By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Timothy K. Hamilton[Edit][Delete]: Commercial Use of a Photo of Mine by CNET News, Flickr [Edit][Delete] November 20, 2006
There has been discussion recently on whether open educational resources should use a non-commercial license - at an online OECD-UNICEF discussion someone raised the issue, insisting people not use the 'non-commercial' clause, before the discussion even started. talk about coming into a conference with an agenda! I think some companies just want to get stuff for free, which they will then sell to people who can't afford them. But anyhow - the main argument they use is that if you use a 'non-commercial' license, then no commercial agencies can use this. This - as this item on Flickr shows, is false. The 'non-commercial' license doesn't prevent commercial agencies from using the content. It prevents commercial use of the content. Which, I think, is what is intended by most people when they use the non-commercial license. Use my content all you want. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Brock Read[Edit][Delete]: A Business Book, Wiki-Style, Chronicle of Higher Education [Edit][Delete] November 20, 2006
From the Chronicle: "Can a wiki-style editing process result in a worthwhile business book? Pearson PLC, the publishing firm, intends to find out - and it has recruited business-school officials at the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to help with the experiment. The publisher is putting together We Are Smarter Than Me, a new book that tries to help businessmen make sense of blogs, online communities, and other interactive Web media. Professors at Penn and MIT have already written the volume's chapter titles and introductory anecdotes". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Tim Lauer[Edit][Delete]: Google Earth Adds Additional Educational Content, Education/Technology [Edit][Delete] November 14, 2006
Tim Lauer reports, "Last week Google added quite a bit of new featured content to their Google Earth application. This includes historical maps from the Rumsey Maps Archive, two layers that deal with Africa, and imagery from the European Space Agency." What I really like is that this is showing clearly how to put the education into the application, rather than (as is much more common) trying to put the application into the education. Like this look at using Skype in education (by Jeff VanDrimmelen) for example. Instead of asking, "How can I use Skype in a classroom" we should be asking "How can I make learning part of the (everyday) Skype experience?" Related: Flash Earth, an mapping application built in Flash (not sure why we need that, personally). More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Judy Skatssoon[Edit][Delete]: Google Warns Aust Copyright Laws Could Cripple Internet, ABC [Edit][Delete] November 7, 2006
If you are in Australia, could you please ask your government to not wreck the internet? Perhaps remind your government official that they are being misled about the cost of piracy by content owners. That one of their own reports calls the allegations "self-serving hyperbole." So they should stop believing them. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Alfred Essa[Edit][Delete]: Educause Severely Rebukes Blackboard, The NOSE [Edit][Delete] October 12, 2006
I completely endorse this statement from EDUCAUSE: ""Brian L. Hawkins, president of Educause, said the organization's Board of Directors had voted unanimously on Sunday to encourage Blackboard 'to drop the patent, drop the lawsuit,' and put the technology 'in the public domain.' [He said] 'We think that it is in their best interest and the best interest of the broader higher-education community.'"
More coverage is povided in the Chronicle (this is a temporary link, I think, so view it quickly - my thanks to the Chronicle for making this available). More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Mark Wagner[Edit][Delete]: Google Teacher Newsletter - 1st issue, Educational Technology and Life [Edit][Delete] October 11, 2006
"I'm a simple man, like you." That's how one of William Shatner's commercial messages begins, and it works because of the audacity of the 'like you' message. The same sort of audacity is present in Google's first newsletter for teachers. "Today, teachers like you are using technology in innovative ways to help students build knowledge." Oh really! responds the teacher. Nice of you to tell us. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Vernon C. Smioth[Edit][Delete]: Blackboard Backpack, EDUCAUSE Connect [Edit][Delete] October 11, 2006
The LMS company has found a way to copy another idea, creating a way to run the system offline. "The next release will be SCORM compliant and will be able to be downloaded to a Flash (USB) drive. At this point, the computer would still need have the Backpack client on it--but in the future--it may be a web-based solution so that a student could use it at a library or other public computing commons." Not too likely on that last bit. More...