By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Scott Leslie: Why Does 'Freesound' Succeed When so Many Learning Object Repositories fail?, Ed Tech Post December 14, 2005

So we got a foot of snow overnight in Moncton, which of course made it the perfect day to pack myself into the bus and ship myself off to Fredericton, where I'll be at meetings during the day tomorrow (of course I surf during the meetings; how do you thing the newsletter will get published?). Anyhow, the sort of thing I'll be talking about tomorrow is the sort of thing raised here by Scott Leslie as he asks why Freesound - a sound sampling service - is a success where learning objects are less so. It's not interface, it's not metadata - rather, it seems to be a combination of the license (which encourages reuse, natch) and the data format. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. JoAnn Hackos: Is DITA Going to Tip?, Center for Information Development Management December 13, 2005

This is new to me, so I thought I'd pass it along (it never ceases to amaze me how much is new to me). JoAnn Hackos writes, "Obviously, something else must influence XML authoring if it is to move past the tipping point. That 'something else' is arguably DITA.... it provides us with an informational architecture standard around topic-based authoring that is unique to technical information". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. David L. Passmore: New Educational Methods for Organizational and Enterprise Learning Derived from Self- Organizing Systems Theory and Practice, Pennsylvania State University December 13, 2005

Jeremy Hiebert links to this article looking at informal learning as it develops in Slashdot. The author approaches the subject with what I think is the right perspective, observing, "Systems function, at times, in ways that cannot be attributed to any of the individual parts of the system separately. Such systems are termed emergent systems..." And more, he argues, such systems are self-organizing systems. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. roseg: Would You Like Freedom Fries With That?, randomselections December 13, 2005

The point of this item - with which I am in sympathy - is that not only is copyright expanding, but its increasingly pervasive nature is becoming a medium for social control. To think of where copyright has gone in the last decade or so, "Imagine buying a bed and being told that you were only licensed to use it for yourself". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Associated Press: Handhelds Go to School, Wired News December 12, 2005

Breathless story about the use of wireless mobile in schools. And (unlike the old Wired, which focused on content and community) this article misses the point: "I don't know if it's that they feel cool or they're just jazzed about the technology," Ross said. "But having some of those bells and whistles make the kind of information they really need to learn exciting." Sigh. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Lisa Young and Donna Rebadow: Reusable Learning Objects: RLO The Movie, MCLI iForum December 9, 2005

Link to video from the presentation, presented during a conference session called 'Stop Reinventing the Wheel and Share Your Best Instructional Resources: Reusable Learning Objects,' in which Maricopa staff described their efforts to help staff understand, find, and use learning objects. Also a link to the interesting Ocotillo Learning Objects blog. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Eileen Gifford Fenton and Roger C. Schonfeld: The Shift Away From Print, Inside Higher Ed December 8, 2005

An examination of the implications of the shift from paper to electronic publishing for libraries and publishers, one that inexplicably completely overlooks the rise of open access publishing and that only briefly mentions blogs and repositories (and then, only as a negative). The most important implication for libraries (other than those just mentioned), it seems to me, is this: "The widespread migration from print to electronic seems likely to eliminate library ownership of new accessions, with licensing taking the place of purchase". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Various authors: 21st Century Learning Initiative, Canadian Council on Learning December 8, 2005

The Canadian Council on Learning has launched a new website. "This website will be an ongoing source of valuable information about the progress of the 21st Century Learning Initiative (Canada), including links to papers, slides and speeches... The site also provides an on-line forum to allow visitors to ask questions, share ideas, and post examples of activities and practices that are relevant to the Initiative." It looks nice, and does have some resources - but the font is tiny on my screen. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Various authors: JISC-CETIS Conference 2005, JISC - CETIS December 8, 2005

Kudos to the JISC and CETIS people who captured not only notes and slides but also audio of the presentations at the recent meeting in Edinburgh on the E-Framework. There's a lot here and you won't get through it all in one sitting (I didn't). Start with the written summary, which will give you the gist of the conference - don't forget to check out the blog postings listed at the bottom of the summary. Then, depending on your preferences, visit the plenary presentations page to listen to the audio and follow along with the slides or do the same at the repository strand presentations. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Michael Ashburner, et.al.: Open Letter from Fellows of the Royal Society December 7, 2005

Members of the Royal Society write to express their "disappointment with the Society's recent position statement on open access to published research." The Royal Society recently released a statement essentially opposing open access. More...