Niagarank

Are social networks important in journalism? The answer to this question is yes.Because social networks  have increased their importance in journalism, and as several  innovations have  been done in this field, information now is more accesible for people.

Twitter is one of those social networks which  have  reached an important place in the realm of communication. But why  is it so important? The answer is simple, it is the social network with the biggest connection to the concept of news and information. It gives us the possibility of creating our own channel by selecting our friends and apart from that we can create close circles.  Apart from that it is important to remember that social media is a quite useful informative tool because we usually get information through those channels.

After saying that it must be said that there can be found several tools that help us in this purpose of using Twitter for comunicating.  One of the most interesting tools we can find are  paper.li and Niagarank . The last one is the latest innovation in our country. By using Twitter  it aggregates the most important tweets at the moment, and this means that  it talks about the most popular comments and topics that are being discussed by people.

If we make a deeper analysis of Niagarank, it should be said that it  is a new step in the kind of products that have been developed  in the last years by CodeSyntax. The name is simbolycally connected to a waterfall of news and the ranking that is used to clasify those news. But the most important thing is to know can it be done? To reach this purpose Niagarank follows several users of Twitter and makes a ranking, it aslo ranks the kind of comments those people do.  And as a result of us they publish the most interesting kind of information that can be found in that social network through 42 different channels.

It can be said that Niagarank is a tool that is increasingly growing in Spain, and  the aim is to reach audience in general, but more exactly people that is thirsty for news in different subjects. Apart from that it  can be used from almost any device from tablets to smartphones. It follows almost the same structure that uses  Pinterest and has been widely extended.

References:

Baida, V. D. (2013). Niagarank: the relevant tweets. News. Retrieved May 18, 2013, from http://ieschoolofcommunication.blogs.ie.edu/2013/02/05/niagarank-the-relevant-tweets/

Fernandez, Luistxo. (2013).Nace Niagarank, con 40 canales temáticos en un agregador de noticias.CodeSyntax. Retrieved May 25, 2013, from  http://www.codesyntax.com/es/blog/nace-niagarank

Dans, Enrique. (2013).Niagarank, destilando las noticias. El blog de Enrique Dans. Retrieved May 26, 2013, from http://www.enriquedans.com/2013/02/niagarank-destilando-las-noticias.html

Second Blog Post Bibdesk

BibDesk: reference management tool
It is reference management software that is to be used with BibTeX and the document markup language LaTeX. It was developed as an open-source project and is for use on the Mac operating system. It is used to edit and manage bibliographies. It can be used to manage references, find references, import references and export references.

http://bibdesk.sourceforge.net/

Hypertext and Tim Berners-Lee

Sir Timothy John “Tim” Berners-Lee  is one of the most important persons in the last twenty years. Thanks to his revolutionary work, we can be reading this blog post at the moment. To Know more about him, in the following lines it is going to be explained why is so important.

He was born 8 June 1955 in London,  he graduated the Queen’s College at Oxford University and he is a computer scientist who is known as the inventor of  the World Wide Web.

In March 1989, while he was at the European Particle Physics Laboratory in Geneva, Tim Berners-Lee submitted a proposal for an information management system to his boss, Mike Sendall. There it was said that he wanted to concern the management of general information about accelerators and experiments at CERN. Which is a large international organization that involves a big number of researchers located around the world.

Initially, his proposal received no reply, but anyway he began working on his idea .There were discussed the problems of loss of information about complex evolving systems and it was derived a solution based on a distributed hypertext system.  After that proposal to his boss and thanks to the help of Robert Cailliau he implemented the first succesful communication between a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) client and a server through the Internet around mid November. By the end of the year he also he wrote a client program (browser) to retrieve and view hypertext documents. This client  was called “WorldWideWeb.”

During 1991 and 1993 he continued designing the Web by combining feedback from different users on the internet.  After a hard work  he made the WorldWideWeb browser and the web server available on the Internet.  But until computer enthusiasts from all over the world started setting up their own web servers the Web  did not began to take off.  The first Web page was served by the end of 1990.  In 1991, people outside of ‪CERN joined the new Web community, and in April 1993, CERN announced that the World Wide Web technology would be available for anyone to use on a royalty-free basis. Since that time,  it can be said that the Web has completely changed the world

In 2007,  it was recognized by Tim that the Web’s potential to help  people to bring a change still remained unrealized. He made public  his commitment  throuh the World Wide Web Foundation to ensure an open, free Web accessible and meaningful to all. A place where everybody  could share knowledge, access services, conduct commerce, participate in good governance and communicate in creative ways.

Actually he is the director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C),  that was founded in 1994 ,which oversees the Web´s continued development.  Apart from that Tim has also  founded the World Wide Foundation and he is a senior researcher and holder of the Founders Chair at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). It can not be forgotten that he is also  a director of the Web Science Research Initiative (WSRI), and a member of the advisory board of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence.

If we have a look to the awards that he has won it can be seen that  are more than 25 awards. This means that he is  a very relevant person who has worked hard to reach his aims. Maybe the most important one is that he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his pioneering work in 2004.  During the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, he was honoured as the “Inventor of the World Wide Web”.  This year has won his last award which is the inaugural Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, and he has shared with other five Internet and Web pioneers.

References:

Tim Berners-Lee. (2013, March 18). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17:12, April 1, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tim_Berners-Lee&oldid=545216408

Tim Berners-Lee.(2013, March 18). In World Wide Web Consortium.Retrieved 17:12, April 1, 2013, from http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/

Sir Tim Berners-Lee. In World Wide WebFoundation. Retrieved 17:12, April 20, 2013, http://www.webfoundation.org/about/sir-tim-berners-lee/.

Leone´s the Dollar’s Trilogy

¿Have you ever heard about The Good, the Bad and the Ugly? ¿And Once Upon a Time in the West? The genre these films belong to is the spaghetti western, born in the sixties and which revolutionized the way of making films.

