Nowadays is seems that so many of us spend hours and hours commuting back and forth (and hopefully we are doing this on public transportation). For those of us lucky enough to be able to read while traveling it seems that a few public transportation systems are starting to offer us options. In Colombia the TransMilenio has been experimented with lending out book. This project is promoted by the Instituto de Cultura y Turismo which extended their Libro Al Viento campaign onto TrasMilenio. Here users don’t need to be affiliated with any library; great literature is made available to anyone traveling, with hopes that the books will be returned. Readers are encouraged to pick up these book and take them home or to the office until their are finished with it, and then return them to the system for another to use. This project has since extended into local grocery stores, and public markets around the city.

The Contra Costa Public Library has joined forces with BART to offer library services to commuters. The program named, Library-a-GO-Go, will install book lending machines that will allow patrons to check out books while in their commute. The first machines will be installed at the Pittsburgh/Bay Point station in April, with more machines to come at the Pleasant Hill and the Byron/Discovery Bay stations.

You can read the press release for the Contra Costa – BART project here, and an article (in Spanish) on the TransMilenio project here. You can read about Libro Al Viento in supermarkets (in Spanish) here, and in public markets (in Spanish) here.

Parece que hoy en día muchos de nosotros pasamos horas y horas de trayecto de ida y vuelta, (ojala, usando transporte público). Para aquellos de nosotros que tenemos la suerte de poder leer durante el viaje, parece que algunos sistemas de transporte público están comenzando a ofrecer opciones de lectura. En Colombia, el TransMilenio está experimentando con el libro de préstamos. Este proyecto se impulsa por el Instituto de Cultura y Turismo, los cuales extendieron su campaña “Libro Al Viento” a el TrasMilenio. Aquí los usuarios no necesitan estar afiliados a alguna biblioteca, los grandes temas literarios del mundo están disponibles para cualquiera que viaje, con la esperanza de que los libros serán devueltos. Los lectores son alentados a recoger estos libros y llevarlos a casa o a la oficina hasta que haya terminado el libro, para luego devolverlo al sistema para que otros también puedan leerlo. Este proyecto se ha extendido a las tiendas de comestibles locales, y los mercados públicos de la ciudad.

La Biblioteca Pública de Contra Costa en California, EEUU, ha creado un proyecto con BART para ofrecer servicios de biblioteca a los viajeros. El programa llamado, Biblioteca-A-Go-Go, instalará máquinas de préstamo de libros que permitirá a los clientes a sacar libros mientras viajan en el metro. Las primeras máquinas se instalarán en la estación de Pittsburgh/ Bay Point, en abril, con más máquinas por llegar a las estaciones de Pleasant Hill/Discovery Byron Bay.

Puede leer el comunicado de prensa para el proyecto Contra Costa – BART aquí, y un artículo sobre el proyecto TransMilenio aquí. Usted puede leer acerca de Libro Al Viento en los supermercados aquí, y en los mercados públicos aquí.

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This morning the New York Times had an article about two parallel art exhibits displaying art looted during WWII. The exhibit is a collaboration between France and Israel in aims at reconnecting these pieces with their original owners. Most of the art on display was either outright looted or forcefully “bought” by the Nazi, and so far has gone unclaimed, presumably because the original owners were likely killed in the Holocaust. The collections contain a number of “common” pieces, but also works from renown artist such as Cézanne, Manet, Degas, Chagall, Delacroix, and Monet among others.

Art and other cultural pieces are often looted during times of war and much has been written and discussed on the subject. Actually a couple semesters ago I attended a lecture by Patricia Kennedy Grimsted, a Harvard professor who has written extensively on collections held in Russian archives which previously belong to other nations. Her book, “Trophies of War and Empire: The Archival Heritage of Ukraine, World War II and the International Politics of Restitution” discusses the complexities of restitution and why countries loot other nations’ cultural treasures.

