L'Université d'Ottawa se lance dans le mouvement du libre accès

La décision récente de l'Université d'Ottawa d'adopter un programme complet de mesures appuyant l’accès libre et gratuit à la recherche ne sera pas sans répercussion pour les PUO. Afin de vous aider à comprendre ce phénomène relativement récent, soit celui de l'accès libre, cet article effectue un bref survol de son passé. Les informations sont tirées d'un site Web alimenté par L'institut de l'Information Scientifique et technique du Centre National de Recherche scientifique. Dans ce site, les principales initiatives qui ont supporté le développement d'un accès libre à la connaissance sont expliquées.

Tout d'abord, on retrouve dans ce site une lettre écrite au début de l’année 2001, la Lettre ouverte de Public Library of Science (PLoS). Cette lettre est considérée comme le premier acte militant visant à défendre le mouvement du libre accès. La lettre s’adresserait spécialement aux éditeurs en les invitant à créer et à utiliser une bibliothèque publique en ligne pour procurer un accès libre à leurs publications. Afin d’encourager une telle initiative, les chercheurs ayant participé à l’élaboration de la lettre ont lancé une invitation aux autres chercheurs à publier exclusivement avec les éditeurs ayant accepté de se joindre au mouvement. La raison qui motivait ces chercheurs à lancer une telle invitation était que : « l’archivage permanent de la recherche et des idées scientifiques ne doit pas être la propriété ni sous contrôle des éditeurs, mais doit au contraire appartenir au public et doit être disponible gratuitement dans une bibliothèque publique en ligne internationale. » (

Par la suite, toujours dans le site Web de INIST-CNRS, l’idée des « 3B » est apportée. Ils font référence, chronologiquement, à Budapest, Béthesda et Berlin. Budapest, ou plus proprement appelée l’Initiative de Budapest pour l’Accès Ouvert, a eu lieu le 14 février 2002 et a eu pour objectif d’apporter des pistes de solutions afin de supporter le mouvement de l'accès libre. Lors de la rencontre, qui a eu lieu pour mettre l’initiative en marche, deux solutions furent énoncées : l’auto-archivage et les revues alternatives. L’auto-archivage se réalise lorsque des scientifiques déposent par eux-mêmes leurs documents scientifiques dans des endroits prévus dans le Web à cet effet. De leur côté, les revues alternatives sont des revues dont la consultation est gratuite et sans aucun droit d’auteur.

Ensuite, le prochain « B », est celui de la Déclaration de Béthesda pour l’édition en libre accès. Cette déclaration a eu lieu le 11 avril 2003 et a officiellement défini ce que doit être la publication en libre accès. En bref, la publication en libre accès signifie que plusieurs barrières bloquant l’utilisation d’une œuvre sont inexistantes comparativement aux autres modes de publication. Pour réussir, l’œuvre s’inscrira sous une licence spécifique et son utilisateur possèdera davantage de droits. De surcroît, la définition énonce que cette œuvre devra être déposée dans un entrepôt sur le Web, avec l’ensemble des données et documents qui s’y rattachent.

Le troisième « B », la Déclaration de Berlin a eu lieu le 22 octobre 2003 et elle a énoncé que les contributions au libre accès devraient s’effectuer à partir de : « résultats originaux de recherches scientifiques, de données brutes et de métadonnées, de documents sources, de représentations numériques de documents picturaux et graphiques, de documents scientifiques multimédias. »

Finalement, la Déclaration de principes du Sommet mondial sur la société de l’information a eu lieu le 12 décembre 2003 et aborde le lien entre l’accès libre à l’information et ses bienfaits sur la société, et ce, en tant que piste de solution à plusieurs problèmes, comme par exemple, la faim dans le monde.

Référence :

L'institut de l'Information Scientifique et Technique du Centre National de Recherche scientifique. Documents retrouvés le 26 octobre, 2009, à partir de http://openaccess.inist.fr/

Interview with Reingard Nischik, author of Engendering Genre in Canadian Literature online

Below you will find a link to an interview in Canadian Literature online by Sarah Banting with UOP author Reingard Nischik.

