Edu_RSS
La plaga brasileña
"A equipe do orkut tem o prazer de anunciar que a interface de usuário do orkut.com está agora disponível em outro idioma - português!" Así anunciaba Orkut a principios de este mes lo que no podía ser de otro modo. Desde que el 24 de junio de 2004 los brasileños superasen por primera vez a los norteamericanos en la red social de Google, su ascenso ha sido imparable, hasta situarse en la atualidad en un casi monopolístico 67,84 por ciento. Si con estos porcentajes no se traduce el servicio al portugués, apaga (...) From
martinalia.com | Gestión de Contenidos on April 22, 2005 at 10:55 p.m..
Christian Science Monitor Loves Its “Bloggiest” Status
Yesterday I noted that blogger Ethan Zuckerman has developed a new metric for measuring a newspaper's popularity in the blogosphere and declared the Christian Science Monitor the "bloggiest" paper on the web -- by a landslide. I thought the folks at the Monitor might be pleased, so I dropped them a note in case they hadn't heard. Today I heard back from Tom Regan, the person in charge of the Monitor's blogs and author of the "My American Experience" blog there. Bearing the enthusiastic subject line "Love it!" here's what his message said, and the conversation which ensue From
Contentious Weblog on April 22, 2005 at 10:55 p.m..
Steve Johnson talks about his new book
Steve is going to give a free talk about his new book, Everything Bad Is Good For You — How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter, this Thursday, at 7pm, in the Langdell North Classroom in the Langdell Law Library at Harvard. The book is going to be a big bestseller, and Steve is a wonderful, funny presenter. (You can see a preview of the book in this Sunday's NY Times Magazine.)... From
Joho the Blog on April 22, 2005 at 10:48 p.m..
The Christian Science Bloggy Monitor
Ethan has a great data-driven post, analyzing which US newspapers have the highest number of blog links per paper subscribers. The winner, hands down, is the admirable Christian Science Monitor. Ethan wraps up with this: Is there a way for the Monitor to embrace it's unique status and become the "official paper of the blogosphere"? Or is the Monitor slated to become one of the first — and most tragic — casualties of the move from paper to bits? Ethan's continuing work gives statistics a good name :) [Technorati tags: media CSM EthanZuckerman]... From
Joho the Blog on April 22, 2005 at 10:48 p.m..
The New Gatekeepers
A stark look at the challenge of the old gatekeepers-- and the possible emergence of new ones. As the number of cities in the United States with only a single newspaper ownership increases, news becomes increasingly nonessential to the newspaper.... From
Teaching and Developing Online. on April 22, 2005 at 9:56 p.m..
Edublog are go!
The idea of using blogs in education was getting knocked about a bit, people were playing with Userland's Manila (climaxing in the Weblogs @ Harvard project), thinking about the impact of blogs in education and, of course, mixing this in... From
Teaching and Developing Online. on April 22, 2005 at 9:56 p.m..
A weblog webliography
Steven Downes states...This page lists (and provides links to) some 180 articles and essays about blogs in education and learning. It's hard to believe that much has been written about the subject. Incredibly, I think this is only a partial... From
Teaching and Developing Online. on April 22, 2005 at 9:56 p.m..
Fantasticus vs. the Collossalers
Remember when visiting sites was like discovering that a magical world lay hidden behind the false wall of your closet? Solipsistic.org will bring back the feeling, or introduce you to it. Secret, haunted, and abandoned - like a long-shuttered rag and bone shop - the site offers music, pictures, moving pictures, and diary entries that seem to have been written by Kafka's grandfather after listening to Singles Going Steady. Includes Luma, standards-friendly blogging software you are apparently encouraged to use. ... Also: Parental Advisory and Classic 6. From
Jeffrey Zeldman Presents: The Daily Report on April 22, 2005 at 9:49 p.m..
Help a busted Mac?
My daughter's friend's Powerbook crashed after she downloaded an episode of "Gilmore Girls." Now it won't boot, and reports that there's nothing on the hard disk. She needs to turn in a paper on the drive on Monday. Any advice? In fact, if you're in Boston, wanna fix it for her...?... From
Joho the Blog on April 22, 2005 at 9:49 p.m..
Web Site That Went Too Far
As we move into an era in which increasing numbers of public services are being handed over to the private sector, it is important to note that our rights and freedoms associated with those services are not being transferred with them. Thus we see this case of a university professor being fired for a website mildly critical of a college administration. Or this story of professors fighting a
gag order barring board members from talking to students or faculty. One way to address this is through
OLDaily on April 22, 2005 at 9:45 p.m..
