Edu_RSS
IMEJ on review learning object project
An examination of a completed learning object project appears in a recent issue of the Interactive Multimedia Electronic Journal of Computer-Enhanced Learning (IMEJ) . The treatment is quite thorough, including a narrative of the project, a survey of student responses,... From
MANE IT Network on February 15, 2005 at 10:58 p.m..
Seven common usability testing mistakes
Jared M. Spool has written an article which highlights seven common usability testing mistakes. These are: Do You Know Why You're Testing? Not Bringing the Team Together Not Recruiting the Right Participants Not Designing the Right Tasks Not Facilitating the... From
Column Two on February 15, 2005 at 10:47 p.m..
New PC Webcam From Logitech: ViewPort AV 100
Logitech has just announced the release of an innovative new USB-based webcam that combines a video camera, an integrated microphone with acoustic echo cancellation, and a Bluetooth wireless headset into a single, sleek console. Labeled the ViewPort AV 100, the... From
Kolabora.com on February 15, 2005 at 9:54 p.m..
Authentic behaviour in user testing
Jakob Nielsen has written an article on user behaviour in usability testing. To quote: It's a miracle that user testing works: You bring people into a room where they're surrounded by strangers, monitored by cameras, and asked to perform difficult... From
Column Two on February 15, 2005 at 9:47 p.m..
Down With Left Navigation ... (I Mean Up)
Washingtonpost.com today debuted a redesigned homepage, a highlight of which is the elimination of the old long left-side navigation column. Instead, navigation is now a horizontal strip up top beneath the Washingtonpost.com nameplate (sometimes called the "flag"). Mouseover the navigation categories to see roll-down menus.A press release from the site explains: "The adjustment allows for an uncluttered, user-friendly look and the ability to include more news and multimedia content." Washingtonpost.com executive editor Jim Brady is quo From
Poynter E-Media Tidbits on February 15, 2005 at 7:55 p.m..
Reconfiguring Education
Summary: Ivan Illich , more than thirty years ago, had much to say about educational Reform. His analysis, excerpted below, makes clear how much his and
John Taylor Gatto's analyses overlap. His recommendations seem to directly address the issues of involvement, community and relationship which are missing in their high and positive forms, in the ennumbing schools that Gatto so accurately and poignantly derides. Illich said[bracketed material is mine, SPH]: From
Connectivity: Spike Hall's RU Weblog on February 15, 2005 at 6:48 p.m..
Low-Tech Advertising
Here on E-Media Tidbits, we cover all things new media. But
this report from the Evening Standard in London is so old-school that I couldn't resist noting it here anyway: A London theater is experimenting with having commercial messages performed by live singers and dancers before the show.In these days of TiVo commercial-skipping and Web ad pop-up blockers, such forced advertising is so quaint that it's almost acceptable. But I fear that unless the commercial From
Poynter E-Media Tidbits on February 15, 2005 at 5:54 p.m..
Protecting the Print Edition From Online Success
One of Scandinavia's newspaper giants, Norwegian
Verdens Gang (VG), has set out to protect its paper edition from its own online edition.Circulation figures released yesterday show that the paper was 15,000 copies down last year compared to 2003. That's a 3.9-percent decline. Surely, the success of the online edition
VG Nett contributes to the setback. According to business paper Dagens Nringsliv, VG editor-in-chief Bernt Olufsen From
Poynter E-Media Tidbits on February 15, 2005 at 5:54 p.m..
Encouraging Transparency in Reporting
The Seattle Times
fired associate editor and business columnist Stephen Dunphy last year after learning he'd plagiarized several stories. In response to the incident, a subcommittee of the newsroom's ethics and standards committee examined what constituted plagiarism and created a set of
guidelines for the paper's reporters and editors to follow.These clear rules, poste From
Poynter E-Media Tidbits on February 15, 2005 at 5:54 p.m..