Nischik is Chair of North American Literature at the University of Konstanz, Germany. Professor Nischik is among the pioneers of Canadian literature studies in Europe -- her first article on CanLit was published in 1981. Professor Nischik is the author of several books, including Engendering Genre: The Works of Margaret Atwood, which will be published by the University of Ottawa Press in early 2010. To discover the works Margaret Atwood and why Professor Nischik choose her work as the topic for her new book, click here.

For further information on Engendering Genre: The Works of Margaret Atwood by Reingard M. Nischik, check out the UOP’s website.

Event - UOP launches The Bold and the Brave: A History of Women in Science and Engineering

On December 1, the UOP launched The Bold and the Brave: A History of Women in Science and Engineering. During her speech, the author of the book, Dr. Monique Frize, told an anecdote about book launches: "My parents were writers and I used to go to my parents launches, but now, it's my turn." A few years ago, the new author realized that during her well filled career, she has accumulated a lot of knowledge about the place of women in her profession. She decided to share this knowledge by writing this book, but she says, "I have six more, but they still in my head!" More seriously, the author made a connection between her book and the massacre of 13 female engineering students at Montreal's École Polytechnique 20 years ago. This tragedy remains an important reminders of how uncomfortable the place of women in science can be.

In Dr. Frize, inequalities between men and women are not a matter for the history books, they still exist today, especially in the fields of science and engineering. Anybody interested by the study of women in society should definitely pick up this book.

For further information on The Bold and the Brave: A History of Women in Science and Engineering check out the UOP’s website.

Academic Writing for Military Personnel

Do you know what the military really does? Of course, there are a lot of action movies that have told you a thing or two, but if you think military communication is limited to fighting and shooting, maybe you should reconsider this question.

The military is not just about physical work. When we think of new recruits in boot camp, this can be hard to believe. But when we stop and consider the job of an officer, the intellectual side of the military personnel becomes easier to notice, especially since they need to elaborate strategic plans and communicate orders to subordinates. Everybody has experienced a situation where the task at hand has not been clear. Imagine if this situation occurred while planning a military campaign or while advising federal defense policy…

With this in mind, Adam Chapnick, a civilian academic who has written several books, and many journal and newspaper articles, and Craig Stone, a former artillery officer with 29 years of military service, have co-authored a book dedicated to written communication in the military. The book is titled Academic Writing for Military Personnel and it outlines “a rigorous process of research and writing. It challenges practitioners to question unfounded assumptions, to differentiate between evidence and assertions, and to argue comprehensively and logically.” In other words, it aims to improve the decisions made by military personnel by changing the way they think about communication, and consequently, the way they write.

For further information on Academic Writing for Military Personnel check out the UOP’s website.

E-Book Fans Keep Format in Spotlight

In this article from The New York Times, journalist Brad Stone underlines that it has been a difficult year for publishers. Among other things, Stone highlights the raising popularity of ebooks. At the University of Ottawa Press, we are looking forward to embracing this opportunity. Keep your eyes pealed in the coming months for ebook news from the UOP.

For further information and some statistics that explain the popularity of ebooks, read this interesting article E-Book Fans Keep Format in Spotlight.

Philosophical Apprenticeship

In Philosophical Apprenticeships, Canadian Ph.D. candidates explore issues in contemporary continental philosophy. The graduate students conducted interviews with leading Canadian philosophers to inform their discussions.

This approach has interesting advantages. As a graduate student in communication, I know that a teacher and a student won’t use the same words to express a same idea. A professor who participated in the project said, “It is always a little disconcerting to see one’s ideas expressed through the formulations and interpretation of another.” This reformulation can sometimes encourage understanding of new or difficult ideas. At its core, Philosophical Apprenticeships is an example of the relationship between student and teacher at the graduate level.

For further information on Philosophical Apprenticeships check out the UOP’s website.