The spaghetti western was born in Europe, more precisely in Italy and Spain. The films identified because of their dirty looking, their particular way of showing the violence in its magnificence, their simple characters and their excellent soundtracks (highlighting Ennio Morricone´s ones). The spaghetti westerns, which break up with the American ideas, were at first left out, but well seen then. This genre became so popular that it invaded literature, appearing great writers such as Silver Kane, Clark Carrados or Marcial Lafuente Estefanía.

Between these films, it stands out Sergio Leone’s the Dollar’s Trilogy and Once Upon a Time in the West, which is considered a masterpiece. It can be said that Leone reinvented the westerns and turned them fashionable.

www.otto.de a social trading company?

The otto group is an big enterprise based in germany and holds several sub companies. The most popular among them is Otto.de. A popular website for online-shopping. In July 2010 the web-shop got 5,6 million visitors. That is more than 160.000 visitors a day. This makes this website a good place to communicate social projects the company is related in. But how does Otto.de combine social projects and profit oriented marketing?

THE HISTORY OF SKIING

The aim of this work is to summarize the history of skiing and at the same time, to highlight the main characteristics of this sport in our country. Thus, firstly, we will talk about the general history of skiing, and then, we will focus on our country and its resorts.

It is clear that skiing is not only a favorite sport for many; it can be also considered an art. However, the history of this famous sport is somewhat obscure. Regarding its origins and thanks to historians ‘works, we do have a good idea of the basic history of skiing. It is clear that the first type of skiing was cross country skiing, which then evolved into downhill skiing. It is also thought that skiing has been around since before Christ, when the Norwegian hunters had to ski on flat wood to get more speed when hunting animals. The first findings were found in Rodody, Norway, although other proof has been found in Russia, for the same use.

 

But, this did not remain the same. Downhill skiing came later, during a more modern era. In 1850, Sondre Norheim, a Norwegian, constructed a birch binding that enabled skiers to ski without the risk of losing their skis. Norheim’s bindings were perhaps the first stiff bindings, which tied his boots to his skis and provided more control than leather straps. While others had built devices similar to this before Norheim, he paired his birch binding with shorter, curved skis that enabled him to win the first Norwegian downhill skiing competition. Most historians believe that Norheim’s method of skiing is similar to the modern day form of telemark, or “free heel” skiing.

 

So, it is obvious that with more and more improvements, skiing became the popular recreational activity that we participate in today. In other words, little by little, techniques were perfected to be able to use skis, and the art of skiing was born: how to ski over flat plains with no hills, styles of ski, discipline etc. Material for skis has gradually been improved over the years to increase mobility and use. In addition to this, lots of ski brands were set up. In addition to this, we cannot forget the first Skiing Olympics that took place in the town of Chamonix and later in St. Moritz and Oslo.

The right to education

The right to education it is very important and everybody should respect it and fight to integrate it in every state and society. Given the opportunity of receiving an education, everybody can learn and grow as a person, get a job and form a family and be part of the society where he/she lives.

UNESCO (United Nations educational, scientific and cultural organization) establishes some basical principles for education as: the principle of no discrimination, equal opportunities and treatment, universal right to achieving an education and the solidarity principle.

These principles provide the basis and guidelines for the actuation rules of the Organization.

Education is both a human right in itself and also an indispensable mean for being able to realize other human rights. Education is the primary vehicle by which persons that are economically and socially marginalized, can lift themselves out from poverty and obtain the necessary means to participate fully in their communities. Especially, education has a vital role in empowering women and in moving children away from exploitative works. Altough there are countries where the right to education is respected and there are other ones where it is not respected. For example in South-Saharan and Arab States there are still millions of children who are not able to have an education. Moreover, kids that live in a situation of poverty, in rural areas, or with any kind of disability are the ones that have fewer opportunities to develop their education. We also have to take into account that there are also differences on the contribution in education of the families from different regions of the world. In Africa families contribute in the 49% of the spending in education. Latin American and Caribbean countries contribute in the 25%. However, In North America and Europe families only have to contribute in the 7% of the total.

             

Increasingly, nowadays education is recognized as one of the best financial investments that a State can make. But the importance of education is not just practical: a well-educated and active mind that is able to wonder freely, is one of the best rewards of human existence.

References:

• http://www.unesco.org/new/es/media-services/single-view/news/two_out_of_three_children_in_africa_are_left_out_of_secondary_school/
• http://articulo26.wordpress.com/el-sistema-educativo/

Forum Sport

Forum Sport, Eroski kooperatibaren barne aurki ditzakegun 44 dendek osatzen dute. 1991.urtean Genar Andrinuak, Marino Lejarretak eta Miguel Indurainek kirola oinarritzat duten biltegi hauek sortzea erabaki zuten.

Forum Sport talde bat lez funtzionatzen du. Hau egituran nabari da, non kirolariak izan diren bazkideak aurki daitezke.  Aitzindariak dira teknika eta material berriak sartzen kirolen praktikarako, betiere garantia eta kalitate ezin hobea ziurtaraziz. Akzionisten taldea langileekin osatzen da eta eroski taldearen barne dagoenez, kooperatiba horrek duen esperientziazeta negozioetarako duen egonkortasunaz baliatuz, etorkizunean agertuko diren erronkei aurre egiteko tresnak izan baditu Forum Sport-ek.

Ez  dago tokiz kanpo bere aurkaririk hurbilenak, Decahtlon-ek, garatzen dituen hainbat ideia interesgarri aipatzea. Horien artean aipagarriena, sare sozialetan profil ugari dituela da. Bai facebook-en, twitter-en, eta beste zenbait saretan profilak ditu. Horrez gain gure mugikorrean app bat deskargatzeko aukera ere badago. Era honetan euren izena asko hedatzen da denbora tarte labur batean.

