Learning with Handheld Technologies
As Leonard Low summarizes, "Futurelab, a non-profit U.K. based organisation, who previously published one of the best literature reviews of mobile learning, have now published a handbook of recommendations for mobile learning approaches - including implementation ideas and case studies." It's a bit funny reading the summary by Tony Vincent... "the device" this and "the device" that. More...
The Dumbness of Crowds
Kathy Sierra makes the distinction I have been trying to get at with the recent discussion on groups and networks. "Art isn't made by committee. Great design isn't made by consensus. True wisdom isn't captured from a crowd. More...
Open Thinking is Open
A new online community, Open Thinking, has been launched. What I don't know is why. Is there some reason we cannot use our own spaces to talk about "open technologies or formats in regards to software, publishing, content and practice?" What's the benefit of going over to your place. More...
Website Down
The downes.ca website is currently unavailable as my new host withered and died under the traffic (they are currently incommunicado, adding to the frustration). I am working behind the scenes to get things going again. In the meantime, I can still send an email newsletter from the desktop (the RSS readers will just have to wait, though I'll post a copy to Half an Hour just to tide them over). Links are direct links; no website redirection (this will make my readers in Iran happy, as downes.ca has been blocked there for ages... I don't know why, though) so you can just click and read. Comments, of course, are not working. I have some good items still in the queue, but I've been slowed down a bit by all this so some good reads will be saved until next week. Thanks for your patience; just another day on the internet. p.s. if you are desperate for a downes.ca link you can access the pages by replacing 'www.downes.ca' with '198.164.40.147' - this is temporary and the pages will not be fully styled. Stephen Downes, Stephen's Web January 5, 2007 [Link] [Comment]. More...
Happy New Year
I am home from Ottawa. This year I will spend New Year's Eve in a comedy club.
2006 was a year of extremes for me. It was a difficult year, but only because it was one where I tried to live my life to the fullest, and I guess I can't regret that. I made memories to last a lifetime, I touched so many places and so many lives, and was more than rewarded in kind.
I dreamed last night that I was given a fine suit, a thousand dollar suit that I would never buy for myself, with a silk scarf and a long overcoat, that when I wore it I looked like and felt like I had found my success in this life. I trimmed my hair, just a bit, to match the suit, and when I walked down the road, I strode forward with a flourish, waving the tail of my coat behind me.
Kia ora. Thank you, to all of you, and best wishes for the coming year. Stephen Downes, Stephen's Web December 29, 2006 [Link] [Comment]. More...
Why 2008 Will Be a Bad Year for Microsoft'S Ed Tech Market Share
The low cost (and ease of use) of open source software, combined with low funding for education ("about 9% of spending on defense and the war on terror") means that commercial software giants like Microsoft will see a continually declining share of the educational technology market. More...
Seeing Flowers Reproduce On Genome Island in Second Life
This is a neat idea - replicating genome-based reproduction on Second Life, at a scale where people can see the mechanisms at work. Perhaps when they can see evolution at work on this scale it won't be so mysterious to people. More...
Wikipedia Death Watch?
The attack on Wikipedia (and make no mistake, it is an attack) is coming from two directions: first, from the inside, as "those who want it to be Very Serious Citable Work" leap from article to article tagging them as unreliable, or worse, Not Serious. More...
A Lifesaving Checklist
Things that seem really obvious aren't always so. And though it comes from the field of medicine, this debate over the use of checklists is illustrative. The story, in brief, is that a hospital decided to try using checklists to ensure proper procedures are followed, and were following up by evaluating the results to see whether it worked. More detail here. More...
The Best Links 2007
Jason Kottke has a good, if voluminous and sometimes fluffy, blog, and his top links of 2007 is among the best of the best - I've spent the last hour on the page and decided I'd better link to it or I'll never finish today's newsletter. More...
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