College Students Encouraged to 'Define the Line'
The new Define the Line website, announced today by the Business Software Alliance, is a condescending attempt by its backers to discourage file sharing through fear (you might get a virus) and intimidation (file sharing is stealing, stealing is a crime, ergo...) and even self-interest (file sharing costs jobs, one of which may be yours). The survey published along with the site, though (click on 'Research'), shows massive support in the student population for file sharing and attitudes ranging from indifference to support among the professors. More...

Honey, I Shrunk the eLearning
Via George Siemens, and I agree with the observation he makes: "PDAs are second-choice devices for learning. If other options exist, they will be used first. If not, PDAs will do." He also observes that "It is interesting, however, to note the number of functions now being performed on cell phones. It's possible that the "small screen syndrome" that limits PDAs for learning will end up being a generational (not device) issue." I'm not so sure. More...

Interoperability in action - a Video Presentation
I can't view this because I don't have a Qucktime player for my Linux and my Windows machine is dead, dead, dead, but it has been getting good reviews from people who know, so I feel confident passing it along. This video from JISC "has been produced to demonstrate the important role of interoperability and standards when creating and sharing learning materials. More...

Single Sign-on At Last
Martin Terre Blanche weighs in with a solid description of Sxip (is it pronounced 'skip'? Perhaps someone could inform me here) highlighting the advantages but also sounding a cautious note. "I'm not sure if charging licensing fees is the best way to go," he writes. More...

Yes, You Can Build Your Own Computer!
Computers aren't that mysterious, as this lesson demonstrates, and I like the idea of building one on your own kitchen table. More...

UF Scientist: Brain in a Dish Acts as Autopilot, Living Computer
Work like this has been going on for a while - read people like Joseph LeDoux and you'll see - but this item has that catchy hook that people like me just can't resist. More...

eLearning Producer 2004
This item is making the rounds of educational bloggers, if only for this line: "Bob is Director, Learning and Strategy Evangelism, for Microsoft Learning. He told us, 'In the hour that I'm with you, two Microsoft training centers will go under.'" Now I notice that this line is no longer on Jay Cross's blog post, but it's too late, it's out there, most recently in today's elearningpost. More...

Sxip Overview
Now that Sxip has a version out in Perl, it counts for me as Real Software. Oh yeah, what is Sxip. More...

The Handle System
A comment in my discussion area yesterday noted that, for the Koper link, "they actually use the Handle system and state explicitly to point instead to http://hdl.handle.net/1820/238" (or hdl:1820/238, though most browsers don't support that notation). The idea of the handle system is that, instead of pointing directly to a link, you point to a handle proxy server, which will redirect you to the link. More...

Metadata for the Masses
Nice brief discussion of the idea of ethnoclassification - classifications systems evolving through undirected use by a population, rather than stipulated from above by a standards body. More...