By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Userplane Releases Free Webchat Option for Any Website
Just launched, this is a commercial application (the free version is supported by advertising) but well worth a look because of its elegant design and functionality. Userplane's webchat text, video and voice (depending on what you support or want to support). Hosted on Userplane's servers, it is placed on any web page using a simple Javascript. It may take a few seconds to load the application first time, but it's very fast thereafter. More...
State Services Leads International Charge Against DRM
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. State Services Leads International Charge Against DRM
Quite rightly, New Zealand government officials are expressing concern about long-term access to data and documents created using DRM-enabled software. More...
Lanny on Learning Technology
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Lanny on Learning Technology
Another new learning technology blog (well, it's five months old, but it's new to me), Lanny on learning Technology covers things like the costs and economics of learning and learning technology, information literacy, school choice and more. More...
Survival Strategies for Academic Publishing
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Survival Strategies for Academic Publishing
Good analysis of the problems facing university presses. The author notes that the bottom has fallen out of the monograph market, and that hence these presses are in difficult financial straits. The decline in library purchases is a part of this, but the larger part is that students have stopped buying the books. More...
Are You a Prosumer?
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Are You a Prosumer?
The subject has come up in recent weeks (as it always does) about how to pay people to produce content. I argue (as I always do) that you don't need to pay people, that given time and resources, they will do it themselves. This article is about the 'prosumer' - the person who actually invests substantial sums of money (to buy, say, digital cameras or audio recording equipment) in order to create. More...
A Computer Geek's History of the Internet
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. A Computer Geek's History of the Internet
Because you can never have enough history. "Not the complete history but just the cool stuff." Point form, not too long, many links to the origins of the technologies we know and love today. More...
Dan Atkins on CLEAR
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Dan Atkins on CLEAR
This new blog is exactly the sort of thing we like to see in this space as Dan Atkins mixes his expertise, his considerable experience and positions working with NSF and OECD to provide a unique and insightful perspective. More...
The International Comparative Study of Higher Education: Lessons from the Contemplation of How Others Might See Us
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The International Comparative Study of Higher Education: Lessons from the Contemplation of How Others Might See Us
Although a couple of years old, this was just posted in the EDUCAUSE reosurce library and is worth a quick read. The title, though, is a misnomer - my reading is that it has little to do with how others view the U.S. system and is rather a depiction of how Americans see themselves. More...
EFF: Legal Guide for Bloggers
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. EFF: Legal Guide for Bloggers
The legal bits in this useful guide are intended for American readers, so if you are blogging elsewhere your mileage may vary. More...
Yellow Arrow
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Yellow Arrow
If the inventors of CueCat had had 'public service' in mind, rather than 'advertising medium', this is what they might have come up with (and instead of being offline, they would have seen their technology attached to every mobile phone in the world and a wealth of site based resources proliferate - though it's not too late; there's still no reason why photo-phones can't double as scanners with the right (CueCat?) technology). More...