By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Steven Harnad[Edit][Delete]: ROAR, JISC-Repositories [Edit][Delete] February 22, 2006
Steven Harnad writes: "Here are three (lately re-named) OA Registries that we hope the OA community will find useful (and will use!): (1) ROAR is the Registry of Open Access Repositories. See also ROAR's sister project, OpenDOAR. (2) ROARMAP is the Registry of Open Access Repository Material Archiving Policies. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Kathy Sierra[Edit][Delete]: Brain Death by Dull Cubicle, Creating Passionate Users [Edit][Delete] February 21, 2006
Several people have linked to this item. In a sentence, the point is that if you spend most of your time in a dull environment, your brain will not grow new neural connections, making it harder to learn. I think this is basically right. And yes, I think this is a good reason to get students out of the classroom. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Mike Klonsky[Edit][Delete]: Pay for Florida Teachers Based On a Single Test--Bad Idea, February 21, 2006
I think that half the problems (maybe more) in educational reform is that those doing research and those making policy really do not understand the principles of cause and effect - not in simple environments, and certainly not in complex environment. Which results in policy being driven by myth and urban legends, rather than anything based in reality. I mean, why don't we pay our decision-makers according to poll results, or the quality of life index? Or better yet, pay them whatever the poorest person in society makes. Oh yes, there's be a lot of sputtering about 'multiple factors' and 'indirect effects' then. Sheesh. Want to help education. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Tim Stahmer[Edit][Delete]: Web 2.0 Is Anti-American, Assorted Stuff [Edit][Delete] February 21, 2006
This came out a couple of days ago, but I cannot resist passing along the (somewhat odd) opinion that Web 2.0 is somehow anti-American. That it is communist. Web 2.0 "suggests that everyone - even the most poorly educated and inarticulate amongst us - can and should use digital media to express and realize themselves." Why, that would be communism. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. David Wiley[Edit][Delete]: As We May Interact?, Iterating Toward Openness [Edit][Delete]Iterating toward openness [Edit][Delete] February 21, 2006
David Wiley asks, of Web 2.0 tools, "With the number of users of these tools, and the others in each of these categories, why on earth would we create a new tool in any of these spaces? When critical mass is the single most important part of a network, why would we build another 'walled garden' collection of applications?" Quite right, and the world does not need another walled garden. But I still think we need to explore and understand better the nature of distributed applications. Tools like Flickr, Friendster and Technorati each try to become, if you will, a destination for people, to aggregate as many users as they can. More...