Edu_RSS
Next Week: Comment Week
Lately, I've been missing out on an important part of the online world: I've sharply curtailed the amount of weblogs I've been reading. This has not been a deliberate choice – I've just been very busy lately with client projects, and I've also been felled by two colds and a stomach virus so far in 2005. Any spare time and energy I've had has gone into writing for CONTENTIOUS and my personal life. (Yes, I do have one.) However, I miss reading blogs as much as I'd like. Also, being a blogger, I know how important comments are to online culture. Comments h From
Contentious Weblog on February 11, 2005 at 9:52 p.m..
I’ve Closed Comments on Older Postings
A few days ago, I decided to close the comment function on all CONTENTIOUS postings more than 30 days old. This is because I was getting slammed with nearly 500 comment spams daily, almost all of which were aimed at older postings. Even though I can delete comment spams en masse before they appear on the site, it was getting to be too much of a hassle to deal with that volume. I still had to look at all the spams to fish out the real comments. Here's how you can post a comment to an older CONTENTIOUS article... From
Contentious Weblog on February 11, 2005 at 9:52 p.m..
Most Classroom Learning Sucks
The problem with most corporate/adult learning programs is that they're just like school. And the problem with school is that it sucks. It works against the way the brain wants to learn. Creating Passionate Users: Most classroom learning sucks... From
Teaching and Developing Online. on February 11, 2005 at 9:52 p.m..
Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers
Preparing tomorrow's teachers to recognize and harness the potential of technology within their content areas is seen as a vital role of teacher education institutions throughout the United States CITE Journal - Current Practice... From
Teaching and Developing Online. on February 11, 2005 at 9:52 p.m..
Schools link up via cyberspace.
Some of the best schools in Malaysia will be linked up to certain schools in the United Kingdom to enable the sharing of experience, particularly in information and communications technology (ICT). Schools link up via cyberspace... From
Teaching and Developing Online. on February 11, 2005 at 9:52 p.m..
Teachers...Think before you blog.
In light of recent events, Tom has given me the job of beginning the "teacher blogging at work" guidelines discussion, and I have to say I'm not sure I relish the assignment. It's a much needed discussion, no doubt. But... From
Teaching and Developing Online. on February 11, 2005 at 9:52 p.m..
Whatchu Talkin Bout, Willis?
This week a college student taking a communications class asked me to answer a few questions for a paper she'd been assigned. She was to interview someone involved in a career dealing with communications. (Don't they all?) The questions were... From
Teaching and Developing Online. on February 11, 2005 at 9:52 p.m..
The economics of sharing
Ich kann Informationen weitergeben, ohne dass ich selbst etwas verliere oder dadurch in meinem Gebrauch dieser Informationen eingeschränkt bin. Kein Wunder, dass Open Source genau an dieser Stelle funktioniert. Jetzt zitiert der Economist Yochai Benkler, der in einem kürzlich erschienenen... From
www.weiterbildungsblog.de on February 11, 2005 at 8:52 p.m..
Why this "Internet thing" is just starting
"Yes, it's only been ten years. And despite our memories of the crash of 2000, here are ten reasons why I believe that there's about to be a significant flourishing of Net companies and business successes, not to mention extremely... From
www.weiterbildungsblog.de on February 11, 2005 at 8:52 p.m..
Something Less Than A Cadillac
Something Less Than A Cadillac Tim Stahmer has a great post today about a computer based literacy program that Los Angeles Unified invested over $50 million dollars in and found that their results are less than stellar... Tim asks some very good questions... Is it really a good thing to have five and six-year olds sitting in front of computers drilling their reading skills? Is this kind of drill and practice software the best use of $50 million? Couldn't that money have been spent on programs that put the students in contact with people instead of machines? I have to... From
Education/Technology - Tim Lauer on February 11, 2005 at 8:50 p.m..
FlickrGraph
Flickr Graph is a visualization tool that looks at the social relationships inside flickr.com. It lets you visually see contact connections between yourself and others. Type in a username and see a display of their contacts. Click on contact and see their connections. Another example of someone taking advantage of the API's built into Flickr.... From
Education/Technology - Tim Lauer on February 11, 2005 at 8:50 p.m..
Phys Ed Best Practice Blog
So this is cool...one of the health and physical edcuation teachers here at my school got a "
Best Practice" award from PE Central for his
class Weblog. He's been doing some pretty good thinking with his students at the site, and I think it's great that he's getting some outside recognition for it. Go Blogs. Go! From
weblogged News on February 11, 2005 at 8:48 p.m..
Why Lifeblog should support the MetaWeblog API
Hi
Charlie: I would love to meet you at
Etech or otherwise. However our little 'ole startup (
Bryght which does hosted Drupal sites) can't afford to send me to Etech. Here's my deal to you: 1. Get Nokia to pay my way to Etech (conference fee, hotel, flight etc. from Vancouver, Canada) 2. I'll meet with your engineers and convince them that supporting the MetaWeblog API is a good idea 3. After that, Bryght From
Roland Tanglao's Weblog on February 11, 2005 at 7:53 p.m..
Today's Links
as simple as possible, but no simpler: Mapping Google cool 'behind the curtain' look - "By now, many of you will have gone and tried out the new Google Maps application. By and large, you have to admit that it's pretty damned slick for a DHTML web application -- even my wife was impressed, and that's not easy with geek toys. So, in the spirit of Google Suggest and GMail, I've decided From
Roland Tanglao's Weblog on February 11, 2005 at 7:53 p.m..
Flickr is 1 year old, congrats!
Sometime early last year (was it late January or early February? I think it was early Febrary), I was given a peek at Flickr. I uploaded
my first photo on February 10, 2004. But didn't really use it until upload via email was added. I think that was the tipping point for me. It's bizarre to think that I used to upload photos without tagging them, but that's how it was for me until the "edit as a batch" feature and the APIs that enabled cool 3rd party uploaders like the
Roland Tanglao's Weblog on February 11, 2005 at 7:53 p.m..
