Activity
The International Biographical Centre creates "awards" and offers them widely. In the mid-2000s, awards cost the recipient between US$375 and $495 each, but as of 2010 the cost can be as high as $395 for a Commemorative Medal or US$440 for a laminated certificate.It is not part of Cambridge University at all.
Like the American Biographical Institute, the IBC states that "entry into our books is based on merit alone and we never charge for inclusion." Individuals who pay for inclusion receive a larger entry and are offered specially crafted awards. Further, merit selection is less rigorous with the IBC sending "invitations" to selected sources who nominate others or are nominated by a third party. It is also possible to nominate a person, an organization, or oneself on their website for later inclusion.
American Biographical Institution (Inc.) gives awards like Man of The Year, Scientific Award of the Excellence to many people in a year and the person may be same at a time. Every award can be purchased from them.
In 2007, referring to the International Biographical Centre, the American Bibliographical Institute and Marquis Who's Who, Jan Margosian, consumer information coordinator for the Oregon Department of Justice, warned consumers to be wary and called the companies "pretty tacky", adding "I don't know why they would put you in there if they weren't hoping to get you to buy the book.. "You truly have to look at how they are marketing and what the spin is. It's something you might want to watch out for."
The Department of Commerce of the Government of Western Australia classified the Centre's offers as a scam and said:
- The material promoting the International Biographical Centre creates a false impression about the credentials of the organisation. It also wrongly implies that the receiver of the letter has been picked through a special research process considering their work and qualifications.
It quoted blog users who describe the publications as a "Who’s Who of gullible people".
Read more about this topic: International Biographical Centre
Famous quotes containing the word activity:
“In communist society, where nobody has one exclusive sphere of activity but each can become accomplished in any branch he wishes, society regulates the general production and thus makes it possible for me to do one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticize after dinner, just as I have a mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, shepherd or critic.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)
“I suspect there isn’t an actor alive who was able to truthfully answer his family’s questions after his first day’s activity in his future profession.”
—Simone Signoret (1921–1985)
“Who shall set a limit to the influence of a human being? There are men, who, by their sympathetic attractions, carry nations with them, and lead the activity of the human race. And if there be such a tie, that, wherever the mind of man goes, nature will accompany him, perhaps there are men whose magnetisms are of that force to draw material and elemental powers, and, where they appear, immense instrumentalities organize around them.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)