Fortunately there are efforts around the globe to stop this practice. The Lost Art Internet Database is a project from the Koordinierungsstelle für Kulturgutverluste which is working to reconnect lost cultural property to its original owners. Looted Art is another such initiative, and while many of these efforts circle the Holocaust this is not a phenomenon seen exclusively around WWII, Chile recently returned a number of book taken from the Peruvian National Library about 100 years ago. And it’s not just armies who walk away with cultural property that belongs to others. Some of the largest and best endowed universities and museums around the world have gotten some of their material in such a matter. Egypt has been demanding the return of the Rosetta Stone for years, to name just one example (You can read about this from an article in the BBC). Unfortunately we are still seeing this practice in current times; the National Museum of Iraq was gravely looted during the USA invasion. (You can read about the Iraqi National Museum from an article in the Guardian.)

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A recent article in the BBC shows how recent violence in Kenya sparked from election disputes has affected the flower industry. Usually Valentines means that workers can expect to work longer hours, and make some extra money. Others can take temporary work on these large farms, but this year ethnic violence has forces many of these workers to flee their homes and jobs, leaving the Kenyan flower industry in a difficult situation for the highest demand of the year. The industry seems to be running on about 80% of it’s usual workforce, while some of the more fortunate workers have been offered housing on the farms, and have thus been able to keep their jobs, many have been forced to send their families to live elsewhere. The most unfortunate ones had to leave everything behind, or worst yet were killed.

Violence has also disrupted transportation routs forcing flower farmers to incur more expenses by having to charter flights to deliver their product. And while we can hope that this violence will be passing, failing to deliver on the industry’s most important day can damage confidence in the Kenyans flower industry for years to come.

In Colombia Valentine day has been adopted by workers in the flower as International Day of Flowers Workers; a day designed to raise awareness about the poor conditions in which many workers toil. This movement is being highlighted by Florverde certification which places its symbol on flower production which meets their social and environmental standards. Now Florverde is trying to increase labor standards and work with trade unions to continue improving the industry.

Florverde certification covers about 25% of the Colombian flower industry, and its criteria include standards such as sealing fumigated areas to protect workers. Although these seem like obvious steps it is actually commons to have workers in the same area where pesticides are being used. In the past the industry has also seen some very nasty disputes over labor issues and attempts at unionizing. Currently there are some farms that have greatly improved conditions for workers offering decent wages, and daycare, but many other farms still have a very long way to go.

Now partnerships with European markets may help improve the situation. In order to sell in European markets, Colombian flowers would have to meet UK’s Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI). Complying with ETI includes freely chosen employment (no prison labor), freedom of association and respecting collective bargaining, safe and hygienic working conditions, the absence of child labor, living wages, reasonable working hours, the absence of discrimination, having regular employment, as well as no tolerance for harsh or inhumane treatment (read their full code here).

It would be great if the other large consumer of cut flowers would also step up to the plate and help improve conditions in this industry that brighten our days, while exploiting so many others.

You can read the BBC article about Kenya here, Colombia here. You can read another article on the situation in Kenya from the Washington Post here.

Image from AP Photo/Bernat Armangue.

Un artículo reciente de la BBC muestra cómo la reciente violencia en Kenia, creada por los resultados de las elecciones, ha afectado a la industria de las flores. Por lo general, el día de San Valentín significa que los trabajadores tendrán que trabajar más horas, y podrán hacer dinero extra. Otros podrán trabajar horas extras, pero este año la violencia étnica ha obliga a muchos de estos trabajadores a huir de sus hogares y puestos de trabajo, dejando a la industria de las flores de Kenia en una difícil situación. La industria parece estar funcionando con aproximadamente el 80% de sus empleados, algunos de los más afortunados han logrado conseguir alojamiento en estas fincas, lo cual significa que han sido capaces de mantener sus puestos de trabajo, pero muchos otros se han visto obligados a enviar a sus familias a vivir en otros lugares. Los más desafortunados tenían que dejar todo atrás, o peor aún fueron asesinados.

La violencia también ha interrumpido las rutas de transporte de flores obligando a los agricultores a incurrir en más gastos al tener que contratar vuelos privados para entregar su producto. Y si bien podemos esperar que esta violencia pasara, la incapacidad de entregar pedidos de flores en esta fecha tan importante podría afectar la confianza en toda la industria de flores de Kenia.

El Día de San Valentín en Colombia ha sido aprobado por los trabajadores como Día Internacional de los Trabajadores de Flores, un día destinado a crear conciencia acerca de las malas condiciones en que trabajan muchos de estos trabajadores. Este movimiento se destacó por la certificación Florverde, que sitúa su símbolo en la producción de flores que se ajuste a sus normas sociales y medioambientales. Florverde ahora está tratando de aumentar los estándares laborales y el trabajo con los sindicatos para seguir mejorando la industria.

