BPN 1351 European Elections start in Holland

Today the European elections start in the Netherlands and the UK. In the Netherlands 13 million people can vote; they do not have to vote like in Belgium. The Netherlands is not famous for a record showing of voters. Fourty percent of 13 million is already a lot. It is interesting to see tomorrow morning what the percentage will be. (As we are not using voting machines any longer, as they can be tampered with theoretically, we are again centuries back to the red pencil!).

I have voted already early in the morning. The party choice was not easy. On the one hand we have the Europe haters, who will join the European parliament to frustrate any European initiative. They basically want to collect votes against the present Dutch cabinet, which is pretty weak. On the other hand we have the traditional parties of Christians, socialists and liberals. New parties this time around, are the parties not rooted in the Dutch political system, but parties which profile themselves as European parties such as Newropeans and Libertas. Those parties are not represented in all 27 countries, but in a few countries only. The Newropeans for example are represented in Germany and France. Interestingly enough they also have linked up with the Pirate Party from Sweden, a political party based on intellectual property. The Newropeans agree with the principles of the Pirate Party: disagreement with the present copyright rules, against DRM technologies and elimination of blank media tax.

My vote is clear. I am in favour of Europe and will not vote on the parties which want to frustrate any European initiative. I am not favouring the new European parties as they have hardly presented and promoted themselves. In the Netherlands, only Mr Reinder Rustema was active promoting the Newropeans and as Obama did he did it on internet. He teaches media at Amsterdam University and has indicated to agree with the principles of the Pirate Party. I have resorted to a social liberal party.

After voting, I have set myself to some administrative chores: filling out the financial forms and timesheets of the project Scienar, subsidised by the European Commission. The main objective of Scienar is to stimulate the creativity of artists by means of the creation of innovative scientific scenarios, based on scientific models. In particular, the project intends to create an environment, constituted by three scientific scenarios, concerning: the theory of relativity, symetries and geometry. The project has just opened its website.

Blog Posting Number: 1351

Tags: media policy

STM publishers in foreign aid

More than 100 STM (Scientific, Technical and Medical) Publishers will extend programs to provide information for free or almost free to countries lacking access to information, training that can help save lives, improve the quality of life, and assist with economic development. You can say that STM publishers, small ones and major ones like Elsevier, Springer and Blackwell, are going into development work. So far they have been working with three UN organisations (WHO, FAO and UNEP) setting up programs, trainings and technical facilities to access information online for scientists, policymakers and librarians. Also Microsoft has been involved. The companies and organisations are extending the program and committing themselves until 2015, marking the target for reaching the Millennium Development Goals.

The publishers have committed to the three sister programs – HINARI (research on health), AGORA (research on agriculture) and OARE (research in the environment) – to provide online research access to more than 100 of the world’s poorest countries.

HINARI (Health InterNetwork Access to Research Initiative), launched in 2002 under the leadership of the World Health Organization (WHO), with technical assistance from Yale University Library, enables developing countries to gain access to one of the world's largest collections of biomedical and health literature. Over 3750 journal titles are now available to health institutions in 107 countries, benefiting many thousands of health workers and researchers.

AGORA (Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture) [www.aginternetwork.org], initiated in 2003 and led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) with support from the Mann Library, Cornell University, together with major publishers, enables developing countries to gain access to an outstanding digital library collection in the fields of food, agriculture, environmental science and related social sciences. AGORA provides a collection of 958 journals to institutions in 107 countries. AGORA is designed to enhance the scholarship of the many thousands of students, faculty and researchers in agriculture and life sciences in the developing world.

OARE (Online Access to Research in the Environment), an international public-private consortium introduced in 2006 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Yale University Library and School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and leading science and technology publishers, enables 70 low income countries to gain free access to over 1,300 scientific journal titles owned and published by over 300 prestigious publishing houses, scholarly societies, and scientific associations. Another 37 countries will be added by 2008.

