Edu_RSS
Elgg release their roadmap
Elgg have now put up the Elgg roadmap. If you have any comments you can make them on the development site blog.... From
ERADC Blog on May 2, 2005 at 10:54 p.m..
SkillSoft Releases Dialogue Virtual Classroom
Skillsoft has released a live online classroom environment called Dialogue. Though it is intended for use with an LMS, it can also be used as a stand-alone application. Depending on pricing and functionality (they should really provide a demo on the website) it could offer competition to products like Symposium and Elluminate. What's neat is that the product can use existing Skillsoft learning objects (but would be even better if it could use any learning object). In addition to the press release there's a
OLDaily on May 2, 2005 at 9:45 p.m..
REM Song Row Halts Film
It's not often you can strike a blow against both education and the environment at once, but with copyright laws being what they are, I guess, you can do anything. Via
BNA. Message to REM: stop being such jerks and let the kids play the song. By Deborah Haile, Manchester Evening News, April 29, 2005 [
Refer][
Research][
OLDaily on May 2, 2005 at 9:45 p.m..
Change or Die
This article has receioved widespread acclaim in the few days it has been published and I can easily see why. Indeed, I pass it along with a similar endorsement. The author's point is to question why people don't change - their habits, their beliefs, their work processes - when merely presented with sufficient information. "Behavior change happens mostly by speaking to people's feelings. This is true even in organizations that are very focused on analysis and quantitative measurement, even among people who think of themselves as smart in an MBA sense. In highly successful change From
OLDaily on May 2, 2005 at 9:45 p.m..
The New Gatekeepers, Part 5: The Problem of Crowds
Part Five of the New Gatekeepers series I mentioned last week or so. Not the final installment - there will be a part six. According to the author, "because of the nature of information cascades, we find ourselves trusting people and stories simply because other people appear to trust them at all. There are enough independent thinkers out there to offer a useful amount of doubt. We just need to find them." Well, I have my answer to the problem of information cascades - reduce the size of the big spike and create a more distributed network. By Jon Garfunkel, Civilities, April 30, 2005 [
OLDaily on May 2, 2005 at 9:45 p.m..
Using Bloglines (or How to Keep up With Dozens of Blogs Everyday)
Useful advice and even included a couple of tips new to me. The author describes (in lavish detail, complete with screenshots) how to use services like Bloglines and Feedster to scan and absorb content from a large number of websites. This is very similar to how I do it - and no, no miracles are required, just some good organization on the part of the reader. Via a number of sources. By Preetam Rai, betterdays, April 25, 2005 [
Refer][
OLDaily on May 2, 2005 at 9:45 p.m..
Tagsonomy.com, and an answer to Tim Bray (Clay Shirky)
Some of us talking about tagging a have launched a group weblog called “You’re It: A blog on tagging,” at tagsonomy.com. (Authors are Christian Crumlish, David Weinberger, Don Turnbull, Jon Lebkowsky, Kaliya Hamlin, Mary Hodder, Timo Hannay, and me.) My... From
Corante: Social Software on May 2, 2005 at 8:49 p.m..
Although writer
Amazon's concordance feature is fun and sometimes revelatory. For example, the list of the 100 most frequently used words in my book Small Pieces Loosely Joined begins with "although" and ends with "yet," which reflects my unfortunate tendency towards mealy-mouthedness. The two most used words in the book are "Web" and "world," which is another interesting reflection of what the book is about. You can get to the concordance for any book for which Amazon has the full text by hovering over the cover image and selecting "concordance" from the popup... [Technorati tag: amazon]... From
Joho the Blog on May 2, 2005 at 8:48 p.m..
Tarantino meets Saturday Night Live
Although the Viceversa catalog refers to this as "Voodoo display with 5 kitchen knives," I prefer to think of it as "Kill Mr. Bill." [Thanks to Tim Hiltabiddle for the link.]... From
Joho the Blog on May 2, 2005 at 8:48 p.m..
