Here is a How to Topic Maps, Sir!
The author's main point is this: "Topic Maps are not as complicated nor difficult as many believe. There are objects that points to objects that points to objects. Objects are of certain types, and given a certain number of types behaving in a certain way, we call that a Topic Map." That's probably why I don't get excited about them; it's just different terminology used to express an older concept. More...

2004 Virtual Conferences
The Commonwealth of Learning virtual conference titled 'Latest Developments' has started and I have been watching the introductory messages flow for the last day or so (in other words, it's not too late to join the discussion). More...

Darknet
Online author and journalist J.D. Lasica has embarked on a novel project, the authoring of his new book on the underground internet using a wiki. What this means is that readers may not only browse through his book as it is being written, they can edit it and make changes themselves. More...

Translate This Blog: Now Available in 12 Languages
Following Andy Carvin's lead I have placed links at the top of OLDaily offering translations using Altavista's Bablefish translator. And like Carvin, I now need to ask readers: are these translations useful? Readable. More...

Fat Cat Publishers Breaking the System
Written by the director of scholarly communication and publishing initiatives at the California Digital Library, University of California, this article begins with the assertion that commercial publishers are killing the system they are supposed to support and then moves through an account of the California system's efforts to pursue open publishing as an alternative. More...

How to End Grade Inflation
This author borrows from the worlds of figure skating and diving to incorporate 'degrees of difficulty' into assessments in order to counter grade inflation. More...

Microsoft Unveils Digital Rights Management Software
As discussed before in these pages, the Microsoft DRM system, named 'Janus', supports the 'rental' of multimedia software, including songs and movies, to be played on portable players, cellular phones and other devices. More...

File-swapping Gets Supercharged on Student Network
File sharing too dangerous - or too slow - on the internet? Then join the crowd at the next new file sharing venue: Internet2. More...

Album Gets Ringtone Only Release
There are two really interesting aspects to this story, which describes a German lable's plan to release an album only in the form of cell-phone ring-tones. More...

Scissors, Scotch Tape, Post-its, Magic Markers and Colorforms: "LO-Tec" Tools (and Toys) for Creating Learning Objects
Nifty little instructional article describing how to create a learning object with little more than household tools. It's not the whole story - "Our no-tech tools support the content side of the learning object creation process by providing flexibility in how they are used, by not dictating a particular work flow, and by hiding technical details not relevant to defining the learning side of the learning objects." - but it's probably the hardest part. More...