Get an MBA online in 14 months
Distance-learning provider American Graduate School of Management (AGSM) finally has its accreditation in hand, and by launching some new graduate MBA programs it hopes to help its Nashville-based parent American Learning Solutions Inc. (ALS) break even financially in 2005. From
DEC Daily News on February 11, 2005 at 7:49 p.m..
E-rate probe points to fraud
Federal prosecutors in Atlanta are investigating allegations of fraud involving millions of dollars in E-rate technology grants awarded to Atlanta Public Schools, school officials say. From
DEC Daily News on February 11, 2005 at 7:49 p.m..
Learning Design tool bash in Valkenburg
It's like the buses; you wait for one for ages, and then several come along at once. The IMS Learning Design specification was finalised in 2002, and about four implementations are getting ready now. A good time, then, to start playing around with them, exploring what they can do, and seeing whether they interoperate. From
CETIS: Standards in Education Technology on February 11, 2005 at 7:48 p.m..
Event Management: Tools Of The Trade
"Online events and web conferences are often spin-offs or extensions of physical ones. Offline more than online, the organizations and logistics of an event require adequate resources and the ability to coordinate multiple simultaneous tracks. If your next online...... From
Robin Good's Latest News on February 11, 2005 at 7:48 p.m..
Create Enterprise RSS Radars: RSS2Exchange
I have learned by listening to Rok Hrastnik RSS conversation with Paul Chaney about a term I had not heard before: RSS Radars. These are actually what I have been calling newsmaster feeds, and though the name RSS Radars is...... From
Robin Good's Latest News on February 11, 2005 at 7:48 p.m..
SMS To Skype Is Here!
SMS to Skype is a free service from Connectotel allowing GSM mobile phone users to send Skype instant messages to any Skype user. SMS to Skype uses the standard Skype software and you do not need to install anything else...... From
Robin Good's Latest News on February 11, 2005 at 7:48 p.m..
Avatars And Live Video Add Human Touch To Teleconferences
Spontaneity can be a catalyst in conventional meetings, often smoothing the decision-making process and bringing participants closer to a successful outcome of the meeting. Unfortunately, body language and other non-verbal cues that greatly influence the smooth flow of a personal...... From
Robin Good's Latest News on February 11, 2005 at 7:48 p.m..
AdSense Channels And The Preview Tool
Google AdSense provides powerful tracking and previewing tools to monitor and optimize the relevancy and targeting of the text-based ads on your Web pages. Click the image to enlarge it By taking a dive into the AdSense account control panel...... From
Robin Good's Latest News on February 11, 2005 at 7:48 p.m..
From RSS To PDF: Acrobat 7 Does It
When in January 2005 Adobe released version 7 of Acrobat Standard, Professional and Reader, most journalists were struck by the newly added feature that allows users of the Acrobat Reader version to edit and annotate PDF files if the original...... From
Robin Good's Latest News on February 11, 2005 at 7:48 p.m..
Video Editing On Mobile Phones: muvee
It is now possible to edit video clips from your mobile phone and make a splashy presentation enriched by synched cuts, special visual effects and titles, all without having to learn complex software or editing techniques. The only thing you...... From
Robin Good's Latest News on February 11, 2005 at 7:48 p.m..
Teachers...Think Before You Blog
In light of
recent events,
Tom has given me the job of beginning the "teacher blogging at work" guidelines discussion, and I have to say I'm not sure I relish the assignment. It's a much needed discussion, no doubt. But by its very nature, it's a sensitive issue that I'm not sure there are any absolute rules to successfully navigate through. On the K-12 public school level, at least, it depends on your board, your superintendent, yo From
weblogged News on February 11, 2005 at 7:46 p.m..
Reliving 1992 (Warning: You'll Feel Very Old Reading This)
My parents sent me a great essay from the New Yorker. Fittingly, they sent it as a page torn out from the magazine through the postal mail.
1992 House (no link, as the article isn’t freely available online)“The assignment for Mrs. Stanfill’s eighth-grade social-studies class was to pick a year in U.S. history and live for a week as if it were that year, without any of the conveniences available in today& From
The Shifted Librarian on February 11, 2005 at 7:46 p.m..
Karen Reflects on WebCred
My favorite quote from Karen Schneider’s posts about last week’s WebCred conference:“Librarians are primarily concerned with last-mile issues: access, organization, preservation, intellectual freedom, and information literacy. Content providers, such as journalists and bloggers, are primarily concerned with first-mile issues: creation, dissemination, delivery.” [
Free Range From The Shifted Librarian on February 11, 2005 at 7:46 p.m..
Blue Bands for Blue Budgets
I had to go all the way over to
LISNews to find out that a sister Library System here in Illinois has started a totally awesome project called
Libraries Matter. Here at home, our kids saved up some money to buy the 10–pack of Lance Armstrong yellow wristbands because they’re all the rage at school. Can you imagine if we could start something similar with these blue ones for libraries? Brilliant job, Alliance Library System!One thing, though – how a From
The Shifted Librarian on February 11, 2005 at 7:46 p.m..
OCLC Hacks
OCLC is is loosening up and having some fun in a
Google Labs kind of way!
OCLC Research Software Contest“In celebration of libraries and their heritage of technological innovation, OCLC Research is sponsoring a software contest to encourage innovation in the use of web-based services for libraries.Prize$2,500 in cash Visit with OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc., in Dublin, Ohio Potent From
The Shifted Librarian on February 11, 2005 at 7:46 p.m..
Free Range Conversations
Besides the excellent content, it’s fun reading Karen Schneider’s
Free Range Librarian blog these days because she’s discovering the sense of community and the
unexpected level of conversation you get when you blog with open comments. I say “unexpected” because you never expect anyone else to really care enough to take the time to enter a comment, and yet it turns out a lot of people care enough. I never, ever From
The Shifted Librarian on February 11, 2005 at 7:46 p.m..
OLA!
