Activities Of International Agencies Research Articles

Health information, academic libraries, social networking and more

The first paper in this issue deals with an aspect of information development of urgent importance in the less wealthy countries of the world. In ‘Systematic review of health data quality management and best practices at community and district levels in low and middle income countries’, Eleazar Ndabarora, Jennifer Chipps and Leana Uys of the University of KwaZulu-Natal review a selection of the literature on health data quality management and health information evidences in low and middle income countries, identifying poor quality health data, low level of health information use, and poor management of health information systems as major obstacles to evidence-based decisions based and planning. Nevertheless, they conclude, improved health care services delivery with improved health data efficiency is possible. The second paper also emanates from South Africa, but deals with a completely different topic. In ‘Traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions protections: prospects in Cameroon context?’ by Charles A. Masango of the University of Cape Town, focuses on policies developed by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) to protect Traditional Knowledge (TK) and Traditional Cultural Expressions (TCEs) (folklore) against misappropriation and misuse. The paper asks is whether it is possible or desirable to protect all types of indigenous knowledge, using the case of Cameroon to help to answer these questions. The author draws attention to the situation of indigenous knowledge that is either secret or sacred, and argues that seeking to protect it might endanger it by removing it from the very context which provides its status as indigenous knowledge. Another complete change of topic comes in the next paper, ‘The rehabilitation of library and information services and professional education in the postSoviet Republics: reflections from a development project’, by Ian M. Johnson of The Robert Gordon University. The paper evolved from a European Commission project that aimed to support the modernization of library and information services in Armenia, Georgia and Uzbekistan by assisting the development of new Master’s Degree programmes in librarianship and information studies. A wide range of issues were encountered during the project, including the dissemination of research information as well as the state of publishing, bookselling, libraries, and information services, and the paper notes that the activities of international agencies to offset the catastrophic effects of the disintegration of the centralized Soviet system have lacked coordination. It emphasizes the need for the national governments concerned to take a comprehensive, strategic approach to ensure more sustainable development of their library and information services, and suggests that this approach could also be appropriate for other post-Soviet Republics. From national strategy to institutional technology; the next paper, ‘Initiating mobile phone technology using QR codes to access library services at the University of Cape Town’, by that university’s Shehaamah Mohamed, reports on a project conducted at the university’s Brand Van Zyl Law Library to review the need to use Quick Response (QR) Codes to provide a simple but effective means for library patrons to access library resources. QR Codes have been used successfully by some local educational institutions, and the paper recommends that they be introduced in the Law Library. We remain in the academic library environment with the next paper, ‘Academic librarians and their social media presence: a story of motivations and deterrents’, by Niusha Zohoorian-Fooladi and A Abrizah of the University of Malaya. The paper reports on a study which aimed to identify the prevalence of social media used in Malaysian academic libraries, to examine the reasons for creating a social media presence among academic libraries and to understand the obstacles to social media participation among academic librarians. Data gathered from focus study

Child Mobility in West Africa: Strategy, Poverty or Crime?

Over the past decade, the extensive mobility of children in West Africa has been systematically mis-specified as child trafficking. This mis-specification is a result of political framing that aims to attract funding to the activities of international agencies and NGOs. Attracting funding towards a group of relocating children that are often in critical need of support is in principle admirable. However, the simplifications resulting from framing a complex phenomenon has in this case prevented actors from taking into account the more multifaceted causes of child mobility in the region, and has thus led to mis-specified and even harmful policies. The article encourages the application ofa more solid knowledge base for future interventions in this area.

Determinants of the Global Diffusion of B2B E-commerce

Compared to business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce, business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce is larger, growing faster and has less unequal geographical distribution globally. In this paper, we examine the current stage of B2B e-commerce development across four global regions and propose a model to explain the magnitude and global distribution of B2B e-commerce activities. Our analysis indicates that increases in the freedom of the movements of goods, services, capital, technology and people coupled with rapid technological development resulted in an explosion of global B2B e-commerce. The share of the global B2B e-commerce a country is likely to receive, on the other hand, depends upon country level factors such as income and population size, the availability of credit, venture capital, and telecom and logistical infrastructure, tax and other incentives, tariff/non-tariff barriers, government emphasis on the development of human capital, regulations to influence firms’ investment in REED, organizational level politics, language and the activities of international agencies.

