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May 2004 |
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Did you have a good holiday? I actually spent most of the time working on this Update, but that's my choice. I was horrified when I discovered, some time ago, that there are many employers who insist that Bank Holidays are part of an employee's holiday entitlement – even though the employee is unable to attend the place of work because it's closed! And now the TUC is campaigning to have an increase in the number of Bank Holidays that we have in the UK (it's the lowest in Europe) and to make it law that these days are to be paid holiday in addition to the statutory 20 days.
There is, as always, a lot of cynical comment in the media about the government and its operating arms. Dawn and I, in bringing you what we think will interest you will, as always, add our own comments. (Dawn will, of course, insist that she is simply being realistic!) On that note I've decided to introduce the whole abstract from a learned journal into this Editorial. Bob Franklin from Sheffield University, in his paper Education, education and indoctrination! packaging politics and the three Rs published in the Journal of Education Policy (Volume 19 Number 3 (May 2004)), highlights his concerns about policy spin as opposed to substance and the need for government to advertise its "products". He says: "This paper explores how recent Labour governments have tried systematically to package educational and other social policies for media presentation and public consumption. This concern has resulted in the criticism that Labour is concerned with policy presentation above content: strong on policy spin but weak on policy delivery. The first section explores Labour's attempts to set a favourable agenda in news media for its educational policies by implementing a rigorous news management strategy: the subsequent section analyses Labour's unprecedented use of advertising to promote key areas of government policy. There was a particular focus on government advertising in the run-up to the 2001 general election. The paper concludes that government's increasing reliance on advertising may cross the line which should separate the provision of public information from any attempt to persuade the public to support particular policy choices."
This is, perhaps, a more elegant way of saying "these are miscellaneous items which I thought would interest you which don't seem to fit into any other category". So much for criticism, however gentle, of my use of "miscellaneous items of interest"! Even the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals is not above using "odds and ends" in one of its regular newsletters!! I won't change what I call it because we've now got several years of indexing behind us but ...
One can, of course, get quite bored with published works which start with long lists of acknowledgements – perhaps even including one to the cat in appreciation of his not having walked across the galley proofs with muddy paws. So, here I have not started with the acknowledgements, nor is it a long list. A public thank you is, however, in order to Ruth Warner for going through all the government press releases for us every month (a mammoth task in itself) and now having taken on the publications notices, finding the publication on the Internet, providing a TinyURL (an essential for most of them), and telling me whether I should be printing in colour or monochrome. Charts and graphs really need the colour – lots of photographs in an annual report can be ignored in the considerably cheaper to reproduce monochrome.
Engaging in education after the age of 25 is seen by many men as a female rather than male activity, according to research from the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education. This report, published as part of Adult Learners' Week, has found that there are clear differences between men's and women's motivations to learn. It explores the reasons why many men are reluctant to learn outside the workplace and suggests ways in which they might be persuaded to enter other forms of learning.
Men earn, women learn: bridging the gender divide in
education and training by Veronica McGivney (ISBN: 1-86201-198-2 price:
£16.95) is published by NIACE, 21 De Montfort Street, Leicester LE1 7GE
tel: 0116 204 4216
email: orders@niace.org.uk
Skills and Education Network Newsletter May 2004
The Prime Minister announced this month (May 2004) that all adults who failed to achieve five GCSEs or the equivalent vocational qualifications while at school would be given the chance to study for them again free of charge. College heads welcomed the news but pointed out that it was actually a re-announcement of the adult entitlement to level 2 – a pilot scheme which has already been launched.
Staff and agencies, The Guardian 13 May
With low completion rates in work-based learning, and a new government scheme to encourage adult learners to join apprenticeships, the question "What motivates adults to learn?" is an important one. In an investigation to support Adult Learners' Week, this article examines recent research into this question. Issues considered include:
Skills and Education Network Newsletter May 2004
The SSDA (INtelligence Issue 23 (May 2004)) says that finding ways of integrating on and off the job training is key to helping learners achieve their work-based learning frameworks.
These are findings (published 27 May) from research, using the National Child Development Study, on the relationship between adult learning and changes in attitudes that may be conducive to social cohesion.
The short (PDF 3pp) report is at http://tinyurl.com/2csmj
The view that lifelong learning is vital to Europe's future development and that social and economic change threatens to outpace institutional change in education and training is widely accepted. Lifelong learning is essential to enable people to acquire new skills to ensure economic and individual success in the global knowledge economy. Whilst not directly challenging this view, contributions at CEDEFOP's conference on "Getting to work: lifelong learning policy, practice and partnership" challenged some basic assumptions that need to be addressed by policy makers. Not all commentators are convinced that the global knowledge economy is transforming the demands of the labour market. They query the extent to which Europeans experience the employment and working conditions routinely described in policy documents, given that most of the working population still experience greater continuity than change in this respect. Only in the coming years will we know if greater change and discontinuity in occupations, employment and career development patterns will become characteristic for people of all ages. The 2003 Lifelong Learning Eurobarometer survey findings show that many people are aware of the "skills gap". However, many are also uncomfortable with IT, science and technology, and languages, but they see no immediate urgency to change the situation. The survey shows motivation to learn stems from personal and social, not narrowly vocational, reasons. Therefore, promoting employability may not be the best way to encourage people to invest in lifelong learning. The central role of human capital in economic success is also accepted. But there are doubts about whether the returns on investment in learning are as high as declared in some research and policy literature. Alternatively, it is argued, investment in education appears to be a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for economic growth. By definition, lifelong learning is a major policy challenge because its logic goes beyond that of organised learning in the public – and publicly funded – domain. The extent to which the scope and nature of policymaking need to change to respond to the different organisation and culture of knowledge societies is a question worth careful consideration and challenges us to justify some of the assumptions we make.
ETV Newsletter May 2004 Number 48
Policy, Practice and Partnership: Getting to Work on Lifelong Learning (Conference Summary Report) (PDF 54pp) is at http://tinyurl.com/2gvek
Jaswinder K Dhillon, University of Wolverhampton
This article explores the experience of adult learners and their perceptions of learning using computer-based learning materials, mainly learndirect packages. The findings are based on focus group interviews with learners in a range of settings, including centres in community-based organisations, further education colleges and private training providers based in the Midlands region of England. The research forms part of a larger study of partnership working and its role in widening participation in lifelong learning in the Black Country sub-region of England, but this article will focus specifically on the data from focus group interviews with learners. The findings reported here provide an insight into the ability of learners to articulate the benefits and the weakness of learning in this way, and to be clear about their learning goals. The data reveal aspects of the physical, social and psychological learning environment, which help learners participate in learning. This is, of course, useful for practitioners, but the individual stories also reveal deeper and more hurtful previous experiences, which cannot be tackled by tinkering with the learning environment or the learning materials.
Research in Post-Compulsory Education
Volume 9 Number 1 (2004)
Delegates at the HRD 2004 conference heard that one of the biggest challenges to bite-sized learning is that most people feel that learning takes time and effort. Speaking at the conference, Octavius Black, managing director of The Mind Gym, argued that most people believe that the more time they spend acquiring knowledge, the better their knowledge will be. Mr Black rejected this theory. He said that learning in short bursts had proved to be equally effective. Opinion remains divided about the effectiveness of bite-sized learning. While it may be a key trend, accounting for a significant proportion of provision, some experts have dismissed it as a fad. Alison Wolf, professor of management at King's College, London, said that some providers offered bite-sized learning to minimise training costs. "If learning is worth it, it takes time," she added. This view was echoed by Chris Hughes, chief executive of the Learning and Skills Development Agency. Mr Hughes said: "What does bite-sized learning actually mean? It's just a fad. Next it will be granule learning."
