides a singular "face" for the reporters. Viewers begin to become familiar with a central spokesperson, so this is one way to begin building credibility with the organization, if the person comes across as trustworthy. Centralized information also will minimize miscommunication.
Don't get mad. Don't get mad. Don't get mad. Keep your cool in an interview or news conference with reporters. Some of their questions may be hostile, and some questions and comments may seem to be a personal attack to you, but remember that they are trying to get information on a crisis-oriented story that may have widespread impact to their audiences. So dont get mad when you are asked the "hard" questions.
Stay "on the record" in all interviews. Do not go "off the record." Any comment worth saying should be said "on the record." If you go "off the record," be ready to read it in print the next day. Is this unethical for reporters to report "off the record" comments? Sure, but anything can, may, and will be done to advance a story. You should not be lured into going "off the record" under any circumstance.
No "no comments." Try to have an answer for reporters questions. But if you dont have an answer, dont be afraid to say, "I dont know, but Ill find out." Saying "no comment" instead, appears to television news viewers and newspaper readers that you have something to hide.
Write everything down. Maintain a crisis communication inventory of what was said by whom and at what time. This way, you will have a record of the event and how it was communicated. You can evaluate your responses so you will be better prepared if another crisis happens in the future.
After the Disaster/CrisisDont just sit back and do nothing; you wont be ready for the next disaster or crisis! It is time to evaluate how you handled the crisis. Your review should include the following:
A review of why the crisis or disaster occurred. Could you have done anything to prevent it?
An evaluation of how the crisis was handled and communicated. You may want to use the crisis communication inventory you maintained to evaluate how communication was handled. Was information disseminated through one spokesperson? Did miscommunication occur?
An examination of similar scenarios. What would you do in a similar situation in the future? What did others do in similar situations?
ConclusionA disaster situation will happen at some point for an emergency relief organization. Taking time now to prepare for a crisis - even if you think it will never occur - and how to communicate to the news media during a crisis is your best defense.
ReferencesGovernor's Wildfire Response and Mitigation Review Committee (1998). Through the flames: An assessment of Floridas wildfires of 1998. Tallahassee, FL: Author.Telg,R.W. & Raulerson, R. (1999). Firefighter Public Information Officers' Communication Effectiveness with the Media During the 1998 Florida Wildfires. Journal of Applied Communications, 83(2), 34-47.
Footnotes1. This document is AEC351, a series of the Department of AGricultural Education and Communication, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. Publication Date: August 2000.2. Assistant Professor, Agricultual Education and Communication Department, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611.
The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. For more information on obtaining other extension publications, contact your county Cooperative Extension service.
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A. & M. University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Larry Arrington, Dean.

Dhaka Workshop: Issues Coming Out of the Open Space Sessions

So today, we started the APC Asia ICT Policy Meeting in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The latter half of the morning and the earlier part of the afternoon was spent in OST (Open Space Technology) to give the participants the opportunity to determine which issues and topics they wanted to spend time discussing:
- Open Source Enabling Policies- ICTs for Peace- cctld- Importance of Knowledge Products- ICT Policy Advocacy for WHAT?- Localisation and FOSS- Human Rights and Legal Issues in Relation to the Internet- ICT Advocacy for Civil Society- Infrastructure- Asia ICT Policy / Governance Research Network- Integrating Gender in ICTs- Knowledge Sharing and Policy Implementation through Media- Liberate the Airwaves!- Pro-Poor ICTs and the Digital Divide
A very good list of topics, in my opinion.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that the topic of women as technology enablers and gender issues was not only raised by female participants (which is often the case in these types of workshops). I'm quite looking forward to the results of that discussion.

Changing times... but the same mind-set

Our friends from India make an interesting point: technology is changing. But the mindset stays the same. And so are thelaws.
Take the case of the telecom paradigm.
Vicram Crishna says: "As times change, so does the telecom paradigm. A (traditional and old-style plain old telephone system, or POTS) phone works because somebody installs an expensive switch, and the switch allows the circuits to be connected. The switches are so expensive that the entire infrastructure can't begin to work until you've spent all the money."
But this is no longer true. Now, you can start working your networking from a single room. You can start small, keep ondeploying, moving out from there, and cover an entire country as you encourage the demand to expand.
Because the technology has changed, it has a huge impact on how investments will be made, and how the people will usethem.
Crishna sees a sharp disconnect from client-server, switch based operations to peer-to-peer, mesh-based networks. In the traditional style, the switch owner also owns the old-style telephone network. This need not be true anymore. Only standards and protocols need acceptance, so that the networks can talk to each other.
"There's a need to develop and integrate models to deal with new technologies and services that have emerged from these.VOIP (voice over internet protocol) calls feel just like a telephone call. You can take notes, show a video while the call is going on... can do a lot of things with a VOIP call," says Crishna.
Crishna rues the fact that young students are not given a chance to play around with, and work on, technologies like RF (radio frequency). He points out how earlier research on radio frequency was lost, because the nation-state dominated this field after the First World War in a command-control environment, instead of a participatory and inclusive manner.
He believes that after struggling with software patents and restrictions, hardware too could go the same way. "Proprietorial hardware is a live time-bomb. Companies can just withdraw the products. There's nothing we can do about it," he warns.
"We use FM radio for simultaneous translation in conferences. (This involves getting translators to speak out, via different channels, and then the audience tunes in to a language-channel of their choice.) FM happens to be a very, very clear voice handling system. Technology is extremely old, but it's not widespread. Why? Because our governments control the use of FM. You can't buy a wireless translation based on FM in India, though it costs peanuts," says Crishna.
Research is highly restricted, he notes. It's government-owned institutions or very large institutions that can control governments. They focus on the low-hanging fruit, what they can sell for the highest price.
There's also a need for a supportive infrastructure. To develop radio and non-radio frequencies. For instance, a laserpointer has a street price of Rs 30 (75 US cents). If you add a modulating circuit, you can add voice signals, he argues. Butthere's hardly any research going on on topics like this. Instead, the focus is on say sending a laser communication toMars, an application that the corporate world sees the possibility of "making billions on".

Commmunity radios in South Africa

APC staff writer Frederick Noronha runs in to Willie Currie in Dhaka, Bangladesh and asks: Could you share something with us on the South African community radio policy? It's a fairly useful one, isn't it so? Willie Currie, APC's manager of the Communications and Information Policy Programme answers:
Yeah. There are 100 odd community radio stations in South Africa. You must have a non-profit entity supported by the community, that can show the community participates in the management and programming, and serves the interest of that community. The community can either be a geographical community or a community of interest.
So for example, in a South African case, there are a number of Christian and Muslim radio stations. And there are community radio stations dedicated to classical music and jazz, stations for old aged pensioners, there are number of women's radio stations.
Frederick Noronha: So, theoretically, couldn't this develop into a nightmare scenario? One which governments in most of the countries of Asia actually fear and dread and use as an excuse for not granding community radio stations licenses?
No. Because community radio is not a threat to stability. It's a space which enables a community to discuss a broadrange of issues that are of concern to it.
And, there are rules, and a code of conduct, with regard to hate speech, for example. Which then regulates any of thedangers that governments fear with regard to incitement, to violence, encitement of ethnic difference or around religiousintolerance.
In fact, a radio station that allows hate speech is called before an independent complaints board and asked to explain itself, and can be censured. There's a threat of losing its license, and a requirement to retract any hate speech and penalties.
But this is all done within the context of a constitution that promotes freedom of expression. There are checks and balance between freedom of expression and the prohibition of hate speech. This is a much more healtier process from providing communities to have a voice.
Really there's nothing to fear from community radio. It's a positive way in which communities can develop themselves and articulate their interests and their concerns.

SANGONeT ... attempting a rescue of poorly performing telecentres

APC member SANGONeT features in this report titled South Africa: Rescue Attempt On Poorly Performing Telecentres. Says the Johannesburg-datelined report in Business Day, which is South Africa's major business-oriented daily: "Dozens of telecentres set up to take telecommunications services to rural areas have been an absolute waste of time and money, says an organisation trying to salvage them. Of 133 telecentres set up by the Universal Service Agency (USA), many are underused, entirely dysfunctional or have turned into private businesses benefiting the people appointed to run them. Now a three-year project is under way to revive some of the centres and assess which should be written off. This report quotes SANGONeT executive-director David Barnard as saying: ""There are some fairly critical views about the impact telecentres have had and to a large extent those criticisms are valid. Real questions have been raised about their relevance and whether millions of rands have been pumped into a big black hole with little to show for it." Says the report: "Sangonet, a body that helps development agencies use IT in the communities they serve, is driving the telecentre overhaul."

