Edu_RSS
Being hacked
Something strange has happend to my weblog - the backend was exposed for editing instead of being password-protected... Thanks for all who alerted me and that nice hacker who just revealed the thing and didn't do more damage :) Hope that I found the cause... At least it asks for the password now :) From
Mathemagenic on August 3, 2004 at 8:18 p.m..
Calling All Training Professionals
by Jay Cross From this morning's Online News and Reviews Computers can make aspects of learning more convenient, on-target, and timely, but they can't eliminate the need for human intervention and unverstanding. Training professionals and instructional designers must become involved in workflow learning to keep engineering efficiency from crowding out attention to people's behavior, emotions, and motivation to learn.... From
The Workflow Institute Blog on August 3, 2004 at 8:17 p.m..
I am back
Auf dem Bild sieht man zwar nicht unsere Hütte, aber wir waren nur einen Fjord weiter- idyllisch, ruhig, erholsam! Jetzt sitze ich wieder in der Abflugschneise des Frankfurter Flughafens und versuche gerade, mir einen Überblick über die letzten zwei... From
www.weiterbildungsblog.de on August 3, 2004 at 8:17 p.m..
E-Learning an deutschen Universitäten
Es geht weiter! Edmund Stoiber soll ein Machtwort gesprochen haben, und der Virtuellen Hochschule Bayern stehen jetzt doch 6.5 Mill Euro bis 2006 zur Verfügung (checkpoint eLearning). An der TU Darmstadt hat man sich ehrgeizige Ziele gesteckt: Erste "Dual Mode... From
www.weiterbildungsblog.de on August 3, 2004 at 8:17 p.m..
Learning Management Systeme
Noch immer ist der LMS-Markt ganz besoffen vom erfolgreichen Börsengang des amerikanischen LMS-Anbieters Blackboard (Global Learning). Und die deutsche imc AG hat sich schon vor Beginn der Olympischen Spiele selbst eine Goldmedaille umgehängt: Immerhin werden 50.000 Helfer in Athen 2004... From
www.weiterbildungsblog.de on August 3, 2004 at 8:17 p.m..
Und sonst?
- ein schönes Interview mit Wikipedia-Gründer Jimmy Wales "Was wondering if you view the Wikipedia as a competitor or an additional tool compared to a World Book or an Encyclopedia Britannica? Jimmy Wales: I would view them as a competitor,... From
www.weiterbildungsblog.de on August 3, 2004 at 8:17 p.m..
701 e-Learning Tips
Wieder eine tolle Idee, ganz pragmatisch umgesetzt: Das MASIE Center hat die Leser seines Newsletters um einfache und kurze e-Learning-Tipps gebeten. Ãœber 1000 Tipps sind eingegangen. 701 von ihnen, aufgeteilt in 14 Kapitel, stehen jetzt zum Download als "Free... From
www.weiterbildungsblog.de on August 3, 2004 at 8:17 p.m..
Hochschulrektoren fordern Studiengebühren II
Die Hochschulrektorenkonferenz fordert zum
wiederholten Male Studiengebühren, die hessischen Grünen hängen sich munter dran, und sie liefern die durchgeknallteste Erklärung die ich in dieser Debatte bislang gehört habe: Die Hochschulrektorenkonferenz hat davor gewarnt, Studiengebühren nur in unionsgeführten Bundesländern einzuführen. Grünen-Staatssekretär Berninger forderte, ein Konzept für die Erhebung zu entwickeln. < From
PlasticThinking: Moe's Blog. on August 3, 2004 at 8:16 p.m..
Nuevo blog de Dan Gillmor
El periodista y blogger Dan Gillmor ha puesto en marcha un nuevo blog para promocionar su último libro: We the Media. Conocà personalmente a Gillmor durante la primera conferencia BlogTalk donde compartimos una mesa redonda en la que adelantó algunas... From
eCuaderno v.2.0 on August 3, 2004 at 8:16 p.m..
All wikis and blogs should be SubEthaEdit enabled
Fantastic! Now if only SubEthaEdit had a Windows version and all wikis and blogs, not just kwiki, could be SubEthaEdit powered. Now that would be cool and foster collaboration at conferences. From
SubEthaKwiki - OSCON 2004: QUOTEThis Kwiki was SubEthaEdit enabled during the convention. If you were using Mac OS X and have SubEthaEdit innstalled, you could have clicked on the icon to edit any page collaboratively in SubEthaEdit.UNQUOTE From
Roland Tanglao's Weblog on August 3, 2004 at 8:14 p.m..
Technical Notes: Growing Virtual Communities
Abstract As online collaborative technologies become easier to use, an increasing range of "virtual communities" are being established, often for educational purposes. This report stresses that an efficient technology is only part of the process underlying a successful online community. It considers the social process on which an online learning community must be founded if it is to flourish and be useful. Definitions of community, learning community, and virtual learning community are reviewed, and the experience of an online community member is discussed. The importance of nurturing the cInternational Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning on August 3, 2004 at 8:13 p.m..
Technical Notes: Evaluating Digital Authoring Tools
Abstract As the quality of authoring software increases, online course developers become less reliant on proprietary learning management systems, and develop skills in the design of original, in-house materials and the delivery platforms for them. This report examines the capabilities of digital authoring software tools for the development of learning materials. Seven software tools are evaluated, representing the following categories: single purposes; activity creation; course development and presentation; general presentation; testing and assessment. From
International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning on August 3, 2004 at 8:13 p.m..
Technical Notes: Internet Audio Products (33)
Abstract Two contrasting additions to the online audio market are reviewed: iVocalize, a browser-based audio-conferencing software, and Skype, a PC-to-PC Internet telephone tool. These products are selected for review on the basis of their success in gaining rapid popular attention and usage during 2003-04. The iVocalize review emphasizes the product's role in the development of a series of successful online audio communities, notably several serving visually impaired users. The Skype review stresses the ease with which the product may be used for simultaneous PC-to-PC communication amo From
International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning on August 3, 2004 at 8:12 p.m..
A Comparative Study of Dropout Rates and Causes for Two Different Distance Education Courses
Abstract This paper reports the results of a survey conducted to examine the root causes leading to student dropout at a Greek distance education university. Data was gathered from two different courses: an undergraduate course leading to a Bachelors degree in Informatics (characterized by high dropout rates), and a postgraduate course leading to a Masters degree in education (characterized by low dropout rates). A comparative analysis of these two different courses revealed important similarities in dropout percentages and the reasons cited by students for dropping out. Our analysis also rev From
International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning on August 3, 2004 at 8:12 p.m..
Faculty Opinions Towards Introducing E-Learning at the University of Bahrain
Abstract E-Learning is an important tool for delivery, interaction, and facilitation of both teaching and learning processes. Faculty members at the University of Bahrain's College of Education are being encouraged to become involved in e-learning activities. To assess faculty opinions on e-learning, a questionnaire was sent to 30 faculty members of the University's College of Education to determine how they perceive e-learning, and how they might choose to integrate it into their everyday teaching activities. Data was collected and analyzed by using descriptive statistics. Result From
International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning on August 3, 2004 at 8:12 p.m..
Reviewer Commentary to Rovai and Jordan's "Blended Learning and Sense of Community"
Let me begin by saying that this article was a pleasure to review. It was well-written, well-researched, and makes an important contribution to our field. I have organized my commentary into three areas: (1) response to the article itself; (2) reflection upon my own relevant experiences; and (3) a perspective from a virtual university that does not offer blended learning. Response - I agree with the author that the blended learning model provides the best of both worlds: the interpersonal connections and relationship establishing experience through face-to-face encounters, as well as the sust From
International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning on August 3, 2004 at 8:12 p.m..
Rovai and Jordan\'s Author Response to Reviewer Commentary by Eastmond
We endorse the reviewer\'s comments regarding blended learning and the recommendations for follow-on research. Our intent, therefore, is to use the opportunity of this response to elaborate the answer to a rhetorical question presented by the reviewer and to suggest additional research. The reviewer asks: \"Why would an institution run a strictly online distance program if the hybrid format is superior for both community and learning?\" and then answers with the observation that access is key, as well as \"rapid self-paced movement through modularized learning resources to refres From
International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning on August 3, 2004 at 8:12 p.m..
