By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Getting Serious
The Economist looks at the Facebook phenomenon. "It is a typical example of the colonisation of a new frontier," writes the author. "A few intrepid explorers stake out some new, unexplored territory. Before long the first settlers move in and start to look for ways to make a quick buck." And the Economist offers its usual advocacy of the free-market approach: "One way to deal with unwanted activity, in virtual worlds as in the real one, is to decriminalise and regulate it, rather than trying to outlaw it altogether." It's an odd advocacy, especially following a paragraph in which it is noted that "in May two players were banned from Second Life for depicting sexual activity between an adult and a child." The article is also noteworthy for having apparently copied a photo taken (and posted on Flickr) by Art Fosset. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Stockhouse
The creator of this site is a longtime friend of mine. So I'm really pleased to be able to recommend it, even if it is not strictly an education site. Stockhouse is a type of online community that encourages discussion on the stock market and employs a variety of social networking and community features to manage the discussion. Note the very interesting variation of tag cloyds used to indicate the most popular topics of discussion. Note the multi-featured reputation management display for contributors. The entire site is dynamic, the display of information intended to be relevant and up-to-date. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Spock's Risky Take On Trust, Privacy, and Identity Management Online
When I first tried Spock the site was so slow that I couldn't learn anything. They've apparently fixed that problem, as Catherone Howell reports, but additional problems remain. "It's not especially useful, and it could even be dangerous, for a company to try and create a public expectation that 'identity management' equates to an individual actively 'controlling' all the personal information that is available about him/her on the web... I'd say we've already got other, better mechanisms to do the things that Spock says it's offering users". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. WWW FAQs: Why Do My MP3 Files Sound Bad in Flash Player?
Good description of why some MP3s sound funny when played using Flash applications. Boutell says "Audacity and Flash don't always play nicely together," which isn't quite accurate. the reality is, Flash only plays certain types of MP3 files. "The problem is that Flash Player only supports two sampling rates: 22,050 samples per second, and 44,100 samples per second." Which is really stupid and something Adobe should fix. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Google Responding to Wikipedia?
I think there's something really weird about Google's launching of the 'knol' (one unit of knowledge). On the one hand, it resembles a learning object in its granularity. But so does a Wikipedia article - and maybe, as George Siemens suggests, Google is afraid of Wikipedia. Because Google also attributes each 'knol' to a specific author. A lot like Citizendium. Well it's going to be a bit hard for the fameseekers to resist this one. But more to the point, it's surprising to see Google ignoring the lesson that created its huge empire in the first places: that many voices, not one expert voice, constitute authority. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Open Education and the Cape Town Declaration
The discussion concerning the Cape Town Declaration continues. This post summarizes some of the commentary (mostly of mine) on the unesco-oer list. See also Graham Attwell's earlier reactions (here too). Leigh Blackall also comments on the declaration and (mostly) the criticisms. See also his post on Ahrash Bissell. And also some of the interesting interactions between Wikiversity and Wikieducator. Also, Teemu Leinonen discusses the different kinds of "educational equalities" presupposed by different approaches to learning. He also asserts that CC-By-SA is THE license of the free/libre/open educational resources movement. Worth noting, then, that the Open yale courses are under a Creative Commons non-commercial license. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Downes On Kirschner
D-Ed Reckoning has posted a longish summary and criticism of my argument againt Kirshner. I have offered a longish reply. It's pretty interesting discussion (if I say so myself) and you might want to look at the reply for an account of the idea of 'inducing' learning in a student. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. How to Improve the Teaching of Writing
I'm in general agreement with this post, both in the observation that the quality of writing in the teaching profession may be a problem, and also in the specific suggestions for its improvement in teachers and students. I am no formalist, goodness knows, but I do believe that there are good reasons for good writing, and that there are ways to become a better writer. Clarity and precision - whether in writing, art or athletics - are virtues, because they help you obtain your objectives. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. MPAA'S University Toolkit Hit with DMCA Takedown Notice After GPL Violation
I guess there's nothing new here, but it bears repeating that the publishing and motion picture industry values copyright protection only insofar as it benefits the publishing and motion picture industry. And it's had not to see the irony in the MPAA basing its anti-piracy toolkit on open source software. Meanwhile, Mark Luker and Michael Petricone respond forcefully to the depiction of "Piracy U" by Dan Glickman of the MPAA. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. An Educational Technology Dead End?
An instructor, following a disappointing experience with Sakai, wonders whether the LMS isn't a dead end. As a wise faculty member once said to me, 'Faculty only learn one or two new technologies every two or three years--and adding an attachment to e-mail counts as two of those.' Why not try to slip a single-system solution into their lives as a single technology? The answer may be that course management systems can just as easily stifle learning as enable it". More...