Edu_Rss

¿Qué tiene que ver el petróleo con Internet?
Me pregunta un amigo con cierta curiosidad la razón por la que de vez en cuando escribo aquí sobre el Peak Oil o el fin del petróleo barato (1, 2 y 3), cuando teóricamente los temas de martinalia.com deben girar en torno a la gestión de contenidos, la usabilidad, la comunicación o, al menos genéricamente, sobre asuntos más o menos relacionados con Internet. La verdad es que tiene la razón de su parte, y en pricipio no es un tema que esté directamente relacionado con la temática que me había propuesto. Es un asunto que, (...) From martinalia.com | Gestión de Contenidos on April 26, 2005 at 10:55 p.m..

More Female Podcasters
My "Women in Podcasting List" continues to grow – it now includes 78 shows. Please check it out if you haven't done so already, and let me know about any female hosted/cohosted podcast shows I don't already have listed. Here are the most recent additions to my list... From Contentious Weblog on April 26, 2005 at 10:54 p.m..

We Can Fund Armstrong Williams, But Can't Fund ENC?
A View from the Classroom -- Lehmann's Log: Losing A Wonderful Resource Chris Lehman points to an article that points out that the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse (ENC) for math and science education has losts it funding and is moving from being a resouce provided to teachers by the Department of Education to a paid subscription service. Starting in the fall, school districts will have to pay $329 a year to subscribe to the service. The ENC has been a very successful resource for teachers. It is a shame that we can't find the funding to keep this resource freely available... From Education/Technology - Tim Lauer on April 26, 2005 at 10:49 p.m..

Profs who plagarize: how often?
After years of concern about student plagiarism, faculty are coming under greater scrutiny. From Christian Science Monitor | Learning on April 26, 2005 at 10:45 p.m..

Web 5.0 Did I miss the Upgrade?
I've been seeing references to something called "Web 2.0" -- was there some sort of Internet upgrade while I was sleeping? Am I out of date? (Note for new readers- this is sarcasm) I see folks are aiming to define it precisely. While I accept, support, participate in the notion that web content as we use/see it is evolving to something more than hand spun HTML static content (a good thing), but what the heck does defining a moving target get you? Does it mean all of From cogdogblog on April 26, 2005 at 9:48 p.m..

Clueless in Academe
Corrected link from the list of Stanley Fish articles run yesterday. By Stanley Fish, Chronicle of Higher Education, February 23, 2005 [Refer][Research][Reflect] From OLDaily on April 26, 2005 at 9:45 p.m..

Some Principles of Effective E-Learning
The keys to effective e-learning are interaction, usability and relevance. Or so I argue, at least, in this paper prepared for attendees of the upcoming CSTD Conference in Fredericton. By Stephen Downes, Stephen's Web, April 25, 2005 [Refer][Research][OLDaily on April 26, 2005 at 9:45 p.m..

Social computing symposium: BlogTrace demo
I'm presenting today our work on BlogTrace (Anjo Anjewierden does most of the hard work, but there are others as well - see below). Some links that could be interesting: Mapping knowledge flows in weblogs (with Anjo, Rogier Brussee & Robert de Hoog) Detecting knowledge flows in weblogs (Mathemagenic on April 26, 2005 at 8:51 p.m..

danah judging community
danah blogs enthusiastically about her time in Austria being a judge for Prix Ars Electronica. Apparently, the discussion of what constitutes a community was vibrant and informed by a sense of the differences in the world. A snipppet: We had a long conversation about what it means to think about two axes - the process of giving people access and the process of allowing people to make their voices heard. So much of what we considered sat in this narrative. We talked about technologies themselves vs. the communities that take the technologies to a newer, deeper level. We talked about... From Joho the Blog on April 26, 2005 at 8:48 p.m..