Role Shift: We're Targeted by the New Paparazzi
Mark Cuban, the streaming-media billionaire who owns the Dallas Mavericks and occasionally takes a poke at reporters on his weblog,
has a provocative take on the battle between bloggers and mainstream media in a post-gatekeeping world: "In the world of political blogging, bloggers are the new paparazzi and the traditional news media reporters and columnists are the new targets. ... Its [sic] payback time. The bloggers are here, and they are ready to knock down the gates and get their pound of flesh. The tradi From
Poynter E-Media Tidbits on February 15, 2005 at 5:54 p.m..
Running in Munich
I'll be heading to Munich at the end of the week for a conference, and while I'm there, I need to continue my training for the Paris Marathon. I found this article from Runner's World, Travel: On the Road: Munich, Germany that suggests many areas to run in the city. Of course, it assumes it's not winter, and extoles the lushness of the parks and warns of nude sunbathers. The routes sound good though and I'm looking forward to exploring the city on my training jogs. From
megnut on February 15, 2005 at 5:45 p.m..
Referer Spam Redux
One of the more recent types of spam on the Internet is what's known as referer spam. Basically, bad guys set-up scripts to 'hit' a website and leave whatever URL they want as the referer. Some people have referer logs available publicly (intentionally or not), so there might be a chance that the spammers get some kind of benefit from littering web server logs with their URLs. Not many people actually make their referer logs available to the general public anymore, but the referer spammers continue. (No, the rel="nofollow" thing didn't really help any.) Personally, I& From
kuro5hin.org on February 15, 2005 at 5:45 p.m..
The Onion - Death by PowerPoint
Are you familiar with The Onion? Well, let's just say it is a really interesting online newsmagazine that is chockablock with dark humour and social and political satire. If you don't like dark humour, don't look here, but if you... From
Rick's Café Canadien on February 15, 2005 at 4:53 p.m..
AHDS - Case Studies
http://www.ahds.ac.uk/creating/case-studies/ Een serie case studies van de Engelse Arts and Humanities Data Service over hoe verschillende digitaliseringsprojecten bepaalde problemen hebben aangepakt. Onderwerpen zijn onder andere: - het beschermen van auteursrecht in bv. afbeeldingen, - het schrijven subsidie-aanvragen, - database-ontwerp, - bewerken van afbeeldingen van manuscripten. Verschillende editie-projecten passeren de revue: - correspondenties van Whistler, Kirchner en Darwin, - teksten van Grosseteste, - gedichten van Wilfred Owen, - de Canterbury Tales. De case studies hebben in From
CHI weblog elektronisch publiceren on February 15, 2005 at 3:59 p.m..
Quantitative Woes, Continued (Today’s Comment)
Here's another installment on my "Comment Week" theme. This morning, I saw a trackback from the weblog "Scale | Free" to my posting "Regarding the Quest for Communication Statistics." In a response post, "Research and Stats: practically useless?" Anu Gupta wrote: "We're not the only community that needs to value the intangible – economists do it when valuing goodwill, marketeers do it when valuing brands. In most cases, these numbers just serve as a starting point for an argument, but at least there's a point of reference." That's a good point. I replied in a comment to From
Contentious Weblog on February 15, 2005 at 2:54 p.m..
Another Novel Use for A Blog
Yet another exmaple to show that weblogs can be more than just a place for teen diaries and cat fetishes, Steven Cohen has hoisted a presentation into Blogger format- see
"Staying Ahead of Your Patrons With Weblogs and RSS". Is it anything different than a garden variety PowerPoint slide show? No, not in terms of content- it is a linear series of bullet point screens, some with hyperlinks. But is that novel? Yes, because instead of pushing out a 3 Mb PowerPoint by email, it is just a From
cogdogblog on February 15, 2005 at 2:48 p.m..
A Theory of Fun for Game Design
Following a
recommendation by Michael Feldstein I bought Raph Koster's
A Theory of Fun for Game Design. It's a wonderful little book that opened up a fertile thinking ground for me. I agree with Michael that this book gives you more insights into the psychology of learning than on the mechanics of games. I recommend this book to every learning designer. Here's a wonderful quote: "Fun from games arises out of ma From
elearningpost on February 15, 2005 at 1:47 p.m..
