By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Constance Steinkuehler and Dmitri Williams[Edit][Delete]: Where Everybody Knows Your (Screen) Name, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication [Edit][Delete]Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication [Edit][Delete] August 22, 2006
Quite a good essay on the idea of online games as 'third places' - that is, neutral and familiar meeting areas, like pubs (where "everybody knows your name"). "Participation in such virtual 'third places'," argue the authors, "appears particularly well suited to the formation of bridging social capital." For example, pubs will allow individuals from very different social communities - plumbers and M.Ds, for example - to meet and interact. These weak social ties create important 'bridging' connections between communties. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Alan Levine[Edit][Delete]: We Can All Be Radio Stations, Cogdogblog [Edit][Delete]CogDogBlog [Edit][Delete] August 21, 2006
Another item on the theme of content consumers becoming content producers, this short item outlines the process with a useful and intuitive Gliffy diagram and, of course, links. "Limelight provides us a username, password, and server to send our audio streams to. We get a cryptic looking URL we can use to plug into iTunes to listen to a live stream, or attach in Second Life as an MP3 stream URL. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Various authors[Edit][Delete]: In The Online Realm, It's Good to Share, News.Com [Edit][Delete] August 18, 2006
I have been saying this for years, and people have responded by saying that I'm just an idealist. Quite a surprise, then, for them to discover that it's a good business model. Anyhow, if you're still not sure, have a look at this series of articles from News.com. For example, VideoJug: "The site, which launched in beta version a few days ago, aims to be the ultimate source of video instruction on just about anything imaginable, from identifying cancer to cooking pasta. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Justin Pope[Edit][Delete]: Ads in Textbooks May Lower Prices, Associated Press [Edit][Delete] August 15, 2006
The cost of textbooks - now estimated to be $US 900 per year, according to this article - is one thing. But placing advertisements in textbooks is not the answer. In addition to the advertising, "Students, or anyone else who fills out a five-minute survey, can download a PDF file of the book, which they can store on their hard drive and print." The coverage in this article is one-sided and in some cases deceptive - as, for example, in the statement of this falsehood: "so far, the model hasn't spread to college textbooks - partly for fear that faculty would consider ads undignified." It's not dignity that professors are worried about, it's the misleading credibility advertisers get when associated with taught material. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Marshall Clemens[Edit][Delete]: The Art of Complex Problem Solving, Idiagram [Edit][Delete] August 15, 2006
This is a very good presentation of complex problems and how they are addressed. The designer effectively captures many aspects of complex problems and, most importantly, demonstrates how they are different from technical problems (and this is the basis of the argument against measuring instructors and schools by educational outcomes - it is effectively the treating of complex problems as technical problems).
The diagram emphasizes the role of visual imagery in the solving of complex problems, which is not surprising, as the author is an artist. However, it is important to stress that the process is one of pattern recognition, and not merely imagery. Not to sell imagery short - it is a powerful means of facilitating pattern recognition. But it is limited by dimensionality (notice though how nicely the artist moves us through several dimensions in this diagram). Patterns can be extra-dimensional. Consider, for example, the representation of 'will' and 'intent'. For this reason, it is important to remember that the diagram is a representation of a pattern, and not the pattern itself. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Various authors[Edit][Delete]: DROID, The National Archives [Edit][Delete] August 14, 2006
DROID is now open source. What is DROID? "DROID (Digital Record Object Identification) is a software tool developed by The National Archives to perform automated batch identification of file formats." Cool. DROID is a product of PRFONOM, a set of services that support digital preservation functions. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Matea Gold[Edit][Delete]: In the Big Picture, The Small Screen Doesn't Appear To Be The Next Big Thing, Chicago Tribune [Edit][Delete] August 14, 2006
I think the jury is still out on this one, though my tired old eyes tend to side with the headline. But how do young and agile eyes react? 13 year old Kaitlyn Brown comments. "It kept stopping midstream and stuff," she said. "I didn't really like it, so I took it off. It was extra money, and I didn't think it was worth it." So we're in 'not quite there yet' territory. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. David Green[Edit][Delete]: Using Digital Images in Teaching and Learning, Academic Commons [Edit][Delete] November 2, 2006
A report that considers what may seem to be obvious, the use of images in online learning. Still, it is worth having a reference that tells us that many staff use images, that these images are scattered and disorganized and have little or no metadata, that Google image is popular, that there should be some common source for images, and that people want to be able to determine the copyright status of an image. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Clarence Fisher[Edit][Delete]: Access vs. Participation, Remote Access [Edit][Delete] October 26, 2006
When I presented my paper to ITForum last week I got more comments about the digital divide (which had nothing at all to do with the paper) than anything else. So I too would like to refocus people's thinking about access issues. I see much more of a problem with respect to "opportunities to participate and to develop the cultural competencies and social skills needed for full involvement" than anything to do with technology. What sort of skills? Well the list outline here (Fisher links to a much longer paper) is quite a good list. Certainly, you can't do without these (yet so many people try). More...