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Network Neutrality in Play Again
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by Wallace Koehler
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Network neutrality—or Net Neutrality as it's often called—is making news again. In the first week of August 2010, Google, one of the largest of the content providers, and Verizon, a major communications carrier, proposed a seven-part set of policies to manage the internet, "A joint policy proposal for an open internet" (http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2010/08/joint-policy-proposal-for-open-internet.html). Perhaps the most controversial of these is an option to establish "differentiated online services"; in a word, a structured or tiered fee structure for priority information transmission. There is a second and equally important component to the debate. Given changes in technology and the emergence of the wireless internet, are there fundamental differences between the wireless and wired internet? And if so, are there different philosophical and technical and therefore different regulatory regimes for the wired and wireless internet? A distinction has already been made between "traditional" communications (telephony, broadcast radio, and television) and the various information services provided over the internet (WWW, ftp, email, VoIP, etc). Are there further distinctions to be drawn between the wired and wireless internet?
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Convert to RFID Tags With Tech Logic’s uTagIT
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Libraries converting their collection from bar code labels to RFID tags now have a portable, convenient, and cost effective solution: Tech Logic's (www.tech-logic.com) new uTagIT tagging system. uTagIT is a portable, compact solution for libraries, meeting their on-demand RFID tagging needs. The uTagIT system provides the convenience and ease of use to encode bar code numbers onto RFID tags. The uTagIT system streamlines the conversion process, allowing library staff to efficiently tag the library's entire collection.
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OCLC Announced Enhanced WorldCat Digital Collection Gateway
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Repository managers from libraries, museums, archives, and other cultural heritage and research institutions can now contribute metadata records for digital materials to WorldCat using the new, enhanced WorldCat Digital Collection Gateway (www.oclc.org/gateway), increasing visibility and accessibility of special collections, institutional repositories, and other unique digital content to web searchers worldwide.
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ebrary Offers Free Ebook Collection on Cyber Bullying
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According to the National Crime Prevention Council, 43% of teens have been the victims of cyber bullying in the past year. To help parents, educators, and others better understand, prevent, and take action against this growing concern, ebrary is offering a free open access collection of ebooks on Cyber Bullying. ebrary will also enable other organizations to contribute materials as long as they have copyrights.
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Digital Lending Goes into OverDrive
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by Paula J. Hane
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I'd been hearing some buzz this summer about various improvements made by OverDrive to its services for libraries—more content, mobile apps, simplified procedures, etc. OverDrive is a full-service digital distributor of ebooks, audiobooks, music, and video that first launched its online digital warehouse in 2000. So, I caught up with the company's vice president of marketing, David Burleigh, for an extended conversation on what's new and what's coming. While OverDrive offers publishers a secure, web-based, wholesale distribution service for the sale and delivery of digital media, I didn't get into the details of that side of the business. Our discussion focused on what OverDrive offers libraries and their patrons.
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If you regularly read blogs, add these to your reader:
ITI Conferences (libconf.com): covering ITI’s library conferences worldwide
ILI365/InfoToday Europe (infotoday.eu): news and ideas for, and by, innovative info pros from around the world, throughout the year
Streaming Media (streamingmedia.com/Articles/Blog): the go-to destination for opinion, analysis, and insights into the entire online video ecosystem
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