By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Matrix
Those familiar with Unix-style permissions will know that it constructs a number out of the biary values for read, write and execute, creating a separate number for each of the owner, group and world. This post extends that mechanism by adding Creative Commons values to it. Hence, "73333: This means that the person can view the open work freely... 77770 Free to access, use, modify, distribute, no guarantee of future freedom". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Towards Passion-Based Conversations
How do we make e-learning work in today's classroom? I'm listening right now to a conversation devoted to the design of a conferencing system based around small group discussions - that age-old mechanism for ensuring that any dissenting or radical voice is thoroughly expunged before it can possibly surface publicly. On the other hand, "We need to learn how to sustain conversations that are initiated by the students themselves, not conversations that emerge from the official Ministry documents or our own interests and beliefs." It reminds me that we embody our beliefs in our technology. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. 2005 - 2010: The OpenCourseWars
You will enjoy David Wiley's future history of open source even if it is ultimately a sustained argument for the abolition of the non-commercial clause in Creative Commons licensing (drawing on the previously noted conflict between what Creative Commons says the clause means and what MIT says it means). I stand by my defense of the clause and by my non-technical interpretation (specifically - if you're making money off it, it's commercial, and if you have to ask whether or not a use is commercial, it's commercial). Wiley also felt compelled to write a subsequent defense of MIT OCW. Not that I would ever doubt his support either for open courseware or MIT's version of it. And while Wiley's own passion for a future of open courseware may never merit 15 minutes on CNN, it should be known that there are other criteria more meaningful, and that his own work, as much as anything done over at MIT, is significant. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Wii.Js
I still think the Wii is bigger than 2L. Why? "wii.js (via) A JavaScript library that lets you detect the Wii browser, and provides easy hooks for reacting to keys pressed on the Wiimote." Of course, what we really want is a 3D distributed Wii. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Read, Think, Remix
The big question: "At the point when these networks become institutionalized, are they then, by extension, part and parcel of this mission critical - are they in the business of producing a consuming subject for the global market? For I think many of us have been interpreting these tools as an alternative to such a pragmatic logic." And an indication of why the pledge on my home page is an integral part of the work I do in online learning. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Uses and Abuses of Personas
Yes. Yes. "People don't visit a website or fire up a program in order to perform a role; they want to complete a task." Catherine Howell captures my uneasiness with Sakai - and Learning Design - square on the nail. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Twitter THIS!
Twitter is a site that encourages you to blog every five minutes. I'm not sure whether I've mentioned it here before - I may have mentioned Kathy Sierra's twitter curve. No matter. Despite the hype it has gotten in the last few days, there's no there there. The best enhancement to Twitter I've seen is the auto-twitter - software that knows what you should be doing every five minutes or so, and blogs it for you. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Impact of Open Source Software On Education, Series Launch
I think this is a worthwhile endeavour - a series of interviews and posts documenting the impact of open source on education. The first installment in the series, a two-parter, features an interview with Ruth Sabean about UCLA's selection of an open source common collaboration and learning environment - Moodle. More...