Online Music Lovers 'Frustrated'
There ought to be some lessons learned from the chorus of complaints being raised by Britons being subjected to DRM problems in their downloaded music. This complaint is typical: "One confused reader said he had spent £40 in an online store. Although his MP3 player played Windows Media Audio (WMA) files that he created, it would not play the copyright-protected WMA files he had purchased." Writers have also noted that music publishers are raising prices for demonstrably inferior products. The backlash could be significant. By Unattributed, BBC, April 25, 2005 [OLDaily on April 26, 2005 at 8:45 p.m..

Open Media Network
This site, the misleadingly titled Open Media Network, is one part of a wider strategy to see Microsoft DRM technologies become the de facto standard for online multimedia (and in particular, video). More. While it appears that the dawn of free video content has finally arrived, the Microsoft DRM world is a very restricted universe - you have to have Windows, of course, and be using the proper DRM. Moreover, as the Open Media Network website makes clear, "only authorized Producers can From OLDaily on April 26, 2005 at 8:45 p.m..

Spokesman-Review Could Be 'Bloggier'
Ryan Pitts, an online producer for the Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Washington) who writes for the group weblog Dead Parrot Society, recently opined on his paper's apparent dearth of relative "blogginess." See "Is Your Paper Bloggy?"As I mentioned here earlier, there's a new metric being tossed about: Poynter E-Media Tidbits on April 26, 2005 at 7:55 p.m..

Reporters: Are YOU 'On the Record'?
Yesterday I got interviewed by my local paper, Boulder's Daily Camera, for a forthcoming feature on business blogging. Just now I mentioned that in a posting on my weblog. Then I saw new posting from PR maven Steve Rubel, "The Era of Transparent Media Interviews," and it got me thinking. ...More and more, journalists interview people who have their own weblogs. When a reporter interviews From Poynter E-Media Tidbits on April 26, 2005 at 7:55 p.m..

Social computing symposium: community morning
I'll post some of my notes later (I guess tomorrow), but so far you may want to check detailed write-up by David Weinberger. From Mathemagenic on April 26, 2005 at 7:52 p.m..

[scs] Community
Amy Bruckman at George Institute of Tech says that researchers knock the use of the word "community." We ought to use a prototype model for defining communities, using Eleanor Rosch's idea of prototypes, she says. [Go Rosch!]. Our prototypes for communities vary by "genre," e.g., Flickr is one type of community and so is the WELL; we understand them in relation to different prototypes. The work she proposes going forward would try to discern the relevant differences among the prototypes. Robert Kraut at Carnegie Mellon's CommunityLab Project begins by upbraiding the conference for us From Joho the Blog on April 26, 2005 at 7:48 p.m..

Reporters: Are YOU “On the Record?”
As I mentioned previously, yesterday I got interviewed by my local paper. Then I read a new posting from PR maven Steve Rubel, "The Era of Transparent Media Interviews," and it got me thinking. More and more often, journalists interview people who have their own weblogs. When a reporter interviews someone, the assumption is that, as long as the journalist has properly identified herself, anything the source says is considered on the record unless there is a specific, overt agreement otherwise. But does that tacit agreement work in reverse?... From Contentious Weblog on April 26, 2005 at 6:54 p.m..

i d e a n t: Tag Literacy
http://ideant.typepad.com/ideant/2005/04/tag_literacy.html I haven't been doing a lot of 'me too' blogging of late (e.g. highlighting what other bloggers have written) but I thought this post deserved a mention, in part because I'm not sure if Ideant is as widely read as it should be. the piece is a worthwhile read for the folksonomies crowd. I like the term "distributed classification systems" - I've been using the term 'dynamic taxonmies' as EdTechPost on April 26, 2005 at 6:51 p.m..

The Internet Is Driving Me Crazy
Wherein your humble narrator describes his ever increasing mental instability and its likely cause, the rise of telecommunications and their ultimate expression in the form of the internet, and suggests that his is not an isolated case. From kuro5hin.org on April 26, 2005 at 6:45 p.m..

