Learning objectiveS

• Locate industry and market reports from the Internet and the Library
• Understand how to use datasets from Statistics Canada (Census & Cansim) and other national agencies
• Develop a healthy information diet

Course Outline

1. Know your industry: reports from IBIS Wrold; SME Benchmarking; Mergent Intellect
2. Using Google for business research: trade associations & governments
3. Statistics Canada for entrepreneurs: Census & CANSIM
4. Reading up on your idea & staying up to date with articles

Course content

0. Where does information come from?

1. Know your industry – look up industry codes (NAICS)

• IBIS World (industry reports)
  • Industry reports for Canada, USA, China and Global, filed by NAICS Code.
  • Library subscription, expensive reports provided for free by Concordia
  • Direct link to the video for this step
• SME Benchmarking (financial statements and ratios)
  • Average income statements and financials for Canadian small & medium businesses, by industry (NAICS)
  • Free web data provided by Canadian government
  • Direct link to the video for this step
• Mergent Intellect (lists of companies)
  • Also called Dun&Braadstreet
  • Library subscription, expensive reports provided for free by Concordia
  • Find competitors, clients, suppliers, market leaders

2. Using Google for business research (governments & trade associations)

• Find trade associations with Google
  • They post a lot of industry/market information on their websites
  • Trade shows, reports, analysis, press releases, lawsuits, white papers, directories, interviews, newsletters… is there a bias?
  • Watch the video for this step
• Find government information with Google’s advanced search
  • Most government websites follow a standardized format for their addresses
  • Governments study and regulate many topics relevant for new business
  • Example: 2017 Communications Monitoring Report from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission

3. Statistics Canada for entrepreneurs

• Statistic Canada – NOT IN GOOGLE
  • 2016 Census
    • Census Profile: makup of a “place” in Canada
    • Data tables: Counts of Canadians by demographic variables
  • CANSIM
    • All other data tables available from StatCan
    • Some useful searches: household spending; retail trade sales; labour force survey; Neighbourhood income and demographics; family income; NAICS Statistics
    • Click on “Add/remouve data” when looking at a data table to toggle data dimensions
    • Watch the YouTube video for this step
• SimplyMap Canada (not covered)
  • Color density map based on data from Statistic Canada
  • Watch the video for this step

4. Reading up on your idea & staying up to date with articles

• Think about your business idea when searching, use a variety of keywords:
  • (1) industry (use NAICS, watch out for jargon)
  • (2) trade associations
  • (3) market leaders and major competitors
  • (4) other subject term like a business trend
• News and articles from the Library, better than Google News
  • ProQuest Business Databases: more Canadian content
  • EBSCO’s Business Source Complete: research and some current events
  • Eureka.cc: French-language local news
• Setup an RSS feeds from ProQuest, EBSCO and Google to automatically receive notifications

I just gave a lecture about copyright called: What’s up with Canadian Copyright? Click here to download the PowerPoint presentation.

It uses the excellent NFB documentary by Brett Gaylor called: RIP! A remix manifesto. See also the movie’s page here.

This is a similar lecture to the one I delivered in February 2013 in prof. Tagny Duff’s Intermedia class at Concordia University’s Scholl of Communication Studies.

It is part of a playlist of videos on YouTube, including one on Creative Commons and the user generated content exception. Here are the 6 videos in a single playlist:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPPnbsfC0rE?list=PLaqfn26UOsX-jloDaE72pOxPxwySoiT_-&w=560&h=315]
Additional reading materials:

– Read the legislative summary for bill C-11 by the Library of Parliament. (in general, it is a great idea to find these legislative summaries, the Library of the Parliament of Canada usually issues these for most laws).

– The “CCH” supreme court case (on fair dealings): CCH Canadian Ltd. v. Law Society of Upper Canada, 2004 SCC 13, [2004] 1 SCR 339
Read the first dozen pages for a great introduction to Canadian Copyright. On fair dealings, start with paragraph 48, which reads :

48 Before reviewing the scope of the fair dealing exception under the Copyright Act, it is important to clarify some general considerations about exceptions to copyright infringement. Procedurally, a defendant is required to prove that his or her dealing with a work has been fair; however, the fair dealing exception is perhaps more properly understood as an integral part of the Copyright Act than simply a defence. Any act falling within the fair dealing exception will not be an infringement of copyright. The fair dealing exception, like other exceptions in the Copyright Act, is a user’s right. In order to maintain the proper balance between the rights of a copyright owner and users’ interests, it must not be interpreted restrictively. As Professor Vaver, supra, has explained, at p. 171: “User rights are not just loopholes. Both owner rights and user rights should therefore be given the fair and balanced reading that befits remedial legislation.”