EDRI General Assembly Reaffirms Current Course

Delegates representing NGOs-members of the EDRI (European Digital Rights) network took part in the General Assembly (GA) in Berlin September 1-2, 2007, discussing current issues of interest and the overall functioning of the association.
The GA work had two components. The former focused on administrative issues, such as reports on the work during the previous year and membership, while the later explored pertinent human rights questions, esp. privacy-related, on European level, and future EDRI actions referring to them.
By the time of this GA, EDRI had 25 members from 16 countries. A quorum of representatives of 18 organizations from 13 countries took part in the event, and accepted the membership applications of three new members—ANSOL from Portugal, Pangea from Catalonia, Spain, and EFF European office based in Belgium—raising the number of EDRI members to 28 from 17 countries, including three APC members (GreenNet, Metamorphosis, and Pangea).
The 2007 GA approved the progress reports submitted by the Board, stressing the importance and continuation of the EDRI-gram, the bi-weekly newsletter about digital civil rights in Europe. An unanimous vote by the delegates provided confirmation of the Board which is in the middle of two-year term.
Board President Meryem Marzouki provided a recap of some of the most prominent EDRI activities between the two GAs, which all focused on promotion of human rights and increasing the involvement of civil society in decision making. These included participation in initiatives related to international bodies, including the COE Cybercrime Conference, workshop on Nanotechnologies and Security, co-organized by DG Research of the European Commission (Nanotech unit). EDRI also has planned participation in events by COE, UNICEF, OECD and other.
EDRI also provided support of number of national or regional initiatives, such as the legal action from Digital Rights Ireland against Data Retention Directive, initiative against Data Retention SK by APC member Jimbonet from South Korea, IP Justice's "Keep the core neutral" initiative.
EDRI also took part of the joint statement to WIPO on the Broadcast Treaty, organized a panel at the CFP 2006 with OSCE's Representative on Freedom of the Media in Washington DC, received the positive Czech Big Brother Award, and took part in the International Conference e-Society.Mk in Macedonia, providing reach in the South Eastern European region.
Future issues on EDRI's agenda include civic actions and projects for protection of human rights based on preliminary analysis by task forces and working groups in the areas of: Internet and telecommunications content filtering, privacy of payment systems, data retention, and biometrics.
Besides the work agenda, the GA, hosted in the lovely Newthinking Store, provided opportunities for the diverse representatives to get each other better, supplementing the existing collaboration over the internet with face-to-face interaction.

Forum Europe-China: IT systems on the age of the Internet

Citizens in China and Europe from the academia, NGO, companies, government met in Liège (Belgium) to exchange perspectives and discuss on the topic of Information Society and the Internet in China and Europe. The workshop on "IT systems on the age of the Internet" (4-5 October) was the first step of the China-Europe Forum (6-7 October).
The two day workshop, organized by Frédéric Sultan from VECAM, presented the state of Information Society and the Internet in the two regions (check the "Documents" label on the workshop site) and we discussed what was in common, what was different, and some potential common action lines.
One common trait on the discussion was that the common issues hide the differences, quite visible as we openly discussed about details.
A few of the most striking differences from my European perspective were: the strong emphasis on protection versus freedom of expression (of preventing: "a priori" filtering of potentially dangerous content such as the Wikipedia, versus acting "a posteriori" in case of infringement) [by the way: this web site seems to be blocked from China]; the importance of protecting children and the youth from dangerous content on the Internet; the emphasis that a rapid economic development (regions in China compete almost on the basis of GDP growth rate) is key, many times against almost anything else including freedom of expression, environmental issues, etc; the apparent non existence of organizations with independent views from the government; the strict regulation on the production of information (usually limited to the government or formally approved sources); a strong nationalistic view in strongly preserving the chinese culture and chinese values from the "Internet values" (the Internet and spaces like Wikipedia "were not invented here", and therefore they embed participation models strange to the chinese society), the use of the Internet by citizens as a way to send comments to the government, and the strong interest in China for discussing on (internal) politics.
Together we openly and passionately discussed, learned many things about each other in the formal and informal opportunities provided by the workshop, we enjoyed the meeting place, a wonderful palace in Liège, and came back with a much better mutual understanding.

Free Culture House

Last month iCommons announced a new project called the ‘Free Culture House’ project. Inspired by similar initiatives around the world, we have come to recognise the growing importance of physical spaces in building the kinds of communities that will spread the global commons.After all, the creative and information commons is by its nature a virtual and intangible thing, and having a physical space where people can learn from and talk to one another, becomes more and more important.The idea is simple and its sustainability is at its core. Buy a property (or rent something initially) that will serve as a space for members to meet and eat (a kickass wifi-enabled coffee shop), learn (a training room that doubles up as movie house), broadcast (a podcast studio) and work (shared office space and board room). Sleep rooms would also potentially be available for short-term stays by commuters who work between Johannesburg and Cape Town, for example.At the same time, gather together a core group of founding members who will decide on the membership criteria, costs and responsibilities of members. The principle here is that each member should have something to teach other members, and that the House should be open to the community on regular ‘open days’ where members can reach out to the larger community to teach and advise others. Once a month, for example, members would be available to give free advice to non-profits on their technology and website strategy, to teach young people how to mix music, to help teachers to build open content for their students, and to advise artists, musicians and creators on how to use open licences and collaborate with artists around the world.The House will be established with the help of sponsorships and will be maintained by membership dues, rental of the coffee shop and venue rental for training etc. Its founding documents will ensure that the House remains a centre for learning and networking to build a free digital culture, and all activities will need to be approved by the House Committee. Targeting bloggers, web developers, software engineers, researchers, journalists and marketers, the House will also serve as a repository of specialised knowledge management skills that could be employed by companies, NGOs and government departments for developing websites, information campaigns and copyright licensing strategies.Once this Free Culture House has been established, others could be set up using similar models. All documentation and plans will be open to others to use, and a system would be established to link Free Culture Houses in different parts of the world.A working group has been established with interested parties in four continents.

Workshop on the Management of International Networks for Knowledge Sharing

A brief report on the workshop I just attended in Switzerland (Workshop on the Management of International Networks for Knowledge Sharing, 25th – 28th April 2006, St. Gallen)There were about 40 participants, mostly "networkers", people focused on knowledge sharing etc. Quite a few of them work in sanitation and water management and health issues. Besides, there is an interesting group of (mainly Swiss) participants who work in such fields as building suspension bridges in Nepal, construction of local hydro power plants, disposal of e-waste etc (it is good to hear about different non-ict development initiatives and fantasize about possible overlaps with what we are doing...).Several people know APC or some members (there are some London-based participants who know GreenNet, and Ndala Duma from South African Water Information System is familiar with SangoNet). Not only NGO initiatives were represented, though. Some participants came from funder organizations and several development agencies, one from World Bank, one from ASEAN etc...
Alison Hewlitt and Jackie Nnam from Bellanet were at the workshop and gave a presentation on Harambee Project in which APC Africa Women group is involved. Issues discussed which I found most interesting were:
diasporas playing major role in funding development projects in their home countries
preserving accumulated knowledge after project's funding (unexpectedly) ends and most of the people who worked on it lose their jobs The conclusions should be available on Skat's website shortlyOtherwise, a lot of discussion topics (which were raised through open space methodology and discussed in working groups where I was present) have been spinning around rather general questions, such as "what is a network, what kinds of networks are there, should it live forever" etc...One project that might be particularly interesting for APC members is a knowledge sharing project on public health issues. It is being currently developed by one of the participants, Alena Petrakovafrom WHO (Technical Officer of Knowledge Management).Over the years, WHO has accumulated a large amount of knowledge and information materials on public health issues and they are looking for ways how to get it out to health workers and make the best use of it possible. In collaboration with the University of Iowa (College of Public Health) they started testing Elluminated training/knowledge sharing platform for distant training. WHO is testing this on-line communication approach on training public health professionals in number of countries, and they are looking for more local partners who are skilled in using ICT's and who work with local communities, possible beneficiaries of mentioned database.I will be kept updated on the development of this project.Ambitions of the project team are obviously high, both in terms of volume and quality of resources shared trough distant learning, as well as in terms of numbers of target groups reached through the project. Perhaps there might be some opportunities for APC members to become involved in the project in future.

