Using Text Messages to Provide Food Aid

I found a very interesting article that was posted on October 28th on the UK Telegraph's online newspaper. The article was written by Richard Spencer, and it was about a very innovative way of delivering food aid to Iraqi refugees who are still living in Syria. This program is being initiated by the United Nation's World Food Programme.

The plan involves the use of cell phones and the oploading of the food aid vouchers by way of a text message, the vouchers could then be redeemed at any government owned food outlet that caters to the refugee population. The rational for this type delivery system is based on the fact that most of the people who would use the current aid program already have cell phones.

Spencer's article went on to explain how the changing profile of refugees is driving aid organizations to adapt their means and methods of delivering aid. By taking advantage of the resources provided by new technology and the expanded capabilities of the mobile phone and it's infrastructure, food aid can be less centralized and can actually get to the intended recipient and closer to where the recipient lives.

The future of newspaper, book and magazine

Apple recently announced a new devise that might lead to a new stage of newspapers, books and magazines publishing. When you look at the picture of the new devise, you would see the devise is a little bit bigger than the i touch. Nonetheless, it is thinner than a laptop computer that it seems to have the capability of internet connection. This new devise would allow people to read newspaper, books or magazines online at anytime anywhere. Indeed, it would provide convenience to consumer because they do not have to worry about taking tons of paper when they are going out. Nevertheless, it would solve the environmental problem of recycling paper. However, it would create a problem for the publisher in how to generate revenue from the reader if everyone is reading online. Would the new technology from Apple change the nature or reading? More particularly, would it change the nature of text book in education? What if this devise has the capability of watching video, would it change the nature of TV broadcasting?

Bellow is a article about the new devise of Apple posted by Jason d. O'Grady at ZD Net:

October 27th, 2009

Apple pitching media companies on tablet?

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 8:49 am

Categories: Rumor, Tablet

Tags: Media Company, Apple Inc., Fairfax Media, Tablets, Notebooks..., Advertising & Promotion, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets, Marketing, Jason D. O'Grady

10 TalkBacks

If you read between the lines in yesterday’s post, one could conclude that Apple is talking to the New York Times about it’s upcoming tablet product in an effort to get buy in from the media giant on what’s presumed to be a completely new form-factor for distributing editorial content.

A new piece in the Sydney Morning Herald indicates that Apple’s also shopping the device to other media companies, including some in Australia:

Apple has sent specifications of the device to Australian media companies in an effort to sound out whether they would be interested in delivering their content to the tablet.

Fairfax Media’s Robert Whitehead hinted that he was aware of an Apple tablet in August.

We’re continuously examining all options for extending the reach of our mastheads and we’ll be very interested to see what Apple comes up with.

While the new Apple device isn’t strictly an ebook-reader it appears that Cupertino is setting the stage for a completely new platform for deliverings, books, newspapers and magazines.

Should the Amazon’s and the Sony’s of the world be worried at the impending ebook threat from Apple?

Take an action for safer and better environment

I recently received an invitation via email, to sign a petition in order to clean Iraq. Radioactive contamination caused by the successions of war that has taken place in Iraq and the Arabian Gulf region, has left the country polluted with depleted uranium radioactive material to the detriment of the local population. Depleted Uranium (DU) weaponry has been used against Iraq since the Gulf War 1 in 1991. Estimated (DU) expenditure of 320 - 800 tons were mainly shot on the withdrawing Iraqi troops from Kuwait to the north of Basrah City.
The initiative launched by Dr. Kadhim Al Mukdadi and supported by activists and professionals in environment, hopes to bring attention to the dangers of radioactive contamination and how it is affecting the people of Iraq at the present date. Already there has been a significant rise in birth defects and cancer that may very well be related to the radioactive materials left behind.
The main goal of this environmental watch group, is to ensure that the Iraqis population of both present and future generations will be healthy. As promised since the fall of the former regime of Iraq, the United Nations and the US and Iraqi had agreed upon the reconstruction of Iraq which includes economic aid and assistance in issues concerning the environment and scientific advancement and health care.
The environmental watch group, cleaniraq.org invites anyone concerned about the safe and expedite removal of radioactive contamination from Iraq, to sign the petition with full name, occupation and country. They require everyones help in the reconstruction of Iraq.

What is "fair" game for our blogs?

In thinking about Professor Galligan’s question about potential copyright infringements in relation to our own blogs (and other fair use issues), I found a wealth of information on the Internet. The most informative cites that I perused were hosted by various law schools (for example, AU had a manual about “best practices” for the use of video content, and the Stanford site was also interesting to explore). In Googling the term, however, there was an important difference between simply typing in "fair use" and "fair use blogs." Similar to our discussions in class, legal precedent is seemingly playing a significant game of catch up in the arena of what governs "fair use" for online content.

The applicable US statute on fair appears here. Nevertheless, and not unlike most legal precedent, I found the legalese to be rather vague and subjective, leaving a lot of room for interpretation. Much of the information contained on the web, however, seems to be in our favor. Stated differently, this "grey area" in the law allows us, at least for creative purposes, to include in our blogs what otherwise would be considered copyrighted. There does seem to be 4 broad areas that we should do a "self-check" on before proceeding and posting:

1. What is the purpose of the material we are using?


2. What is the nature of the material?


3. What is the amount of material we are using?


4. What is the ultimate effect of the material?

These factors are summarized with more detail and background information here.

I do have a question for the group, however relative to how to proceed if we do decide to use a video or photo that is not our own. It would seem to me that we should still find a way to cite the unlicensed material or pay homage to the original creator, where possible. For instance, we could include a caption for an unlicensed image, or at least mention somewhere in the text of the blog what the external source is for a particular video clip.

Did anyone else find anything similar or different in their quest?

Jindo Sea Festival

Like Moses' Red Sea miracle depicted in the Bible, the sea at Jindo divides into two, revealing a pathway in the sea. This sea in south Korea, is the location of the Jindo Sea festival in which certain times of the year, the sea parts and the tide allows a massive sand bank to be uncovered .

At the banks reveal, millions of people have lined up to walk the seaway during the festivals held at at Jindo, South Jeolla Province. Every year, the water level in the sea located between Modo-ri of Euishinm-yeon and Heodong-ri of Gogun-myeon falls due to a neap tide, creating a long sea trail that is 40 meters wide. The festival begins in Jindo when the sea has parted and the pathway reaches its greatest width.

During the one-hour period when the route is completely exposed, visitors enjoy various Korean traditional dances and performances such as Ganggangsullae and Field Songs. Some opt to catch fresh seafood such as seaweed, clams and octopi as they walk along the trail.

The Jindo Sea Parting Festival became known overseas when former French Ambassador to Korea, Pierre Rendi, wrote of the ``Korean version of Moses' Miracle'' in a French newspaper after witnessing the festival. Since Rendi's reporting, millions of people have visited and participated.

On May 5th, 2009, a total of 5, 632 people volunteered to fill the 2.308-kilometer seaway in order to record ``the largest number of people standing''' in the ``longest seaway in the world.'' The results of this challenge has been submitted to the Guinness Book of World Records for approval.

Balloon Boy Breaks the Time Barrier

I thought that I had heard the last of the saga of the balloon boy on Tuesday evening in class, but I saw this item on youtube on Thursday. It seems that the story was so large and so pervasive in the media that it actually crossed the time barrier reaching back into history and effecting a major figure central to the course of WWII.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM5Bpz9HA5k&feature=player_embedded

I thought it was a very imaginative way to use this film clip, which portrays a scene between a certain infamous leader and his general staff. While the spoken language is German, the subtitling was done in such a way as to create a satirical view of the most current news media circus.

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