In a World Health Organization (WHO) survey conducted in 2000, researchers and academics in developing countries ranked access to subscription based journals as one of their most pressing problems. In countries with per capita income of less than USD $1000 per annum, 56 percent of academic institutions surveyed had no current subscriptions to international journals. These three programs, which are in line with the UN Millennium Development Goals, hope to solve this problem and make research as easily accessible in countries such as Sierra Leone as it is in England and the USA.

It is good to see that STM publishers take their social responsibility in this project. They provide scientists, policy makers and librarians with open access to scientific, technical and medical information, so that they can level themselves with other scientists, policymakers and librarians in other countries.

It is the first time that STM publishers go collectively into a social program. But the publishers are not into the project just for charity. For the STM publishers this project is a major occasion to test open access; they can see how open access works online and how they should formulate licenses. Also people in more than 100 countries are trained up, so that they know how to retrieve information; but once they are on information dope, they will stay on it.

Blog Posting Number: 809

Tags: STM publisher

EU Tube – Europe on YouTube

The European Commission has launched a dedicated channel on YouTube to make its audiovisual material more widely available to the public. 'EU Tube' – the Commission's new channel on YouTube was launched on 29 June. The non-exclusive arrangement between the European Commission and YouTube aims to present new and innovative ways of informing people on the activities of the European Union through video clips that illustrate the main issues facing citizens from across the 27 member states.

"This initiative reflects the Commission's commitment to better explain its policies and actions on issues which concern citizens across the EU – such as climate change, energy or immigration" said Margot Wallström, Vice-President for Institutional Relations and Communication Strategy.

Currently, users can watch approximately 50 video clips on a wide-range of topics - from the EU's first post-war historical steps to today's need to safeguard the environment and combat climate change.

To begin with, much of the content is in English, but French and German language clips are also being added. Other languages will be added wherever possible.

"It is very important for the Commission to use all the means at its disposal when it comes to communicating with European citizens. We can not ignore the developments which have taken place on the internet in the past few years, in particular the popularity of video sharing sites such as YouTube", said Margot Wallström

Discover what's on EU Tube.

Blog Posting Number: 800

Tgas: video, european union

Hello Brussels

Yesterday I left for Brussels in Belgium, the unofficial capital of the European Union. I will be here for two week on assignment for the European Commission.

It is a funny day to travel to Belgium as the county is having elections today. It looks like the present coalition is going to be voted away. Belgium is finished with the purple cabinet of socialists and Christians. In Belgium citizens are still obliged to go and vote. Those not going without a valid excuses risk a fine. This sounds like a package of measures from last century. But with a complex country like Belgium with a federative political and multi-lingual structure, I guess that you need such an obligation.

I named Brussels the unofficial capital of the European Union. Sometimes the French city of Strassbourg would like to claim that position also as it is the alternative seat to Brussels for the European Parliament. It is just an expensive way to keep France happy, but it requires 200 million euro annually for all the politicians and their staff to move back and forth between Brussels and Strassbourg. This money spilling exercise should be abolished.

I will not analyse the European politics about the constitution. In 2005 France and The Netherlands voted against a full European constitution with flag and hymn. It was a clear signal that the European Union is not nor should be a supra-national body. Besides it was a signal to tell that the European expansion was going to fast. The Union went from 15 countries to a union of 25 countries with other countries like Turkey waiting in the wings. It looks like the chiefs have received the signal and have started to draft a new minimalist treaty, which will not upset citizens.

I have taken my PC along and hope to be able to keep up the blog from my hotel room. Not this time. The hotel near the Stockmarket Exchange does not have wifi nor did the receptionist know anything about it. When the word internet fell I was referred to a phone company with phone and internet boxes. The guy behind the counter had never heard of wifi. Happily enough a guy, who just came into shop, understood my problem and told me to go the Irish pub on the corner of the Stock Exchange square, the Belgian version of Wall Street. And indeed the Irish pub O’Reilly has a wireless network. So with a beer close to my computer I will keep up blog.

Blog Posting Number: 780

Tags: Belgium, wifi