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Facebook for who?

AS YOUNGER generation Y users are turning away from Facebook, their grandparents are filling their places on the social networking site.

Computer users aged 55 and over are the fastest growing group to sign up to sites such as Facebook and MySpace, often using them to keep up to date with the lives of family and friends, especially grandchildren interstate and overseas - assuming they aren't among the growing number of younger users abandoning the social networking sites.

Figures show that the number of older users of Facebook increased nearly tenfold in America last year, while university-age users declined by 55 per cent.

Australian figures show that about one in five over the age of 55 is connecting through Facebook, with 550,000 logging in. Facebook claims to have more than 7 million users.

Social network strategist Laurel Papworth said Australia's take-up rate was generally about 2 to 3 per cent higher than the US for computer use.

The online community has responded by creating groups such as ''My grandma is on Facebook'', ''My granny is on Facebook and I love it!'' and ''Proud Nannas, Grandmas, Pas and Grandpas on Facebook''.

''Senior citizens are time rich and want to go where their grandchildren will go,'' Ms Papworth said.

Deakin University marketing and consumer behaviour specialist Associate Professor David Bednall said the 55-plus generation had used computers in the workplace and many now had the time to devote to social networking sites. He said the increase in usage came off a low base.

''If they have the mechanism and, particularly, if they have the time to do it, they are now learning what all the fuss is about … it's a catch-up,'' Professor Bednall said.

He said older users accessed social networking sites for the information they wanted and then logged off, whereas younger users tended to use the sites for long periods.

''[Older people] are not doing it for the sake of it; they might find somebody, or get in contact with someone but it is more purposeful rather than just enjoying the dialogue,'' he said.

Children's author Goldie Alexander used Facebook recently to advertise her latest book, Hedgeburners.

She became a Facebook user three years ago to keep in touch with her grandchildren but found it had its limits. She now has 41 Facebook friends but uses it only ''spasmodically''. ''It is mostly only when people contact me because I never remember the password,'' Alexander said.

''Mostly it is for the grandchildren and when other writers contact me, although I have convinced one grandchild to email me instead.''

Alexander, who says she is well into the 55-plus age bracket, is an avid user of other technologies such as Skype and YouTube.

''I think every generation has their own way of communicating. This generation is partnering later, and I think it keeps them from being lonely, so they spend more time on it than the older generation,'' she said.

But some older users have a harder time adapting to the social networking world, said Ms Papworth. ''All the [senior citizens] I have come across start off really nervous, but they get more confidence.''

Ms Papworth said the concept of the Facebook ''friend'' puzzled some. ''Some people would come to me saying, 'I don't understand why people I don't know want to be my friend; isn't that rude if I say no?'.''

Strange weather we are having or not!

SEASONAL CALENDARS FOR THE MELBOURNE AREA

Compiled by Dr. Beth Gott of the School of Biological Sciences, Monash University.

All over Australia, Aborigines had their own local yearly calendars. Just as the climate in Kakadu is very different from that of Melbourne, so the Wurundjeri had their own way of marking the changing seasons. The division of the year into four seasons comes from Northern Europe, and does not fit Melbourne. We still think of winter as an unfavourable season for plants, when northern European trees drop their leaves and become dormant, but for our native plants, especially the small tuberous herbs, winter is a season of growth. At this time the bush is green, and the temperatures are rarely low enough to stop growth. The unfavourable season is high summer, when water is scarce, and much of the ground flora becomes brown and dies off. Water-plants such as Cumbungi are usually green during the summer, they die off during the winter.

Alan Reid originally suggested a calendar for the Middle Yarra region which has six seasons. Autumn, Winter, Pre-spring, True Spring, Early Summer and Late Summer. Glen Jameson (Victorian Naturalist 1996, Vol. 1 13 pp.26,67,123,269,313. 1997, Vol. 1 14, p.4S.) has modified this to: Late Summer, Early Winter, Deep Winter, Early Spring, True Spring, and High Summer, and has given lists of many plants and animals to be found in each of these seasons. Alan Reid agrees with Jameson, but emphasises that the seasons vary from place to place - for example the coastal seasons of the Bunwurrung would have been different.

