By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Migual Guhlin[Edit][Delete]: Around the Corner, Mousing Around [Edit][Delete] September 13, 2006

I can't even get some people (like Dave Warlick) to acknowledge the argument that file sharing might be ethical and that it might be the publishers who are the the pirates. In the mean time, the extortion continues as a grandmother sits in her sewing room and ponders why she is being threatened with a $100,000 lawsuit for buying a CD off eBay. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Unattributed[Edit][Delete]: Will Wikipedia Mean the End Of Traditional Encyclopedias?, Wall Street Journal [Edit][Delete] September 12, 2006

A bit like WWF Smackdown (oh, sorry, WWE now), Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales and Britannica's Dale Hoiberg engage in a back and forth debate on the relative merits of each other's product. "Artificially excluding good people from the process is not the best way to gather accurate knowledge". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Konrad Glogowski[Edit][Delete]: On Commenting and Readerly Voice, Blog of Proximal Development [Edit][Delete] September 12, 2006

In 1980 I was sent to Austin, texas, for three months of training by Texas Instruments. After completing the self-study course (video and workbook) on MVS/JES3 operations, and the extra course I took on the JES3 Job Control Language (all fascinating stuff, believe me) I took another optional course, 'On the Way Up', on effective communication in the corporate environment. The course advocated the methodology of 'feel - want - willing' - that is, express how something makes you feel, state what you want, and show what you are willing to do in return. It was effective, and it worked (though I wasn't willing to become a worker-drone, and so TI promoted the other three trainees, who had completed one course, with a lower grade than I, because they 'fit in' better, deciding that I was too much of a loose cannon (even then!) to promote). More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Stephen Downes[Edit][Delete]: Learning in Web 2.0, September 12, 2006

So anyhow. Suppose you are in the heart of Africa and you have lost your airline tickets and passport. Do you (a) go straight to the Canadian embassy (assume you are Canadian) and get emergency tranportation home? (b) sit tight and wait for news from the authorities, not taking any risks? Or (c) go on safari?
It's not the sort of question you expect to come up a lot. Nonetheless, I faced it this week. And the winning answer was... c! Yes, I went on safari, came back several days later, and it looks like all will be well and that by this time tomorrow I will be halfway over the Indian Ocean on my way to Perth, and then Sydney. I hope.
In the meantime, I made my way to Cape Town and had a couple of fascinating talks, including this lunchtime talk (8.427 megabytes MP3) at the University of Cape Town. Intended to cover Web 2.0 tools, it went a little off topic (as it was supposed to) and became a look at just what Web 2.0 learning is supposed to be. I have a lot more audio and video, and more, to upload - but it will have to wait for now. [Tags: Canada, Web 2.0, Podcasting] [Comment]. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Mark Goldenberg[Edit][Delete]: Employer Investment in Workplace Learning in Canada, CCL / Canadian Policy Research Networks [Edit][Delete] September 15, 2006

I appreciate the efforts of the Canadian Council on Learning to look at workplace learning. However, I wish they had hired somebody who is, you know, in learning, rather than a policy wonk, to write the report. I will be quite critical, and I'm sorry about this, but reports like this really bother me, as they exhibit a policy agenda, but no particular committment toward learning. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Mara Rose Williams and Kevin Murphy[Edit][Delete]: Report: College Costs Squeeze Students, Kansas City Star [Edit][Delete] September 15, 2006

A fairly typical report (and one that characterized my very first published article way back in 1980). "According to U.S. Census statistics cited in the report, the nation's college students paid 42 percent more for tuition in 2005 than they paid in 2000. Tuition costs are rising at a rate that far outpaces inflation." Of course, this is "a bogus document concocted by a partisan left-wing group." Yeah. Right. Maybe we should give money to corporations instead? Yeah, that will solve the education shortage. Right? Really? I mean, read on. Am I being dogmatic and annoying? Well, perhaps. But somebody has to be. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Sarah Schmidt[Edit][Delete]: E-learning Gets Legal Lessons in Battle Over Patents, Ottawa Citizen [Edit][Delete] September 15, 2006

Cute (though inaccurate) headline. In this article (printed in the Ottawa Citizen, the Hamilton Star, the Windsor Spectator, and the Edmonton Journal (among others, probably) the Blackboard patent is held up for examination and found wanting. WebCT developer Murray Goldberg makes some good points. "I think the reason there is such a fury (at universities) is they perceive Blackboard is patenting something that largely came out of academic institutions, or was significantly molded out of research at academic institutions," Goldberg says. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Nancy Willard[Edit][Delete]: Youth Risk Online: An Overview, Education World [Edit][Delete] September 15, 2006

Nancy Willard, who has been writing quality posts about related issues in discussion lists for years, is writing a series of articles on internet risks for children in Education World. The first item is a list of these risks. I think we need to look at this list fairly carefully. we need to ask, is the risk unique to the internet? Is the stress on the internet risk downplaying a real-life risk (for example, does it make children think that the risk of adult predators is higher on the internet than in the home, when the reverse is the case)? Is the risk even a risk, or is it just some sort of imposed morality (let's analyze - are teenage 'hook-ups' a real risk, or just morally frowned upon). More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Charles Storch[Edit][Delete]: The Geniuses, Chicago Tribune [Edit][Delete] September 15, 2006

Just for the record, I didn't receive the call. It must be because I was on the road, or something. I have long thought something like this should replace those big job creation projects. If you apply, and have a reasonable plan, you get one government grant. Sometimes you don't even have to apply, you just get it. But that's it. If you waste it, and your company folds, that's it. You don't get another grant. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Various authors[Edit][Delete]: The Future of learning in a Networked World, September 15, 2006

OK, getting ready for the next amazing event, the Future of learning in a Networked World unconference in New Zealand. This main link is to the conference wiki. Also, some Maori greetings. Also, some audio on the conference. More...