My thesis is now scheduled for Nov. 24th (after a delay) at 10:30am at University of Ottawa TBT 378a (Tabaret Building). It is open to all interested.

Here is the abstract and attached a copy of the draft which has been approved for defence (no edits yet based on comments).
Toward Global Open Scholarship – Access to Research in Development and Globalization

by

Arif E. Jinha

Thesis submitted to the
Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctural Studies
In partial fulfillment of the requirements
For the M.A, degree in
Globalization and International Development

School of International Development and Global Studies
Faculty of Social Sciences
University of Ottawa

©Arif Jinha, Ottawa, Canada, 2011

Abstract

I have to give credit. It annoyed me a great deal when I was enjoying Canada day and I wished 'Happy Canada Day' to a young local musician. She retorted 'Happy not-Canada Day' in what I regarded (already aware of her politics) as youthful and misguided anarchism and radicalism, rooted in some sort of denigration of Canada and Canadians in the midst of our collective celebration of one another, for the sake of solidarity with First Nations. I don't know even today if it is necessary to depress Canadians in order to make them aware of the incompleteness and mirage-like existence of our identity. After all, a birthday is no different, the human being can be accused of the one which is wrecking the planet through selfish individualism, and we celebrate it by shopping for them. All of this is stupid, yes. But a birthday party is a collective celebration of people brought together by this person, and we shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Frustratingly and for reasons unknown, Yahoo Answers has a very limited 4-day period during which one can post answers (boo, wasted some time trying to figure out how to be helpful). In response to "When was the first E-journal published on Yahoo Answers India", , my answer is:

According to the Bryn Mawr Classical Review, it is the second-oldest e-journal every pubished - http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/about.html in 1990, and it reports that it was beaten to the punch the same year by Postmodern Culture - http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/footnote.html

Arif

Most recent publication....Jinha, A. E. (2010) Article 50 million: An estimate of the number of scholarly articles in existence. Published July 2010 in Learned Publishing ... Full-text to pre-publication version.

Ever feel like negativity isn't really realism, as negative people claim, but just cynicism? Cynicism is the other side of the coin from the naivete that the disappointed cynic recoils from as they try to overcome the fact that they themselves fell prey to unrealistic expectations about how the world should work. It's the other side, because it is just as full of fantasy about the world as naivete is.

The leaders we have now, and the media, both realize the currency involved with promoting this new language of failure that now dominates global discourse. It has been uncritically imbibed by the academic world, who mistake this language of failure for critical thinking. For the media, it is to feed on our sense of voyeurism into the darker side of humanity, the same that causes us to be intrigued by an accident on the road - a 'rubber-necking' that extends the shock value and leaves us paralyzed for constructive action.

A wise decision would be to ask Michaëlle Jean to continue for another term as Governor-General. She has the skills to communicate the symbolic and public relations role of the GG. At a time in history where this can make an actual difference in Canada's human connection to the ordinary people in some of the hardest hit countries in the world, and particularly to our sister country Haiti, I find it hard to understand why we wouldn't want to retain her if she wants to continue in this role. It is not unusual for a term to be renewed and I am disappointed to hear unconfirmed reports that the PM will not. My only theory is that when a boss undermines the integrity of an office with self-serving politics, as Prime Minister Harper has done with his 2 requests for prorogation, they will feel the need to change the individual in that position at every opportunity.

In the 21st century, where money becomes almost universally required to obtain the necessities of life, the endowment of basic capital as a birthright for all human beings through a system of constitutionally guaranteed citizen banking, gauranteed living income and access to microcredit is necessary both to end poverty and the corruption of aid, and to stabilize the global monetary system. This is possible as globalization creates one closed economy, as opposed to a collection of (relatively) 'open' economies.

I wish to draft a paper on this subject. Ideas? contact me

Recession and Stimulus Spending: A Preliminary Examination of Stimulus Spending on Affordable Housing in Ontario

by Arif Jinha

Full text published by CPRN - Canadian Policy Research Networks.

It's from my wordpress blog ICTa2K4D Communications for Development, but you can find it - http://stratongina.net/aggregator or at arifjinha.wordpress.com

It was a post to Budapest Open Access Initiative Forum, looking forward to a future of an open global information system for knowledge, and starting now with the best business model for journal publishing.

arif

I wrote this a few years ago and was just laughing at it, posting it again for your enjoyment.

arif

The Great Invisible Big Toe

Working in a large University, as an agent of change at the lower end of the pole, I made the following observation: the Law of the Giant Invisible Toe.

Those at the upper end of the pole can have enormous toes, the larger they are the more invisible they are so you don't know if you will step on one.

Those at the bottom working for change cannot see the toes, and since they are large they step on them.

Stepping on these toes causes a reaction. The reaction is usually overstated given that these are small toes that are stepping on big ones.

Those with small toes at the bottom end of pole rarely get stepped on, when they do they are not allowed to do anything about it.

Thus the Law is that the small toes are not permitted to step on the big ones, which are invisible. But it is hardly noticed when the big ones step on the small ones.