Wait and see

Ziggy Switkowski, head of Australia's National Broadband Network (NBN), predicts that it and video on demand services make broadcast television irrelevant. I'm more interested in the NBN's implications for education, distance learning, and libraries. Whatever may happen, it will definitely make tertiary education more accessible for a wider range of students.

http://www.afr.com/business/media-and-marketing/netflix-nbn-make-broadcast-tv-irrelevant-says-ziggy-switkowski-20151004-gk16w7

A generous data allowance

Dick York as Phil in Shy Guy (1947)

I was reading today about the work of Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive, a massive digital preservation project that he financed himself. Amongst other things, he preserves earlier iterations of today's popular websites and other documents of historical value, such as old music, books, software, and video, including the classic 1947 social guidance film Shy Guy, starring actor Dick York. Dick York was later to find fame as the original Darren in Bewitched, but Shy Guy must surely represent the apex of his acting career.

In this schmaltzy slice of post-war Americana, York plays Phil, the teenage son of a single father who has moved to a new town. He spends a lot of time in his basement building radios and record players. Phil struggles to fit in at his new school until he finds a way to use his electronics prowess to help his classmates, and even manages to get a girl interested in him as well. Good on him.

In my day, Sonny Jim, books were made of paper

Brewster Kahle, the pioneer whose work with the Internet Archive has helped preserve such valuable cultural artifacts as the classic American social education films as Shy Guy (1947) and Beginning to Date (1953), is now involved in a ambitious project to create an archive of every book ever published. It's a great idea. As a bibliophile I heartily agree that the printed word needs to be preserved for future generations.

The assignment vending machine

This is what's happening to my peers in state schools. From what I've seen, similar information seeking behaviour is starting to become evident in the tertiary education sector, which is a bit of a concern. I'm no Luddite; I'm all for implementing new technology, but reading and research skills are vital parts of literacy.

Zeroes and ones

After a long gestation, in partnership with the United States Library of Congress, UNESCO recently launched the World Digital Library. Its mission is to promote international and intercultural understanding, expand the volume and variety of cultural content on the web, provide resources for educators, scholars, and general audiences, and to build capacity in partner institutions to narrow the digital divide within and among countries. It aims to expand non-English and non-Western content on the web, and contribute to scholarly research.

The library intends to make available on the web, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from cultures around the world, including manuscripts, maps, rare books, musical scores, recordings, films, prints, photographs, architectural drawings, and other significant cultural materials. At launch, the library held 1,170 items, and the interface is available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.

That all sounds worthwhile, doesn't it? One of the good things about this site is that the available documents are accompanied by descriptions that place them in their historical and cultural context. I also like the user friendly interface.