Exploring Heritage In the Multi-Digital World

May is Asian Heritage Month in Canada and also the United States since 1979. As part of the Asian diaspora, the month has been established in 2001 as an official celebration of the history of Asian Canadians and their contributions to Canada with organizations in almost every province.  In Vancouver, theVancouver Asian Heritage Month Society (VAHMS) celebrates with a month-long festival called explorASIAN.  This month, it offered a number of workshops on to help Asian Canadians discover their family heritage.

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One of the projects I'm working on currently is the formation of a non-profit organization that can serve the needs of those who want to do Chinese family history research. The organization will cover every Chinese genealogical societies globally. Along with Global Research and Archival Management, Inc., this new organization, International Association of Chinese Genealogical Society (IAGS), strives to educate, and serve as a bridge to all Chinese genealogical societies registered globally with the support of the international volunteers specialized in Chinese genealogy research and education.

The accessibility of genealogical research has long been at the margins of those experts who have the time and the money to finance projects on family history.  But with digitization and digital information readily available online, the journey has been made easier.  But birth and death records; pre-modern village records; passenger registries; etc, are often available but waiting to be discovered.  There is a real disconnect for those who want to, but do not know how to get started.  The two videos above show how some of this work is beginning to be handled by community.  I hope to carry through some of this research, and share the the record of my journey with you.

Looking into the Glass Ball and Into the Future

I'm a follower of the Futurist Magazine.  Every year, the editors of the publication identify the most provocative forecasts and statements about the future that it's published.  Each year, it identifies the ten forecasts from that report that paint the most compelling picture of the future as it exists right now.

Far from exhaustive though, they do represent trends that are of wide relevance and futures that are becoming more likely.   Patrick Tucker, the editor of Futurist Magazine and author of The Naked Future: What Happens in a World That Anticipates Your Every Move?curates the top ten forecasts for 2014 and beyond.

1. Thanks to big data, the environment around you will anticipate your every move

2. Revival of extinct species

3. Populations will shrink, and wealth will shrink with them

4. Doctors will see brain diseases many years before they arise

5. Buying and owning things will go out of style

6. Quantum computing could lead the way to true artificial intelligence

7. Phytoplankton death will further disrupt aquatic ecosystems

8. The future of science is in the hands of crowdsourcing amateurs

9. Fusion-fueled rockets could significantly reduce the potential time and cost of sending humans to Mars

10. Atomically precise manufacturing will make machinery, infrastructure, and other systems more productive and less expensive.

Peking University Library: From Imperial Times to Modern Times

I recently finished reading Portraits of 21st Century Chinese Universities: In the Move to Mass Higher Education, an incredibly insightful glimpse into twelve of China's largest universities, including their vision and mission, their orientation to the world and the innovations in curriculum and research.  I visited the Peking University Library, and astounded by the rich history of the campus, its buildings, and the intellectual depth of the faculties.

Founded as the "Imperial University of Peking" in 1898 as a replacement of the ancient Guozijian Imperial College.  Founded in 1902 by the Imperial Qing Dynasty under the name the Book Depository of the Imperial University of Peking, the current day Peking University Library is among the earliest modern libraries in China. With its long and distinguished history of continuous transformation, PUL today is one of China’s leading research libraries and most important academic libraries, and inarguably the largest university library in Asia. The library has gone beyond its traditional role of a university library. In line with its mission to be a research, teaching and learning partner for its patrons, PUL continuously improves and modernises its technical infrastructure, management and services.

Furthermore it also synthesises its efforts and initiative to fully support Peking University’s position as a member of China’s elite Ivy League universities called the ‘C9 League’ and long-term ambition to become one of the best universities in the world.  Its extensive holdings and resources range from special collections of oriental studies and rare antiquarian books to modern scientific online journals, cutting-edge AV materials and digital resources. The Library’s immense books selection of diverse subjects is especially characterised with its rich collection of written and printed treasures and rare items.

By 2008, Peking University Library held over 8 million books, with 1.5 million Chinese entries including 200,000 most unique and treasured classical books covering the period between 5th and 18th century China which attracts a great deal of international attention. In addition, its comprehensive editions of foreign books, bronze and stone rubbings and pre-1949 publications have become parts of its strongest features and specifically distinguish Peking University Library from its counterparts in China. The library also has carried out massive acquisition of digital resources from home and abroad, totaling several hundred thousand assortments, including databases, electronic journals, electronic books, and theses and dissertations, keeping Peking University Library at the forefront of its initiative to be one of China’s leading and most modern research libraries.

Although it has undergone extensive structural renovation, PUL remains renowned for its exquisite traditional Chinese architecture. Today, the library has an impressive total building area of 53,000 square metres with over 4,000 seats.

