By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Publishers Loosen Rules on E-textbooks
I guess the criticisms stung, as publishers have eased printing restrictions and extended the expiry date on the e-textbooks being sold at Princeton and elsewhere. Too little, too late. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Snowmass, Colorado
Well, we're into the dog days of August and as I drag myself to the mostly empty office and motivate myself to sort of work the mist outside melts into steam and a persistent ennui settles over the city. Over the weekend I put my Snowmass photos online, which I hope you'll enjoy. I, meanwhile, am going to find a comfortable chair in a shady spot and relax for a while with a tall tale and a cool drink. By Stephen Downes, Stephen's Web, August 15, 2005 [Refer][Research][Reflect]. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. New Option for Student Shoppers: E-Books
More on the DRM-enabled e-books being sold as texts by various universities, including Princeton. You save 33 percent, but "access to electronic textbooks will expire upon the completion of the associated class." In addition, the books allow "students to log notes that are linked to a particular section of the book. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Concrete Steps for a Free Curriculum
Rob Reynolds announces the start of a Free Curriculum Project that "will have, as its stated mission, the creation and distribution of free course materials covering K-20 and lifelong learning curricula." Before going too far, it would be worth looking at similar initiatives that have already been started, such as the free South African curriculum project, Library Training Resources, the , Free Home-School Curriculum, and more. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Blogs vs Lists
I can't really summarize it here, but a fascinating discussion has erupted on ITForum on the subject of using blogs for discussion rather than mailing lists. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Smart Classrooms
"The Smart Classrooms strategy brings together the future perspective and the momentum established by the 2002-2005 ICTs for Learning strategy to build the classroom of the future: the smart classroom". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. MSN Blogs Against it's Customers
Microsoft has launched a new service, MSN Filter, which is your one-stop shop for the inside scoop on what's happening across the Web, according to the people who know the most ... you! our team of bloggers will filter the best stories, photographs, links and other interesting tidbits that you've sent in, as well as items that they've dug up". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Implications of project, service and institutional deployment of Creative Commons licences in the United Kingdom
Stuart Yeates makes available this draft report on the use of Creative Commons in learning. PDF. His conclusions: "There is no reason to suggest that CC could not be used by public sector organisations in the UK. Not all the outputs from public sector organisations could be made available under CC. The use of CC would require significant changes to current organisational practice". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology
The June issue of the Australasian Journal of Educational Technology was made available August 1 (hey you guys, how about an RSS feed?) and I browsed through a few of the articles. Manjula D. Sharma, et.al., contribute a well-written but dull piece on using handheld keypads in classrooms (right on the edge, eh?). Elizabeth Murphy and Jamie Loveless offer an interesting self-analysis of the usefulness of their contributions to a discussion forum (I've always been afraid to do the same with mine). More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Another View of Podcasting
Will Brandon points to this article on podcasting and summarizes the shortcomings: "You can't 'skim' or speed-read a podcast. You can't add marginalia. You can't link out of one. If the only thing in the podcast is information, people are going to be bored to tears, they are going to hate being chained to that iPod, they are going to want to take notes (which they can't do if they listen while they drive, jog, wait in the bank line) and then they are back to a piece of paper again. What was the point?". More...