Some conceptual issues in the study of Borders and Surveillance

This article reinforces everything that we have been talking about thus far this semester. Its written by a Professor at MIT, interesting to think that we have been generating some of the same ideas that he is writing about. Its a really great read, looks long but goes quick. I highly suggest everyone read this!

An Exercise in Self Deception

This article argues the point that the increased levels of security at the Mexican border is actually contributing to the increase in Mexican migrant workers in the United States, stating that the journey into America is much more difficult so those that make it are more apt to stay longer and work harder. He makes a good argument for decreasing border spending and embracing the Mexican migrant worker to better the continental integration of economy which NAFTA started.

Architects without borders

http://www.awb.iohome.net
This is a website that describes and has much information about an international organization that is non profit and non government driven, humane relief collaboration that works on the reconstruction and rebuilding of tragedy stricken areas who need relief to rebuild, but empowers the people of the area with knowledge and lets the decisions of restructuring be driven by the individuals of that area that will take part in the future of that nation or area as its grows back to the site and prominent area it was before the destructive force that is mother earth.

Boundary between people and changing media

I read this article on yahoo. It concerns the world's oldest newspaper Sweden's Post-och Inrikes Tidningar. The Newspaper, founded in 1645 by Sweden's Queen Kristina, became a Web-only publication on Jan. 1. Though the intent of the change is to enlarge the clientele, therefore more readers, the move creates a boundary for those people who have used the newspaper for years, and who are not familiar/accustomed to the new medium, and for whom the function of the newspaper was not merely informative but, of great cultural value. While the change serves as a bridge between the Sweden community the newspaper has been serving for hundreds of year with other communities outside of Swedden, it creates this new space (I wonder whether this would be a heterotopia), which is alien to the part of the community it proudly served for hundreds of years.

Anyway, here is the short article if you want to read it. I think it is an interesting take on border.

World's oldest newspaper goes digital By KARL RITTER

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - For centuries, readers thumbed through the crackling pages of Sweden's Post-och Inrikes Tidningar newspaper. No longer. The world's oldest paper still in circulation has dropped its paper edition and now exists only in cyberspace. The newspaper, founded in 1645 by Sweden's Queen Kristina, became a Web-only publication on Jan. 1. It's a fate, many ink-stained writers and readers fear, that may await many of the world's most venerable journals.
"We think it's a cultural disaster," said Hans Holm, who served as the chief editor of Post-och Inrikes Tidningar for 20 years. "It is sad when you have worked with it for so long and it has been around for so long."
Queen Kristina used the publication to keep her subjects informed of the affairs of state, Holm said, and the first editions, which were more like pamphlets, were carried by courier and posted on note boards in cities and towns throughout the kingdom.
Today, Post-och Inrikes Tidningar, which means mail and domestic tidings, runs legal announcements by corporations, courts and certain government agencies — about 1,500 a day according to Olov Vikstrom, the current editor.
The paper edition was certainly not some mass-market tabloid. It had a meager circulation of only 1,000 or so, although the Web site is expected to attract more readers, Vikstrom said.
The newspaper is owned by the Swedish Academy, known for awarding the annual Nobel Prize in Literature. But it recently sold the publishing rights to the Swedish Companies Registration Office, a government agency.
Despite its online transformation, Post-och Inrikes Tidningar remains No. 1 on a ranking of the oldest newspapers still in circulation compiled by the Paris-based World Association of Newspapers.
"An online newspaper is still a newspaper, so we'll leave it on the list," WAN spokesman Larry Kilman said.

Despite Crackdown, Migrants Stream Into South Mexico

Four Salvadoran men in jeans and T-shirts trudged along the railroad tracks under a hot sun, their steps carrying them steadily toward a fuzzy but seductive dream.
They had been in Mexico for only a few hours and already federal police officers had forced them to strip and had taken almost all their cash, they said. They had some 1,500 miles to go to reach the United States border, with no food or water and $9 each.