Blogs and the Business Value of Relationships
Yesterday I was interviewed by my local daily paper, the Boulder "Daily Camera," for a forthcoming feature on business blogging. I'll let you know when that comes out. The interview lasted about 30 minutes, hopefully I'll get quoted! The inevitable question in these conversations is always, "Where's the business value in blogging?" Here's something I mentioned to that reporter... From Contentious Weblog on April 26, 2005 at 5:54 p.m..

Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Interested in saving money by making your home or small business more energy efficient? Want to use renewable energy to heat or power your home or small business? This site is your guide to the world of renewable energy and... From Teaching and Developing Online. on April 26, 2005 at 4:54 p.m..

The Tsunami Aftermath Educational Resources
The site can be used not only by educators teaching student bodies of all ages, but also by students themselves, as well as curriculum developers and academic program teams. In particular, however, the goal of this site is to aid... From Teaching and Developing Online. on April 26, 2005 at 4:54 p.m..

Marriage of Blog and Website
The image map of the world is the front to a data bank of websites that pertain to the Asian Tsunami. This interactive image contains websites which are sorted based on world regions in which the sites were designed. The... From Teaching and Developing Online. on April 26, 2005 at 4:54 p.m..

Is Open Source LCMS really the way to go?
However, despite these three undeniably amazing advantages (*grin*), remember that the technical labor required to deploy, customize and manage the LCMS must be located within the school and is costly. e-Learning Acupuncture: Is Open Source LCMS really the way to... From Teaching and Developing Online. on April 26, 2005 at 4:54 p.m..

Reading Student Journals
But I think that there's something more important that these journals can be useful for in schools. But not all schools -- only those schools that are interested in students as human beings instead of products to be completed or... From Teaching and Developing Online. on April 26, 2005 at 4:54 p.m..

Paul Graham Explains PR
With eloquent simplicity and clarity, the latest missive from software entrepreneur and essayist Paul Graham explains how public relations fits into the news ecosystem. Reporters don't fare too highly in Graham's estimation. It's a pointed view from the other side of the fence. Here are some excerpts from "The Submarine":"One of the most surprising things I discovered during my brief business career was the existence of the PR industry, lurking like a huge, quiet submarine beneath the news. Of the stories you From Poynter E-Media Tidbits on April 26, 2005 at 4:54 p.m..

Gain Some, Lose Some
Dutch newspaper Volkskrant lost 4,717 paying subscribers to the print edition in Q4 2004, but at least its new digital edition managed to attract 10,000 paying subscribers. For 150 per year (instead of 244 for the print version), they still get the thick Saturday issue delivered to their homes, plus they get a daily digital edition which is an exact copy of the print version.The HOI Institute for Media Auditing, which tracks circulation figures of newspapers and magazines, also From Poynter E-Media Tidbits on April 26, 2005 at 4:54 p.m..

Libros recibidos III
Botello, Santiago y Mauricio Angulo, Conexión Habana, Temas de Hoy, Madrid, 2005, 302 pp. (Gentileza: Temas de Hoy). Duque, Alejandra, La agenda de Virginia, Temas de Hoy, Madrid, 2005, 276 pp. + blog (Gentileza: Temas de Hoy). Lahaye, Tim y... From eCuaderno v.2.0 on April 26, 2005 at 4:52 p.m..

WebCT Announces the Beta Release of WebCT Campus Edition 6
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/ index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view &ampnewsId=20050425005245&ampnewsLang=en The next twelve to 18 months should prove to be a very interesting time for folks dealing with CMS-related issues on campuses. As per this news release, WebCT is leapfrogging any sort of '5.0' release in favour of a new Campus Edition 6.0 - from what I understand, an effort to bring together their product lines (C From EdTechPost on April 26, 2005 at 4:51 p.m..

Somebody Get This Guy a Blog...Again
Terry Elliott was there at the beginning of this whole blogs in education movement and his posts were always finely crafted, intelligent and thought provoking. Although I think he stayed the course in terms of using the technology in his classroom, his own blogging habit has been more off than on of late. But today, he commented on an "old" post on this site from almost two years ago that I didn't want t From weblogged News on April 26, 2005 at 4:47 p.m..