Basic Literacy Skills are a requirement in bridging the digital divide

In recent years major strides have been made to ensure that children of school going age attend school. Countries such as Kenya have implemented free primary school education. Even though standards may not be upto date, at least most of the children who graduate from Primary schools can read and write and perform a certain level solving arithmetic problems with ease.As an IT professional, my work largely entails training people in IT skills. In the past, people who attended IT training were the working class and secondary school graduates waiting to join Univerisity or specialized colleges. Training such people has never been a problem since there is good level of understanding. Increasingly, it is becoming common for people with very limited literacy skills to attend IT training, which is encouraging since it shows a keeness to adopt new technology.The challenge comes when communication is a barrier, i.e. trainer-delegate cannot communicate say in English. How does one then transfer the IT skills to the delegate in question? One key benefit of ICTs is the ability to use the Internet to obtain information and to communicate via email. Most Internet websites are in the English language, so again the person with limited literacy skills faces another barrier.As the price of PCs and peripherals gets lower, many firms can now afford a PC per employee, including the tea-lady, the messenger and other support staff. Many corporate organisations are investing in IT training for their employees, including the tea-lady. Again, this is a major step in the right direction towards closing the digital divide.The question though is, to what extent are people with limited literacy skills benefitting from acquiring these IT skills? Wouldn't it add more value if such groups are first given basic adult literacy skills and thereafter, IT skills. The other issue I now recognize as important is localization, whereby, software is written in local African languages, understandable by local users. In the FOSS community, this is now happening, but in a limited way. Still on the issue of African languages, most African countries adopted the foreign languages of the 'colonial masters' to the detriment of African languages. It is not uncommon to find native Africans who speak fluent English but not a single word of their native language. This means that even if localization of software were to happen, there would be few reliable translators, users and trainers!Africa faces many problems ranging from disease, poverty, HIV/AIDS etc. The Internet provides a wealth of information which if accessed and utilised could change the destiny of many Africans. Unless the issue of adult literacy skills is addressed, there will be a generational digital divide within Africa, where by those with education are miles ahead of those with limited or no education.

ICTs, Training help children to access information world

ICTs, Training help children to access information world"Information at your finger tips"ICTs, under the motto "Information at your finger tips", is a promising programme that would work as bridge for children in (SCT) Salamieh Community Telecentre, to communicate with other children in the world.It helps enriching them with necessary knowledge station and sense of creativity . It is by far, a way to materialize their dreams and enables them pass the threshold of global horizons. Salamieh Community Telecentre, through its Communication and Information Sector, is therefore actively assisting children and young people to produce information themselves by supporting children media, and facilitating them create information. Training was conducted at the Strategic ICT programme for socio-economic development , ReefNet-Syria by Salamieh Community Telecentre – Syria – as part of education programme for children which was developed with the collaboration with the UNDP and the Ministry of Communication and Technology in Syria.The two-month training period in computer, English and French language was dedicated to help children to access information world. The children were enthusiastic to investigate world of information . 90 ICTs teaching hours are allocated to train children on concept of computer, access to internet world and English, French languages to develop skills in learning information on application programme.(SCT) always works to investigate the roles that technology can play in improving teaching and learning children inside and outside the classroom. It also designs and develops technology applications that support engaged, active learning in formal and informal settings.the programme is conducted by " Nabil Eid , Head manager of the (SCT) and Abdallah Fadel , Head of Language Department .Also ( Khloud Hwaijeh, Roaa Al Daman ) teachers of computer and (Reem Al Daman , Faten al Haj, Hawazen al Chaarani) teachers of English. (Lamis Mahfoud ) teacher of French language. All children and their families participants realized the importance and benefits of this kind of training for education professionals. The children received a package of handouts, which is of great help for their future teaching activities.Okba Al Khateeb is five years old. He is as student in the primary class in computer .He has shown much attachment and zeal to learn computer and has made a remarkable progress. He was at his computer doing some practices when I approached him:- Hi, your name is Okba, isn’t it?- Yes, it is , I am Okba. - How old are you? - I am 5 years. - Do you like your class? - yes I do. very much. - Why do you like computer class?- I learn a lot about computer. I can write document and draw by paint programme and play games. - How many times do you come to Salamieh Community Telecentre? - Three times a week, but I want more. - How can you work on computer? - Look it is easy you do … this …. move the mouse , choose the menu bar , icon , and click here and it is OK. - What things would you like to learn more in the computer class?- I'd like to learn how to use internet explorer and I'd like to chat with other children around the world.Raghdah Yehia She is a 7 years old girl. She came from jadouah , small village it's 15 Kilometers far from telecentre . She is active and frank , She is studying English language in her class in addition to computer . She is reviewing her grammar modules with her teacher.- Hello, What's your name ?- Raghdah Yehia - And I am Mr.Nabil Eid , manager of centre- How do you do?- How do you do?- So what are you doing here? - I am learning English in my class- What other subjects do you take here?- I take computer and English.- How are you getting on with your English and computer? - I am doing well . I can speak English with my friends and I can deal with them by internet.- Any thing else?- Nothing, I want to do my assignment now.Mohamed al Fadil , 10 Year old boy He is active smart and hard working , He has proven great skills and success in taking our programme . He can do any thing on computer " as He said "- Hello Mohammed , what are you doing, now?- I am designing medicine a programme for my father . My father is a doctor and he needs programme for his clinic. - What are the sources of your programme ? - I use visual basic and data base to cerate my programme.- Thanks Mohammed , Please we want to photograph you , right now - You are welcome.Mr Faisal Darwaish . A local citizen in Salamieh , came to our centre in the morning and asked us to enroll his daughter Hibba, for 2nd Time.When I asked him about his impression , he expressed his great estimation to the centre and this is is what he said" First I had a simple …idea about the centre but when my daughter Hibba had her first ICTs training at your centre I was surprised and over joyed with the bulk of information progress, she has had and the change that has come over here. My only daughter showed much attachment to the computer programme you are giving". I was at loss how I could fill her summer times . Now , She can contact by internet with her brother in UAE, by sending emails, photos, news of our family and we can hear daily news from my son abroad.ICTs programme in Salamieh Community Telecentre threshold to a brighter future.Eng. Nabil EidICT4D - SyriaSalamieh Community TelecentreNabileid21@yahoo.com

GKP recalls commitment to bridge digital divide

Last few years we are looking for the best info-tech for the benefits of rural people. Indeed still the technology is so expensive for them because we have no well off IT infrastructure and making technological services on vernacular language is also challenging task.Jamilur Reza Choudhury, former adviser of caretaker government and vice chancellor of BRAC university, observed these when he was giving speech as chef guest of the GKP South Asia Regional Meeting at the BRAC Inn.Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) is an international multi-stakeholder network committed to harnessing the power of Knowledge and utilising Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for sustainable and equitable development. With over 100 members, the GKP Network reaches across sectors and continents, to share their experience, ideas and solutions to unleash the potential of knowledge and ICT to improve lives, reduce poverty and empower people. GKP is actively involved in programmes that address development opportunities and challenges within four strategic themes - Access to Knowledge, Education, Poverty Reduction and Resource Mobilisation. GKP is governed by an elected Executive Committee and is supported by a Secretariat based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia"Once I saw radio warning system was informing coastal people about thunderstorm by calling 'Ghurni johore', but they are not familiar with the difficult word. They use to say thunderstorm 'tuhan'." The renowned aducationist said. He again said, "First time in the country my university made a faculty called Development Informatics that will deal with info-tech based social development. I am now so happy because GKP now focusing on the South Asia. This event in Dhaka is bearing importance before the extravaganza GK3 gathering in Malaysia in coming December." 2,000 global visionaries, innovators, practitioners and policy makers, will convene in Kuala Lumpur to engage on the theme "Emerging People, Emerging Markets, Emerging Technologies." Delivered in a framework of expert panels and workshops, GK3 is designed to ensure maximum action, interaction and reaction among participants. Attending leaders, change agents and solutions providers will exchange and debate future realities from the perspective of the knowledge. The GK3 theme is a dynamic focus on the interplay, interface and interweaving of issues related to Knowledge for Development (K4D) and Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) within the context of the evolving societies, economies and technologies worldwide.AHM Bazlur Rahman, Chief Executive Officer of Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication, " My organisation firmly sands for free flow of information. We never favour info-tech ownership within the hands of a few rich people as well as aggression of the corporate world. In the era of globalisation we should think globally, but our thinking must go at all levels."Dr. Toufic Ahmed Choudhury, Chairman of D.net, mentioned, " We are trying to solve gap between rich and poor by the best use of ICTs in the country. We are building info-tech based network to disseminate knowledge among the poor and SMEs of the country."