Forum Sport-ek  presentzia eskasa du sare sozialetan, ez dauka ez Facebook-eko edota Twitter-eko profilik. Linkedin-en aurki dezakegu bakarrik euren presentzia. Bertan langile ugari aurki daitezke, enpresaren barne interakziorako eta mundu mailan ezagunagoak izateko baliogarria da. Baliteke beste sare sozialetan ez agertzearen arrazoia, seriotasun irudi bat eskaini nahi izatea dela. Hala ere, eurek babestutako hainbat ekintzek badituzte sare sozialetan profil propioak. Esate Baterako  Kosta Trail lasterketak bai facebook-en eta twitter-en baditu profilak, bertan frogaren berri guztiak jarrai daitezke, beste partaideekin elkarrizketak edota entrenamenduei buruzko gomendioak eta oharrak jaso.

Forum Sport-en kirola bizitzeko modu bat denez, edozein motatako kirolarien zalantzei erantzunak emateko borondatea daukate. Hori dela eta, erosleei kirola egiteko ekipamendu ugari eskaintzeaz gain, behar bezalako saltzaileak izaten saiatzen dira.  Saltzen den oro probatu egiten dute, era horretan bai profesionalak direnei edota kirola denbora pasa lez egiten dutenei gomendioak emateko gai dira.

Webgunea aztergai izanik, bertan muriltzeko bi aukera daude. Alde batetik sarean duten denda ikusteko aukera dugu. Eta bestalde, webgune korporatibora sartzeko aukera dugu. Lehengo aukeran promozioen zenbait irudi daude, gabonetako promozioko hainbat eskaintzenak. Ikusten den irudi handiaren gainean, lau erlaitz agertzen dira, enpresak erabiltzen dituen markak, jorratzen dituen kirolak, promozioak eta dendak arakatzeko aukera ematen dituztenak. Beherago kirolen araberako erlaitzak ditugu, behar den produktua aurkitzeko. Azkenik hiru zutabeetan banaturik produkturik salduenak, markarik salduenak eta erosketarako laguntza aurkezten dira. liburuxka deskargatzeko aukera ematen duena; bazkide txartelarekin lortzen direnak, edota opari txartelak eskaintzen dituena.

Webgune korporatiboa aztergai izanik, zenbait irudi agertzen zaizkigu orrialdearen erdialdean. Irudiek  bai gabonetako promozioari, bazkide promozioei eta opari txartelari egiten diete erreferentzia. Irudi hauen gainean  6 erlaitz ditugu non enpresari buruzko informazioa, , ekitaldiak eta lasterketak, berriak, norberaren curriculuma bidaltzeko aukera eta dendei buruzko informazioa aurkezten diren. Erlaitz hauen ondoan dagoen esteka sakatuz sareko dendara bueltatzeko aukera badago.

Bezeroen foroetan publikatutako iritziak kontuan harturik, denda sare honek hainbat gauza on eta txar izan baditu. Alde onak aztertuz; produktuen ugaritasuna eta kalitatea eta baita erosleei tratamendu on bat eskaintzen dela aurki daitezke. Alde txarretan, prezio altuak dira gehienbat erosleen kexen iturri. Baina oro har, gehiengoa ados dago kalitatezko produktua eta erosleenganako jarrera on bat eskaintzen dela. Horrez gain, enpresa honen hedatzeko gaitasuna aipatu eta sortu dien harridura aurkezten dute.

Ondorio lez denda multzo honen lana errespetu handia merezi duela esan daiteke. Estatu mailan asko hedatzeko gai izan da azkeneko urteetan egindako lan onari esker. Bere izena entzutean kalitatea eta tratu egokia etortzen zaizkigu gogora eta baita edozein kirol burutzeko materiala aurki dezakegula.

Erreferentziak:

• Ciao, 2012. Forum Sport Opiniones. Shopping Guide GmbH. Available at: http://www.ciao.es/Opiniones/Forum__346855 [Accessed December 11, 2012].
• Ruben, 2012. Forum Sport. El Catálogo y sus Tiendas. modaellos. Available at: http://modaellos.com/la-tienda-forum-sport-catalogo-y-tiendas/ [Accessed December 11, 2012].
• Casado, E., 2009. Forum sport. 20minutos.es. Available at: http://blogs.20minutos.es/quefuede/2009/08/31/quao-fue-de-andrinaaa/ [Accessed December 12, 2012].
• Decathlon, Decathlon. Available at: http://www.decathlon.es/ [Accessed December 13, 2012].

Munduan zehar murgiltzeko beste era bat

Normalean, jendeari zer duen gustuko duen galdetzean, ia gehienek bidaiatzea dela erantzuten dute. Baina, zenbatero bidaiatzen duten  galdetzean, gutxi batzuk erantzuten dute askotan edo normalean egiten duten gauza dela. Horren zergatia, gehienetan, diru falta izaten da. Horregatik aukeratu dut gai hau; denbora, gogoak eta diru pixkat edukiz gero egin daitekeen gauza bat delako.

Bidaiatzeko hainbat arrazoi daude: leku, jende edota  kultura berriak ezagutzeko, hizkuntza berriak ikasteko … baina hau guztia ahalbidetzeko hainbat modu daude.

Batzuk etxe trukea egiten dute hotelak dakarren gastua aurrezteko. Homeforhome bezalako web orriek ahalbidetzen dituzte trukeak. Baserrietan lan egitearen truke janaria eta lo egiteko lekua lortzen dutenak ere badaude, eta gero eta gehiago zabaltzen dagoen jarduera da.

Beste batzuk aldiz, herrialde batetik bestera bidaiatzeko auto banaketa proposatzen dute,horrela, gastuak bidaiarien  artean elkar banatuz,dirua aurrezten dute; Hitchhikers web orrialdearen bidez lotu daiteke hau. Trenez edota autobus bidez ere bidaia merkeak aurkitu daitezke; baina badaude low cost bidaiak ere. Koste gutxiko hegaldien bidez, normalean ordaindu beharreko tasak aurrezten dira, beraz,  bidaia-txartela merkeago eskuratzeko beste modu bat da.

