Business & management:
• With auditing due to begin in 2010, it has been predicted that 130 EDRMS experts will be needed to ensure that all the organisations needing to comply with the Public Records Act will be ready in time.
• Gated communities for people above a certain age is expected to become a trend in the UK with the aging population’s need for retirement housing seen as a market with investing in for the property industry.
• The UN Environmental Programme report on sustainable energy investment, showing that investors are continuing to pour money into the renewable energy industries is available here.
• The government of South Korea is hoping that the location of the city of Songdo will make it a new regional business hub for north-east Asia. It has been designed as a ”ubiquitous city” with wireless networks and radio-frequency identification linking all major information systems - residential, business, medical and governmental.
Education
•. The way we read online is different from the way we read books, and web pages and blogs need to be designed to allow for the differences. Libraries have just launched a new series of blogs, so it’s timely to read posts 1 & 2 about avoiding “visual noise”, from the Visual Speak blog.
Environment & sustainability:
• Scientists have discovered that as climate change raises temperatures, plants in the French alps are “moving” to higher altitudes to regain the cool temperatures they prefer.
• An essay on one way that cities could have sustainable urban agriculture from a professor of environmental health sciences.
• The World Business Council for Sustainable Development has developed a structured methodology that allows businesses to carry out an Ecosystem Services Review. The review helps managers to proactively develop strategies to manage risks and opportunities arising from their company’s dependence and impact on ecosystems.
• The idea of bulb-hoarding, now that incandescent light-bulbs are on the way out is an issue even in the UK, where the change-over is still voluntary - people have already begun stock-piling.
• A mixed-use apartment building in San Francisco is sustainable while providing 106 apartments for the previously homeless as well as retail space and an arts venue.
Health & wellbeing:
• The new edition of the Atlas of socioeconomic deprivation in New Zealand has been released by the Ministry of Health. It includes maps and is based on the district health board areas.
Law & Government:
• Some Britons are protesting at the way councils are changing the way their streets look and removing their local heritage, by removing trees or lampposts. While protected streetscapes in heritage areas have protection, ordinary streets don’t.
• The new targeted based system of local area agreements for councils in the UK has a new “Local Priorities Website” where people can check on which targets have been prioritised by the council in their area. A large number of councils have chosen to give high priority to the volunteer sector.
People, culture & diversity:
• A new way of getting your news out has been launched by an online publisher. Voxy.co.nz is an online community newswire, where news can be added (and commented on) by anybody.
• At the World Forum on Human Right, UNESCO has announced the launch of an international coalition of cities against racism and discrimination.
• The Library of Congress (LC) has been hosting a series of lectures on “Digital Natives” – the generation of young people growing up who never know a time without digital technologies. The series of the lectures will be available on the LC’s webcasting pages.
• Cyber bullying is often carried out using text messaging, but increasingly, social networking sites are also being used.
• A draft version of the UK’s Equality Framework for Local Government is available for Britons to provide their feedback. The framework looks at improving performance on equality and diversity for council communities.
People in the UK are afraid to interact with other people’s children, in case they are accused of being paedophiles, according to a new study by Civitas. The Civitas blog posting about the report gives some examples, and talks about the impact on the voluntary sector.
Science, technology & transport:
• InternetNZ has issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the research and analysis of broadband strategy options for New Zealand.
• Research in 14 countries shows that the majority of people are not yet convinced the mobile devices are safe enough to use for financial transactions.
• Plans to extend London’s congestion zone are not to go ahead, according to London’s mayor, although transport experts wanted the charge to be applied as a way to handle gridlock in the outer suburbs.
Thursday, 3 July 2008
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