The Mythical Threat of Genetic Determinism
I am an empiricist, which means, in essence, that I believe that knowledge comes from experience. This places me in close company with those who agree that, to use the old expression, our character is determined by nurture, not nature. Genius is produced by exceptional circumstances, not exceptional genertics. More...
Can Artists Inspire Scientists?
This item focuses on work at the National Research Council of Canada's Vancouver location, but it is an initiative that is important to the organization as a whole. It may seem odd to hire artists to work at an institution dominated by scientists and researchers, but the NRC's artist-in-residence program is expected to benefit both artists and scientists. More...
When Greatness Grates
The flavour of this article is captured brilliantly by the small photo of a statute of Churchill sporting a grass mohawk haircut. What is greatness, and how do we recognize it - particularly since greatness comes so often associated with other attributes that disturb polite society. As greatness becomes something determined by popular vote - as in the BBC's recent "greatest Britons" poll, the essence of greatness is eroded. More...
A Tool to Explain Affirmative Action
If you wonder why I get hepped up about apparently pointless issues (such as, say, the debate between aggregation and federated search in learning object repositories), this article will lead part way toward an understanding. More...
LaunchCast
I spent several hours last night exploring Yahoo!'s LaunchCast service, which yesterday announced a premium subscription service. LaunchCast is the Yahoo! version of web radio, but it is a lot more sophisticated than any previous version I have seen. In particular, it allows you to select genres and artists to tailor your radio feed. More...
Open Access Journal Business Guides
The Budapest Open Archives Initiative has just released two important and comprehensive guides: Guide to Business Planning for Converting a Subscription-based Journal to Open Access (991K PDF) and Guide to Business Planning for Launching a New Open Access Journal (686K PDF). More...
RIAA Trains Anti-Piracy Guns on Universities
"We deeply regret that in view of his record we have had to fire the manager of our baseball team." Yup, sometimes the vote of confidence lasts exactly one day. As in this case. A day after the RIAA won the right to force Verizon to release customer names, but said it wouldn't impose the same requirement on universities, we see 175 specific students instructed by Indiana University (IU) to delete music and movie files from their computers. More...
FTC Eyes 'Educational' Marketers
The penalty - a fine of $75,000 - is nothing more than a slap on the wrist. Not even. The real penalty being paid by The Student Marketing Group and its nonprofit subsidiary, the Educational Research Center of America, is that they will no longer be able to collect student data for "educational purposes" and sell that data to marketers. More...
Response to Globe and Mail Article: Bank tunes in to TV training
Satellite-based training up from time to time as the next big thing. Responding to article in the Globe and Mail, Learnstream's Ken Reimer explains why satellite-based may leave employers - and employees - cold. More...
College Loans Rise, Swamping Dreams
When CDs were first released, the cost to produce an album was cut in half while the price to buy that album doubled almost overnight. Consumers have never forgotten, and now the record companies are reaping their wrath. More...
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