I used to work on a dairy farm.. When milking the cows we always had the radio playing, as it relaxed them (They preferred middle-of-the-road, light rock or C&W). We milked about 120 cows twice a day. Does this qualify as a public performance? It certainly was a moosical performance, udderwise....
Languages are NOT just a form of inert communication, but are help form a culture with all its variety, richness and tradition. Check our Benjamin Lee Whorf's research. Here in Papua New Guinea there are over 800 languages - nearly a fifth of the world total - and they represent a unique, valuable and diverse way of seeing the world, expressing a culture and provide a Noah's Ark for cultural traditions (music, dance, stories). Don't underestimate the value of any language! For example there are thoughts and ideas experessed in certain languages which cannot be translated effectively into say English. Eg how many Inuit words are there for snow? Do you know there is a tribe here in PNG which count in a base 30 number system (a product of their language/culture/history)? To lose even one more language is a loss to all humanities cultural heritage. There are words for ceremonies and beliefs in my wife's language (she is from the PNG Highlands) which have no English equivalent. Her language is spoken by only around 200,000 people Do you really have no regrets about losing this?
Wakai wei diwaa!!!
I work for a University library in Papua New Guinea. As you can understand, budgets for books and printed materials are low here, but the costs are going up. Some medical textbpooks cost nearly as much as the average annual per capita income. We currently get most of our book supplies from Australia, however this will be affected by the proposed Free Trade Agreement between Australian and the US.
One aspect of the Aust-US FTA that has not received much attention in the Australian press is the intellectual property section. Under the FTA copyright will be extended from 50 to 70 years in Australia (it is already 70 years in the US) and sanctions are to be strengthened to enforce this. Some authors whose works would otherwise be in the public domain within the next few years affected by this clause include JRR Tolkien, Dwight Eisenhowser, Winston Churchill, CS Lewis, Ernest Hemingway, AA Milne,and Albert Einstein.
This will have a major impact on libraries, on-line resources and the cost of text books and reference works. If you search on-line book
collections currently (eg. Project Gutenberg) you will find many works that are freely available in Australia and elsewhere (as they are 50 years old) but not in the US (as they are under 70).
Developing countries need cheap sources of books and publications to promote education. With copyright extensions many books are likely to become more expensive and cheaper editions will disappear unless we can find alternative sources. Developing countries with more generous copyright terms need to get together to produce and distribute low cost educational materials to those in need - both in print and electronic media. Maybe this is being done already. Any suggestions?
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I used to work on a dairy farm.. When milking the cows we always had the radio playing, as it relaxed them (They preferred middle-of-the-road, light rock or C&W). We milked about 120 cows twice a day. Does this qualify as a public performance? It certainly was a moosical performance, udderwise....
Languages are NOT just a form of inert communication, but are help form a culture with all its variety, richness and tradition. Check our Benjamin Lee Whorf's research. Here in Papua New Guinea there are over 800 languages - nearly a fifth of the world total - and they represent a unique, valuable and diverse way of seeing the world, expressing a culture and provide a Noah's Ark for cultural traditions (music, dance, stories). Don't underestimate the value of any language! For example there are thoughts and ideas experessed in certain languages which cannot be translated effectively into say English. Eg how many Inuit words are there for snow? Do you know there is a tribe here in PNG which count in a base 30 number system (a product of their language/culture/history)? To lose even one more language is a loss to all humanities cultural heritage. There are words for ceremonies and beliefs in my wife's language (she is from the PNG Highlands) which have no English equivalent. Her language is spoken by only around 200,000 people Do you really have no regrets about losing this? Wakai wei diwaa!!!
I work for a University library in Papua New Guinea. As you can understand, budgets for books and printed materials are low here, but the costs are going up. Some medical textbpooks cost nearly as much as the average annual per capita income. We currently get most of our book supplies from Australia, however this will be affected by the proposed Free Trade Agreement between Australian and the US. One aspect of the Aust-US FTA that has not received much attention in the Australian press is the intellectual property section. Under the FTA copyright will be extended from 50 to 70 years in Australia (it is already 70 years in the US) and sanctions are to be strengthened to enforce this. Some authors whose works would otherwise be in the public domain within the next few years affected by this clause include JRR Tolkien, Dwight Eisenhowser, Winston Churchill, CS Lewis, Ernest Hemingway, AA Milne,and Albert Einstein. This will have a major impact on libraries, on-line resources and the cost of text books and reference works. If you search on-line book collections currently (eg. Project Gutenberg) you will find many works that are freely available in Australia and elsewhere (as they are 50 years old) but not in the US (as they are under 70). Developing countries need cheap sources of books and publications to promote education. With copyright extensions many books are likely to become more expensive and cheaper editions will disappear unless we can find alternative sources. Developing countries with more generous copyright terms need to get together to produce and distribute low cost educational materials to those in need - both in print and electronic media. Maybe this is being done already. Any suggestions?