By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. A Matter of Perspective — Elsevier Acquires Mendeley . . . or, Mendeley Sells Itself to Elsevier
Kent Anderson, The Scholarly Kitchen, April 9, 2013
Once again my reluctance to embrace what appeared to be a really good project has been justified. According to their website, "Mendeley is a free reference manager and academic social network that can help you organize your research, collaborate with others online, and discover the latest research." More...
13 mars 2019
A Matter of Perspective — Elsevier Acquires Mendeley . . . or, Mendeley Sells Itself to Elsevier
The One Laptop Per Child Correlation With Massive Open Online Courses
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The One Laptop Per Child Correlation With Massive Open Online Courses
Wayan Vota, Education Technology Debate, April 11, 2013
Wayan Vota gets to the core purpose of MOOCs, at least as I see them. "What we need to bear in mind is that the MOOCs are trying to make better quality education available to a great mass of people who are currently “non-consumers” of education and such quality is currently superior by far to whatever they may be getting right now. More...
The Post-PC Age is Upon Us
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The Post-PC Age is Upon Us
Wesley Fryer, Moving, April 11, 2013
The frightening news for PC manufacturers:
- “Gartner May Be Too Scared To Say It, But the PC Is Dead” (5 April 2013 by Mark Gartner for ReadWriteWeb)
- “FU, Windows 8, PC shipment decline is worst EVER” (10 April 2013 by Joe Wilcox for Betanews)
But wait. In most cases, rapidly expanding growth has a terminus point. You can't keep increasing sales indefinitely, because eventually the market reaches saturation. More...
A new wave of educational efforts across Africa exploring the use of ICTs
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. A new wave of educational efforts across Africa exploring the use of ICTs
Michael Trucano, EduTech, April 11, 2013
An update on e-learning initiatives in Africa. Includes this bit: "A low-cost, pay-as-you-go model is at the heart of many of the innovative business models 2iE is pursuing. By breaking payments into small pieces, and not requiring that (for example) a student pay an entire semester's tuition. ... 'An African solution for the Africa economy' is how 2iE describes this approach, which is labels the taxi model ('taxi-brousse'). More...
La Palestine a-t-elle un Moyen Âge ?
La Palestine a-t-elle un Moyen Âge ? Julien Loiseau (Aix-Marseille Univ, CNRS, IREMAM)
19 mars 2019, 10h30-12h30, MMSH, salle André Raymond
« La Palestine est-elle née (en tant que réalité unifiée, catégorie géo-historique et champ de recherche) en 1948 ? Ou pour le dire de manière moins abrupte, les réalités palestiniennes contemporaines peuvent-elles être inscrites par les acteurs et les chercheurs dans une histoire longue sans perdre leur cohérence ? La place centrale donnée à al-Aqsa dans l’identité palestinienne, ou l’affirmation selon laquelle la Palestine est un waqf depuis l’avènement de l’islam, montrent bien comment l’histoire longue est aujourd’hui convoquée dans les représentations spatiales et temporelles de la Palestine.
On tentera de répondre à ces questions, et par là-même de dépayser la Palestine comme catégorie géo-historique, en replaçant celle-ci dans la longue durée du millénaire médiéval. La Palestine a-t-elle un Moyen Âge comme elle pourrait avoir aussi une Antiquité ou une Modernité ? Tout en maniant avec la prudence requise un chrononyme forgé pour qualifier une période de l’histoire de l’Europe occidentale, on interrogera dans le temps long de l’histoire du Proche-Orient médiéval les moments au cours desquelles la cohérence géo-historique de la Palestine s’est affirmée ou s’est à l’inverse diluée dans d’autres configurations spatiales et temporelles. »
Responsables : Julien Loiseau, Cédric Parizot et Sbeih Sbeih
Ce séminaire interrogera les modalités de construction de la Palestine comme objet d’étude et leurs effets sur la structuration du champ de la recherche.
Cette démarche est nécessaire dans un contexte où le conflit israélo-palestinien continue de structurer fortement les cadres à travers lesquels nous pensons, nous analysons et nous représentons la Palestine. En confrontant des travaux récents d’historiens, d’anthropologues, de politistes, de sociologues, de géographes ou de littéraires nous fixons deux objectifs principaux. D’une part, il s’agira de mettre en évidence les multiples constructions spatiales et temporelles auxquelles renvoie la Palestine et les dépayser. D’autre part, nous nous efforcerons de développer une réflexion critique sur nos propres approches, méthodes et objets de recherche.
Séances le 3ème mardi de chaque mois à partir de novembre 2018, à la MMSH. Plus...
Flipping the classroom
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Flipping the classroom
Rosanna Tamburri, University Affairs, April 10, 2013
Nice article basically summarizing Desire2Learn in University Affairs, a Canadian magazine read mostly by university professors and administrators. It covers the original founding of the company by John Baker, its struggles to grow amid the Blackboard lawsuit controversy, and its current success explanding internationally and launching new learning support tools. More...
The Empire acquires the rebel alliance: Mendeley users revolt against Elsevier takeover
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The Empire acquires the rebel alliance: Mendeley users revolt against Elsevier takeover
Matthew Ingram, paidContent, April 10, 2013
Continuing from this item covered yesterday, it appears (unsurprisingly) that Mendeley users are not happy with Elsevier's acquisition of the company. Some of the most stinging comments:
- "Mendeley cannot fix Elsevier's reputation. Elsevier published fake journals, backed SOPA, used bundles to screw scholars/libraries. Too evil." - danah boyd
- "The thought of trusting @Elsevier with detailed info about my reading habits is, well, repulsive. Sorry, @mrgunn, but I'm out." - David Weinberger
- "Within a year your company will be effectively dismantled and anyone left over who actually cares about open access can start over from scratch." - commenter on Hacker News
There's more, oh so much more. More...
Six Ways the edX Announcement Gets Automated Essay Grading Wrong
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Six Ways the edX Announcement Gets Automated Essay Grading Wrong
Elijah Mayfield, e-Literate, April 10, 2013
I quite enjoyed this critique of the edX announcement on automated grading, not so much for the critique (though those are always fun) but because of the way the article advanced my understanding of automated essay grading. More...
Do We Still Need the "Opinions Are My Own" Social Media Disclaimer?
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Do We Still Need the "Opinions Are My Own" Social Media Disclaimer?
Joshua Kim, Inside Higher Ed, April 8, 2013
I've never used the "Opinions expressed are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer" disclaimer. This is not because my words represent an official position of my employer. Indeed, quite the opposite. More...
How to Set Up Your Own Private Cloud Storage Service in Five Minutes with OwnCloud
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. How to Set Up Your Own Private Cloud Storage Service in Five Minutes with OwnCloud
Thorin Klosowski , LifeHacker, April 8, 2013
I ran across this while looking for something else, but would definitely like to point to it as the way of the future. Most of us are familiar with cloud applications, such as Google Docs or Windows Live, and some us are familiar with cloud storage, such as Dropbox or Amazon Web Services. More...
