By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Pieter Boeder and Mirjam Struppek[Edit][Delete]: Urban Screens: Discovering the Potential of Outdoor Screens for Urban Society, First Monday [Edit][Delete] February 9, 2006
I remember Derrick de Kerckhove talking about urban screens - "interactive, dynamic digital information displays in urban environments" - a few years ago at a conference in Edmonton. It was one of those gee-whiz presedntations full of hope but with no discernable impact. But I'm not surprised to see the concept emerge again; it's too alluring to let go. But I think urban screens should be more personal. I have proposed repeatedly that we try something like that at NRC - ambient wall-screens connecting offices between cities (after all, we're on CA*Net 4, so we have the bandwidth). Because the idea is to connect people, not cities (and certainly not propaganda). More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Albert Ip[Edit][Delete]: Information, Language, Knowledge and Connectedness, Random Walk in E-Learning [Edit][Delete]Random Walk in E-Learning [Edit][Delete] February 9, 2006
Albert Ip comments on my discussion with George Siemens on subjectivity and objectivity. I'll leave my commentary until he finishes his piece, but I will observe at this juncture that his use of words like 'information' and 'knowledge' is very different from mine - dramatically different. This, for example: "I will use the word 'information' to represent everything external to me". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Will Richardson[Edit][Delete]: Reinvention Chapter 2--I Quit, Weblogg-Ed [Edit][Delete]Weblogg-ed [Edit][Delete] February 8, 2006
Um, wow. Here is Will Richardson: "After 21 years in public education... today I notified my superintendent that as of May 15 I would be leaving the district for parts somewhat unknown. To put it simply, I quit." Yesterday I tried to put the case forward to OECD representatives about the barriers and hurdles placed in front of individuals in our field. Today we see Will Richardson leaving behind the institution that (apparently) has become more of a hinderance than a help to his work. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Jay Cross[Edit][Delete]: Push and Pull, Informal Learning [Edit][Delete] February 8, 2006
Good article on the distinction between 'push' (which is what spammers, advertisers, and other assorted low-life do) and 'pull' (which is what I've advocated for some time). Not surprisingly, as this article makes clear, traditional learning is 'push' and new learning is 'pull'. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Terry Freedman[Edit][Delete]: A Response to Stephen Downes, and Some Examples of Real Greed, February 8, 2006
Terry Freedman responds to my lengthy (though cut-off) comment on his article and adds this item, documenting greed on the part of publishers. Well, I know that the commercial press is, shall we say, less than avove-board in its dealings with authors. From my perspective, the people who complain the most about 'pirates' are themselves the worst offenders - I saw the other day (maybe I mentioned it here?) an item pointing to the reality that copyright laws are intended to protect the corporations from each other; we (the rest of us) are simply caught in the crossfire. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Zack Rosen[Edit][Delete]: Sakai vs. Moodle, Zacker.org [Edit][Delete] February 8, 2006
If you want to feel some ire rise in your craw, scroll through this list of comparisons - users, vendors, traffic, business readiness, and the like, and then look at the comparisons in funding. "Moodle: $0 initial funding and ~ $12,000 a year from individual donors. Sakai Project: $2,200,000 initial grant from Mellon Foundation and Hewlett Foundation and $4,400,000 from core partners. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Rachel Smith[Edit][Delete]: Ninmah Meets World, February 6, 2006
Rachel Smith, described by Brian Lamb as "a catalyst and synthesist (among other things) with the New Media Consortium, does a lot of cool stuff with some amazing people," has launched a blog. It's still in startup mode (three posts) but do drop by and welcome her to the blogosphere. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Yael Litmanovitz[Edit][Delete]: Students Hit The e-Books, The Guardian [Edit][Delete] February 6, 2006
Another one of those articles touting the (coming) benefit of electronic textbooks. Mostly, what we see is that publishers still don't get it - you may have a library of texts, even with 'sticky notes', but as the author notes, you remain locked into a proprietary environment, and sharing is, of course, forbidden under penalty of law. It's hard to overstate the impact of this new regime of electronic distribution; as a BBC article notes today, librarians are concerned that the new DRM will make it impossible to loan acquisitions in its collection. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Jeff Chester[Edit][Delete]: The End of the Internet?, The Nation [Edit][Delete] February 6, 2006
A blunt assessment (which I can confirm through various other sources) of how commercial providers see online content. "The nation's largest telephone and cable companies are crafting an alarming set of strategies that would transform the free, open and nondiscriminatory Internet of today to a privately run and branded service that would charge a fee for virtually everything we do online". More...