Jones, Mackay and Pisani, from the University of Adelaide (Jones, D., Mackay, S. & Pisani, A. 1997 Patterns in the Valley of the Christmas Bush: a seasonal calendar for the upper Yarra Valley. Victorian Naturalist 114(5):246-249.) have proposed a seven season calendar.

This has Kangaroo Apple Season (December), Dry Season (Jan-Feb), Eel Season (March), Wombat Season (April-August), Orchid Season (September), Tadpole Season (October), Grass-flowering Season (November). The Museum of Victoria has chosen to follow this pattern in its displays in Melbourne and at Coranderrk. The Museum have named the seasons after the Woiwurrung language names for eels, wombats, and orchid, tadpoles and grass, but it is not known if these names were used by the Woiwurrung.

All the above are attempts to find the natural seasonal divisions of the area based on modern observations. Although William Thomas gave some seasonal happenings, that also did not represent the Aboriginal view. In the seasonal descriptions which follow we have combined elements of Jameson and Thomas, and have tried to include the activities of the people.

Lifestyle depended very much on the rhythm of the seasons. People moved over their extensive territories in regular cycles, maximising the availability of food and shelter. When food was plentiful there were opportunities to carry out ritual responsibilities and opportunities for ceremonial gatherings.

They were always mindful of the seasons in selecting the localities in which to spend their time, taking into account not only the natural features of the ground, but the facilities for obtaining food.

Much was known about the stars and the seasons. People could read the sky. For example, they would know that when a particular constellation appeared it was time to hunt a particular animal, or dig up a particular plant. See Thomas v.21, p98 "they are great observers of the starry heavens" for details. The flowering of particular plants was often used to mark seasonal events. Even today, fisherman use the flowering of the Coast Tea-tree in early November to mark the entry of Snapper into Port Phillip Bay.

We will start our survey in March, because this marked the end of the dry summer.

Late Summer, February - Mid March.
After the dry hot summer, the Autumn rains arrived and the days became cooler. People started burning those parts of the land where the scrub or tussock grass had become too dense during the summer, but they were advised by their elders where and when to burn, taking the weather into account so that the fires did not spread too far. It was important to clear the undergrowth and provide fertilising ash so that the small tuberous food plants could grow well after the rains came in March. Burning also made it easier to catch animals. Plants which had suffered from lack of water during the summer were now able to renew growth. DJAAK, Wattle gum wattle gum, was plentiful, and in the middle of this month the WARRAK Banksia or Honeysuckle, Long-leaf Box and Silver-leaf Stringybark came into blossom, providing sweet nectar, and attracting birds. March has been called the Eel Season, Eel because the female Short-finned eels were moving down the streams to the sea; the male eels had been leaving in smaller numbers during the spring and summer. These were an important food, and among the vegetables there were the starchy roots of the water plants, which began to die down after their summer growth. Some late summer fruits such as mistletoe berries were also available. Birds started to flock before heading north for the winter, to be replaced by other birds which will soon start to arrive from Tasmania.

Early Winter, April & May.
All sorts of fungi appeared with the rains, while the ground was still warm. BUNJIL, the Eagle, was building his nest, and the Brush-tail and Ringtail Possums were mating. Bolin Bolin billabong started to fill. Many different moths emerged, and were food for birds during the day and for Sugar and Feathertail gliders at night. Eastern Grey Kangaroos and Wallabies fed on the new growth.

Deep Winter- June, mid July
This cold time of the year slowed down but did not stop plant growth. Animals such as Echidnas were breeding, birds nesting. The flats near the rivers and creeks were often flooded; and the low lands generally were wet and cold, and unsuitable for camping, so people moved to the best sheltered spots on the uplands, where they were able to catch koalas, possums, and wombats, and to find grubs in the trees The leaves of the water plants had become dry and brown, but the small tuberous herbs were green and growing; the roots of both were good food. Fragrant nectar came from BURGILBURGIL, Honey-pots, Acrotriche serrulata, a small shrub which hid its flowers close to the ground. BULAIT- Cherry Ballart formed fruit. People constructed good bark WILLAMS (shelters) and kept fires burning for warmth. They wrapped themselves in rugs made from possum skins.