People Management Online 6 May
Gerry McAleavy, Katrina Collins & Gary Adamson (University of Ulster)
In Northern Ireland there has been a dearth of evidence on the role of further education colleges in relation to educating adults. Given the existence of a system of education based on academic selection, it has emerged that the "losers" in this process grow up to become adults with reduced self-esteem in relation to how they perceive their educational potential. The study draws on a qualitative research study carried out to examine the barriers that inhibit access to colleges and to identify routes for the development of policies for widening participation. The two main types of barriers identified were the personal attitudes of adults, who expressed severe apprehensions regarding their ability to cope with study, and "logistical" barriers such as lack of childcare, ability to pay fees and transport. The latter factor impinged particularly on students with special needs in rural areas. Learning with others, as opposed to learning alone, was preferred on the grounds that emotional and intellectual support is available which allows the learner to have experiences beyond their present level of knowledge and skill. The findings have implications for policy and practice both in terms of refocusing the service towards adults who underachieved during their period of statutory schooling and in respect of the need to direct new forms of teaching and learning towards excluded communities.
Research in Post-Compulsory Education Volume 9 Number 1 (2004)
The leading article in The Independent for 20 May comments on the NIACE survey which reveals the lowest levels of participation in learning among adults since 1997. It singles out the finding about the fall in learning among pensioners – down from a 19% participation rate in 1997 to 14% – and suggests that the obsession with targets for literacy and numeracy among the workforce has all but killed off the desire to learn for its own sake. It reads: "We agree that it is necessary to ensure that employees are equipped for the world of work, but this should not happen at the expense of IT and photography for pensioners. Old people need their hobbies, just as young people need jobs."
Business as Usual: The NIACE survey on Adult
Participation in Learning 2004 by Fiona Aldridge and Alan Tuckett (ISBN:
1-86201-201-6) is available, price £8.95, from Publication Sales, NIACE,
21 De Montfort Street, Leicester LE1 7GE
tel: 0116 204 4216
email:
orders@niace.org.uk
Figures from a survey to mark Adult Learners' Week indicate that more Welsh adults are taking part in some form of learning than previously thought. The survey, conducted on behalf of ELWA, reveals that 51% of adults said they had undertaken some formal or informal learning in the past year and 61% said they had done so in the past three years. Commenting on the findings, Minister for Education and Lifelong Learning Jane Davidson said: "As adults we learn in many different ways, both formal and informal. What we hope is that people will recognise this and start building on what they are already doing. Like riding a bike - once you learn how to do it, you don't forget. That skill stays with you for life. We hope people will see the benefits of regular learning and grasp the opportunity."
Ceri Jones, The Western Mail 22 May
According to a survey published by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE), fewer than a fifth of adults are now doing some sort of learning, the lowest figure since before Labour took office in 1997. Findings include:
Alan Tuckett, director of NIACE, said that the changes reflected government-imposed targets and funding priorities. He said: "The relentless focus of funders on achievement targets is narrowing the curriculum offer to adults, as expansion of provision for young people is bought at the expense of their elders."
Peter Kingston, The Guardian 18 May
This document sets out the strategy that the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) intends to adopt with its partners in the voluntary and community sector (VCS). It explains in detail the "ways of working" that the two bodies will adopt in order to achieve their shared aims. This document looks at the VCS as a provider, employer and source of expertise. It also sets out recommended practices for the LSC National Office and local LSCs for working with members of the VCS. It ends with an implementation schedule and a list of references and sources. This document is of interest to the full range of individuals and organisations that are interested in, or involved with, voluntary and community sector engagement with adult learning.
Key educational and career sector organisations have united to demand a national debate on the future of careers guidance services for young people. Their call follows concern among employers, trade unions, colleges, universities and professional bodies about levels of career advice that young people currently receive in England. They see "a worrying gap" between policy statements about these services and the reality. The Guidance Council sets out an agenda for change in a new statement paper, Getting Young People on the Right Road: the case for improving career guidance services, published on behalf of a range of concerned bodies. The statement sets out six key points:
Guidance Council news release 24 April
The statement paper (PDF 3pp) is at http://tinyurl.com/2vkjb
What is the situation in which career guidance finds itself in the UK at the beginning of 2004? What factors are influencing guidance supply and demand, and how will we chart and monitor changes in the guidance sector over the next few years? Supported by the Lifelong Learning Foundation, and in consultation with guidance providers, the Guidance Council has drawn up a statement that gives us a starting place from which to comment upon changes and their likely impact on individuals. The Council believes that it will enhance understanding of individuals' experience of guidance for learning and work, and help guidance providers to be more strategic in response to their needs.
The full document (PDF 20pp) is at http://tinyurl.com/35f8k
Guidance Council website May 2004
Do guidance policies really differ in a knowledge society from those which pertained in the information society (still not fully realised) or, indeed, the industrial society? The principles underlying the policy remain constant!
Read it for yourself (PDF 133pp) at http://tinyurl.com/yre45
ETV Newsletter May 2004 Number 48
Careers Wales has been described as "standing at the forefront of current best practice" in a review by the Welsh Assembly government. The organisation, which is one of only three integrated careers services in the world, was praised for its success in the delivery of a high standard of client-sensitive services including in-school advice and guidance, adult guidance services, Youth Gateway schemes and education and business links. Lesley Rees, executive director at Careers Wales Association, said: "Supported by the Assembly, we have made a strong start and are building an organisation with a good reputation, which is known and understood by the people it serves."
Jenny Rees, The Western Mail 6 May
Organisations find it difficult to implement e-learning according to research from Ashridge Business School. The research, E-learning: the Findings and the Future, indicates that while 86% of organisations believed e-learning to be an effective training approach, 82% said it was difficult to introduce into an organisation. The main barriers were:
TrainingZONE Newswire Number 308 (24 May)
Neil Selwyn, Cardiff School of Social Science
Information and communication technology (ICT) is at the heart of current multibillion dollar policy drives to establish inclusive learning societies – primarily on the basis of the power of new technologies to widen access and participation. This is despite strong criticism over the last forty years of the inequable nature of ICTs in education as well as a recently emerging research literature which suggests that ICTs are having little impact on overall patterns of (non)participation in education. Given the evidence of the past four decades the received wisdom of ICT as a "technical fix" for inequalities in educational access could, and should, be strongly challenged on a number of points. In order to frame a more realistic discussion of what roles ICT can and can not play in adult education this paper briefly discusses four popularly held misconceptions of ICT-based education which urgently need to be addressed if the equitable potential of ICT is to be even partially realised.
Journal of Access Policy and Practice Volume 1 Number 2 (Spring 2004)
Update comment: This is a very readable article from the Debate and Discussion section of this NIACE journal. The author identified the misconceptions that ICTs:
Definitely worth seeking out. Dawn.
The Skills and Learning Intelligence Module (SLIM) has published the final report on its sixth learning theme. The report is presented in two halves: the main report, e-Learning: Widening Participation in the Region, and a separate Good Practice Case Studies in e-Learning report.
A limited number of hard copies of the report are
available from SLIM, The Marchmont Observatory, University of Exeter, Holnicote
Annex, St Luke's Campus, Exeter EX1 2LU
tel: 01392 264850
email:
swslim@exeter.ac.uk
The reports are also online at www.swslim.org.uk
Executive summary (Word document 6pp)
e-Learning Report (Word document 86pp)
Good Practice (Word document 42pp)
What is the definition of an engineer?
Someone who solves a problem you didn't know you had, in a way you don't understand.
Campaigners have called for better training for DWP benefits staff after MPs found nearly half of Disability Living Allowance decisions contained mistakes. Edward Leigh MP, chairman of the committee for public accounts, said the number of errors on DLA and other benefits was "astounding" and "unacceptable". Lorna Reith, chief executive of Disability Alliance, backed his call for better staff training, and said the DWP should also talk more to customers and learn from tribunal appeals in which decisions are overturned.
