By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Jeff Jarvis: New News: The Fear Factor, BuzzMachine December 21, 2005

Funny: "The first job is to instill fear in the newsroom. Oh, there's fear there now. But it is fear of the unknown. What we need is fear of the known." And the author continues on to list a few good reasons for fear, adding, "the first thing I think a newspaper should do is report about the future of news. Assign your best reporters and editors - the Bejesus Task Force - to get all the prognostications." Good advice, not just for journalists, but for everyone in the content business. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Scott McLemee: Aiming the Can(n)on, Inside Higher Ed December 21, 2005

From time to time I wonder whether anything I write will ever be read beyond next week, and so items like this - a look at the renaissance of the works of Lu Xun - interest me. The author ponders "the simplest model of how a literary canon is formed: An author gives voice to the ideology of the powers-that-be". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Dave Munger: Video Games: Are the Myths True?, Cognitive Daily December 20, 2005

Good discussion of an essay by Henry Jenkins intended to dispel the myths about the role of video games in causing aggression and violence. What I like is not so much the thrust of the argument - because I think that the relation between games and anti-social behaviour is misrepresented and overblown - but in the rigor applied to the reasoning. Bad argumentation helps nobody, whether or not it supports your point of view. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Sabine Graf and Beate List: An Evaluation of Open Source E-Learning Platforms Stressing Adaptation Issues, ICALT December 20, 2005

This paper aims "to identify the most suitable open source e-learning platform for extending to an adaptive one," measured as "adaptability, personalization, extensibility, and adaptivity very well by a documented API, detailed guidelines, and adaptivity." Employing a multi-factored comparison, they select Moodle as having the most potential to adapt. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Paul Gray and David E. Drew: What They Don't Teach You in Graduate School, Inside Higher Ed December 20, 2005

A cynical though probably accurate guide for students hoping to complete their PhD. My assessment is more or less in line with that of one of the commentators: "A thoroughly depressing guide through the system as it is, with no mention that real live students will then be exposed to these calculating Texas Hold'em careerist operators, with predictable results for education." My advice for aspiring scholars is and always has been very simple: follow your passion. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Josie Fraser: EduBlog Awards December 19, 2005

The EduBlog Awards were handed out over the weekend and this website was fortunate enough to be selected as the Best Individual Weblog for 2005. Thanks to everyone involved. Live audio from the event was captured as Ed Tech Talk #30. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Linda E. Patrik: Using Blogs to Teach Philosophy, Academic Commons December 19, 2005

A project that is close to my own roots. Interestingly, the author writes, "Unlike academic writing in most other disciplines, philosophical writing frequently and strongly states the 'I' because philosophers have to develop and defend their own positions". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Ben Crowell: All Systems Go: The Newly Emerging Infrastructure to Support Free Books, Light and Matter December 19, 2005

Some good discussion of the movement toward free books (or 'open source books'), with references to standbys like textbookrevolution.org and lulu.com (which I intend to use in the near future), wikibooks, and more. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Clarence Fisher: Validating Information, Remote Access December 19, 2005

I think there are answers to the concerns Clarence Fisher raises in this item, but I think it is important that the concerns be aired. He reaises two major objections to the concept of validating information through aggregation. First, students do not have the opportunity. "Most often our kids work in units of study." And second, "as St. Augustine says, 'volume does not make right.'" And I think Fisher is exactly right to point to WalMart's (and, I might add, Chapters's) book vending policies to show why you can't simply go with the aggregate. More...