RSS: A Big Success In Danger of Failure
The author argues that "it is clear that without the use of meta-directories and their standardized classifications and taxonomies the RSS community is in danger of collapsing under the weight of its own success and becoming the 'push' of 2004." Having already achieved more success than was ever dreamed for push, this danger appears slight. More...

IMS Quarterly Meetings: Zürich, Switzerland, 2004
This summary of the recent IMS meetings in Zurich highlights a number of European standards initiatives, such as uch as ProLearn and TELCERT along with American projects recently sponsored by the Mellon foundation, such as SAKAI and Lionshare. More...

LiveJournal FOAF
LiveJournal, probably the most tightly knit of all the blogging software communities (LiveJournal users explicitly identify other LiveJournal users as 'friends' on their websites), is now exporting FOAF files - it is only a matter of time now before other blogging software contains the same function, and hence, before the Semantic Social Network really takes off. More...

Constructivism and Hands-on Exercises
Intelligent discussion of the composition of statements of learning objectives in a constructivist environment. "It seems to me," the author writes, "that we always tend to define learning objectives centered around tasks, even though the ability to accomplish tasks is only part of the learning required in order to be able to correctly choose and apply task-based knowledge in practice; the type of learning that constructivism promotes." Nice take from Bill Brandon, in which he suggests that the author "is looking for a way to guide learners without directing or telling them." And the author's response. More...

Total Quality Management Strategic Plan for Distance Course Development
It's enough to make some academics shudder, of course, but this article describes the development and application of an evaluation rubric to distance learning courses. The think with measuring quality is that you have to be sure you are measuring for the right things. More...

TrackBack: Where Blogs Learn Their Places
Via elearnspace. This article is a concise and accurate introduction to the concept of the 'trackback' in blogging. As the author (who has obviously done his homework) explains, "A TrackBack ping is blogspeak for a short message sent from one Web server to another." It lets one blog know that another blog is linking to it. More...

No Future?
Good diagram depicting types of knowledge sharing (and non-sharing). My organization, like most, I suppose, belongs in the fourth group: the "knowledge fortress," where knowledge is hoarded against external threats, and where sharing is encouraged only though building cross functional teams - hence our emphasis on inter-group collaboration, and also on collaboration with selected companies and universities. More...

Networks...

A moment...
Give me (lever and) a place to stand, and I will move the world.

The network seeks its own balance.

Not a posteriori, not a priori; in the moment.

Quality, quantity, moment.

To perceive a moment, one must be outside space and time. A forest perceived only by seeing more than the trees, a wave perceived only by seeing more than the droplets of water. The moment is created not by types of entities, or numbers of entities, but combinations of entities. More...

Before Teaching Ethics, Stop Kidding Yourself
The point of this article is to encourage would-be teachers of ethics to be honest about including their own self interest in assessments of what we would do in various circumstances where our test of ethics is tested. It is hard not to read this item as an attempt to elevate self interest as a moral principle, but I don't think this is the author's intent (even if it is an outcome). More...

Nonprofit Groups to Consider New 'Code of Ethics'
In this era when the ethics of our political and corporate leaders are, at best, questionable, it seems odd to read that non-profits ought to "be held to the same standard." Obviously the managers of non-profits, including universities, ought to behave in an ethical manner, but we should aim for a higher standard. More...