Mobiles become handheld computers

The world of technology moves really fast and Highway Africa gives journalists a chance to catch up. The conference has been a great experience and an eye opener to ideas and experiences in the field of new media and ICTs. Through speeches delivered by knowledgeable speakers in their fields, I was made to understand technical terms that I have heardof but was never sure what they really meant, including the Convergence environments/convergence technology, where cell-phones are used as tv, radio and computers.I have also learnt about the international WIPO podcasting treaty that is being developed with the aim to extend broadcasting rights to distributors of content rather than just creators. Some aspects of the conference were too technical and confusing for me, especially the session that was about the technical aspect of connectivity.One of the sections that really grabbed my attention was Ethan Zuckerman’s presentation at the Digital Citizen Indaba about blogspots and blogging. It was very elaborate and clear. It encouraged me to participate in blogging and made me want to create my own blog.

Fast track to internet domains in own alphabet

The Register reports that certain countries such as China, Russia and Saudi Arabia are on the fast track to net domains that use their own alphabets. This week, at the Internet Governance Forum in Rio de Janeiro, ICANN announced that it's cranking an effort to provide certain very important nations with "country code top-level domains" that use "internationalized domain names." In ICANN speak, these are known as IDN ccTLDs. But you can think of them as web addresses that uses non-Latin characters. "There are certain countries that clearly need to have an IDN representation of their territory as soon as possible," Chris Disspain, the country code manager for Australia and the chair of ICANN's Country Code Names Supporting Organization, told us, as he was jetting out of Brazil. "So we've working on a fast track approach that will give those countries IDN ccTLDs sooner rather than later." Those countries include China, Taiwan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, The United Arab Emirates, and various other Arab nations. Disspain and ICANN have been testing IDNs for the past two weeks, and they hope to finalize a plan for these big-name countries within the next six months.

How the Next Billion Will Reshape the Internet

A few quotes from the article:"Although some will reside in North America, Europe, and other developed countries that close their domestic digital divides, the majority of the growth will undoubtedly come from the developing world.""Most new Internet users will not speak English as their first language, which should lead to increased pressure to accommodate different languages within the domain name system.""Many new Internet users will have different cultural and societal views on hot-button issues such as online free speech, privacy, and copyright. As they demand a voice in global policy making, those users will help shift the policy debate.""[They] may also use different technology to access the Internet. The recent introduction of the XO laptop demonstrates how the developing world has different requirements and how the technology industry will have to adapt to those changing environments.""Microsoft and Apple may have been the preferred choice for most of the first billion, but the next billion is far more likely to use open source software alternatives that are free and offer the chance for local customization.""[They] may use mobile devices as their primary way to connect to the Internet, experiencing slower speeds of access and forcing e-commerce companies to adapt to a changing marketplace."

National Workshop on Community Radio in Bangladesh Community Radio is going to be the Voice of Rural people

For the first time in Bangladesh a national workshop on Community Radio Awareness is held on 02-04 March 2008 at Bangladesh Open University (BOU) campus jointly arranged by Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication(BNNRC) and Development Research Network (D.Net) in collaboration with Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA) of Commonwealth of Learning(COL) and Bangladesh Open University(BOU). The workshop took place at the Media Centre in Bangladesh Open University at Gazipur, Dhaka.The workshop is inaugurated by the Hon'ble Vice Chancellor of Bangladesh Open University Professor Dr. M Farid Ahmed. He said during the inauguration, ‘Our day to day life is now highly influenced by the technology. And this particular workshop is going to contribute a big stake in the social and economic development of Bangladesh.Ms. Rumkini Vemraju, the Programme Officer of CEMCA and Mr. Firoj Ahmed, Joint Director of BOU jointly supervise the workshop for the whole three days.Dr. Rumkini in the inaugural ceremony said, ‘CEMCA is working closely with more than 30 Community Radio Station in India.’ She shared the experiences of India and stated to contribute in Bangladesh in relation to community radio.As the special guests Mr. AHM Bazlur Rahman-S21BR, the Chief Executive Officer of BNNRC and Mr. Dr. Ananya Raihan were present in the inaugural session. They expected in their speeches that CEMCA and BOU will contribute endlessly in emergence of Community Radio in Bangladesh.Higher officials from the Media Centre and the Regional Directors of BOU as well as the Higher officials of the NGOs that are working in the remote and coastal areas of Bangladesh have participated in the workshop. The participants from the commercial phone companies who have established the internet outlets in the rural areas in Bangladesh have also joined. In the workshop the technical aspects and content making, studio designing and maintaining, radio station management and broadcasting everything is taught with tremendous care and practical demonstration.Mr. Amit Chakrabarty, the former high official of the very popular Bangla TV Channel of India ‘Tara Bangla’ and Programme Director of World Space Radio, Mr. Monoranjan Das, the advisor of Radio TOday and the former Additional Chief Engineer of Bangldesh Betar and the consultant of ABC Radio Mr. Jamal Uddin Mawla Newaj have facilitated in the workshop. The perspective and Social aspects of the Community Radio is demonstrated by Mr. AHM Bazlur Rahman-S21BR, the CEO of BNNRC.At the end of the three-day workshop the certificates have been distributed among the participants in the gala closing ceremony. Honourable Vice Chancellor and the Treasurer of Bangladesh Open University were present among others in the closing ceremony. Mr. Vice Chancellor said in his closing speech that BOU would support in the skill development of the station managers of forthcoming Community Radio in Bangladesh in future. The workshop expected that the government of Bangladesh would soon open up the pilot basis Community Radio. As the direct result of the workshop the participants are now prepared to run more than 50 CR stations no sooner have the government approve it.

Finished ethic form for HKU

We have finished the ethics forms for HKU. The form is attached. It is quite a lot of thing to write in the form. We have e-mail to our superior to revise it. the final version is attached. The form is for us to request for approval of our research to have conferences in future.

Second version of surveys and finished invitation letter

On the 29 February, 2008, we have a meeting with our superior for discussing the design of the surveys and the invitation letter. In addition, we have a new thing to do. It is the part of the research method of our FYP.

The second version of surveys are attached in this blog. The suvery 2 which is for the academic libraries which have not implemented wiki seems ready for interview. So there is no change in the survey 2. Besides, the invitation letter is attached in this blog for reference. Our personal detail, the research content and all others things are stated in the invitation letter. We hope that the universities library can finish the survey through e-mail because it is nore convenient.

Another new thing we need to start is the part of research method since it is important for each reserach. Researcher need to stated their research method clearly before doing the reserach. We have a part of "research method "in the mediawiki for our progress.

The next meeting will be on 4 March, 2008.

Task 1 (Part 1) - Is eLearning the Solution? (revised)

While all teachers and education practitioners are targetting at more effective teaching and learning, ICT appears to be one useful tool to help us achieve our goals. Schools and universities look to technology to help achieve their educational goals. Resources are put into development of elearning, web-based learning, ICT, learning platforms and whatever mode and labels are used.
With the vast input of resources to technical support in teaching and learning, is this the only solution to effective education? Is eLearning THE SOLUTION? Or is it just another fancy and trendy way of teaching? More questions are raised than ever by various stakeholders including the government, the parents, the teachers themselves and the employers. Do the Digital Natives turn out to be more responsible citizens with lifelong learning skills and capabilities?
With the limited experience I have had regarding elearning, I am in no position to draw any views at this stage. Nevertheless I would be most interested to explore and know more about elearning and its effects on the ultimate objective of student learning. The little experience I have had so far on the 6311 course may be taken as an example of how some teachers and students first encounter elearning. Confused perhaps in the beginning, then eventually explore more about it and then find that the fruitful experience in the end worth the time and sweat spent on it.