Comments are Enabled Again
Thanks to the fine folks at
pMachine Services the blog here has been converted over to pMachine Pro, which gives me some new tools to combat the comment spammers of the world. So, with a clean comment database and high hopes for the future, I'm turning comments back on. Hope to hear from you soon! From
Brain Frieze on February 15, 2005 at 12:55 p.m..
Kaisen
Basic Training: Module #1 in the PKM handbook From
Monkeymagic on February 15, 2005 at 12:53 p.m..
Seguimiento de los Oscars en la blogosfera
El servicio de alertas PubSub (8 millones de blogs y 50 mil grupos de noticias indexados), ha puesto en marcha PubSub Special Events: the 2005 Oscar Awards para seguir mediante fuentes RSS las referencias que aparezcan en la blogosfera sobre... From
eCuaderno v.2.0 on February 15, 2005 at 12:52 p.m..
YahooGroups, Groove Or Socialtext Wiki: My Personal Impressions
Thanks to the courtesy of Ross Mayfield, I have been experimenting with my small geographically dispersed team, how effective a wiki can be in supporting projects in which multiple professionals contribute and complement each other. In the past I have made heavy use of technologies at the extremes of the asynchronous collaboration spectrum. From completely free ones such as web-based YahooGroups, which offers everything from a mailing distribution list, to files archiving, polling of the group and calendaring, to much more versatile and rich commercial applications such as the desktop-based P2 From
Robin Good' Sharewood Tidings on February 15, 2005 at 12:51 p.m..
UPS & USPS Package Tracking With RSS
This application demonstrates the .NET DLL that can be used to interface with the UPS API. Right now, UPS and USPS are the only supported shipper, and only tracking information is supported. The only viable alternatives are to write your own, or use an expensive commercial version.
Complete Article From
RSS Blog on February 15, 2005 at 12:11 p.m..
Consumer concern over RFID tags - BBC
Consumers are very concerned about the use of radio frequency ID (RFID) tags in shops, a survey says. More than half of 2,000 people surveyed said they had privacy worries about the tags, which can be used to monitor stock on shelves or in warehouses. S From
Techno-News Blog on February 15, 2005 at 11:55 a.m..
Report: Fewer 2004 Votes Missed
A new study shows that the percentage of 'residual' or missing votes in the 2004 presidential election dropped compared with 2000. Voting-machine upgrades and election reforms are credited with the improvement. From
Wired News on February 15, 2005 at 10:46 a.m..
Mario Takes It to the House
NBA Street V3 promises flashy, over-the-top urban basketball, but it isn't as instantly accessible as it should be. Game review by Chris Kohler. From
Wired News on February 15, 2005 at 10:46 a.m..
Future of Radio Is Downloadable
A new station in Berlin is attempting to redefine music broadcasting for the interconnected internet age. The key will be MP3s and cell phones, not the old-fashioned radio. By Jason Walsh. From
Wired News on February 15, 2005 at 10:46 a.m..
Digital Water Marks Thieves
SmartWater contains microscopic particles encoded with a unique forensic signature that can provide a precise trace back to the owner. Robert Andrews reports from Cardiff, Wales. From
Wired News on February 15, 2005 at 10:45 a.m..
Where Are All the Women?
Carly Fiorina's departure from HP dramatically reduced the population of female CEOs. Despite gains in the rank and file, few women are in top management at tech companies. By Kristen Philipkoski. From
Wired News on February 15, 2005 at 10:45 a.m..
Six Minutes to Stand Out
Dozens of companies gather at Demo to show what's coming down the pike. Each has just a few minutes to make a mark, and here are a few that did. Daniel Terdiman reports from Scottsdale, Arizona. From
Wired News on February 15, 2005 at 10:45 a.m..
Survey: Intranet teams
Some of the most commonly asked questions: Where in organisations are intranet teams located? How big are intranet teams? What skills do they have? The intranet teams survey now being conducted aims to answer these questions. It will take just... From
Column Two on February 15, 2005 at 9:46 a.m..