Disability Now (May 2004)
Update comment: What about the people who don't know that the decision on their claim is wrong?
The Public and Commercial Services Union has warned that it cannot rule out the possibility of strike action if the government is to go ahead with staff cuts at the DfES. The union, which represents 2,500 DfES staff, argues that the reduction of 1,460 staff will "have a severe impact on frontline services, leaving too few staff for the DfES to function properly". It will ballot its members, asking them to support a campaign which will include the lobbying of MPs, negotiations with management and communications with the media, in addition to industrial action if appropriate.
Polly Curtis, The Guardian 17 May
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) website, containing details of DCMS activities, changes in the law and job vacancies, has been made available by telephone to people without access to a computer. The DCMS is the first government department to do so. It is hoped that blind and partially sighted people, around 90% of whom do not have computers, will benefit. From 4 May 2004, anyone will be able to ring 0845 333 0850 (local rate charges) to gain voice access to the entire content of the DCMS website from any telephone. The service is subject to a three-month trial.
DCMS press release 11 May
Update comment: So if the DCMS can do it, what's wrong with everyone else?!
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport 2004 Annual Report is now available online.
Foreword and highlights (PDF 9pp) http://tinyurl.com/ysj8l
Chapter 1 (PDF 36pp) http://tinyurl.com/yrele
Chapter 2 (PDF 23pp) http://tinyurl.com/22lf5
DCMS website 29 April 2004
This is an essay by Tessa Jowell in which she examines the relationship between government and the cultural sector. It sets out a case for continued public subsidy for the arts and urges government to view culture as at the heart, not the periphery, of its policies.
Full report (PDF 21pp) is at http://tinyurl.com/2opma
DCMS website 4 May
Update comment: Unless you particularly need the purple back cover I'd use a monochrome printer for this – not just about "culture is good for you" but an interesting view on why.
The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) has published (on 7 May) its Departmental Report for 2004. This report sets out the government's expenditure plans for the DfES based on the resources allocated during the 2002 spending review. It also reports performance against Public Service Agreement targets and provides a summary of key developments in 2003-04.
The report (PDF 132pp) is at http://tinyurl.com/yrlnb
Ruth says "there's loads of colours."
Update comment: Very obviously written before the announcement of the cuts in staffing!
The government has unveiled a "one stop" milestone in its drive to give millions of citizens direct online access to countless local and Whitehall official services via the Internet and digital television. e-Envoy Andrew Pinder announced that the Directgov services offered by UK Online could now be accessed by subscribers to Sky's satellite digital TV services and Telewest's cable customers – as well as the direct.gov.uk website that has been running for six weeks. It is hoped that the information will soon be available to NTL cable subscribers.
Michael White, political editor, The Guardian 29 April
This framework, published on 30 April, defines the technical policies and specifications governing information flows across government and the public sector. These cover interconnectivity, data integration, e-services access and content management. Version six contains the high-level policy statements, management, implementation and compliance regimes.
The document (PDF 34pp) is at http://tinyurl.com/2mfeu
When does a person decide to become an engineer?
When he realizes he doesn't have the charisma to be an undertaker.
Charities minister Fiona Mactaggart has announced proposals to force charities, including private schools and hospitals, to prove that they provide a "public benefit". The definition of public benefit is not laid down. Charities will be examined on a case-by-case basis by a beefed-up Charity Commission, whose role as a regulator will be set out by statute. Ms Mactaggart suggested that the draft bill would be unlikely to affect private schools – independent hospitals with charitable status were "the bit the biggest question is about". Speaking about Nuffield Hospitals, which operates like a private company, she said that where services were "available only to people who can afford high fees without any public benefit, it seems to me it's not right to give them a public subsidy".
Tash Shifrin and Sarah Hall, The Guardian 28 May
Voluntary work may be bad for your health, researchers warn. According to a study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, while volunteering is good for the community it can be detrimental to individuals. The research, conducted in Australia, found few volunteers reported a positive effect on health. "They were more likely to express the downside, such as witnessing depressing and difficult situations, or to consider the toll taken on physical health," the study said.
Edinburgh Evening News 13 May
The government is in danger of missing its target of upgrading all social housing to minimum standards by 2010. A spokesperson for the Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Local Government and the Regions at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister said that the Decent Homes initiative needed a "serious overhaul" and more money, even though the initial target was set at a low level.
Community Care 13-19 May
The Quality Assurance Agency has called for access to higher education courses to be revamped and "given a promotional boost". In a report on the Access to Higher Education Development Project, the QAA suggests that the "absence of a clear strategic context", along with inconsistent and confusing assessment standards, have undermined the development of access courses, and have contributed to its reputation as a "second-order status" qualification.
Tony Tysome, The THES 21 May
An executive summary is at http://tinyurl.com/2qq58
Schoolchildren as young as 14 will be able to spend two days a week in the workplace as part of the reform of the apprenticeship scheme announced by the education secretary, Charles Clarke. The first apprenticeships for 14-year-olds will be available this September for pupils in year 10, and around 1,000 are expected to sign up. Young apprenticeships will be offered first in engineering, the automatic [automotive?] industries, business administration, logistics and the arts and creative industries. The reforms will deliver a more flexible, stronger apprenticeship "ladder of opportunity" beginning at the age of 14.
Debbie Andalo, The Guardian 11 May
Each month the INtelligence briefing contains a "monthly spotlight" feature. Each edition focuses on a key issue relating to the work of the SSDA and its partner organisations, to provide a handy summary of an important topic, examine recent developments, and provide links to appropriate websites and reports which can provide additional relevant information. This month, the focus is on recent government announcements around the new framework for apprenticeships. The announcement (of 10 May) is the culmination of a long process which has reviewed the whole framework for apprenticeships, and is designed to increase the flexibility and effectiveness of the current system. The policy background to the new proposals is briefly outlined, followed by a summary of the main aspects of the new system. The policy implications and key issues for the SSDA and partner organisations are also outlined together with key sources of further information.
There's a wealth of information in the article so why
not subscribe to the monthly newsletter and read it for yourself?
www.ssda.org.uk
For an archive of articles go to www.ssda.org.uk/cgi-bin/go.pl/newsletter/index.html
The government has launched a major apprenticeships advertising and marketing campaign, designed to drive up employer involvement. At the same time, it has unveiled radical reforms to apprenticeships, providing a "ladder of opportunity" for young people. Apprenticeships will in future offer structured career progression, real qualifications and the opportunity to become an apprentice from as young as age 14.
LSC news release 10 May
Skills for Business, the employer-led network of Sector Skills Councils, has welcomed the reform of apprenticeships announced by the government and the Learning and Skills Council, but warned that the system needs to be led by employers if it is to be successful. Christopher Duff, Chief Executive of Skills for Business, said: "Today's announcements are a high-level endorsement by the government of the importance of work-related education and the need for a much greater emphasis on skills. We are pleased with this major new drive to provide all employers with the highly skilled young people they need. But it remains absolutely vital that employers are in the driving seat when it comes to designing and implementing these reforms, as only they can really know what skills their workforce needs, both now and in the future. Employers have been saying for many years that a `one size fits all' approach to education and training just does not work – the needs of a small retailer, for example, are quite different from those of a multinational engineering company. The reforms announced today stress the need for flexibility in the shaping of apprenticeships to meet the different workforce development needs of different sectors. We now need to work with the government and other agencies to ensure that the good intentions voiced today are translated into practical action and that the skills employers are crying out for to boost their bottom line and improve services are the ones which the public education and training system delivers."
