By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Jenny Levine[Edit][Delete]: Add To [A Whole Lot of] Any, Shifted Librarian [Edit][Delete] November 7, 2006
Something else that needs to be fixed. You had to know, once one aggregator created a proprietary 'add to' link, they all had to. So what do we need? A way to declare an aggregator account. Oh, wait, a personal identity system could do that, something like this. So where is this system. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. José Luis Orihuela[Edit][Delete]: 10 Steps into the Spanish Speaking Blogosphere, November 6, 2006
This is useful. Is there a similar page for the French speaking blogosphere? Other languages. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Editorial[Edit][Delete]: Open UniversityAdd to Clippings, Times of India [Edit][Delete] November 6, 2006
It is pretty ridiculous to require a background check of an online information provider, and that's why this article suggests that the New York City education department's ban on e-tutors from India for failure to provide such background checks will fail in the face of market forces. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Unattributed[Edit][Delete]: SkillSoft to Acquire NETg from Thomson, Learning Circuits [Edit][Delete] November 6, 2006
I keep forgetting to mention this. "According to the press release, 'the acquisition supports the company's overall strategy to continually increase the quality and flexibility of learning solutions available to corporate, government, education, and small-to-medium size business customers from SkillSoft.'" Looks to me like a reaction to the Blackboard patent. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Tony Karrer[Edit][Delete]: Stephen Downes is Wrong? Is It Really Cool?, eLearning Technology [Edit][Delete] November 6, 2006
I can't resist the opportunity to link to a post with this title. Tony Karrer writes, "I agree with Stephen that right now this stuff is early stage and it's a mess. I'm not planning on using that particular tool anytime soon. It's more of a toy than anything else. Oh, I am using something similar to create my personalized home page. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Scott Leslie[Edit][Delete]: Article -, EdTechPost [Edit][Delete] November 6, 2006
Scott Leslie wonders why "First Monday publishes this article by the co-author of The Social Life of Information, Paul Duguid, that asks questions about the oft-asserted transferability of "laws of quality" from open source software projects to the peer production of 'knowledge' in sites like Wikipedia, and literally almost no one replies." Perhaps, he says, "everyone just read this already and went on with their business." Count me as one who read it and went about his business. Well - I thought I had linked to it, but I didn't. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Kelly Edmonds[Edit][Delete]: Off With Their heads! Copyright Infringement in the Canadian Online Higher Educational Environment, Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology [Edit][Delete] November 6, 2006
As the author notes, "It becomes increasingly frustrating to remain current on how to create, use and publish works in the digital environment in ways that respect copyright... The consequences for copyright infringement, whether intended or not, are out of proportion to the need for open access for learning and knowledge creation." Quite right. Good and comprehensive overview of copyright's impact on Canadian academic. Additional articles from the Spring, 2006, Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology are also available online. (p.s. I got an email today, and now I see an editorial, boasting about low acceptance rates). More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Semantics in HTML - 1. Traditional Semantic HTML
Nice discussion of the concept of semantics in HTML, identifying the different types of meaning imparted by different types of tags. Useful as a prelude to deeper thoughts about the semantics of XML. Via elearningpost. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Second Life Goes Open Source ...Sort Of
There's more on this, but I want to get it in: Linden Labs, the company that owns Second Life, is (in a sense) open sourcing its viewer. As Alfred Essa points out, that's a long way from open sourcing the platform itself, which is what we really need. I have long wondered why we can have a network of open source 3D realms, where we can jump from one realm to the next at will. That's what the old intermud protocol was supposed to be all about. It's almost tempting to try to resurrect some old MUD code to see whether a 3D layer could be added. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Pedagogy defines School 2.0
Perspective on the concept of School 2.0 (yes, another 2.0) that has been going around, not to be confused with e-learning 2.0, which is something very different. "What is School 2.0? It’s a school that defines learning and knowledge not by seat time, or hours spent on a project, but by what is experienced, created, and communicated." Well, sure, but how old is this? What makes it 2.0? According to Jeff Utecht, the right (presumably Web 2.0) technology needs to be in place. Why? "We can not change our pedagogy and adapt these new taxonomies and new theories if we do not have the tools to do so." Maybe there's a story here - but I want to see a story that isn't just a retread of constructionism or problem-based learning. If it does not essentially involve a network, then it isn't new. More...
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