By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Beginning of the End For Open Web Data APIs?
Google is abandoning the Google search API (glad I never built anything that depended on it) and replacing it with an AJAX widget, which "forces you to hand over part of your web page to Google so that Google can display the search box and show the results the way they want." Just remember - when there is centralized ownership and control, there will eventually be limitations and restrictions intended solely for the benefit of that ownership, at your expense. It's true in the realm of world government, which is why we oppose fascism. It's also true in software. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Cultural Implications of Social Software, Teaching, and Learning: Ready or Not
I think the title suggests more ambition than the paper delivers, but the result is still worth a look. The implications are drawn from Fast Company writers David Teten's and Scott Allen's 10 cultural implications of social software. Most of it has been said before and some of it (eg. "The prosumer is always right.") is dubious hype. Sessums also looks at the barriers to implementing social software in schools and argues, "advancing the adoption and use of social software in schools requires the three C's--comfort, confidence, and creativity. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Myths, Research and Sharing
Harold Jarche looks at flaws in corporate research, asking, "Is it plagiarism if you steal a lie?" Some companies are named. Hm. Of course, it would be pretty hard for me to plagiarize in this forum, as every word I write is subject to instant scrutiny. Jarche writes, "The free information and research is just as good, if not better, than the 'research' that is sold as fancy white papers to large, unsuspecting organisations." I agree. Of course, I would - but then again, I have to stand behind my work every day in a public forum. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The Names Database
I received an email today, "Stephen Downes (stephen@downes.ca) sent you the invitation below on 10-18-2006 15:56 from namesdatabase.com." Pretty clearly I didn't invite myself to the service. Still, I go to the site and see, "Stephen Downes sent you here personally. Enter your info to find out why." I did this a while back, for some other name, and discovered they still don't tell you why - you have to pay them money first. So if you get an invite that appears to be from me from this service, ignore it. I didn't invite you. This site is part of the Classmates.com group of sites, an enterprise that is getting very spamlike and annoying. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Strategies and Frameworks for Institutional Repositories
I'll say it again, because I can. Libraries should stop buying books, and start supporting local content; they should stop worrying about other people's content and begin hosting their own people's content. In this regard, "Institutional repositories (IRs) are proliferating as they become an indispensable component for information and knowledge sharing in the scholarly world" and "users now desire and expect transportable content that can be utilized within various digital environments and reused in multiple formats." Good level-headed and informed look at the subject. More...