As we are going through the 6311 course, we are like constructing our own learning. We try to extend beyond what we already know and build new knowledge by extend the "boundaries". Here I see relevance to the cosntructivist approach to learning. We share our blogs and learning among peers. The CITE ILN and the Moodle are all tools to help us achieve this purpose.

However when reading Ellis, Steed and Applebee (2006), I still have to print the article out for reading. I still have to go to the library to find other resource materials. Though much is now in the web, the hard copies still have their appeal to no-so-hi-tech students like me. There is much room for the students who are used to the traditional teaching and learning mode to grasp the beauty of elearning.

Ellis,Steed and Applebee shared their findings on the concepts to elearning and blended learning and teaching of teachers who are experienced in traditional on-campus teaching. Their study showed that despite well-resourced elearning environment, the people who use the resources are to re-vamp their conceptions in order to make the best use of the elearning resources. The surface level approach in adopting elearning does no more than using a tool to deliver information or just replace lecture hours. How to achieve the deep approach is an art that teachers have to learn because they themselves have been brought up differently. The SWOT analysis discussed on 28 May brought out some discussions. The resources to help teachers learn are abundant e.g. in HKU, there is the CITE and CAUT, and in National University of Singapore, there is the Centre for Development of Teaching and Learning. Universities are putting a lot of efforts in this development. Schools are supported by funding by the government. The fundamental issue is the need for a shift in the concept of student learning through their own construction of new knowledge and not merely knowledge tansmission by the teachers.
I hope that after more learning and practice, low-tech people like me who wish to use elearning or blended learning will find their efforts bear fruit in students achieving the intended learning outcomes. But in all cases, the technology advance is underpinned by the conceptual advance of teaching and learning.

Doing the survey with academic libraries in Asia

After the meeting on March 21, 2008, we begin to send e-mail to the targeted academic libraries. I am responsible for the region of Asia which includes China, Singapore and Hong Kong. I choose the reference and system staff in libraries because wiki is a new technology that always set up under these staff. Also, I target the top 10 universities in China, all totally five universities in Singapore and five universities in Hong Kong.
I wait for two week and has send two time for each targeted universities. There is little respond from China only 3 out of 10; 4 out of 5 from Singapore. because of the little number respond from China, I try to send e-mail to 5 more univeristies in Hong Kong. There are totally 8 respond from Hong Kong. In this period, I have phoned the targeted universities which do not reply my e-mail but they seems very busy and do not have time to do the survey. Also, i try to e-mail universities that are out of the top 10 ranking in China to hope for more survey from China.
We do the survey procress from almost the whole April since we need to hand in a lot of assignment from other courses. So we just have one meeting on April 18 in whole April to show our progress of interviewing to our superiors.

Pilot test in HKU Main Library and sending e-mail to selected libraries

After the meeting on March 4, 2008, we begin to have a pilot test and sending to libraries all over the world. I have an face-to-face interview on March 11, 2008 with a reference librarian in HKU Manin Library called Rebecca Yueng. She gives me a very comprehensive and precise reply of the questions in the survey.
Besides, I have to send up to 20 libraries of China, Singapore and Hong Kong universities. I choose all staffs and librarians whose position are reference librarians and system staffs. We will wait for two weeks. If there are no reply, we will hae a phone call to these academic libraries.

on interpersonal relationships

Dear classmate,
In regards to your comment that "in order to know more about their lives in foreign countries, we can take a look of their photos uploaded in their online albums", I would agree that without the possibility of meeting in person, then synchronous video chats or use of online photos would be the only means for sharing lives. However, if person-to-person and CMC are both viable options of communication, wouldn't meeting with family and friends result in more interaction than via CMC?
How would one feel a hug or a kiss online? How would one experience the gratitude of being handed a tissue when one cries? Some modes of emotional conveyance cannot be represented by emoticons unfortunately.
Sincerely,

shan1zhai4shou3ji1

Robin Hood cell phone With almost the same appearances and functions as famous brands such as Nokia or Motorola, some illegally-made cell phones offer almost the same enjoyment and experience with a much cheaper price. Manufacturers and some users of such cell phones liken such practice to the deed of Robin Hood, robbing the rich to aid the poor, hence the nickname of such phones.

Adjust Your Own English Communication To Meet Other Language Levels

When I first lived in a non-English speaking country almost 30 years ago, I did not know how much I would change my own way of communicating. My own English. And it has really changed.
The Difficulties Of A Non-Native English SpeakerIn many ways, I think most foreigners, who learn English as a second language, go through more adjustments in learning this foreign language.
Foreigners often tell me English is an easy language to learn. It should be. There is just so much of it around.
Foreigners think English is easy. But there is a variety of English communication. There is a big step in thinking you know a language and in being a good communicator.
Good cross-cultural communication takes some adjustments. Both parties need to make an effort in finding a common understanding.
The Native English Speaker’s JobWhen a native English speaker is in a foreigner’s home country, often the native English speaker does most of the adjusting.
If the native English speaker has traveled before, this usually happens naturally. He instinctively knows how to make it easy for his foreign listener.
Non-native English speakers do not always realize how much the English speaker will adapt his conversation to make it easy for him. English speakers adjust their communication in several ways to make it easier for non-native English speakers:
Slang Strong accents Different dialects or country specific vocabulary Awkward grammar Difficult vocabulary Different communication styles The Adjustment ProcessI can easily forget the years of adjusting my conversation I went through. This is what I remember I did:
Pay attention constantly to make sure everyone understands the same thing. Backtrack the conversation as soon as a little doubt came up or if I was surprised by any reaction or remark Explained I was tired, when I was and finding the effort too much. I remember feeling as if I was doing all the effort in making the conversations work. I remember being surprised at many misunderstandings. I was also surprised at how and why they happened.
Everyone has their own perceptions of their cross-cultural communication. There is no right or wrong. There are only effective and enriching cross-cultural exchanges.
Native-English speakers communicating with non-native English speakers are in a situation with many different and uncontrollable perceptions.
It is important for native-English speakers to remember to adjust their own English communication during their first cross-cultural encounters.
Practice Makes Productive Cross-Cultural CommunicationIt takes practice to smooth over the hurdles caused by these communication differences. The more conversations you have with non-native English speakers the more you pick up receptive, productive and interactive cross-cultural communication skills.
Seasoned English speaking international professionals end up constantly using a reduced vocabulary. They have to adapt to so many different language levels. This makes it very easy for their non-native English-speaking partners to understand them. The non-native speakers feel flattered. This reinforces their opinion that English is a very easy language to learn.
I have lived in a non-English speaking country longer than I have in my native English speaking home. Adjusting my own communication is permanently on automatic.
My own day-to-day English is very simple and direct. I rely on creating pictures with words to get specific points across. Sometimes I get frustrated at limiting my own vocabulary. That’s when I hunt down stimulating conversation, or reading. And even writing.
Language is important. How you use your language to communicate with others is also important. Adjusting your English communication to meet the language levels of others is part of an effective communication process.

Who Is Speaking?

