By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Yellow Arrow
If the inventors of CueCat had had 'public service' in mind, rather than 'advertising medium', this is what they might have come up with (and instead of being offline, they would have seen their technology attached to every mobile phone in the world and a wealth of site based resources proliferate - though it's not too late; there's still no reason why photo-phones can't double as scanners with the right (CueCat?) technology). More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Paradigms in E-Learning
Short post I sent to DEOS-L last week in response to Farhad Saba's contention on that list that "e-learning is not a paradigm." I respond that there is a distinct discipline I call 'online learning' and that the evidence that it is indeed a distinct discipline is overwhelming. My post outlines what I think that paradigm looks like and offers an argument to show that it is distinct. By Stephen Downes, Stephen's Web, June 9, 2005 [Refer][Research][Reflect]. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Evaluation of the Practitioner Trial of LAMS: Final Report
The JISC evaluation of LAMS which seeks to answer the question, "Does the use of a learning design tool such as LAMS support effective practice in designing for learning?" Seb Schmoller summarizes: "According to the report, only 21 practitioners reported back to the evaluation team during the evaluation, and of these, 8 were not part of the original 40. Of the 21 respondents, only 13 had actually run (or attempted to run) a LAMS learning sequence." Oh, and the answer to the question. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Google Translator: The Universal Language
How close are we getting to usable automatic translation? Close enough that translation companies are getting worried." What does the Google Browser do when it encounters a Japanese page? It will show you an English version of it. You wouldn’t even notice it’s Japanese, except for text contained within graphics or Flash, and a little icon Google might show that indicates Auto-translation has been triggered. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Technology Ethics Lessons Shouldn't Begin at College
The first sentence gives you the point of view: "I am concerned about the lack of ethical behavior and the misuse of university resources by our students as they engage in peer-to-peer file sharing of copyrighted materials." I am concerned about the lack of ethical behaviour on the part of music (and other publishers) but I don't see any university administrators worried about that. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Getting Real, Step 1: No Functional Spec
I agree witht he main point, which is that applications should be designed from the interface perspective, and not a functional specification. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Creation of a Learning Landscape: Weblogging and Social Networking in the Context of E-portfolios
Talks about e-portfolios, but more importantly, quotes Helen Barret: "I made the public statement this week, that high stakes assessment and accountability are killing portfolios as a reflective tool to support deep learning. Those mandated portfolios have lost their heart and soul: not creating meaning, but jumping through hoops!" And Misja Hoebe, who makes a similar point. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The Sharing Economy
I have been quite unhappy with our elected leaders ever since a certain Supreme Court decision here in Canada recently, one that portends the privatization of our health care system in spite our history of electing governments who promised over and over that they would protect public health care. Quite unhappy? Seething. So if you detect a certain edge in today's newsletter, it's because of yet another turning of the screw of cynicism and disillusionment. More...