SSDA Involve Issue 52 (10 May)
Employers must be given the leading role if the government targets for new apprenticeships are to be met, SEMTA has announced. The plans for pupils to start work-based learning from 14 years old can only succeed if employers in science, engineering and manufacturing technologies are in the driving seat when it comes to delivering training on the ground. Ian Carnell, SEMTA's head of education and sector skills policies, commented: "We welcome the government commitment to the importance of training in the workplace and the need to attract high-quality youngsters into our apprenticeships schemes. But providing workplace learning for young people at 14, 15 and 16 will need the closest co-operation of employers if it is to succeed. We want high-quality training for high-quality students and only employers can deliver that. They must be involved in all stages of implementing these changes."
SSDA Involve Issue 52 (10 May)
The age limit for entry to a Modern Apprentice programme is to be scrapped. The limit, which is currently 25, is thought to be discriminatory. Indeed, it does not apply in Wales at all. It is expected that skills minister Ivan Lewis will also drop the word "Modern" as part of the apprenticeship rebranding exercise. The new programmes will include transferable units which trainees will "keep" if they choose not to complete their course. This will remove the automatic "failure" status of students who drop their apprenticeship, even if they are promoted or accept a more lucrative job offer.
Steve Hook, TES FE Focus 7 May
In an article for The Independent (6 May), Linda Blackburne reports on the record number of apprentices who drop out of construction MAs. She claims that a "shocking" 82% of all construction students fail to complete their apprenticeships. The British Association of Construction Heads (BACH) insists that this is an "appalling" waste, and lays the blame squarely at the feet of "dogma and inflexibility within the Construction Industry Training Board". However, among those working at "grass roots level", the problem is simpler to diagnose but much more difficult to address. Industry employees believe that young people who apply to study for construction trades lack "an essential work ethic". They believe that entrants want qualifications, but are not willing to be "time-served" in order to gain them.
More young people will get the opportunity to learn skills under radical reforms to apprenticeships announced today (10 May) by Education and Skills Secretary Charles Clarke and the Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown. Announcing the new "Young Apprenticeships" Mr Clarke said that the reforms will be a major boost to business and productivity.
DFES press release 2004/0095 10 May
Update comment: Forgive our cynicism, but haven't we heard it all before? "This wonderful new initiative is going to provide a major boost to British industry and commerce" has been a recurring theme for a long time – regardless of the political complexion of the government.
In an article for The Guardian (11 May), Peter Kingston looks at the government's latest revamp and expansion of apprenticeships. He warns that, while scrapping the upper age limit for acceptance onto an apprenticeship may appear to be a great idea, the devil is, as is usually the case, in the detail. Advanced Apprenticeships (AAs) will be offered in a similar form to MAs. The government will pay for the training and employers will pay salaries, provided they are available. Adult skills minister Ivan Lewis admits that much of the programme depends on the cooperation of employers. He warns that employers are likely to use AAs to upskill their current workforce before they consider outside applicants. Dave Rogers, chief executive of JTL, a charity that is in the second year of its UpSkill programme, which has essentially been a pilot for the adult apprenticeships, says that AAs are very effective for adults. Participants are highly motivated and rarely drop out. However, he also acknowledges that apprenticeships for adults are expensive. Mr Rogers claims that adult trainees need an average of 800 hours of guided study in order to make up for what they missed out on at school.
Katerina Ananiadou, Andrew Jenkins and Alison Wolf, Institute of Education
This paper summarises the evidence from the UK (and internationally where possible) on the benefits employers derive from raising the basic skills levels of the workforce. A number of large-scale UK surveys have shown that people with good literacy and numeracy skills tend to have higher wages and better chances of being at work than people who lack basic skills. This suggests that if you improve the basic skills among adults, their earnings should increase, but there is little direct evidence of this. However, labour market studies indicate that very few jobs could be performed without basic skills, and that skills requirements will increase in the future. There is some international evidence that employer-provided literacy and numeracy courses may raise productivity, improve the use of new technology in the workplace, contribute to enhanced customer satisfaction, save time and reduce costs, but the research base is very small. There is an absence of UK data on rates of return to training of any kind, not just basic skills training. Those employers who have sponsored basic skills training are generally positive about the experience and there is some evidence that employers do not see it as either burdensome or an unnecessary expense.
Marchmont Web-flash Volume 8 Number 1 (May 2004)
The full report (PDF 56pp) is at http://tinyurl.com/35wgb
A survey by The TES and NIACE has shown that a shortage of suitably qualified teachers is undermining the drive to improve literacy and numeracy. Key findings include:
Incentives to improve staffing levels, such as enhanced pay scales, subsidised rents and help with relocation have "had little impact". Commenting on the findings, Alan Tuckett, director of NIACE, said: "There is a clear imperative on the government to recognise the need for more support and on institutions to monitor the skills of their workforce and develop them. Everyone needs to recognise that these skills will be a big part of post-school education for a considerable time to come."
Ian Nash, TES FE Focus 14 May
Brian Sanderson, outgoing chair of the Learning and Skills Council, has warned the government that any cuts it makes in funding for FE provision would hit adults with poor basic skills the hardest. He argued that funding cuts would force FE colleges to make "severe choices" about which courses they could provide, and which ones they could no longer afford to offer. He said: "My concern is that the people who are going to suffer the most are at the lower end of the [attainment] spectrum. These are the very people we are trying to bring back into education, and it would be very sad."
Tamsin Snow, The TES FE Focus 21 May
A government-funded organisation is helping SMEs to keep up to date with technological changes. Technology Means Business (TMB) helps SMEs to make better use of ICT as an aid to improving profitability. TMB has established a national register of Accredited Advisers and Approved Centres dedicated to helping companies exploit e-communications.
More information about both TMB and the TMB National Register is at www.tmb.org.uk
Professional Manager Volume 13 Issue 3 (May 2004)
Further education colleges have been called in to help the army bring its new recruits up to scratch. Army education chiefs estimate that around a third of all new recruits are likely to fail the new, compulsory, initial literacy and numeracy screening test because they "barely have the reading age of a seven-year-old". Since this proportion amounts to around 10,000 recruits each year, local colleges have been asked to assist the army to raise achievement. In addition, the army has also set up contracts with local colleges to provide basic skills training for serving soldiers. Colonel David Wilson, of the army's Directorate of Education and Training Services, commented: "As the next biggest public body to schools, we can't just turn round and say `we wash our hands of you'," he says. "We owe a duty of care to these young men and women. In the army we're extremely reluctant to turn anyone away. So what we're saying to these people is `you haven't failed. We'll put your application on hold while you go away and improve your skills'."
Stephen Hoare, The Guardian 4 May
Having poor literacy skills can have a profound impact on an individual's life chances, says the National Literacy Trust. The Trust believes that it "can be the result of, and a contributor to, social exclusion" and can affect educational achievement, participation in local communities and the ability to get, and keep, a job. A recent survey shows that one in six adults has serious problems with literacy or numeracy. Critically, most did not realise they had a problem. The National Literacy Trust, an independent charity, is inviting responses to its discussion paper, Literacy and social inclusion: the policy challenge. The discussion paper is for those concerned about the contribution, and consequences, of poor literacy skills to social exclusion. The paper invites contributions and responses to stimulate discussion and consider the implications for policy, research and practice.
Literacy and social inclusion: the policy challenge (PDF 29pp) is at http://tinyurl.com/33bqo
The Guardian 19 May
We've come along way since an anti-virus package was all a company needed to meet its security needs. The growth of hybrid threats means organisations are being forced to take a holistic approach to IT security. Steve Gold looks at the options available to the harassed IT manager [and provides something useful for the rest of us - if we can speak techno].
TheITportal Special Reports 7 May
Microsoft has delayed the release of Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2). It now seems likely that SP2 will not be available until "sometime this summer".
