Information Policy

EU: eLearning Papers calls for contributions on Digital Literacy

Digital publication ‘eLearning Papers’ is calling for contributions to enhance the European learning communities’ approach to the 21st century Literacies’ Agenda. The deadline for the submission of the articles is 10 November 2008.

eLearning Papers invites the members of the European and international research and practice community to submit papers which would – indicatively and not exhaustively - address the following themes:

• Digital Literacy, Information Literacy and Media Literacy: defining competencies and skills;
• Digital Literacy as a Key Competency: positioning in the set of other (basic/key) Competencies;
• Digital Literacy and School Curriculum;
• The Learning-to-learn Competency development agenda: the relation to Digital Literacy;
• The Social (e)inclusion agenda in the lifelong learning perspective;
• Digital Literacy, eSkills and Professional Development;
• eSkills and the Learning Organization;
• Digital literacy and critical thinking.

The eLearning Papers publication has been created as part of the ‘elearningeuropa.info’ portal. This portal is an initiative of the European Commission to promote the use of multimedia technologies and the Internet at the service of education and training.

http://www.epractice.eu/document/5041

EU call for 'universal' broadband

Brussels is considering making broadband access available for all.

The fast growth of broadband has led the European Commission to bring forward a review of the basic telecoms services Europeans can expect.

Current statistics suggest about 36% of households in EU member nations have high-speed net access.

When a majority of EU citizens are using a telecoms service, EC rules dictate that it becomes one every European should be able to enjoy.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7637215.stm

"Europe, personally" radio project launched

'Europe, Personally' is a project originated by RTVSLO/Slovenia, which has received the support of the Radio Development Fund. The project has now been launched. The long-term aim of this project is to establish a network of European radio stations within and also outside the European Union, which will regularly make radio shows about everyday life in the language of the country in which the show is made and contribute them to a common audio base. This base is available for use by all participating radio stations. Together with Val 202 (Radio Slovenija, Channel 2), six European radio stations participate in the project, with a desire to present topics regarding the lives of Europeans and their everyday dilemmas, which are connected to the specific situations of each individual: BNR (Bulgaria), CR (Czech Republic), HRT/Croatia, LR/Latvia, LRT/Lithuania and SR/Sweden. All participating radio stations carry out this project under the same brand name: Europe, Personally! The first productions are now available via the website: http://www.rtvslo.si/europe-personally

Social networking-Facebook for suits: Websites that encourage business networking are thriving

Among the few firms benefiting from the upheaval in the financial markets are professional social networks—websites that help with business networking and job-hunting. On LinkedIn, the market leader, members have been updating their profiles in record numbers in recent weeks, apparently to position themselves in case they lose their jobs. The two most popular sites, LinkedIn and Xing, have been growing at breakneck speed and boast 29m and 6.5m members respectively. And, in contrast to mass-market social networks such as Facebook and MySpace, both firms have worked out how to make money.

http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12304861

MI6 seeks recruits on Facebook

MI6 is using the social networking site Facebook to recruit the next generation of spies. The Secret Intelligence Service, which has traditionally scoured the country's elite universities for recruits, launched a series of online adverts this month as part of its attempts to attract people from a variety of backgrounds.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/sep/29/facebook.workandcareers