Standards Matter
This publication missed me with its first two issues, but the third showed up in Edu_RSS today and I'm glad it did, as it pointed me to things like the new IMS RSS feed, the IEEE standard for runtime services communication (in which I learn that IEEE calls Javascript "ECMAScript" (for no good reason, so far as I can tell), the Australia Research Repositaries Online to the World (ARROW) project, and much, much more. More...

JISC Programme to Foster The Pick 'n Mix MLE
Nice description of Service Oriented Architecture (SOA): "Rather than have a calendar or scheduling function in every computer system that needs it, you have just the one calendaring component that exposes its service to anything or anyone who wants it." One major advantage of this approach is that "small and simple home-spun tools that make a real difference in teaching and learning can piggy-back on the functionality of bigger systems." The trick, of course, is to make this work. More...

The Cockroach of Repository Interoperability: Simple Query Interface
CETIS never fails to amuse with its titles. It also never fails to enlighten with its crisp, clear writing. This article is no exception to either rule as it describes yet another learning object standard, the proposed Simple Query Interface being developed by CEN/ISSS. Unlike some other recent initiatives, this one is visibly drawing from the work of previous projects, including Ariadne, CELEBRATE, Edutella, Elena, EduSource, ProLearn, Universal/EducaNext and Zing (now there's some pedigree, eh?). More...

Media Characteristics and Online Learning Technology
I am going to recommend this paper even though I disagree with it, with the caveat that readers watch for dated references and descriptions (the assertion, for example, that a computer monitor is one third the size of sheet of paper, while true for a paper published in 1997, is no longer true today, and particularly ironic given that I was reading the entire page on which this was printed on a single monitor screen). More...

CSS Your Way to Learner Control
Good article that explains why Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) should be used to allow learners to control the appearance of web pages. Even better, it provides an example of how it works. I wish they had included something of importance to me, scalable text (I am playing with this on the Edu_RSS Listings page). More...

"Off-shoring" Manifesto/Rant: Sixteen Hard Truths
I disagree with only one of these points offered by Tom Peters (point number 14), and as for the rest, find myself somewhat bemused to be in concord with a business writer (who are usually far behind the trends - witness Forbes discovering RSS just this week). More...

Thirteen Ways To Save Orkut
Orkut is an interesting experiment in social software that is about to die as the anti-Orkut diatribes begin to mount (and rightly so). In this article, the author offers her prescription to save it. More...

How RSS Can Succeed
I posted this item in response to RSS: A Big Success In Danger of Failure, by Bill Burnham. RSS could succeed. It will probably succeed. But it is important to keep our focus on what it does well: it allows an individual to scan, filter, and pass forward. That's all it ever has to do. More...

RSS: A Big Success In Danger of Failure
The author argues that "it is clear that without the use of meta-directories and their standardized classifications and taxonomies the RSS community is in danger of collapsing under the weight of its own success and becoming the 'push' of 2004." Having already achieved more success than was ever dreamed for push, this danger appears slight. More...

Bridging Theory and Practice: Developing Guidelines to Facilitate the Design of Computer-based Learning Environments
OK, first, nobody should ever be allowed to use the phrase 'Bridging Theory and Practice' in a title again. It has been done, done to death, and adds nothing to the title. That said, let me say that the first three words of this paper were the works; what follows is the development of a modest set of three principles of online instructional design. More...