By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Bill Olivier, Tish Roberts and Kerry Blinco: The e-Framework for Education and Research: An Overview, Jisc October 6, 2005

Certainly one of the clearest papers on the E-Framework initiative (nee E-Learning Framework, or ELF). Diagram 3 (p.10) is especially useful. The authors additionally capture the most pressing problem with the E-Framework thus far: in so many words, nobody knows what's going on. Thus, they write, "coherent map is needed." No argument from me! What I'm also sensing in the E-Framework is a bit of a loosening of control. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Helen Richardson and Helen Richardson and Rob Ward: Getting Ehat You Want: Implementing Personal Development Planning Through e-Portfolio, Centre for Recording Achievement October 6, 2005

The document looks like is was a draft left hanging (why not put the authors' names and the date at the top of the paper?) but it contains useful information. The paper "provides a generic summary of things to think about, questions to ask, and people to talk to" in the area of e-portfolios. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Scott Mace: Asterisk - Open-Source VoIP PBX, IT Conversations October 6, 2005

I listened to quite a good interview today with Brian Capouch, the author of the forthcoming book about Asterisk, an open source internet telephony exchange (aka PBX). More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Various authors: RAMLET (1484.11.4), IEEE-LTSC October 6, 2005

The IEEE learning Technologies Subcommittee (LTSC) is due shortly to release the badly-named RAMLET specification (or Resource Aggregation Model for Learning Education and Training). It's not what you think (which is why the name is so bad): it doesn't appear really to have to do with resource aggregation (or harvesting) per se, but rather, the combining of documents of different formats into a single format, much like the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Compound Document Framework. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Andy Carvin: Text of Al Gore's We Media Speech, Andy Carvin's Waste of Bandwidth October 6, 2005

Former American Vice President Al Gore, in this podcast recorded at the We Media conference yesterday in New York, argues that the concentration of media voices, which transformed dialogue into a one-way (and uniquely compelling) broadcast, has led to the demise of civil discourse in that country. Humourous, intelligent - this is not a talk to be missed. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Derek Morrison: Innovations in the Reuse of Electronic Learning Materials - Drivers and Challenges, Auricle October 6, 2005

This is a great article. Blogging his own talk (it's interesting to read an almost third-person view of what he said) Derek Morrison takes us on a romp through the alternative 'rip-mix-feed' version of online learning. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Alec Couros: Subscribe To The Educational Technology Conference Calendar (RSS. iCal), Couros Blog October 6, 2005

Alec Couros is right to repost his RSS Ed Tech calendar, which will be a useful resource for those using RSS aggregators. It's great. But here's the thing - you need to go to the calendar in order to add an event. Well, OK, I suppose you need to enter data somewhere. But what I want to see is a calendar - perhaps like that offered by Couros - that aggregates RSS event feeds from other calendars. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Various authors: Polar Science, yesican-science October 5, 2005

This is one of those sites I know I would have gone wild over as a kid. Polar Science follows scientist Thomas Hawke, "a Canadian scientist, as he investigates how young Weddell seal pups develop into elite divers." The site doesn't have a lot of content yet - registrations (teachers are invited to sign up their classes) just opened. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Scott Wilson: Architecture of Virtual Spaces & the Future of VLEs, Scott's Workblog October 6, 2005

Scott Wilson takes us from the theory of artificial and natural spaces to an examination of similar structures in the world of online learning (echoes of what Jay Cross is saying here). "In an LMS, the architecture of virtual space is derived from the model of the institution... In a PLE, the architecture of virtual space is a web of connections centred on the learner." Why, then, do we drift toward the LMS? Because of a fear of the internet, and a desire for control. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Andy Carvin: Audio of Negroponte's $100 Laptop Presentation, Andy Carvin's Waste of Bandwidth October 5, 2005

Andy Carvin, hos laptop now fixed, makes the audio of this talk available on his website (have you noticed how quickly audio recordings of such events are now expected rather than the exception. More...