By Stephen Downes
October 28, 2003
Bloglines Most Popular Blogs
I'm
currently sitting at the bottom spot on the Bloglines 'most
popular blogs' list (which would be, I guess, 100th place),
a position that has ironically generated a bit more traffic
in the last few days. I was at a much higher position, as
Bloglines was visited by the early adopters. But as the
site attracted a more general audience, my site has begun
to slip. So I thought I'd better get a link in before I
drop off that rankings entirely, if only to be able to say,
"I once was famous." Heh. By Various Authors, BlogLines,
October 27, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Why Tables for Layout is
Stupid
OK, I'll admit it. I use tables for the
design of my website and just about everything else. I
plead innocence: the ugly standards war between Netscape,
Microsoft, and the standards bodies left me unable to code
in any other way. Until now, maybe. This presentation can
be a quick read or a detailed resource - it touches page
design lightly, but provides deep background and numerous
links to quality source materials (I know, because I
recognize a bunch of them). The big challenge is getting
past the incredibly ugly fourth page - it looks like you've
left the site, but you haven't. Just look for the 'Next'
link in the lower right-hand corner of the page and put the
ugliness behind you. It's worth continuing. By Bill
Merikallio and Adam Pratt, Seybold, October, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
School Software Helps Parents Keep Tabs on
Teens
This will be old news for some, but I
thought a quick link to this article was worth passing
along. I am a little sceptical. After all, as one parent
says, "It doesn't work for me to police her. Pretty soon
she's going to be out of high school into a world that
doesn't have ParentCONNECT."
By Maya Suryaraman, October 27, 2003, October 27, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
OAI for Beginners - the Open Archives Forum
Online Tutorial
The purpose of this online
resource is to introduce people to the Open Archives
Initiative. "This tutorial is intended for those who are
interested in more technical aspects of the OAI-PMH,
although the Overview and the History and Development of
OAI-PMH, together with the Glossary, are suitable for those
who simply require some general background information." By
Various Authors, Open Archives Forum, October 27, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
A Case of Piracy
Overkill?
Discussion of the proposed 'broadcast
flag' legislation in the U.S., which would require that all
new media receivers detect content intended for broadcast
and thereby refuse to allow the purchaser to make a copy.
Though intended only for digital content, broadcasters
speak hopefully of being able to "to close the analog
hole," which would effectively prevent people from making
tape or video recordings. By Kim Zetter, Wired News,
October 27, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Culture on the Market
Innovation,
writes the author, is founded on tradition - even if only
the shallow Machiavellian pretense of appearing to preserve
traditional values. A tradition, in turn, is founded on a
canon of work: a library of classics, a body of musical
works, a museum of art. But in today's commercial market,
publishers require a proit on a work within six months or
so, making it difficult to keep important works in print,
and even more so to allow for the discovery of new
classics. Though not about digital culture, this article
touches on it briefly as it wonders how we are going to
pass on this cultural heritage to our children when the
works are mostly out of circulation. By Charles Rosen, New
York Review of Books, November 6, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
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