'Je est un autre,' wrote the poet Rimbaud - 'I is somebody else.' At the beginning of her career, even before she left her postgraduate course at the Slade School in London, Rosa Almeida likewise noted that 'there is something confessional in the work, though the written phrases are not confessions, as they were not written by anyone.' They are not personal, but neither are they collective and nor are they anonymous; furthermore they are not fictional, though they may be or perhaps simply seem (how could one tell the difference between being and seeming here?) personal or collective or anonymous or fictional, variously, from moment to moment.I'd like to speak, for a moment, not as an art critic but rather (if it be permitted on this occasion) as a poet, because as a critic I can speak of my admiration for Almeida but as a poet I must speak of my envy of her. In their origin writing and painting are indistinguishable - when aleph was an ox, was it a letter or a picture? and who can say whether the pictograms on cave walls should count as inscriptions or images? - in fact their creation precedes the division between the two. Even once the two activities were definitively differentiated they remained intertwined. A Renaissance Annunciation will bear the text of the Archangel's greeting to the Virgin; a Cubist still life will lend you a scrap of its morning paper to read. But these texts-within-the-picture remain secondary. It's really only been since the 60s that language has reclaimed its full rights within the work of art. And the recentness of art's repossession of language seems to allow the language-artist (if that's the right word) a greater degree of freedom, a greater sense of ease and possibility, than is possible for the poet, burdened as he is by so many centuries of history - or at least that's the case when the language-artist is Rosa Almeida.Almeida takes her liberty with language and runs with it. That's what I envy. Perhaps it's not only the freedom of handling language as an artist rather than a writer that comes into it. I suspect it also has something to do with her choice of which language to use - the fact that the language in her work is English, not her own native Portuguese. If I could write this essay in Portuguese, which I can't, perhaps it would be written with a simplicity that would allow only the most urgent parts of what I want to say. That there is a freedom in the limitations that come from using a second tongue I know firsthand: As an American who once lived in Italy, I remember how my very awkwardness and limited vocabulary allowed to take refuge, at times, in a seeming naivete; and how this enforced simplicity, like the three simple chords through which a garage rock band must express their all, allowed me the utter clarity of utterance that's been lost, I fear, in the nuances of my own language. I remember, too, how when a girl laughed at my funny accent or artless phrasing, I knew I was getting somewhere, knew that she liked me. And so when my eye lights upon a curious phrase in one of Almeida's drawings or wall works that a native speaker of English would be unlikely to have hit upon - 'each time lets be more simple'; 'we have a skinny relationship' - or when I notice how she uses song lyrics as readymade vehicles for communication (don't foreigners really learn English from songs more than from books? No wonder Almeida's video 'More Respect' gives props to Aretha) I am reminded that here that a certain passion is being made to pass, as it were, through an opening that is just a bit too narrow for it - and therefore emerging with all the more force. And I don't laugh, but I smile, and I know this art is getting somewhere with me, that I like it.There are really two ways to look at any of these works - but those two turn out to be one, or an infinity. You can look at them on a molecular level, starting with particular little fragments of language that catch your eye and letting their visual and semantic tone and weight sink in before starting to let your brain go to work on linking them up. Or you can take in the whole 'field' comprised by the work at once, as a network of varying visual and semantic tones and weights that segue in and out of each other, and then start letting your brain pick out particular fragments to focus on, rolling around in your mind as you might roll a hard sweet candy around in your mouth. But really you inevitably do both of these things at once - and having done so, you inevitably come up with something a little different each time you look at the same work, because (taking it from the point of view of the fragment and working on up from there) these are stories that you have to rewrite for yourself each time you read them - or (this time seeing the work starting from the whole and then finding one's way down to its molecules) they are maps that constantly change according to the constant mutation of the territory they represent, which is the wondering, wandering mind.Whose mind, though? The inclusion of the artist's 'signature' within the drawings - but not at some secondary level of representation as in the traditional artwork but in the guise of one more language-fragment like all the others - might seem to settle the question: This is art in the first person; the voice is that of Almeida herself. But not so fast. Incorporating the name into the work this way does not accord it any special status; the point is precisely that it exists on the same level as everything else. Remember how the artist cautioned us: 'They were not written by anyone.' But they - the phrases and their relationships - are constantly being rewritten every time I look at them. The constellations of thoughts reconfigure themselves, according my perceptions and desires. Suddenly another French author's dictum comes to mind - that of Flaubert who, speaking of his most famous character, remarked, 'Madame Bovary, c'est moi!' Likewise, each time I see and thereby recompose a work of Almeida's, I have to admit, 'Rosa Almeida, c'est moi.' As I enter into the feeling of the thing, it makes me its own.

[Proposal]English study and communication

If we do things lonely, we’ll find it very boring and difficult.
If we do things together, we’ll find it very interesting and easy.
So does the english language study.
If we want to study english well, we should study as a whole and communicate with each other.
The english corner is growing stronger gradually, and our members have obtained much more useful ways of learning english.Really thanks for their contribution.
Also, I hope more pepole could join into us with your idea.

Travel and experience: the return of the people

I’ve said this many times in this blog: what’s important about travel is the experience. It’s the people, what they think, feel, believe. Many of my persistent complaints about “travel journalism” practiced in my country respond to that absence in many notes. There are no relevant experiences, no people, just actors of the tourism market interested in making the agenda reflect points of view that benefits them.
But the experience can be commercialized by the industry. It’s what the tourism industry has always done: sell sensations, images, transitory situations. But even in the “experience market” there’s a lot to innovate, as you can see in the note published in the english newspaper The Times. And there are interesting examples in the article. For instance, Isango and Black Tomato, specialized in selling travel packages, emphasize on unconventional travel experiences, many times characterized with the ambiguous and unprecise term of “extreme”. Other more traditional sites, such as Lastminute.com, also have joined the trend of adding more experiences to the supply. It’s not just about selling trips, tickets and packages; it also adds to commercialize theater tickets, restaurant reservations and more.
The truth is, in the same way limits between ordinary life and travel become more diffuse, experiences associated to tourism also have more contact points with our “home” lifestyle. Surely, as time goes by, travel and tourism sites will expand its supply to newer areas, not associated to travel before. The process will not be so fast or in short terms, but it surely be happening in the next few years. Or months, if you realize how fast things happen in the Net.
The original The Times article can be found in this link, the reference was originally seen at Hotel Marketing.

The european community will demand visas to bolivian citizen

Starting april 1st, the european community will begin to formally demand every bolivian citizen that enters this region to previously obtain a visa. According to official sources cited in the spanish newspaper El Pais, this measure was taken due to the “intense migratory pressure” from Bolivia. Other countries of the area already in the list of nations that need a visa include Colombia, Peru and Equator.
Despite the declarations made by spanish and european community’s authorities, it seems pretty obvious that in a short term other latin american countries will be added to the list. I hope I’m wrong, but I’m not usually optimistic in these issues. And even less, if we analyze how has the migratory policy and the US - Europe tourism regulation evolved, with increasingly more strict measures.
A couple of weeks ago, I had to go to a travel agency, and on the computers you could see a paper sign with the entry demands to the European community. A certain amount of money per day, credit cards, round trip tickets with no more than a 90 day stay in the region, etc. And I thought, while an european backpacker can travel almost anywhere in the world with a relatively small amount of money and have a long trip, most of us are not allowed to do that. Eventually, only thos with the right passport will be able to backpack around the world. Or am I being to pessimistic today? (Thanks, José, for the notice).

Travel and mobile devices

The best thing about mobile devices is we can use them as we travel. The worst thing is, when we move a little, it usually doesn’t have the infrastructure needed to function. For example, I can think of the Blackberry I’ve been testing for a few weeks. Receiving emails anywhere and being able to answer them is indeed an extraordinary working tool. Until we reach the GPRS (the standard GSM net, the most used in mobile phones) net covered area. That is, we can’t go too far away from urban areas, or our Blackberry will not have signal. Not to mention notebook computers and its WiFi needs, or even count on normal signal on mobile phones. There are many mobile devices, but at least in most of Latin America, the basic infrastructure is limited to more populated areas.
Now well, many people are surprised that the Net doesn’t have more travel related applications that can be executed from a mobile device. There are tools such as Splash Travel, available for Palm OS, but not much more. I believe such absence is absolutely logical. What’s the point in creating such a social network that work in a mobile device for travelers, when most of the planet lacks of ubicuous locations to Internet? Even if Wimax started to expand rapidly, the possibility of internet connection available in most of the country is a long, 10 years perspective, or longer. Will web applications for mobile devices take that long to arrive? In our region, in the south of the world, it’s most likely. In Europe, where distances are shorter, they will appear much sooner -and in fact, tests of social networking for mobile phones are already being done in this area of the world.
If you want to read more about the topic of Mobile 2.0 - that is, the arrival of collaborative and participative tools for mobile devices- you can read the excellent summary published by Read/Write Web (thanks to Juan Pablo Paradelo for the info).

7 new wonders: patriotism and business

A few months ago, many media started promoting a contest about the “New 7 wonders of the world“. Such task is not being carried ahead by the UNESCO or any other relevant global organisation, but by a private company that charges for every additional vote for a “new wonder” -the first one is free when issued on the web, but you’ll have to pay if you want to do it through SMS. The worst thing is that several countries have launched strong campaigns to promote the vote for its country’s “wonders”. That is, their citizen, in the name of national pride, have to increase the profits of a private company that is making business of a contest of argueable seriousness.
At Viaje Aqui, carioca Ricardo Freire says something quite interesting:
It’s an insult to intelligence to place Machu Picchu, Angkor, Isla de Pascua Islands, the Coliseum, the China Wall, Egypt’s and Chichen Itza’s pyramids next to the Liberty Statue, the Corcovado Christ and the Cinderella Castle in Baviera. Excuse me? Cinderella’s Castle?
An acclaration, just in case, the castle is in fact called Neuschwanstein, and Disney based in it to make Cinderella’s.
Tony Galvez’ blog de Viaje a Brasil also talks about the 7 new wonders of the world topic.
It’s not worth spending money in this. It’s not even recognized by an important organisation, so don’t waste your time and money in these things. The real sad thing is that there are governments that are taking this seriously, and spending public funds in promoting something that has no real value, like being recognized by UNESCO.
UPDATE: the egyptian government complays about the lack of seriousness of the contest, which they consider of poor scientific value. More at this link (spanish).

