By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Filling up Experiences at the Online Learning Filling Station
Like Derek Morrison, I have rolled my eyes at the thought of using a PDA, this after my less than fruitful experience with an iPaq a few years ago. I wonder whether my thoughts would change with one of the newer devices. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Overkill on Copyright Law
This editorial is typical of the reams of criticism piled on recent legislation passed in the United States, Attached as a little-noticed rider to a bill allowing families to filter offensive content, the new measure imposes harsh penalties on people copying and distributing movies. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The Age of Engagement
The funniest slide - slide 15 - rewrites Maslow's hierarchy to incorporate the desire for connectivity. The slide reflects the tone of this otherwise serious, and dauntingly documented, look at the bright, bright future of the internet. According to The Age of Engagement, the impact of the internet is just starting. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Your Identity, Open to All
In light of my recent comments on identity, this item seemed relevant. The author describes a product called ZabaSearch, which finds "a wealth of info sometimes dating back more than 10 years: residential addresses, phone numbers both listed and unlisted, birth year, even satellite photos of people's homes." There is much discussion of how freely available this information is, and how unreliable it is. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Mon Wiki Dieu!
If you have been looking for French language educational content, look no further; this posts links to a site linking 133 of them. The author also writes, "And I got there from Mario Asselin's wiki at his school Institut St-Joseph. It looks like the whole school is wiki-ed up." I'm not surprised; this is the same school I profiled in last's year's Educational Blogging in EDUCAUSE Review - the same issue of which contained Brian Lamb's Wiki Ready or Not. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Resistance is Useless: There is no Point in Authentication Systems (According to Stephen Downes)
Some more commentary on my mIDm proposal. Johannes Ernst writes "it does not allow a user to use different identifiers as easily as we do in LID (Lightweight Identity)." I disagree - using the User Agent Switcher, changing identities is as easy as selecting your preference from a drop-down menu. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Stephen's Web Community
Many of you have felt the sting of being accused of being a spammer by my discussion board system in recent weeks. Nobody regrets this more than I, as I have missed numerous worthwhile contributions. I have rewritten my discussion system from scratch and moved it over to the main site today. It isn't perfect - far from it - but at least it won't call you a spammer. That's the least I can do. A full code release - GPL of course - is coming soon. By Stephen Downes, Stephen's Web, May 6, 2005 [Refer][Research][Reflect]. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Marquette Joins BSA's DefineTheLine.com Initiative
Critical look at Marquette University's decision to join the Business Software Alliance program Define the Line. The program, which adovates against students sharing commercial software, was launched last October and now has one participant - Marquette. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Why DRM Sucks (Redux)
I had a similar experience of my own on a similar airplane, except with an actual DVD of Gangs of New York. Legally purchased movie won't play because of DRM failure. So I'm sympathetic. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. TeacherEd
TeacherEd, according to the website, is a free service, designed to connect teachers with each other. The site uses an ELGG platform (which now has a new development roadmap) and offers teachers a means to connect with other teachers interested in the same subject. Readers may be thrown off, however, when they click on a tag (a link describing a user-defined topic area) and find only a link to an RSS feed. More...