Iain Thomson: Computing
TheITportal Midweek Roundup 5 May
Security changes in Windows XP Service Pack 2 will plug a gap that has previously allowed viruses to spread. The built-in firewall in XP has now been set to activate by default before the PC joins the network. Previously, viruses were allowed to spread within a company because the firewall did not start operating until after the PC had signed on to the network. Other updates include:
Iain Thomson: Computing
TheITportal News Roundup 17 May
Microsoft is set to release the new Windows XP service pack (SP2) for all XP users, including those who have pirated copies. The company has not stated explicitly that the service pack is for all users. However, it has made it clear that there are no measures in place that will prevent it from being loaded on to a machine which is running a pirated copy of XP. While Microsoft does not condone the use of pirated software, the company believes that the increasing problem of trojans and worms, and the subsequent difficulties that they cause to all Internet users, means that in order to offer protection to legitimate XP users, it is necessary to extend protection to illegitimate users.
Tamlin Magee, TheITportal Midweek Roundup 12 May
In response to a letter which said that a home page was being repeatedly hi-jacked by an adult site, and was resisting all attempts to reset it, Jack Schofield warns that there is no straightforward solution. However, he recommends the following utilities, which may help to clean your PC:
www.spywareinfo.com/downloads/spg/
The Guardian 29 April
According to figures from the latest Web@Work survey, nine out of ten technology managers claim that at least some of the computers at their firm have been infected with spyware. In contrast, just 6% of employees who access the Internet at work said they have ever visited any websites that contain spyware. Other findings include:
Source: BBC News
TheITportal Midweek Roundup 5 May
The full report (PDF 20pp) is at http://tinyurl.com/2lx2a
AOL claims that it has blocked more than one billion virus-infected emails since launching a screening program in April 2003. The ISP says it protected each of the company's subscribers from an average of 30 virus attacks. Tatiana Gau, chief trust officer and senior vice president for integrity assurance at AOL, said in a statement: "As we move into a high-speed world, antivirus protection becomes even more critical, because a basic broadband connection can leave you defenseless against hackers and virus attacks on your home computer."
Source: Silicon
TheITportal Midweek Roundup 19 May
Research from Harris Interactive has found that UK computer users receive more unsolicited email than any of their European counterparts. UK users receive at least one third more spam as a proportion of their total emails than users in other major western European countries.
Information Age May 2004
Prosecutors have suggested that the German teenager who has admitted to writing a Sasser variant was trying to drum up business for his mother's PC support company.
TheITportal Midweek Roundup 12 May
Update comment: How did his mother manage that, then? I can't persuade my kids to put their clothes in the laundry basket, let alone tempt them to bring down global networks on my behalf!
According to an article on the Silicon website, spammers have found an ingenious way to bypass a security protection designed to stop bot software from automatically opening web mail accounts. In order to send spam in the volume required to make it profitable, spammers need to open thousands of email accounts each day. Spammers have traditionally used web bots to automate this activity. However, web mail companies such as Yahoo and Hotmail have now introduced the Captcha test (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart), which prevents the bots from working. The Captcha test requires the user to read a distorted representation of a simple word that can easily be read by a human but not by a machine, and then enter it into an application form. The way in which spammers bypass this measure is described thus: "First, the spammers open and advertise a website containing pornography. Visitors to the porn site are asked to enter the word contained in a Captcha graphic before they are granted access. In the background, spammers have already used scripts to automate the web mail accounts opening process to the point where they need a human to "read" the Captcha graphics. The Captcha graphics from the web mail site are transferred to the porn site, where the porn consumers interpret the Captcha words. As soon as they enter the correct word, the script can complete its application process and the visitors are rewarded with free porn."
Munir Kotadia: Silicon
TheITportal News Roundup 10 May
Update comment: I tell you, where there's a will, there's a way. Dawn. There's a good description of Captcha at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/captcha
An interesting website all about the history and development of the Internet. It has separate sections which examine technologies such as email, chatrooms, Usenet and instant messaging.
LISNews.com 29 April
Online Information Online, a virtual exhibition serving the needs of the global information industry, has been officially launched. The web-based "event" provides a single source of international information content and information management solutions. All visitors to the event will enjoy free access to:
More information at
www.online-information.co.uk/online
tel: 020 7316
9000
managinginformation.com 19 April
The government intends to make all government information and transactions available electronically by 2005. An increasing proportion of useful commercial and social information is available online. However, disabled people can face particular challenges using the Internet – for example, cost, access difficulties and unfamiliarity with electronic technology. This research examined whether the provision of information, goods and services through the Internet removes many of the access barriers faced by disabled people, or adds to them. Views were obtained from enquirers to AbilityNet, a UK charity giving free computing advice to disabled people, and from focus group participants. Findings include:
An overview of the research is at http://tinyurl.com/3x99e
The full report, Disabled people and the Internet: Experiences, barriers and opportunities by Doria Pilling, Paul Barrett and Mike Floyd, is published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (ISBN: 1-85935-185-9, price £15.95) as part of the Digital Age series.
It is available free of charge (PDF 96pp) at http://tinyurl.com/3dyzx
JRF Mailing List 12 May
Students with impaired vision using web-based educational materials spend only around 30% of their time actually using the materials; the rest of their time is spent searching and navigating for pages and options, according to RNIB research.
E-Access Bulletin Issue 53 (May 2004)
Many disabled people find it impossible to book a holiday, open a bank account or buy theatre tickets online, an investigation by the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) into web access has revealed. At the conclusion of the first comprehensive investigation into the user friendliness of websites – covering government, business, leisure, web services and e-commerce websites – the DRC has issued a stern warning that many businesses may not be complying with existing equal access laws and it was "only a matter of time" before they face legal challenge from disabled customers.
To find out more, please go to www.drc-gb.org/newsroom/newsdetails.asp?id=633§ion=1
Disability Rights Commission
Email bulletin No 29 (May 2004)
In an article for the Daily Telegraph, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Andrew Smith urges businesses to take steps to prepare for the full implementation of the Disability Discrimination Act in October. Mr Smith argues that the costs of making services accessible to disabled people are as nothing compared to the lost opportunities represented by excluding potential customers from among the estimated 10 million disabled people in the UK. He insists that the requirement of the Act is that businesses can show they have taken "reasonable steps" to meet the needs of disabled customers, service users and employees.
The question is asked in a letter to Disability Now (May 2004) with regard to the reasonable adjustments which should be made by service providers so that disabled people can access the service. Apparently Maria Eagle, Minister for disabled people, during a phone-in programme on BBC Radio Devon, gave the impression that as long as hoteliers and restaurateurs say it is "unreasonable" for changes to be made then that's it.
The TUC has published 3 factsheets detailing the important changes to the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) from 1 October 2004. They are:
URL: www.tuc.org.uk/equality/tuc-8096-f0.cfm
TUC mailing list 26 May
Update comment: These should provide answers to some of the "reasonableness" issues.
Because most copy machines are now full-blown IT devices, with network and email server connectivity, any information stored on them can often be accessed by employees and targeted by hackers or thieves, and one large university in the Northeast (USA) had uncovered an illegal music-file-swapping service that had been stored on a campus copy machine. The students were actually transferring MP3s to and from the copier's hard drive, which was designed to capture and store scanned documents. Recognising the potential problem of unauthorised network access to copiers, industry experts advise prospective buyers to stick to machines that come with password protection, so that no one can inadvertently see documents or pick them up. However, passwords themselves provide only so much protection; it is just about impossible to put limits on what can be sent or where outgoing email messages can be sent.