I’m having a great time at the
Ontario Library Association SuperConference in Toronto, despite the fact that I might be getting a cold. And let me tell you, they’re not exaggerating when they call it a “superconference.” I can’t believe anyone came to either of my presentations today given some of the other sessions I was up against. You’d have to clone yourself several times over to go to all of the good stuff!Highlights today include:the many light bulbs goi From
The Shifted Librarian on February 11, 2005 at 7:46 p.m..
Short-Cited Insights about RSS
On page six of the
February issue (PDF) of
Cites & Insights (“Rss hub-bub”), Walt Crawford pooh-poohs the idea of ILS vendors providing native RSS feeds out of the catalog. It’s a difficult assertion to challenge because nowhere in his comments does Walt use the word “because,” thereby directly stating his objection(s). There are implications, though, so let’s examine them since they are all we have to go on.First of From
The Shifted Librarian on February 11, 2005 at 7:46 p.m..
RSS News Roundup
First
The Guardian and then the
L.A. Times:“…Guardian has tied up with a till-now stealth company called
Consenda, and I met up with the CEO Xavier Ferguson today in NYC. The RSS newsreader (Guardian insists on called RSS as Webfeeds), called
Newspoint, is a downloadable app, with a tabbed and clean interface. The newspaper has started offering it From
The Shifted Librarian on February 11, 2005 at 7:46 p.m..
W3C Recommendations Enhance SOAP Performance
2005-01-25: The World Wide Web Consortium today released three W3C Recommendations to improve Web services performance by standardizing the transmission of large binary data. "Web services have just become faster and more usable," said Yves Lafon (W3C). Read the press release and testimonials and visit the Web services home page. (News archive) From
World Wide Web Consortium on February 11, 2005 at 7:44 p.m..
W3C Supports the URI Standard and IRI Proposed Standard
2005-01-26: W3C is pleased to announce its support for two publications that are important for Web addressing and increase the international reach of the Web. The documents are coordinated efforts of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and W3C. Read the press release. (News archive) From
World Wide Web Consortium on February 11, 2005 at 7:44 p.m..
Working Group Note: Extending XLink 1.0
2005-01-27: The XML Core Working Group has released Extending XLink 1.0 as a Working Group Note. The document describes changes that could be incorporated into an XLink Version 1.1 specification to address usability, dependence on annotations provided by external grammars, and interoperability. The Working Group plans no updates to this Note. Visit the XML home page. (News archive) From
World Wide Web Consortium on February 11, 2005 at 7:44 p.m..
Last Call: SMIL 2.1
2005-02-01: The SYMM Working Group has released the First Public Working Draft of Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL 2.1) as a Last Call Working Draft. Comments are welcome through 25 February. SMIL (pronounced "smile") puts animation on a time line, allows composition of multiple animations, and describes animation elements for any XML-based host language. Version 2.1 extends SMIL 2.0 and supports enhanced interactive multimedia presentations, reuse of SMIL syntax and semantics, and new mobile profiles. Visit the Synchronized Multimedia home page. (News archive) From
World Wide Web Consortium on February 11, 2005 at 7:44 p.m..
xml:id Is a W3C Candidate Recommendation
2005-02-08: W3C is pleased to announce the advancement of xml:id Version 1.0 to Candidate Recommendation. The specification introduces a predefined attribute name that can always be treated as an ID and hence can always be recognized. Comments are invited through 10 March. Visit the XML home page. (News archive) From
World Wide Web Consortium on February 11, 2005 at 7:44 p.m..
Call for Participation: W3C Workshop on Frameworks for Semantics in Web Services
2005-02-10: Position papers are due 22 April for the W3C Workshop on Frameworks for Semantics in Web Services to be held 9-10 June in Innsbruck, Austria. Participants will discuss possible future W3C work on a comprehensive and expressive framework for describing all aspects of Web services. The workshop's goal is to envision more powerful tools and fuller automation using Semantic Web technologies such as RDF and OWL. Read about W3C workshops and visit the Web services home page. (News archive) From
World Wide Web Consortium on February 11, 2005 at 7:44 p.m..
W3C Presents at 3GSM World Congress
2005-02-08: Bert Bos, Stéphane Boyera, Marie-Claire Forgue, Max Froumentin and Philipp Hoschka present at Hall 1, stand A24 at the 3GSM World Congress held 14 to 17 February in Cannes, France. "Our goal is to make Web access from a mobile device as simple, easy and convenient as it is from a desktop device," said Philipp Hoschka. Over 28,000 visitors will have a chance to see W3C efforts for the mobile Web in markup, style, graphics, multimodal interaction, device independence, voice browsing and multimedia messaging. Read about W3C at 3GSM and read the press release. (News archive) From
World Wide Web Consortium on February 11, 2005 at 7:44 p.m..
Subscription growth in tech blogs: January wrapup
My
earlier analysis of tech-blog subscription trends suggested that accelerating growth might have tailed off. But with final numbers for January now in, it appears that the foot is on the accelerator again. Plenty of caveats apply, of course. I'm assuming that Bloglines public subscribers are a reasonable proxy for all Bloglines subscribers, that Bloglines is a reasonable proxy for the whole blogosphere, and that the small sample of blogs I'm looking at is representative. On that basis, though, here's how it From
Jon's Radio on February 11, 2005 at 7:44 p.m..
Schemas for smart documents
In a session entitled Contextualized Data in Document Authoring,
John Durant gave a nice overview of how to connect XML elements to the Office task pane. First, the bad old crufty way using VS.NET 2003, and then the good new elegant way using the beta of VSTO (Visual Studio Tools for Office) 2005. In either case, the idea is to animate the task pane with context-sensitive controls that sense and react to navigation within the document. ... From
Jon's Radio on February 11, 2005 at 7:44 p.m..
Listening to the chatter
I'm sitting in building 33 waiting for the Bill Gates keynote to start, listening to the chatter. A guy behind me is asked whether he'll make the investment in VSTO 2005. He's on the fence. "I've been doing a lot of the stuff you see here for years in VB," he says. "And there's no upgrade from VSTO 2003 to VSTO 2005 -- you have to buy it all over again." Stilll, he appreciates the productivity gains as as you climb the VBA -> VSTO 2003 -> VSTO 2005 ladder. He'd like to convince his money people to write the check, but isn't sure they will. And then he makes t From
Jon's Radio on February 11, 2005 at 7:44 p.m..
