Monthly Archives: February 2013
The Downside of Open-Access Publishing?
The Downside of Open-Access Publishing brings additional attention to the issue of “predatory publishers” in several varieties: Some of the publishers are intentionally misleading, naming nonexistent people as their editors and editorial board members and claiming ownership of articles that they have plagiarized from other publications. Other journals and publishers on Beall’s list may be real, though […]
Ethnicity in Zimbabwe
Episode 71 of Africa Past and Present — the podcast about African history, culture, and politics: In this episode, historian Enocent Msindo (Rhodes University) discusses his recent book Ethnicity in Zimbabwe: Transformations in Kalanga and Ndebele Societies, 1860-1990. He explores African royal politics, class, language, and local sources to show the creation of ethnic identity in […]
Can Children Teach Themselves?
Observations: Opinion, arguments & analyses from the editors of Scientific American. Guterl, Fred. 2013. “Can Children Teach Themselves?” Scientific American blog, February 27. Sugata Mitra gave street kids in a slum in New Delhi access to a computer connected to the Internet, and found that they quickly taught themselves how to use it. This was the […]
Open Access Africa conference
Conference program from 04 – 05 November 2012 with online resources. Open Access Africa brings together researchers, librarians, journal editors, funders and other decision-makers to share ideas on how open access publishing can support science and medicine in Africa. Building on outcomes from previous successful and lively events, the conference will feature open access expertise from […]
Liberian archives
The Liberian Collections program at Indiana University has completed digitization of the William V.S. Tubman Papers [1904-1992]. More than 44,000 pages of primary source information are openly accessible through the IU Digital Library Program. According to project director Verlon Stone, this collection has already been of great value to scholars. Additional funding from CRL/CAMP provided the opportunity […]
Expanding access to the results of US government funded research
The US White House today directed federal agencies to develop open-access policies within the next six months. The directive on Public Access Articles and Data comes from John Holdren, President Obama’s chief Science Advisor. Read more: White House announcement and the Directive itself. See also: Official reaction from the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC). From a […]
Eliminating the Rolodex of inequality
“Justspeak: Eliminating the Rolodex of inequality.” Monday, 04 February 2013 Irma McClaurin, PhD, Culture and Education Editor If we only reach into our personal Rolodex, we sustain an environment of inequality. My advice is to take a stark and honest look at your Board composition, your business, your organization, and your social network. How much […]
Recording a Revolution: Hiphop and Social Change in Africa
Originally posted on Hausahomevideoresourcecentre's Blog:
Hausa hiphop artist Ziriums (Nazir Hausawa) will take part in an African Hip Hop event at the Alachua County Library Headquarters, in Gainesville, Florida, USA, on Saturday 23 February 2013. Ziriums was featured in the documentary Recording a Revolution, by Alex Johnson and Saman Piracha, which will screen 10am-11am.…
Timbuktu digital manuscripts
Slavery and Manumission Manuscripts of Timbuktu This digital collection of nineteenth-century manuscripts in Arabic comes from the world reknown archives in Timbuktu. It relates to the slavery and manumission of Africans in Muslim societies. From the Bibliothèque Commémorative Mama Haidara in Timbuktu, Mali. Note that access is throught the Center for Research Libraries which is a membership organization for libraries worldwide […]
Mellen Press sues librarian for libel
In a serious affront to academic freedom, Dale Askey, an Associate Librarian at McMaster University (Ontario, Canada) has been sued for libel by the Edwin Mellen Press (which has lost similar cases in the past). From the Leiter Reports: A professional librarian at McMaster University’s library complained, in a 2010 blog-post, that Mellen was a poor publisher […]
African Studies library 