Mastering the Internet of Everything
Harold Jarche, June 3, 2014
Harold Jarche writes, "Many people are just figuring out Web 1.0, mastering their web browsers, email and the like. Others are getting into Web 2.0, using social media to connect to people and join communities of practice. And now along comes the internet of everything (IoE). How will we be able to master this new network paradigm, or will it master us?" Jarche says it's about finding balance. More...

The basic understanding, or, fact-based theory
Dave Ferguson, Dave's Whiteboard, June 3, 2014
I like this post. Not because I agree with it, necessarily - I don't really think the answer to "do you understand?" is "let me demonstrate". But I think there's a sense to be made of the idea that knowing is about doing rather than some mental state. More...

Business School, Disrupted
Jerry Useem, New York Times, June 2, 2014
Good article in the New York Times on the struggles of Harvard Business School, which depends on being elite, is coping with the arrival of online learning, which depends on being egalitarian. The school's response is to create a new type of credential, the Credential of Readiness, or CORe, which students can take online. More...

Interview with Steve Pettifer, computer scientist and developer of Utopia Documents
Richard Poynder, Open, Shut?, June 2, 2014
As this article notes, "Critics of the PDF also dislike the fact that it permits only passive reading. This means that scientists are not fully able to exploit the dynamic and linked nature of the Web." It seems like a small thing - and in the world of HTML I guess it is - but the world of PDF readers is beginning to move into the real of interaction with live data (including tables and references) with Utopia Documents, developed in 2009 and being released as open source software this week. More...

New Face of Provincial Identity Management
Ian Bailey, BCNET Conference 2014, June 2, 2014
I've tried - I've really tried - to get past the first minute of this video. Several times, in fact! But I can't get past how unenthusiastic Ian Bailey's voice sounds as he tells us how enthusiastic he is about identity management. More...

“Not Interested in Being #1:” Shanghai May Ditch PISA
Yong Zhao, June 2, 2014
This is interesting, especially in the light of other reports (rumours?) that China as a whole (instead of selected districts) will participate in future PISA tests. According to this item, Shanghai is reconsidering its participation. More...

Coding for journalists: 10 programming concepts it helps to understand
Paul Bradshaw, Online Journalism Blog, June 1, 2014
This article won't teach you how to program - not even close. But if you're involved in any discipline employing computer technology - such as online learning - then the language of programming seeps into everyday language. That's where this article comes in - it will help you understand the real meaning of such arcania as lists, loops and APIs. More...