Acid test for policy advisers

John McCarthy at the ICCDPP (International Centre for Career Development and Public Policy) alerts us to this piece the The Australian.

It's interesting to observe how the fiery battles between the Left and Right in the 20th century have been replaced today by more modest debates about public policy options. The grand ideologies associated with capitalism and socialism are still active and relevant as moral and intellectual irritants, but they are decreasingly used as benchmarks in political judgment or as stories in the political contest.
That role has been taken up by social, economic, environmental and governance outcomes: growth and employment, measures of amenity and global warming, crime rates, health and education standards, and degrees of citizenship. Our new gurus have even been given a name: "policy wonks".

I've like to have given you the link direct to The Australian because, no offence meant, getting into the ICCDPP site is more often impossible than not! If it was just any old site with occasional useful information I'd probably (no, I'd definitely) give up on it -- as it is it's a major irritant!
But you'll also have to suffer the "major irritant" if you want to read the full story as it's disappeared into the archives at the original source only to re-appear on payment of money!

Review in Freepint: Research Methods in Information by Alison Jane Pickard

The Facet Publishing blog said recently:

"Just spotted, in the latest edition of FreePint, an excellent review of Alison Jane Pickard's, Research Methods in Information. This book successfully covers the key angles, themes and topics that you would expect and hope to see in a research text for people working or researching in information environments. It is an ideal size, accessible and nice to read. The author's enthusiasm for and knowledge of research is evident, not only by her credentials but by the very nature of the book itself. I am certainly pleased to have it in my collection."

What the author of the blog omitted to say was that this book is published by Facet Publishing - so s/he is not likely to point you to a bad review of the book! Not that I could find one - nor indeed a mediocre or another good one. Maybe it's simply not "hit" the reviewers yet. The blurb on the Facet website is, of course, positive whilst, in true information management style, remaining largely hype free.

It's not yet in my local public library system and at £39.95 (£31.95 for CILIP members) I'd find it difficult to justify purchase to the company directors!

Paperback; February 2007; 336pp; ISBN-10: 1-85604-545-5; ISBN-13: 978-1-85604-545-2

Bloggers' Search for Anonymity

The BBC puts the case for the untraceable voice.
The Internet has given the individual unprecedented power to reach out to millions but some governments are cautious, even hostile, to giving their citizens free access to ideas they deem too democratic and dangerous.

This very useful article explains how to remain undetected online. The information is aimed at people in countries like Tunisia where criticising the government may be akin to signing your death warrant -- it's certainly going to give you a hard time when you're caught.
I'm very much in favour of people being able to say "I think the government in my country stinks" or even to criticise the actions of individual people. Without dissidents it would be a lot harder to have democratic progress. But, and I have to admit to a big "BUT" here -- the same technique that hides a dissident from a vengeful government can be used to hide a cyber-criminal.

Anyone got any ideas about achieving the first without allowing the second?

Government spin -- Brian Keighley gets on his soap box

"Spinning used to be something the old woman did in Sleeping Beauty or, more recently, something athletically inclined people do on rather strange, static bicycles, often with the exhortations of an impossibly muscled young woman."

Well, yes, but -- like so many words in the English language today "spinning" now means something completely different. And, just to prove that ADSET's Information Weblog draws "stuff" from seemingly unlikely places, this came from the CareerFocus newsletter published by the British Medical Journal.

YouTube - Librarian

"I wonder just how many librarians have considered doing this to users?" asks Phil Bradley in his blog. It's worth watching and thank you Phil for alerting us to it. I have no doubt that we'll be seeing this link coming up again and again -- rather like the "how to do RSS" video which is also arriving in my RSS reader on a daily basis at the moment (just as Norma -- the cat playing the piano did a while back).

NIACE ESOL question time conference

I've just received this email from NIACE and thought I'd pass on immediately information about this important, to the guidance community, conference which is on

Monday 18 June 2007
Queens Hotel City Square Leeds LS1 1PL

Registration 9:45 -- the conference closes at 15:35

Recent announcements from the LSC and Government will exclude asylum seekers from any learning opportunities whilst they wait for a decision from the Home Office. The 25,000 annual applicants for asylum are amongst the most vulnerable and needy learners. They need survival English and the interaction with others that ESOL provides. These measures give rise to critical questions, such as:

• How to engage employers and secure their contribution to the costs of training their employees?
• How to provide a broader range of ESOL to satisfy wide ranging learner needs?
• How to improve the quality of provision?
• How to ensure that sufficient ESOL teachers are employed and that initial and teacher training and ongoing professional development meets their needs. ?
• The NIACE ESOL Committee of Inquiry recommended that there should be free ESOL tuition up to and including Level 1. By ignoring this recommendation there is a risk that social inclusion and community cohesion, two government priorities, will be at risk. Newcomers will be increasingly isolated if they cannot speak English to ask for their bus fare or buy a pint of milk. The rise of hostility towards immigrants may be fuelled. This is also likely to have an impact on those seeking to access ESOL Language with Citizenship courses. The issue of equity with literacy and numeracy has not been addressed.

This conference aims to:

• Consider the implications of the NIACE ESOL Inquiry recommendations in 'More than a language...' for policy and practice
• Consider the impact of the LSC's Annual Statement of Priorities, 2007 - 2008
• Share responses and approaches developed in response to the NIACE recommendations and LSC funding changes

This event provides an opportunity for all those connected with the field of ESOL to voice their views, propose their solutions and share their approaches to responding to learners' needs.

It will be a lively and stimulating event, based on questions and answers, argument and debate. Guests will be asked to respond to questions from an interviewer and also questions from the floor.

There will be plenty of opportunity to share views and experiences through round table discussions and as a whole conference. This will be a provocative and demanding day but one which will also provide a number of practical strategies to plan and deliver provision in September 2007.

Details at the link under the title of this posting
Enquiries to Gurjit Kaur
tel: 0116 204 2833
email: gurjit.kaur@niace.org.uk

Single-victim spam attacks skyrocket

ComputerWorld.com warns that:
"The number of cyberattacks that consist of one e-mail targeting no more than a handful of people is up sharply from last year, according to MessageLabs Ltd. "

Seems odd to me that there could be any financial benefit in targetting a selected range of people. However, it appears that the targets are large corporations or government departments and the aim is to steal information -- preferrably about people.