Little known peace conference subject of new book

In this article from The Niagara Falls Review, Alison Langley, speaks with Michael Small, author of The Forgotten Peace. Small was in Niagara Falls this past weekend for an event promoting his book at the Niagara Falls Public Library.

Read the full article to find out what peace was almost forgotten, and how Niagara Falls played a part.

The Wrong World

The Wrong World: Selected Stories and Essays of Bertram Brooker, edited and introduced by Gregory Betts, documents important changes in Canadian society at the beginning of the twentieth century. Canada, like many other nations, has engaged with and been influenced by the major periods of the twentieth century, namely modernism and postmodernism. Brooker, a writer and painter is an important but little known actor in Canadian modernism. Brooker lived in a period of intense change, as Canada shook off its primarily agrarian and colonial culture. This deeply shaped his work and inspired his sense of being part of something completely new. In one of the essays in The Wrong World he says “Those of us who are forty or more have passed out of an old civilisation into a new one in half a lifetime – And that has never happened before!” In The Wrong World, Gregory Betts brings both Brooker and this dynamic period back to life, providing a new understanding of the artist and the Canada that shaped his work.

To find out more about Bertram Brooker and Gregory Betts, visit the Open Book Toronto website to read more about both of these interesting characters.

For further information on The Wrong World check out the UOP’s website.

Event - The Forgotten Peace: Mediation at Niagara Falls, 1914 by Michael Small

In the early hours of April 22, 1914, American President Woodrow Wilson sent Marines to seize the port of Veracruz in an attempt to alter the course of the Mexican Revolution. As a result, the United States seemed on the brink of war with Mexico. An international uproar ensued. The governments of Argentina, Brazil, and Chile offered to mediate a peaceful resolution to the crisis. Surprisingly, both the United States and Mexico accepted their offer and all parties agreed to meet at an international peace conference in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

For Canadians, the conference provided an unexpected spectacle on their doorstep, combining high diplomacy and low intrigue around the gardens and cataracts of Canada’s most famous natural attraction. For the diplomats involved, it proved to be an ephemeral high point in the nascent pan-American movement. After it ended, the conference dropped out of historical memory.

This is the first full account of the Niagara Falls Peace Conference to be published in North America since 1914. The author carefully reconstructs what happened at Niagara Falls, examining its historical significance for Canada’s relationship with the Americas. From this almost forgotten event he draws important lessons on the conduct of international mediation and the perils of middle-power diplomacy.

Michael Small is assistant deputy minister, Human Resources, of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. He has served as a diplomat in Malaysia, Brazil, Costa Rica, and Mexico and was Canadian ambassador to Cuba from 2000 to 2003. He is also a fellow of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University.

Information

Host: Niagara Falls Public Library

Type: Informational Meeting

Date: Saturday, October 10, 2009

Time: 2:00pm - 5:00pm

Location: LaMarsh Room, Victoria Ave. Library

Street: 4848 Victoria Ave.

Phone : 9053568080

View Larger Map

Un de nos auteurs est finaliste pour un prix littéraire du Gouverneur général!

Chaque année, le Conseil des Arts du Canada et le Gouverneur général du Canada œuvrent ensemble pour rendre hommage à l'excellence de la littérature canadienne.

Des prix sont accordés dans les catégories suivantes : romans et nouvelles, études et essais, poésie, théâtre, littérature jeunesse (texte et illustrations) et traduction.

Pour décerner les prix, un rigoureux processus de sélection est effectué. Cette année, un de nos auteurs, Charles Le Blanc, est parmi l'un des cinq finalistes dans la catégorie études et essais. Son œuvre, pour laquelle il est en nomination, s'intitule Le complexe d’Hermès : regards philosophiques sur la traduction. Nous souhaitons la meilleure des chances à M. Le Blanc.