WashingtonOnline Virtual Campus: Infusing Culture in Dispersed Web-Based Higher Education
Abstract Started in 1997, WashingtonOnline Virtual Campus (WAOL) consists of a consortium of 34 community colleges around Washington State to provide asynchronous online learning. WAOL bears many of the features of a loosely coupled organization with its geographically dispersed frontline instructors, fragmented external environment, modularity of courses and supervision, and its use of enhanced leadership and technology to communicate a culture. Recent surveys of its administration, instructors, and staff found disparities in various constituencies, perspectives on the organization's c From
Joho the Blog on August 3, 2004 at 8:11 p.m..
Last Call: Web Services Description Language (WSDL) 2.0
2004-08-03: The Web Services Description Working Group has published Last Call Working Drafts of the Web Services Description Language (WSDL) Version 2.0: Part 1: Core Language, Part 2: Predefined Extensions and Part 3: Bindings. WSDL is an XML language for describing network services. The drafts describe functionality, and define sequence, cardinality and criteria for conformant processors. Comments are welcome through 4 October. Read about Web services. (News archive) From
World Wide Web Consortium on August 3, 2004 at 8:09 p.m..
Outreach Education Support for Young People a Success
Since 2002, POEM (Partnership Outreach Education Models) projects have assisted more then 2500 young people ranging from 13 – 19 years of age. These projects have been coordinated by a range of community, government, education and employment organisations including the Anglicare Family and Youth Services, the Salvation Army, Centacare, St Philip’s Christian Education Foundation, Alice Outcomes, Beenleigh Area Youth Service, Mildura Rural City Council, Victoria University of Technology and the Wellington Shire Council. From
EdNA Online on August 3, 2004 at 8:07 p.m..
Funds for ABC Science
The ABC has received $3.2 million from the Australian Government to increase their science programs and activities to reach more people across Australia. Announcing the funding, Science Minister Peter McGauran said the additional funding will expand the ABCÂ’s current activities and lead to new programs. From
EdNA Online on August 3, 2004 at 8:07 p.m..
Report on Enterprise Education
The DEST Enterprise Education Action Research Project was conducted in approximately 200 primary and secondary schools over the period of April 2002 to April 2004. This action research is the first comprehensive national analysis of enterprise education in Australian schools and demonstrates the key elements for successful implementation of enterprise education. From
EdNA Online on August 3, 2004 at 8:07 p.m..
RSSCalendar - getting there
Some valid observations regarding the RSS calendar covered here yesterday - yes, they're doing it, which is good, but the copyright and trademark notices all over the place are a concern, and it would be nice to have events listings after they've happened. By Martin Terre Blanche, Collaborative Learning Environments, August 3, 2004 [
Refer][
Research][
--> From OLDaily on August 3, 2004 at 8:06 p.m..
RDF Calendar to Ical
Still on the subject of RSS and calendars... this page is written in Japanese, but there are short summaries in English as well as RDF code. It describes an RDF version of iCalendar (aka iCal), the non-XML calendar format standard. This allows for a translation from iCal to RDF and back. Some useful links in this page:
Event Sherpa, an iCal tool;
RDFical-a-matic, a form that generates a simple RDFical data using Javascript;
OLDaily on August 3, 2004 at 8:06 p.m..
Latest E-Learning Research in Europe Middle East and Africa
Summary of "the latest piece of research by SkillSoft to identify the perceptions of e-learning amongst over 200 employees, within organisations across EMEA (Europe Middle East and Africa)." Some good pie charts illustrating motivation to learn and what learners like about e-learning. By Paul Gledhill, AME Info, August 2, 2004 [
Refer][
Research][
OLDaily on August 3, 2004 at 8:06 p.m..
Internet Radio, Without Drudgery
Automatic personalization is the wave of the future. What do I mean by automatic personalization? Well take a look at this article about
Last.fm. This is an internet radio station that scans your computer for music files you already own, and then constructs a unique radio station based on that information. Personalization, notes the article, without the drudgery. By Daniel Terdiman, Wired News, August 2, 2004 [
Refer][
OLDaily on August 3, 2004 at 8:06 p.m..
Online College Degree Brings Down Tulane Business Instructor
What really bugs me about a story like this is that the headline should read "Fake college degree brings down Tulane business instructor." The fact that it was offered "online" means nothing more than that the purchase was made online - but that hardly makes it an "online degree." Via DEC Daily News. By Associated Press, KATC, August 2, 2004 [
Refer][
Research][
OLDaily on August 3, 2004 at 8:06 p.m..
News Maps
Interesting application that takes top stories linked to by bloggers and sorts them according to their popularity, then displays them as a map on a web page. "The Hive Group's Honeycomb algorithm organizes news headlines by source. Size and Color information indicate article age and popularity (described below). You can easily filter and rearrange you results to view articles that meet certain criteria, or that contain certain text." By Various Authors, NewsIsFree, August 3, 2004 [
Refer From OLDaily on August 3, 2004 at 8:06 p.m..
International LOM Survey: Report
Important survey of actual learning object metadata instances received from ARIADNE Project (EU), the LTSN (UK), Metalab (France), CELTS (China) and CAREO (Canada). The upshot of the findings are ironically revealed in a limitation the data imposed on the study itself: though a much larger survey was planned, it proved to be impossible to analyse the contents through automated means - this from data which is specifically intended to be machine-readable! The study showed that most of the fields in IEEE-LOM are not used and that some fields, such as those requiring vCard data, were particularly From
OLDaily on August 3, 2004 at 8:06 p.m..
Metadata for Synchronous and Asynchronous Collaborative Learning Environments
This paper "considers the use of... communication and collaboration technologies in educational settings and software systems.... [and] identifies specifiable uniformities in the structural and behavioural characteristics of these systems, and then uses these uniformities as a basis for its proposed data or metadata model." This is an important first step in consideration of one of the areas of metadata not well established by learning object and associated metadata: collaboration. This paper, and the next, should give the guardians of IMS and IEEE-LOM some pause for thought. By Yasuhisa Tamu From
OLDaily on August 3, 2004 at 8:06 p.m..
TechEd Pasadena
10th Annual! Â TechEd International Conference & Exposition April 4-6, 2005 Pasadena Conference Center, Southern CA TechEd Pasadena 2005 Call for Presentations is Now Open! http://www.techedevents.org/2005/... From
Rick's Café Canadien on August 3, 2004 at 3:38 p.m..
Shared Spaces Briefing, Aug 4
Today's highlights: NewsIsFree News Maps; Parlano White Paper; AOL Certifies IM AppDev Platforms; NewsIsFree is experimenting with News Maps, which are visual headlines of the NewsIsFree headline database. Comment: This holds some prospects for visualizing email threads, discussion databases, and... From
Kolabora.com on August 3, 2004 at 3:38 p.m..
The future of OA funding
On August 31, BioMed Central will "consult with librarians and funding bodies about
future mechanisms for funding Open Access publishing." The 16 invitation-only participants will address four questions: "[1] Payment model for Open Access: membership / article-processing charges, [2] Payment mechanisms for Open Access; differences and similarities with subscriptions, [3] Role of the library and the funding body in the Open Access world, and [4] Collaboration between institutions/librarians and funding bodies: can m From
Open Access News on August 3, 2004 at 3:37 p.m..
Topical News Mapping : NewsIsFree News Maps
News Maps is a new visual mapping facility bringing together the most popular/recent news in pre-selected topic areas together with an effective set of customization controls to personalize your news panorama. Along the effective lines of earlier newsmaps (Stamen and... From
Robin Good's Latest News on August 3, 2004 at 3:34 p.m..
"This A'int No Blogging" Part 1: If a Blog Falls in the Woods...
I am going to write something in this first of two posts that I bet (and hope) a lot of people will disagree with. I want that. I want to hear your dissent. That is what this stuff is about. Here it is, I make my own artificial distinction between publishing a weblog and the broader, social act of blogging. Huh? This came from several instances of following some interesting stories in my RSS reader, finding a blog where the author had written something where I wanted to disagree with, agree with, offer extra information... and in a From
cogdogblog on August 3, 2004 at 3:33 p.m..
