Category: Legal
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Initial Thoughts on Alberta’s FOIP Process
On December 8, I noticed the Govt. of Alberta had posted a new video to YouTube titled, FOIP Request Service Guided Tour. You know what? I've honestly always wanted to submit a FOIP request! Here are some initial thoughts on how it went, and I'll report back if/when I hear something. So we start at…
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Continuing Algorithms of Oppression
For a meeting last week at MPOW we were asked to read Algorithms of Oppression, by Safiya Umoja Noble. As a cis, white male, I found it a good reminder of a lot of stuff I am vaguely aware of, but don't have to "deal with" in the same way as the majority of the…
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Report: Academic Freedom Breached at Thompson Rivers University
I first posted about this issue just over a year ago, A disturbing story on academic freedom and predatory publishing, and now it appears to have reached a conclusion, with the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) releasing a 30-page report on their findings. Report: Academic Freedom Breached at Thompson Rivers University TL;DR: (Ottawa –…
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A disturbing story on academic freedom and predatory publishing
While I had actually read the article in question shortly after it first came out, I was unaware of the fallout until earlier this morning. This is a story you should be aware of. How I learned of it: Investigation launched into alleged academic freedom violations at Thompson Rivers University What I had missed: B.C.…
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New Zealand comes to its senses
Last month I posted about how Into The River had been banned in New Zealand; it was "illegal to supply the book to anyone or to display the book in or within view of a public place." As of October 14, this ban has been lifted, and the book is once again classified as "unrestricted".…
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Are you in NZ? Want a free book? NZ bans award-winning YA novel after complaints from conservative Christian group
I first heard about this on BoingBoing, and followed up with several other articles: Book case study – Into the River New Zealand bans award-winning teenage novel after outcry from Christian group Censorship is alive in New Zealand. I should know: my book was banned We read the novel New Zealand just banned for sex…
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Identifying and avoiding predatory publishers: a primer for researchers
My colleague Rob sent a link out about this new 2-page brief from the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL): Identifying and avoiding predatory publishers: a primer for researchers (pdf). So-called predatory publishers are those that lack discernible scholarship, academic rigour or credibility. They use aggressive practices to recruit authors and editors. Predatory publishers’ opaque operations and editorial processes…
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Mellen’s lawsuit against Dale Askey has been dropped!
As reported by Dale on Twitter, and fleshed out a bit by The Chronicle of Higher Education, the SLAPP lawsuit by Edwin Mellen Press against Dale Askey has been dropped! Awesome news! number of lawsuits in my life: 0. yes, friends, it's over. details to follow, someday, but for now, just a big thanks to…
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ERIC Webinar: Restoring Access to ERIC’s PDFs
In August 2012, ERIC temporarily disabled access to its collection of full text documents due to personally identifiable information found in some of its older documents. Over the past two years, the ERIC team has worked to clear and re-release many of the documents. ERIC will be hosting a webinar on September 16, 2014 from 1:00–2:30 p.m.…