The Craigslist Effect
Classifieds trainer
Janet DeGeorge reports that it's not just newspapers that are changing their classifieds business models to reflect the free ads offered by
Craigslist. Take a look at
Yahoo! Classifieds.Recently, Yahoo! moved from charging $7.95 to $9.95 for private-party merchandise classified ads to free. It still charges for jobs, real estate/rentals, autos, and pets. (Craigslist charges nothing for those categories, exc From
Poynter E-Media Tidbits on May 2, 2005 at 7:55 p.m..
ECT Internship - 2005
The ECT Foundation is now accepting applications for internship for the AECT 2005 Convention to be held Oct. 18-22, 2005 in Orlando Florida. http://www.aect.org/ect/ect.asp... From
Rick's Café Canadien on May 2, 2005 at 6:53 p.m..
Andrew Rasiej for Public Advocate
Andrew, who has been a force for good in bring the Net and the Net ethos to conventional political campaigns, is running for Public Advocate in NYC. His first interview as a candidate is in NY Magazine. He's financing his campaign with no donation larger than $100. (NY has a quintuple matching fund if you're a NYC resident.) Let's help get this guy into this semi-obscure position in NYC because he'll do some totally non-obscure things with it. [Disclosure: I've met him and talked with him a few times. I got paid a couple hundred dollars by a site that... From
Joho the Blog on May 2, 2005 at 6:48 p.m..
Italy tomorrow
I fly to Italy tomorrow to give a talk in Naples and then to spend a couple of days with an odd grad student offsite meeting being held in Capri, under the tutelage of the international Derrick Dekerckhove. I have found in mentioning this to people that I get zero travel sympathy, so I have given up trying, although the truth is that I wouldn't mind a couple of "Oooh, you poor, hard-traveling person! It must be so tiring!" What you don't understand is that I am totally an indoor Jew. The loveliness of the outdoors is to me as... From
Joho the Blog on May 2, 2005 at 6:48 p.m..
Gigi Talks Telecom 2006
Harvard Professor Harry Lewis and MIT Professor Hal Abelson are jointly teaching a course called
"Bits" this semester. From all indications, it seems like quite a treat - it's great to see a class cover these issues from both the technical and policy perspectives. Too bad I haven't been able to attend more sessions. I did have the opportunity to hear
Gigi Sohn talk today about the possibly forthcoming Telecommunications Act of 2k6. Here are
A Copyfighter's Musings on May 2, 2005 at 6:48 p.m..
Blog Education
So I spent a really remarkable day at Seton Hall on Saturday as the members of the Executive Ed. D. program presented the projects we'd asked them to do in terms of creating a learning community with technology. Some were better than others, of course, but what struck me most was how they were talking about Weblogs and technology. Seriously, six months ago only a few of them had every heard of a a blog, and this weekend they were talking about them in ways that showed they got it. They had connected
authors and students, students from From
weblogged News on May 2, 2005 at 6:47 p.m..
New Journalism for a New Medium?
In his
Media Hack column on
Wired.com, Adam Penenberg wonders whether it might be time to reconsider the way journalism is taught in the context of the various new forms of publishing now offered by the Web. He asks whether it would be beneficial to throw out "objectivity" and "balance" in favor of transparent bias, much like bloggers (and online columnists) do?After asking this question, he concludes, however, that basic, solid reporting skills are what is important rather th From
Poynter E-Media Tidbits on May 2, 2005 at 5:54 p.m..
Is the AP Threatened by New Technology?
As a long-time news service guy (more than 14-1/2 years at UPI; five years at Reuters; turned down the job offer from AP), I'll refrain -- at least for now -- from adding my comments to the discussion about the
future of the Associated Press that's going on over at Online Journalism Review. But I will say: It's an intriguing discussion.Bob Benz and Mike Phillips, two key executives at E.W. Scripps, which publishes 21 daily newspapers including the Knoxville News-Sentinel and the From
Poynter E-Media Tidbits on May 2, 2005 at 5:54 p.m..
