Reapproaching Nearness: Online Communication and its Place in Praxis
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Reapproaching Nearness: Online Communication and its Place in Praxis
I was asked today about my theory of conversation. It honestly hadn't occurred to me, but of course there are theories of conversation, there are theories of everything. But I admit, my eyes begin to roll when I read, as in thsi paper, sentences like "The subject recognizes an Other, something that is epistemologically far" where the word 'Other' is capitalized. More...
A New Red Scare
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. A New Red Scare
I will have much more to say about this story line at a future date (there is the Wall Street Journal article to consider, the Chronicle article, and more) but probably not in this forum. More...
Gnews2RSS at VoidStar.com
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Gnews2RSS at VoidStar.com
A PHP script that converts Google News to RSS. If Google complains, tell them to put it in one of the links Google Toolbar produces. More...
Microsoft to Buy Groove Networks
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Microsoft to Buy Groove Networks
Groove had its problems but it was still far ahead of anything Microsoft ever produced. That makes Microsoft's acquisition a good move for both companies. More...
A Wealth of Knowledge Free to the World: JHSPH OpenCourseWare
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. A Wealth of Knowledge Free to the World: JHSPH OpenCourseWare
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has announced the initial phase of its pilot OpenCourseWare (OCW) project. Good stuff. More...
Developing Self-Directed Learners
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Developing Self-Directed Learners
Summary of research on self-directed learning, including a useful chart matching specific work to types of self-directed learning. Most of the article addresses student motivation and linking student choice to responsibility. More...
Structural Holes, Part One
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Structural Holes, Part One
I torn, at least on the surface. As I stated a couple of days ago, and see increasingly in my own work, no one person can master everything in a domain; innovation is therefore the product of a group and not an individual. So the answer is to form a team, right? But I'm not about subsuming my ideas under some sort of corporate or messianic 'vision' or 'programme' - I function best when I am pursuing my own agenda and my own ideas. I want autonomy. More...
Google News: Customized News
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Google News: Customized News
The blogosphere is gaga over Google's new customized news. From where I sit, Google has now replicated the functionality of the 1998 My Netscape page - except without the RSS feeds that allow you to select your own sources. More...
Annotating the Planet
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Annotating the Planet
Where is this image from? You know it's probably Palermo, but where? The Botanical gardens. But what is it? I can't help you with that, except to observe that it is probably Roman. There was no annotation at the site - and annotating Palermo would be a major expense. More...