By Stephen Downes
April 16, 2003
Digital Rights Management
De-mystified
The title of this article is a bit
misleading. This is not an introductory article intended to
make the arcane arts clear to all, it's an overview of the
OMA digital rights strategy for the wireless market (and
most notably, cell or mobile phones). Essentially, the
technology prevents you from forwarding content (such as
ring tones) that you download to your phone, or if you do
forward the content, the rights are attached in a separate
file, which means that the recipient cannot use the content
until a new rights file is obtained. I don't think that
this article really gets beyond the interests of the
content community in its analysis and so doesn't seriously
consider things like, say, non-compliant telephones. By
Dan Briody, The Feature, April 15, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Draft Declaration of
Principles
The World Summit of the Information
Society (WSIS), which met last month in Geneva, has release
a Draft Statement of Principles defining the structure and
the hopes for the coming information age. This is a
document heavy on noble purpose, arguing as it does that
access to information and freedom to communicate are basic
human rights, and that the advocacy of these rights in a
democratic society should lead to measures that benefit the
whole of humanity. Noble purpose, indeed, and while the
document may be savaged in some quarters, it is probably a
far more accurate summary of what the people of the world
desire than, say, certain trade agreements, and it meets
with support in this corner of the world, at least.
Comments are being received until the end of May. PDF or MS
Word; available in six languages. By WSIS, March 21, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Will Patents Pillage Open
Source?
After SCO launched a lawsuit against
IBM, alleging that the corporation had infringed on its
patents via its contributions to the open source community,
the fear has been raised that patent legislation could
undermine, and ultimately ruin, the open source movement.
This is not an idle concern since the U.S. patent office,
in its searches for prior art, tends mainly to concentrate
on previous patents, a method of publication mostly
eschewed by the open source community. But the author
suggests that the cost of a lawsuit against open source
would in general be far greater than any potential
benefits; not only would the defendants have very little
money, the plaintiff would also have elicited the open
hostility of some of the most influential leaders in their
intended customer base. By Steven J. Frank , News.Com,
April 16, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
The Empowered Classroom.... And a Blueprint
for the Second Superpower
John Hibbs drafts a
reply to James Moore's The Second Superpower Raises Its Beautiful
Head, adding the role of education to the mix. As Hibbs
notes, "Dr. Moore talks a lot about technology. But all the
technology in the world won’t mean squat if we don’t have
classrooms embedded with the fundamentals of pluralism,
rule of law and human rights." Of course, providing a
worldwide education commensurate with Moore's vision
involves 'the devil in the details,' and Hibbs takes the
time to outline some of the major needs: marketing,
management and an "education corps." But Hibbs places a
much greater reliance on leadership than I would; while he
concludes that the plan cannot succeed without the support
of people like Moore, when he says that people like him
"are the only ones that really count," he is missing an
essential element of the new superpower. We no longer need
some 'great man' at the top. We can, as a people, move
forward outselves, without the dubious benefits that such
'leadership' provides. PDF format. By John Hibbs, April 13,
2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
An Ideal Courseware/Content Management
Model
With widespread dissatisfaction in tbe
traditional learning management system (LMS) beginning to
surface, writers are beginning to scout around for
something better. This model, which proposes one
alternative, isn't it. The author makes some good points,
complaining that current systems are too centralized, don't
export well, and are too heavility integrated into
enterprise systems. But the proposed modular system is
really nothing more than a deconstruction of existing
systems, and as such, not a real improvement over what we
have, at least, not so far as learning is concerned. By Bob
Reynolds, Xplana, April 9, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Don't Bloggerize eLearning
In his
newsletter last week, George Siemens called for simplicity
in e-learning standards. This item responds to that plea,
arguing that "Dumbing down the standard won't make a
difference, except to potentially rob the teaching and
learning community of potential functionality." The
argument is based on the idea that people do not choose to
adopt standards, they choose to adopt software, and the
software they will choose will be easier to use if it
employs appropriate standards. Maybe. But the history of
standards says otherwise. SGML existed for years before
HTML, and while it supported some powerful applications,
document creation remained the hands of an elite until HTML
came along, and with it, a bevy of simple editors.
Complicated standards result in complicated and inflexible
software, exactly what people don't want and don't choose.
It's not a case of 'dumbing down' standards, it's a case of
choosing intelligently the things people need to
communicate, rather than blindly trying to hit the target
through volume. And the discussion continues: George
Siemens Responds to Ritter; Ritter's reply. By Greg Ritter, Ten Reasons Why,
April 15, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Super-DMCA Fears Suppress Security
Research
A PhD student in Michigan has moved his
website and research to Holland after revisions to that
state's copyright law prompted fears that his work may now
be illegal. Michigan's new law prohibits anyone from
creating a system that conceals "the existence or place of
origin or destination of any telecommunications service."
It is one of many "super-DMCA" laws being passed in
American states at the urging of music and other content
publishers. By Kevin Poulsen, Security Focus, April 14,
2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Know a friend who might enjoy this newsletter?
Feel free to forward OLDaily to your colleagues. If you
received this issue from a friend and would like a free
subscription of your own, you can join our mailing list
at
http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/website/subscribe.cgi
[
About This NewsLetter] [
OLDaily Archives]
[
Send me your comments]