According to EL Pais, UNESCO sponsors the 7 new wonders contest

Yesterday I wrote at 7 new wonders: patriotism and business about the topic of election of the “7 new world wonders”, organised by a swiss firm with commercial reasons. While the first vote is free, any additional vote is not. Why would anyone vote more than once? In some countries big campaigns have been set to make internet users vote to, I suppose, leave the nation’s honor high.
Now, one of things I stated in that entry was that the election was organised by a private firm and not the UNESCO, that would be the institution that should validate this initiative in case it was actually relevant. But it turns out, that when reading the spanish newspaper El Pais I found this:
The swiss millionaire Bernard Weber organizes the contest, supported by the UNESCO an in which one can vote through e-mail, telephone and mobile messages.
The UNESCO supports the contest? I assumed the journalist Carmen Perez-Lanzac had access to information posted after my entry on the topic. So the first thing I did was go to official 7 new wonders site. And with the assumption that such information would be standing out in the site, since UNESCO’s support would be of enormous importance. And I found nothing; not only no mention about the subject in the homepage, but neither in the press news or any other sections. However, checking out the page dedicated to expert panel that participate in the event, I found out the president of the panel is Federico Mayor, an spanish citizen who was general director of UNESCO. But he participates in the contest as an individual an not in representation of the organisation, as the Wikipedia states.
I went to the UNESCO site. I checked the press official news with several search. I found nothing. Unfortunately, the note at the spanish newspaper El Pais has no links to any site where the UNESCO’s support to the contest appears, and I take for granted that the journalist checked that info before publishing. But at least with the public information that is in the Net, I haven’t been able to verify that affirmation. Now, I don’t know what to think. That a commercial initiative is presented as something supported by an international institution such as the UNESCO is something serious, and deserves attention.

