Group as User: Flaming and the Design of Social Software
Interesting look at the problem of designing social software for groups (as opposed to for collections of individuals). Most of the discussion looks at means of addressing flaming - of course, my interest these days is in squelching spam. I am still not convinced that push technologies - such as emails, discussion boards, and the like - can withstand the influence of these pests. Sure, if you have a large enough group, like Wikipedia or Slashdot, you can stamp out abuse. More...

More on Blogging Referee Reports and Hacking Peer Review
Just to be clear - I am in the camp that believes that we should do away with prior-to-publication peer review. That said, Seb Paquet explores the concept of blogging peer reviews in this short item. More...

College Students Encouraged to 'Define the Line'
The new Define the Line website, announced today by the Business Software Alliance, is a condescending attempt by its backers to discourage file sharing through fear (you might get a virus) and intimidation (file sharing is stealing, stealing is a crime, ergo...) and even self-interest (file sharing costs jobs, one of which may be yours). The survey published along with the site, though (click on 'Research'), shows massive support in the student population for file sharing and attitudes ranging from indifference to support among the professors. More...

Desire2Learn and MERLOT Partner
Yet another partnership agreement involving MERLOT, this one between the learning object repository and Desire2Learn, an Ontario (Canada) based provider of enterprise learning systems. More...

Honey, I Shrunk the eLearning
Via George Siemens, and I agree with the observation he makes: "PDAs are second-choice devices for learning. If other options exist, they will be used first. If not, PDAs will do." He also observes that "It is interesting, however, to note the number of functions now being performed on cell phones. It's possible that the "small screen syndrome" that limits PDAs for learning will end up being a generational (not device) issue." I'm not so sure. More...

Interoperability in action - a Video Presentation
I can't view this because I don't have a Qucktime player for my Linux and my Windows machine is dead, dead, dead, but it has been getting good reviews from people who know, so I feel confident passing it along. This video from JISC "has been produced to demonstrate the important role of interoperability and standards when creating and sharing learning materials. More...

An Update from the Digital World
People on the business side of things will want to read this report from Morgan Stanley on the evolution of blogs and RSS from a financial perspective. Good, accurate assessment without the hype; I like how they used timelines to identify content niches. The report specifically recommends looking at sites like PumpAudio, which licenses music for advertising or televsion, for alternative business models. More...

Enterprise Newsmastering Examples: Myst Technologies
People are beginning to see the possibilities of the Edu_RSS model of content aggregation and syndication. This item describes a number of enterprise services offered by a Colorado company called MyST-Technology that operate just as my service does. This will be a big market. It should be here in New Brunswick, and it bothers me that it isn't. More...

Games Deserve a Place in Class
"We want to reassure anxious parents and teachers that games are a legitimate cultural form that deserve critical analysis in schools just as film, television and literature do. But we also want to argue that full understanding only comes when children have the tools to create their own games." The research website is available online. More...

Single Sign-on At Last
Martin Terre Blanche weighs in with a solid description of Sxip (is it pronounced 'skip'? Perhaps someone could inform me here) highlighting the advantages but also sounding a cautious note. "I'm not sure if charging licensing fees is the best way to go," he writes. More...