The Infinite Library
The librarians' dilemma: "Once the knowledge now trapped on the printed page moves onto the Web, where people can retrieve it from their homes, offices, and dorm rooms, libraries could turn into lonely caverns inhabited mainly by preservationists." This article looks at projects like Google Scholar and Internet Archive, both of which are massive repositories of digital content open to public access and contrasts it with projects like Corbis, a private image library. "This organization got its start by digitizing what was in the public domain and essentially putting it under private cont From
OLDaily on April 22, 2005 at 9:45 p.m..
Network Connections
Examines the phenomenon of social networking with an emplhasis on three casae studies: Friendster, Ryze and Meetup. Good summary of the theory behind social networking and a nice history relating the phenomenon to its origins in MUDs, Usenet and IRC. The case studies of the three sites are accurate and to the point. I would have preferred a sharper analysis. It seems to measure success according to whether online contacts meet offline. And it depicts the problems afflicting most social networking sites more as a consequence of scale rather than structure, with the solutions to be found by bett From
OLDaily on April 22, 2005 at 9:45 p.m..
Mobile Reality (A Tale of Two Experts)
Interviews with IBM's Chris von Koschembahr and consultant Clark Quinn on mobile learning. Both are positive about the future of m-learning, but while Koschembahr proposes that rich content can be delivered this way (or, at least, PowerPoint presentations) Quinn advocates that m-learning content be "small". Both have noted platform problems, with Koschembahr predicting that m-learning won't be mainstream for five years. It is also worth noting, as
Catherine Howell does today, that mobile blogging - at least From
OLDaily on April 22, 2005 at 9:45 p.m..
Podscope
I can't vouch for the accuracy of this new service - my search for 'Downes' came up with one off-topic result. But if Podscope can deliver on its provise of searching audio files, that would be pretty neat. Via
Blogarithms. By Various Authors, April, 2005 [
Refer][
Research][
OLDaily on April 22, 2005 at 9:45 p.m..
Wide Open: Open Source Methods and Their Future Potential
The authors of this longish essay (it's listed as a 'book' on the web page) look at "wider applications and potential of the open source idea." Good list of characteristics of open sourc e(p.17) - most people, when they think of open source, think of free software, but as the authors point out, the methodology of sofwtare development becomes something different. For example, it includes the vetting of participants only after they've started to contribute. "They allow absolutely anyone to get involved; all that matters is whether or not they deliver high quality work." Thoug From
OLDaily on April 22, 2005 at 9:45 p.m..
A Weblog Webliography
Call it a canon. This page lists (and provides links to) some 180 articles and essays about blogs in education and learning. It's hard to believe that much has been written about the subject. Incredibly, I think this is only a partial list. Stay tuned to this page, I think By cel4145, Kairosnews, April 20, 2005 [
Refer][
Research][
OLDaily on April 22, 2005 at 9:45 p.m..
Gadgets, Networks, Procrastination
Another glimpse into the future - carrying your computer around with you on a thumb-sized USB stick. Plug it in to any box you find handy. As James Farmer comments, "now I can take my browser and email anywhere with xp (with all my finicky settings) and I get to have a hold of my own data and privacy." By James Farmer, incorporated subversion, April 21, 2005 [
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Research][
OLDaily on April 22, 2005 at 9:45 p.m..
The New Gatekeepers
Nice article on the 'new gatekeepers' of the blogging world - the so-called 'A-list' bloggers who draw thousands of readers and dozens of links every day. The
big spike, as I characterized them in a recent presentation, these gatekeepers instantiate the very properties of the mainstream they are supposedly displacing - appearance over substance, mutual reinforcement, polarization, and herd mentality. No real improvement, in other words, and if A-list blogger Clay Shirky is to be believed, From
OLDaily on April 22, 2005 at 9:45 p.m..
Freire, the Matrix, and Scalability
Paulo Freire, as the
biographies note, wove education theory and social theory into a form of liberation pedagogy based on "the idea of building a 'pedagogy of the oppressed' or a 'pedagogy of hope' and how this may be carried forward." A session on Freire at a recent conference in Montreal moved David Wiley to pen this article. He writes, "This thinking leads me to reaffirm my position that there is a larger educational research problem to solve than making instruction more effective. The scientific literature is ful From
OLDaily on April 22, 2005 at 9:45 p.m..
Journalism: Class, Craft, or Faith?