CFO Magazine May 2004
www.cfo.com/Article?article=13513
ShelfLife No. 157 (20 May)
The UK government's first ever head of e-government has been named as Ian Watmore, the UK managing director of Accenture. The new role combines the responsibilities of the former e-envoy, Andrew Pinder, an influential IT advisor to the Cabinet Office, with elements of the job of chief executive of the Office of Government Commerce, a treasury unit that sets best practice procurement guidelines for many central government departments. Watmore, a 24-year veteran of Accenture, described it as "one of the biggest and most challenging IT positions in the UK today." He added: "A lot has been achieved, but there are still huge opportunities for further progress." Prime Minister Tony Blair described the role as "pivotal" to the transformation of the public services. Watmore, who takes up the post in September 2004, will become one of the UK's most highly paid civil servants. Watmore will answer to Douglas Alexander, minister for the Cabinet Office, and report to Cabinet Secretary Sir Andrew Turnbull. His appointment is the latest example of a senior figure from the private sector moving over to take up a major IT role in the UK public sector.
Caroline Berdon © Infoconomy 26 May
The Accessify Forum is a discussion forum devoted to all topics relating to web accessibility. Topics cover everything from "Beginners" and "Site building and testing" through to projects such as the new accessibility testing tool WaiZilla and the accessibility of the open source forum software itself.
E-Access Bulletin Issue 53 (May 2004)
Update comment: I've not had the opportunity to look at look at this this as yet but it sounds useful.
Identity thieves are telephoning credit card holders and posing as fraud investigators for major credit card providers. They tell unsuspecting victims that they are investigating a potential fraudulent charge that has been made to their account, and they offer to help the card holder reverse the charge and get a credit. All you have to do is "verify" your credit card information. Once again, the advice is very simple: NEVER give your credit card details to strangers over the phone. Your credit card company already knows them!
Internet ScamBusters Issue 75 (1 May)
In Technology Review, Simson Garfinkel contrasts the "cult of secrecy" at Google with the "kingdom of openness" represented by Akamai as the two companies compete for total domination of the Internet search business. He says of Google: "Just as Google's search engine comes back instantly and seemingly effortlessly with a response to any query that you throw it, hiding the true difficulty of the task from users, the company also wants its competitors kept in the dark about the difficulty of the problem." Why the secrecy? To keep search competitors from knowing how much capital they'd have to raise "in order to have a hope of displacing the king at the top of the hill." Contrast, Akamai, which fell during the dot-com crash: it has servers located in 2,500 different locations scattered around the globe, and those servers are – just like Google's – used by practically everyone on the Internet today. "Both companies have developed infrastructure for running massively parallel systems, but the applications that they are running on top of those systems are different. The difference: Google's primary application is a search engine, whereas Akamai delivers Web pages, streaming media, and a variety of other standard Internet protocols. Garfinkel says that "both companies could take their experience in building large-scale distributed clusters to create a massive backup system for small businesses and home PC users. Or they could take over management of home PCs, turning them into smart terminals running applications on remote servers. This would let PC users escape the drudgery of administering their own machines, installing new applications, and keeping antivirus programs up to date."
www.technologyreview.com/articles/wo_garfinkel042104.asp (requires subscription)
ShelfLife, No. 155 (6 May)
How do you drive an engineer completely insane?
Tie him to a chair, stand in front of him, and fold up a road map the wrong way.
The UK's ID card proposals are technically years behind the systems being implemented in at least six European countries, writes Munir Kotadia (Silicon.com). The problem appears to be that the UK cards, unlike those of Italy, Belgium, Finland, Estonia, Austria, Denmark and the Netherlands, and despite carrying biometric data, do not include facilities for holding digital signatures. Critics say that this omission could "damage the growth of e-commerce and e-government services in Britain". A spokesperson for the Home Office said that the omission was deliberate, since the UK ID card is designed to be used "to tackle serious and organised crime and false identities, not for accessing e-commerce functions". However, industry experts insist that this is "a huge opportunity missed". Simon Perry, vice president of security at Computer Associates, argued that it could mean that countries like Estonia could "leap over the UK in terms of online services and e-commerce".
TheITportal News Roundup 10 May
This article looks at the iris recognition technology for the government's proposed national ID card scheme, and the biological explanation for why the iris can be a reliable way of determining identity. Despite some initial problems encountered when scanning the eyes of people with long eyelashes and eye malformations, Professor John Daugman, who encoded the mathematical algorithm on which the technology is based, is confident that it can't be fooled.
Thea Jordan, The Daily Telegraph 12 May
Home Secretary David Blunkett revealed that problems with the equipment which will copy and read biometric information on ID cards has delayed the start of the UK Passport Service's identity cards trial and cut its duration by half. The trial, which was due to begin on 2 February, did not start until 26 April. However, there will be no extension to the allotted trial time. In order to ensure that the project finished on time, its length was reduced from six to three months. Problems were experienced with all three identification methods – fingerprint, iris recognition and facial recognition – with iris recognition being the most troublesome. They included:
The final report on the trial will be published in September.
Tim Bradshaw, Infoconomy Bulletin 10 May
David Blunkett has revealed that the Home Office will be retaining personal data on UK citizens after their death to prevent fraudsters from stealing the identities of deceased persons. In an article for Silicon.com, Jo Best commented: "As if keeping track of the fingerprints and iris scans of the living wasn't hard enough."
TheITportal Midweek Roundup 12 May
The government could face a public backlash to its proposals on ID cards, according to a survey conducted by online research firm YouGov. Findings include:
The findings contradict those of the recent MORI poll which found that 80% of UK citizens were in favour of cards.
TheITportal Midweek Roundup 19 May
No2ID, a group opposed to David Blunkett's ID card, launched itself at a public meeting at the London School of Economics last week, with parliamentarians, civil liberties campaigners and a former chief constable of Sussex criticising the plans. A YouGov survey of 2,003 Britons found that 61% favour cards, but support falls for the scheme's specific proposals: 41% favour, and 47% oppose, the legal requirement to inform the Home Office whenever they change address.
URL: www.no2id.net
The Guardian, Inside IT 27 May
A draft EU framework decision for data retention, proposed by the UK, France, Ireland and Sweden, would require ICT service providers to store details of all customers' communications for up to 3 years, to enable agencies investigating terrorist and other criminal activities to access it. It has been greeted with alarm in the telecommunications sector, representatives of which maintain that the cost burden of storing and retrieving the data on request will be too high. ISPs argue that "storing and accessing so much data, most of which will never be needed, would saddle them with a disproportionate, and hugely expensive, technical burden". In addition, civil liberties groups are also concerned about the perceived attack on an individual's right to privacy.
Bob Sherwood, Financial Times 17 May
The "digital divide" between those who are able to exploit the potential of information and communications technologies (ICTs) and those who are not is seen as a major factor influencing wider social and economic inequalities. This critical review attempted to find evidence for the effectiveness of community informatics initiatives in challenging this divide. Key findings include:
An overview of the research is at http://tinyurl.com/2ehd5.
The full report, Challenging the digital divide? A review of online community support by Brian Loader and Leigh Keeble, is published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (ISBN: 1-85935-197-2, price £14.95) as part of the Digital Age series.
It is also available free of charge (PDF 74pp) at http://tinyurl.com/2z5py
JRF Mailing List 28 May
Why did the engineers cross the road?
Because they looked in the file and that's what they did last year.
An article in The Guardian (6 May) pits the might of the Google search engine against more traditional information search methods – a library and a man with a phone! Questions included:
Ros Taylor, Oliver Burkeman and Stephen Moss
Update comment: What makes this an interesting article is not the length of time that each search took. It is the way in which each researcher found the answer to their questions. Well worth a look, I think. Dawn.
We weren't timed on the results but this exercise is similar to one I did on a "Business Information Retrieval" course. There are definitely "horses for courses" out there and the information source you use depends on what you are looking for. Hazel.