Pour en connaître davantage sur son œuvre, visitez les Presses de L'Université d'Ottawa

Chaque ville possède ses trésors. La région de la capitale fédérale du Canada regorge de cimetières patrimoniaux qui sont des lieux d’histoire et de mémoire. On y trouve les familles pionnières ainsi que les hommes et les femmes qui ont bâti cette région. Ces cimetières sont de grands jardins à ciel ouvert alors que plusieurs des monuments funéraires sont de véritables œuvres d’art. On peut y découvrir les monuments funéraires de deux anciens premiers ministres canadiens, du premier maire d’Ottawa, du fondateur de Hull et de personnages des milieux politique, culturel, social, économique et religieux qui ont contribué au développement de cette région.

Si vous êtes dans la région demain, vendredi le 9 octobre, je vous suggère le tour guidé de ces monuments funéraires. Vous trouverez plus de détails ici.

Si vous prévoyez être absents, peu importe où vous serez, je vous suggère la lecture du livre Entre lieux et mémoire. Ce livre traite d'une thématique qui rejoint celle qui sera abordée lors de la visite guidée des cimetières patrimoniaux de demain. Dans un livre précédent, intitulé Les lieux de mémoire, Pierre Nora affirme que « la mémoire s’enracine dans le concret, l’espace, le geste, l’image et l’objet » (1984, xix).



Entre lieux et mémoire adopte une perspective semblable et jette un regard sur les expériences concrètes, géographiquement situées, par lesquelles les francophones du Canada construisent leur identité à partir des réminiscences de leur passé. Ce questionnement est essentiel, car la géographie de la francophonie canadienne évolue rapidement, consolidée au Québec au cours notamment des cinquante dernières années, mais fragilisée dans les milieux les plus dynamiques de la francophonie hors Québec, là où les francophones se confrontent quotidiennement à l’Autre : anglophone, immigrant et allophone. Dans ces lieux consolidés et fluides se tissent les appartenances et les identités de ceux qui les occupent.

Les auteurs abordent les lieux de mémoire du Canada français selon trois approches : l’histoire, la géographie et les arts. Tous mettent en évidence que la fondation d’un lieu de mémoire est un acte politique. Enfin, ils montrent qu’une étude des lieux de mémoire, par l’entremise des individus et des groupes qui les instituent, constitue un préalable à la compréhension de l’identité francophone canadienne, dans son unité comme dans sa diversité.

Pour des informations supplémentaires concernant ce livre, visitez les Presses de l'Université d'Ottawa.

Comment choisir son appareil pour la lecture de livres électroniques? (partie_1)

La vente de livres électroniques risque de grimper avec le perfectionnement des appareils qui lui sont dédiés depuis maintenant quelques années. Effectivement, de nouveaux joueurs viennent s’ajouter à ceux déjà présent, et c’est une véritable dispute pour obtenir une part de ce marché qui en découle. Alors qu’Amazon avait le monopole avec son modèle Kindle 2 pour la vente de livres électroniques, un nouveau joueur, Sony, a annoncé son entrée cette semaine avec son appareil E-Reader. Pour comprendre comment ce nouveau produit se distingue des autres, j’ai recueilli un certain nombre d’articles traitant sur ce même sujet.

Je crois avant tout qu’il est approprié de préciser, avant d’effectuer la comparaison, que le ton utilisé par les auteurs dans les articles recueillis, semblait favoriser le E-Reader de Sony au dépend du Kindle 2 d’Amazon. Il ne faut donc pas croire à la supériorité de l’un, mais plutôt, tenter de créer une première impression à partir des faits recensés.

Lors de l’achat, d’autres critères sont à prendre en considération. La qualité de l’éclairage, la durée de vie de la pile et la mémoire disponible pour enregistrer les livres, sont tous des critères importants.

Pour terminer, il ne faut pas perdre de vue l’Apple Tablet de la compagnie Apple qui va probablement faire son apparition sur le marché dans un futur proche. Les multiples services qu’offre actuellement Apple, comme son magasin ITunes en ligne, lui apporteront certainement un bon coup de main pour séduire le consommateur. Connaissant les produits Apple, il y a fort à parier qu’il misera sur la haute de gamme, ce qui signifie qu’il faudra prévoir une somme d’argent considérable pour se procurer l’Apple Tablet.