Office conference wrapup
The Bill Gates keynote held no surprises, and in any case will likely be transcribed and published, but during the Q and A several points came out that I found noteworthy and may not be transcribed. First, a question about unified storage, from someone whose name I didn't catch: ... From
Jon's Radio on February 11, 2005 at 7:44 p.m..
The blogging of health care reform
Paul Kedrosky surfaces this bit of good news from a (subscription-required)
Wall Street Journal article: NIH Director Elias Zerhouni said the voluntary policy encourages scientists who receive full or partial NIH funding to submit their research papers to a database that will be run by the agency. ... The policy asks scientists to make their work freely available From
Jon's Radio on February 11, 2005 at 7:44 p.m..
Arthur van Hoff discusses the TiVo SDK
Today's podcast is a
twenty-minute interview with Arthur van Hoff about the newly-released
TiVo SDK. A founding father of Java, van Hoff became Marimba's CTO and chief scientist and then, in 2002, launched a small startup called Strangeberry. When TiVo acquired Strangeberry last year, it described the company thusly: A small Palo Alto based technology company specializing in using home network and broadband technologies to create new entertainment experiences
Jon's Radio on February 11, 2005 at 7:44 p.m..
Google Maps is a web of linked XML documents
Lots of people have been noticing cool things about Google Maps: large and readable maps, image dragging, dynamic updating, integration with local search, clean URLs for bookmarking, local XSLT processing, transparent PNGs. Then, today, somebody1
this article pointed out something that just knocked my socks off. You can append "output=xml" to any Google Maps URL and receive raw XML. Here's a trivial use of that feature: ... From
Jon's Radio on February 11, 2005 at 7:44 p.m..
Heavy metal umlaut: the making of the movie
When Wikipedia's page on the
heavy metal umlaut made the rounds of the blogosphere recently, I decided to make a
documentary screencast that would illustrate and narrate Wikipedia's editorial process. The screencast was well received, and a number of people wrote wondering how I made it. In this column I'll explain the process, then conclude with some general thoughts about the value of the screencast medium From
Jon's Radio on February 11, 2005 at 7:44 p.m..
The zen of software automation
Automating software systems reminds me of teaching a kid to ride a bicycle. A hands-on phase, in which you directly control the process, segues into a hands-off phase as the kid, having internalized the skill, asserts control. During that segue, however, there's a complex negotiation. Control is traded back and forth in varying degrees, governed by a sensitive two-way feedback mechanism. Web software is easy to automate because there's often a one-to-one correspondence between a hands-on action -- "download transactions for these da From
Jon's Radio on February 11, 2005 at 7:44 p.m..
Turning Technologies - an Audience Response Technology Leader - Maintains Momentum with Sales Growth of 440 Percent in 2004.
Turning Technologies, LLC, a leading developer of group response technology for use in education and business, announced an exceptional close to its 2004 fiscal year, which ended December 31, 2004. Turning Technologies increased sales by over 440 percent versus 2003 while seeing expansion in all of their professional and educational markets. 2004 concluded with the strongest global sales increase in company history. In 2003, Turning also saw a large increase in sales - 360 percent over 2002. [PRWEB Feb 10, 2005] From
PR Web on February 11, 2005 at 7:43 p.m..
New Difficult-Boss Feedback Mechanism
Badbossology.com has launched a new, anonymous "Email Link" Program - a free service that people can use to safely forward resources to their bosses and senior management to help address difficult boss behaviors and promote useful discussion. [PRWEB Feb 10, 2005] From
PR Web on February 11, 2005 at 7:43 p.m..
Black Love Day Feb 13th Intention for African Tsunami Victims and African Emergency Relief
Black Love Day - Feb 13th is the 3rd national, commemorated holiday of forgiveness, atonement, reconciliation and 24 hour demonstration of love showing 5 tenets -Love for the Creator, for self, for family, community and the Black Race, this year showing love through donations, this year, to African Emergency Relief efforts [PRWEB Feb 10, 2005] From
PR Web on February 11, 2005 at 7:43 p.m..
New SAT Exam Places High Importance on Concepts Taught by Merit Software
Starting in March 2005, SAT test takers will be required to complete a new writing section. Essay Punch and Grammar Fitness for Upper Grades, by Merit Software, have been used for years in college prep classes to teach essay writing and grammar skills. Students preparing for the new SAT exam will greatly benefit by using Essay Punch and Grammar Fitness for Upper Grades as part of their SAT prep curriculum. [PRWEB Feb 10, 2005] From
PR Web on February 11, 2005 at 7:43 p.m..
Dr. Eric Oestmann & Care2Learn Launch Spinal Series Online for Physical Therapists
Dr Oestmann and www.Care2Learn.com have launched the Lumbar Spine Stabilization and Rehabilitation Techniques Series as a 4 hour course approved online for both Texas and Florida Physical Therapy, and has also been submitted to Ohio and Louisiana. This course will show the learner how to safely, effectively and efficiently perform neutral lumbar spine stabilization and rehabilitation techniques for patients with various lumbar spine dysfunctions. Although this course targets physical therapists, any healthcare professional would benefit from the learning. For this reason, it has also been sub From
PR Web on February 11, 2005 at 7:43 p.m..
Benefit Auctions specialist, DiNardo & Lord Auctioneers, Sets New Benefit Auction Record
Benefit auctions specialist, DiNardo & Lord Auctioneers, sets new benefit auction record! On January 22, 2005 benefit auctioneer Tom DiNardo of DiNardo & Lord Auctioneers presided over the 12th annual Affair with Flair benefit auction in Greenville, South Carolina. A monumental 286% increase was realized in this year's live auction net proceeds. Last year the benefit auction netted $82,000 versus this year's new record of $235,000 achieved in net proceeds. Tom DiNardo stated, "In DiNardo & Lord Auctioneers' twelve year history this benefit auction established a new benchmark rec From
PR Web on February 11, 2005 at 7:43 p.m..