Steve Kirks manages "r" from now on
Congrats to Steve! We all are crossing our fingers that
Radio Userland will move beyond the server-based applications. Sitting on the desktop must yield an advantage. Integration is an issue as well a some bugs and performance stuff. I will renew asap. And don't forget the Mac-users. Steve Kirks, Product Manager for Radio It's official : Radio has a future. Take a moment to read the press From
thomas n. burg | randgänge on August 3, 2004 at 3:32 p.m..
Mapping the News
This is a beta of
"News Maps" from NewsIsFree. The image, created by a Java applet, shows a "technology news map" of current event in the tech sphere. Here's how NewsIsFree describes the site:NewsKnowledge and The Hive Group have joined forces to bring you News Maps, visual maps of the NewsIsFree headline database. News Maps allow you to quickly scan dozens of news articles and instantly understand wh From
Dan Gillmor's eJournal on August 3, 2004 at 3:32 p.m..
Stop. What's That Sound?
"When the strongest nation in the world can be tied down for four years in a war ... with no end in sight, when the richest nation in the world cannot manage its economy ... when the President of the United States cannot travel abroad, or to any major city at home, then it's time for new leadership for the United States." The ellipses are to keep you from guessing too soon. Give up? That was Dick Nixon in 1968. Nowadays Kennedy and Johnson are heroes who made a "mistake" in Vietnam while Nixon twirls a handlebar mustache in Hell. But to look back at what we thought at the time is to se From
ClickZ Stats on August 3, 2004 at 3:29 p.m..
Logging on abroad
Many of America's online giants are busy setting up shop overseas. Knowledge@Wharton examines their chances for success. From
CNET News.com on August 3, 2004 at 3:29 p.m..
Deutsche Drucke des 16. Jahrhunderts...
"DeutscheDrucke16-WWW" Verzeichnis deutschsprachiger Drucke des 16. Jahrhunderts als frei zugängliche Faksimiles im Netz Vorbemerkung Das Verzeichnis konzentriert sich auf das "Streugut" derjenigen Sammlungen, die nur einzelne als Images digitalisierte deutschsprachige Drucke des 16. Jahrhunderts (1501-1599) enthalten. Aufgenommen werden nur komplett digitalisierte Drucke. NB: Das Verzeichnis darf nach den Grundsätzen des
Open Access genutzt werden! Als "Creative Commons" Lize From
Archivalia on August 3, 2004 at 10:14 a.m..
Ads and social media (Clay Shirky)
Jason Calacanis discovers that Fark has been selling story placement on their front page and calls them on it, getting a priceless quote from Fark management in the process: I don’t think that either Drew or I are willing to... From
Corante: Social Software on August 3, 2004 at 10:11 a.m..
Merholz on Paths at Berkeley (Clay Shirky)
Great post from Peter Merholz, by way of Ross, on the way pedestrians in the aggregate work out where the paths should be on the grounds of UC Berkeley. This “they built the quad but didn’t lay the sidewalks” story... From
Corante: Social Software on August 3, 2004 at 10:11 a.m..
On semi-vacation
By the way, I'm sort of on vacation in the Berkshires for the next ten days or so, although it's sthe sort of vacation where I'm still working except I have lousy dial-up connection.... From
Joho the Blog on August 3, 2004 at 10:09 a.m..
Going local with Yahoo
Yahoo has introduced a new souped-up local directory (what they don't like to think of as yellow pages on steroids) that I think is actually quite useful. If you search for, say, bicycle shops in Boston, it not only lists them, but shows you a map with other services around the shops. It also lets you review the services. And you can search more broadly than just by categories; for example, if your yuppie refrigerator (you ought to be ashamed of yourself, but it's not too late to make up for it) breaks, you can search for "repair Subzero" to... From
Joho the Blog on August 3, 2004 at 10:09 a.m..
Deceivingly Strong Information Scent Costs Sales
Jakob Nielsen writes on the need to provide the
right content in the right place. He uses the information foraging theory to explain why having the right content in the wrong place can backfire. "[F]or example, users were looking for a baby seat for their car, and quite logically looked in the automotive section of one of the sites we were testing. No baby seats there, so no sale. Users assumed that the site didn't sell the product they needed because it wasn't in the category where they assumed they'd find it From
elearningpost on August 3, 2004 at 10:07 a.m..
What we know? The great info-knowledge debate
Amy Gahran on the
difference between information and knowledge:
Information generally includes facts, observations, sensations, and messages. Information is content which informs our minds. It's fuel.Knowledge, in contrast, is the human experience of information HYPHEN it's what our minds DO with all that content. It's the fire in the forge.Think verbs, not nouns. It seems much easier to grasp this distinction by focusing on the verbs "inform" and "know," rather than the nouns "information From elearningpost on August 3, 2004 at 10:07 a.m..
The Gorge of Eternal Peril
It's rare for any speaker to draw a standing ovation from the
OSCON audience, but that's what
David Rumsey did last week. And Rumsey isn't one of the heroes of open source software. He's a philanthropist who collects historical maps, scans them at high resolution, and publishes them on the Internet as open c From
Jon's Radio on August 3, 2004 at 10:07 a.m..
Designing Like They Give a Damn
A Web-based architectural competition fuses online networking and social activism to tackle South Africa's AIDS crisis -- with a little help from mobile technology. Xeni Jardin talks to Architecture for Humanity founder Cameron Sinclair. From
Wired News on August 3, 2004 at 10:06 a.m..
South Korean Company Buys Lycos
Daum Communications, a South Korean website firm, acquires Wired News' parent company Lycos from Spain's Terra. The sales price is less than 1 percent of what Terra paid for Lycos in 2000. From
Wired News on August 3, 2004 at 10:06 a.m..
Clouds Delay Messenger Launch
NASA officials postpone the Messenger spacecraft's mission to Mercury due to bad weather during the extremely brief launch window. They hope to try again Tuesday. From
Wired News on August 3, 2004 at 10:06 a.m..
Weapons Freeze, Microwave Enemies
The military is investigating weapons that use directed-energy beams to paralyze attackers, shoot down missiles or repel adversaries by heating the water molecules in their skin. But some experts are concerned about unknown side effects. From
Wired News on August 3, 2004 at 10:06 a.m..
Flight of the Bumblers
The world's weirdest flying contest lands in Portland this week -- hard. Flugtag participants try to 'fly' their creations over the Willamette River, and an X-Wing knockoff takes the prize after 39 feet. By Michelle Delio. From
Wired News on August 3, 2004 at 10:06 a.m..
Raising the Dead Online
She was dumped in the woods and buried without a name. Decades later, one man with a computer and an obsession cracks the mystery. How Todd Matthews helped the Tent Girl -- and her family -- find peace. By Noah Shachtman from Wired magazine. From
Wired News on August 3, 2004 at 10:06 a.m..
Wi-Fi Shootout in the Desert
Hackers gathering for DefCon's annual conference think they may have broken a world record for Wi-Fi connectivity. But even if they didn't, they had lots of fun trying. Kim Zetter reports from Las Vegas. From
Wired News on August 3, 2004 at 10:06 a.m..
Porn Blogs Manipulate Google
Create a free service on the Internet, and you can be sure someone will find a way to exploit it financially. Porn peddlers are using Blogspot to increase page ranks on Google. By Daniel Terdiman. From
Wired News on August 3, 2004 at 10:06 a.m..
Computers help grade essays - Jay Mathews, NBC
Nadeem Sarwar remembered all the lessons on good writing drummed into him by his ninth-grade teacher at the Newport School in Montgomery County. So last summer when he took the GMAT, the standard entrance exam for business graduate schools, he was care From
Online Learning Update on August 3, 2004 at 10:05 a.m..
Coffee with James W. Hall, Jodi Picoult, M.J. Rose, Ed McBain,and more on www.readersroom.com!
