By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Let'S Not and Say We Did
Mark Pilgrim writes, "Praising companies for providing APIs to get your own data out is like praising auto companies for not filling your airbags with gravel. I'm not saying data export isn't important, it's just aiming kinda low. You mean when I give you data, you'll… give it back to me? People who think this is the pinnacle of freedom aren't really worth listening to". More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Privacy, Security and Trust: Challenges for the Intangible Economy
Jim Robbins, from EWA Canada, presented at the IFIPTMA Conference in Moncton and gave us quite a good fast-paced talk on how security issues effect the economy and on the role of identity in security and privacy. This is my summary of his talk. Stephen Downes, Half an Hour August 2, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Canada, Security Issues, Privacy Issues]. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Hopewell Rocks
Delegates at the conference here in Moncton took a break and went on a field trip to the Hopewell Rocks, about half an hour south of the city. The rocks are a scenic part of the shore of the Bay of Fundy, home of the highest tides in the world. It's neat to walk on the seabed knowing that it was just covered with 40 feet of water. Stephen Downes, Flickr August 2, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Flickr]. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The Downside of Diversity
The proposal that diversity results in less civic engagement - reported here, from a (very biased) Boston.com story (on a site that blocks access after four pages) - sounds dire, but should be discounted. The conclusion is obtained, not by actually measuring civic engagements in diverse cities (such as, say, Toronto) but rather by surveying people. So now we know that Americans think that diversity in their community would reduce civic engagement. But we knew that already. Here's a more interesting proposal: diversity in a community results in less of an emphasis on collaboration (a group phenomenon) and more of an emphasis on cooperation (a network phenomenon). More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Validated Identity for Trust
I've known people who have looked straight into my eyes and lied to my face. So I don't think that knowing someone's identity confers trust. But not knowing someone's identity, for many people, raises doubt. Elliott Masie writes, "Without knowing who you are, it is impossible for me to contextualize your contribution. While I am convinced of the Wisdom of the Crowds, I am not sure that an unsourced Crowd is safe and wise." Fair enough - but what Masie needs is not identity, per se, but history. Knowing a person's name doesn't tell me anything; knowing that they work for some university or knowing that they are a public relations specialist tells me a lot more. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Voice Matters. A Lot.
Christian Long proposes that to get an 'A' means to have changed the reader's way of thinking about a topic. "Want an A? Change the way I see and think. Demonstrate that you have changed as well. And expect me to come back by choice next time... Just like the blogosphere. Just like the real world." Interesting tat the grade should depend as much on the reader as on the writer - something that may get an 'A' from Long might, at my much more cynical and jaded hand, receive only a 'C'. Also, it makes choice of topic a lot more important. You are much more likely to engage your reader by sticking to the mainstream. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Basic Concepts: Reinforcement and Punishment
Basically the idea of providing feedback to achieve a desired state (as instanced by behaviour). When I talk about 'back propagation' I am talking about how these concepts operate at a network level. The important thing to remember about reward and punishment is that it is only one way of inducing a desired state (two others are simple association and personal reflection) which means that the simple adages involving reward and punishment you may hear are frequently contradicted by actual behaviour. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Jump Drive Learning .. or .. Wiki On a Stick
I don't think very many people call it a 'jump drive' (which, when you think of it, is a pretty silly name). Fewer call it a 'thumb drive' (although this, at least, is descriptive). I call it a 'memory stick' because that's what it is. Don't tell me somebody has trademarked the term. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Like Cranky Talk Show Hosts
I think this is a very interesting observation: "The standards movement is not a national response to a grassroots outcry. It's a corporate business-initiated movement that has been sold to a fearful middle class worried about economic and social insecurity." Doug Noon is talking about 'educational standards', of course, but the same feeling permeates other standards movements, such as LOM and learning design. There is on the one hand the (quite legitimate) idea that standards ensure quality. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. First 35 Claims of Blackboard'S Patent Ruled Invalid
This is a huge win for Desire2Learn, as the court has ruled that Blackboard's first substantive claim, that of assigning access according to a role in a course, to be invalid. "Because that phrase is indefinite, all of Claim 1 is rendered invalid because of indefiniteness." Also, the court found for D2L's interpretation of terms in the remainder of the patent. More...
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