Early Spring - Mid July, August
As early as mid-July, MUYAN, Silver Wattle, started to flower, the first of the wattles to do so. It earned the name of 'Barak's Wattle' because when he died at Coranderrk on August 15th 1903, MUYAN was in full golden bloom. Yellow Box also flowered, providing much nectar. Early Nancy was the first of the small food plants to flower, and by late August the MURNONG was budding.Pacific Black Duck People moved slowly towards the lower lands as the spring temperatures rose, there they were able to snare ducks, to catch other kinds of wild-fowl, and, as the season advanced, to get eggs from the nests of all kinds of birds.

True Spring- September, October.
This was a time of plenty. Lilies, Orchids and MURNONG floweredmurnong, and still provided root vegetables. Greens were consumed in large quantities. Flowers were everywhere -Wattles, Hop Goodenia, Burgan, Kangaroo Apple, as well as orchids and small lilies which had been building their tubers over the winter. Snakes and Lizards became active, young Kangaroos came out of the pouch. Migrant birds - the Sacred Kingfisher for example, returned from the north. Tadpoles appeared in ponds, and the river, fed by melting snows from the mountains, flowed into the flood-plains and replenished the billabongs. Water-plants put on green leaves. Nowadays this flooding is prevented.

High Summer November, December, January
WARRA WARRAP/GARRONG, late Black Wattle, with pale yellow blossoms, flowered in November. As the summer advanced, the land began to dry, and people congregated around the reliable water-sources, the creeks, rivers and billabongs. Fish was an important food - Galaxias moved up the river from the sea. Where rocky falls blocked the river, as in the Prince's Bridge area and at Dight's Fails, fish would accumulate in large numbers, and could be easily taken. Eels started to come downriver. Fish traps were set. Water sources were important for the wildlife, so large animals such as Kangaroos and Emus would come to drink and could be caught. Lizards and snakes were active. Grasses flowered - Kangaroo Grass, Wallaby Grass, Spear Grass, Tussock Grass and the Common Reed. Fruits ripened -, MORR - Currant-bush, GARRAWANG - Apple-berry, White Elderberry, Kangaroo Apples and sweet LAAP - Manna, could be collected beneath the WURUN - Manna Gums The small tuberous plants died back, but the women still knew where they could dig for their roots, which at this time were at their best. . When people went up into the mountain gullies to get firedrills, they ate the pith from the centre of the treeferns. In the warm weather, big shelters were not needed unless it rained.

As food was plentiful, large gatherings of the tribes and clans took place. With permission from Bunurong clans, people went to the sea-coast to swim and gather shellfish and the fruits of Pigface and Coast Beard-heath. Flounder and Flathead could be speared or netted in the shallows, and shellfish were gathered.

The Dandenong Ranges were the hunting grounds for both the Bunurong (Western Port tribe) whose land lay to the south, and the Wurundjeri (Yarra Yarra) tribe whose land lay to the north and west. When the first pastoralists came: Blacks from the Western Port and Yarra Yarra tribes were frequently seen during the summer months, hunting in the forest for wallaby, possum and koalas.
Our knowledge of pre-European life in Victoria is fragmentary and sometimes confusing. Below is listed some of the names of Aboriginal seasons as recorded by three writers working separately during the nineteenth century.
Season Thomas
(Wurundjeri) McCrae
(Bunurong) Blake
(Wurundjeri)
Winter Per-ring-nger-wein, Perrin
(perein = no more sun)
Moode-bo-ram Perrin Birrin
birrin
(mudangan,
wudawiin = cold weather)
Spring Moo-de-e-ram Pareip Pareip
Summer 1 Nerrem-nre-wein
Nerrim-ngerwein
Nger-wein = sun) Bullarto n'yoweenth
(plenty sun) Pareip
Summer 2 -Wygabil-ny-ewin
(Old Man sun)
Autumn Berrip Manemit (?good) birrin



from the Herring Island website

the touchscreen coffee table

Microsoft Surface brings Minority Report to life
ASHER MOSES
February 9, 2010 - 2:02PM

Microsoft launches the Surface, a multi-user, multi-touch coffee table computer.

