Geekcorps volunteers work in third world countries helping companies become technically competent IT businesses. Richard Koman interviews Geekcorps founder Ethan Zuckerman.

The article cover also the nascent Internet revolution going on in ghana. It seems that there are mainly two thing boosting internet in ghana, and they are different from the causes doing that in western countries: "There were two very real reasons for Net connectivity in Ghana. One was communication with the diaspora. So many Ghanaians live in Europe and the U.S. that email is a very effective way of bridging that gap. The other thing was the notion that there could be a market for Ghanian goods and services worldwide, and that market was going to be a lot more reachable online than it would be from any other medium. " Via Schockwellenreiter

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"Global warming was a good thing for Erik the Red. Without it, the Viking, exiled from Iceland for murder in AD982, might never have founded a settlement in Greenland. And without that home base, his son Lief Eriksson might never have ventured even further west 15 years later to winter in modern-day Maine, laying claim to being the first European to set foot on North America." Read the full story by Claire Miller at The Sydney Morning Herald.

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Temple University, Department of Anthropology, invites applications for the position of Visiting Professor in Visual Anthropology for the Fall 2003 semester, pending final budgetary approval. This will be a one-semester appointment. Candidates should have Ph.D. degree and experience in teaching undergraduate courses. The successful candidate will be expected to teach courses in visual anthropology and introductory undergraduate courses in anthropology. Temple University is an equal opportunity employer and strongly encourages women and candidates from ethnic backgrounds typically under-represented in higher education to apply. The deadline is May 30, 2003. Please send a letter of application, CV and the names and addresses of 3 referees to Charles Weitz, Chair, Department of Anthropology, Gladfelter Hall, Temple University 1115 West Berks Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122 via Anthro-L

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"The skulls of two Stone Age dogs believed to be the earliest known canines on record have been found, according to a team of Russian scientists. The dog duo, which lived approximately 14,000 years ago, appear to represent the first step of domestication from their wild wolf ancestors." Read the whole story at discoverynews.

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"Sheldon Zink, a medical anthropologist at the University of Pennsylvania, is currently involved in a legal fight over her field notes from research on a patient in an artificial- heart clinical trial. The patient's widow is charging in a lawsuit against the hospital and medical personnel who conducted the study that her husband was not adequately told about its impact. The defendants want Ms. Zink's notes because she observed the patient and medical staff during the clinical trial. Ms. Zink says that if she turned over the notes, she would be violating the rights of all of those she spoke to by breaking her promise of confidentiality. She says she is willing to go to jail rather than surrender the notes. While some anthropologists praise Ms. Zink's position -- others have gone to jail in similar circumstances -- some say she has already compromised her principles. She agreed toward the end of her study to become a patient advocate for the man whose treatment she was following. Critics say that such a decision -- however well intentioned -- took her out of her role as a scholar. Should an anthropologist ever turn over confidential field notes to a court? Did Ms. Zink compromise her ability to protect her sources?" Read more and the discussion by anthropologists on this at The Chronicle of Higher Education.

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The urge to provide "the other" with medical care bears fruit as ap tells us: "The office that treats mental health patients in Multnomah County had included Klingon on a list of 55 languages that could be spoken by incoming patients. But the inclusion of the Star Trek language drew a spate of tongue-in-cheek headlines. And now the county has rescinded its call, stressing that it hasn’t spent a penny of public money on Klingon interpretation. “It was a mistake, and a result of an overzealous attempt to ensure that our safety net systems can respond to all customers and clients,” Multnomah County chair Diane Linn said in a news release. County officials had previously said that no patient had ever come in speaking only Klingon, but that the county would pay a Klingon interpreter in the unlikely case one was actually needed. In recent years, Klingon has gone from being a fictional tongue for the Star Trek television and movie series to a complete language, with its own grammar, syntax and vocabulary." If you want to train yourself to be able to apply for the job, you can have a look at the Klingon alphabet here, or go directly to The Klingon Language Institute: "Klingon was invented by Marc Okrand, for use in some of the Star Trek movies. He invented not just a few words to make the Klingons sound alien, but a complete language, with its own vocabulary, grammar, and usage." Mental Health, Klingons ... in the 19th century a psychiatrist was called an "alienist", but the term vanished. Are cultural anthropologists, dealing with "the other", today's alienists? I found the explanation of the term on the frontispiece of Caleb Carr's novel The Alienist. Really worthwhile to read IMHO; and Franz Boas himself, icon of american cultural anthropology, appears in the novel. UPDATE: Over at Anthro-L Dustin M. Wax wrote an encompassing commentary on the Klingon-language story. Out of this an interesting thread developed.

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