Technology News 

Xerox's Palo Alto Lab to become independent company

XEROX said today that it is transforming its Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) into an independent company.

The move sets the stage for "key strategic partners" to invest in the laboratory while ensuring that Xerox continues to control access to the center's research and technology, the company said in a statement.

Last year, Xerox announced plans to create the wholly owned subsidiary and said it would seek strategic, noncompetitive partners for PARC. The company said today active discussions are under way with potential investors.

The new company, which is expected to begin operations after Jan. 1, will continue to generate a stream of inventions, creating opportunities for Xerox and future investors to market PARC-developed technology commercially.

Xerox said it expects that PARC employees will transfer to the new company after the first of the year. A search for a CEO of the new company is under way.

Founded in 1970, PARC has developed such technology as the graphical user interface, client/server architecture, laser printing and Ethernet.

Xerox officials could not be reached for further comment.
(link via Hack the Planet)

Publishing 

Is Self-Publishing the Answer? by Mark Ortman

With several thousand manuscripts being submitted to publishing houses each week, only a very small percentage are selected. Persuading a publisher to finance and distribute your book is often a frustrating experience filled with rejection letters and delays. Even then, limited promotional backing for first-time authors often restricts the books potential. Unless you are a celebrity, a prolific writer, or have a proven track record, chances are slim of your gaining the favor of a commercial publisher.

All is not lost. Consider how Wayne Dyer (Erroneous Zones) James Redfield (Celestine Prophecy) and Richard Bolles (What Color is Your Parachute) got started. Publishers failed to see the value of their message. As a result, they self-published. Self-publishing has become one of the fastest growing segments in the publishing industry. [read more]

Copyright 

The Public Domain: Publisher Beware by Lloyd L. Rich

The purpose of this article is to provide publishers with an overview of the "public domain" and to make them aware of some of the complexities involved in determining whether a work is in the "public domain".

It covers:

• What is the Public Domain?
• Works That are Automatically in the Public Domain
• Protected Works that Enter the Public Domain
• Term of Copyright Protection
• Statutory Formalities
• Derivative & Combined Protected/Unprotected Works

[read more]

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Electronic Publishing 

Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography, Version 40

This bibliography presents selected English-language articles, books, and other printed and electronic sources that are useful in understanding scholarly electronic publishing efforts on the Internet. Most sources have been published between 1990 and the present; however, a limited number of key sources published prior to 1990 are also included. Where possible, links are provided to sources that are freely available on the Internet.

Business in the Digital Age 

End Game Emelie Rutherford inteview David Weinberger

...Weinberger's epiphany in "The Hyperlinked Organization" chapter of The Cluetrain Manifesto is simple: Businesses don't consist of slots on an org chart or entries in a database. Businesses are made up of people. And people define and organize the business by continually discussing, literally and metaphorically, what their company is really all about. The internet's influence is killing traditional business structures and allowing these human hyperlinks to organize businesses. Web Writer Emelie Rutherford recently caught up with Weinberger and he clued her in to business' big secret, that we are all human. "Here's some news for today's business pharaohs," Weinberger said. "Your pyramid is being replaced by hyperlinks. It was built on sand anyway." [read the interview]

History of the Internet 

From Google Groups 20 Year Usenet Archive

Google has fully integrated the past 20 years of Usenet archives into Google Groups, which now offers access to more than 700 million messages dating back to 1981. We believe this to be the most complete collection of Usenet articles ever assembled and a fascinating first-hand historical account.

Stanford celebrates 10th anniversary of first U.S. Web site

Ten years ago, a Stanford University physicist created the first U.S. Web site -- three lines of text, with one link to e-mail and another link to a huge scientific database.

Paul Kunz's basic Web site, which first appeared Dec. 12, 1991, was the first U.S. site on the World Wide Web, which was then just a year old. [read more]

Electronic Paper? 

New Video Screen Is Like Paper by Justin Pope

The picture is small, and it's far from crisp, but Dutch researchers claim they've taken an important step in the race for a video screen with the properties of a piece of paper.