Journalism is a tool, a craft, and an art. It can be put to many uses, to serve many purposes. Its defining characteristic, as far as I can tell, is: the practice of honestly, transparently sharing relevant, current information and context that has been researched, filtered, and vetted. Beyond that, the field is wide open. I know a lot of people don't agree with that view – especially many professional journalists and editors who work for traditional news organizations. Several conversations and online exchanges I've had recently indicate, to me, that some people treat journali From
Contentious Weblog on April 22, 2005 at 7:56 p.m..
Consultants: Classifieds Are in Big, Big Trouble
Did you
notice this yesterday (from Ad Age)? Consultants from McKinsey & Co. (the same group advising Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. on Internet strategy) told the Newspaper Association of America convention in San Francisco that newspaper classifieds' Internet-caused erosion will cost U.S. newspapers about 9 percent of total ad revenues (or 20 percent of classified revenues) by 2007 -- or $4 billion.I tend to harp on things like
Craigslist with its free classifieds From
Poynter E-Media Tidbits on April 22, 2005 at 7:55 p.m..
The spit fight that ended my career at MSNBC
It's an interesting experience: You get to hone a topic to 90 seconds, memorize it, and talk into a camera in an isolated room. Plus, they send a limo for you. (It's possible they pay, but I forgot to ask.) They're nice people and were happy with the two pieces I did for them. But... They want reports on what moderate left and right wing bloggers — "Nothing out of the mainstream," the producer told me yesterday — say about a "major" topic. What the hell does that have to do with blogging? And when two of the producers yesterday... From
Joho the Blog on April 22, 2005 at 7:49 p.m..
Wouldn't It Be Cool If ...
Lots of cool things have appeared recently in the online world, but certainly one of my favorites is
Google Maps' satellite-view feature. Find a map you want (say, by searching for an address), then look for the "Satellite" link to turn the default line-drawing map into a satellite view. Hold down your mouse to drag the image and you can look around town or trace an intended route. That's fun and useful.Another cool thing is Amazon.com's
A9 search engine, which includes storefront photos of selected cities From
Poynter E-Media Tidbits on April 22, 2005 at 6:55 p.m..
Fever dreams
Because of my flu — today it's turned into merely a seal-like cough and Quasimodo's headache — I've been waking up with odd snippets of dreams in my head. Two days ago I awoke from a dream in which the contestants on American Idol were catching fish shaped like the way they sing. So, the one who does all the Mariah Carey-esque swooping around every note reeled in an eel. Disgusting, but, then... Yesterday I woke up with this bad joke from the early 1990s: Why exactly I'm having Ross Perot dreams is beyond me. (And I'd clean up the... From
Joho the Blog on April 22, 2005 at 5:48 p.m..
DMCA, the Right of Access, and Consumer Choice
Patrick Ross and
Donna had an interesting exchange on DRM earlier this week, and I want to jot down some rough thoughts on the issues involved. Let's start where Patrick does. Would we be better off if Napster could not use DRM to offer a rental service? Would we be better off if Napster could not even attempt to price discriminate between To Go and Premium users using DRM? In general, I thi From
A Copyfighter's Musings on April 22, 2005 at 5:48 p.m..
Teacher's Aid
When I was a grad student I often thought professors' complacency in teaching was astounding, and that was in a program where they actually cared about teaching. One of the things I've been working on is trying to spend less... From
Teaching and Developing Online. on April 22, 2005 at 4:55 p.m..
Audible RSS
Thanks to work and prodding by Mitch Ratcliffe, Audible is now on the RSS bandwagon. You can subscribe to a feed of their bestsellers, NY Times Bestsellers, free audio, and lots more... [Technorati tags: audible rss MitchRatcliffe]... From
Joho the Blog on April 22, 2005 at 4:48 p.m..
Serendipity or Just Dumb Luck: Finding By Not Searching
Google is good. Google is great. I wish I kept better records of this, but I have vague recollections of finding some of my most favorite web discoveries at perhaps 3 links downstream of a search, or just by following a suggested link to one source and happen-stancing (random clicking) elsewhere. So I use search most often while looking for specific things, but for discovery, it is really just the first layer of yielding primary sources. It is those secondary, tertiary, (quadriary?) exploration links that lead to the hidden gems. So this morning, when I stumbled into somethi From
cogdogblog on April 22, 2005 at 3:48 p.m..
Sharp analysis, good writing, cynical rage
What more to ask for in a blog?
Billmon outshines all the rest. From
today's rumination on the entertainment industry's 'corporate suits' paying off the Christian-mentalists: As an aficionado of organized crime, I have to admire the way the Rovians design their scams to do double or even triple duty. And this is a classic example: By threatening a morals crackdown in the media's red light district, the gang not only extorts political cash and From
homoLudens III on April 22, 2005 at 3:46 p.m..
