Sakai, and Why I hate Java, Chapter 22
So a note in my discussion area prompted me to try to install Sakai, the open source learning management system. As a result I hate added yet another chapter to my legion of "I hate Java" stories. Everything went fine until I tried to insatll it. I have Java correctly installed, as per the instructions - a JRE (Java Runtime Engine) that I use for Java plugins on websites. Should work, according to the quick-start instructiona. But, of course, it doesn't. More...

iUpload Personal Publisher
As the new year rolls in, some very powerful personal publishing tools are being unveiled, such as the iUpload Personal Publisher, described here by Robin Good. Here is my test blog, made in about 30 seconds (including spell check). The interface is very smooth and fast, and although there's only one template it would be a snap to switch. But you can only customize them a little, and I didn't see any way to create your own. More...

At The Mercy Of The Music Industry
Another DRM horror story - this time a new type of CD that is basically unplayable. And the CDs - which use a protection system called MediaMax - are not identified as such. Slashdot reports: "DRM, digital rights management, is quite possibly the holy grail of the music and movie industry, allowing them to control exactly how DRM protected content is used, distributed and above all can be tracked right down to the individual end user." Quite so. More...

Marketing in Hypermedia Computer-Mediated Environments: Conceptual Foundations
Vin Crosbie summarizes, "Though that title sounds dull, no other work has more influenced my thinking about online. When I came out of UPI, Reuters, and News Corporation in 1994, I couldn't understand why shoveling print content into online (as I had done at Murdoch's Delphi and iGuide projects) didn't lead to online publishing success. This paper explained why. It is indeed a description of the conceptual foundations of online media." What this paper captures, that many subsequent works don't, is the idea of 'flow' in electronic communications. More...

Staccato
If you like music, you'll need this site (or ones like it). Why? See the next link. For those of you who are wondering why I would write about music in a learning technology newsletter: the very same story is being played out in our field. More...

Thinking About Links
Good discussion of network theory and how it impacts learning technology. Spurred by his reading of Albert-Laszlo Barabasi's Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means, Alan Levine looks at things like powers laws and the long tail. More...

Firefox Tweak
This tweak will increase the speed of your Firefox browser - in my case, it almost doubled the speed. Basically, what it does is to allow Firefox to download multiple objects at once. More...

Internet to ITU: Stay Away from My Network
These days I wonder whether our open internet is soon to be a thing of the past. There is no real need for open communication on the part of those content, software and telecommunications companies controlling large parts of the net. Indeed, freedom to communicate creates for them a number of problems, everything from viruses and spam to piracy to political activism. More...

E-learning on a Shoestring - Developing a Solution
Comprehensive, clear and well-written, this guide providing practical advice on how to develop e-learning on a shoestring will be useful to any organization looking at low-cost (and often better) alternatives to a commercial solution. At the very least, readers should look at this document to learn about all the alternatives not available in the closed commercial environment. More...

Experience as a Distance Learning Teacher Makes You a Better Classroom Teacher
Here is an example of the feedback-loop thing I talked about in my post to WWWEDU. "a whopping 85% of their faculty reported that their experience as online teachers 'will have a positive effect on their classroom instruction.'" Well, now. More...