Howard Hughes FBI Files Published by PaperlessArchives.com
Howard Hughes FBI files available to the public. Paperless Archives has announced the publishing of 2,285 pages of Howard Hughes FBI files. The life of Howard Hughes has gained renewed ttention lately due to the release of the Academy Award nominated motion picture biography "The Aviator," starring Leonardo DiCaprio and directed by Martin Scorsese. [PRWEB Feb 10, 2005] From
PR Web on February 11, 2005 at 7:43 p.m..
$5,000 Reward Offered Newton High School Students
Founder and president of Parents for a Better Community, Mr. John Lipscomb, is offering Newton, Kansas high school seniors $5,000 if they can logically demonstrate the Senior Exit Program implemented by the local school board in exchange for a graduation diploma is constitutional. [PRWEB Feb 11, 2005] From
PR Web on February 11, 2005 at 7:43 p.m..
New Program from Phillip Roy, Inc. - Decision Making
Phillip Roy, Inc. recently announced a new edition to their product line - the Decision Making curriculum. This program is designed to help improve character education, thinking skills, and problem solving. [PRWEB Feb 11, 2005] From
PR Web on February 11, 2005 at 7:43 p.m..
Jamaican Bobsledder to Inspire College Students
Original member of the Jamaican Bobsled Team and motivational speaker, Devon Harris will be a contributing writer to the Top-Colleges.com monthly newsletter beginning February 15th. Harris, a member of the underdog bobsled team that was immortalized in the Disney film, Cool Runnings, will share his brand of inspiration in the form of articles directed at college students and working adults attempting to improve their careers. [PRWEB Feb 11, 2005] From
PR Web on February 11, 2005 at 7:43 p.m..
Turning Technologies Was Highlighted As a Success Story In Taft's State of the State
The Governor began with "....let me share why I'm so hopeful about Ohio and optimistic about our future. I've traveled this great state for many years, and seen firsthand our tremendous strengths. And our foremost strength is our people. Ohioans are inventive. Like the people at Turning Technologies, a rapidly growing software developer that got its start in the Youngstown Business Incubator." Taft stated, "This company's classroom response systems are now an important teaching tool in universities, schools and businesses around the world." Turning was included as an example of From
PR Web on February 11, 2005 at 7:43 p.m..
Cal Poly Pomona Offers New Online Courses: Web Based Career Training Now Easier than Ever with Self-Paced, Web Based Programs
Cal Poly Pomona Foundation, Inc. has partnered with Gatlin Education Services, the largest provider of web-based career training courses, to offer online career training certificate programs in graphic design, multimedia design, Linux, and MCSA/ MCSE preparation. Cal Poly Pomona Foundation, Inc. is an auxiliary of the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. [PRWEB Feb 11, 2005] From
PR Web on February 11, 2005 at 7:43 p.m..
Cure Acne Naturally Update
Can you get rid of acne and pimples in 3 days? Yes, with simple natural methods according to Chris Gibson. [PRWEB Feb 11, 2005] From
PR Web on February 11, 2005 at 7:43 p.m..
IntraLearn Software Corp. Attains Gold Certified Partner Status In Microsoft Partner Program For Fourth Time
IntraLearn Software Corporation, the leading supplier of turnkey e-Learning software applications, today announced it has attained Gold Certified status in the Microsoft Partner Program with a competency in ISV/Software Solutions for the fourth straight year, recognizing IntraLearn's expertise and total impact in the technology marketplace. The company also distinguished itself by earning a second competency as a Microsoft Business Solutions Partner. [PRWEB Feb 11, 2005] From
PR Web on February 11, 2005 at 7:43 p.m..
New Drug Rehabilitation Protocol Offers Affordable, Effective Solution for Substance Abusers
New Buprenex Opiate Assisted Withdrawal protocol to help addicts with pain free detox offered by Support Systems Homes, Inc. This new method is now helping opiate addicts find freedom from drug addiction and to better enable them to develop new life skills while undergoing treatment without the burden of a painful and long detox from drugs. [PRWEB Feb 11, 2005] From
PR Web on February 11, 2005 at 7:43 p.m..
Drug-Free Rehabilitation Proves Successful
Brain disease theory lacks merit for addiction treatment while drug-free approach of Narconon Arrowhead shows long-term success in rehabilitating former addicts. [PRWEB Feb 11, 2005] From
PR Web on February 11, 2005 at 7:43 p.m..
Author Charges Blacks Are Miseducated and Taught to Hate Everything Black
Onyeani asserts that from the time Africans (blacks) are born, "we are taught to hate everything African or Black. We are taught to value the Caucasian culture over our own culture. We are taught to value the Caucasian history over our own history. The miseducation starts from the day we enter school, when the African child is confronted with the first nemesis of cultural annihilation: the language of his culture is repressed in favor of the English language." [PRWEB Feb 11, 2005] From
PR Web on February 11, 2005 at 7:43 p.m..
different worlds
I walked out of my constitutional law class, climbed into a car to go to a plane to fly to Chicago to fly to Sao Paolo to fly to Porto Alegre to get into a car to come to this. Brazil is hosting the
World Social Forum, and Barlow and I will be on a panel with Manuel Castells and
Gilberto Gil on Saturday. But Thursday nig From
Lessig Blog on February 11, 2005 at 7:42 p.m..
the best of reason
There is lots to
Reason. This book collects the best -- including one of my favorites, Copy Catfight, by the great Jesse Walker. From
Lessig Blog on February 11, 2005 at 7:42 p.m..
returning home
In 20 minutes, I'm getting in a car to go to the airport to fly to Sao Paolo, to fly to Chicago, to fly to San Francisco, to get in a car to go home. It has been an insanely intense few days in this astonishing place. This morning's panel was packed in what seemed to be an old factory. The room was overflowing with at least 1,500 people, and a panel of 5. Manuel Castells began, with a careful and extremely interesting diagnosis of the net's development. I then described the remix culture culture has been (legal and free) and the remix culture culture could be (amazing and dive From
Lessig Blog on February 11, 2005 at 7:42 p.m..
