By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Dave Tosh[Edit][Delete]: Curverider Conference Presentations - On Video, October 3, 2006
Nice. This is the way to present conference coverage. Alsong with notes and summaries and blog posts of course. Chris McKillop talking about blogging and storytelling in education. Miles Berry on Elgg. Bill Fitzgerald talks about Drupal. And Kevin Jardine discusses OpenID (or so it says - I listened and it didn't really address OpenID). These talks are 15 minutes, on average - is this the standard now? Hm. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Michael Feldstein[Edit][Delete]: Blackboard Conference Call, Part II, E-Literate [Edit][Delete] October 3, 2006
Michael Feldstein gives Blackboard credit for answering his questions (I don't - it was just a needed warmup for court) and then summarizes the general non-responsiveness offered by the company in its conference call last week. What I glean from the conversation - given that Blackboard won't open its patents, won't allow royalty-free use of them, won't abandon its lawsuit, etc., is that it intends to own the e-learning market. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Tom Hoffman[Edit][Delete]: Turnitin vs. Student Intellectual Property Rights, Ed-Tech Insider [Edit][Delete] October 3, 2006
I know it's a long newsletter today, but I just have to echo Tom Hoffman's sentiments about Turnitin, which he posted about 10 days ago: "I can't see how a school can compel students to grant the use of their work to a commercial venture and then turn around and lecture to them about the ethics of file-sharing and the like". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Janna Quitney Anderson and Lee Rainie[Edit][Delete]: The Future of the Internet II, Pew [Edit][Delete] October 2, 2006
It's hard to believe they didn't ask me to contribute! LOL. Then again, it's the Pew Internet and American Life Project. And it's not like I would have differed substantially from the main thrust of the report, though I wouldn't have worried one whit about 'refusenik' terrorism (I mean, really now, come on, let's get serious). More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Elizabeth Redden[Edit][Delete]: Skype Skirmishes on Campus, Inside Higher Ed [Edit][Delete] October 1, 2006
Most of the software I talk about, I comment during my talks, is banned at schools, colleges and universities. Skype is a good example of the latest item to incur the wrath of administrators, ostensibly because it eats bandwidth. I would be interested, though, to hear what sort of arguments cross the desk when university officials are meeting with telco representatives. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Various authors[Edit][Delete]: GuruLib, October 1, 2006
New web 2.0-ish application that lets you list (and review) your books, CDs, DVDs and more. I like the listing of various types of content. Various interface irregularities - this is very early beta. Still, I liked it, and especially the potential for it to interface with, say, my iRiver. The link is to my list of stuff, which I will add to as time goes by (assuming the service works out the kinks). More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Margaret Spellings[Edit][Delete]: Let's Really Throw Open Doors to Higher Education, Houston Chronicle [Edit][Delete] October 1, 2006
The title of this article attracted me (after all, our current system is built almost entirely around the idea of blocking access to poor people). But while the principles touted - accessibility, affordability and accountability - seem reasdonable, the author seems to not understand what they mean. College will not become more accessible if students are tested more in high school; how could anyone suppose that this is true? Now will it be made more affordable by simplfying the financial aid documentation, it will merely be more obviously unaffordable. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Michael Geist[Edit][Delete]: 30 Days of DRM, August 31, 2006

I'm glad to have found this page, because I'm not going to run a Michael Geist link 30 days in a row, no matter how compelling the content (and this is pretty compelling). The 30 Days of DRM series is up to day 13 now. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. bleckb[Edit][Delete]: Worst Corporate Use of Email?, Kairosnews [Edit][Delete]KairosNews [Edit][Delete] August 31, 2006
OK, everybody is going to line up to slam Radio Shack for this one. Now I'm no fan of Radio Shack, and especially of the company's history of labour relations, but I have to ask this: in what sense is it better to be 'informed of a meeting with the general manager' on Friday to which 'all section Y employees must attend'? Hm? Does having the $1.5 million guy come down and give you the hatchet personally make up for that week of waiting and wondering while you slog away at your $5.50 job. More...