Thursday, January 27, 2005

Another rss to java service...

As a follow up to my posting December 7, 2004 about converting to RSS to javascript and the virtues of streaming feeds directly to a webpage, here's yet another service that does this: http://www.feedforall.com/free-php-script.htm

(aha - per 02/09/2005 - here's yet another: http://www.rss2html.com/)

Also, here's an example of how you can stream the ircworld rssfeed (ircworld.blogspot.com/ircworld.xml)directly to your website.

Tuesday, January 25, 2005

New Public Diplomacy Report

The Public Diplomacy Council, a non-profit organization committed to the study, practice and advocacy of public diplomacy, released a report today entitled "A Call for Action on Public Diplomacy"

Following is the media alert released by the Council in connection with this report.

PROFESSIONALS CALL FOR TRANSFORMATION OF U. S. PUBLIC DIPLOMACY


Members of the non-partisan Public Diplomacy Council, in a White Paper
released today, call on the administration and the Congress to undertake a
transformation of American public diplomacy to bring it into the 21st
century. The "Call for Action on Public Diplomacy" notes that U.S. public
diplomacy is in crisis. Reorganized and adequately funded public diplomacy
is vital to a successful foreign policy and the war on terrorism. The
report posits the need for a more robust global communication strategy and
puts forward five action recommendations.

The recommendations include: creation of a new agency within the State
Department to manage civilian international information and exchanges
functions; a 300 percent increase in overseas staffing for public diplomacy;
increases in funding and closer integration of international broadcasting;
the establishment of a cabinet level interagency committee to coordinate and
direct a national public diplomacy strategy; and a public-private sector
partnership to provide permanent funding for international exchanges.

The entire text of the "Call for Action on Public Diplomacy", with
commentaries on the paper, is available on the Council website at
www.pdi.gwu.edu <http://www.pdi.gwu.edu>.


The Public Diplomacy Council, founded in 1988, is a non-profit organization
committed to the academic study, professional practice and responsible
advocacy of public diplomacy. Its fifty members represent practitioners and
observers of public diplomacy past and present. The Council joined with
George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs and Elliot
School of International Affairs to establish the Public Diplomacy Institute
in 2001.

Monday, January 10, 2005

A Lawyer in Baghdad

IRCs with international law contacts may be interested in an article recently published in the Green Bag online law journal. Entitled 'A Lawyer in Baghdad,' it is an account of the work of a Washington lawyer who worked for the General Counsel to the Coalition Provisional Authority.
His conclusion? "In sum, to those who say international law does not exist, or who say the occupation of Iraq was somehow extra-legal, I invite them to scrutinize the legal work of my former office, where international law was lived, breathed, and debated, with realworld consequences, twenty-four hours a day."
The eight-page article, originally discovered at the Instapundit web site, can be accessed at:
http://www.greenbag.org/McGurk.pdf

# Posted by Tel Aviv IRC http://194.90.114.5/publish/resource.htm

Monday, January 03, 2005

Best Free Reference Web Sites 2004

This is an annual series initiated under the auspices of the Machine-Assisted Reference Section (MARS) of the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) of ALA to recognize outstanding reference sites on the World Wide Web - see 2004 list at http://www.ala.org/ala/rusa/rusaourassoc/rusasections/mars/marspubs/MARSBestRef2004.htm