By Stephen Downes
June 18, 2004
UNESCO/Commonwealth of Learning "Schoolnet
Toolkit" Now Online
From the announcement: "The
"Schoolnet Toolkit", a guidebook for the use of ICTs to
improve the value and quality of education is now online.
Prepared by UNESCO and the Commonwealth of Learning, it is
targeted towards policy- and decision-makers in education,
school managers, practitioners, teachers and principals in
Southeast Asian Countries." It's hard to find the link on
the press release page (it's the same colour as the text -
tsk), but you'll find the Toolkit here or as a single PDF (2.75 mB) here. By Press Release, UNESCO, June 18,
2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
How Microsoft Lost the API War
Two
good think pieces on Microsoft. This first item is a little
technical but a good read even if you don't follow it
completely. Essentially, the author argues that, since
Microsoft has changed its (mostly secret) application
program interface (API) so frequently in various versions
of Windows, developers have abandoned Windows as a software
platform and are now programming for the world wide web.
This is bad news for Microsoft, since it depends on
programmers to write applications that make Windows worth
buying. But why, asks the author, would a developer write
software for Windows when the investment is likely to
become valueless in a year or two? By Joel Spolsky, Joel
on Software, June 13, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Microsoft Research DRM Talk
True
story: while I was in Saskatoon, knowing that Air Canada
shows movies only on flights longer than 3 and a half
hours, and facing a three hour and 22 minute flight, I
bought a copy of Gangs of New York and set it up to
play on my computer. I test-played it for a couple of
minutes, packed my computer, and caught my flight. After
the take-off, I unpakced my computer and went to watch my
movie. I put the DVD into the player, fired it up, and...
it wouldn't play. The key (whatever that is) didn't match.
Maybe I had to be online, maybe I was only allowed to play
it once - who knows? The lesson for me is simple: don't buy
DVDs.
This talk pretty much lays out the case for Microsoft (and
anyone else who will listen). It is basically a sustained
attack on the concept of digital rights management (that
is, content encryption and security). DRM doesn't work,
argues Doctorow, and in the process of not working it
causes a lot of damage, not the least of which will be
suffered by Microsoft itself. "There is no market demand
for this 'feature.' None of your customers want you to make
expensive modifications to your products that make backing
up and restoring even harder." Heck, forget backing up. I
just wanted to play my movie. By Cory Doctorow, June 17,
2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Challenges for the Semantic Web and
Information Systems from Culture
An intelligent
look at some of the complexities involved in building a
semantic web, beginning with the observation that the
computerization of knowledge has elided much of what we
know about semantics in the process of transforming text to
boolean constructs. "The focus on logic has had a more
subtle consequence of assuming that the semantic web
is/should be about a single logic, namely, the truth system
with which we happen to use today. In the realms of science
and business this is completely ‘logical’. When making
transactions, we need assurances that our customers use the
same rules as we do. [but] For culture, we need semantic
models that cope with both systems: that allow us to trace
how paradigm shifts and changes in world views change our
understanding of entities. We need to develop the plural
meaning of information systems." By Kim H. Veltman, SIG
SEMIS, June, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Supporting Student Autonomy
Online
David Wiley hits the mark with this set
of notes for his forthcoming talk at Strathclyde,
addressing autonomy and informal learning as key
strategies. "As I pursue my own personal interest in open
sustainable learning," he writes, "autonomy is a key
issue." Quite so. But, "Content needs social interaction
wrapped around it. And since there aren't enough teachers
to go around in the world, supporting students' autonomy
(alone and in groups) is our only shot at taking all the
learning objects in the world and making something like an
educational experience from them." By David Wiley,
autounfocus, June 18, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
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