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Machiavelli and Leadership: Is it Applicable in Libraries?

“Re–imagining Web analysis as circulation” by Christopher A. Paul
First Monday, volume 10, number 11 (November 2005),
URL: http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_11/paul/index.html

abstract: “Many forms of Internet analysis grew out of literary and textual criticism that focused on interpreting meaning(s) in particular texts. In extending a meaning–based approach to Web texts, analyses have artificially constructed borders around texts to produce stable research objects. This paper refocuses criticism, shifting from meaning to critical analysis of circulation and the ways that movement is either facilitated or impeded in particular Web texts. This analytical move respects the dynamic borders of Web texts whose hypertextual links defy precise definitions. By focusing on circulation, Web analysts can study the politics of pathways in Web sites, retaining the dynamism promised by the technology of the Web, yet enabling productive criticism.”

Lawrence Lessig’s obersvations on the battle for control of the Internet. See also my earlier posting…

Foreign Policy: Seven Questions: Battling for Control of the Internet

Lawrence Lessig: ‘The fundamental point I’ve conveyed in my writing and teaching—apparently no policymaker has yet learned this—is that policy is a function of technology. You can’t do policymaking in cyberspace without thinking about the interaction between technology and policy. It’s as ridiculous to be a policymaker and believe that you can make policy without thinking about the technology as it is to be chairman of the Federal Trade Commission and think that you can talk about competition policy without thinking about the economic consequences of the rules you impose. A smart policymaker asks, “What technology will my policy produce?â€? and “Will the net result of that technology in my policy be the policy result I want?â€?’

Who Will Control the Internet?
Kenneth Neil Cukier
From Foreign Affairs, November/December 2005

Summary: Foreign governments want control of the Internet transferred from an American NGO to an international institution. Washington has responded with a Monroe Doctrine for our times, setting the stage for further controversy.

Kenneth Cukier’s article about the US decision not to relinquish control of the Internet is a really helpful analysis of the political implications of Internet control.

I’ve been watching this project with interest for the past few months. My recent trip to South Africa convinced me that we need to find a way to make this project or another like it a success.

excerpt: First, the name. I’d been calling the project the sub-hundred dollar laptop… the acronym of which is the unfortunate “SHiL”. Negroponte’s now calling the project OLPC – One Laptop Per Child. It does a better job of defining the project, I think – not taking the bottom out of the consumer laptop market, but providing a learning tool for students around the world.

On to the machine….

BostonHerald.com – Technology News: Amazon.com to sell individual book pages

With its new Amazon Pages service, Amazon.com Inc. plans to let customers to buy portions of a book – even just one page – for online viewing. A second program, Amazon Upgrade, will offer full online access when a traditional text is purchased.

An interesting new business model…. It raises numerous questions for libraries. Would the Amazon Upgrade program be extended to libraries? How would access be controlled?