Mundu mailan gehien bisitatzen diren herrialdeak Frantzia, Estatu Batuak, Txina, Espainia, Italia, Turkia, Erresuma Batua, Alemania, Malasia eta Mexiko dira. Europara bakarrik begiratuz gero, Frantzia, Espainia, Italia, Turkia, Erresuma Batua, Alemania, Austria,Errusia, Ukraina eta Grezia dira herrialderik bisitatuenak. Baina zure jomuga bidaiatzea bada, norakoari garrantzi handirik ematen ez badiozu, herrialde merkeenak zeintzuk diren ere begiratzea gomendagarria da. Gaur egun hauek dira Europatik bidaiatzeko lekurik merkeenak:  Albania, Bulgaria, Kroazia, Hungaria, Lituania, Malta, Polonia, Portugal, Errumania eta Turkia.

Bidaia mota hauek edonork egin ditzake. Bidaia honek egiten dituzten pertsonek perfil ezberdina dutenez, bidaia ezberdinak antolatzen dituzte. Batzuk motxila hartu eta mundutik zehar ibiltzen dira abentura bila, beste batzuk bidaiak erlaxatzeko erabiltzen dituzte eta hondartza lasaiak dituzten norakoak bilatzen dituzte. Beste batzuk aldiz, modako hiria bisitatu nahi dute eta berau ezagutzeko ibilbidea prest daramate gero hirian zehar murgiltzeko. Baina guzti hauek gauza bera dute amankomunean, diru gutxirekin bidaian joatea.

                                

Gaur egun, gero eta jende gehiagok aukeratzen ditu bidaia mota hauek, ondo antolatuz gero, ohiko bidaietan egiten denaz eta askoz gauza gehiagoz bereganatu baitzaitezke. Gainera, bidaia antolatzen aurrezten duten diruarekin gero, lasai asko bidaiatzeko aukera izango dute herrialde berri horietan behar denean gastatzeko.

Badaude sare sozialen bidez bidaia liburuak iragartzen dituztenak eta baita mundutik bidaiatzen ahalbidetzen dituzten laguntza taldeak ere. Twitter eta Facebook bezalako sare sozialek, ezagun edo ezezagun diren munduko beste pertsona batzuekin etengabeko harremanetan egoteko aukera ematen dute. Horregatik askok probetxua ateratzen diote honi. Honen bidez, non jan, herrialdetik bidaiatzeko modurik merkeenak zeintzuk diren edota lo egiteko lekuak eskaini edo gomendatzen dituzte.

Interneten honen inguruan hainbat aholku ematen dituzten blogak aurkitu daitezke. Bertan garraiobideei, jakiei edota lo egiteko lekuei buruz irakurri daiteke eta baita bidaiariek izan dituzten bizipenen berri. Horrela, aurrekoek egindako akatsak zuzendu eta bidaia ondo jarraitzeko aukera errazten dizu.

Nire ustez bidaiatzeko modurik onena da, diru pixkat aurreztuz mundua ikusteko aukera eduki daitekeelako. Leku berriak ezagutzeaz gain, beste pertsona batzuekin harremanetan erraz jartzeko aukera ematen dizu, hauek hurbiletik ezagutu eta ondorioz euren  kulturetan errazago murgilduz.

Horregatik, jende guztiari gomendatzen diodan esperientzia da, behintzat bizitzan behin egitekoa. Gustuko izanez gero errepikatzekoa eta gustuko izan ezean … lagun zein familia artean kontatzeko anekdota.

Beraz, ez pentsatu gehiago, egin maletak eta munduan zehar murgildu!

Erreferentziak

• Anon, 1999. Hitchhikers. Available at: http://www.hitchhikers.org/ [Accessed December 10, 2012]

• Fernández, I., 2008. Mis viajes por ahí. 2010-12-23. Available at: http://misviajesporahi.es/ [Accessed December 8, 2012].

• Comaposada, P. & Sanchez, C., Mundo nómanda. 2011-01-18. Available at: http://www.mundo-nomada.com/articulos/los-paises-mas-turisticos-ranking-de-la-omt [Accessed December 10, 2012].

• Valdehita, B., 2011. Viajes para toda una vida. 2012-01-02. Available at: http://viajesparatodaunavida.blogspot.com.es/2012/01/viaja-gratis-o-por-muy-poco-dinero-por.html [Accessed December 10, 2012].

8 mile

8 mile; produced by Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment, is an American dramatic film directed by Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential) and starring Eminem, Kim Basinger, Mekhi Phifer, Taryn Manning and  Brittany Murphy.

The film tells the story about Jimmy Smith Jr.; who is called B. Rabbit by his friends. He, who loves hip-hop music, lives in Detroit, in a poor and predominantly black population.

DANZAS VASCAS

Este artículo trata de Las Danzas vascas. Son importantes ya que desempeñan un gran papel en la sociedad y cultura vasca desde hace muchos años. Para ello, es considerable analizar su historia y las distintas danzas que podemos encontrar.

Las Danzas vascas (en euskera Euskal Dantzak) son una parte fundamental en la cultura vasca. Cada provincia, o territorio histórico, consta de sus propias danzas y también, cada pueblo  tiene su propia danza la cual es frecuente ver en sus fiestas o en acontecimientos importantes que se den.  Muchas de estas danzas son tan antiguas que no se sabe cual puede ser su verdadero origen. Otras, sin embargo, son nuevas coreografías con base popular.

Los Sueños…

El sueño es un arte poético involuntario

Inmanuel Kant

Las diferentes percepciones de ver el mundo, la cultura la religión etc. son la consecuencia de la variedad de interpretaciones entorno a los sueños. Se dice que los sueños expresan estados profundos de la mente humana.

A lo largo de la historia, una interminable lista de filósofos científicos y pensadores trataron de clarificar el origen y consecuentemente la interpretación de los sueños. Un desafío que ha ocasionado diversas contradicciones.

Negative effects of technology

The advantages of technology are undeniable, electronic devices make our life much easier as we can save time and money when using them: cars, microwaves, mobile phones… In contrast, there are a lot of disadvantages that we don’t take into account.