Earth Day
Yes, today is Earth Day. A couple of days ago at a administration meeting here I asked if anyone knew what Friday was, what significance it has. No one knew. Fifteen of the smartest people I know. Not one knew that Earth Day was upon us. Now I know that could just be a reflection of the less than effective marketing campaign that Earth Day supporters wage every year. But I think it's more that the environment is just not on the radar screens of most Americans. And, speaking of this society as a whole, From
weblogged News on April 22, 2005 at 12:47 p.m..
We're Off to See the Govenah!
Maybe... Word has it he's been invited to the "Kid Tech Day" that me and two of my students are going to be blogvangelizing at down in our fair captial. At the very least, oodles of press types are scheduled to attend. (Hmmm...I wonder if they have blogs?) The idea is to save tech funding in our fair state which is in a pretty poor state budget-wise. Hopefully when they (the gov, state senators, etc.) get a taste of the edtech Kool-Aid today, they'll scurry back to the statehouse and dig up some funding to keep things going a bit longer. But the most fun for me will be spending th From
weblogged News on April 22, 2005 at 11:47 a.m..
Vive les Blogs!
Blogging is huge in France, thanks to the country's cafe culture and penchants for writing and expressive democracy. By Robert Andrews. From
Wired News on April 22, 2005 at 10:46 a.m..
We'll Always Have ICQ
The demise of a friendship has our columnist wishing it were harder to break up online. Commentary by Regina Lynn. From
Wired News on April 22, 2005 at 10:46 a.m..
Cave Pharming Yields Big Crops
Caves are the new Midwestern farmlands. A former limestone quarry and underground warehouse grows crops better than greenhouses or the outdoors, and could host pharmaceutical crops. By Kristen Philipkoski. From
Wired News on April 22, 2005 at 10:46 a.m..
All the News That's Fit to Wiki
Six months after launching an experimental site that lets anyone become a reporter, organizers of the Wikipedia encyclopedia are finding the news business is a far cry from running a reference website. By Joanna Glasner. From
Wired News on April 22, 2005 at 10:46 a.m..
Songs That Make Your 40-something Neighbor Boogie Down the Street
Yeah, I know. I look funny dancing down the street, combining my morning power walk with some funky (and I don't mean that in a good way) white guy dance moves. Yes, I see you looking at me and smiling. Or even shielding the innocent eyes of your children from the sight. But you know what? I don't care. When these songs come on the iPod my arms start swinging a little wider and I might even punch the air a few times. Just be thankful that you can't hear me singing. A Change Would Do You... From
Brain Frieze on April 22, 2005 at 9:55 a.m..
Getting there
Renata at
Getting there lists some goals for teaching, including "[developing] a collaborative relationship with the students' parents," hinting that this might involve a blog.
# I admire this idea -- a reminder, once again, that the classroom is, should be, must be treated as a... From
Weblogs in Higher Education on April 22, 2005 at 9:51 a.m..
A celebration of Hitler's birthday.
In which this penguin ruminates upon the birthday of Adolph Hitler, the soul of a nation, the difference between Hitler the man and Hitler the symbol, and the similarity between Hitler, Ann Coulter, George W. Bush, Bill Frist, and Tom DeLay, none of whom resemble Hitler the symbol but greatly resemble Hitler the man... From
kuro5hin.org on April 22, 2005 at 9:45 a.m..
MSNBC presentation
This is the bit I memorized for today's 90 seconds on MSNBC. It should be pretty close to what I actually said, short of the epithet's I involuntarily barked out. BlackFive, a right wing military blog, is running a list of about 80 blogs by military personnel. It's quite a collection. At the National Guard Experience, a mortar infantryman stationed in Afghanistan runs lots of photos of children, and seems, mildly obsessed with care packages. At Jack Army, a special forces soldier tells us why he flunked out of Medic training. A good read. Soldiers Mom, says that her son's.. From
Joho the Blog on April 22, 2005 at 1:48 a.m..
Google Enables Users to View Personal Search Histories
Article describing Google's new
search history feature. Included are the usual concerns about privacy, since it may now be possible for someone to view your search history. My advice is that if this concerns you then you shouldn't use Google's search history. By Associated Press, San Jose Mercury News, April 20, 2005 [
Refer][
ResearchOLDaily on April 22, 2005 at 12:45 a.m..
Technology Blackout Day
Edutopia News summarizes: "teachers in schools and districts throughout the country will voluntarily power down their computers as part of the first Technology Blackout Day, sponsored by the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA). The purpose of the day, sponsors say, is to encourage students and teachers alike to consider the impact technology has had on their lives and on our nation." No word on whether car-free day is being planned as well. By Various Authors, State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA), April 20, 2005 [
OLDaily on April 22, 2005 at 12:45 a.m..
