Concept:Anthony Smith's Geopolitics of Information and the report of the commission headed by Sean McBride, Many Voices One World had tremendous influence upon the agendas of IFLA and Unesco during the period between the early 1980s and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Much concern was expressed in those forums concerning uneven flows of communication between the more developed nations of the North or West, and the emerging nations of the South or East. Galtung characterized the situation as one in which the developed nations at the "centre" dominated the culture of the less developed countries at the "periphery". The proposals of the New World Information and Communications Order (NWICO) and the New International Economic Order (NIEO), were responses to these concerns, but in turn raised tensions at the United Nations, and at times contributed to the bitter acrimony of the era. It was partly because of these agendas that the United States, Britain, and Singapore withdrew from Unesco during the 1980s. How have the global Internet, the rise of citizen journalism, and the geopolitical reality of a single superpower, coupled with the rise of new economic powers, China and India, affected the flow of information between the centre and the periphery? Is a new new world order emerging in the information realm? This book draws upon the experience of journalists, librarians, and global development specialists with experience in both the new centre and the new periphery, to explore those impacts.Plan of the BookIn this volume of contributed chapters, Christopher Brown-Syed, PhD in the geopolitics of information and library educator, updates his popular 1992 paper, ////, recapping the original controversy, and setting the tone for subsequent chapters. <http://web.archive.org/web/20080228001749/http://valinor.ca/csyed_libres3.html >
Flor Cubero, PhD in the geopolitics of information and librarian at the UN University for Peace, covers changes in Central and South America.Christopher Schwartz, MA in political science and new media journalist, discusses changes in the former Soviet Central Asian republics.[Unconfirmed], discusses developments in communications and new media within Russia itself.Thomas Ledwell, broadcast journalist with BBC World Service and CBC, PhD candidate in political science (defending this fall), on broadcasting about development issues.[Unconfirmed], PhD in Information Studies, discusses the impact in India.The concluding summary recapitulates the major points raised by contributors, and suggests possible outcomes.Zapopan M. Muela-Meza, PhD, Information Studies, University of Sheffield, UK, updates his papers "age of the corporate state versus informational and cognitive public domain" <http://eprints.uanl.mx/705/ >; information liberation as a condition for the liberation of information access and the commons of information <http://eprints.rclis.org/bitstream/10760/6214/1/26.pdf > geopolitifcs of information about information flow among the north/south centre/periphery developed/emerging nations - after the Internet - and about the notions of "information as a commodity" v. "information as a social good",
It is a great loss for all of us who had the great chance to meet him and work with him! My most sincere condolences to all of his relatives and people who cared about him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Professor Chris will be very missed in our lives and profession!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
sincerely yours truly,Dr. Zapopan Martín Muela-MezaLIS Adjunct Professor, UANLMonterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico
Date: Fri, 9 Mar 2012 11:46:53 -0500
From: Lorna Peterson <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Dr. Christopher Brown-Syed, 1951-2012
Dear Colleagues,
It is with great sadness that I share the news that Chris Brown-Syed has passed away. Chris was on the University at Buffalo LIS faculty as a visiting assistant professor 2001-03 and then a tenure track faculty member from 2003-2008. He was also a faculty member at Wayne State University and had taught part time for San Jose State University, University of Arizona, and most recently taught for Seneca College, in Toronto. With his BA degree from York University (Canada), and MLS and PhD degrees from the University of Toronto, Chris Brown-Syed made many contributions to Library and Information Science research and educated many in the library, archives, museums, and information professions.
Many of you will remember him for his dry wit and calm ways. He had recently published the book: Parents of Inventions: The Development of Integrated Library Systems in the 1970s and 1980s, ABC Clio 2011. This is a work regarding his time with Geac, Plessey Canada, and other vendors and is a "a soft-systems analysis of vendors and customers during the mini-computer era."
Chris was editor of the refereed journal Library & Archival Security
since 1998, the author of many articles and chapters in books, an
admired teacher, international traveler, and a scholar and gentleman
in the truest sense of the words.
As one colleague stated about Chris, he was " ...inspirational, motivational, innovative, and one who proved that there are tremendous wonders underneath and all you had to do was pick up the rock to find something new and different."
We have lost a very special person.
lp
Lorna Peterson
University at Buffalo