Hello, and welcome to the August 1 update of ReadersRoom.com. We hope that your summer is going along nicely, and that you managed to find some time to spend with a good book. We have an issue this month packed with goodies that we think you will enjoy! And if you enjoy them, maybe some of you friends might as well -HYPHEN so please forward this newsletter to them, link them to our site, let the world know that we are here! [PRWEB Aug 3, 2004] From
PR Web on August 3, 2004 at 10:05 a.m..
Bidding on Bach
eBay's tentative entrance into music download business speaks volumes; can retailers make money off this? From
CNET News.com on August 3, 2004 at 10:04 a.m..
WebQuest
A
WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the internet, optionally supplemented with videoconferencing.
¶ From
Open Artifact on August 2, 2004 at 11:43 p.m..
Tactics destroying Democracy
Votes in the House are usually open for fifteen minutes, at which time the Speaker bangs the gavel and the vote is closed. At the fifteen minute point, the amendment was passed with a healthy margin. Yet, there was no gavel. None at sixteen minutes. None at twenty minutes. None at thirty minutes! Despite the fact that all members who wanted to vote had already voted, the Speaker refused to officially close the vote so Tom DeLay � known in the House as “The Hammer” � could personally threaten every Republican who voted for it, until enough change From
Open Artifact on August 2, 2004 at 11:43 p.m..
What I’m reading
I just relaized that I’ve quite an odd assortment of books in progress; I usually read several at a time, depending on my mood and what interests me, but this particular collection is more eclectic than usual.
¶ --> From Open Artifact on August 2, 2004 at 11:43 p.m..
Where Have I Been?
Crazy busy finalising my PhD proposal, doing lots of work and preparing for my trip back to the States! Oh, and very busy playing City of Heroes (I'm Lux Luminari on the Justice server, Level 13 Technology Defender!). Okay, maybe that's the real reason I haven't been blogging. But ... From
Relevancy on August 2, 2004 at 11:43 p.m..
Bin Laden Suicide Virus Spreading
The latest virus is actually an older virus in a new package. It has spread both by newsgroup postings and e-mails which purport to offer photographs of Osama bin Laden's suicide. If the user clicks on the supposed photo attachment,... From
Indiana IT on August 2, 2004 at 11:41 p.m..
"Tn kuidao, SMS vigilados"
El titular de este artÃculo es la traducción, chapucera por otra parte, del original en inglés (y en jerga SMS, para complicar las cosas): "Bware, SMS unda ctrl". Asà es como advierte Reporteros sin Fronteras de que el gobierno chino se ha equipado con un nuevo sistema de vigilancia de los SMS que puede buscarle algún problema a algún que otro adolescente (o no tanto) despistado. Ya sabÃamos que el gobierno Chino no era demasiado amigo de las posibilidades explosivas de la (...) From
martinalia.com | Gestión de Contenidos on August 2, 2004 at 11:41 p.m..
El zorro incandescente asoma las orejas
A lo largo de este mes, la noticia de que Microsoft Internet Explorer ha perdido cuota de mercado frente a otros navegadores como Ópera y, especialmente, Mozilla Firefox, ha levantado una oleada de expectación. Realmente no habrÃa que sorprenderse tanto. Habida cuenta de que la cuota de mercado del navegador de Microsoft está en torno al 95 por ciento, no podrÃa hacer otra cosa que bajar. Y mucho menos cuando prácticamente cada dÃa se descubre una nueva vulnerabilidad que (...) From
martinalia.com | Gestión de Contenidos on August 2, 2004 at 11:41 p.m..
El ejército británico considera que iPod es un "arma de borrado masivo"
Según la agencia Reuters, el Ministerio de Defensa británico ha añadido iPod a la lista de productos tecnológicos ’peligrosos’ cuyo uso está prohibido en la mayorÃa de las zonas de sus cuarteles generales y oficinas de todo el mundo. Lo que temen del popular reproductor de música digital iPod de Apple es su facilidad para conectarse a los ordenadores -principalmente por USB- y copiar datos. Cosa que un ministerio de defensa, por supuesto, no puede permitir. Los británicos (...) From
martinalia.com | Gestión de Contenidos on August 2, 2004 at 11:41 p.m..
Web application assesses writer's gender
Gender Genie takes any text entered into its post box, then assesses the gender of the author using an algorithm. Accuracy is disturbing. Separate entry categories for fiction, nonfiction, and blogging. (Bethany Grenald)... From
MANE IT Network on August 2, 2004 at 11:41 p.m..
Social software discussion
MSNBC analyzes the utility of social networking software. Several leading developers are interviewed, including master networker Joi Ito: ...their usefulness depends on your needs and networking style. LinkedIn, for example allows you to search histories and CVs in your network... From
MANE IT Network on August 2, 2004 at 11:41 p.m..
BlackBoard in the eyes of Business Week
Business Week has an article about BlackBoard's post-IPO financial durability. The perspective is financial, rather than pedagogical. Blackboard's co-founders are young and are focused on building a company that can react with rapidly to what customers want. Jim Kabbani, former... From
MANE IT Network on August 2, 2004 at 11:41 p.m..
Blogs and social software: a new level of collaboration?
Denham Gray argues that blogs are second-order social software. While they do connect people ("great for gathering news, RSS certainly helps with being informed, blog tools assist with finding memes"), they remain separated in terms of knowledge-sharing: reciprocity is very... From
MANE IT Network on August 2, 2004 at 11:41 p.m..
Metadata guide released from NISO
The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) released a new guide to metadata, which includes: ...an overview of leading metadata contenders and examples of practical applications. (via NFAIS)... From
MANE IT Network on August 2, 2004 at 11:41 p.m..
Running On
Last week, on Friday, my run time was slow. My pushups and situps were fine; thanks be to God! Chaplain S---- and I have been working on my speed and endurance in the mornings. I seem to be improving. Next Friday will tell. From
Life, Liberty, Happiness on August 2, 2004 at 11:41 p.m..
Truth from Iraq
This morning, I ran some errands. At noon, I went to the JFK Special Warfare Museum. The museum seems to be poorly maintained. However, there were some interesting artifacts from the history of the Special Forces. Among these are items from Desert Storm which show the ... From
Life, Liberty, Happiness on August 2, 2004 at 11:41 p.m..
Reading
I've recently finished reading C. S. Lewis's The Abolition of Man. I am constantly amazed at how our society continually ignores the so-obvious truth. Lewis clearly addresses the modern problem. Perhaps the problem isn't unique to these times but, certainly, our way is different than any time before us. ... From
Life, Liberty, Happiness on August 2, 2004 at 11:41 p.m..
Karma
Forum: Gamer's Lounge Posted By: KJM7 Post Time: 01-08-2004 at 06:32 AM From
nzboards Forums on August 2, 2004 at 11:41 p.m..
Weather thingy
Forum: Site Feedback Posted By: Sparklechick Post Time: 01-08-2004 at 08:15 PM From
nzboards Forums on August 2, 2004 at 11:41 p.m..
Pregnant
Forum: Jokes and Jocularity Posted By: Sparklechick Post Time: 03-08-2004 at 01:52 AM From
nzboards Forums on August 2, 2004 at 11:40 p.m..
Couros, Version 2.0: Installation Complete
I am proud to announce that the future of educational technology (or perhaps rocket science, medicine, music, education, etc.) was brought into the world today. Our daughter, Mary Lorraine Couros, entered this world on July 30, 2004, at 13:36, weighing... From
Couros Blog - Frequent Rants from an Ed. Tech'er on August 2, 2004 at 11:40 p.m..
Philia: Community Learning
In Philia: Community Resilience I introduced what I saw as the core elements that drove the Philia mission. Ideas about learning are closely tied to the development of community resilience, or the ability to maintain integrity in the face of... From
Experience Designer Network on August 2, 2004 at 11:40 p.m..
Events: Looking for Angelina (2)
In a recent discussion with Sergio and Alessandra of Platinum Image I learned more about their ideas as well as the film-making process involved in the upcoming release of Looking For Angelina. I introduced the project in a previous entry,... From
Experience Designer Network on August 2, 2004 at 11:40 p.m..
torrent trap
I spent most of the day flying, excellent conditions and of course nothing beats flying your own machine than flying your friend's heli :) Thanks Jeroen! On the development side, here's a screen shot of my enclosure download folder on my mac. Mostly tv shows that run in the states and will either never make it over here or will be here next year. Currently I'm 'trapping' torrents ba From
unmediated on August 2, 2004 at 11:40 p.m..