The recession is not the only cause of unemployment: technology has enabled multinational companies to replace their workers with machines. This business process has created job redundancies and downsizing. In addition, local agencies and music stores have been forced to shut down since items are available online. Technology may have made communication quicker, easier and more convenient but it has also brought along privacy issues. People are now worried about their once private information becoming public knowledge. In order to feel secure at the work place is necessary to be in constant learning mode, as technology keeps on changing every day. There is always a new discovery or development that may be useful to make our job safer.

 

Privacy nowadays: beyond a personal setting in a social network

INTRODUCTION

Technology and privacy have changed radically lately. Some years ago and mostly caused by centralist and bureaucratic sates, information was all kept together in databases (Agre and Rotenberg, 1997), where only administrative staff had access to it. This means that information was not spread like nowadays, since boundaries among countries do affect rather seldom to personal privacy, which now can be look it up wherever it is. Merging databases is much easier than before. This thorny controversy has been materialized in our University with the publication of some personal pictures of some students, visible at international level although they are a clear attempt against self-honour.

In today’s world we can get information without difficulties at the very same moment we are asking to do so, with more specific details and in a convenient way. This has lead us to a new public sphere (Agre and Rotenberg, 1997), in other words, a stage where the exchange of information requires new platforms to support the rapid changes. Therefore public action needs to be done in order to provide the right environment and do it in the best conditions. In other words, governments have to promote laws and rules in collaboration with private scheme to solve this problem.

 

PROBLEMS ARISE…

The very first obstacle we have to tackle with is the different cultures among states (Agre and Rotenberg, 1997). The approach that different communities may offer to the same reality can undermine the decision-making moment. This challenge is reflected, for example, in the way privacy and self-honour is seen by diverse actors. Take the USA, where private ownership is an inalienable right which goes above all. Therefore individual rights in this country will be more crucial and the trend will be towards gaining this. However, another country where community features are more important than personal ones, will be less interested in promoting measures in this sense. Moreover in this current ‘social network’ society (Hill, 2012), where our daily life can be followed without obstacles, measures in this sense must be taken urgently. Private fears are nothing new in this case, in contrast with technologies, which they are indeed.

Nevertheless, efforts taken by governments for the sake of citizen’s can be taken advantage by many companies with rather groundless reasons. A law which allowed public administration to peep on personal e-mail more than 180 days in the former mentioned country is apparently going to be deleted because of doubtful results: it has been also a steal of information that has affected many victims. In the same source we can find also the controversy about the ‘cloud’. This tool is used by many people in order to store personal information. Encryptation in this area is not high-standard many times, and the key seems to be a proper data authentification system.

This ‘privacy invasion’ can end in undesirable circumstances such as being mistaken as a criminal. Governments can undertake measures against you in the name of good, hence new technologies deserve an easier access to our personal life and may go far away, beyond legal-borders to solve thorny situations which could be solved in a more ethic way. In a USA’s Supreme Court Decision in January 2012 (United States vs. Jones) demonstrates the steps they are taking to go against this approach though, when affirming this is a ‘loss of privacy, not property’.

 

CONCLUSION

The accessibility to information cannot work as an excuse to deep into people’s personal life. The apparently responsible for this issue like governments ought to defend individual’s rights according to the requirements within society, not answering business interests. All in all a new ethic is necessary to get the best result and to avoid ending in a schizophrenic society with ruling phantoms.

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hill, Kasmir, ‘The Technologies are New, the Privacy fears aren’t’ in Forbes, published 1-10-2012 (available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/01/10/the-technologies-are-new-the-privacy-fears-arent/– data accessed 10-12-2012).

Agre, Philip E. and Rotenberg, Marc, Technology and Privacy: the new Landscape, 1997, (available at: http://polaris.gseis.ucla.edu/pagre/landscape.html- data accessed 10-12-2012)

Mello Jr, John P, ‘Bill closing email privacy loophole clears commitee’ in TechNewsWorld, published 12-03-2012 (available at: http://www.technewsworld.com/story/76752.html– data accessed 10-12-2012).

Bioclimatic Architecture

Today,  we are living a difficult tima for architecture and construction. The Crise is affecting this field harder than others and it is important to know, that in architecture, the quality is much more important than the quantity. Respecting the environment is one of the principal goals that architectura is trying to achieve all along the 21st century. We have made a lot of improvements but there is a lot to do yet.

What is bio­cli­matic architecture?

Build­ing that takes into account cli­mate and envi­ron­men­tal con­di­tions to help achieve ther­mal com­fort inside. It deals with design and archi­tec­tural ele­ments, avoid­ing com­plete depen­dence on mechan­i­cal sys­tems, which are regarded as sup­port.  (i.e. Using nat­ural ven­ti­la­tion or mixed mode ven­ti­la­tion)  Archi­tec­ture that has a con­nec­tion to Nature.

Here we have an example about how to use natural resources like orientation, vetnilation, etc to make a  construction energetically more efficient

But, does it really work?

Tra­di­tional tech­niques work, and in Spain we know it well: the cool­ness inside a thick-walled tra­di­tional vil­lage house at noon in August, the com­fort of a tra­di­tional patio in Andalu­cia on a hot day, or how the sun enters through South ori­ented win­dows in win­ter replac­ing  the need for heat­ing. If this works, don’t you think it could be pos­si­ble, through care­ful house design, to design houses like this today?  Answer–Yes! It is entirely pos­si­ble to design mod­ern bio­cli­matic hous­ing and archi­tec­ture, using nat­ural ven­ti­la­tion, pas­sive solar design, and sus­tain­able materials.

How much does it cost?