From I to you
Was writing email answering questions about blogging and realised that I often do a trick. When I write about my own experiences I often start with I ("I blog because it's fun"), but somehow in between I switch to talking about you ("when you start blogging you often discover how fun it is"). So, a bit of wondering: Wonder how far this observation is true (didn't do any analysis of my blog posts, this is just what I think about how I write - should be easy to check :)? Are there others doing something similar? From
Mathemagenic on May 2, 2005 at 5:51 p.m..
Ethics, Blogging, and Journalism: The Not-So-Wild West (Part 1)
Is the internet a lawless frontier rife with wild natives, verbal shootouts, vigilante commentary, quotes and facts as unverified as patent medicine claims, and content rustlers who skulk away with the bounty of legitimate news organizations? You might think so, listening to how some mainstream journalists and editors phrase their remarks and questions about blogging. Fortunately, this cowboys-and-Indians stance is neither deep nor universal. Sustained discussion between bloggers and journalists reveals our budding interdependence, how much we can learn from each other, and how much we can he From
Contentious Weblog on May 2, 2005 at 4:56 p.m..
Add Video to Your Classified Ad
Speurders.nl, the popular Dutch online classifieds site launched last year by newspaper company
The Telegraaf, now lets users add video clips -- which it believes to be a world first for a general classifieds site. In a press release, Michiel van der Meer, CEO of Speurders, suggests that adding video is especially relevant for items like electrical appliances, to show that they are still working.More than 600 video ads have been uploaded in the last few days, and on the
Poynter E-Media Tidbits on May 2, 2005 at 4:56 p.m..
Taxes: 3 Sec.; Newspaper: 30 Min.; Internet: 33 Min.
A couple of interesting facts from Norway last week: More than half of the tax-paying population filed their taxes electronically. Most of them (70 percent) did it via the
tax authorities' website, but a healthy portion (16 percent) did so by SMS. Incidentally, nobody filed by newspaper.And talking about newspapers, Statistics Norway released
2004 figures showing that the average Norwegian spends more time online than reading a newspaper. While w From
Poynter E-Media Tidbits on May 2, 2005 at 4:56 p.m..
Educational Technology
Over the next decade, the United States will face ever increasing competition in the global economy. To an overwhelming extent, this competition will involve the mastery and application of new technologies in virtually every field of human endeavor. It will... From
Teaching and Developing Online. on May 2, 2005 at 3:54 p.m..
Technology is necessary...
Friday, April 29, 2005 Technology if necessary, but not necessarily technology! In 1942 during WWII, the Prime Minister of Canada, Mackenzie King, launched a plebiscite to Canadians asking them if they wanted to support mandatory military service overseas: conscription. He... From
Teaching and Developing Online. on May 2, 2005 at 3:54 p.m..
Getting Blogs Into Schools.
know I've mentioned it before, but I've had the great fortune this year to team teach the technology part of a doctoral course at Seton Hall with Alan November, and tonight we were back in class talking about blogs... From
Teaching and Developing Online. on May 2, 2005 at 3:54 p.m..
Dekita.org
Rudolf Ammann,
Barbara Dieu, and I have just started
Dekita.org, a community dedicated to promoting peer-to-peer communication in language learning.
The main page will serve to draw attention to the Web-publishing work of EFL/ESL learners and celebrate the projects in which they are involved. It will also be a way for people to locate student publications and participate in the learning activities that take place there.& From
apcampbell News on May 2, 2005 at 2:54 p.m..
Some Principles of Effective E-Learning
Stephen Downes
describes three principles that can help build effective e-learning -- "By ensuring that e-learning content is interactive, usable and relevant a designer can be virtually sure that the e-learning outcome will be a success. or at the very least, appreciated by the learners. Who are, after all, the final judge." From
elearningpost on May 2, 2005 at 2:47 p.m..