Media explodes
Seth Godin has
words of great wisdom for media and advertising machers (and it's not even a
manifesto):"According to MarketingVOX, online media accounts for 12% of media consumption. That's a stunning rise: one out of eight, up from zero in just ten or so years." At the same time, though, they report that online media accounts for just 2% of ad spending. This could be because online media doesn't work (but it does) or that it&apo From
unmediated on August 2, 2004 at 11:40 p.m..
From More Than 7,000 Sources, Just a Dozen Account for Most Google News Stories?
For some unofficial Web sites that we're launching at several eastern U.S. universities this autumn, we had to find feeds of unusual categories of news stories, the quirky types of stories that are popular on campus. Our initial inclination was Google News, but we analyzed it and were surprised by its predominant choices of news sources. Although Google spiders more than 7,000 news sources, only about dozen account for the vast majority of stories on Google News. And two of those dozen predominant sources are owned and operated by the U.S. and Chinese governments. F From
unmediated on August 2, 2004 at 11:40 p.m..
Talk to US
The US election in November 2004 affects everyone, everywhere.
Talk to US is a global video forum, inviting ordinary people around the world to speak directly to the American public: Talk to US welcomes people from around the world who want to participate to upload their video directly to the Talk to US website or mail the video to the US. All videos will be availabl From
unmediated on August 2, 2004 at 11:40 p.m..
Casio Develops Tiny Ceramic Lens
Casio has developed the world's first optical lens constructed from transparent ceramics, making it possible to create cameras with optical zoom that are even thinner than existing models. Not only do the new ceramic lens have a greate From
unmediated on August 2, 2004 at 11:40 p.m..
Hitachi and Seagate Developing Hard Drives for Phones
We been hearing rumblings about hard drives being put into cellular phones for a while now (we've certainly advocated it), but now a company called "Hoya Corp" revealed in a quarterly earnings statement that two major hard drive players - Hitachi Global Storage Technologies and Seagate - are planning on developing
--> From unmediated on August 2, 2004 at 11:40 p.m..
Internet radio, without drudgery
Wired News: To get truly personalized online radio, listeners have to spend time ranking hundreds or thousands of songs. Last.fm eliminates that tedium with a small software plug-in that builds accurate profiles based on songs on a user's hard drive. "It's ideally suited for lazy people who like music," said Last.fm technology chief Richard Jones. From
unmediated on August 2, 2004 at 11:40 p.m..
It's Time for a .Blogs Domain
It's no secret that weblogs are becoming powerful source of information. However, if you need proof, check out this stat.< According to Google News, since July 2 there have been more than
3,470 online news articles that have mentioned either blogs, weblogs, blog or weblog! This From
unmediated on August 2, 2004 at 11:40 p.m..
Putting on your blog face
The point here is that the information one gives about oneself is more selective, malleable, and subject to self-censorship in CMC than it is in FtF interactions because only verbal and linguistic cues - those that are most at our discretion and control - are our displays. (Joseph Walther) In other words, on the internet, nobody knows you're a dog. :^) From
Just Another Ant on August 2, 2004 at 11:39 p.m..
Web police no more than keystone cops
I would hope that someone who appoints himself and a few cronies as the web police, there would be an attempt to appear to offer some sort of sincere discussion of the web as an emerging media. Sadly, in Adam... From
Just Another Ant on August 2, 2004 at 11:39 p.m..
Democracy, meet the bloggers
Brian Lamb writes about the webloggers at the Democratic National Convention - A plague of webloggers, and he finishes with: One real change that weblogs do represent, however, is a means for ordinary people to speak back to media, and... From
Just Another Ant on August 2, 2004 at 11:39 p.m..
Are blogs the future of the web?
A very nice post today over in Tuttle SVC commenting about weblogs representing the future of the web. I've never heard of anyone who used weblog software very long and decided they'd rather go back to keeping a homepage with... From
Just Another Ant on August 2, 2004 at 11:39 p.m..
Bloggers at DNC
I really did try to stop myself from talking any more about bloggers at the Democratic National Convention, but then Dave Winer posted a link to this article by Jack Kapica at the Globe and Mail. He makes a great... From
Just Another Ant on August 2, 2004 at 11:39 p.m..
jim mcgee on knowledge work...
Harry Wessel, of The Orlando Sentinel, writes:
Weblogs can lead to woes at work. Harry Wessel talks about the slippery slope an employee stands on when making any mention or inference of his/her employer. A story we have heard before. But, at the end of this short article Mr. Wessel quotes our friend Jim McGee on knowledge work: "I track something like 320 Web sites that are relevant to my work," said McGee, who began blogging 21/2 years ago. "In terms of leveraging From
judith meskill's knowledge notes... on August 2, 2004 at 11:39 p.m..
too many knowledge workers...
In The Independent, Kate Hilpern writes:
Just the job - or a degree too far? Too many knowledge workers and not enough lower-skilled workers? Here's an excerpt: The UK is producing too many graduates and the demand for "knowledge workers" has been seriously overestimated, leading academics have claimed. A study of over 28 million UK jobs found only 32 per cent were knowledge-based, traditionally requiring a university graduate. This falls well short of gove From
judith meskill's knowledge notes... on August 2, 2004 at 11:39 p.m..
working knowledge with rss news feeds...
Harvard Business School's publication--
HBS Working Knowledge--now has RSS feeds. An excerpt from the announcement on their site: There are two news feeds provided by Harvard Business School Working Knowledge that you can freely use to syndicate article headlines to your own personal computer or Web site. The first method is through a Really Simple Syndication (RSS) news feed, and the second method is through a Javascript news feed. By using these feeds, con From
judith meskill's knowledge notes... on August 2, 2004 at 11:39 p.m..
asia unplugged...
Howard Rheingold writes about
Asia Unplugged -- New Book. Howard endorses this new book: "I met and corresponded with Madanmohan Rao, co-editor of ASIA UNPLUGGED: Learning from the Wireless and Mobile Media Boom in the Asia-Pacific, while he was compiling the book, and have reason to believe it's a very useful resource." I noticed that in Part I of Asia Unplugged there is a chapter on Knowledg From
judith meskill's knowledge notes... on August 2, 2004 at 11:39 p.m..
Saw this test posted a couple places... Took ...
Saw
this test posted a couple places... Took it in a weak moment... Wackiness: 56/100 Rationality: 58/100 Constructiveness: 56/100 Leadership: 50/100 You are a WRCF--Wacky Rational Constructive Follower. This makes you Paul Begala. You are unflappable and largely unconcerned with others' reactions to you. You were not particularly interested in the results of this test, and probably took it only as a result of someone else asking you to. From
blog.IT on August 2, 2004 at 11:39 p.m..
Indeed - I have not been around. Even my new ...
Indeed - I have not been around. Even my newsreader has become cluttered with unread posts. In the past ten days,
we decided to go forward with a pilot of D2L for Autumn quarter, under the assumption that once our budget was approved, we would go forward with a Winter implementation schedule. This meant training, documentation, pilot selection, and an enormous weight of other tasks all needed to be done and ready to go by late August, let alone the planning for the implementation. Serious crunch time. All other From
blog.IT on August 2, 2004 at 11:39 p.m..
In the spirit of one of Miss Thing's newest books. ...
In the spirit of one of Miss Thing's
newest books..Today I feel quiet.I have nothing to say.I've been staring at this blog postI've been staring at it all day!No educational theory.No reflective quips.No pondering wramblings.I feel like a drip.Ok. So I never did all that well in creative writing. I've been staring at documentation all day and I just want t From
blog.IT on August 2, 2004 at 11:39 p.m..
Well, I made it to Madison - dispite the virus tak ...