The device, described in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, is fired by plastic transistors that are flexible, potentially inexpensive to make and work well enough to constantly refresh a screen to create moving images.

Since the 1970s, researchers have tried to find a way to combine the best qualities of paper - lightness, flexibility and a sharp contrast that makes it easy to see - with the refresh capabilities of video. [read more]

Acme is featured in PrintMedia article 

The Joy of Printing

Prior to implementing their digital printing services, Acme BookBinding used photocopy machines to manually reproduce books. According to Acme owner Paul Parisi, "When dealing with photocopy machines, the production of our jobs was a manual process that was difficult to control, as well as time consuming. It was impossible to clean up the copies and we had no control over the quality like we do with our digital process."

To meet its short-run production needs, Acme first, like many binderies, investigated a monolithic document production solution. However, its volume was not large enough to justify the expense of a major rehaul. And since the family-owned company has grown from being a one-person operation as early as 1821 into a 175-employee facility, Acme understood the nature of evolution--especially a digital shift. That's why Parisi decided to search for other options to meet the short-run document production needs, not to mention showcase the company's newest Imaging and Digital Printing division. Parisi selected the MicroPress from T/R Systems, a document production solution that utilizes software tools and Universal Server technology to manage documents and document workflow. [read more--Registration is required, but you can skip the profile section by submitting it blank.]

Is this cool, or what? 

Book Drop Release

University of Iowa Center for the Book studies students are offering a unique holiday gift idea along with an unusual shopping experience. Handmade books and kits for binding your own books are available at a new vending machine installed in the North Lobby of the University of Iowa's Main Library. The book arts vending project grew out of the "Structure of the Handmade Book" class offered at the UI Library. The class is a collaborative effort by the UI Center for the Book (UICB) and the UI Libraries.

The machine is stocked with a selection of items bound to delight any book lover, including Ethiopian bookbinding kits, Japanese stab bindings, and long-stitch bindings ideal for personal notes. Items range in price from $5 to $15. [read more]

Digital Age 

Librarians in the digital age: planning digitisation projects

Abstract
The digitisation of valued information resources opens up new avenues of access, use, and research and is an important aspect in the development of digital libraries. Increasingly, librarians are having to manage technical projects to achieve their goals of delivering valuable information to their ever-increasing user base. This is a significant challenge and librarians need the practical skills and the vision to implement such projects in a controlled and manageable fashion. This article describes the key issues in project planning for managing a digitisation project covering the key areas of identifying the vision and the risk management in such technology-based projects. This article also considers the implementation issues and costs associated with digitisation projects. Finally, there is a consideration of the range of skills needed and how these may be developed for managing and running digitisation projects. [download the pdf]

ALA Statement 

Confidentiality and privacy of library records

The ALA is a professional organization with more than 60,000 members. Its mission is to promote the highest quality library and information services. To do this, our members establish policies and guidelines designed to help working librarians best fulfill their responsibilities to their local communities.

We all have been deeply touched by the events of September 11. Librarians, along with professionals in many fields, are struggling with long-held principles in light of the terrorist attacks and the ongoing war. We know from history that our principles are most challenged during times of crisis, and library patrons' privacy is one such principle.

America's libraries support President Bush and congressional leaders in our nation's efforts to preserve and protect the many hard-fought freedoms we enjoy as Americans. Librarians are encouraged to study and understand state confidentiality laws and to cooperate with authorities within the guidelines provided by these laws. Librarians have a responsibility to protect the privacy of our patrons while responding to legitimate national security concerns.

If librarians do not follow state confidentiality laws and legal procedures, they run the risk of actually hindering ongoing law enforcement investigations. States created confidentiality laws to protect the privacy and freedoms Americans hold dear. These laws provide a clear framework for responding to national security concerns while safeguarding against random searches or invasions of privacy.

The ALA is not involved in the case in Delray Beach, Florida, and has neither condemned nor reprimanded the librarian, Kathleen Hensman.

The ALA respects librarians' hard work - sometimes under difficult circumstances - and works to support and assist them.