By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Efsym2007 Revisited
Summary of a seminar inside Second Life I attended Tuesday, a follow-up from the one-day conference hosted by Eduserv last month. A couple of things surfaced: first, the use of a moderation system to manage the discussion was less than successful, and second, it was suggested that the Second Life venue didn't add anything over and above a plain text chat such as IRC. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Consumer Groups Speak Out On WIPO Broadcast Treaty
I would echo the views of these consumer groups. "The consumer groups argue that the treaty is unnecessary for and harmful to Canada, that its scope is overbroad, that its exceptions and limitations are shockingly weak, that it creates a totally new regime for technological protection measures, and that it would harm a range of emerging broadcasting practices on the Internet." Links to the letter and to the proposed treaty. This letter is a stark contrast to the report from the Standing Committ on Industry titled Counterfeiting and Piracy are Theft. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Notes From Alan Kay'S Keynote at EduComm07
From this summary, it sounds like Alan Kay gave a cracking good keynote (shouldn't he have a blog by now?) ranging from the teaching of calculus to the $100 laptop that really exists. Interesting statement: "The big change 400 years ago, that Bruno was willing to be burned for, was the statement that our speculations can only go so far until we submit them to trial and error in the real world - if you don't do this with kids you are not teaching them science, you are just teaching them a new form of religion". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Sakai Amsterdam 2007: The State of the Union
Michael Feldstein takes the pulse of the Sakai project (Sakai is an enterprise level Java based open source learning management system (and more)) and concludes, "I can honestly say that I have never been more hopeful about the future of Sakai than I am today." This conclusion is not so much an assessment of the state of the technology (which can change rapidly) but of the community. "The Sakai community seems to have suddenly shifted into a different gear," he writes. Among the major changes: a commitment to transparency, a sense of ownership from non-developer stakeholders, openness to change, and commitment to usability, quality and standards support. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Lolcats
From the internet culture department, you ma want to take note of 'lolcats' - photographs (originally of cats) with captions (funny, LOL) expressed in altered grammar. They're pretty creative - and what I find interesting is that the altered grammar has a pattern, it is recognizable, and you can sense when it's done incorrectly - but it does not, obviously, follow any rules, standards or guidelines. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Professional Development and Corporate Training: The Webinar Weakness
I'm in an airport in Toronto waiting for my connection to Moncton. No time to dither, as they'll be calling my flight shortly. So without further ado, today's newsletter, beginning with this useful post on how to improve webinars. More...