Jürgen Habermas

Jürgen Habermas (IPA: [ˈjʏʁgən ˈhaːbɐmaːs]; born June 18, 1929 is a German philosopher and sociologist in the tradition of critical theory and American pragmatism. He is perhaps best known for his work on the concept of the public sphere, the topic (and title) of his first book. His work focused on the foundations of social theory and epistemology, the analysis of advanced capitalistic societies and democracy, the rule of law in a critical social-evolutionary context, and contemporary politics -- particularly German politics. Habermas's theoretical system is devoted to revealing the possibility of reason, emancipation, and rational-critical communication latent in modern institutions and in the human capacity to deliberate and pursue rational interests.
BiographyHabermas was born in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia.
Until his graduation from gymnasium, Habermas lived in Gummersbach, near Cologne. His father, Ernst Habermas, was executive director of the Cologne Chamber of Industry and Commerce. He studied at the universities of Göttingen (1949/50), Zürich (1950/51), and Bonn (1951–54) and earned a doctorate in philosophy[1] from Bonn in 1954 with a dissertation entitled, Das Absolute und die Geschichte. Von der Zwiespältigkeit in Schellings Denken ("The absolute and history: on the contradiction in Schelling's thought"). His dissertation committee included Erich Rothacker and Oskar Becker.
From 1956 on, he studied philosophy and sociology under the critical theorists Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno at the Institute for Social Research at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, but because of a rift between the two over his dissertation -- Horkheimer had made unacceptable demands for revision -- as well as his own belief that the Frankfurt School had become paralyzed with political skepticism and disdain for modern culture - he finished his habilitation in political science at the University of Marburg under the Marxist Wolfgang Abendroth. His habilitation work was entitled, Strukturwandel der Öffentlichkeit; Untersuchungen zu einer Kategorie der Bürgerlichen Gesellschaft (published in English translation in 1989 as The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: an Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society). In 1961, he became a privatdozent in Marburg, and -- in a move that was highly unusual for the German academic scene of that time -- he was offered the position of "extraordinary professor" (professor without chair) of philosophy at the University of Heidelberg (at the instigation of Hans-Georg Gadamer and Karl Löwith) in 1962, which he accepted. In 1964, strongly supported by Adorno, Habermas returned to Frankfurt to take over Horkheimer's chair in philosophy and sociology.
He accepted the position of Director of the Max Planck Institute in Starnberg (near Munich) in 1971, and worked there until 1983, two years after the publication of his magnum opus, The Theory of Communicative Action. Habermas then returned to his chair at Frankfurt and the directorship of the Institute for Social Research. Since retiring from Frankfurt in 1993, Habermas has continued to publish extensively. In 1986, he received the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, which is the highest honour awarded in German research. He also holds the uncharacteristically postmodern position of "Permanent Visiting" Professor at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and "Theodor Heuss Professor" at The New School, New York.
Habermas visited the People's Republic of China in April 2001. Habermas was also the 2004 Kyoto Laureate in the Arts and Philosophy section. He traveled to San Diego and on March 5, 2005, as part of the University of San Diego's Kyoto Symposium, gave a speech entitled The Public Role of Religion in Secular Context, regarding the evolution of separation of Church and State from neutrality to intense secularism. He received the 2005 Holberg International Memorial Prize (about € 520 000).
[edit] Teacher and mentorHabermas was famous as a teacher and mentor. Among his most prominent students were the political sociologist Claus Offe (professor at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin) , the social philosopher Johann Arnason (professor at La Trobe University and chief editor of the journal Thesis Eleven), the sociological theorist Hans Joas (professor at the University of Erfurt and at the University of Chicago), the theorist of societal evolution Klaus Eder, the social philosopher Axel Honneth (the current director of the Institute for Social Research), the American philosopher Thomas McCarthy, the co-creator of mindful inquiry in social research Jeremy J. Shapiro, and the assassinated Serbian prime minister Zoran Đinđić.
[edit] TheoryHabermas constructed a comprehensive framework of social theory and philosophy drawing on a number of intellectual traditions:
the German philosophical thought of Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Schelling, G. W. F. Hegel, Wilhelm Dilthey, Edmund Husserl, and Hans-Georg Gadamer the Marxian tradition — both the theory of Karl Marx himself as well as the critical neo-Marxian theory of the Frankfurt School, i.e. Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno, and Herbert Marcuse the sociological theories of Max Weber, Émile Durkheim, and George Herbert Mead the linguistic philosophy and speech act theories of Ludwig Wittgenstein, J.L. Austin, P. F. Strawson, Stephen Toulmin and John Searle the developmental psychology of Jean Piaget and Lawrence Kohlberg the American pragmatist tradition of Charles Sanders Peirce and John Dewey the sociological social systems theory of Talcott Parsons and Niklas Luhmann Neo-Kantian thought Jürgen Habermas considered his major achievement to be the development of the concept and theory of communicative reason or communicative rationality, which distinguishes itself from the rationalist tradition by locating rationality in structures of interpersonal linguistic communication rather than in the structure of either the cosmos or the knowing subject. This social theory advances the goals of human emancipation, while maintaining an inclusive universalist moral framework. This framework rests on the argument called universal pragmatics - that all speech acts have an inherent telos (the Greek word for "end") — the goal of mutual understanding, and that human beings possess the communicative competence to bring about such understanding. Habermas built the framework out of the speech-act philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein, J. L. Austin, and John Searle, the sociological theory of the interactional constitution of mind and self of George Herbert Mead, the theories of moral development of Jean Piaget and Lawrence Kohlberg, and the discourse ethics of his Heidelberg colleague Karl-Otto Apel.
He carried forward the traditions of Kant and the Enlightenment and of democratic socialism through his emphasis on the potential for transforming the world and arriving at a more humane, just, and egalitarian society through the realization of the human potential for reason, in part through discourse ethics. While Habermas conceded that the Enlightenment is an "unfinished project," he argued it should be corrected and complemented, not discarded. In this he distanced himself from the Frankfurt School, criticizing it, as well as much of postmodernist thought, for excessive pessimism, misdirected radicalism and exaggerations.
Within sociology, Habermas's major contribution was the development of a comprehensive theory of societal evolution and modernization focusing on the difference between communicative rationality and rationalization on the one hand and strategic/instrumental rationality and rationalization on the other. This included a critique from a communicative standpoint of the differentiation-based theory of social systems developed by Niklas Luhmann, a student of Talcott Parsons.
His defence of modernity and civil society has been a source of inspiration to others, and is considered a major philosophical alternative to the varieties of poststructuralism. He has also offered an influential analysis of late capitalism.
Habermas saw the rationalization, humanization, and democratization of society in terms of the institutionalization of the potential for rationality that is inherent in the communicative competence that is unique to the human species. Habermas believed communicative competence has developed through the course of evolution, but in contemporary society it is often suppressed or weakened by the way in which major domains of social life, such as the market, the state, and organizations, have been given over to or taken over by strategic/instrumental rationality, so that the logic of the system supplants that of the lifeworld.
[edit] The public sphereFor more details on this topic, see public sphere.In The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere Jürgen Habermas developed the influential concept of the public sphere, which emerged in the eighteenth century in Europe as a space of critical discussion, open to all, where private people came together to form a public whose "public reason" would work as a check on state power.
According to Habermas, a variety of factors resulted in the eventual decay of the public sphere, including the growth of a commercial mass media, which turned the critical public into a passive consumer public; and the welfare state, which merged the state with society so thoroughly that the public sphere was squeezed out. It also turned the "public sphere" into a site of self-interested contestation for the resources of the state rather than a space for the development of a public-minded rational consensus.
In his magnum opus Theory of Communicative Action (1981) he criticized the one-sided process of modernization led by forces of economic and administrative rationalization. Habermas traced the growing intervention of formal systems in our everyday lives as parallel to development of the welfare state, corporate capitalism and the culture of mass consumption. These reinforcing trends rationalize widening areas of public life, submitting them to a generalizing logic of efficiency and control. As routinized political parties and interest groups substitute for participatory democracy, society is increasingly administered at a level remote from input of citizens. As a result, boundaries between public and private, the individual and society, the system and the lifeworld are deteriorating. Democratic public life only thrives where institutions enable citizens to debate matters of public importance. He describes an ideal type of "ideal speech situation"[1], where actors are equally endowed with the capacities of discourse, recognize each other's basic social equality and speech is undistorted by ideology or misrecognition.
Habermas was optimistic about the possibility of the revival of the public sphere. He saw hope for the future in the new era of political community that transcends the nation-state based on ethnic and cultural likeness for one based on the equal rights and obligations of legally vested citizens. This discursive theory of democracy requires a political community which can collectively define its political will and implement it as policy at the level of the legislative system. This political system requires an activist public sphere, where matters of common interest and political issues can be discussed, and the force of public opinion can influence the decision-making process.
Several noted academics have provided various criticisms of Habermas's notions regarding the public sphere. John B. Thompson, a Professor of Sociology at the University of Cambridge, has pointed out that Habermas's notion of the public sphere is antiquated due to the proliferation of mass-media communications. Michael Schudson from the University of California, San Diego argues more generally that a public sphere as a place of purely rational independent debate never existed.
[edit] Historikerstreit (Historians' Quarrel)Main article: HistorikerstreitHabermas was famous as a public intellectual as well as a scholar; most notably, in the 1980s he used the popular press to attack the German historians Ernst Nolte, Michael Stürmer, and Andreas Hillgruber. Habermas first expressed his views on the above-mentioned historians in the Die Zeit newspaper on July 11, 1986 in a feuilleton (opinion piece) entitled “A Kind of Settlement of Damages”. Habermas criticized the three historians for “apologistic” history writing in regards to the Nazi era, and for seeking to “close Germany’s opening to the West” that in Habermas’s view had existed since 1945[2]. He argued that they had tried to detach Nazi rule and the Holocaust from the mainstream of German history, explain away Nazism as a reaction to Bolshevism, and partially rehabilitate the reputation of the Wehrmacht (German Army) during World War II. The so-called Historikerstreit ("Historians' Quarrel") was not at all one-sided, because Habermas was himself attacked by scholars like Joachim Fest and Klaus Hildebrand[3]Habermas and Derrida
Habermas and Jacques Derrida engaged in a series of disputes beginning in the 1980s and culminating in a mutual refusal to participate in extended debate and a tendency to talk past one another. Following Habermas' publication of "Beyond a Temporalized Philosophy of Origins: Derrida" (in The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity), Derrida, citing Habermas as an example, remarked that, "those who have accused me of reducing philosophy to literature or logic to rhetoric ... have visibly and carefully avoided reading me" ("Is There a Philosophical Language?" p. 218, in Points...). Others prominent in postmodern thought, notably Jean-François Lyotard, engaged in more extended polemics against Habermas, whereas Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe found these polemics counterproductive. In hindsight, these contentious exchanges contributed to divisions within continental philosophy by focusing too heavily on a purported opposition between modernism and postmodernism — these terms were occasionally elevated to totemic if not cosmological importance in the 1980s, due in no small part to works by Lyotard and Habermas and their often enthusiastic and sometimes incautious reception in American universities. It may be suggested that schematic terminology like "poststructuralism", trafficked heavily in the United States but virtually unknown in France, found expression in Habermas' understanding of his French contemporaries, bringing with them the baggage of the "culture wars" raging within American academic circles at the time. In short: although the differences between Habermas and Derrida (if not deconstruction generally) were profound but not necessarily irreconcilable, they were fueled by polemical responses to mischaracterizations of those differences, which in turn sharply inhibited meaningful discussion.
In the aftermath of 9/11, Derrida and Habermas established a limited political solidarity and put their previous disputes behind them in the interest of "friendly and open-minded interchange," as Habermas put it. After laying out their individual opinions on 9/11 in Giovanna Borradori's Philosophy in a Time of Terror: Dialogues with Jürgen Habermas and Jacques Derrida, Derrida wrote a foreword expressing his unqualified subscription to Habermas's declaration, "February 15, or, What Binds Europeans Together: Plea for a Common Foreign Policy, Beginning in Core Europe,” in Old Europe, New Europe, Core Europe (Verso, 2005). Habermas has offered further context for this declaration in an interview. Quite distinct from this, Geoffrey Bennington, a close associate of Derrida's, has in a further conciliatory gesture offered an account of deconstruction intended to provide some mutual intelligibility. Derrida was already extremely ill by the time the two had begun their new exchange, and the two were not able to develop this such that they could substantially revisit previous disagreements or find more profound terms of discussion before Derrida's death. Nevertheless, this late collaboration has encouraged some scholars to revisit the positions, recent and past, of both thinkers, vis-a-vis the other.
[edit] Dialogue with Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI)In early 2007, Ignatius Press published a dialogue between Habermas and Roman Catholic Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI), entitled The Dialectics of Secularization. It addresses such important contemporary questions as these: Is a public culture of reason and ordered liberty possible in our post-metaphysical age? Is philosophy permanently cut adrift from its grounding in being and anthropology? Does this decline of rationality signal an opportunity or a deep crisis for religion itself?
[edit] Major worksThe Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere (1962) ISBN 0262581086 Theory and Practice (1963) On the Logic of the Social Sciences (1967) Toward a Rational Society (1967) Technology and Science as Ideology (1968) Knowledge and Human Interests (1968) "On Social Identity". TELOS 19 (Spring 1974). New York: Telos Press Legitimation Crisis (1975) Communication and the Evolution of Society (1976) On the Pragmatics of Social Interaction (1976) The Theory of Communicative Action (1981) Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action (1983) Philosophical-Political Profiles (1983) The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity (1985) The New Conservatism (1985) Postmetaphysical Thinking (1988) Justification and Application (1991) Between Facts and Norms: Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy (1992) On the Pragmatics of Communication (1992) The Inclusion of the Other (1996) A Berlin Republic (1997, collection of interviews with Habermas) The Postnational Constellation (1998) Rationality and Religion (1998) Truth and Justification (1998) The Future of Human Nature (2003) ISBN 0745629865 Old Europe, New Europe, Core Europe (2005) ISBN 184467018X The Divided West (2006) The Dialectics of Secularization (2007, w/ Joseph Ratzinger)