La certificación Florverde abarca alrededor del 25% de la industria de las flores de Colombia, y sus normas incluyen criterios tales como sellar en área de fumigación para proteger a los trabajadores. Aunque estas medidas parecen evidentes en realidad es común que los trabajadores estén en la misma zona donde se utilizan plaguicidas. En el pasado, la industria también se ha visto envuelta en desagradables disputas sobre asuntos laborales y los intentos de sindicación. Actualmente existen algunas granjas que han mejorado las condiciones de los trabajadores ofreciendo salarios decentes, y guarderías para los hijos de estos, pero muchas otras granjas aún tienen largo camino por recorrer.

Ahora la colaboración con los mercados europeos puede ayudar a mejorar la situación. Con el fin de vender en los mercados europeos, las flores colombianas tienen que cumplir con el Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) del Reino Unido. El cumplimiento de la ETI incluye trabajos no forzados (sin mano de obra esclavizada), la libertad de asociación y el respeto a la negociación colectiva, seguridad e higiene en las condiciones de trabajo, la ausencia de trabajo infantil, salarios decentes, horas de trabajo razonables, la ausencia de discriminación, aseguramiento de empleo regular, como así como el rechazo a la trato inhumano (lea el código completo aquí).
Qué bueno sería si el otro gran consumidor de flores cortadas también empezara a exigir mejores condiciones para esta industria, cuyo producto nos alegra el día a todos.

Puede leer el artículo de la BBC sobre Kenia aquí, Colombia aquí. Puedes leer otro artículo sobre la situación en Kenia en el Washington Post aquí.

Imagen de la AP Foto / Bernat Armangue.

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The European Digital Library project has been working since September 2006 on creating a portal to gather digital collection from National Libraries around Europe, including Belgium, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Norway, Spain and Sweden. Europeana, as the site has been named, will be part of the will include material from the European Library (without being part of it) providing access to a multitude of digital objects from across Europe.

Desde septiembre del 2006 el proyecto de la Biblioteca Digital Europea ha estado trabajando en la creación de un portal para reunir las colecciones digitales de las bibliotecas nacionales de toda Europa, incluyendo a Bélgica, Grecia, Irlanda, Islandia, Liechtenstein, Luxemburgo, Noruega, España y Suecia. Europeana, como el sitio ha sido nombrado, incluirá material de la Biblioteca Europea (sin ser parte de ella) y dará acceso a una multitud de objetos digitales de toda Europa.

Currently Europeana is in beta form, and is being demoed to gather input on how to make if as effective as possible before release. The site aims at offering users the possibility of searching content in a multitude of languages and will allow comparisons of related material across different countries.

Actualmente Europeana se encuentra en fase beta, y se están haciendo demos para obtener la opinión sobre cómo hacer el sitio lo más eficaz posible antes de su lanzamiento. El sitio tiene como objetivo ofrecer a los usuarios la posibilidad de buscar el contenido en una multitud de lenguas y permitirán establecer comparaciones de material relacionado en los distintos países.

Hosting for the site will be done by the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, the National Library of the Netherlands. Europeana aims for a November 2008 release, hosting about 2 million items including book, photographs, maps, audio files, and archival records from libraries, archives, and museums throughout Europe.

Hosting para el sitio se hará por la Koninklijke Bibliotheek, la Biblioteca Nacional de los Países Bajos. Europeana apunta a un lanzamiento para noviembre del 2008, albergando cerca de 2 millones de artículos incluyendo libros, fotografías, mapas, archivos de audio, y documentos de archivos procedentes de bibliotecas, archivos y museos de toda Europa.

You can read the press release for Europeana here. You can view the site demo here.

Puedes leer el comunicado de prensa a Europeana aquí. Puede ver la demo del sitio aquí.

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Yesterday The Harvard Crimson published an Op-Ed by Robert Darnton, Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor and Director of the University Library, who has set the groundwork to create an Office for Scholarly Communication which will manage an open access repository hosting the works of Harvard’s faculty of arts and science (FAS). This project will be established to make these publications available to the entire world, and not just those who can afford the expensive journals in which they are often published. Articles will be available through the university’s OPAC Hollis.

