Hollywood and Silicon Valley: Together at last?
Discussion of the recenrly formed alliance between the technology companies and the recording industry which asks whether it should be up to these two entities on their own to decide the future of copyright. And the answer is, of course, no. More...

Getting a Handle on Learning Content Management Systems
I wish people would stop using the phrase "human capital" as the author does at the start of this article. It implies - as did its predecessor "human resources" - that people can be owned by corporations. I feel the same way when I'm told that "our people are our greatest asset." But I am not anyone's asset! I am an independent agent in a democratic society who has agreed to exchange some of my services in exchange for a compensation package including money, benefits and - yes - learning. More...

The Albuquerque Journal as a Bad Paid Content Model
Though this article covers paid content for news access, providers of online learning content should read carefully. I have commented frequently that the market for online content is two-time order of magnitude smaller than traditional - that is, if it cost $100 originally, it should cost $1 online. More...

The Semantic Web, Syllogism, and Worldview
Clay Shirkey makes two important points in this article. First, deduction is not nearly so useful as proponents of the semantic web imagine. And second, people will always have differing views. Both appear to seriously undercut the potential value of the semantic web, even when it is realized. More...

College Pact a Fresh Start For Napster
Students feel betrayed by Penn State administration, and with good reason. The university will begin offering the students free access to music through the revamped (and now commercial) Napster service. There won't be an extra cost (for now) - it will be paid for from the existing technology fee (begging the question: what was it being used for before?). More...

LMS Selection Site from Simon Fraser University
If you have any interest in the future of WebCT you might want to look at this site, which compares it against Desire2Learn. If Simon Fraser University selects anything other than WebCT (almost the default in British Columbia), it's all over. More...

The Mentor Initiative
Interesting item from India's The Apex Academy, offering online mentoring services to students throughout that country. More...

The Future of E-Learning Models and the Language We Use to Describe Them
On Wednesday I released the text of my interview with Mark Oehlert, which he asked me for a week or two before posting a more general request on his website. My declaration of impatience was rewarded as on Thursday he released the slides and draft from his study. More...

Extending RSS
Another article on extending RSS beyond a simple descriptions of links on blogs. This article is a bit technical, but it shows in detail how the simple syndication standard can be used to distribute all kinds of information. For example, suggests the article, a company could use RSS to list its product offerings by defining two new RSS terms, 'product' and 'version'. More...

Open Source Portfolio Initiative
From the website: " The Open Source Portfolio Initiative (OSPI) is a collaborative, open source, software development project based on the University of Minnesota System's (U of MN) electronic portfolio (ePortfolio) software." Via SiT, the OSPI has just made it's first release avaiulable as a download. More...