[lit-ideas] Lit-Ideas More good news
- From: Eternitytime1@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 1 May 2004 01:03:43 EDT
Hi,
Here is more good news [okay, I don't really mean that-it really makes me
both worried, concerned and very sad] about how the current administration
feels
about research and whether or not it is healthy to have access to
information--particularly if one has different points of view (that was the
major reason
the administration theoretically chose this particular company to do this
rather than any of the other ones who are more qualified in terms of education
[and
librarianship]. There have been other articles written...but it might be
important to be aware that the research people eventually will be pulling to
read
and write ... well, maybe it is a good thing, after all, that people tend to
use the internet *as* a database rather than the ERIC database when they do
their research...
Marlena in Missouri (librarian)
(hoping this post will come through...for a change!)
According to the American Association of Colleges for Teacher
Education list-serv (3/31/04):
"The U.S. Department of Education recently awarded Computer
Sciences Corporation (CSC), along with its subcontractors, a 5-year, $34.6
million contract to develop and implement a revised Education Resources
Information Center (ERIC) database. The revamped ERIC will be a
one-stop shop for educators, researchers, and the general public alike to
search for journal articles, document abstracts, and full-text documents as
available."
"The development process for the ERIC database will include a
steering committee to recommend operational guidelines for the database.
Groups ofcontent experts will recommend guidelines for identifying journal
and
non-journal materials for the database, followed by the organization
of public forums to solicit ideas on how to make the redesigned ERIC
database even more useful."
So who is the Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) who will
ensure that all have open access to information in this time of Ashcroft,
Bush,
and Rice? A quick web check to their web site tells us that they are a "
consistent performer in the global information technology market for
more than 40 years"
[http://www.csc.com/aboutus/content/glance.shtml].
That is, they are a for-profit Fortune 500 business with revenues of $11.3
billion and
90,000 world-wide employees. The industries to which they provide
services include retail, insurance, health services, government,
financial services, consumer products, communications and high
tech, chemical and energy, capital markets, banking, and aerospace and
defense.
If you missed seeing education on the list, you didn't blink, it's not
there. And if you did see defense, you saw correctly.
Last year, in fact, CSC purchased DynCorp. Who are they?
According to CSC's web site, they are a major provider of "security-related
services."
In fact, according to Van B. Honeycutt, CSC's CEO, ""Now that the
U.S. Homeland Security Department is in place, the resources and
security expertise of CSC, coupled with those of DynCorp, will position us
extremely well as the federal government expands and accelerates
its efforts to enhance U.S. national security"
[http://www.csc.com/features/2003/7.shtml]. ; And what might those
security services be? According to the web site for the "International Police
Programs Information Source" website [http://www.policemission.com/iraq.asp],
those services include recruiting security personel for Iraq. To quote, "
DynCorp International FZ-LLC (DIFZ), a CSC Company, is seeking individuals with
appropriate experience and expertise to participate in an international effort
to re-establish police, justice and prison functions in post-conflict Iraq."
The pay, for police and other law enforcement officers, is at least
$75,000 plus room and lodging, but candidates must not only be quite
experienced, they need at least "two years experience in specialized
skills"-what
those specialized skills are remain unspecified. If that isn't enough, DynCorp
is
also the
organization that provided contract personnel to Plan Colombia who
participated in aerial spraying of Colombia's cocoa fields, this from the State
Department's web site
[http://usinfo.state.gov/regional/ar/colombia/fact09.htm]. They have been
sued by the International Labor Rights Fund on behalf of Colombian peasant
families reportedly harmed by aerial fumigation
[http://www.ciponline.org/colombia/irlfdyncorp.htm].
So if you're wondering by now what does an organization that
specializes in recruiting soldiers of fortune to drop poison spray on
agricultural
lands or put down resistance to illegal occupations has to do with
ensuring the free flow of information for education
research...you're not the only one. But you should know who's
managing that store...and what else they do.
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