Microsoft Australia today began selling its $21,000 Surface touchscreen coffee table computer, which responds to natural hand gestures and real-world objects and will soon be deployed in stores across the country.

The computers, which feature a 30-inch multi-touch touchscreen panel, are controlled by hand gestures like the iPhone and the technology found in the science fiction movie Minority Report.

ANZ, Curtin University and Lonely Planet have already signed up to deploy the technology and Microsoft expects thousands to be adopted by the retail, hospitality, education, automotive and financial services industries by year's end.
Microsoft developer evangelist Michael Kordahi demonstrates Surface's multi-touch capabilities. Click for more photos

Microsoft developer evangelist Michael Kordahi demonstrates Surface's multi-touch capabilities. Photo: Adam Hollingworth

* Microsoft developer evangelist Michael Kordahi demonstrates Surface's multi-touch capabilities.
* Microsoft claims Surface makes computing more social.
* Lonely Planet's Surface app.
* The Make Words spelling game designed for primary school kids.
* In bars, Surface can be used to flirt with people sitting at other tables.
* A Tennis game for Surface developed by ANZ for attendees of the Australian Open.
* AT&T has rolled out Surface machines in stores across the US.
* Tech specs available at the customer's fingertips inside an AT&T store.
* Photos can be manipulated and shared using iPhone-like multi-touch gestures.
* Some hotels and restaurants are using Surface as a digital menu.
* The maps application on Surface.
* Move over jukebox...
* Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's entertainment and devices division.

Developer nSquared, which has been designing Surface apps for the education industry, believes Surface will soon replace digital whiteboards in classrooms.

First unveiled in 2008, the machines have already been introduced into 19 markets around the world.

Some US restaurants and hotels - such as the Sheraton, Starwood and Harrah's chains - let customers order food directly, book entertainment and play music and games using the table.

Surface computers can also interact with non-digital objects placed on top of them, including digital cameras, mobile phones and business cards. For instance, photos could be sucked out of a camera, manipulated on the screen using touch and then shared over email.

In AT&T stores in the US, customers can compare mobile features and plans by placing handsets on the Surface screen.

"The goal here is to make the technology so natural that you don't even notice it," said Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's entertainment and devices division worldwide.

"It takes the digital world and analogue world and sort of merges them - you don't need a mouse, you don't need a keyboard; it's touch but it's touch at a whole new level."

An expensive proposition

The machines, which are sold directly to businesses by Microsoft, will initially cost $21,000 for the commercial model and $24,500 for the developer model.

Although the official launch was today, Microsoft has shown off Surface in Australia before, with Lonely Planet announcing last year that it would have the tables in its new Sydney Airport store.

However, this failed to materialise as Microsoft was unable to supply the company with a Surface computer. Today, Microsoft said supply was no longer an issue.

At the recent Australian Open in Melbourne, ANZ allowed punters to play games against each other on two Surface machines. It plans to use the computers for financial planning in its branches.

"This is a consumer technology but we're actually selling it through businesses and they're creating the services and applications that people are using on top of it," Bach said.

"It's about providing this magical wow experience that opens people up to a new way of interacting with technology that they've never experienced before."

Making computing more social

Michael Kordahi, developer evangelist at Microsoft Australia, said the Surface machine's 50 touch points made it a social device that multiple people could interact with at once.

He showed off several apps including a wine bar app that allows customers to flick though various wine choices in a natural way before placing an order. When the wine glass arrives and is placed on the tablet, the screen pulls up various information including suggestions on food that goes with that particular wine and details of the region the wine comes from.