Well, I made it to Madison - dispite the virus taking down several airlines (mine was not one of them) and the homeland security stuff giving me some severe heartburn (I don't mind flying once I get started - but I have an "overactive imagination" as noted by my seatmate on the way up).I'm hoping for the best
from this. I will admit my own bias - I'm generally not a huge fan of user group conferences, unless I'm really embedded in the product. When I was a Notes administrator, it was my dream to go to their confere From
blog.IT on August 2, 2004 at 11:38 p.m..
Consumer WebWatch
Funded by a grant from Consumers Union (publisher of Consumer Reports magazine), Consumer WebWatch "will investigate, inform, and improve the quality of information published on the World Wide Web." Articles include evaluations of lawyer-finding Web sites, online crime, "phish" e-mails and more. From
Minneapolis Public Library - the LIST on August 2, 2004 at 11:38 p.m..
Phansying the philosophickal mercury
After sitting on a library waiting list of over eighty patrons long, we finally got a hold of Neal Stephenson's The Confusion, the second book in a swashbuckling historical fiction trilogy entitled "The Baroque Cycle". Stephenson is to be commended for being able to mix irreverent, wanton violence with minute 17th century trivia. Add in alchemy, banking, 14 bars of stolen gold, and a dash of cryptography, and you have a bizarre but good tasting literary recipe. The good news is, at 815 pages, The Confusion is a hundred pages shorter than the first book, Quicksilver. There is also less ina From
silentblue | Quantified on August 2, 2004 at 11:38 p.m..
Creative ownership
id Software's highly anticipated game Doom 3 uses a graphics technique for rendering stencil shadows called "Carmack's reverse", named after its author and id Software's rockstar head developer, John Carmack. Apparently this did not stop Creative Labs, noted makers of the SoundBlaster soundcards, from quietly patenting Carmack's algorithm with the USPTO in October 1999. This recently came to a head when HardOCP noted an awkwardly-written Creative/id Software press release that spoke of a cross-licensing deal. The jist of the story was this: Creative lets id Software use the From
silentblue | Quantified on August 2, 2004 at 11:38 p.m..
A jolly rogering
When I moved back to Toronto, I discovered I wasn't allowed to stick my ExpressVu satellite dish on the building, so I had no choice but to obtain my television from our local cable monopolist, Rogers Cable. Because we are such a valued customers, Rogers has awarded us by putting me on their email spam list. Every month I get sales pitches for the latest Rogers whatzit. And what happens when you click on "unsubscribe"? Well, you have to fill out a giant form plus urine sample and signed letter from the Queen to get removed off the list. All fields are required to be filled in. Oh yeah, yo From
Contentious Weblog on August 2, 2004 at 11:37 p.m..
What Wendy Shaffer Says About WikidPad, So Far
Awhile back, I mentioned a potentially cool tool for creating personal wikis (that live on your computer, not on the Web) called
WikidPad. I'll be honest, I haven't had a chance to play with it much yet, so I can't offer a measured opinion on it at this time. However, Wendy Shaffer has toyed with WikidPad a fair amount. She's still making up her mind about this tool, but here's
--> From Contentious Weblog on August 2, 2004 at 11:37 p.m..
For My Fellow Bookaholics
Just ask my husband – I am an incurable, notorious, unrepentant bookaholic. I always have been. I rarely go anwhere without a bag of my current reading material in tow. I can't fall asleep without reading. Much to my husband's chagrin, my friend Steve Loyola has intensified my bibliaddiction with his online comparison-shopping site for books,
Best Book Buys. If you're looking for a great deal on a book, check there first. It will compare prices (including shipping costs) for your chosen title from dozens of online From
Contentious Weblog on August 2, 2004 at 11:37 p.m..
How to Think Like a Publisher, Part 3
In many ways, content quality is what drives online competition. For most businesses or organizations, "the competition" is whoever offers the same products or services as you, or is pursuing the same target market or resource base. Dealing with such traditional competitors can be daunting. In fact, for many organizations, "outdoing the competition" is one of the main forces driving them to establish a Web presence in the first place. However, once your organization has become a Web publisher, it enters an entirely different realm of competition: the battle for atten From
Contentious Weblog on August 2, 2004 at 11:37 p.m..
Reader Survey: Preliminary Results
A couple of weeks ago I invited CONTENTIOUS readers to tell me their opinions on this weblog through my 2004 reader survey. So far, 132 people have filled it out. (Thanks so much!) I haven't yet done a thorough analysis of results, but here are some interesting tidbits I've gleaned so far... (By the way,
my survey is still open. If you haven't yet filled it out, you can still do so. It's a fast 10-question Web-based form, completely anonymous.) (
--> From Contentious Weblog on August 2, 2004 at 11:37 p.m..
What Do We Know? The Great Info-Knowledge Debate
Despite the popularity of the buzzword knowledge management, there's actually a fair amount of debate in the KM community over whether it's actually possible to manage "knowledge." In a way, this debate reminds me of
Terry Jones' brilliant observation about the War on Terror, "How do you wage war on an abstract noun?" In order to decide whether knowledge can be managed, you must understand From
Contentious Weblog on August 2, 2004 at 11:37 p.m..
No Webfeed? No Excuse for These Sites!
Over time I've stumbled across several sites for which I can see no possible excuse for their lack of any kind of
webfeed (RSS, Atom, whatever). That truly annoys me. So here is my official Feedless Hall of Shame: Sites that cover (or organizations that focus on) enough technology-related topics and tools that there is no conceivable possibility that they wouldn't know about webfeeds and how to implement them. I'm excluding government Web sites from this list. Even though most government agenci From
Contentious Weblog on August 2, 2004 at 11:37 p.m..
Change This: Why PDF?
I must admit, I'm intrigued by Seth Godin's latest noncommercial venture,
Change This. It's not a business, but a forum and distribution system for ideas that seek to change or challenge the way people view or do important things. It's not just technology, business, and communication, but politics, science – you name it. Very cool. I like what they're trying to do. I just have some questions about how they're doing it... (
Rea From Contentious Weblog on August 2, 2004 at 11:37 p.m..
OK, GMail is Cool for Some Things
Back on
July 16, I wrote about why I wanted to try Google's new
Gmail service. A couple of CONTENTIOUS readers were kind enough to send me Gmail invitations, so I've since been experimenting with two different Gmail accounts for about two weeks now. Here's how I've decided to us – and not use – Gmail for now... (
Read more...) From
Contentious Weblog on August 2, 2004 at 11:37 p.m..
Ben Franklin & Management
From
Dane are these ageless words of wisdom.Benjamin Franklin and the 12 Rules Of Management 1. Finish better than your beginnings 2. All education is self-education 3. Seek first to manage yourself, then to manage others 4. Influence is more important than victory 5. Work hard and watch your costs 6. Everybody wants to appea From
jarche.com - Improving Organizational Performance on August 2, 2004 at 11:37 p.m..
Emergent Organizational Structures
Jonathan Schwartz, President of Sun Microsystems, on blogging in the corporation: Schwartz: We had a pretty interesting change in our HR strategies at Sun recently. We allowed blogging for 100% of the workforce. If you're not familiar with blogging it's when you basically keep your diary online and talk to the world perpetually. There is no more distinction anymore between the Intranet and the Extranet. It's just the Net. Traditionally, the people who spoke to the marketplace were the folks in communi From
jarche.com - Improving Organizational Performance on August 2, 2004 at 11:37 p.m..
Will Google Ever Let You Choose Your Advertisers?
Will Google Ever Let You Choose Your Advertisers?: Robin Good continues a discussion started by Amy Gahran at Poynter Online. I've noticed the same flaws in the Google ads that run on this blog., which is that Google really doesn't do a good job matching blog content to advertisers. Despite the varied topics that I post about, the vast majority of the ads offered are to blogging software tools and blog hosts. I'd say that about 70% of my posts have to do with education, and yet... From
Brain Frieze on August 2, 2004 at 11:37 p.m..
Voting Non-Usability in Palm Beach County (Again!)
Oi! Would someone--anyone--please sit down with the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections and teach her a thing or three about usability? Remember Palm Beach County and the famous Butterfly Ballot of 2000? That was right here in my home county, and you'd think that Teresa LePore, an otherwise smart and hard-working lady, would have learned her lesson about testing ballot designs before publishing. Apparently not. A story in today's Palm Beach Post details the problems that... From
Brain Frieze on August 2, 2004 at 11:37 p.m..