A bio­cli­matic house needn’t be either cheaper nor more expen­sive, uglier or nicer, than any other. The bio­cli­matic house doesn’t need the pur­chase and instal­la­tion of com­pli­cated and expen­sive sys­tems, but it just uses the reg­u­lar archi­tec­tural ele­ments to increase the ener­getic per­for­mance and get a nat­ural com­fort. To achieve this, the bio­cli­matic design imposes a set of guide­lines, but there still remains a lot of free­dom to design accord­ing to indi­vid­ual taste. Sit­ing of the build­ing, con­sid­er­a­tion of solar access, col­lec­tion of rain­wa­ter, using ther­mal mass to your advan­tage, cor­rect fen­es­tra­tion and solar shad­ing all can be taken into account when design­ing, and the end prod­uct you have is a much more energy effi­cient while being in tune with its sur­round­ings and Nature.

Then, why is bio­cli­matic archi­tec­ture is not well known?

Clothes mean much more to us that the need for ther­mal pro­tec­tion (started sim­ple and some­times lost to the con­cept of fash­ion), hous­ing means more than the need for a com­fort­able place to live, and may rep­re­sent, for exam­ple, a sta­tus sym­bol. As that sym­bol, it must adapt to the estab­lished stan­dards of sta­tus, some­times ignor­ing the envi­ron­ment (i.e. McMan­sions). Energy sav­ing and tak­ing advan­tage of the sun may not fit into these stan­dards, but hav­ing an expen­sive con­di­tion­ing sys­tem to over­heat in win­ter and over­cool in sum­mer every sin­gle space in the house (even if it is sel­dom used) may seem nec­es­sary. The cul­tural iner­tia of the over­done, is hard to stop, because right now its working.…and energy prices go up.

In despite of spo­radic aware­ness cam­paigns, pub­lic­ity takes pride every day to asso­ciate sav­ing with dis­com­fort and low sta­tus, and waste with easy liv­ing and pres­tige. And it gets the point across: a lot of peo­ple asso­ciate sav­ing energy to poverty. Sci­ence is dis­re­garded, global warm­ing has no real world con­se­quence, energy is wasted, peo­ple pay and pay with­out real­iz­ing it. Now our eco­nom­i­cal sys­tem needs us to con­sume as much as pos­si­ble so as to keep the wheel going.

The pow­ers that be are strong and they have built a legacy they want to con­tinue.  Big com­pa­nies (the legacy industries) refuse to inno­vate, lobby to keep the sta­tus quo–no energy sup­ply com­pa­nies is really inter­ested in new tech­nolo­gies for renew­able energy, just the new star­tups. How will they increase their ben­e­fits? How will they sell energy if you are mak­ing your own, or dont need as much because your new house works better. Air con­di­tion­ing man­u­fac­tur­ers aren’t inter­ested in alter­na­tive sys­tems that bust their tech­nol­ogy, nat­ural ven­ti­la­tion does not make money.

Archi­tects and builders don’t worry as far as their busi­ness goes well, and the con­sumer, with no infor­ma­tion on the topic, can­not demand alter­na­tive prod­ucts he does not know, ever won­der why there is no elec­tric car on your streets or solar pan­els on your roof?  Why would the pow­ers that be want you to get energy for free when they can charge for it?

Slowly, new pro­grams, smart com­pa­nies, eco cit­i­zens are becom­ing aware of the energy waste prob­lem, and things are babystep­ping forward–promoting research on the topic and gen­er­at­ing new leg­is­la­tion and stan­dards. For exam­ple, some­thing as sim­ple as good insu­la­tion in build­ings to keep heat inside is a topic for leg­is­la­tion of increas­ing impor­tance. And in a lot of coun­tries insti­tu­tions (USGBC.org) are appear­ing to per­form research and spread bio­cli­matic knowl­edge among archi­tects and builders (like CIEMAT in Spain). Hun­dreds of books have been writ­ten on the topic, and hun­dreds of projects related some how to bio­cli­matic archi­tec­ture have been imple­mented around the world, and slowly it takes hold.

One of the most important leaders of sustainable architecture is Norman Foster, who is one of the most respected architectural professionals in the world. With his ambitious goals in high tech architecture, he gave Great Britain and the entire world numerous architectural wonders.

                                 

 

media and references:

http://bioclimaticx.com/bioclimatic-architecture1/

http://www.concept-bio.eu/bioclimatic-architecture-buildings.php

http://www.cres.gr/kape/energeia_politis/energeia_politis_bioclimatic_eng.htm

http://www.arch.mcgill.ca/prof/sijpkes/arch304/winter2001/sharve6/passive_solar/

http://www.colorcoat-online.com/blog/index.php/2011/03/norman-fosters-city-of-the-future-sustainable-zero-waste-and-car-free/

Kazetaritza kaskarra

Edward Saiden “Cubriendo el Islam” liburuaz hitz egitera nator, baita bide beretik jarraituz komunikabideetaz. Saiden liburua eta komunikabideak bat datozelako.
Egia da komunikabideak informatu eta gizartea komunikatu ez ezik, nolabait esatearren gizarte eboluzionatu batean bizitzeko laguntza ere ematen digu. Hau da, berriak teknologia berriei esker hegan dabiltza.

Baina, notiziek, berriek, informatu ala pertsona baten ikuspuntu trasmititzen digu? Horrela izanda nolabait desinformatu egiten gaitu, errealitatearen zati sano bat ez digulako kontatzen. Horretaz doa ba, Edward Saiden liburua, estatubatuarren eta estatu musulmanen “borrokaz” zehatza izateko.