When friends visit you in Paris
Over the course of the past three weeks, I've had a variety of friends come to visit me here in Paris. They can be categorized in the following three groups: Some who speak no French at all They do things like: drink from the wine carafe rather than their glass; they walk up to the window of an ice cream shop and say, Au Revior!; or they bump against a woman's breast on the dance floor and when she slaps them, they respond with Merci! Some who speak a little French They successfully buy telephone cards for the pay phone and figure out how to call my American mobile. They order be From megnut on April 26, 2005 at 4:45 p.m..

Blog Smart Outline, and Thoughts on Content Strategy
Earlier I mentioned Dave Taylor's upcoming workshop in Boulder on May 5, "Blog Smart." I'll be attending that event, and I encourage people interested or involved in blogging for their organizations to attend as well. Dave just posted the course outline. It looks good. Can't wait! One item on his outline especially intrigues me... From Contentious Weblog on April 26, 2005 at 3:52 p.m..

BlogWalk 7.0 is fixed
On May 20th BlogWalk 7.0 will take place in Mechelen, Belgium. Tom de Bruijne, Maarten Schenk and Clo Willaerts have kindly agreed to be our local hosts. The theme will be civic journalism. As u From Seblogging News on April 26, 2005 at 2:47 p.m..

Fun about places
Satellite Fun finds some amusing photos in Google's collection of satellite images (similar to here and here, previously blogged). It also has a link to City-Data that displays long lists of data about various cities. For example, did you know that between 7:30 and 8:00AM, 201 people over 16 leave for work in Great Barrington, MA, making that the peak leaving-for-work time in this city of 7,527? [Technorati tags: maps google]... From Joho the Blog on April 26, 2005 at 2:45 p.m..

RSS Mix (Rip and Learn Sold Separately)
I can't remember where I got this pointer, but RSS Mix is a tool that will let you "rip" as many different RSS feeds as you like and mix them into one, which, of course, can make for easier learning. It's in the spirit of Blogdigger Groups and Stephen's eduRSS, and I'm sure some others. But it's pretty vanilla, and I like it so far. Since we're embarking on our most excellent Tablet PC adventure at our school, I creat From weblogged News on April 26, 2005 at 12:47 p.m..

Web 3.0? Already?
Dan Gillmor gives a look at the future of the Web, as if we're not already dealing with enough change. Here's what we have today: The big change in the read-write sphere came about because of applications such as weblogs, the personal journals that put newer material at the top, and wikis, sites on which anyone can edit any page. Not only could people make their own sites, but they could update them easily and rapidly. Blogs have been especially important in the world From weblogged News on April 26, 2005 at 12:47 p.m..

Skepticism R Us
So here's Steven's take on the whole Wikipedia as a source issue: I've had many conversations with colleagues about using Wikipedia as an online resource. Many say that we shouldn't trust it. My usual replay is that we shouldn't trust anything both online and off. That includes those ready-reference materials that sit right at the reference desk that we turn to to answer a basic query (are there any basic queries anymore?) We should treat W From weblogged News on April 26, 2005 at 12:47 p.m..

Wiki-ing into Africa? - Alastair Otter, TecTonic Africa
...In South Africa - where Internet conectivity is still in its infancy (3,5 million in 2004) - the cellphone industry is booming and there are as many as 18,7 million cell phone users (ref). "It therefore seems like a good idea to make Wikipedia accessib From Techno-News Blog on April 26, 2005 at 11:49 a.m..

Podcasting: Making Waves - Sam Whitmore, Forbes
Just when we grasped what blogging was all about, along came podcasting, which in some ways is even more disruptive and exciting than blogging. Being a podcaster myself, I've seen firsthand the business and legal chaos podcasts have created. As you'll se From Techno-News Blog on April 26, 2005 at 11:49 a.m..

