Caron’s LAC Modernisation message: huh?

(aka the blog post wherein I probably blow any and all future chances of working in government…)
Making the rounds of Canadian LIS (and presumably archives) listservs today has been Librarian and Archivist of Canada Dr. Daniel Caron’s “Message from the Librarian and Archivist of Canada: Modernization.”
As far as messages go, it’s kind of an odd [...]

Unicorns don’t exist; net neutrality is just distastefully fair

The top story on the CBC News website this evening is “Net Neutrality doesn’t exist, CRTC told.“
Laugh or cry?
Internet congestion is inevitable and net neutrality does not exist, Canada’s internet regulator was told Monday at hearings on how internet providers control and manage internet traffic and speed.
But here’s the best part:
Congestion is a natural occurrence [...]

Canadian DTCA Charter Challenge Indefinitely Adjourned…and a tree falls in the forest

The News
In the middle of financial turbulence, potential bankruptcy, and a storm of management changes, CanWest Global has decided to seek indefinite adjournment of their court case challenging Canadian restrictions on direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) of prescription drugs.  In summary, CanWest was alleging that the ban on certain types of DTCA was infringing on their freedom [...]

The Olympic Games & Information Issues (for those who don’t live here)

Most people who live in British Columbia are well aware of the multitudinous controversies surrounding the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, which will take place in Greater Vancouver & Whistler next February. However, when I talk to friends and family from other places, I am reminded what a bubble I live in.  Most people are not [...]

DTCA 2.0 & RareShare

I know, I know, everything is “such and such 2.0” now, and it’s getting really old.  I agree!  However, this really is “2.0,” as direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) of pharmaceuticals has officially moved from being all “push” media into its own special social networking universe. Check it out:
The Toronto Star called my attention to the [...]

Brand Sponsorship of YA Novels?

As a major YA novel fan, this made me want to cry.
A NYT article this week discusses what happened with the innovative and bestselling “Cathy’s Book” and what is in the plans for a new tween series, “Mackenzie Blue.”
After Running Press/Perseus Books, publishers of Cathy’s Book, revealed that they had agreed to have the characters [...]

DTCA, part I – The CanWest Legal Challenge

This is the first of what I’m sure will end up being several posts on Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of prescription drugs. It’s an issue I never thought too much about as it silently crept into our magazines and televisions in the US, but once living in Canada and working in health policy, my eyes were [...]

Heads up: More on privatization of Canadian health information/care

Mark Rabnett has a lovely post up on his blog, Shelved in the W’s, on Tennyson, the CHN shutdown and two-tiered health systems.
Just as we have tiers to our health care system here in Canada – “medically necessary” care for all, but increasingly also pay-for-priority care for those who can afford it – so have [...]