The mysteries of human cognitive functions explored

Ben Goldacre, an English Science geek, reports on some interesting
research into human perception: the influence of evidence on decision
making and formation of opinions.

He describes research which show that corrections to news
articles have the effect of reinforcing the proven false allegation,
rather than removing or reducing it. No idea why yet. Test subjects
reading faux news articles which contained corrections to allegations
presented earlier in the text vs. the control group that read the
same first bit but without the corrections determined that if the
first part coincides with the test subject's existing biases then the
correction has the counter-intuitive effect of reinforcing the
information contradicted by the correction.

For more details and a link to the research study see Goldacre's Evidence based smear campaigns

Web Tool to Explore How Products Influence Stock Prices

Neat interactive tool to explore relative influence of various products on a company's stock price available from trefis.com. Once you sign up for a free account, you can alter trend lines to build your own stock price estimates.


We learned of this through Information Aesthetics e-mail alert received on April 2:

Trefis: Understanding How Products Influence Stock Price

Posted: 31 Mar 2010 10:22 PM PDT


"Trefis [trefis.com] offers visual snapshots that demonstrate the relative importance of products that comprise a specific company's stock price. People can interactively personalize any forecast using their local knowledge or expertise to build conviction in a stock price estimate or ask questions and vet opinions on specific forecasts with experts and friends."

How to Grow the Bottom Line in a Down Economy March 25, 5-6 pm free

How to Grow the Bottom Line
in a Down Economy
Turnaround Techniques with Dr. Don Bibeault, author of the bestselling book Corporate Turnaround: How Managers Turn Losers into Winners

Thursday, March 25, 5-6 pm
(Admission is free)
Golden Gate University
536 Mission Street, San Francisco, Auditorium 2202


The economy is down but your company’s results needn’t be. Get ideas on positioning your company from one of America’s premier turnaround leaders.
Dr. Don Bibeault, author of the bestselling book Corporate Turnaround: How Managers Turn Losers into Winners, will show how your company can emerge as an even stronger competitor as the economy heals.

For more information, contact Janice Carter,
jcarter@ggu.edu 415 442-7248

Green Printing - Really!

After some delays due to set-up issues, GGU's Green Printing "pay-for-print" is now live.

Green Print Information

• Cost is $0.12 per page.
• All public printers in the University Library operate by using a copy card. Cards may be purchased from the card dispenser located in the Mission Street room next to the copy machine.
• You will need to use a one dollar bill for the first copy card purchase. After you receive your card, you may add additional money to your card if you wish. Please do not insert more than one dollar bill for initial card.
• If you already have a card, insert the card in the card dispenser and add whatever amount you wish to add into bill acceptor.
• For problems with printers and refunds, see the circulation desk staff.
• Faculty & Staff should contact their departments for a copy card; library staff do not have the ability to give faculty/staff free printing or photocopies.
  

Step-By-Step Instructions

At the Computer:

1. When you are ready to print a document, click File and select Print.
2. Select desired print options and click OK.
3. At the Name prompt field, please type your full name and Click NEXT.
4. Go to the Print Release Station nearest to your computer.

At the Print Release Station:

1. Insert your Copy Card into the card reader for print job list.
2. Type in the name you entered for your print job.
3. Notice the number of pages and cost for your print job.
4. Click Print or Delete.
5. Remove your Copy Card completely from the reader after you are done.

International Industry Information

Larry notified us that Information Advisor made its article on locating International industry information, published last month, freely available via

http://informationadvisor.com/InternationalRoundup.pdf

According to Bob Berkman, editor of The Information Advisor, the article is

"a round up of some of the best sources (market research and industry
databases, international agencies like UN, OECD, World Bank, associations,
etc.); and search strategies for zeroing in on official and reputable
information on industries around the globe."

Note that the GGU University Library provides GGU students and faculty with access to the major stand alone databases the article recommends: 1) Mergent Online, 2) S&P Net Advantage, and 3) OneSource, as well as to some of the databases the article's author accesses via Dialog, ABI Inform and the Economist.

A number of the organizational links the author provides are also included in the GGU University Library Country Information LibGuide, available via http://ggu.libguides.com/country

Balancing work and school number one reason students leave college, according to Public Agenda survey

"The number one reason students give for leaving school
is the fact that they had to work and go to school at the
same time and, despite their best efforts, the stress of
trying to do both eventually took its toll. ..." according to a survey by Public Agenda, http://www.publicagenda.org/files/pdf/theirwholelivesaheadofthem.pdf funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
p 5

"So what would help?"
Most "point first to options that would give them more
flexibility in schedules and help them mitigate the challenge of working
and going to school at the same time. Eight in 10 of those who did not
complete college supported two proposals that they believe would make
college graduation feasible: 1) making it possible for part-time students to
be eligible for more financial aid (81 percent said this would help 'a lot');
and 2) offering more courses in the evening and on weekends so that they
could continue working while taking classes (78 percent said this would
help 'a lot')." p. 18

We were alerted to the study by an entry in an Academic Impressions e-mail which linked to a Washington Post article,
"Majority of College Dropouts Cite Financial Struggles as Main Cause," by Jenna Johnson, Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 9, 2009; http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/09/AR2009120903045.html

Intersecting Social Justice and Public Policy for a Better Understanding of Who Lives in America

Please join us for an exciting, free presentation on Intersecting Social Justice and Public Policy for a Better Understanding of Who Lives in America


Friday, October 23, 2009
5:00 – 6:30 p.m.
Golden Gate University
536 Mission Street, San Francisco, Room 5203

Dr. Johnson’s research centers on social justice and equity within the fields of higher education, human resource management, leadership and public affairs. He seeks to give “voice” to populations traditionally underrepresented such as people of color, LGBT individuals, women and immigrants.

Dr. Richard Greggory Johnson III has edited and contribued to the following books:

• Resilience: Queer Professors from the Working Class (with Ken Oldfield,
SUNY, 2008);
• A Twenty-First Century Approach to Teaching Social Justice: Education for both Advocacy and Action (Peter Lang, 2009) and
• The Queer Community: Continuing the Struggle for Social Justice (Birkdale, 2009).

Dr. Johnson graduated from Golden Gate University with a Doctorate in Public Policy and Administration in 1995 and is currently an Associate Professor with Tenure in the Leadership and Policy Studies Masters and Doctoral Programs at the University of Vermont.

Please spread the word to others who may be interested.


For more information contact: Janice Carter, jcarter@ggu.edu
Director, GGU University Library