By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. An Africa first! Liberia outsources entire education system to a private American firm. Why all should pay attention
Christine Mungai, Mail & Guardian Africa, 2016/04/04

The push to privatize education continues apace, and like many such initiatives, the focus is first on populations unable to resist. In this case, the people of Liberia. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The rhizome: A problematic metaphor for teaching and learning in a MOOC
Jenny Mackness, Frances Bell, Mariana Funes, Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2016/04/04

I've never been a fan of the rhizome metaphor for learning, but not for the same reasons given by Mackness, Bell and Funes. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. More Recognition/Identification Service APIs – Microsoft Cognitive Services
Tony Hirst, OUseful.Info, 2016/04/04

Many of the people I work with don't seem to see this coming, but from where I sit we're on the verge of commoditized artificial intelligence. AIAAS - Artificial Intelligence as a Service - is here now, as this item indicated. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Despite what you've been told, you aren't 'left-brained' or 'right-brained'
Amy Novotney, The Guardian, 2016/04/04

This is what happens when everyone gets to have a theory and 'science' in your discipline consists essentially of categories and taxonomies. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Stacking vs. Replacing LMS; Learner as Content Producer
Elliott Masie, Elliot Masie's Learning Trends, 2016/03/31

Some tereminology from Elliott Masie: "we are seeing more 'Stacking', which means accepting the role of the existing LMS as the base system for the organization and then adding Stacks or Layers on top that will create added and more targeted functionality... In other words, some organizations are shifting from replacing their LMS to adding these technologies on top of the LMS. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Microlearning, millennials and successful companies
Natalia Gan, teachlr blog, 2016/03/31

People are talking about 'microlearning' again. Today's learners, writes , "are equipped to research what they need to know and learn about it from various sources such as blogs, online courses, websites or YouTube videos." This, microlearning. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. 6 Reasons Platforms Fail
Marshall W. Van AlstyneGeoffrey G. ParkerSangeet Paul Choudary, Harvard Business Review, 2016/03/31

These are some good lessons; here they are, with some comments from me:

1. "Failure to optimize openness" - I see this a lot; the platform is 'sort of' open, but the developers hang on to key components of it (eg., 'we will only allow pre-approved content') which stifle the value.
2. "Failure to engage developers" - I always think of that famous Steve Ballmer video. You have to engage the broader developer community to invest in it, otherwise it's a flop.
3. "Failure to share the surplus" - everybody engaged in the platform has to win. If you favour one side over another in a buyer-seller marketplace, your platform will fail.
4. "Failure to launch on the right side" - I'm not sure I'd say this the same way the article does. The problem is, if you have a pre-existing content monopoly, you have to find a way to break that monopoly, either by enticing existing producers into the platform (as Netflix did) or by providing viable alternatives.
5. "Failure to put critical mass ahead of money" - I keep repeating the mantra here - companies don't acquire technologies nearly so much as they acquire audiences. If you're trying to sell a platform with no users, you have a real uphill battle.
6. "Failure of imagination". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. An Animated Carl Sagan Talks with Studs Terkel About Finding Extraterrestrial Life (1985)
Dan Colman, Open Culture, 2016/03/31

Carl Sagan is one of my heroes, extraterrestrial life would be really cool to find, so of course this item interests me. Not so much you? Oh well. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. You Pay to Read Research You Fund. That’s Ludicrous
Ryan Merkley, Wired, 2016/04/19

This is an opinion article from the CEO of Creative Commons that (as the title suggests) defends efforts like SciHub to provide direct access to scientific publications despite publisher copyrights. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Introducing Backchannel Technology into a Large Undergraduate Course
Ruth Neustifter, Canadian Journal of Learning, technology, 2016/04/19

It feels a bit odd reading about the use of backchannels in classrooms in 2016, since it was back in 2007 I was experimenting with them (and others well before that!). More...