One of the reasons why search engine Google is so popular is that it's so easy. Just type in a term, and voila! Hundreds, or hundreds of thousands, of results appear. Of course, popular free search engines don't show what's going on behind the magic curtain, where a multitude of complex activities are taking place. Serious researchers might improve their own game by forking over the occasional fee for one of the more instructive commercial online engines, like Dialog. This business-information search engine's "spy" feature lets you see the complex string that goes on behind each search. Try your skills at running a topic in DialogClassic, then compare it to what the experts do in Dialog1 or DialogSelect. Seeing how the expert searchers design a search is a great learning tool. It can also help troubleshoot when the results don't meet your needs. Corporate librarians typically make sure Dialog products work before rolling them out to their users, and such tweaking has started something of a cottage industry of folks who help the company refine new scripts, which might choose specific databases or limit searches to specific fields.
Library Journal (1 May)
ShelfLife No. 156 (13 May)
The finely honed search skills of today's information professionals are no longer enough. Mary Ellen Bates of Bates Information Services says information professionals will need to re-learn how to manipulate information, rather than just typing in words and waiting for a search engine to do its thing. As new tools (e.g. Grokker and anacubis) evolve, Bates predicts user interfaces will become a lot fuzzier in the future. These tools let users clump information together, mouse over titles to preview what's underneath, move clumps around, reorganize them, rank them, sort them, discover similarities and new relationships – without ever issuing a Boolean command. "We will have to evolve into Zen researchers," Bates adds, "unearthing the answer from a myriad of options rather than simply scrolling through results served up by our search tool. Not only will we have to be good searchers, but we will have to be good intuiters as well, able to know where to look for information and how to sort through all the options." Boolean logic must be buried in the user interface, she concludes, rather than functioning as the steering wheel searchers use to navigate through the info-sphere.
E-Content Magazine 5 April
ShelfLife No. 157 (20 May)
Alistair S Duff, School of Communication Art, Napier University
The profile of information policy in academic and policy-making circles has been rising in recent decades, a function, presumably, of the expansion of an "information society". Nevertheless, there is confusion over its meaning and purpose. This paper seeks to produce a clearer picture, building on useful groundwork in information science and other disciplines. The history of information policy is traced, featuring exposition of the pioneering contribution of Marc Porat in the 1970s. The present state of information policy is then described:
In the final section of the paper, some suggestions are made for the future direction of information policy. First, information policy should engage much more thoroughly with the tradition of political philosophy. Second, information policy may benefit from more forays into the field of futures studies. Finally, it is proposed that information policy could be positioned as a subset of the interdisciplinary specialism of information society studies, in which case its definition might be resolved in terms of the "normative theory of the information society".
Information, Communication and Society
Volume 7 Number 1 (March 2004)
Most major search engines have adopted a paid-placement or paid-inclusion business model, which means that the quality of search results is declining as more paid sites are included. Because most users rarely look beyond the first 30 results, many of the links they view are paid commercial links rather than the sites most relevant to their search terms. Objects Search attempts to remedy this situation by providing a transparent alternative to commercial Web search engines. To alleviate the problem of information overload, it uses a Clustering Engine to automatically categorize search results on-the-fly into hierarchical clusters. These thematic clusters organize the results in a way that enables the user to focus on potentially more useful results and ignore the rest. Because the clustering is performed dynamically for each query, the grouping is more likely to reflect the real structure of the results, rather than a series of predefined categories.
Objects Search website
www.objectssearch.com/en/search.html
ShelfLife No. 156 (13 May)
An information literacy weblog based at the University of Sheffield aims to keep interested parties informed about the world of information literacy, such as events, new publications, or relevant websites. The blog is maintained by Sheila Webber, Bill Johnston and Stuart Boon and is updated weekly.
URL: http://ciquest.shef.ac.uk/infolit/
see also dis.shef.ac.uk/literacy/project
LISNews.com 29 April
Update comment: Did you know that this blog is, strictly speaking, not a blog but a "klog" – a knowledge log. Please get using the klog as we have heard that the only people to show real enthusiasm have been spammers, adding comments which link to sites which are ... not about information literacy.
If spam is proving to be the highlight of your life, you will be pleased to learn that it has a little brother – spim. Not content with clogging up the Internet with unsolicited messages, unscrupulous marketeers are now targeting instant message (IM) users – resulting in "spim". Although IM is currently not used as widely as email, analysis from the Gartner Group suggests that it will surpass email as the communication medium of choice by 2005. Information about how to deal with spim is at http://scambusters.org/a/spim.html
Internet ScamBusters Issue 76 19 May
How can you tell an extroverted engineer?
When he talks to you, he looks at your shoes instead of his own.
How many articles have you read recently about the importance of looking after information properly? We are almost constantly urged to protect our data; to control who may or may not have access to it; to make sure that it is maintained and accurate; to make sure that the technology used to store and retrieve it is fit for the purpose; to ensure that, in the event of a disaster, our information is safe. When was the last time you read an article in which the writer used the phrase "our people are our greatest asset"? We are told all the time that it is people – not products – that make an organisation successful. Yet, when did you last hear of organisations being urged to train their staff in order to make sure that the people are safe? No, me neither – until I saw this article in Croner Training Briefing (Issue 10 (12 May)). Maureen Moody discusses organisational security, and argues that it is the responsibility of everyone within an organisation to ensure that the people, as well as the information and assets, are secure. She urges employers to train their staff in security measures such as:
More information on worker safety is available from the British Security Industry Association at www.bsia.co.uk
"A smile is a curve that sets everything straight."
Phyllis Diller
The Federal Publishers Committee is hard at work developing an archiving version of Adobe's Portable Document Format and hopes to release a draft of the PDF/A standard early next year. Committee member Stephen Levenson says the plan is to have a final standard out by the end of 2005, which will be submitted to the International Organization for Standardization for approval as an international standard. The need for an archiving standard is clear, says Levenson. Because Adobe encourages organisations to use its PDF specifications to create their own software for use with PDF files, that customised software may introduce extra features or functionality that make it impossible for outsiders to access certain segments of a file. PDF/A will codify a stripped-down version of the PDF format that will be platform-neutral. PDF/A will standardize aspects of meta-tagging, colour representation and multiple language support, and will also require that all fonts used in a document be embedded in the document itself. Once the PDF/A standard has been approved, the committee hopes that software vendors will incorporate it into their own PDF readers and generators. Levenson says he envisions PDF software that would include the PDF/A as a "save as" option, making it easy for users to create archive-ready documents.
Government Computer News 19 May
www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/25986-1.html
via ShelfLife No. 155 (6 May)
Staff in one area of the UK Home Office are using biometric technology instead of passwords to access their computers. The newly formed Security Industry Authority (SIA) is to use the technology to log on to computers following a successful pilot involving 100 staff. Users are supplied with a special mouse that scans their fingerprint before allowing access to the system.
Source: KableNet news website
Info@UK Issue 38 (May 2004)
More than 160,000 jobseekers on two employment schemes have been moved on to other benefits instead. Government figures, revealed in response to a parliamentary question, show that many unemployed people who were on Jobseekers Allowance, a benefit only for those actively seeking work, have been moved onto other benefits with no such requirement. The figures relate to New Deal for Young People and New Deal 25 plus.
Community Care 29 April-5 May
"Before you put on a frown, make absolutely sure there are no smiles available."
Jim Beggs
Britain's statistics watchdog yesterday (4 May) called for "a major overhaul" of the way the government regulates statistics, to prevent departments "spinning" the official figures to support their policies. In its final report from a review of the management of official statistics, the Statistics Commission said that the current list of recommendations was insufficient, as most departments seemed to ignore them, or apply them inconsistently. The Commission argued that the government should replace the list with a statutory code of practice to govern when and how Whitehall departments should produce statistics. Richard Alldritt, Statistics Commission chief executive, said that this would not only raise public confidence in official statistics, but would also protect the government from accusations of "foot-dragging or political colouring" on contentious releases.