Liburuak esteriotipo eta prejuizioen mundura sartzen gaitu, kazetari estatubatuarrek musulmanen bizia, musulmanen erlijioa edota gizartea bera nola kritikatzen duten.
Nola demontre kritikatzen dute ba, kazetariak estatubatuarrak baldin badira? Inoiz ez dut ulertuko ez kazetarien esteriotipo edo prejuizioak, ezta gizarteak berak, bai Txinan bai Bilbon ezer ezagutu barik duen joera, esteriotipazio joera hain zuzen.
Saiden testuan sartuta, kazetari estatubatuar askok zera idatzi dute: islamandarrak biolentoak dira, hiltzaileak, gizarte oso atzeratua ez ezik gaiztoa ere bada.
Gainera EEBBko telebistan audientzia askoko orduetan itzelezko kritikak izaten dira islamdarren kontra. Saidek zera dio: “Kazetari hauek profesionalak direlakoan dabiltza, kultura musulmanean jakitunak bailitzan darabilte musulmanen gaia, eta oso da tristea, hizkuntza bera ere ez dutelako ezagutzen, ez dira inoiz EEBB tatik kanpo bizi izan, ez dute gizarte islamdarra bisitatu, ezta pertsona musulman batekin hitz egin”.
Kazetari batek bere prejuzioetatik hasita idaztea pekatua dela deritzot, ez da batere etikoa, kazetariak informatzerako orduan neutrala izan behar duelako, bere berria gizarte oso batera iritsiko da eta seguraski zenbait pertsonen eguneroko solasaldietara.

Euskal Herria ere bada hainbat kazetarien prejuizioen biktima, izan ere aldizkari batzuetan gure kultura erasotzen dute, hartaz ezer jakin gabe. Espainiar aldizkarietako zenbat kazetarik dakite ba, geure hizkuntza, kultura etabar? Gutxik esango nuke, inork ere ez ez esateko. Eta norbaitek baldin badaki, seguraski kultura bere sakonetik eta bere osotasunean ez, hortaz ezin dezake kritikatu.

Laburbilduz, Saidek kritika itzela egiten dio EEBB tako gizarteari, EEBB ko kazetariei, Islama zer den jakin gabe kritika egiteagaitik, berak dioen bezala gizarte musulman osoa ez da Al-Qaeda, generalizazioa kazeritzan debekatuta egon behar luke.
Amaitzeko, kazetaritzak, aldizkariak eta telebistak indar handia dauka eta askotan interes politiko edota ekonomikoengatik jokatzen dute, geure burua, hau da, pertsona bakoitzaren burua kontuan izan gabe.

Erreferentziak:

• Said, E., 2012. Cubriendo el Islam Arena Abierta, ed., Barcelona: Debate.
• Wikipedia, 2012. Edward Said. Available at: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Said.

Equestrianism

My favourite hobby is horse riding, undoubtedly. I have always had a special connection to these animals that I find not only beautiful but astonishing.

A horse is the projection of peoples’ dreams about themselves – strong, powerful, beautiful – and it has the capability of giving us escape from our mundane existence. Pam Brown

The horse has played an important role throughout human history all over the world, horses have been used in wars and in peaceful moments. It is not easy to affirm the exact date horses were domesticated and when they were first ridden; it seems that horses first were ridden approximately 4500 BC. Nevertheless it seems evident that horses were ridden long before they were driven.

What is clear is that horse riding is a hobby which is enjoyed by all ages. Most people start horse riding when young,but there are many people who take up horse riding for the first time later in life.

Horse riding (British English) or Equestrianism (from Latin equester, equestr-, horseman, horse)  refers to the skill of riding or driving horses. This description includes the use of horses for working purposes or competitive sport, not forgetting that horses are also used to improve human health and emotional development.

Western Sahara

For the vast majority of the people, Western Sahara is a territory which can be easily placed in a map due to the same name given to the world’s largest hot desert. But what do we really know about Western Sahara? Through this post we want to focus our interest on the analysis of this territory to reveal those historical facts which are unknown about it.

As is widely known, Western Sahara or the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) is a territory located on the west of the African continent and it boarders with Morocco on the North, on the Northeast with Algeria and on the East and South with Mauritania. It takes the name of the desert which is part of, the Sahara desert and its largest city is El Aaiún.

Green March, 1975

This stateless nation which is not recognised by every United Nations countries became in the year 1884 a Spanish colony and was treated as Spanish territory until the colonizing country decided to make a referendum on independence to Western Sahara in 1975. But nothing would stop Morocco to achieve its aim of building a huge Moroccan empire. In addition, Morocco had always claimed that Western Sahara was within the country’s borders, and they wanted their territory back. In this way, and a cause of the United Nations’ decision of giving to Sahrawi people the right of self-determination, 350,000 people move towards Saharan territory with the objective of occupying the land. This strategy, known as Green March, will be the beginning of the Moroccan military invasion, and so Spain transferred the sovereignty of the Western Sahara to Mauritania and Morocco in 1976. However, in opposition to the agreement of the administration of the Sahrawi territory, Algeria and the recently created Polisario Front (1973) stood against both Moroccan and Mauritanian claims and demanded full independent of Western Sahara.

Then, Mauritanian and Moroccan troops started occupying the cities of Western Sahara, and consequently, Saharan people were forced to leave the cities and moved to Algerian territory, where they would settle down their refugees’ camps. One of these refugees’ camps is located in the Algerian region of Tindouf.

Refugee camp, Tindouf

When Moroccan troops had already entered the Sahrawi territory, the Polisario Front proclaimed the constitution of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) the 27th February 1976, and 3 years later Mauritania signed its peace agreement with the Polisario Front, renouncing their rights to the territory of Western Sahara. However, Morocco, instead of doing the same, annexed the part to which Mauritania had renounced and claimed it as their own while it continued the occupation.

Although nowadays the territory is mostly administrated by Morocco, there is a part of Western Sahara which is controlled by the Polisario Front and it is called the “Free Zone”. It is referred as the zone of freedom because is the only part of Western Sahara which is not under Morocco’s control. Moreover, Moroccan part and Free Zone are divided by the Moroccan Wall, a wall of 2,700km-long that started building in 1980 with the purpose of protecting the territory occupied by Morocco from the intrusion of the Polisario Front as well as of avoiding the return of Saharan refugees.

The Moroccan Wall divides the territory occupied by Morocco and the “Free Zone”

After the abandonment of Mauritania, SADR obtained its greatest international recognition in 1984 and in front of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1982. In September 1991 began the ceasefire guided by UN. However, disputes among Western Sahara and Morocco are still happening, and so its status remains unresolved.

