Category: Information Operations (IO)

EU blocks progress on international copyright reform for libraries (again)

Once again, the European Union (EU) has blocked progress at the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) Standing Committee on Copyright & Related Rights (SCCR) that met in Geneva from 29 June-3 July 2015. And this time, the EU is more isolated. The Committee is discussing copyright laws that would aid libraries and archives in fulfilling their missions in a global, digital environment. EIFL (Electronic Information for Libraries) and representatives of international library and archive organizations, observed the European Union refuse to engage in meaningful discussions that would enable an effective global information infrastructure for access to knowledge.

Google Patent Search: Wake Up Call

EXTRACT

Patent searches conducted on the for fee services from Thomson Reuters and Reed Elsevier can be expensive. There are also some useful “free” services such as FreePatentsOnline.com.   . . .   In short, the Google may be looking at the hundreds of millions of revenue available from those with a must have motivation and add some functions that make advertisers sit up and take notice. Maybe the USPTO would consider the Google as a source for its search technology.

Continue reading “Stephen E. Arnold: Elsevier Threatened by Google Patent Search”

Page Load Speed: Let Us Blame Those in Suits

I read “News Sites Are Fatter and Slower Than Ever.” Well, I am not sure about “ever.” I recall when sites simply did not work. Those sites never worked. You can check out the turtles if you can grab a peak at a crawler’s log file. Look for nifty codes like 2000, 4, or 12. Your mileage may vary, but the log file tells the tale.   . . .   Enter latency, lousy code, crazy ads from half baked ad servers, and other assorted craziness.   . . .

The main point, in my opinion, is a good one:

Since its initial release 22 years ago, the Hyper Text Markup Language  (HTML) has gone through many iterations that make web sites richer and smarter than ever. But this evolution also came with loads of complexity and a surfeit of questionable features. It’s time to swing the pendulum back toward efficiency and simplicity. Users are asking for it and will punish those who don’t listen.

Elsevier and Its Business Model May Be Ageing Fast

If you need to conduct research and are not attached to a university or academic library, then you are going to get hit with huge subscription fees to have access to quality material.  This is especially true for the scientific community, but on the Internet if there is a will there most certainly is a way.  Material often locked behind a subscription service can be found if you dig around the Internet long enough, mostly from foreign countries, but the material is often pirated.  Gizmodo shares in the article, “Academic Publishing Giant Fights To Keep Science Paywalled” that Elsevier, one of the largest academic publishers, is angry about its content being stolen and shared on third party sites.  Elsevier recently filed a complaint with the New York District Court against Library Genesis and SciHub.org.

Continue reading “Stephen E. Arnold: Elsevier Going Down….”