Lonely Planet plans to use the technology in stores to allow customers to plan trips using the company's guide books.

Placing a cardboard "passport" on to the table enables users to drag videos, information and photos about their destination on to the passport, which can then be accessed later on a computer or mobile phone.

Curtin University is adopting Surface to explore new ways of having students engage and collaborate with each other. The university will be working with partners to develop Surface applications that can be used across all departments.

"We have a really strong focus on the concept of what is a next generation learning space ... we see the Surface as an enabling technology that will be quite pivotal for what universities and classrooms are all about - learning and enrichment," said Kim Wisniewski, senior systems engineer at Curtin University's future technology group.

Iain McDonald, managing director of digital marketing company Amnesia, says his was the first Australian organisation to receive Surface computers to experiment with. Amnesia business cards can be placed on the table, which then displays the person's social networking site content and other details.

"When you see people get around the table and touch it for the first time it's a very different experience. The object recognition is really something that nothing else offers on the market ... we've developed things like a car configurator for Audi where you play with elements of the car on the table," he said.

Significant developer support

There are already 250 partners worldwide creating apps for Surface, including four in Australia.

Object Consulting developed ANZ's app, while nSquared is one of Australia's largest Surface developers and has been working on apps for primary schools, high schools and universities.

Today, it showed off the Make Words app, a competitive game for primary school students.

"The only thing that limits the Surface unit is people's imaginations, so we could design and work with an entire curriculum that's in schools at the moment covering maths, geography, English," said Shirralee Willis, business development manager at nSquared.

Willis acknowledged that funding may be an issue for some schools but said she expected the first units to arrive in classrooms within the next few months.

At some Starwood and Sheraton hotels in the US, customers can pay for items by dropping a credit card on to the touchscreen, while those visiting stores of US telco AT&T can compare phone features and plans by placing two different phones on the table.

Casino giant Harrah's has introduced Surface computers at the Rio, which let patrons order drinks, make dinner reservations, book shows, watch YouTube videos, play touchscreen games and even flirt with people sitting at other tables.

At some hotels and restaurants, bills can be split by placing two cards on the table and dragging menu items onto the respective cards.

Music dowloading copyright issues

Net piracy fight takes body blow
ASHER MOSES
February 5, 2010



HOLLYWOOD studios and record labels are being forced to go back to the drawing board to come up with a new way of combating online piracy after the Federal Court ruled that internet service providers are not required to police copyright infringement on their networks.

The music industry says it may have no choice but to sue individuals for illegal file sharing unless the federal government intervenes with a solution to its piracy woes.

All the major film studios sued iiNet in an effort to force the internet service provider to warn and even disconnect customers who repeatedly download movies illegally.

It was the first case of its kind in the world and the first time an Australian trial had been covered live on Twitter.

In a landmark judgment handed down yesterday morning, Justice Dennis Cowdroy rejected the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft's claim that iiNet ''authorised'' its customers' copyright infringement by failing to act on thousands of infringement notices sent to it by AFACT.

Justice Cowdroy found iiNet had done no more than provide an internet service to its users. He said iiNet did not have control over its customers' use of the BitTorrentfile-sharing software, which customers used to infringe the studios' copyright.

He said: ''iiNet is not responsible if an iiNet user uses that system to bring about copyright infringement … the law recognises no positive obligation on any person to protect the copyright of another.''

Tony Joyner, a partner in the technology and IT group at law firm Freehills, said he was particularly interested in the government's response because the online piracy issues raised by the studios at the trial remained a ''very big and real problem''.

''Everything iiNet says is rational,'' he said. ''They're saying we're just a simple conduit and if people are doing bad things it's not up to us to be the police. The studios are also being very rational and saying it's happening on your turf, so we need you to do something.''

The case, while brought by the film studios, also has a big impact on the music industry, which was hoping for a precedent it could use to force ISPs to co-operate on reducing online piracy. Sabiene Heindl, general manager of the music industry's anti-piracy arm, Music Industry Piracy Investigations, said: ''Today's Federal Court decision suggests that copyright owners broadly may have no choice but to sue individuals for illegal file-sharing. This would be a most unfortunate outcome.''

