By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Quick Creativity: Music, Improvisation, and the Brain
The Eide's highlight more interesting research about our brains with a study on how jazz musicians deactivate one part of their brains (prefrontal and limbic) and simultaneously activate another part (sensory and motor) when spontaneously creating musical phrases. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Three Great MindManager Blogs
I've never found mindmaps particularly useful, but many people have. Those who use MindManager will want to look at these three blogs recommended by James McGee - Mike Jetter, Hobie Swan and Nick Duffill. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. 7 'Bad Language' Habits in Learning
The language we use in education has a large influence on how we view learning, and much of it comes from an industrial perspective, says Donald Clark. His view on assessment, for instance - "Language of assessment is the language of fear and failure. We sit exams and tests. We pass or fail. It's a red pen culture, where failure is failure, not an opportunity to try again, overcome and succeed. It's the finality of failure - no second chances that make it all so depressing." This is definitely the wrong perspective for someone starting a new job or a business. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Online Collaboration Tools - New Technologies And Web Services
New software programs are proliferating at an amazing rate. Nico Canali De Rossi and Luigi Canali De Rossi (aka Robin Good) have published a useful list of online collaboration tools, none of which I have seen before, even though I did a scan about 6 months ago. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Dawn of the Un-Book
Jay Cross writes about the slowness of the publishing industry to respond to change. He cites a study by the Jenkins Group, a custom book publishing firm, that found: -One-third of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives. -42 percent of college graduates never read another book after college. -80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year. -70 percent of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the past five years. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Software As a Service
The concept of "cloud computing" is also found in the idea of Software as a Service (SaaS). More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Are MMORPGs "Addictive"?
Dave and Greta Munger write a blog that reviews studies of cognition, especially those that have been peer-reviewed. This 2007 study, by J.M. Smyth, looks at the effects of playing Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) on the lives of those who play them, compared with players of other types of games. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Counting Down the Top 10 TEDTalks
"TEDTalks began as a simple attempt to share what happens at TED with the world. Under the moniker "ideas worth spreading," talks were released online." They reached a significant milestone recently with 50 million views since they debuted online two years ago. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. (Not) Coping with Cognitive Overload
Now attending NECC in San Antonio, Ewan McIntosh refers to a presentation by Chris Craft last week on cognitive load theory which is picking up new (or at least more) meaning for him at NECC. "There's. Too. Much. Noise. I mean noise in the physical sense and in this metaphorical one." He goes on to say that all of this overload is having a very negative impact on him and on those he encounters. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Your Market Is Laughing; at You
I am including a post from my co-guest editor Harold Jarche today, because his blog has some of the most thought provoking content out there, and because this particular post has one of my favorite videos - Father Guido Sarduci on the "five minute university". More...