Usability and Men's Shirts
Speaking of usability, I'd like to know who designed the packaging for men's dress shirts? Man! There are more pins, tags, labels, wrappings, stiffeners, and inserts in one shirt than..well, than just about anything I can think of. Is there an entire pin-insertion industry out there that is living on government subsidies and has to be provided jobs in order to keep the pork flowing? Hmm, most of these shirts come from enlightened countries like Vietnam and Sierra Leone, so I don't... From
Brain Frieze on August 2, 2004 at 11:37 p.m..
Wildfire 'Forces' Newspaper Into Blogging
Carson City, Nevada, was in the headlines recently for a major wildfire that came perilously close to populous parts of the city and burned many houses. As in any newsroom under similar circumstances with a really big breaking story, editors at the
Nevada Appeal were getting reports in from writers throughout the day and night, and new information from police and fire scanners. How to handle getting that information out to citizens quickly? By producing a wildfire blog, of course. Internet editor Kirk Caraway says it wasn't planned t From
Poynter E-Media Tidbits on August 2, 2004 at 11:37 p.m..
Proportion and Self-Coverage
I was the founding editor of
StarTribune.com, so I was particularly interested in the announcement that Will Tacy, former managing editor of
NYTimes.com, will be the Minnesota site's new editor. But what I found was puzzling: an unbylined
three-paragraph short lacking in any detail about Tacy. By contrast, when Anders Gyllenhaal of the Raleigh News & Observer was named the Star Tribune's editor two years ago, From
Poynter E-Media Tidbits on August 2, 2004 at 11:36 p.m..
'Curated Consumption'
Consumer-trends newsletter
Trendwatching.com has an interesting analysis of how people are guided on what to buy, experience, wear, read, and so on. The editors defined the trend as "curated consumption." In their words, "Curated consumption is behind magazines morphing into catalogs, which then morph into eclectic stores; it's behind DJs, restaurant critics, opinionated bloggers, and rap stars giving consumers access to their playlists, their cribs, their top 10 lists." Trendwatching lists Josh Rubin's
--> From Poynter E-Media Tidbits on August 2, 2004 at 11:36 p.m..
Getting Tough About Registration
We all worry about whether registered users are "real," and in some cases it's not just a matter of academic interest.
According to the Media Guardian, online bookseller
Amazon.com has "quietly introduced" a credit-card requirement before anyone can post a book review. It's not an effort to get money from reviewers, but rather to crack down on a practice sometimes called "astroturfing" -- creating a fake grassroots movement. Because the lay readers' book re From
Poynter E-Media Tidbits on August 2, 2004 at 11:36 p.m..
Placement of Political Ads on News Websites at Issue
News websites are, of course, going after political-advertising dollars this campaign season; the potential payoff is substantial. As the Washington Post's Brian Krebs
reports today, however, some ethical issues are arising as campaigns increasingly use news websites to spread their messages. One big problem is that political ads often show up alongside political stories, because ad-management systems distribute ads throughout a news website. Increasingly used ad-targeting techniques can show, From
Poynter E-Media Tidbits on August 2, 2004 at 11:36 p.m..
Breaking From the Crowd: A Compact News Homepage
One of my pet peeves about news websites -- especially ones operated by newspapers -- is that too many of their homepages are index-like behemoths often with hundreds of links and pieces of content. Well, to see another way, check out how
Observer-Reporter.com, the website of the Observer-Reporter in Washington, Pennsylvania, has broken from the crowd with a redesign. Developed by Alan Jacobson's
Brass Tacks Design, the site's compact, single-screen homepage highlights only a fe From
Poynter E-Media Tidbits on August 2, 2004 at 11:36 p.m..
Young Men Reshape the Media
Here's an important assignment for the weekend: Read Wired magazine's article, "
The Lost Boys," from the August issue but available online. This is a must-read for all media executives -- everyone else, too, but especially the media people at the top. About the 18-34 male media user, TV types may read this article and weep, while online folks should feel secure in their futures. From
Poynter E-Media Tidbits on August 2, 2004 at 11:36 p.m..
The Power of Language
The ongoing debate about copyright, and government's role in regulating the re-use or adaptation of creative work, illustrates, among other things, the power of language. I can't help but believe that the discussion would be different if someone (does anyone know who?) hadn't come up with the term "intellectual property," which brilliantly implies that creative work should be treated the same as physical possessions. Now comes Washington Post technology columnist Rob Pegoraro, refusing to use the industry-supported term "copy protection" to describe technologies th From
Poynter E-Media Tidbits on August 2, 2004 at 11:36 p.m..
Topix.net Ups Ante in News Aggregation
Watch out,
Google News. A principal competitor in the automated news aggregator category,
Topix.net, has debuted a redesign that significantly enhances its news offering. A new Topix homepage is a "blended roll-up of all the major stories occurring with the past 24 hours," explains CEO Rich Skrenta. A "NewsRank" process "uses a complex set of semantic story filters to govern news selection. (It) takes into account the magnitude of a story, as well as what the story is about, as determined by our AI categorizer from From
Poynter E-Media Tidbits on August 2, 2004 at 11:36 p.m..
Google News Spiders 7,000 Sources, But Uses Only a Few
For some unofficial websites that I'm helping to launch at several eastern U.S. universities this autumn, I had to find feeds of unusual categories of news stories, the quirky types of stories that are popular on campus. My initial inclination was to use
Google News. But when I analyzed its choices of news sources, I was surprised by the results. Although Google spiders more than 7,000 news sources, only about a dozen sources account for the vast majority of stories displayed on Google News day to day, and two of those predominant sources are owned and From
ERADC Blog on August 2, 2004 at 11:36 p.m..
Some more articles
Here are two more articles that I have recently read. The first article by Ari Jafari includes a link to his e-portfolio. I appreciated this as it really helps to understand what people think of as an e-portfolio when you... From
ERADC Blog on August 2, 2004 at 11:36 p.m..
Self-Reflection:Easier Said Than Done
Thanks Lori for pointing me towards this short article by Gary Poole - President of the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. As you rightly point out: It brings up an interesting point ... how we may be... From
ERADC Blog on August 2, 2004 at 11:36 p.m..
Discussion forum
When I originally set up this website my main aim was to try and get an active discussion forum going to promote debate about e-portfolios. As it turned out this weblog took over and became the main focus. However I... From
ERADC Blog on August 2, 2004 at 11:36 p.m..
Broken Laptop
Word has it that I should get this back to me on Monday - but the company that is supposed to deliver it has not got back to me yet! I think they must be having problems fixing it as they have had it for over a month now. Very annoying - and I must say I will be changing insurance companies at next renewal if this is how claims are handled! From
phoward.com on August 2, 2004 at 11:36 p.m..
Turning On Comments
I’m going to try turning comments on for the next couple of posts. If there are no problems with spammers then I’ll go back and retroactively turn them on for all previous posts as well as enabling them for future posts. You’ll have to register with the site (sorry, but… From
e-Literate on August 2, 2004 at 11:34 p.m..
Catching Up?
Hundreds of people are signing up for membership in the Workflow Institute. That's not so surprising, considering that joining throughout the remainder of 2004 is free. But it means that many members missed the early postings on The Workflow Institute Blog. We'll put a button on the front page soon. In the meantime, at your request, here are the archives.... From
The Workflow Institute Blog on August 2, 2004 at 11:33 p.m..
Reputation systems
http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_7/masum/index.html "Manifesto for the Reputation Society" by Hassan Masum and YiHYPHENCheng Zhang This is a longish, but very interesting treatment of online reputation systems -- you know, those conventions on some sites where users rate the quality of contributions by... From
Rick's Café Canadien on August 2, 2004 at 11:32 p.m..