Photos from Paris
I've been posting my photos from my month in Paris to my April in Paris 2005 photoset over at Flickr. Some are from my camera phone, others from my Nikon D70. None are cropped, enhanced, or in any way manipulated. I hope to go back through the whole collection and do another more serious album of the best shots at some point. But for now I'm satisfied with what I've got. I was just happy to have Flickr as an outlet to share the photos nearly as quickly as I was taking them. From
megnut on May 2, 2005 at 2:45 p.m..
What is information architecture?
Step Two Designs has
published a new article that "provides an introduction to information architecture, discusses the evolution of the discipline and provides a 9-step guide for how to create an effective information architecture." From
elearningpost on May 2, 2005 at 1:47 p.m..
A very megnut.com birthday
Today is the sixth birthday of this site. Sixth! It's hard to believe it's been going for so long (and by "going" I mean "hanging on by a thread for weeks on end when I barely bother to update"). I've -- really I'm not lying -- been working on a redesign for the past two weeks, and I'd hoped to launch it today for a birthday present. But as these things go, it's not done, and I now actually don't like the design anymore. But I do have changes planned, and will probably role things out gradually. For now, let's just all sing "Happy Birthday megnut.com!" a From
megnut on May 2, 2005 at 1:45 p.m..
Youths, News and TMI
A couple of articles have been making the rounds that are worth noting... First, from MSNBC comes "
Kids, blogs and too much information" which extends in more detail the continuing saga of kids putting too much information into their
myspace and
Xanga sites and the potential consequences. I still can't shake the journal vs. blog issue, but I'll refrain from pushing it further here. From where I sit, the most discomforting part of this is the sexual nature of many From
weblogged News on May 2, 2005 at 12:47 p.m..
To learn the cheeses, one must eat the cheeses
About mid-way through my month in Paris, I decided I would learn more French cheese. I read my French cheese book, but the choices and varieties were overwhelming! So Jason and I decided one day we would have lunch at a fromagerie that not only sold cheese but offered a variety of cheese tasting menus. We each ordered the five cheese assiette after confirming with the waiter we wouldn't be given the same cheeses (mai non!). It came with a nice green salad and bread, and we also had a carafe of wine to accompany it. The cheeses arrived in a circle from weakest to strongest, and we were t From
megnut on May 2, 2005 at 12:45 p.m..
The Benefit of Topical Search Engines
While many marketers are scrambling for links, any links, an area that is often overlooked is topic-specific search engines. What many don't realize is that these engines do produce traffic, and they often contain traffic that is very targeted. Anyone who has taken the time to analyze weblogs and track sales sources will likely see that targeted traffic converts at a significantly higher rate than non-targeted traffic. A savvy online marketer realizes that often, the quality of the visitor is far more important than the quantity of visitors. Web marketers should focus their energ From
Software Marketing Articles and Marketing Tips on May 2, 2005 at 11:53 a.m..
Launching a Software Application
Last fall we launched FeedForAll
http://www.feedforall.com a tool for creating, editing and publishing RSS feeds. Having recently gone through the experience of a product launch I thought that I would take the opportunity to share my experiences and discuss what worked. A key to FeedForAll's success was getting to market quickly, and the marketing began before the official product launch. We immediately jumped into creating buzz about RSS with newsletter mentions. We began blogs on multiple sites and RSS feeds so that we coul From
Software Marketing Articles and Marketing Tips on May 2, 2005 at 11:53 a.m..
Apple Computer's Mac OS X 'Tiger' Now on Sale - Reuters
Apple Computer has unleashed the Tiger. The latest major update of Apple Computer Inc.'s Mac OS X operating system, code-named Tiger, went on sale around the globe on Friday. At a cost of $129 and available at Apple's own retail stores, authorized Appl From
Techno-News Blog on May 2, 2005 at 11:49 a.m..
Quantum leap in secure web video - BBC
Voice and video files streamed over the net could be made untappable and ultra-secure in the next few years thanks to a breakthrough by Toshiba. Scientists at its Cambridge UK labs successfully demonstrated its Quantum Key Server system, which refreshes From
Techno-News Blog on May 2, 2005 at 11:49 a.m..
