Haiti relief and the Sandor Teszler Award

Many of us remember Paul Farmer's visit to campus in 2007 when he received the Sandor Teszler Award for Moral Courage and Service to Humankind. Dr. Farmer and his Partners in Health are in the thick of it in Haiti. Find out more here:

Stand With Haiti

Partners in Health Blog on how to help

More on Cyber Attack on Google

"Microsoft has admitted that its Internet Explorer was a weak link in the recent attacks on Google's systems that originated in China...[and has] released preliminary guidance to mitigate the problem and is working on a formal software update."

Read the full story at BBC News

Schubert|It - The Best PDF Viewer

Adobe and Microsoft are still having compatibility issues for reading PDF documents on a Macintosh and any browser other than IE. Adobe Reader can't do it. If you use a MAC, here is a wonderful plug-in which will restore your ability to read PDFs: http://www.schubert-it.com/downloads/.

Using technology to bring relief to Haiti

Aid and relief workers are utilizing volunteer-driven technology to map the shattered city of Port-au-Prince. This resource is available on the web and as an iPhone app.

From the article by Brady Forrest:

"Crisis Mappers from around the world have been working around the clock to create maps and other tools for relief workers in Haiti. The earthquake caused tremendous damage to the road network and updated maps are necessary to enable food and volunteers to traverse the island.

The volunteer-driven Open Street Map project has become a central data source for the Crisis Mappers. It is regarded by many as the most up-to-date map of the area. It combines UN damage assessment, digitized imagery, Public Domain Topos and other base data."

Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition

From the National Museum of the American Indian and the National Museum of African American History and Culture comes an important and enlightening exhibition about the intersection of American Indian and African American people and cultures. IndiVisible: African-Native American Lives in the Americas explores historical and contemporary stories of peoples and communities in the U.S., the Caribbean, Central America, and the northern coast of South America.

The exhibition sheds light on the dynamics of race, community, culture, and creativity and addresses the human desire to belong. With compelling text and powerful graphics, the exhibition includes accounts of cultural integration and diffusion as well as the struggle to define and preserve identity. Stories are set within the context of a larger society that, for centuries, has viewed people through the prism of race brought to the Western Hemisphere by European settlers.

By combining the voices of the living with those of their ancestors, the exhibition provides an extraordinary opportunity to understand the history and contemporary perspectives of people of African and Native American descent.

Library painting

Library in the Key of D Major, Acrylic on paper, by Wofford College student Frances Choe. This image is now on display among other paintings by Frances Choe in the Sandor Teszler Library Gallery through January 29, 2010.

Protecting Reputations Online

CommonCraft released a short new video explaining the importance of protecting your reputation online.  You can find it here.

Cyber Attack on Google

"Google is releasing information about a “highly sophisticated and targeted attack” on their corporate infrastructure that occurred last month.... The company says that a minimal amount of user information was compromised, but has come to the alarming conclusion that the attacks were targeting the information of Chinese human rights activists."

Read the full story on TechCrunch

Public Domain images

Public Domain Collection (Government Sources) , a collection created by Flickr user "pingnews.com."

About:

The works in this collection may be used for free. According to the source, they are believed to be in the public domain. Please note, however, that while some photos are unrestricted, others may require attribution. The general rule: identify the photographer, physical location of the photo, and any other pertinent information regarding rights.

1 Million Free Books - Coming soon to an e-reader* near you.

"Spring Design, the developers of the Alex Reader, a two-screen digital reader featuring both b&w E-Ink and full-color LCD screens, has reached an agreement with Google to provide access to more than a million public domain digital books online or through download. The newly developed Alex Reader runs on the Google-developed Android OS and offers full web browsing functionality through the color screen and the Android Web browser."

Full story at Publisher's Weekly.

(*No word yet on what this one will cost.)