Brief Notices

BRIEF NOTICES Giou,Antonella. Monumenti e oggetti d'arte nel Regno d'ltalia:Ilpatrimonio artístico degli enti religiosi soppressi tra riuso, tutela e dispersione. Inventario dei "Beni délie corporazioni religiose" 1860-1890. (Rome: Minist ère) per i beni culturali e ambientali, Ufficio Centrale per i beni archivistici. 1997.Pp. iv, 317. Paperback.) This publication of the State Archives ofItaly describes and lists the works of art taken from religious corporations during the first thirty years of the Italian Kingdom. When the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia set out to unite the Italian states under its own leadership, it had already instituted a strongly anticlerical bias. A law championed by Urbano Rattazzi in 1855 led to the suppression of all reUgious communities not dedicated to preaching, education, or helping the sick. The "Rattazzi Law" was rooted in the Enlightenment mistrust of purely spiritual values (the intercessory prayer of cloistered nuns, for example), as weU as the desire to seize control of the artistic treasures and libraries in the churches and monasteries of depopulated religious communities. According to this statute, the possessions of any suppressed community became the properly of the state, to be administered by an "ecclesiastical fund" which "would pay pensions to the same dispossessed religious men and women and defray other expenses of worship. In Piedmont, this law resulted in the extinction of thirty-five orders, with 335 houses. As the wars of unification continued, this law was extended to those Italian provinces added to Piedmontese control by military conquest. Included were two provinces of the former Papal States, Umbria in December, I860, and the Marches in January, 1861. The Neapolitan provinces were added in February, 1861. By the end of 1877, enforcement spread to Sicily and the remaining provinces. Collectively, 4000 religious communities were closed down and their goods confiscated by the state. Gioli's book traces the entire process clearly, with good attention to detaU. The actual inventory of archival holdings takes up seventy-five pages, followed by an additional ten pages of the pertinent legislation. There are three useful indexes , employing reUgious congregations, names of persons, and names of 492 BRIEF notices493 places. This work could be a useful tool for those working in art history or monastic history. Leopold Glueckert, O.Carm. (Lewis University) McGlashan, M. Nona. O Days of Wind & Moon. (Santa Barbara: Fithian Press. 1997.Pp. 127. $10.95.) In an early landscape painting, Ming Huang'sJourney to Shu,human activity is the artist's pretext for his attempt to capture the mysteries of the natural world. The polarity of the brushwork entices the eye to travel the route of the Tang emperor. Bridges, waterfalls, and paviUons frame individual scenes requiring the viewer to stop and reflect on their significance. McGlashan has painted a landscape of her journey as a member of the Catholic Sisters of Social Service in China, 1946-1948. Written fifty years after her sojourn, and following her withdrawal from the community and the onset of blindness, her book is a meditation on the spirituality of the Chinese. She recalled seeing little arches, like gateways to houses. The builder, however, erected the arch to frame a pleasing scene, not to lead to a house. A microcosm of Chinese and American attempts to understand each other, McGlashan has painted a portrait of the polarities of service and superiority, attraction and repulsion , altruism and suspicion, ignorance and knowledge. Historical figures, activities of international agencies and Communists, inflation and black market, interaction with other religious communities and nationals appear as in a Chinese drama,which presumes familiarity with the story. Readers learn that the Sisters of Social Service originated in Hungary, expanded to California, China, and eventually Taiwan. The book, however, is not a history of the Sisters or the civil war. The author's characterization of her work as a "recoUection of how it was and how it seemed to me" and her purpose to present a "small segment of the total picture of China" aptly describe 0 Days of Wind & Moon. It is a work of memory and reflection and not the appUcation of historical method, despite the appended "Historical Perspective." Its philosophical perspective on her experience of Chinese culture and the...

One small step for functionalism: UN participation and Congressional attitude change

As an explanation of organizational growth at the international level, functionalism postulates that people who become personally involved in the activities of international agencies will develop attitudes more favorable to international cooperation. Analysis of speeches by United States Congressmen and Senators before and after serving as delegates to the UN General Assembly indicates that significant attitudinal change may occur. At the cognitive level, Congressmen tend to pay more attention to the UN than before. The majority also experience positive change in affect toward the UN. In addition, the data provide evidence of convergence toward a mean value as participants initially holding the more extreme views (positive or negative) generally express more moderate opinions as a result of the UN experience. The fact that such a leveling of expectations occurs at a significantly higher level of favorability gives modest support to the functionalist thesis.