On the 5 Supreme Court copyright cases delivered during the Summer of 2012, please access the Canadian Legal Information Institute’s website for the free full-text version of these rulings:

How to analyse a copyright issue (in French) :

Comment utiliser une oeuvre protégée par le droit d’auteur ?

Mark Weiler had an awesome idea. As a member of the UWO Student Chapter of the Canadian Association of Professional Academic Librarians (CAPAL), he posted a message to our mailing list (I am a member of CAPAL) and asked us to send him the list of conferences we attend. A few weeks later, the list includes about 75 mouth-watering conferences, enough to send you around the world a few times.

Mark has very graciously and generously allowed me to post the list here. As he says:

“I think it’s a list for academic librarians to reflect on — a kind of starting point which librarians can use to advance the profession in important directions. “

Well said ! If you have additional conferences, please feel free to add them to the comments section of this post!

 
 
Interestingly, this could be the start of an interesting research project. For example, I notice that some of the conferences are held by library-related groups (IFLA, CLA, ALA…) while others are from other fields. Why is that? Is it related to the field of interest of the librarian (social sciences librarian will prefer library-conferences or domain-conferences)? Or perhaps the location of a librarians home institution (Ontario librarians will just naturally gravitate to the OLA super-conference). Or does it have to do with the timing or location of the conference (Paris in the Spring anyone)?

In any case, enjoy the list and thanks again to Mark!

Here is the video of a lecture in English I gave yesterday at Université de Montréal’s Centre du droit des affaires et du commerce International. I also pasted below the abstract and the poster of the event :

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3GBJPTcf4M&w=640&h=360]

Copyright, caught in a digital maelstrom of perpetual reform and shifting commercial practices, exacerbates tensions between cultural stakeholders. On the one hand, copyright seems to be drowned in Canada and the USA by the role reserved to exceptions by the legislature and the courts granted to certain institutions. On the other, these institutions, such as libraries, are keen to navigate digital environments by allocating their acquisitions budgets to digital works.

Beyond the paradigm shifts brought by digital technologies, one must recognize the conceptual paradox surrounding digital copyrighted works. In economic terms, they behave naturally as public goods, while copyright attempts to restore their rivalrousness and excludability. Within this paradox lies tension, between the aggregate social wealth spread by a work and its commoditized value, between network effects and reserved rights. How can markets emerge if we are not able to resolve this tension?

After discussing some theoretical aspects described above, this paper will attempt to cast new light on user rights (as posited by the Supreme Court of Canada in 2004) and other emerging concepts in copyright. In particular, the making available right will be analysed from the perspective of the library community. The goal is to express how libraries can fit in a distribution chain of cultural products through the two copyright tools at their disposal: licences/limitations and exceptions.

A more recent version of this post is available here.

I will be giving my talk shortly this morning at the e.Scape conference at Concordia University on the topic of :
The unexpected journey from a 60 minute lecture to a MOOC: a librarian’s mid-way report
I’ll be talking about how my use of technology has changes my professional practice.
I’ll briefly discuss MOOCs also, positioning them as the extreme end of the elearning continuum – both in terms of structure and pace. More on MOOCs here:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW3gMGqcZQc&w=560&h=315]
Mostly, I’ll discuss my training videos as well as the development of a business information literacy curriculum as part of my employment, most of which are in various stages as pilot projects or drafts.

Here is the poster for a debate I am participating in tomorrow from 6PM to 8PM at Concordia University’s Bronfman Center:

Concordia University
School of Community and Public Affairs
Concordia to Hold Panel Discussion on Open Access to Intellectual Property and Collective Rights Management in Canada

MONTREAL, March 12th, 2013, 18h00-20h00. The School of Community and Public Affairs, Concordia University, will host a panel discussion on open access to intellectual property and collective rights issues. With the recent passing of Bill C-11 by the Federal government and various proposed bills in the United States that enhance copyright law, this topic has garnered much attention in recent years. Advocates for limited copyright restrictions believe that easier access benefits education and research, while opponents argue that without clear and concrete regulation, this will result in a significant loss of revenue for creators and publishers. The event will feature five panelists from both sides of the spectrum. This discussion will take place on Tuesday, March 12, 2013, from 6:00-8:00 p.m. at Concordia University’s Samuel Bronfman building, located at 1590 Dr. Penfield. A small reception will follow the discussion.

