Monday, September 19, 2005

Building the Great Firewall of China, With Foreign Help - New York Times

Good article on the relationships between Internet search engines, such as Yahoo, and the Chinese government. There are over 100 million Internet users in China. What do these users find using a search engine like Yahoo differ from those who use a Western equivalent of the search engine? Read more and find out. This link may expire due to it coming from the New York Times

Sunday, September 18, 2005

60 Days to go

I have taken the summer off from posting, but now we are in our the final 60 days countdown for departure to China so will update any readers with some banal information. We have purchased our tickets to San Francsico--using frequent flyer miles (glad of that!)-- and have sent away for our Visas. It is recommended that we use a "visa expediter" to make sure everything goes smoothly. Unfortunately the cost for the visa is $50, payable to the Chinese consulate, and the epediter charges $55 plus shipping. I was a little surprized by this expense, and if you throw in the cost of a passport....

Everything now will accelerate and we will soon be thinking of what to pack and bring to China. I must now start to arrange my library visits. My plan isto visit the Beijing State Library and the relatively new Shanghai Public Library. I have asked the Vermont Library Association Annual Conference to present as part of a panel on international librarianship. They have said yes. The conference is scheduled for May 16 and Wednesday, May 17, 2006 at the Sheraton Burlington Hotel and Conference CenterBurlington, Vt

I will be sending an email to the People to People rep in Beijing, Leonard Wang. P to P says he is a busy man so if you don't get a reply right away....

I am typing this via my Palm Zire 72 and a wireless keyboard. It is a bit constraining but am giving it a try before I surrender and decide to bring my laptop. I look forward to wi-fi access, camera, recorder, MP3 player, etc. with this little device.