By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Say Everything
I grew up in a small town. Everybody knew everything about everyone else. The internet is like that. So perhaps that's why I am less distressed than other people my age about sharing information about myself. This article looks at the phenomenon among young people. "It may be time to consider the possibility that young people who behave as if privacy doesn't exist are actually the sane people, not the insane ones... the idea of a truly private life is already an illusion. Every street in New York has a surveillance camera. Each time you swipe your debit card at Duane Reade or use your MetroCard, that transaction is tracked. Your employer owns your e-mails. The NSA owns your phone calls". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. ShareAlike, the Public Domain, and Privileging
David Wiley comes back with more discussion on open software licensing, expressing his argument this way: "So should we privilege people or content? For me, this is a very simple question. Content is simply a means to the end of supporting people's learning. Content is never the end in itself. The idea that we might privilege content over people is frightening to me." It's a nice argument with emotional appeal. But the use of the word 'privilege' is suspect. When we say that a person must obey the law, are we "privileging" content (the law) over people? No, of course not. The law is not simply 'content'. It - like a 'share alike' license - is the expression of some people of the intent to protect themselves, and society at large, against other people. Because companies like Disney can and do steal content from the public domain, 'modify' it, call it trademarked and copyright, and then sue people who attempt to use what they once used to own. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Evidence-Based Learning
I guess my main problem with the concept of evidence-based learning is that it equates the concept of 'evidence' with 'measurement'. For example: "Evidence-Based Learning (EBL) requires us also to measure our own performance." I think that the emphasis on measurement has distorted the idea of 'evidence' (and empiricism in general). For example: my friend walks in through the door. How do I know my friend is here? Not by looking for certain qualities, like his height or his eye colour. Not by measuring anything - but by recognizing my friend. That's the problem with NCLB (which is not sound as a core concept). More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Thoughts On Research
George Siemens posts an article on research methodology. He cites something I wrote (in the blog post, but not the paper, which is a bit weird): "The best argument Jonassen can advance for his theory is to describe the theory; the question of fit is determined, over time, by the cumulative experiences of a multitude of practitioners against nebulous and undefined criteria." That's just the way the world is; pretending you can whip out a tape measure and reduce it to numbers doesn't change that. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. ScienceDirect Available with Single Sign-On
OK, here's the post: "Publisher Elsevier has announced that its ScienceDirect service is now available through the UK Access Management Federation, so users will be able to log on with their institution's ID." Now the point that I want to make here is that this is proprietary sign-on, not single sign-on. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Resistant, Clueless, Indifferent, or Just Defensive?
Doug Noon links to a number of posts on the subject of teacher resistance to systematic change. Here's Terry Elliot: "I can tell you why it has been slow - the entrenched won't move until they see their front line has been breached and that further dithering with the Hindenberg's tea trays is quite futile. I also responded further to Sessums' thought provoking post." Meanwhile, nothing but silence from the School 2.0 crowd - many of who are gathered at the Building Learning Communities conference, where they talk about the role of the teacher. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Photoshop of Horrors
Even as it sinks into insolvency, traditional media continues to press the case against new media. And the interminable debate continues. But as the most recent champion of traditional media, Andrew Keen, makes the rounds with the digerati, I am continually frustrated by the fact that the digerati won't state the knockdown argument: that traditional media is corrupt, and it is new media that is trustworthy. Of course, the digerati actually make their living from traditional media (look at their credits) so I guess they wouldn't. But I don't, and never will. So nothing stops me from observing that blatant bald-faced manipulation, such as the travesty described in this article, is commonplace. And not just that, but such manipulations of image and fact have had serious, long-term, and detrimental effects on society. And the thing is - I see numerous examples every single day! For example, also from today, the release and reporting of five year old Osama video as "new". Also, the description of a scientific study that doesn't exist. Or the smear campaign launched by an editor of the Daily Telegraph. Actually - that's just from this morning - I haven't done the evening rounds yet. Folks, in case you have missed it, traditional media is systematically and thoroughly corrupt, from the tabloid magazines to the corporate-owned newspapers to the advertorials to the product placements to payola placements. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. CEGSA Day 1 Report
I am working late tonight - very late - as I will be speaking by videoconference to the CEGSA conference currently being hosted in Adelaide, Australia. Mike Seyfang offers this report from Day 1, including a summary of Gerry White's keynote. "Gerry finished his talk with a little 'report card' for our education system. If my kids brought home a report card like that I would kick myself up the arse for being a lousy parent." Um. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Greenhouse Grant for Virtual Worlds
As the PDF says, "Blackboard is funding a single $25,000 (USD) grant for initiatives that promote the integration of virtual worlds into teaching and learning." This of course follows the successful development of Sloodle (PDF White paper) which integrates the open source Moodle LMS with Second Life. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Open Library
The Open Library demo has launched. "What if there was a library which held every book? Not every book on sale, or every important book, or even every book in English, but simply every book-a key part of our planet's cultural legacy.... most importantly, such a library must be fully open. Not simply 'free to the people,' as the grand banner across the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh proclaims, but a product of the people: letting them create and curate its catalog, contribute to its content, participate in its governance, and have full, free access to its data. In an era where library data and Internet databases are being run by money-seeking companies behind closed doors, it's more important than ever to be open. More...