Revolution or Renaissance - Part Two

Upper Case welcomes back D. Paul Schafer, author of Revolution or Renaissance: Making the Transition from an Economic Age to a Cultural Age. This time we asked him, to tell us a little bit more about the cultural age he imagines – what is it, how is it different from an economic age, and when will it get here?

In my view, a cultural age would be an age in which people, the natural environment, and other species are valued more highly than products, profits, material and monetary wealth, and the marketplace. The focus would be on seeing the world and the large majority of things in the world in holistic rather than specialized terms - thereby putting a great deal more emphasis on ‘contexts’ as opposed to ‘contents’ - as well as making it possible for people in all parts of the world to live creative, constructive and fulfilling lives without straining the globe’s fragile eco-systems and finite resources to the breaking point. This would be realized by taking maximum advantage of culture’s capacity for holism, caring, sharing, conservation, and co-operation, as well as drawing fully on the three principal concepts of culture as the arts, humanities, and heritage, a complex whole or total way of life, and the organizational forms and structures of different species.

Making the transition from an economic age to a cultural age is imperative in my view because we need to reduce the demands we are making on the natural environment and conserve the world’s scarce resources at every opportunity, as well as achieve a much more effective balance between the quantitative and qualitative dimensions of development. I believe the natural environment will steadily deteriorate, climate change will intensify, and the world will become a more chaotic and dangerous place if this does not occur, especially as resources are used up, the world’s population is increased, and the carrying capacity of the earth is approached.

The major change that would result in the world from a cultural age would be a transformational shift from activities that are high in material inputs and outputs - especially industrial, commercial, technological and transportation activities - to activities that are low in material inputs and outputs, such as the arts, humanities, and many heritage and spiritual activities. This would be accompanied by new meanings and measures of wealth, as well as a great deal more environmental sustainability and ecological harmony.

In order to make the world a better place, I believe it is necessary to fully understand the age we are living in at present. I have attempted to do this by calling the present age an economic age - rather than a technological, information, computer, scientific, materialistic, or individualistic age as most authors do - as well as showing that this age is based on a very specific worldview, value system, model of development, ideology, and set of strengths and shortcomings. This is necessary to comprehend the nature, extent, and complexity of the challenge we face at present, as well as to determine what is required in specific theoretical and practical terms to respond effectively to this challenge.

I do not believe it will be possible to make the world a better place for all the diverse peoples, countries, and species of the world - as well as address such devastating problems as climate change, environmental exhaustion, and the need to reduce income inequalities throughout the world - without making a fundamental change in the existing worldview, value system, model of development, ideology, and way of life. To me, this is a cultural matter more than any other type of matter, since it requires a fundamental change in culture and cultures in general and cultural values, attitudes, and beliefs in particular.

This is why I have called the future age a cultural age. I feel we need to understand that culture and cultures have a powerful role to play in making the world a better place for all, and hope that Revolution or Renaissance serves a useful purpose in this regard by helping people and institutions in all parts of the world who are engaged in this process.

D. Paul Schafer – Revolution or Renaissance

In this video D. Paul Schafer presents the ideas gathered in his book, Revolution or Renaissance, to an audience at the University of Guelph. The presentation was also seen live via webscast at the University of Malmo in Sweden. It was recorded on March 14, 2009 during the seminar Media, Conflict and Development organized by Malmo’s Communication for Development Program.

Revolution or Renaissance: Making the Transition from an Economic Age to a Cultural Age

Upper Case asked author D. Paul Schafer, to tell us how his career has led him to the ideas he put forth in his 2008 book Revolution or Renaissance: Making the Transition from an Economic Age to a Cultural Age. Here is what he told us:

I was originally trained as an economist specializing in international development and the history of economic thought. After studying and teaching economics for a number of years in the late nineteen fifties and early nineteen sixties, I became convinced that we have been living in an economic age ever since the publication of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations in 1776. This age is predicated on the belief that economics and economies in general - and the production, distribution, and consumption of material and monetary wealth in particular - should be made the centrepiece of society and principal preoccupation of municipal, regional, national and international development because this is the most effective way of dealing with people’s economic and non-economic needs.