The Transformation of IT
by Jay Cross Web services and services-oriented architecture are utterly geeky terms for describing the most important advance in computing since the byte. Finally, computing is going to serve business instead of enslaving it. How will this sea change in IT come about? By using the same principles that fuelled the titanic growth of the Internet: interoperability built on simple, common standards; flexibility; faster cycle times; decentralized control; incremental development; repurposing of content; the promise of wealth; and the collaboration of countless true believers.... From
The Workflow Institute Blog on February 15, 2005 at 5:46 a.m..
Nokia Weds Microsoft
Industry giants strike a deal to help each other in fast changing markets. Also: Phone companies are look towards Internet TV…. Microsoft partners with largest manufacturer of handsets to make cheap phones …. and more. From
Wired News on February 15, 2005 at 3:46 a.m..
Nesson reads Wineberger: "How do I blog thee?"
<p><font color="#330000" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Harvard Law Professor <a href="http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/nesson/blog/wp-content/daveweinbergersonnet.mp3" target="_blank">Charlie Nesson reads</a> David Weinberger's <a href="http://www.hyperorg.com/blogger/mtarchive/003694.html" target="_blank">Bloggy Valentine</a>: <br> </font></p> <p><font color="#330000" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">How do I blog thee? Let<br> Me count the odious ways.<br> As a producer of sweat<br> Thou compares to a From
Weblogs At Harvard on February 15, 2005 at 2:47 a.m..
Luisetta Mudie: "You only want me for my URLs?"
Evolution Written and read by
Luisetta Mudie Oh blog, me, babe! Don't miss a word of it!Many a blog has brought love to my doorNetted by sparkling poem, or flash of wit -The chatroom kind, of course, and little more.What need of tangled flesh on messy datesThe weight of expectation as it startsIts gentle journey southwards, then abates?The strain of those repeated broken hearts?Love's old economy is gone for goo
Evolut From Weblogs At Harvard on February 15, 2005 at 2:47 a.m..
Regarding the Quest for Communication Statistics…
As you might imagine, in my work as a content and communication consultant I often get asked for research and statistics on various topics in my field. I've gotta admit, I dread those questions. First of all, research and statistics are practically useless when it comes to demonstrating the value of good communication practices -- since that value is generally realized in ways which, while significant, is not easily quantifiable or traceable. Secondly, most of the research and statistics I see getting tossed around in this realm are of specious quality or relevance, once examined closely From
Contentious Weblog on February 15, 2005 at 1:49 a.m..
Transparency and forgiveness
I find the story of Eason Jordan's resignation from CNN disturbing, but not for the reasons Scott Rosenberg suggests: I'm not shedding tears for the CNN executive. I'm always amazed at the stupid things CEOs, politicians, news honchos and other people who hold public responsibility will say in public (and do in private), thinking that the inherent power of their position grants them carte blanche and wraps them in Teflon. If they need to be beaten up over and over again until they really, really understand that — as the saying goes in blog-land — "off the record is d From
Joho the Blog on February 15, 2005 at 12:48 a.m..
Downloading Service Offered by University Failing to Entice Students
Experiences elsewhere vary, but this report indicates a very slow start to legal music downloading at Tufts. Mond you, it's almost a textbook example of how not to do it - the software was rolled out during exams, it only works on Internet Explorer, and students can't find the songs they're searching for. By Carly Okyle, Tufts Daily, February 11, 2005 [
Refer][
Research][
OLDaily on February 15, 2005 at 12:45 a.m..
SLU Tries to Flush Out Naysayers With Copyright Suit
Here we have a case of a very minor - and possibly legal - use of copyright material being used as a means of identifying not an illegal file sharer but rather a sharp critic of St. Lawrence University (SLU). "The complaint describes the TBOC site as a place that publishes 'crude pseudonymous critiques of St. Lawrence University, its faculty, staff, and students.'" It seems to me that copyright was never intended to act as a lever in this way - but with special dispensation for content owners, it serves as a conduit otherwise inaccessible in most civil and criminal matters. File this From
OLDaily on February 15, 2005 at 12:45 a.m..
Copyright and the Internet: Is There a Canadian Way?