The project’s goal is two fold. First it aims at sharing Harvard’s wealth of information, and second it hopes to make a statement against the high prices of many academic journals. Darnton has only recently taken on the job of university librarian, but promises large moves towards accessibility and openness. Actually this effort to make all faculty publications freely accessible comes on the heels of other projects at Harvard making more and more of their collections available to everyone. Currently the university participates in the Harvard-Google project which will make monographs in the public domain actually available to the public. Their Open Collection Program is working hard to digitize many of the treasures housed at their various libraries and making them available to everyone.

This new initiative to make faculty’s publications available to the world for free establishes an automatic “op-in” stance, requiring faculty who don’t want to participate to fill out a waiver. In terms of copyright, the project would make faculty share copyright with the university library which would allow the library to publish the material, but it would still allow faculty to publish their work in other venues which allow for non-exclusive copyright. This set up should not hinder or devaluate publications by faculty members, and Darnton explains that for those participating in the project, they will benefit from having the full weight of the institution behind them.

You can read the Op-Ed in the Harvard Crimson here, or an article on the subject from Library Journal here. The university’s Open Access policy is here.

05.21.08 – The Harvard Law School has also joined this initiative, making them the first law school to adopts such a commitment towards open access. You can read more about this here.

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The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has recently published Information Economy Report 2007-2008 which notes that the digital divide is still very much an issue that must be addressed. The report explains that while digital penetration is growing daily through the world, most developing countries are still far behind (with the few exceptions of countries like Korea and Singapore).

The report notes that in terms of information communication technologies, mobile phones are opening new pathways for people around the world to communicate and access information, and are in many occasions frog leaping several steps in the communication development process. Countries with high rise in mobile phone penetrations are starting to experience a new form of commerce, “M-commerce”. People in countries such as Nepal and Ghana are using mobile phones to buy and sell products, as well as keeping in touch. This same report illustrated their point by commenting on results seen in Thailand. The study showed that a 10% increase in computer literary will produce a 3.5% in productivity increase.

In terms of internet penetrations, most developing countries are also still far behind, with internet access being prohibitively expensive, even when it is available. Still the silver lining is that just a few years ago the developed world had ten times more access to internet, and now the disparity is only of 6 times the amount. I guess this is an improvements, but the situation is still highly unequal.

And while a discussion on access is very important we also still need to have a discussion on related policy issues that should ensure equal access, plus security for users.

A couple of days ago the BBC had an article about this issue. You can read it here. For more visual information on this issues check out the for the Internet User Stats showing a variety of graphs on internet penetration, growth, and usage divided by geographical regions.

Graphs from ITU Free Statistics.

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The late Stephen J. Gould has bequeathed his entire collection to Stanford University, who intends to digitize much of it and create a “hyperlinked” version of it. An article in the San Jose Mercury News explained that while Gould was never affiliated with Stanford, his home campus (Harvard) was apparently not interested in the project.

Gould taught in the areas of biology, paleontology and the history of science, although his work covers a much, much larger scope of knowledge. He is known for making connections across seemingly unrelated fields of study. His collection, although not inventoried yet, is said to an contain early editions of Darwin’s “Decent of Man”, among many other treasures.

Stanford now faces the challenge of actually creating this hyperlinked version of Gould’s collection. Good luck to them!

Here’s a link to the Unofficial Stephen J. Gould Archive.

Image info here.

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This morning on NPRs Morning Edition I heard a fascinating story about schools in Tucson that are trying to address both the high rates of Latino student dropout from school, and the lack of bilingual interpreters in the city. The school is beginning to harness these children’s language skills by training them to be simultaneous interpreters in the hopes that this will provide the children with enough incentive to stay in school, allow them to have a good job upon graduation and supply enough interpreters to meet the city’s demand.

Some of the children interviewed for the show commented that they have been working as interpreters from a very young age, since many have family members who need help communicating.

How refreshing to see programs encouraging children to be multilingual and multicultural. This type of program is the perfect example of how all of us can greatly benefit by encouraging the assets that each cultural group brings with it. Hopefully this is the beginning of a new trend that helps these students achieve in any field, not just as interpreters.

You can listen to the program here.

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