Schools to Lose Free Access to ENC
As the story says, "ENC's annual $5 million in federal support comes to an end Sept. 30. After that, schools will have to pay for access to the clearinghouse's content: ENC officials are transforming the organization into a commercial entity, using subscriptions and advertising as a way to support their materials." Making a profit, of course, being much more important than providing an education. Via
Distance-Educator.Com. By Robert Brumfield, eSchool News, April 20, 2005 [
OLDaily on April 22, 2005 at 12:45 a.m..
Edublogs Are Go!
Not a long article, but then again, the history of educational blogging that it described isn't long either. Good lists of the blogging pioneers and (more importantly) the educational blogging initiatives springing up at universities, including the one at the
University of Calgary I just ran into last night (and which is
now supporting Podcasting, courtesy of Drupal. And, as Farmer observes, it is significant that these initiatives are all based on open source or From
OLDaily on April 22, 2005 at 12:45 a.m..
Ontology is Overrated
When studying philosophy I eschewed ontology in favour of epistemology. It seemed to me that ontology was arbitrary - that there could be (and, indeed, should be) numerous ways to describe the world. Clay Shirky reaches the same conclusion about online information. "The URL represents the inversion of the traditional scale, making the mere label and not the mighty ontology the key site of organizational value." Short description linked to an audio presentation. By Clay Shirky, IT Conversations, March 15, 2005 [
OLDaily on April 22, 2005 at 12:45 a.m..
Translation From PR-Speak to English...
Why did Adobe acquire Macromedia? Adobe explains in a
press release (in user-hostile PDF, of course), but what the company offers readers is corporate gibberish. For the translation, read this item instead. Oh, and companies out there: stop producing gibberish. Please. By John Gruber, Daring Fireball, April 21, 2005 [
Refer][
OLDaily on April 22, 2005 at 12:45 a.m..
From RDF to Topic Maps and back again
Interesting idea and Wilbert Kraan is of course right to observe that topic maps and RDF are doing essentially the same thing - mostly. "Metaphors, for example, can be expressed directly in RDF... Not so in Topic Maps". Still - there's enough overlap to make the exercise worth while, if only to convince each camp of the relevance of the other. By Wilbert Kraan, CETIS, April 21, 2005 [
Refer][
Rese From OLDaily on April 22, 2005 at 12:45 a.m..
1724 - Nace el filósofo alemán Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant (22 de abril de 1724 - 12 de febrero de 1804) fue un destacado filósofo alemán. Nace en Königsberg, Prusia oriental, actualmente Kaliningrado, Rusia. Hijo de un modesto guarnicionero, Immanuel Kant fue educado en el pietismo. En 1740 ingresó en la Universidad de Königsberg como estudiante de teología y fue alumno de Martin Knutzen, quien lo introdujo en la filosofía racionalista de Leibniz y Wolff, y le imbuyó así mismo el interés por la ciencia natural, en particular, por la mecánica de Newton. Su (...) From
martinalia.com | Gestión de Contenidos on April 21, 2005 at 11:55 p.m..
Business Week Blog Cover Feature: Missing Some Links
OK, this is just a minor quibble, but I can't help mentioning it. This week, Business Week magazine has a cover feature on blogging. (See: "Blogs Will Change Your Business") It's interesting (if basic), and kinda cute. It's presented as if it's a series of blog postings, rather than a standard feature article with subheads. It uses a very informal tone. The text includes lots of links. However, the blog facade collapsed for me when I realized it's missing some very important links... From
Contentious Weblog on April 21, 2005 at 11:54 p.m..
Blogline categories
Confusability is scraping bloglines and noticing how people are categorizing feeds. Great idea. First results: A list of the 100 most popular categories. It shows the gap between the categories we use for ourselves and those we use for others. I have a category called "Web" for entries in this blog because within the confines of my blog, it's a useful way of sorting posts. But tagging a post "web" for retrieval within the wide world of resources would be pointless. We're either going to get more sophisticated in how we tag, or our computers are going to have to... From
Joho the Blog on April 21, 2005 at 11:48 p.m..
JSR-170: What's in it for me?
David Nuescheler and Janus Boye have written an article exploring JSR-170, the draft standard designed to provide a consistent Java interface to CMS products. To quote: As you can imagine, JSR-170 is likely to cause a healthy shake-up in the... From
Column Two on April 21, 2005 at 11:47 p.m..