Concordia’s School of Community and Public Affairs is one that has implanted itself deeply into the Montreal community and for decades has been at the forefront of public affairs, community concerns, policy evaluation, and has presented an environment for discussion, debate, and discourse on all related matters. The School is sending an open invitation to all students and faculty from the Concordia community and neighboring universities, as well as the general public and all media to take part in this event and to contribute to the discussion in order to educate and inform the public about the current debate.

Panelists for this event include; MP Charmaine Borg, NDP Digital Affairs Critic; Dr. David Lametti, professor and researcher for McGill University’s Centre for Intellectual Property Policy; Mr. Olivier Charbonneau, librarian for Concordia University; Me. Frédérique Couette, Legal Counsel for Copibec; and Mr. Philip Cercone, Executive Director of McGill-Queen’s University Press. Moderator: Me. Jonathan Levinson, Executive Director Institutional Planning and Analysis, Concordia University.

There is no admission fee, but places are limited.

The Facebook page of this event contains additional information.

Here is my proposed lecture for the e-Scape Conference at Concordia University:

1. Presentation Title:
The unexpected journey from a 60 minute lecture to a MOOC: a librarian’s mid-way report

2. A 100-word description of the session
Information Literacy can be understood as the curriculum Librarians must curate without a classroom. Traditionally, this has meant organising library services as well as in-class lectures to advise students on research skills and strategies. But two factors have moved me to explore a new approach. Firstly, the Internet and open education offer incredible opportunities to disseminate knowledge and collaborate with colleagues worldwide. Secondly, as one of the Business Librarians working closely with the John Molson School of Business, my community is broad and their needs are as deep as their passion for their field. In order to meet this challenge, I’ve implemented a series of training videos in order to test a new curriculum deployment strategy.

3. One to three learning objectives for the session
Determine the resource implications of designing a MOOC, in terms of effort (time), technology and skill
Evaluate the relevance of the MOOC model for one’s teaching

4. A bio about you, between 75 and 100 words
As an Associate Librarian at Concordia University, Olivier Charbonneau is primarily interested in copyright issues as well as questions of open access and social media (Web 2.0). He is a doctoral student at the Faculté de droit, Université de Montréal. He has over 15 years of professional involvement in library and cultural communities. He holds two masters degrees from Université de Montréal, one in information sciences and another in law, as well as an undergraduate degree in commerce from McGill University. He has kept a research blog since 2005 in French at www.culturelibre.ca and a work blog since 2011 in English at OutFind.ca.

Concordia University (my employer) is organizing a conference on eLearning from April 3th to the 5th 2013:

President Alan Shepard will kick off the three-day conference with some remarks speculating on the impact of e-learning on the future of universities. The program will also showcase the wide spectrum of online, hybrid, and technology-supported teaching formats already adopted by faculty at Concordia and will feature visits from leading figures in the field, who will present keynote speeches.
[…]
Organizers of the e-Scape conference are hoping a series of plenary sessions will facilitate lively discussion about the pedagogical merits of technology tools in a relatively casual setting. The program will also provide faculty with the latest research findings on how to integrate new technologies to enhance the classroom experience.

Among the topics to be tackled: incorporating wireless student reponse systems, also known as “clickers”; successfully engaging students in massive open online courses or “MOOCs”; and integrating multimedia elements and social media to best effect in teaching.
[…]

I’ll probably present my business information literacy vidoes then…

Also worth a peek, this slide deck from Concordia’s interim provost on e-learning:

Full presentation: http://www.concordia.ca/now/docs/e-learning_Feb2013.pdf

UNESCO releases Paris Open Education Resources (OER) Declaration:

OERs are teaching, learning or research materials that are in the public domain or released with an open license that allows for free use, adaptation, and distribution. UNESCO has long been a champion of OERs and continues to promote them through its Education, and Communication and Information Sectors.

“Based on the Paris OER Declaration, a comprehensive UNESCO OER Programme and strong global partnerships, we hope that at least 12 Member States will adopt national OER policies by 2015,” said Abel Caine, Congress organizer and UNESCO Programme Specialist for OER.