Internet Activity Rose In March - Enid Burns, ClickZ
Internet users spent more time with content, according to data published by The Online Publishers Association (OPA), in cooperation with Nielsen//NetRatings, showed an increase in traffic to content sites in March. The report, called the Internet Activity From Techno-News Blog on April 26, 2005 at 11:49 a.m..

La cosa tiene huevos
Me refiero a la huevera "utensilio de porcelana, loza, metal u otra materia, en forma de copa pequeña, en que se pone, para comerlo, el huevo pasado por agua". Pues también tiene su blog: Una huevera al día. Recorrido día... From eCuaderno v.2.0 on April 26, 2005 at 10:50 a.m..

Sources of staff directory information
In practice, staff directory details will be drawn from a number of different systems and sources. This will generally require the integration of a number of existing systems, as well as providing interfaces for staff to update their own details.... From Column Two on April 26, 2005 at 10:46 a.m..

DART Hits Target, Misses Goal
An experimental spacecraft built to demonstrate new autopilot technologies collides with a military satellite during a planned rendezvous. By Amit Asaravala. From Wired News on April 26, 2005 at 10:45 a.m..

Brain Power Creates Insulin
Faced with complications working with embryonic stem cells, researchers who hope to create insulin-producing cells that can treat diabetes have turned to fetal neural cells. By Kristen Philipkoski. From Wired News on April 26, 2005 at 10:45 a.m..

Boston Gets High on Art
Artists at the Cyberarts Festival devise interactive works using satellite imagery, GPS and virtual reality. The exhibits comment on viewers' use of technology and sense of place. Mark Baard reports from Boston. From Wired News on April 26, 2005 at 10:45 a.m..

Gentlemen, Start Your Droids
Droid hobbyists may spend big bucks striving to match the on-screen looks of R2-D2, but in Indianapolis, speed rules. Jacob Ogles reports from the Star Wars Celebration III convention in Indianapolis. From Wired News on April 26, 2005 at 10:45 a.m..

Your Money Under More Scrutiny
Banks are installing anti-money-laundering software on a massive scale. The new systems may help track al-Qaida, but they'll also help track everyone else. Small violations of the law will no longer go unnoticed. By Manu Joseph. From Wired News on April 26, 2005 at 10:45 a.m..

Feds Rethinking RFID Passport
In the wake of privacy concerns about the government's new RFID passports, the State Department is reconsidering a plan it previously rejected. The plan would offer privacy protection, including encryption. By Kim Zetter. From Wired News on April 26, 2005 at 10:45 a.m..

Zwischen visionärer Euphorie und praktischer Ernüchterung. Kompetenzlernen und Wissensgewinn mit Computer und Netz
Es gibt zwei Versionen dieses Berichts: Einen kurzen Aufsatz im aktuellen QUEM-Bulletin, auf den ich mich hier beziehe, und die Langfassung (QUEM-report 91). Dabei geht es den Autoren um die Frage: "Werden computer- und netzbasierte Informations- und Bildungstechnologien eher zur... From www.weiterbildungsblog.de on April 26, 2005 at 8:50 a.m..

Montclair State Restores Programs
The university announced that its wrestling and men's lacrosse teams, downgraded to club status in January, would be reinstated as varsity athletic programs. From New York Times: Education on April 26, 2005 at 8:45 a.m..

School Official Faces Firing Over Mistreatment of Haitians
Investigators confirmed that an administrator at a Queens elementary school called a group of Haitian students animals and ordered them to eat lunch on a gymnasium floor. From New York Times: Education on April 26, 2005 at 8:45 a.m..

Texas Officials Shrug Off Fine Over Bush Law
The education commissioner of Texas said that classrooms and teachers would not be harmed by the fine over President Bush's No Child Left Behind law. From New York Times: Education on April 26, 2005 at 8:45 a.m..