AFACT executive director Neil Gane said he had 21 days to decide whether to appeal. The studios would now increase their lobbying of the government to change the law to force ISPs to be liable for the downloading habits of customers.

''We are confident that the government will not support a policy outcome which allows for the copyright infringement to continue unabated,'' he said.

Freehills' Mr Joyner said: ''I think the only way there won't be a legislative response is if … an appeal will occur and has some chance of succeeding relatively quickly.''

In July last year, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said he was awaiting the outcome of the iiNet case before deciding whether there was a need for legislative change. Yesterday, his spokeswoman said the government would examine the decision before making any further comment.

Senator Conroy had appeared to be on the side of the studios, saying at a conference in April last year that iiNet's defence in the case ''belongs in a Yes Minister episode''.

Google tablet

Google tablet to give Apple a touch of its own medicine
ASHER MOSES
February 3, 2010 - 12:15PM



Google's design for a new tablet computer is based on its Chrome operating system and would directly rival the iPad.

Google is trying to one-up Apple, showing off designs for a new tablet computer based on its Chrome operating system that would be a direct rival to the iPad.

Just weeks after launching its own iPhone competitor in the US, the Nexus One, Google might soon extend its competition with Apple further as it seeks to push its search and other products on to as many devices as possible.

Google's user interface designer, Glen Murphy, published mock-ups of a Google tablet on the search giant's Chromium.org website, along with a video of how users would interact with the device.
Google's mockup designs for a Chrome OS-powered tablet computer. Click for more photos

Late last year Google announced Chrome OS, an operating system predominantly for small netbooks that would be based around the web browser, providing quick boot times and easy access to Google's array of online services.

The first Chrome OS netbooks are due to arrive this year, but Google is now considering extending the platform to other devices including tablets, desktops and even big screen TVs.

Chrome OS is a separate project to Google's Android platform for smartphones.

Google's tablet video shows the user interacting with the multi-touch touchscreen in a similar way to the iPad, using similar gestures to resize and interact with windows and launch applications. The device would include a five- to 10-inch screen and an on-screen keyboard.

On his blog, Murphy published an image showing the full range of hand gestures that would be supported by the tablet.

Google chief executive officer Eric Schmidt was on the board of Apple until August last year, when he resigned citing a conflict of interest over its Android phone platform and Chrome OS.

Now, the companies are increasingly at each other's throats.

Apple chief executive officer Steve Jobs reportedly told staff at a recent "Town Hall" meeting that Google was the one that began competing with Apple by entering the phone industry, labelling the company's "Don't be evil" corporate mantra "a load of crap".

Earlier, Google released an unofficial, browser-based version of its Google Voice app for the iPhone, which allows users to make cheap mobile calls using the internet. This effectively bypassed Apple, which had previously declined to allow Google Voice to be included in its App Store.

Microsoft has unsuccessfully tried to push tablet computers for the past decade, to no avail, perhaps because its designs were bulky and resembled regular laptops. The main difference was that the screens were touch-sensitive and could swivel to lie flat in a slate format.

But Microsoft also sees potential in the new iPad-style, multi-touch tablets, with some gadget sites late last year publishing images of a Microsoft "Courier" prototype. The images suggested it would include two touch screens that face each other in a book format.

Other manufacturers - including HP, Lenovo and Dell - are planning to launch tablet computers based on the Windows 7, Linux and Google Android operating systems.

TechCrunch reported today that, according to anonymous sources, Apple is working on a larger version of the iPad that would function more like a Mac than an iPhone.

Gartner analyst Robin Simpson said other companies including Google would have trouble competing with Apple's iPad because Apple had already developed a strong ecosystem around its products, allowing users to buy content from iTunes with one click.

"You can make great hardware, you can have a fantastic, easy-to-use operating system, but to make it commercially successful I think you need an ecosystem that encourages lots and lots of independent third party development and makes it really easy for users to discover content and buy content," Simpson said in a phone interview.

