By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Demand for Decentralized Social Networks
This is going to become a lot bigger. In a nutshell, the idea is that your blogging application - WordPress, say - should be your social network. As Om Malik describes it. So that insofar as data is winging its way from one site to another, you - using your own software - are in charge. See Jens Alfe on distributed identification. It's time for distributed social network applications. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Not the Edublog Award Winners
These are not awards, nor are they a 'top ten' type of selection (for one thing, if you were actually nominated for an award you were disqualified from this list, which kind of makes them the opposite of awards). They are some websites I felt ought to be highlighted for their quality, insight and contributions this year even though they were overlooked by the Edublogs. Stephen Downes, Half an Hour December 17, 2007 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment]. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Stupid Strategic Commenting V. Smart Engagement
I comment on numerous websites and, of course, many peopl comment on my own. In my own case, my commenting is motivated by a desire to add to the discussion of the topic. I very often think by means of writing on a topic, and commenting gets my brain flowing. These comments often result in blog posts. But as Amy Gahran notes, nt every comment is motivated by discussion. A significant number of them are intended only to attract business or website traffic. Though not technically the vile weblog comment spam, these comments are still unwelcome. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Six Reasons People Aren't Commenting On Your Blog
The six reasons offered in this article are all variation on the theme "you don't encourage comments". For myself, while I encourage people to comment, my preference is always to see them express their views in their own space. The intent of this website isn't to create a 'community' around the author, it is to share knowledge and foster learning, including the development of a mature network of self-sufficient individual online resources. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Open Educational Resources Declaration and Info
To judge from the email I received today from OER Commons, the focus for the Cape Town Declaration is marketing, not discussion. Yes, the push is on to collect signatures and (in my view) to preempt actual community-wide consultation. Meanwhile, Ignatia asks the organizers, "Where is the diversity? I was surprised that the initiative did not include more diversity in the platform of people?" And, "why not open up the declaration to learners around the world to add their remarks to make it stronger? The fact that feedback is possible is already great, it would be nice if this feedback would be open as a public discussion forum." Indeed, instead of the marketing push, why not back off the PR program for a bit and ask whether this is something the community actually wants. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Future School: Reshaping Learning From the Ground Up
I read Future Shock and (more importantly) The Third Wave when I was a lot younger, and consequently, Alvin Toffler was an important intellectual influence on my thinking. I still have notes from those days I refer to. So it is of interest to see Toffler's recommendations regarding the American school system (and presumably, his remarks would apply elsewhere as well): "Shut down the public education system." Well and good, but I don't agree that we should, instead, ramp up the charter school system. We will not move forward simply by replacing the current school administration with unqualified and politically motivated alternative administrations. This is the thing about charter schools: they are not 'fundamental radical changes'. They're the same old thing, except run by people who don't know what they're doing. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Access Copyright Claims Copyright Reforms May Be On Hold Indefinitely
With some luck, the proposed copyright legislation - that would introduce Draconian DMCA-style restrictions on Canadians - may be postponed indefinitely. In the meantime, proponents of the legislation - mostly non-Canadian publishing interests - are ramping up their lobbying efforts. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. CC Launches Two New Licensing Projects
Creative Commons is reloeasing two new types of license, CC+ ("a protocol to enable a simple way for users to get rights beyond the rights granted by a CC license" such as commercial licensing), and CC0 (a more robust waiving of rights a way to place your work unambiguously into the public domain). Both remain sort of under development. Meanwhile, an organization called Talis is cooperating with Creative Commons to create the Open Data Commons Public Domain Dedication and Licence, which will address the legalities of sharing data. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Most Users Do Not Know Web Office Tools: New Study
Not really a surprise, but most computer users have never heard of Web office productivity tools. These will become more important as people switch away from Microsoft computers - and are a major part of making that switch possible. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Is Facebook in the Enterprise an Oxymoron?
Short answer: yes. The longer answer is something like this: social software and similar applications work because they create loose, network-like structures. But the requirements of the enterprise - security, provacy, control, etc. - break those structures. Sure, you can have the same sort of applications in the enterprise. But they'll never seem to work so well, and people will always say that it's the application, never doubting that it's the nature of the enterprise itself that is the problem. More...