OLDaily

By Stephen Downes
November 24, 2004

Wired for Wikiphonics
Breeze presentation from Brian Lamb,so you know it combines wikis, RSS, blogs, learning and chaos. OK, well, the talk is mostly about wikis. It's the delivery that is interesting. Like James Farmer, I wish I could do something like this without Breeze (or other software that requires a real live software budget to acquire). By Brian Lamb, November 24, 2004 [Refer][Research][Reflect]

BlogExplosion
As described on Joho: "I'm trying out BlogExplosion, a free service designed to build traffic on your site. Click on a button on the site and it sends you to one of its member's sites. For every two sites you visit, it sends one member to your site. I'm doing it primarily as an experiment in structured random browsing." By David Weinberger, Joho the Blog, November 24, 2004 [Refer][Research][Reflect]

Add-ons Extend Firefox Growth
Article about the Firefox launch parties, Firefox extensions, and about Wikalong in particular. Notes that a popular use of this service may be to post logon IDs and passwords at news sites requiring registration. By Jim Wagner, InternetNews.com, November 24, 2004 [Refer][Research][Reflect]

Thomson Acquires Third of ContentGuard
Something like this is no real surprise - ContentGuard had been under pressure from regulators for being too concentrated in the hands of Microsoft and Time Warner. I'm not sure the addition of the publishing giant Thomson will change anything, but the partners no doubt hope it will. Here is the ContentGuard press release on the acquisition and a wholly frivolous press release on Thomson's licensing of ContentGuard patents (If I buy the rights to print this article from myself, can I write a press release too? Sheesh...). Meanwhile, readers may want to look at ContentGuard's Rights Express service, which demonstrates not only how their rights management language works, but also their attitude toward open markets: "For the best user experience, please access RightsExpress with Microsoft Internet Explorer. Other browsers may not render the content properly." (In fact, it renders just fine in Firefox.) By Leigh Phillips, Digital Media Europe, November 24, 2004 [Refer][Research][Reflect]

Skull Wallpaper Virus Attacks Nokia Smart-phones
Sure, it's just another virus story - a bug embedded in a wallpaper file disables most features on a Nokia phone and inserts skulls and bones as wallpaper. The bigger picture: file sharing on mobile phones was always considered to be blocked by the fact that the content provider had complete control over the hardware. Today we see just a virus, but this is the foot in the door - if you can insert a virus, you can set up a file sharing network. If it hasn't happened already, it's just a matter of time. By Unknown, Digital Media Europe, November 24, 2004 [Refer][Research][Reflect]

Linking Thinking: Self-directed Learning in the Digital Age
This is a remarkable report, much more revolutionary than it may appear at first glance, and worthy of detailed consideration. The author argues, in essence, that the internet enables a great deal of self-directed or informal learning, that learning in this way is viable, that there is an increasing demand for it, that government and inbstitutions can do little to control it, but that it serves not only an economic role but also is a foundation for civil society. In order to support self-directed learning, two major things must be in place: universal access to the internet, access that goes well beyond merely placing computers in libraries and shopping malls, and access to knowledge and information, a vast amount of which is in danger of being captured from the public domain and commercialized. Via elearnspace. By Philip C Candy, Department of Education, Science and Training, August, 2004 [Refer][Research][Reflect]

Open Digital Rights Language (ODRL) Version 2 Requirements
A new draft of the requirements list for the Open Digital Rights Language (ODRL) Version 2 is now available. By Susanne Guth and Renato Iannella, November 24, 2004 [Refer][Research][Reflect]

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