Why some social networks work, and others fail?
Jyri Engeström recently wrote a thoughtful post on the reasons why some social network services succeed, and others do not. Engeström's hypothesis, which he labels "object centred sociality", follows the thinking of sociologist Karin Knorr Cetina. Basically, "object centred sociality"... From Couros Blog - Frequent Rants from an Ed. Tech'er on April 26, 2005 at 7:46 a.m..

Deterring The Negative Effects of Spyware
Alex Estevez writes an article of deterring the growing threat of adware and spyware. From Infosec Writers Latest Security Papers on April 26, 2005 at 5:55 a.m..

Follow-up: Real to launch Portable Subscription Service
Following up on last week's pre-announcement announcement: news (via Postplay) of a Rhapsody portable subscription service was leaked today.  Apparently, it will employ Janus DRM, just like Napster To Go - as I did last week, Joe Gratz A Copyfighter's Musings on April 26, 2005 at 5:47 a.m..

Bridge the Digital Divide
Earlier this month, the World Intellectual Property Organization hosted groundbreaking discussions in Geneva. The U.N. agency, which for years has been associated with ever-increasing intellectual property protections for the developed world, held talks about initiating a new intellectual property development... From Teaching and Developing Online. on April 26, 2005 at 4:52 a.m..

Sly Jay Rosen
Jay Rosen does a kind of sly genre analysis as he responds to a stock phrase from the politics of the day: To me, phrases like the "liberal ideologues disguised as impartial journalists, who populate so many of our newsrooms" are a kind of music, sort of like chanting. We wouldn't ask about the truth content of a Sousa march, and that's how I treat statements like TA's-- the right's favorite music. First, he identifies the stock language, which is a genre... From Weblogs in Higher Education on April 26, 2005 at 3:50 a.m..

A conversation with Jack Welch
MIT World has posted a video recording of their conversation with Jack Welch. Here are some excerpts: “You’ve got to believe that the team that fields the best players wins. If you tell the bottom ten where they stand, that it’s time to look for something else, that’s considered cruel management. But, it’s far crueler to let people hang on and then get cut later in their careers when they’re less likely to find other work." From elearningpost on April 26, 2005 at 3:45 a.m..

Full professorship in Freiburg Germany
I recently had the pleasure of meeting and spending a few days with Norbert Seels, who just moved to Florida State University from the University of Freiburg. I've got a feeling this announcement is to find his replacement. He'd be... From Rick's Café Canadien on April 26, 2005 at 1:54 a.m..

Use Tagging for a Networked Index? Hmmmm….
There's a lot of buzz in online circles these days about tagging and social bookmarking. Are these networking tools relevant to news organizations? I think so, precisely because they're messy and informal... From Contentious Weblog on April 26, 2005 at 12:55 a.m..

links for 2005-04-25
e-Literate: flat vs threaded discussions Hypothesis: "threaded discussion interfaces lead to far less synthesis in educational conversation than flat interfaces do (tags: Knowledge_Management) Tagwebs, Flickr, and the Human Brain (by Jakob Lodwick) Good idea refreshingly presented in collegehumor.com style.... From Monkeymagic on April 26, 2005 at 12:53 a.m..

[scs] IBM Research
Wendy Kellogg from IBM Research says that IBM replaced its solid doors with ones with windows so you could see if someone is on the other side before you slam the door into her. They call this "social translucence." Not only can you see the person, but the other person knows that you know, which creates accountability. Social translucence is common in the real world but rare in computing systems, she says. She talks about how this got idea got implemented in the Babble and Loops projects that provide a minimalistic graphical "proxy" that provides some of the metadata that... From Joho the Blog on April 26, 2005 at 12:48 a.m..

Where Have You Gone, Stanley Fish?
Stanley Fish retires and thus concludes his run of columns for the Chronicle of Higher Education. I spent the morning reading a series of remarkable items (a column like this is, after all, the way people used to blog). Among the highlights (in no particular order): The case for academic autonomy, Clueless in academe, Promises, promises, One university under Go From OLDaily on April 26, 2005 at 12:45 a.m..

