OCLC Research will harvest DSpace metadata
If there is a future in metadata, it seems to me that it lies in institutional (and individual) repositories and harvesting. I have been arguing this for a long time, but not everybody is convinced. More...
Righting Copywrongs
The point in this article is simple and well-taken: legislators considering whether Canada's copyright legislation ought to be changed to prohibit file sharing ought to look at Lawrence Lessig's experiment in free publishing. More...
Online Games
This is an odd article in that, while it describes and touts the use of games in learning, its understanding of what constitutes a game seems to be restricted almost entirely to the quiz show format, following the model of Jeopardy Millionaire. Sure, these are games, but it seems to me that online trivia is only a small part of the picture. More...
Gurus v. Bloggers, Round 1
This is a fun article that makes a great point. The concept is this: line up the websites of eight design and usability gurus against the websites of eight bloggers who write on the same topics. Evaluate the respective websites for design and usability. The result, needless to say, is one-sided, and not in favour of the supposed experts. More...
Restrictions Impeding Web-based Courses
Documentation of the results of two typical requests an instructor might make of a publisher while creating an online course. More...
Google Searches Repositories: So What Does Google Search For?
This commentary deflates the enthusiasm about Google's plan to search institutional repositories, arguing in essence that there is nothing there to search for. Could be. More...
After 40 Years' Work, Gravity Experiment Will Get Off The Ground
When you watch a lifetime's work, a $700 million 40-year-old project, blast off on a rocket, you get a little nervous. But no matter what the result, I have nothing but admiration for the sort of dedication it has taken to make this project a reality. More...
Is Google the Future of E-mail?
Good discussion of the implications and issues surrounding Google's new email service, GMail. I was interested to see the discussion about the implications for privacy in this new service, since Declan and I exchanged a few emails about this last week. More...
Fighting Music Swappers
My response to the Globe and Mail article, as a letter to the editor. The debate over file sharing isn't simply a matter of protecting honest vendors against thieves. It is about whether these vendors should be able to hold a privileged position in the marketplace. By Stephen Downes, Stephen's Web, April 13, 2004 [Refer][Research][Reflect]. More...
Creating and Capturing New Knowledge
What is it about a community that causes it to not only produce, but also transfer, knowledge? It is certain that a community produces artifacts, codifications of the knowledge it creates – look at any academic society and the first evidence of its work is the set of journal articles and other publications it produced. More...
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