In 1965, I decided to leave economics because I was forced to the conclusion that the economic age is not capable of coming to grips with the two most fundamental and urgent problems confronting humanity, namely the huge disparities that exist in income and wealth throughout the world and the steady deterioration of the natural environment. This is because the economic age is far more concerned with the production and consumption of wealth than the distribution of wealth, and tends to treat the natural environment as ‘a given’ rather than the most essential and valuable resource of all.

Not knowing where to turn after I left economics, I decided to search for a job in the cultural field because I had grown up in a very cultural environment and my parents had a great appreciation for the arts and humanities. I was eventually hired by the Ontario Arts Council, and stayed there until 1970 when I was asked to go to York University to direct what is arguably the first comprehensive program for training arts administrators in the world. This was followed by a long period of self-employment as a cultural advisor, during which time I participated in many studies, wrote numerous reports, and undertook several missions for UNESCO to different parts of the world.

In 1983, I was hired by the University of Toronto to teach two courses in arts administration and policy, as well as to coordinate two new co-operative programs in arts administration and international development that were being developed at the university at that time. While I was there, I undertook an intensive study of culture as a concept and reality, largely to broaden and deepen my knowledge and understanding of culture, cultures, and cultural development. This led to the establishment of the World Culture Project in 1989 to research and write about culture and cultures in general and Canadian culture in particular (see the World Culture Project website at: www3.sympatico.ca/dpaulschafer).

I discovered through my various studies that there is a vast theoretical and practical literature on culture that is being virtually ignored throughout the world as a result of the preoccupation with economics and economies. Much of this literature has been written by anthropologists, sociologists, ecologists, and biologists, and contains valuable insights and ideas about the nature of the world and prospects for the future.

In an attempt to summarize my findings on the subject of culture, I wrote Culture-Beacon of the Future which was published in 1998 by Adamantine Press in England and Praeger/Greenwood in the United States in their 21^st. Century Studies series. This publication ends with the conviction that we must pass out of the present economic age and into a future cultural age if environmental sustainability, global harmony, economic viability, and human well-being are to be achieved. This line of argument was picked up in earnest in Revolution or Renaissance: Making the Transition from an Economic Age to a Cultural Age. It was written between 1999 and 2003, and published first in Chinese by the Social Sciences Academic Press in Beijing in 2006. This was followed by the English version that was published by the University of Ottawa Press in its Governance Series in 2008.

Check Upper Case again soon for more from D. Paul Schafer.

Review of our book THE WAY AHEAD: MEETING CANADA’S PRODUCTIVITY CHALLENGE

Take a look at this review by Peter DeVita of Tom Brzustowski's book THE WAY AHEAD: MEETING CANADA'S PRODUCTIVITY CHALLENGE in the most recent issue of Engineering Dimensions. DeVita says that this book is very important given the current global recession. More details here.

Hot Topic: The Arctic

There is no doubt the world is warming up. As is does so, the cold places in the world will become more and more important. Russia, the biggest Arctic state is placed to become a world power once again. Elana Wilson Rowe, an expert on all things Northern, has gathered a gaggle of scholars to examine how Russia approaches its snowy regions. Read more about Russia and the North.

Radio Interview with Naïma Dib

Naïma Dib, the author of D'un islam textuel vers un islam contextuel will be interviewed today (Wednesday, July 8) on "Click here" on CHUO-FM89, from 5 to 6 pm.

Listen to the interview at 89.1 FM (Ottawa, Canada) or online at www.chuo.fm

Great Review in National Post

Check out this great review by Randy Boyagoda of Northrop Frye: New Directions from Old edited by David Rampton on the National Post's book blog The Afterword.