Mapping Twitter Topic Networks: From Polarized Crowds to Community Clusters
Marc A. Smith, Lee Rainie, Ben Shneiderman, Itai Himelboim, Pew Research Internet Project, March 28, 2014
I think that the structure of Twitter (specifically: the fact that wheen you post, you post to an audience of all your pollowers) limits the range of possible types of 'conversatuon networks'. So don't take this post as all-inclusive. More...

Stanford scientists put free text-analysis tool on the web
Andrew Myers, Stanford Engineering, March 28, 2014
As this prromotional article states, "Ever wondered whether a certain TV show had a slant in favor of a political candidate? Stanford computer scientists have created a website that gives anyone who can cut and paste the ability to answer such questions, systematically and for free. More...

European Commission launches network to foster web talent through Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)
Press Release, European Commission, March 27, 2014

Nick Kearney pointed me to the European Commission's ususual definition of MOOCs: "MOOCs are online university courses which enable people to access quality education without having to leave their homes." I wonder who it was who convinced them that the massive and open aspects of these courses are compleetely incidental. More...

Intergenerational mobility: new evidence from the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth
Bruce Bradbury, Gerry Redmond, Ilan Katz, Melissa Wong, National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER), March 26, 2014

Interesting long-term study of the impaact of education on intergenerational mobility. What this study asks is whether increased access to education, and imporved educational outcomes, lead to changes in students' socio-economic standing: do they get better jobs? Do they assume more influential positions in society? Are they wealthier? The study's conclusion is negative: dispite improving educational outcomes since the 1970s, intergenerational mobility has not improved. More...

Cloud, Services and the Transformation of Production
Irving Wladawsky-Berger, March 26, 2014

Good article that describes the rise of cloud computing not only as a change in the delivery of online resources, but also as a change in the organization of computing generally, and with it a gange in the organization and understanding of production and work generally. More...

Ethics in the Open
Rob Farrow, OER Research Hub, March 26, 2014
Ethics to me depends on epistemology - what counts as right and wrong depends in an important way on what we know and how we can know it. So I haven't said a lot about ethics and learning technology, because there is so little agreement yet as to what constitutes success and what we know about that. More...

How Does PISA Put the World at Risk
Yong Zhao, Creative, Entrepreneurial, , Global: 21st Century Education, March 26, 2014

Three-part series on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA):

Part 1: Romanticizing Misery

Part 2: Glorifying Educational Authoritarianism

Part 3: Creating Illusory Models of Excellence. More...

What All the Outrage Over the Oculus Deal Says About Facebook, the Brand
Simon Dumenco, Ad Age, March 26, 2014

People are really upset that Oculus Rift (a prototype virtual-reality headset) has been acquired by Facebook. Oculus VR, the parent company, got its start on KickStarter via the contributions of some 9,522 backers (who receive none of the $2 billion purchase price). Now they and other supporters feel betrayed. More...

Coursera and edX Hire New Executives: What about online experience?
Phil Hill, e-Literate, March 25, 2014

As Phil Hill writes, there have been some leadership changes at the top of some online course providers. " First, Coursera announced they had hired Richard Levin, former president of Yale University, to be the company’s new CEO.... On the same day, coincidentally, edX announced they had hired Wendy Cebula as the company’s new president and chief operating officer." Hill comments that none of the eexecutives as any real experience in online learning. More...

Steve Wheeler, Learning with 'e's, March 20, 2014
Some good turns of phrase in this article. "Learning that is personalised and lifelong is almost always self-organised, self regulated and naturally has no course termination date.`I would add that this does not mean that it is endless, but rather that completion is based on the accomplishment of some task or objective, rather than on a schedule. More...