By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Daithí Ó hAnluain: NewsML Aims For the Mainstream, Online Journalism Review Online Journalism review May 8, 2006
NewsML is an XML format designed for news articles. It is similar to RSS, but also includes a detailed vocabulary for categorizing news stories. This article describes the progress (or lack of same) of NewsML as a new version, 2.0, is about to be released. Readers should note the parallels between NewsML and Learning Object Metadata (LOM). Most of the discussion concerns the complexity of the standard. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Clare Brett: Why Reading Matters Even More in the Digital Age, May 8, 2006
The latter half of this paper, dealing with the educational uses of weblogs and wikis, will be familiar to most readers of this newsletter. Leading into that material, though, is a nice description of the new literacies required by online readers. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Wesley Fryer: Ontario Blogs Put Up, Moving at the Speed of Creativity May 8, 2006
The Ontario edublogosphere moves forward. This item describes 'Ontario Blogs', "an online publishing project, coordinated by the Education Network of Ontario, where writers and readers can interact in a controlled environment. Students write articles and submit them online to the teacher for publication in the project blog. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Press Release: CIPPIC Study Shows Widespread Violation of Privacy Laws, CIPPIC May 8, 2006
This should be no surprise. A recently released report shows "widespread non-compliance with federal laws requiring openness, accountability, consent, and individual access to personal data." A companion report describes "the many ways that detailed personal information about consumers is gathered and traded in the marketplace." Something to keep in mind the next time they talk about the ethics of their customers. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Christopher D. Sessums[Edit][Delete]: This Machine Kills Fascists, Christopher D. Sessums : Weblog [Edit][Delete] May 8, 2006

We are the music-makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams.
World-losers and world-forsakers,
Upon whom the pale moon gleams;
Yet we are the movers and shakers,
Of the world forever, it seems.

Yes, I am officially back from my hiatus; thanks to those of you who have posted welcomes. Rob Wall kindly says "Given the hysteria around web based e-mail accounts, MySpace and other threats to the educational orthodoxy, the timing couldn't be better." And I do want to make a difference regarding these and other issues. More...