Peking University Library provides all of th services such as circulation, digital library portal, resource retrieval, digitizing services, information service and research reference, interlibrary loan and document delivery, user training, academic books on reserve and multimedia services. The document and service sharing system consists of the main library, thirty department libraries, a medical school library and six affiliated hospital libraries. The branch libraries collect more than one million volumes with most of them retrievable through its OPAC.

Throughout its history, the university has educated and hosted many prominent modern Chinese thinkers, including figures such as: Lu Xun, Mao Zedong, Gu Hongming, Hu Shih, Li Dazhao, and Chen Duxiu, all immortalized in the annals of Chinese history.  Much of the buildings is retained from its imperial history.

Inspired by the German model of academic freedom, Peking University recruited Western-trained faculty that included Hu Shih,Chen Duxiu, and Lu Xun, and its students formed the bulk of the protesters of the May Fourth Movement, which ushered in the modernization movement in the country, and subsequently, Peking University influenced the birth of China's New Culture Movement, May Fourth Movement, the Tiananmen Square protest of 1989 and many other significant events.  The history continues to this day.

#TED2014 Arrives in Vancouver (Finally)

TED finally began on March 17 in the evening 6 p.m. here in Vancouver, BC.  At $7,500 per seat, it's outpriced the majority, including my own, but at least my library the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre has a livestream.  It's remarkable witnessing crowds there immersed in the talks each day.

Each speaker, some of the world’s most inspirational and brightest individuals, are given 18-minutes to deliver their talk to the audience.   As a conference with humble origins, TED has grown from a simple experimental convergence of the fields of technology, entertainment and design to one that encompasses the broadest topics and an intellectual dynamism of some of the world's most in-demand speakers.  Although I might never have a chance to rub elbows with those attending, it's assuring to know the talks are made available online.  Here's some of the highlights so far from TED 2014.  (Oh well, there's always next year).

Edward Snowden: Here's how we take back the Internet - Appearing by telepresence robot, Edward Snowden speaks at TED2014 about surveillance and Internet freedom. The right to data privacy, he suggests, is not a partisan issue, but requires a fundamental rethink of the role of the internet in our lives — and the laws that protect it.

Chris  Hadfield: What I learned from going blind in space - Chris Hadfield paints a vivid portrait of how to be prepared for the worst in space (and life) -- and it starts with walking into a spider's web. Watch for a special space-y performance.

Daniel Reisel: The neuroscience of restorative justice - Daniel Reisel studies the brains of criminal psychopaths (and mice). And he asks a big question: Instead of warehousing these criminals, shouldn't we be using what we know about the brain to help them rehabilitate? Put another way: If the brain can grow new neural pathways after an injury ... could we help the brain re-grow morality?

Charmian Gooch: My wish: To launch a new era of openness in business - Anti-corruption activist Charmian Gooch shares her brave TED Prize wish: to know who owns and controls companies, to change the law, and to launch a new era of openness in business.

Introducing "Generation C"

"Generation C" is not a new innovation - it has been around since 2004. In 2012, Zoe Fox's
Forget Generation Y: 18- to 34-Year-Olds Are Now 'Generation C' noted that Gen C is a powerful new force in consumer culture, a term describing a generation of people who care deeply about creation, curation, connection, and community.

It's not a question of whether these individuals While some might view them as Millennials (born between 1980 and 2000), researchers define Generation C as a "psychographic" group, or a number of individuals who share a similar state of mind, whether that be certain personality traits, values, attitudes, interests, or lifestyles.  Google assert that 80% of millennials are made up of Gen C, YouTube’s core audience.  Some believe we should treat Generation C as an attitude and mindset.

Regardless, Google describes Generation C as "connected, computerized, and always clicking." A generation of change, these are lofty ideals.   There are traits that characterize this generation:

• a love of content creation and 'mashing';
• the tendency to form active communities rather than remain passive;
• a gravitation toward social media sites where they can participate in discussions about different ideas and get involved in cultural conversations;
• a desire to be in control of their own lives, and a contentedness with complexity;
• a desire to work in more creative industries and be less restricted by rigid social structures.

Screening: Google and the World Brain

I'm really glad I attended yesterday's screening of Google and the World Brain, hosted by UBC Continuing Studies @ UBC Robson Square Theatre. The event featured a panel discussion after the film with Martha Rans, Lawyer and Director of Artists Legal Outreach and also Graham Reynolds, Assistant Professor at UBC Faculty of Law.

Dubbed as the "most ambitious project ever conceived on the Internet: Google's master plan to scan every book in the world and the people trying to stop them," the film documents Google's hidden agenda and unintended consequences behind building a library for mankind. As a librarian in academia, mixed feels

The Google Book Search Library Project, in which millions of books from libraries will be scanned and made searchable on the Web, has led to controversy and legal action. The Association of American Publishers sued Google for copyright infringement as Google claimed their use falls under the fair use privilege of the Copyright Act.

