Dispatches from a world in turmoil

Tumult and turmoil: privacy in an ambient world

Ambient Intelligence (AmI) and ubiquitous computing allow us to consider a future where computation is embedded into our daily social lives. This vision raises its own important questions. Our own interest in privacy predates this impending vision, but nonetheless holds a great deal of relevance there. As a result, we have recently conducted a wide reaching study of people’s attitudes to potent...

Dispatches from abroad: aground in a sea of TB.

ral Sea, Karakalpakstan — It's another punishingly hot day as I make my way to the project sites for a routine supervisory visit. Médecins sans Frontières is in this remote , semi-autonomous region of Uzbekistan to help the local Ministry of Health combat a frightening tuberculosis epidemic. By training local health care workers and providing drugs, laboratories , and water and sanitation upgra...

Lessons from the Financial Turmoil

On 14–15 July 2008, the Reserve Bank held a conference on ‘Lessons from the Financial Turmoil of 2007 and 2008’. The conference volume, which includes papers and discussions, will be available on 31 October.1 The following is the introductory chapter of the volume by Paul Bloxham (Head of Financial Conditions Section, Economic Analysis Department) and Christopher Kent (Head of the Bank’s Econom...

third world intellectuals in v. s. naipaul’s fiction: the mimic men, a bend in the river, magic seeds

this thesis attempts to study the representations of the third-world intellectuals in three fictional works by the british-educated trinidadian nobel-winner v. s. naipaul: the mimic men, a bend in the river, and magic seeds. the first one recounts the story of ralph singh’s sense of alienation, his experiences as a colonial politician, and his struggle to give order to his disorderly world thro...

Dispatches from abroad: laughter amid the land mines.