We Can Help Bridge the Digital Divide
I agree with the Friends of Development coalition that "that global intellectual property rules must do a better job of meeting the interests of both the developed and developing world." My position is informed by the recognition, as Michael Geist summarizes in this column, that "Canada's own intellectual property position is closer to the developing world that most might think." It's not simply that we are net importers of intellectual property. It is clear to me that small companies such as are found here cannot hope to compet From OLDaily on April 26, 2005 at 12:45 a.m..

Microsoft launches 64-bit Windows
Every few months I pass along the warning that 64-bit computing is coming soon and that administrators need to be preparing budgets to support the substantial hardware and software transition that will follow. This is yet another installment, prompted by the launch this week of Microsoft's 64-bit Windows. By Ina Fried, CNet News.com, April 25, 2005 [Refer][Research][OLDaily on April 26, 2005 at 12:45 a.m..

For-profit Colleges Attracting More Students, Growing Revenue
Given the increasing demand for higher education and, more importantly, the growth and profits of existing private instutions in a market with limited access and stagnant competitors, how long can it be before the regulatory hold on accreditation is loosened and the floodgates are opened. A pro-budiness administration cannot be counted on to keep the doors to a $350 billion industry locked for long without antagonizing its base of support. Can it? Via ADL. By Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinal, April 17, 2005 [OLDaily on April 26, 2005 at 12:45 a.m..

Corporate University Exchange
The Corporate University Exchange (CUX) got a nice email from me Friday after sending notice that it has reversed its long-standing policy of requiring user registrations and is now making content freely available on the web. This link is to the newsletter's home page; you can find other articles in the menu on the left of the page (it doesn't stand out, blue-on-blue not being the best colour combination for site navigation). CUX also recently signed an agreement with VNU, the publisher of Training Magazine. By Various Autho From OLDaily on April 26, 2005 at 12:45 a.m..

Why Some Social Network Services Work and Others Don't
I think this is right in an important way. "The social networking services that really work are the ones that are built around objects." I've said the same thing elsewhere, but this article makes it clear why this is the case: "social networks consist of people who are connected by a shared object." Now in my way of thinking, the object is itself a stand-in for shared meaning; that's why I call it a semantic social network rather than an object oriented social network. Either way, tho From OLDaily on April 26, 2005 at 12:45 a.m..

The Continuous Environmental Scan: Where Do You Get All Your Ideas?
This article describes almost exactly the process I use in my own work, so (naturally) it is well worth passing along. What I like is the author's reference to skill and practice because it suggests (accurately) that with some work it can be done by anyone willing to put in the effort. One big difference: I rarely use internal sources as part of my information scan, partially because it's really inconvenient and partially because the content is inaccessible to readers at large. That said, the main thing to emphasize here is that there is no big secret to how this newsletter - or any From OLDaily on April 26, 2005 at 12:45 a.m..

[scs] Anthropologists
Anne Kirah is Senior Design Anthropologist for Microsoft. She lives in Paris. She points to some of the oddities (from a US pov) of how cyworld.com (Korea) and Almererulez (Netherlands) are used. She gives lots of great examples of how cultural norms affect the take-up of tech, especially IM, text messaging, and the like. Genevieve Bell from Intel Research points out that technology is not just going to be in our hands as we commute, it's going to be in rural villages, powered by truck batteries, etc. We'll see work-arounds to unexpected problems, she says, such as cellphone charging From Joho the Blog on April 25, 2005 at 11:45 p.m..

[scs] Curriculum
Molly Wright Steenson talks about some interesting student experiments. In one, students put up official-looking "Silence please!" signs in a car of an Italian commuter train, resulting in that car being the loudest in the train. Another was a favor bank. Another, Mass Distraction, studies the social interactions around being interrupted by cellphones: In one example, you have to close your hood around your entire head in order to take a call. In another, if you get a call, you have to give your friend a video game to play and your call lasts only as long as she keeps... From Joho the Blog on April 25, 2005 at 11:45 p.m..