• Pamela Samuelson is recognized as a pioneer in digital copyright law, intellectual property, cyberlaw and information policy.
• Graham Reynolds teaches and researches in the areas of copyright law, intellectual property law, property law, and intellectual property and human rights.
• Google Secrecy and Commercialization of Information - It's obvious that Google has been less than transparent about its projects (see Street View wifi incident or the infamous Google Barges project).  Google Books is just a similar fear that the company is plotting a scheme that will extract personal information from the Books project for its own financial benefits.
• Digital Public Library of America and Europeana - it appears the siloization of digital materials in the guise of a consortia continues.  Who's using them?  Will it outperform using Google Books?  
• Jaron Lanier is a writer, computer scientist, and composer of classical music. A pioneer in the field of virtual reality

Media, Culture, Technology . . . and Sugar?

An American Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is potentially drawing the line in the sand with the sugar industry.  Robert Lustig's research focuses on the regulation of energy balance by the central nervous system and childhood obesity.  He's reignited an almost forgotten episode of corporate conspiracy.  Thanks to researchers like Lustig, e-commerce, and the long tail, the John Yudkin's Pure, White and Deadly [free copy here] a book widely denounced at the time of publication, is currently one of the hottest out-of-print works in the world.

Lustig's now ground-breaking lecture called Sugar: the Bitter Truth, which hailed Yudkin’s work as "prophetic" has garnered now more than 4 million hits on YouTube since 2009.  Lustig's emergence in the public eye came from his efforts to establish that fructose can have "serious deleterious effects" on human (especially children's) health if consumed in too large amounts. Hi May 26, 2009 lecture "Sugar: The Bitter Truth" eventually "went viral" with some 4.2 million viewings . In his lecture, Lustig refers to fructose as a "poison" and equates its metabolic effects with those of ethanol(!)

Of course, Lustig did his detective work the old fashioned way: he tracked down the book after a tip from a colleague via an interlibrary loan.   In a prophetic way, Lustig's viral prominence is being credited with triggering the anti-sugar movement, a campaign that calls for sugar to be treated as a toxin, like alcohol and tobacco, and for sugar-laden foods to be taxed, labelled with health warnings and banned for anyone under eighteen.  Lustig is one of a growing number of scientists who are convinced it’s the cause of several chronic and very common illnesses, including heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s and diabetes. It is also an addictive that interferes with appetites and creates an irresistible urge to eat.

Instead of treating the findings as a threat, the food industry spun a commercial opportunity. Market research showed there was a great deal of public enthusiasm for "healthy" products and low-fat foods would prove incredibly popular. By the start of the 1970's, supermarket shelves were saturated in low-fat yogurts, spreads, and even desserts and biscuits.  Moreover, a concerted campaign by the food industry and several scientists began to discredit Yudkin’s work. The British Sugar Bureau put out a press release dismissing Yudkin’s claims as "emotional assertions" and the World Sugar Research Organisation described his book as "science fiction."

Yudkin was "uninvited" to international conferences and papers he published discrediting sugar were pulled from publications. Conferences he organized were cancelled at the last minute, after pressure from sponsors, such as Coca-Cola. The British Nutrition Foundation, one of whose sponsors was Tate & Lyle, never invited anyone from Yudkin’s prestigious department to sit on its committees. Queen Elizabeth College refused allow Yudkin to use its research facilities when he retired in 1970 to write Pure, White and Deadly.

The backlash and academic boycott of Yudkin resulted in a domino effect as other scientists, who avoided negative about sugar for fear of being similarly attacked. As a result, the low-fat industry, with its products laden with sugar, boomed.  Yudkin knew a lot more data was needed to support his theories, but never had the chance to continue his research in any meaningful way or support.   

Eventually medical science would discover the critical hormones that would explain and connect his theories.  In the 1980's, new discoveries gave new credence to Yudkin’s theories.   As Julia Llewellyn Smith explains,

Researchers found fructose, one of the two main carbohydrates in refined sugar, is primarily metabolized by the liver; while glucose (found in starchy food like bread and potatoes) is metabolized by all cells. This means consuming excessive fructose puts extra strain on the liver, which then converts fructose to fat. This induces a condition known as insulin resistance, or metabolic syndrome, which doctors now generally acknowledge to be the major risk factor for heart disease, diabetes and obesity, as well as a possible factor for many cancers.

Yudkin’s reputation has since been resuscitated and Penguin has recently re-published Pure, White and Deadly. But the damage had been done as obesity rates have skyrocketed compared to when the book was published.   Just as the public had to learn from the dangers of Big Tobacco the painful way, so must the public again have to horribly learn about Big Food, Big Soda and Big Alcohol.  If not for the power of social media and a fortuitous lecture, the movement to uncover a harrowing truth would never have happened.

More to Read

Robert Lustig.  Fat Chance: Beating the Odds against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease. New York: Hudson Street Press, 2013.

David Gillespie. Sweet Poison. Melbourne: Penguin Australia, 2009.  [Link]