West Wing lessons
Lots of speculation and fantastic praise about the West Wing gig. It was a hoot to watch. But in two seconds (I'm late for a meeting) let me put this in perspective. The story is based (loosely) upon a true story. I was involved in the drafting of one early version of the Georgian constitution. But the story ended up in the West Wing because I told the story to my students in Constitutional Law at Harvard, and a current writer for the West Wing was in that class. And so is "fame" made: My story is on the West Wing because I was at Harvard -- not because the brilliance of my intervention From
Lessig Blog on February 11, 2005 at 7:42 p.m..
2005 - International Year of Microcredit
Microcredit, and microfinance more broadly, is seen as an important tool for eradicating poverty and hunger - one of the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals - and for empowering poor people. The World Bank estimated in 2004 that there were over 7000 microfinance institutions worldwide, serving over 16 million poor people. The combined turnover of these institutions was estimated at US$2.5 billion. The experience of microfinance institutions shows that women are a good credit risk, and that they invest their income for the wellbeing of their families. At the same time, they be From
EdNA Online on February 11, 2005 at 7:42 p.m..
Literacy for All: The Challenge for Australian Schools
Commonwealth Literacy Policies for Australian Schools. The Government believes that schools should equip all children who enter education with basic literacy and numeracy skills. It is in the first years of school that all children can be helped to acquire the foundation skills which will set them on the path of success in reading and writing. Based on this, government policy for improvement of literacy levels in Australia focuses on the early years of schooling. Australia will go a long way towards countering other forms of educational and social disadvantage if strong foundational literacy a From
EdNA Online on February 11, 2005 at 7:42 p.m..
2005 Prime Minister's Prizes for Science
The 2005 nomination round for the Prime Minister's Prizes for Science is now open. These prizes, Australia's most important awards of their kind, are awarded annually to those who have made outstanding contributions to science and science teaching and who are currently active in research or teaching. Applications will close on Friday, 8 April, 2005. From
EdNA Online on February 11, 2005 at 7:42 p.m..
Behind the News is Back!
BTN returns to ABC TV on Tuesday 15 February at 11.30am, with repeats on Wednesdays at 11.05am. A new state of the art website will be launched simultaneously with the TV series. It will be highly interactive, including video-on-demand, quizzes, polls, forums and a mailing list. The site will provide expanded teacher's resources and study materials, additional information and activities for students. BTN will also be available on the ABC's new digital TV channel when it's launched in March and as a broadband program on ABC Online. From
EdNA Online on February 11, 2005 at 7:42 p.m..
$5.5 Million for 2005 Flexible Learning Framework Funding Offered
The 2005 Australian Flexible Learning Framework (2005 Framework) is now offering more than AUD$5.5 million in elearning funding to support a range of e-learning activities and initiatives in 2005.Five of the 2005 Framework's 15 Project areas are offering funding, including LearnScope, Networks of the Australian Flexible Learning Community, Industry Engagement, New Practices in Flexible Learning, Flexible Learning Toolboxes. From
EdNA Online on February 11, 2005 at 7:42 p.m..
EdNA Online - Consultation Process 2005
Contribute to the consultation process about EdNA Online. Take the opportunity to tell us what services you think EdNA Online should or could provide to the education and training sector. From
EdNA Online on February 11, 2005 at 7:42 p.m..
Assessor Networks in Action
The Assessor Networks in Action project was conducted by the Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) during 2003 with funding from the Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST). The aim of the project was to demonstrate the effectiveness of industry-focussed assessor networks for improving the consistency of assessment and for building stakeholder confidence in assessment outcomes. This publication provides an overview of assessor networks and information necessary for starting up and maintaining a network. It also provides access to a range of case studies related to industry From
EdNA Online on February 11, 2005 at 7:42 p.m..
This week in Web threats
Spammers draw the wrath of Internet vigilantes, while virus writers target Microsoft's new anti-sypware application. From
CNET News.com on February 11, 2005 at 7:41 p.m..
This week in P2P
Hollywood gets P2P giant's server logs Also: Philips develops what could be a new weapon in the file-swapping war. From
CNET News.com on February 11, 2005 at 7:41 p.m..
Newspapers try to catch RSS Web surfing wave
An increasingly popular technology called RSS is changing the way consumers get their news online, spurring several newspapers to launch their own customised software in an attempt to stay ahead of the curve. Instead of having to go to a favourite Web site to see if any new articles have been published, a piece of software called an RSS reader pulls in headlines and text automatically, allowing users to create their own customised content from newspapers, blogs and even search engines.
Complete A From RSS Blog on February 11, 2005 at 6:59 p.m..
Earthwatch Radio Is Podcasting Now
Back on Jan. 10 I mentioned that "Earthwatch Radio" (an excellent online radio show produced by Wisconsin Sea Grant) should be podcasting, too. At the time they were almost podcasting because they were posting the MP3 audio files for their shows on their web site. However, they lacked a feed that would deliver their shows directly to people who subscribed in "podcatcher" programs such as Doppler. Well, I've just heard from Earthwatch – Their podcast feed is now up and running... From
Contentious Weblog on February 11, 2005 at 6:54 p.m..
Gran acogida de la versión española de We Media
Muy merecida la magnÃfica acogida que está teniendo Nosotros, el medio la versión española del ensayo de Chris Willis y Shayne Bowman We Media. How audiences are shaping the future of news and information, The Media Center - American Press... From
eCuaderno v.2.0 on February 11, 2005 at 6:52 p.m..
Feedback Gems: Small Pieces In Spain
Among the chaff of email spam are a few gems. Here is one from Ian in Spain who has figured out how to leverage RSS, blogs, and
Feed2JS to generate a dynamic site: Hi Your rss2js service is first class. I love the code generator and the service itself - what a great job! I have a web site '
www.asturex.com' about Asturias in Spain. It has lain pretty dormant for a few years. I don't have time to produce lots of content for the site, but what I have wanted to do for a while is be able From
cogdogblog on February 11, 2005 at 5:48 p.m..