References:

• http://www.saharalibre.es/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Sahara
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polisario_Front
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_March
• http://hablemosdelsahara.wordpress.com
• http://www.kwang4x4.com/par16.html

Free topic post: “Trikitixa, a closer look”

I sincerely believe that music grants a deep sense of fullfillment, one that improves life to limitless extents. This, though, is no wonder, since I am a musician myself -it would be rather counter-productive to go against the guild, dont you think?-. My most cherished instrument -of the few I own- is called “trikitixa”, a diathonic accordion typicial of the basque country, whose characteristic sound you must have surely heard. My intention with this post is to enlighten the reader with some deeper understanding of the instrument itself, the way it works, and some personal impressions.

Let us start with some history: The trikitixa is actually a variation of the diathonic button accordion, which has its roots in italy (incidentally, the main manufacturers are italian). Its “Diathonic” nature makes each an incredibly complicated product of luthiery, and thus they are quite costly, but, on the ther hand, if properly taken care of, they can outlast their owners. Because of this, it is not infrequent for the most veteran (and succesful) players to sport real vintages, antique models handed down from generation to generation in their families.

Here are some of the best trikitilaris of the past century, with models of the time.
Image taken from: http://www.absolutbilbao.com/festival-internacional-de-trikitixa-de-getxo/ (accessed: 19.20 13/12/2012)

The diathonic accordion was introduced in the late 19th century by french and italian sailors and/or railway workers, in a time its use was extending all over europe. The trikitixa was developed as the originals suffered some small modifications in tone and bass-notes (and later on the 20th century, also by adding 4 altered notes). It consists of two keyboards and a bellow; the one for the right hand bears individual sounds and the one in the left, chords in different octaves. The sounds are made when the air (either stored in the bellow or from the outside) is made to go through dual windpipes each containing a thin metal sheet, which are sealed in one side so as to isolate notes. These windpipes are covered by a plug connected to its corresponding button through a small lever, thus allowing to play one note at a time, or any combination wanted (so long as the harmonics allow it).

Description of each section with complementary images here.

Traditionally, it has been assotiated with folk music from the basque country, being present in most of the traditional song types (specially “fandango”, “arin-arin”, and “kopla”), and frequently played accompanied by a “pandero” (a hand-percutted frame-drum), though from the late seventies onwards it has been increasingly paired with unorthodox instruments so as to include it in many other genres (pop, rock, jazz, and so on). Here are some examples of the “old” and the “modern” songs:

“Odolaren boza” – Traditional march.

“Kalanbreak” – Pop-rock song by Gozategi.

Personally, I think that it is a complicate instrument to play. It is an acquired taste, one that requires constant practice lest the player get rusty and the fingers sloppy, and there have been cases of people quitting out of sheer frustration. Nevetheless, once it gets to you, it is enormously satisfactory to play it, because of the challenge it suposses. I’ve been playing it for 12 years already, and I still have vast amounts to learn, so that should give you a pretty accurate idea of how tough it is.

And that’s it. I hope you enjoyed it.

Media and references:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5mvcCZCTx8
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQZGVndHwUU
• http://www.trikitixa.net/
• http://www.absolutbilbao.com/festival-internacional-de-trikitixa-de-getxo/ (accessed: 19.20 13/12/2012)

Extreme Sports

Nowadays, Extreme sports, also known as action sports, are becoming really popular and famous due to how particular they are and having a high level of inherent danger. Most times they involve wind, speed height or other terrific situations. There is not a specific definition of extreme sports but the reality is that these sports or activities began in 1995 with a marketing strategy which promoting  the  X- games. This is an annual event, organized by U.S.A sports broathcaster ESPN. The event is divided in Winter and Summer sports and the participants compete to win medals and money prizes.

This is a competition really similar to the Olympic Games but with another type of sport games. The most common extreme sports are these:

Paragliding – All Terrain Windsurfing – Parkour – Aggressive Inline – Rock climbing – BMX – Cave diving – Surfing – Snowboarding – Ice climbing –  Longboarding – Waveski .

I believe that the most interesting thing about these sports is the felling that you have while you are practicing it. I just try a few of them and I would like to explain my favorite ones. Surf and Snowbording.

• SURFING

Surfing is a surface water sport in which the wave rider, referred to as a “surfer,”  rides on the forward face of a wave. There are many different ways to ride the wave and we call them by different ways. Bodysurfing, bodyboarding, surfboard….

Currently, is one of the most popular and trendy sports worldwide, many people practice and it is said that the bask country with Australia are the best place to enjoy the best waves. Kelly Slater, Andy Irons and Aritz Aranburu are the three best surfers.

Surfers represent a diverse culture based on riding the waves. Some people practice surfing as a recreational activity while others make it the central focus of their lives. Within the United States, surfing culture is most dominant in Hawaii and California because these two states offer the best surfing conditions.

•  SNOWBOARDING

This can be the most exiting winter sport ever,  it involves descending a slope that is covered with snow while standing on a board attached to a rider’s feet, using a special boot set onto a mounted binding. It is inspired in Skateboarding and Surfing and developed in the U.S.A betwwen the 60^s and 70^{s .}

If you want to practise this sport you must have a good equipment, which is really expenseive. You will need: a snowboard with bindings and boots are the most importat ones but althoug Snowboards, boots and bindings get all the love and attention, don’t forget about the accessories. The right helmet, goggles, stomp pads and even a lock for your snowboard are just as important as the gear you’re riding  moreover a good jacket and a hat are really necessary.

There are three different styles which are Freeriding, freestyle and Freecave. This sport is consider and Olympic sport since the year 1998.

References:

• Andersen Even  (2011) Snowboard Freestyle ||Best Ever|| HD (DC proteam) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQB3kl-TSdw.
• Emaus(2012)SnowboardWikipediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowboarding
• ABC max Livestyle, ABC of snowboarding. http://www.abc-of-snowboarding.com/info/
• ESPM action sports (2012) http://espn.go.com/action/xgames/summer/2012/story/_/id/7963950/x-games-los-angeles-2012-guest-information