Here is the full text of the Paris OER Declaration
:

2012 WORLD OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES (OER) CONGRESS UNESCO, PARIS, JUNE 20-22, 2012
2012 PARIS OER DECLARATION
Preamble
The World OER Congress held at UNESCO, Paris on 20-22 June 2012, Mindful of relevant international statements including:
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 26.1), which states that: “Everyone has the right to education”;
The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Article 13.1), which recognizes “the right of everyone to education”;
The 1971 Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works and the 1996 WIPO Copyright Treaty;
The Millennium Declaration and the 2000 Dakar Framework for Action, which made global commitments to provide quality basic education for all children, youth and adults;
The 2003 World Summit on the Information Society, Declaration of Principles, committing “to build a people- centred, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society where everyone can create, access, utilize and share information and knowledge”;
The 2003 UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Promotion and Use of Multilingualism and Universal Access to Cyberspace;
The 2005 UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expression, which states that: “Equitable access to a rich and diversified range of cultural expressions from all over the world and access of cultures to the means of expressions and dissemination constitute important elements for enhancing cultural diversity and encouraging mutual understanding”;
The 2006 Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (Article 24), which recognises the rights of persons with disabilities to education;
The declarations of the six International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA) Conferences emphasising the fundamental role of Adult Learning and Education.
Emphasizing that the term Open Educational Resources (OER) was coined at UNESCO’s 2002 Forum on Open Courseware and designates “teaching, learning and research materials in any medium, digital or otherwise, that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions. Open licensing is built within the existing framework of intellectual property rights as defined by relevant international conventions and respects the authorship of the work”;
Recalling existing Declarations and Guidelines on Open Educational Resources such as the 2007 Cape Town Open Education Declaration, the 2009 Dakar Declaration on Open Educational Resources and the 2011 Commonwealth of Learning and UNESCO Guidelines on Open Educational Resources in Higher Education;
Noting that Open Educational Resources (OER) promote the aims of the international statements quoted above;
Recommends that States, within their capacities and authority:
a. Foster awareness and use of OER.
Promote and use OER to widen access to education at all levels, both formal and non-formal, in a perspective of lifelong learning, thus contributing to social inclusion, gender equity and special needs education. Improve both cost-efficiency and quality of teaching and learning outcomes through greater use of OER.
b. Facilitate enabling environments for use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT).
Bridge the digital divide by developing adequate infrastructure, in particular, affordable broadband connectivity,
widespread mobile technology and reliable electrical power supply. Improve media and information literacy and encourage the development and use of OER in open standard digital formats.
c. Reinforce the development of strategies and policies on OER.
Promote the development of specific policies for the production and use of OER within wider strategies for advancing education.
d. Promote the understanding and use of open licensing frameworks.
Facilitate the re-use, revision, remixing and redistribution of educational materials across the world through open licensing, which refers to a range of frameworks that allow different kinds of uses, while respecting the rights of any copyright holder.
e. Support capacity building for the sustainable development of quality learning materials.
Support institutions, train and motivate teachers and other personnel to produce and share high-quality, accessible educational resources, taking into account local needs and the full diversity of learners. Promote quality assurance and peer review of OER. Encourage the development of mechanisms for the assessment and certification of learning outcomes achieved through OER.
f. Foster strategic alliances for OER.
Take advantage of evolving technology to create opportunities for sharing materials which have been released under an open license in diverse media and ensure sustainability through new strategic partnerships within and among the education, industry, library, media and telecommunications sectors.
g. Encourage the development and adaptation of OER in a variety of languages and cultural contexts.
Favour the production and use of OER in local languages and diverse cultural contexts to ensure their relevance and accessibility. Intergovernmental organisations should encourage the sharing of OER across languages and cultures, respecting indigenous knowledge and rights.
h. Encourage research on OER.
Foster research on the development, use, evaluation and re-contextualisation of OER as well as on the opportunities and challenges they present, and their impact on the quality and cost-efficiency of teaching and learning in order to strengthen the evidence base for public investment in OER.
i. Facilitate finding, retrieving and sharing of OER.
Encourage the development of user-friendly tools to locate and retrieve OER that are specific and relevant to particular needs. Adopt appropriate open standards to ensure interoperability and to facilitate the use of OER in diverse media.
j. Encourage the open licensing of educational materials produced with public funds.
Governments/competent authorities can create substantial benefits for their citizens by ensuring that educational materials developed with public funds be made available under open licenses (with any restrictions they deem necessary) in order to maximize the impact of the investment.
2012-06-22