Edmund Conway, The Daily Telegraph 5 May
Legislation to Build Trust in Statistics (PDF 195pp) is at http://tinyurl.com/33gzr
The government has introduced a new system for measuring deprivation for England and Wales, to be implemented by 2006. The Indices of Deprivation 2004 will eventually be used for allocating future regeneration funding and other government grants, when the £800 million neighbourhood renewal fund runs out. It will replace the previous index that has been used for the last four years. The new measures include crime statistics and the state of the living environment alongside other indicators for disadvantaged areas. Under the new system, Tower Hamlets in East London, Knowsley on Merseyside, and Birmingham rank as the joint most needy council areas in Britain.
Matt Weaver, The Guardian 29 April
The full report (PDF 181pp) is at http://tinyurl.com/3b7q6
Further and higher education minister Alan Johnson argues that a university education is as distant as Pluto for many people growing up on Merseyside's deprived estates. Speaking during a visit to Liverpool, Mr Johnson said that, while he was determined to raise children's expectations, university might as well be on a different planet for the most needy children. He said: "The access regulator will be asking universities like Liverpool and John Moores what they are doing to get out into those estates. Some of the kids might as well go to Pluto as to university. Their culture says get out of education as quickly as you can."
Helen Carter, The Guardian 21 May
The Hull Community Care Development Project was a three-year pilot initiative to develop the capacity of local communities to respond to their own support and "community care" needs. A Community Care Development Coordinator was appointed to work in two deprived areas of Hull. Findings from an independent evaluation include:
An overview of the research is at http://tinyurl.com/ywaea
The full report, Communities caring and developing: Lessons from Hull by Deborah Quilgars, is published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (ISBN: 1-85935-189-1, price £13.95)
It is also available free of charge (PDF 62pp) at http://tinyurl.com/2gdkg
JRF Mailing List 11 May
"Fortunately, problems are an everyday part of our life. Consider this: If there were no problems, most of us would be unemployed. Realistically, the more problems we have and the larger they are, the greater our value to our employer."
Zig Ziglar
An article in the OECD Observer (Number 242 (March 2004)) suggests that the current debate on educational standards is based on misinformation. Barry McGaw, Director at the OECD Education Directorate, argues that both sides of the discussion – higher grades/better students versus higher grades/lower standards – mistakenly assume that there is a natural ceiling to educational attainment. Mr McGaw believes that there is no reason for this assumption. He points to the findings of the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) of achievements by 15-year-olds in reading, mathematics and science. By providing an international comparison, he says, it is possible to identify discrepancies in achievements. If there are discrepancies, then it should also follow that there is room for improvement. He says: "We can lift our sights in education, just as in other human activities. By showing how much better some countries do than others, [international comparisons] provide evidence that improvement is possible. It is a matter of raising expectations – and expectations matter for progress, both for individuals and countries."
The government has announced a five-point "shake-up" of the New Deal which it hopes will get more than 600,000 more people into work. The overhaul will "remove complexity and bureaucracy from employment programmes, making them simpler for customers and tailored to meet the needs of local labour markets". The new reforms will mean:
HRLook Daily News 20 May
Update comment: By all means let's remove complexity and bureaurocracy – but let us not forget where the complexity came from in the first place.
The press release calls it "personalising Jobcentre Plus"
www.dss.gov.uk/mediacentre/pressreleases/2004/may/emp-1905-jcplpee.asp
A poll from HR Gateway suggests that the majority of HR professionals are "very worried" that their organisations are creating "black holes" as organisational memory is lost and training fails to keep up with the pace of change. The survey revealed that training in most organisations is "running to catch up but falling further behind". It notes that, while attention is being paid to people who have low level skills, the lack of training and support for managers will have a far greater effect on the performance of an organisation. In contrast, Mark Crail, managing editor of IRS Employment Review, believes that what is causing the skills gap in the higher echelons of a company is the loss of organisational memory. He argues that, as senior staff leave or retire, the knowledge they take with them is not replaced, which has an adverse effect on corporate identity. He says: "Many managers of all levels have been removed from firms and with them has gone company history. These organisations are left with a discontinuity between past and present which causes problems when looking to move forward. The hard problems such as right-sizing, redundancy and cost reduction have been dealt with. It is now up to firms to deal with soft issues. They need to take stock and reconstruct their identity so that they know where they want to go."
t magazine May 2004
In summer last year the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister launched an initiative to promote the effective management of knowledge in local authorities. A number of resources to help councils get to grips with knowledge management are due out in the near future, which are needed, according to Lee Grafton, who is the project's manager. Grafton says that too many people have an abstract view of knowledge management, whereas he thinks of it as "using information and data to gain insights to improve services and efficiency". However, critics of the toolkits soon to be launched are complaining that even these are not realistic enough and do not reflect the challenges of introducing new ways of working in a short space of time.
Guardian Online 27 May
Graduates are collectively spending £378 million to equip themselves for their first day at work, new research claims. The average university-leaver gets through nearly £2,000 on items ranging from clothes and accessories to transport to get to their job, according to Norwich Union.
Edinburgh Evening News 12 May
Ann Abraham, the parliamentary ombudsman, has expressed "deep disappointment" at the failure of the health secretary, John Reid, to comply with her rulings on freedom of information. Ms Abraham requested information from Mr Reid's department about the way Paul Drayson, the Labour donor recently given a peerage, also obtained a government contract for his pharmaceuticals firm. In a report, she lists delays, bogus claims to exemptions, and ultimate refusals to comply, as another demonstration that ministers are sabotaging the government's commitment to freedom of information.
David Leigh and Rob Evans, The Guardian 25 May
Full article: http://tinyurl.com/39gu9
In an article in The Guardian (18 May) David Hencke, the Westminster correspondent, accused the UK Treasury of attempting to sabotage the Freedom of Information Act by imposing charges so high that many people will not be able to afford them. Mr Hencke said that the charges would effectively deprive them of the freedom of access to information which the FoI Act 2000 set out to provide. According to the article, apparently based on leaked secret Whitehall papers, the proposed charges could be as high as between £50 and £575. Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, has commented that the fees must ensure "accessibility for all ... and not discriminate against individual applicants in favour of corporate bodies".
Full article http://tinyurl.com/2heke
managinginformation.com 24 April
Update comment: I was not surprised to find this issue raised in a number of diverse places. Paul Pedley, writing in Information Law Newsletter, thinks everyone concerned about this issue should write to their MP about it.
Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, has warned that the Freedom of Information Act could lead to some companies being compelled to reveal previously confidential information about their commercial activities. Mr Thomas said that, when the Act comes into force in January, private companies will be subject to requests for information from public bodies, including government departments, local authorities, schools and hospitals. Unless the organisations can prove the information requested should be exempt from disclosure, they must respond to the request within 20 working days. He anticipates a substantial rise in the number of disputes regarding disclosure as, he said, making judgments about such information will prove problematic.
Bob Sherwood, Legal Correspondent, Financial Times 12 May
In response to the Libri report on public libraries, CILIP's chief executive, Bob McKee, said: "[The author] paints a picture of a public library service in terminal decline. It isn't. It certainly faces challenges – just like bookshops do from supermarkets selling cut-price bestsellers or the BBC does from cable and satellite. But [it] is still a huge operation." CILIP believes that the report, Who's In Charge? by Tim Coates, raises several points that are worthy of serious debate. Longer opening hours and more books on the shelves are certainly desirable goals – and CILIP also approves of the report's conclusions that management of libraries should be left to the professionals. Improved training and appropriate professional qualifications for public library staff were other recommendations that CILIP supported. However, CILIP does have concerns at Mr Coates' contention that improvements can be achieved entirely within the existing public library budget, particularly since the Institute believes that many of the figures used in the report are based on "highly questionable assumptions". Dr McKee rebutted media headlines which claimed that libraries