Journalism on drugs?
"A lonely young star has been discovered fleeing from the Milky Way galaxy at the most fantastic speeds ever seen, and Harvard astronomers say it is doomed to wander throughout the universe for the rest of its life." This is the lede of a story in today's SF Chronicle by its science editor, David Perlman. A little heavy on the anthropomorphism, wouldn't you say?... From
Joho the Blog on February 11, 2005 at 4:48 p.m..
Students Forced to Carry RFIDs
It is, I suppose, no surprise to find the surveillance society being unrolled first in schools. What is troublesome, of course, is the inevitable drive to use a system that is intended to protect students as a means of controlling students.
More on this item. By Matt Barton, Kairosnews, February 10, 2005 [
Refer][
Research][
OLDaily on February 11, 2005 at 4:45 p.m..
Blogs @ Middlebury College
Interesting description with links to a description of blogging in learning as used by Middlebury College in combination with a content management system (CMS). Students get "the sense that there is a real professional holdingeverything together; this is essential in a writing course where, typically, students feel vulnerable and are apprehensive about sharing work." By Hector Vila, EDUCAUSE Community Blogs, February 2, 2005 [
Refer][
OLDaily on February 11, 2005 at 4:45 p.m..
Producing Social Network Environments
They told me my philosophy courses would never be useful, but this could have come straight from my metaphysics class: "People don't exist in environments, they exist in themselves and their semilattice-esque relationships with other actors (communities, individuals, spaces, inanimate objects...)." Why is this important? When we are creating a learning system, we are creating a mechanism that allows people to interact with, to experience, and to learn from the world. But what is the nature of this system - is it an environment, as Lisa Kimball suggests, or is it the lattice of relationshi From
OLDaily on February 11, 2005 at 4:45 p.m..
Community Portals HYPHEN The UK Experience. A False Dawn Over the Field of Dreams?
I understand why the author would say this: "To increase the sustainability of portal projects there is a need to 'work towards establishing common frameworks that will enable applications and services, from different sources, to work together.'" After all, it is precisely that failure that accounts for the indifferent success of community portals, the 'field of dreams' scenario, where you build it, and they do not come. But such an enterprise is perhaps best compared with constructing an artificial language: sure, it would make communication easier if evereyone used the st From
OLDaily on February 11, 2005 at 4:45 p.m..
Sensible Design Principles for New Networks and Services
The abstract states, "Based on an analysis about the reasons for past failures, we propose three rules for sensible network design process to avoid useless development efforts. First, the analysis of customer needs has to concentrate on practical uses that are likely to become everyday routines. Secondly, the development of a new technology must be based on wellHYPHENdefined, carefully selected core principles. Thirdly, during the development process the real experiences in real networks must be continuously taken into account." Or, as the author concludes: "As to the list of core principles, From
OLDaily on February 11, 2005 at 4:45 p.m..
Google, Wikipedia and More
I was talking with Chouki the other day, and what I said was, "Wouldn't it be neat if we could take every page in Wikipedia, do an associative analysis of the contents of each of the million plus articles, and use clustering algorithms to create a genuine dynamic folksonomy, rather than the highly artificial (and hence, unstable) structures generated by tagging." His response was, well, you could do that, but you wouldn't need to analyze a million articles; a subset would do it. And then he outlined some of the algorithms that would support such a system. Well, from where I sit, it a From
OLDaily on February 11, 2005 at 4:45 p.m..
How to Manage Smart People
"After spending nine years at Microsoft managing some of the smartest people in the world, Scott has a
few tips to share on the art of managing the best." From
elearningpost on February 11, 2005 at 3:46 p.m..
Getting involved with Elgg
We are looking for any developers / programmers who would like to get involved with our Personal Learning Landscape Elgg If you can program in PHP and fancy exercising your programming skills please get in touch. Thanks. Contact [ Elgg... From
ERADC Blog on February 11, 2005 at 2:54 p.m..
Instrumentos de control de RRHH
Los métodos de enseñanza que se emplean hoy en dÃa han permanecido prácticamente iguales durante decenios. A pesar de ello, no cabe duda que las últimas innovaciones tecnológicas han facilitado a las ... (Sigue) From
Titulares eLearning WORKSHOPS on February 11, 2005 at 2:50 p.m..
BBC R&D White Paper WHP053: DV looking like Film
Abstract There have been many attempts made to generate television pictures that have "The Film Look" while being generated electronically. Most have concentrated on mimicking the temporal appearance of film, while others have concentrated on contrast handling. Some have done both, and more. The issues of sharpness and depth of field are rarely tackled. This document investigates all of these major aspects of the film look and analyses the properties of film and electronic image generation to find out exactly how they are different and why, and how From
Alpha Channel: The Studio @ Hodges Library on February 11, 2005 at 11:59 a.m..
Best Geek Novel Ever?
I've just finished reading Neal Stephenson's Crytonomicon, a rollicking 900 page novel that knits together multiple plot lines that take place during World War II and the present time. The book is as impressive as it is massive, and may well lay claim to the title of best geek book ever. Now, that may be a little off-putting, especially if you're not of the geekish variety, but this is one of those books where the talent of the author shines on nearly every page. The breadth and scope of... From
Brain Frieze on February 11, 2005 at 11:55 a.m..
El blog del Carmel
Desde que me enteré del "apagón informativo" en torno a los sucesos del barrio barcelonés de El Carmel, me he preguntado acerca de las reacciones de la prensa y de los bloggers. Sobre las reacciones de la prensa hay una... From
eCuaderno v.2.0 on February 11, 2005 at 10:51 a.m..
The Doctor Will See Your Sim Now
Researchers are assembling super-accurate digital versions of humans to test the effects of drugs on patients. By Michael Behar from Wired magazine. From
Wired News on February 11, 2005 at 10:45 a.m..
Pollution May Feed Plankton
Scientists discover a chain of events linking air pollution over land to the health of phytoplankton in the sea. It just proves how little we humans know about the consequences of our actions, they say. By Amit Asaravala. From
Wired News on February 11, 2005 at 10:45 a.m..