Shared Spaces Briefing, Aug 2
Today's highlights: Siemens SK65 with BlackBerry; Lookout 1.2 from Microsoft; A User Farewells Groove; SCO Office Server 4.1; Cingular Xpress Mail by SEVEN; TeamScope Scrubber 3.0; Siemens introduced a new business-oriented mobile phone / PDA, featuring an integrated keyboard and... From
Kolabora.com on August 2, 2004 at 11:31 p.m..
AAU position on the NIH OA plan
The House Appropriations Committee Enters Scholarly Publishing Fray, AAU CFR Weekly Wrap-Up, July 30, 2004, pp. 1-2. An unsigned story reporting the committee action and the
AAU stance on it. Excerpt: "AAU has not taken a position on the substance of the proposal contained in the report language, but the association believes that a congressional prescription for scholarly publishing is unwise and unwarranted. However the debate over public access is decided, the quality and reliability of scholarly publ From
Open Access News on August 2, 2004 at 11:31 p.m..
New and Improved YOU
Whether your plans involve personal or professional development, or significant life changes, they're certain to require some learning. Find resources for self-development here.... From
Adult/Continuing Education on August 2, 2004 at 11:30 p.m..
Bricklin on Cooper on blogging
Dan Bricklin replies on CNET to Charles Cooper's article on CNET about his disappointment with the Convention bloggers. I think Dan gets it right. (I replied to Cooper here.)... From
Joho the Blog on August 2, 2004 at 11:28 p.m..
Registered traveler
Because I've been a good white boy, AmericanAirlines has notified me that if I show up at Logan Airport between the hours of 5:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m., beginning August 9, 2004 and ending August 13, and go to the Training and Conference Center, located between Terminals B and C, with a copy of the email invitation, two forms of government-issued ID, and my nontransferable confirmation number, the TSA may grant me Most Favored Traveler status and only anally probe me if I insist on it. Here's a snippet from the form I'm supposed to fill out: What's with the... From
Joho the Blog on August 2, 2004 at 11:27 p.m..
UXnet
Lou Rosenfeld has highlighted the creation of a new organisation: UXnet. To quote: UXnet is dedicated to exploring opportunities for cooperation and collaboration among UX-related organizations and individuals. For individuals, UXnet offers a way to connect to the broadly drawn... From
Column Two on August 2, 2004 at 11:26 p.m..
Internationalization Articles Published
2004-07-30: The GEO Task Force of the W3C Internationalization Working Group publishes information to help authors and Webmasters understand and use W3C technologies. Articles in July: FAQ: Why should I use the language attribute in Web pages?, FAQ: Should I declare the language of my XHTML document using a language attribute, the Content-Language HTTP header, or a meta element?, FAQ: How do I use .htaccess directives on an Apache server to serve files with a specific encoding? For more items, visit the Internationalization home page. (News archive) From
World Wide Web Consortium on August 2, 2004 at 11:26 p.m..
Working Draft: Web Services Internationalization Usage Scenarios
2004-08-02: The Web Services Task Force of the Internationalization Working Group has released an updated Working Draft of Web Services Internationalization Usage Scenarios with additional guidance for implementers of Web service technologies. The document examines how language, culture and related issues interact with Web services architecture and technology. Comments are welcome on this draft. Visit the Internationalization home page. (News archive) From
World Wide Web Consortium on August 2, 2004 at 11:25 p.m..
Working Drafts: Techniques for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0
2004-08-02: The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Working Group has released three First Public Working Drafts. HTML Techniques for WCAG 2.0 and CSS Techniques for WCAG 2.0 give guidance on using HTML, XHTML and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to create accessible content. Deprecated examples illustrate techniques that content developers should not use. The draft Gateway to Techniques for WCAG 2.0 is an entry point to meeting the success criteria in WCAG 2.0. Read about the Web Accessibility Initiative. (News archive) From
World Wide Web Consortium on August 2, 2004 at 11:25 p.m..
Working Draft: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0
2004-08-02: The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Working Group has released an updated Working Draft for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0. Version 2.0 widens the range of technologies covered and simplifies wording. Following WCAG checkpoints makes Web content accessible to people with disabilities and to users of a variety of Web-enabled devices. Read about the Web Accessibility Initiative. (News archive) From
World Wide Web Consortium on August 2, 2004 at 11:25 p.m..
Not that David Davies
Ok, so I indulge in a little vanity surfing, I use
PubSub to keep track of who's commenting on my weblog posts. I have one PubSub subscription for my weblog URL and another for 'David Davies', figuring that there aren't that many bloggers with the same name yet (though it is a popular name in the land of my fathers, Wales, so come the Welsh weblogging revolution who knows - although I'm only 1/4 Welsh myself). Anyway on a good day I may get maybe one or two entries in my PubSub feeds. But today, I got 33! Wow, did I From
David Davies: Edtech on August 2, 2004 at 10:57 p.m..
Exit Valenti
Jack Valenti says goodbye in the LA Times today, rating his career "AE--always exciting." A few better and less-well known Valentisms from the King-Kong of lobbyists: On the nascent cable industry, in 1974 "[Cable will become] a huge parasite in the marketplace, feeding and fattening itself off of local television... From
Lessig Blog on August 2, 2004 at 10:56 p.m..
Broadcast Flag Burning
I wasn't convinced that the broadcast flag was such a big deal. But this story about Tivo asking the FCC for permission to add new features is changing my mind. Creative destruction doesn't ask for permission. (Thanks to Jonathan Zittrain, Susan Crawford).... From
Lessig Blog on August 2, 2004 at 10:56 p.m..
Brutal interrogation backfires, results in danger to GIs
There are a number of reasons why an occupying power shouldn't use torture, pain, fear, lies, starvation, sleep-deprivation, extremes of heat and cold, humiliation, and other cruel and unusual techniques. The case of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi illustrates one more very important reason. When you torture people they will tell you anything to get the torture to stop. So you can't trust what they tell you. And, if you are so possessed of hubris, brinksmanship, and holy righteousness that you act on the questionable intelligence, you can find yourself in a very costly war that has no From
kuro5hin.org on August 2, 2004 at 10:56 p.m..
Developing a Knowledge Management Strategy
According to the author, a knowledge management strategy "must identify the key needs and issues within the organisation, and provide a framework for addressing these." It then outlines a process to do this. He notes that "It is easy to jump into 'solutions mode', recommending approaches such as communities of practice, storytelling, content management systems, and much more." But such practices must match the actual need of the staff, which you only find out if you ask them. By James Robertson , KM Column, August, 2004 [
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'Degrees for Sale' at UK Universities
There is a danger in having an organization that gets paid for teaching people also be responsible for evaluating whether that teaching has been successful. This item, in which it is alleged that universities are passing students in order to keep the money flowing in, is illustrative of this danger. By Martin Bright, The Observer, August 1, 2004 [
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OLDaily on August 2, 2004 at 10:55 p.m..
Patchworking - Showing Off Your Assets
This is pretty interesting. The author adapts the concept of 'patching' - a business process where an organization is broken into loosley associated pieces or 'patches' - and applies it to individual learners to create a 'portfolio' of assets. The resulting map (see the diagram in the article) goes well beyond what we might see in a typical profile, inmcluding such things as the person's vision and beliefs, their network of contacts, their work environments, and more. I think this would be a good development tool - people often sell themselves short, but only From
OLDaily on August 2, 2004 at 10:55 p.m..
Group: Linux Potentially Infringes 283 Patents
It's discomforting to see the two sides gear up for what may become an all-out patent war against open source. Can't say I didn't
see it coming, though. Of course, this claim, by an insurance company offering patent protection coverage, seems a little self-serving. Welcome to the world in which litigation (or the threat of it) is more profitable than creativity - the sign of a seriously damaged economy. By Stephen Shankland, ZD Net, August 1, 2004 [
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How to Be Creative
Nice article that should probably have been titled "How to be good at anything." The author's main point is that "everybody has their own private Mount Everest they were put on this earth to climb," and that the difference between a worthwhile life and the other lies in the decision to climb it (my 'Everest' is stated at the bottom of my
home page). Once you make the decision to accept your own particular challenge, it becomes a matter of aligning your priorities and being clear about your motivations. "If somebody wants to rip my From
OLDaily on August 2, 2004 at 10:55 p.m..