This has been covered all over the place. "Google this week will launch Google Apps for Your Domain, a software bundle aimed at small and midsize companies." In the process it has completely messed up my login for Blogger. More...
26 août 2019
26 août 2019
Primer on Public Involvement
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. François-Pierre Gauvin and Julia Abelson[Edit][Delete]: Primer on Public Involvement, Canadian Policy Research Networks [Edit][Delete] August 25, 2006I always worry when someone promotes a new way to consult the public on health care, because the recent history of our system is that 85 percent of Canadians support the public system while business and government officials are forever trying to privatize it. This results in a cynicism about government, a cynicism that is frankly admitted at the beginning of this report. What follows is a good discussion of citizen participation in governance generally, and if you look for it you'll find what is for me a key factor: "participants must have a real impact on the policy and decision-making process. More...
26 août 2019
A Code of Ethics
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Terry Freedman[Edit][Delete]: A Code of Ethics, Information and Communication Technology in Education [Edit][Delete] August 25, 2006Not everybody agreed with my response to proposals for blogging codes of ethics. Terry Freedman writes, "Downes may be correct in a logical sense, but I don't see how his position actually helps anyone working in schools." I won't infer from this that schools are illogical (though I could!) but will read this more charitably: Freedman is appealing to the utilitarian value of codes of ethics. They can be "both meaningful and useful."
Yes they can, but what is it that distinguishes a code of ethics from, say, instruction from a teacher or parent? It is one thing to tell people what they ought or ought not do - even I do that. And quite another to codify that. More...
26 août 2019
Did You Say 3,000 a Day!
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. StevenB[Edit][Delete]: Did You Say 3,000 a Day!, ACRLog [Edit][Delete] August 25, 2006
The neat thing in this article is the direct link to the contract between Google and the University of California Library System to have Google digitize books. I have to think that if they have this agreement with the University of California Library System there won't be too many books that need digitizing after they're done. More...
26 août 2019
Blackboard: A Good Investment?
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Alfred Essa[Edit][Delete]: Blackboard: A Good Investment?, NOSE [Edit][Delete] August 25, 2006
I would say not, though the stocks for the first few weeks after the patent story broke were flat (though it has dipped recedntly). More...
26 août 2019
Petitcodiac and Halifax
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Stephen Downes[Edit][Delete]: Petitcodiac and Halifax, August 25, 2006
I am back home in Moncton, having taken the train back from Halifax this afternoon. If I owe you email, or a commentary, or a review, or anything else, it will be along soon. Meanwhile, why not enjoy these two sets of photos. The first set, from the small town of Petitcodiac, is from two bicycle trips there this month - and is therefore the record of my first time cycling 100 km in a single day. The second set, from Halifax, captures the short trip Andrea and I took there this week. Enjoy. More...
26 août 2019
Teacher as Learner in Web 2.0
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Teacher as Learner in Web 2.0, heyjude [Edit][Delete] August 24, 2006
"You can add a bit on about Web 2.0 if you like, but do not make it the main thrust of your paper. You must demonstrate that you understand our philosophy." I guess we must be on to something if education doctoral programs are advising that students should not focus on Web 2.0. More...
26 août 2019
Skipping The SAT
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Tim Stahmer[Edit][Delete]: Skipping The SAT, Assorted Stuff [Edit][Delete] August 24, 2006
High school seniors with a high enough grade can skip the SAT. I never did an SAT (Canadians can take it, but there's no reason to). I did a practice version of it and was doing OK until I hit a question equating freedom and capitalism. More...
26 août 2019
Belly up to the BarCamp
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Bascha Harris[Edit][Delete]: Belly up to the BarCamp, RedHat [Edit][Delete] August 24, 2006
When O'Reilly created the 'Foo Camp', inviting a group of experts to an invitation-only conference, they didn't know what they started. What they started was 'Bar camp', the response to 'Foo Camp' created by those who didn't get invitations. More...
26 août 2019
The Tightrope of Blogging: A Week's Adventure into the Public Nature of Social Software
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Barbara Ganley[Edit][Delete]: The Tightrope of Blogging: A Week's Adventure into the Public Nature of Social Software, bgblogging [Edit][Delete] August 24, 2006
"Blogs are being judged as though they are supposed to be printed media--finished, the end, the last word on a subject by an expert," writes Barbara Ganley. "But for me as a teacher, the absolute beauty of blogging is that it's not that at all--it's about developing thought, about pushing out tendrils to myself and the world in hopes that through collective intelligence and my own writing them down, the thoughts might both increase my own understanding of the subject at hand and even add something to the greater conversation..." Quite true, but let me say this, that I will hold blogs to comparison even with traditional media. More...
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