"It's easy to do hardware, it's really hard to create an ecosystem and Apple's got a head-start on everybody because they've been doing this for four to five years, based around iTunes."

Google would not say when or if it would start selling a tablet, saying, "Chrome OS is still in development and we are constantly experimenting with various user interfaces to determine what designs would produce the best user experience."

The tablet models would compete heavily with netbooks, which are small, lightweight laptops designed for accessing the web, editing documents or working on email while on the go.

To differentiate netbooks from the tablet competitors, PC makers are adding significantly more grunt to their netbook offerings, to such an extent that it's difficult to describe them as netbooks.

Dell today launched its Alienware M11x, which is an ultra-portable laptop with an 11-inch screen but includes a top-of-the-line graphics chip and processor. Dell described the machine as "the fastest sub-12 inch laptop in the universe".

Source: smh.com.au

Controversial or not?!

Wikileaks shuts down, unable to plug funding gap
ASHER MOSES
February 2, 2010 - 12:08PM

Comments 6
Shining a light in murky places ... Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

Shining a light in murky places ... Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Photo: Esther Dyson / Flickr

The anonymous whistleblower website Wikileaks, which has been a thorn in the side of governments and big business for three years, has shut down temporarily because it has run out of money.

The document repository, founded by an Australian living in East Africa, has been the catalyst for countless front-page stories around the world.

It has exposed serious business and political corruption and sparked a political scandal in Australia when it published the federal government's secret blacklist of banned websites.

In a message posted on the site, founder Julian Assange appealed for donations from the public, saying he had received hundreds of thousands of pages relating to "corrupt banks, the US detainee system, the Iraq war, China, the UN and many others" but did not have the resources to release them.

The site, which claims to be non-profit and does not accept donations from governments or corporations, costs about $US600,000 ($678,000) a year to run, including staff.

But so far only $US130,000 has been raised for this year.

"Even $10 will pay to put one of these reports into another 10,000 hands and $1000, a million," Assange wrote.

Wikileaks has an impressive track record of exposing corruption, revealing public interest information and keeping organisations honest.

It has published millions of documents and, says the BBC, has fought off more than 100 legal challenges and won awards from the Economist and Amnesty International.

"One of the reasons why Wikileaks is so useful is that it's able to put original documents up - unfiltered by comment and editorial," Julian Petley, chairman of the British Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, said.

In Australia, it caused a major stir in March last year when it published the Australian Communications and Media Authority's blacklist of websites that would be banned under the federal government's internet filtering policy.

The leak confirmed that the blacklist targeted not just nasty sites but a slew of online poker sites, YouTube links, regular gay and straight porn sites, Wikipedia entries, euthanasia sites, websites of fringe religions such as satanic sites, fetish sites, Christian sites, the website of a tour operator and even that of a Queensland dentist.

Soon after its launch, in August 2007, a document obtained by Wikileaks was used as the primary source for a front-page story in The Guardian about corruption surrounding former Kenyan leader Daniel arap Moi.

The site was taken offline in early 2008 after Swiss bank Julius Baer launched legal action to prevent the spread of documents alleging tax and money laundering schemes involving Cayman Islands accounts. The bank dropped the case within a month after a significant public outcry.

Wikileaks was the subject of another injunction late last year when it published a controversial report implicating commodities giant Trafigura in a toxic chemical dumping incident in the Ivory Coast.

It has also published the US Army's operations manual for the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, leaked emails from former Alaska governor Sarah Palin's private Yahoo email account, high-level Scientology documents and the membership list for the far-right British National Party.

In September last year, Wikileaks posted email correspondence between scientists in the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, which was seized on by climate sceptics around the world to suggest that the threat of climate change was being overinflated.

In November, the site released more than half a million US pager messages covering a 24-hour period on the day of the attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001.

Media organisations including The Guardian and The Spectator, which have benefited greatly from Wikileaks, have run editorials urging people to donate to the site.

A "Save Wikileaks" group on Facebook has just under 1300 members.

Source: smh.com.au