Tech Does It Better
Can technology replace men? For sex workers, let's hope so. Commentary by Regina Lynn. From
Wired News on February 11, 2005 at 10:45 a.m..
Multicast Ruling Muddies Waters
The FCC won't require cable operators to carry multicast streams from broadcast stations, and that may slow the switch to digital TV. Michael Grebb reports from Washington. From
Wired News on February 11, 2005 at 10:45 a.m..
On the road
I'm in San Francisco with a free day, waiting for my daughter to join me for a weekend of tourism (if the weather permits planes to leave from Boston today). So, I'm spending the morning at Technorati (see my disclosure statement), having lunch with Irina Slutsky who's writing about blogs for Red Herring, and then I have an appointment to talk with The Eleanor Rosch, a polymath at UC Berkeley who unhorsed Aristotle. I'm thrilled about meeting Prof. Rosch and don't know where to begin asking her questions. Later: What a day. I didn't have enough time at Technorati, From
Joho the Blog on February 11, 2005 at 3:45 a.m..
Virtual Schools are the Future
Pennsylvania currently has 5,100 children enrolled in cyber charter schools. The state leads the nation in cyber charter school innovation -- and controversy. Cyber charter schools offer students a flexible well-researched on-line curriculum that is accessible at all times and... From
Teaching and Developing Online. on February 11, 2005 at 1:54 a.m..
Hokey Spokes!
I saw somebody ride by the other night as I left work with bright blue lights in her bike spokes, and I had to stop her and ask her what they were - "
Hokey Spokes!" she said. These LED equipped bike lights go in your spokes and form patterns or messages as you ride. These are way toooo cool....I gotta get some! From
Oren Sreebny's Weblog on February 11, 2005 at 1:02 a.m..
Sometimes shopping online isn't all it should be
Over the holidays I fell in love with a seasonal tea blend from
Tazo called Joy, a blend of black, green, and oolong teas that tastes heavenly with a bit of honey and milk. Now that I've used up all the boxes of it that I bought up, I wrote to Tazo and told them that they should make it available all year round. Jen, the "Shaman's Apprentice" at Tazo, wrote back saying: We do produce another blend of black, green and oolong teas called Montage that you can find as a full leaf tea year round. While the b From
Oren Sreebny's Weblog on February 11, 2005 at 1:02 a.m..
Steve Jobs talks in Business Week
Doc points out
this good interview with Steve Jobs in Business Week. Apple had a monopoly on the graphical user interface for almost 10 years. That's a long time. And how are monopolies lost? Think about it. Some very good product people invent some very good products, and the company achieves a monopoly. But after that, the product people aren't the ones that drive the company forward anymore. It's the marketing guys or the on From
Oren Sreebny's Weblog on February 11, 2005 at 1:02 a.m..
iPods at Microsoft
Am I the only person left without an iPod? Wired News has a
piece on the proliferation of iPods on the Microsoft campus. "About 80 percent of Microsoft employees who have a portable music player have an iPod," said one source, a high-level manager who asked to remain anonymous. "It's pretty staggering." The source estimated 80 percent of Microsoft employees have a music player -- that translates to 16,000 iPod users among the 25,000 who work at or near Microsoft's co From
Oren Sreebny's Weblog on February 11, 2005 at 1:02 a.m..
Memory stick problems
I've got a Memory Stick problem. I was downloading some photos from my Sony DSC-S75 camera into iPhoto when the camera ran out of battery and shut down. After plugging it into the wall power, the iPhoto wouldn't resume the download. Looking at the camera volume on the Mac desktop I see one folder, DCIM, which has a subfolder named 100MSDCF that has all my pictures in it. There's also file on the camera volume named MEMSTICK.IND which has a lock icon next to it. I suspect the lock on this file is my problem. I copied the photos off th From
Oren Sreebny's Weblog on February 11, 2005 at 1:02 a.m..
Neal Stephenson Interview in Reason
There's a
good interview in Reason with author Neal Stephenson.
Public Knowledge's
Mike Godwin does the interview. It has been the case for quite a while that the cultural left distrusted geeks and their works; the depiction of technical sorts in popular culture has been overwhelmingly negative for at least a generation now. More recently, the cultural right has apparently decided that it doesnTMt ca From
Oren Sreebny's Weblog on February 11, 2005 at 1:02 a.m..
Siemens buys VA-Tech
ooe.ORF.at: "VA-Tech-Übernahme gelaufen Eine der größten Übernahmen in der österreichischen Industriegeschichte ist perfekt: Nach monatelangem Tauziehen hat Siemens den börsennotierten Linzer Anlagenbauer VA Tech nun in der Tasche." More on that on the page of
VA-Tech From
thomas n. burg | randgänge on February 11, 2005 at 12:47 a.m..
Getting Kids Ready for Mobiles
The new 'tween toy from Hasbro looks and works like a cell phone. Also: Rumors fly of a Verizon bid for MCI…. Google sits down to chat with Wall Street…. and more. From
Wired News on February 11, 2005 at 12:46 a.m..
School RFID Plan Gets an F
A California elementary school tags students with RFID badges to test the technology for a local company. Parents and students are not happy. By Kim Zetter. From
Wired News on February 11, 2005 at 12:46 a.m..
Curb Cut Design
If you're interested in inclusive web design issues and accessibility, Curb Cut Design is a useful blog sent to us by Heather Ross. The blog is written by staff at the Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI).... From
Rick's Café Canadien on February 10, 2005 at 11:54 p.m..
E-Learning-Didaktik: Abschied vom Kursformat?
Der Countdown für die LEARNTEC läuft. Im aktuellen und letzten Newsletter vor Veranstaltungsbeginn findet sich einleitend eine etwas kurzatmige Aufzählung vieler Entwicklungen der letzten Jahre, die, so der Autor, neue "didaktisch-methodische Optionen für den E-Learning-Einsatz" bieten bzw. gar eine neue... From
www.weiterbildungsblog.de on February 10, 2005 at 11:51 p.m..