Niall McNulty

Get involved now - Durban Sings

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:58:29 +0000

{rokintensedebate}

Preservation workshop

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:22:34 +0000

Not digital but perhaps still of interest ...

KwaZulu-Natal Archives, in collaboration with the South African Preservation and Conservation Group, South African Museums Association and the International Council of Museums is hosting a preservation workshop as part of their annual conference. The workshop has been structured to provide archivists and heritage professionals with practical guidance on key issues relating to preservation.

The following topics will be covered:

Care of paper
Care of photographs
Integrated pest management
Copyright on photographs
Disaster management
Construction of phase boxes
Mounting displays

Contemporary History in the Digital Age

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:12:51 +0000

Interesting post at HUMlab on a symposium in Luxembourg on the topic of Contemporary History in the Digital Age. The symposium was hosted by the Centre Virtuel de la Connaissance sur l’Europe (CVCE) and the University of Luxembourg (Master’s in Contemporary European History program).

Read the full post ...

{rokintensedebate}

International Year of Astronomy 2009

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:43:50 +0000

Posters by Simon Page. These are pretty great, more at kitsunenoir.com.

{rokintensedebate}

The Proposition - 03 November

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:46:14 +0000

The Proposition, an Australian film, directed by John Hillcoat, screenplay by Nick Cave, music Nick Cave and Warren Ellis.

The Centre for Critical Research on Race and Identity (ccrri) will screen this film, after an introduction by Jeff Guy, asking why such a film has not been made in South Africa.

Described variously as ‘a story of class, race, colonisation and of one family’s destiny played out against the searing backdrop of Australia in the 1880s, ‘a strange, unsettling film, ultimately quite moving, it’s impossible not to respond to it strongly’, unrelentingly violent, and ‘uncommonly accurate in depicting indigenous Australian culture of the late 1800s; compared to Apocalypse Now and Unforgiven.

Mind the gapminder

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:32:16 +0000

Cool project:

Gapminder is a non-profit venture promoting sustainable global development and achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals by increased use and understanding of statistics and other information about social, economic and environmental development at local, national and global levels.

They describe themselves as a modern “museum” that helps making the world understandable, using the Internet.

The initial activity was to continue development of the Trendalyzer software. This software unveils the beauty of statistical time series by converting boring numbers into enjoyable, animated and interactive graphics. The current version of Trendalyzer is available since March 2006 as Gapminder World, a web-service displaying time series of development statistics for all countries.

Collaborative Storytelling Experiment on Twitter

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 03:45:13 +0000

This week the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) teamed up with Neil Gaiman (author of Neverwhere and other latter day science fiction and fantasy classics) and thousands of Twitter followers to draft what will become an original audiobook. Gaiman tweeted the first line yesterday and invited followers to continue the story with replies to @BBCAA and hashtag #bbcawdio. When approximately 1000 tweets are logged, editors at the BBC will compile and edit the accumulated tweets into an audiobook script and recording.

{rokintensedebate}

Calls for New Nominations for Memory of the World International Register

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 05:03:39 +0000

UNESCO is inviting new nomination proposals for inscription on its Memory of the World International Register, a list of library collections and archive holdings of world significance, which was established in 1997 to promote documentary heritage of universal value.

Nominations should ideally be submitted through the National Commission for UNESCO or the Memory of the World National Committee in the country where it is located. Proposals should be based on the selection criteria listed in the General Guidelines to Safeguard Documentary Heritage, which stipulates that the most important criterion for inscription on the register is the universal significance of the documentary heritage.

Read more at UNESCO ...

{rokintensedebate}

Preparing to Sell E-Books, Google Takes on Amazon

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 06:34:36 +0000

Google appears to be throwing down the gauntlet in the e-book market.

In discussions with publishers at the annual BookExpo convention in New York over the weekend, Google signaled its intent to introduce a program by that would enable publishers to sell digital versions of their newest books direct to consumers through Google. The move would pit Google against Amazon.com, which is seeking to control the e-book market with the versions it sells for its Kindle reading device.

Google’s move is likely to be welcomed by publishers who have expressed concerns about the possibility that Amazon will dominate the market for e-books with its aggressive pricing strategy. Amazon offers Kindle editions of most new best-sellers for $9.99, a price far lower than the typical $26 at which publishers sell new hardcovers. In early discussions, Google has said it would allow publishers to set a suggested retail price, but that it would set the ultimate consumer price.

Read the full article at NYT ...

{rokintensedebate}

Course on Using Google Maps and Google Earth

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 06:33:07 +0000

Google Earth Outreach, a programme that helps NGOs and public benefit groups learn to use Google Earth and Maps as powerful communications tools to educate the public and policy-makers, is conducting free training on Using Google Maps and Google Earth on 5 November 2009 in Nairobi, Kenya.

NGOs will hear first hand from organisations that have used Google Earth for outreach and advocacy in Africa. They will also learn how to implement Google Maps and Google Earth in their own projects.

Read more at NGO Pulse ...

{rokintensedebate}