By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Scott Wilson[Edit][Delete]: CoComment: Automating Distributed Conversations?, February 11, 2006

You may be interested to know that I have implemented conversations in Edu_RSS. It's not perfect, and so far utterly nobody has noticed (and there are far fewer conversations than you might suspect, which means I need a better way of detecting the good ones). Here's an example. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. roseg[Edit][Delete]: Zero Sum Laude, Random Selections [Edit][Delete] February 11, 2006
A rare Saturday issue of OLDaily, partially because I'm behind in my coverage and partially because I need something to do. I am home again from Sweden and will be home for twelve days (I checked) before heading for Alaska. I'm still a little jet lagged (it will catch up with me tomorrow), pensive, reflective and conflicted. That's OK, that's my usual state of being (including, these days, the jet lag). Which brings me to this post, which describes what amounts to an advertsing campaign by a certain soft drink company that not only apropriates our medium for its own ends, but also even the number zero. I won't point to that site (you can get it from the link) but I will point to the alternative, one that is more reflective of my values and indeed even my mood: "Drinks don't need cheesy theme songs, a posse of trucks, or plastic/aluminium containers. But thanks to companies like Coke, land is cleared and waste and pollution are created just to make sure people have sweetened, chilled beverages. All this in a world where one person in five has ZERO access to clean drinking water." So let me put this in perspective and put it a bit bluntly: when Coca-Cola puts as much money into providing drinking water to people who have none as it does into its advertising, then I will be interested in what it has to say to me and may even buy some of its products. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. David Wiley[Edit][Delete]: My Commission Testimony, Iterating Toward Openness [Edit][Delete]Iterating toward openness [Edit][Delete] January 25, 2006

[link: Hits] David Wiley prepares his testimony to the US Secretary of Education's Commission on the Future of Higher Education. And, happily, makes it availble to us first. It's a good account overall; I have only one major suggestion for him. I would add another line to the table describing the ways in which the world is changing, somingthing like: managed - autonomous. Or: directed - self-directed. Because I think the new technology empowers in important ways. But I certainly agree with the rest of the items in the table, and especially with this: "openness is the gateway to connectedness, personalization, and participation." David Wiley are of one mind, I think, when it comes to openness. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Dan McCrea[Edit][Delete]: Ajax Office Review, Innerphaze [Edit][Delete] January 23, 2006

I have mentioned Writely in this space in the past - it is a web-based word processor you write in using your browser. This article offers a very good overview of seven similar services, including gOffice and ThinkFree. I can only surmise that the number of these services will increase, as it is not rocket science to create one. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. WCSDTechie[Edit][Delete]: Related Sites and Info for Stephen Downes Session, Techie Ramble [Edit][Delete] January 23, 2006

[link: Hits] If you're still working through my 10 hours of podcast from Edson, you may want to refer to this page, written by one of the attendees, collecting the links mentioned in our discussion. Here is where some attendees posted the address to their brand-new blogs. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Collaborative Online Development of Modular Intelligent Agents, ERCIM News [Edit][Delete] January 23, 2006