Since the Toronto Star decided to hide its content behind a registration wall I have not been able to run Michael Geist's usually lucid material. This slide show is not much more accessible, but at least it's free and open. I couldn't hear the sound because of the plug-in, and the slides are hardly worth clicking through, but what I could see still leads me to recommend this, especially the approach advocated at the end: do nothing, do no harm. It would be nice if Geist contributed to the open internet; we need his voice. This item and the next two via the digital-copyright mail From
OLDaily on February 15, 2005 at 12:45 a.m..
Navigating Copyright in Schools: An Updated Resource for Canadian Educators Released
The Council of Ministers of education, Canada (CMEC) has released the second edition of
Copyright Matters (PDF). The booklet "will be made available to every teacher and school board in Canada." It's a good straightforward questiona nd answer description of what is allowed under Canadian law (which seems to be more than under, say, U.S. law, so have a look). By Wanda Noel, Council of Ministers of education, Canada, February 8, 2005 [
OLDaily on February 15, 2005 at 12:45 a.m..
Knowledge Tree Special Edition
The Australian Flexible Learning Framework has released a special edition of the Knowledge Tree "featuring the 2004 Flexible Learning Leaders, marks the end of this leadership development initiative, which was part of the 2000-2004 Australian Flexible Learning Framework." From where I sit the Flexible Learning Leaders program was a good program, worth continuing. Anyhow, the issue contains a dozen good articles summarizing the work of this year's Flexible Learning Leaders. Articles worth noting include Terri Connellan's
OLDaily on February 15, 2005 at 12:45 a.m..
Service-Oriented Frameworks for eLearning
Scott Wilson writes the kind of presentation that makes you feel like you've just spent an evening drinking beer with him as he effortlessly weaves through complex subjects dispelling both myths and confusion. As a case in point, his opening describing the many ways to achieve integration is both humorous and informative. And I support this: "Frameworks must be based on practical experience, must evolve in response to experiences and reflection, must support partial implementation and not require complete adoption of the whole framework to achieve anything, ust not mandate a single develo From
OLDaily on February 15, 2005 at 12:45 a.m..
Repositories
The quality of this preentation is a bit unever (some of the diagrams absolutely need interpretation) but the author makes enough good points that it is worth a view. The 'The Next Wave' diagram on slide 5 should be noted by the LMS industry. The observation that "publishers will go direct" is well taken, as is the recognition of personal publishing. And the duplication of content depicted on slide 9 gets right to the heart of why I prefer the open, distributed approach to learning content. By John Townsend, IDEA Summer 2005, February 9, 2005 [
OLDaily on February 15, 2005 at 12:45 a.m..
Repositories
This presentation introduces you to the Australian Research Repositories Online to the World (
Arrow) project, an Australian repositories initiative, as well as detailed diagrams of the Flexible Learning Framework and the Tasmania Learning Architectures Project. Some alternative ways of viewing the E-Learning Framework and an interesting 'wheel' diagram depicting types of repositories. By Kerry Blinco, IDEA Summer 2005, February 8, 2005 [
Refer][
OLDaily on February 15, 2005 at 12:45 a.m..
Interoperability State of Play at IMS Melbourne Meeting
Good and detailed article describing the ebb and flow of ideas exchanged at the IDEA Summer 2005 conference held last week in Melbourne. What is interesting was what appeared to be the consensus that, despite all the initiatives, we still don't have interoperability. I have my own theories about why this is the case, but more interesting are those offered by the speakers. Don't miss the
link to the presentations, of which I summarize three below. By Wilbert Kraan, CETIS, February 13, 2005 [
OLDaily on February 15, 2005 at 12:45 a.m..
Emergent Learning: Social Networks and Learning Networks
I submitted this item as a discussion starter to the Online Social Networks Conference 2005 conference and it will form a framework for my talk this week at Northern Voice. I include it here because it provides another perspective on the material I produce in this newsletter. The item consists of posts from last week, viewed through the prism of a single post (specifically,
this one). Part of the point was to demonstrate the organization, part of the point is to demonstrate that there is an organization - my From
OLDaily on February 15, 2005 at 12:45 a.m..