Friday, September 16, 2011
Monday, September 12, 2011
Michael S. Hart
From Project Gutenberg, the first producer of free ebooks.
Obituary for Michael Stern Hart
Michael Stern Hart was born in Tacoma, Washington on March 8, 1947. He died on September 6, 2011 in his home in Urbana, Illinois, at the age of 64. His is survived by his mother, Alice, and brother, Bennett. Michael was an Eagle Scout (Urbana Troop 6 and Explorer Post 12), and served in the Army in Korea during the Vietnam era.
Hart was best known for his 1971 invention of electronic books, or eBooks. He founded Project Gutenberg, which is recognized as one of the earliest and longest-lasting online literary projects. He often told this story of how he had the idea for eBooks. He had been granted access to significant computing power at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. On July 4 1971, after being inspired by a free printed copy of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, he decided to type the text into a computer, and to transmit it to other users on the computer network. From this beginning, the digitization and distribution of literature was to be Hart's life's work, spanning over 40 years.
Hart was an ardent technologist and futurist. A lifetime tinkerer, he acquired hands-on expertise with the technologies of the day: radio, hi-fi stereo, video equipment, and of course computers. He constantly looked into the future, to anticipate technological advances. One of his favorite speculations was that someday, everyone would be able to have their own copy of the Project Gutenberg collection or whatever subset desired. This vision came true, thanks to the advent of large inexpensive computer disk drives, and to the ubiquity of portable mobile devices, such as cell phones.
Hart also predicted the enhancement of automatic translation, which would provide all of the world's literature in over a hundred languages. While this goal has not yet been reached, by the time of his death Project Gutenberg hosted eBooks in 60 different languages, and was frequently highlighted as one of the best Internet-based resources.
A lifetime intellectual, Hart was inspired by his parents, both professors at the University of Illinois, to seek truth and to question authority. One of his favorite recent quotes, credited to George Bernard Shaw, is characteristic of his approach to life:
"Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable
people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. All progress,
therefore, depends on unreasonable people."
Michael prided himself on being unreasonable, and only in the later years of life did he mellow sufficiently to occasionally refrain from debate. Yet, his passion for life, and all the things in it, never abated.
Frugal to a fault, Michael glided through life with many possessions and friends, but very few expenses. He used home remedies rather than seeing doctors. He fixed his own house and car. He built many computers, stereos, and other gear, often from discarded components.
Michael S. Hart left a major mark on the world. The invention of eBooks was not simply a technological innovation or precursor to the modern information environment. A more correct understanding is that eBooks are an efficient and effective way of unlimited free distribution of literature. Access to eBooks can thus provide opportunity for increased literacy. Literacy, and the ideas contained in literature, creates opportunity.
In July 2011, Michael wrote these words, which summarize his goals and his lasting legacy: “One thing about eBooks that most people haven't thought much is that eBooks are the very first thing that we're all able to have as much as we want other than air. Think about that for a moment and you realize we are in the right job." He had this advice for those seeking to make literature available to all people, especially children:
"Learning is its own reward. Nothing I can
say is better than that."
Michael is remembered as a dear friend, who sacrificed personal luxury to fight for literacy, and for preservation of public domain rights and resources, towards the greater good.
This obituary is granted to the public domain by its author, Dr. Gregory B. Newby.
Read some of Michael's recent writings
You can find a series of recent writings by Michael online in the Public Library Blog Newsletter
Extraído do site Project Gutemberg
Tuesday, September 06, 2011
Quer ajudar os filhos com os trabalhos de casa?
Mude de atitude para melhorar a motivação
2011-09-01
Pais com atitude positiva melhoram a motivação da criança Investigadores da Universidade Ben-Gurion de Negev (BGU), em Israel, sugerem que os pais que querem melhorar a motivação da criança para fazer os trabalhos de casa têm de mudar a sua própria atitude e comportamento.
No estudo, os cientistas descobriram que se os pais tinham uma atitude mais positiva, de apoio e comunicassem o valor da aprendizagem enquanto motivação, ao invés de se focarem em terminar uma tarefa ou obter a melhor nota, então a atitude e motivação da criança melhorava.
Idit Katz, Avi Kaplan e Tamara Buzukashvily, recomendam aos pais dar algumas escolhas aos filhos, incluindo quando e onde fazer os trabalhos de casa.
“Os pais podem melhorar um senso de competência permitindo que as crianças estruturem as suas próprias tarefas e dando à criança a sensação de que é amada e admirada, independentemente se é bem sucedida em matemática ou línguas”, afirmam.
O estudo também mostra que os pais devem perguntar-se sobre suas próprias motivações, atitudes e competências, antes de tentar ‘mudar’ a criança. Além disso, os programas educativos que tentam mudar a atitude e motivação dos alunos em relação aos trabalhos de casa não devem excluir os pais uma vez que o comportamento destes é essencial.
Para realizar a investigação, foi preenchido um inquérito em duas escolas de ensino primário, com 135 alunos da quarta classe e um dos pais de cada criança. Os estudantes responderam a questionários sobre o nível de motivação para fazer os trabalhos de casa, enquanto os pais responderam a questionários sobre a vontade de ajudar. Isto permitiu examinar percepções do ambiente de casa a partir de duas perspectivas.
Entre a amostra, mais de 60 por cento dos pais relatou estar envolvido nos trabalhos de casa dos filhos uma vez por semana e 35 por cento indicou estar envolvido todos os dias ou mais de uma vez por semana. Apenas quatro por cento disse que nunca está envolvida nos trabalhos de casa do seu filho.
Extraído hoje de Ciência Hoje