Más de mil Facultades de Comunicación en América Latina
Según un informe de la Federación Latinoamericana de Facultades de Comunicación Social (FELAFACS) existen en América Latina 1.026 centros universitarios, entre Escuelas, Programas y Facultades, dedicados al estudio de la Comunicación. Por paÃses, destacan: Brasil (348) México (321) Argentina (55)... From
eCuaderno v.2.0 on May 2, 2005 at 10:51 a.m..
Jailhouse Friends and Family Web
Thousands of inmates use the internet indirectly through their telephone and mail privileges and a network of family, friends or activists, even though officially the net is off limits. From
Wired News on May 2, 2005 at 10:46 a.m..
Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright
Apple fans flock to release parties in major cities for the new Mac OS X Tiger. Some folks just have to be the first to own a new product. Daniel Terdiman reports from San Francisco. From
Wired News on May 2, 2005 at 10:46 a.m..
Testing a Sun-Powered Space Sail
Scientists are working with a synthetic material 100 times thinner than a piece of paper. They want to use it to propel spacecraft, harnessing solar energy particles to push the giant sail as the wind blows a sailboat across water. From
Wired News on May 2, 2005 at 10:46 a.m..
CNN on the Spam Attack?
Is CNN spamming bloggers critical of the network in an attempt to lower their page ranks? Or is the network trying to generate buzz for new shows? One blogger thinks CNN's up to something tricky on the net. By David Cohn. From
Wired News on May 2, 2005 at 10:46 a.m..
Scientists: Life on Mars Likely
Life on Mars has always been a possibility, but thanks to accumulating evidence, researchers now think it's a probability. A new space race between the United States and Europe may take place to find it. By Rowan Hooper. From
Wired News on May 2, 2005 at 10:46 a.m..
Samsung, the Seoul Machine
Cell phones, memory chips and plasma TVs: How Samsung made Korea a consumer electronics superpower. By Frank Rose from Wired magazine. From
Wired News on May 2, 2005 at 10:46 a.m..
Careful How You Monkey With DNA
Scientists are so keen to create chimeras -- creatures with mixed-species DNA -- that guidelines have been drawn up to prevent the creation of, say, a mouse with a human brain. By Kristen Philipkoski. From
Wired News on May 2, 2005 at 10:46 a.m..
Software Tracks Tea-Making Duties
In Britain, an unwritten law says anyone making tea must also brew a cuppa for co-workers. Naturally, most would rather die of thirst than make a dozen cups of tea. New software tracks who's on top of tea duties. By Robert Andrews. From
Wired News on May 2, 2005 at 10:45 a.m..
Ad Execs Want to Track Every Move
Marketers devise tracking technology to monitor each advertisement you're exposed to, and how the ads affect your spending. Welcome to Project Apollo. Joanna Glasner reports from Ad:Tech in San Francisco. From
Wired News on May 2, 2005 at 10:45 a.m..
Paradox of delivering to isolated staff
My second CM Briefing for May looks at the paradox of delivering to isolated staff. To quote: Staff in geographically isolated locations are most reliant on information sources such as intranets. In practical terms, however, these staff are the hardest... From
Column Two on May 2, 2005 at 9:47 a.m..
Intro to Digital Asset Management: Just what is a DAM?
Magan Arthur has written an introductory article on digital asset management (DAM). To quote: Unfortunately significant confusion still exists, particularly about the role of Digital Asset Management (DAM) systems. After all, aren't "assets" really just files? So couldn't we use... From
Column Two on May 2, 2005 at 8:46 a.m..
What is information architecture?
Iain Barker has written our KM Column article for this month, answering the question: what is information architecture? To quote: Organising functionality and content into a structure that people are able to navigate intuitively doesn't happen by chance. Organisations must... From
Column Two on May 2, 2005 at 8:46 a.m..
Two types of in-bound call centres
The first of my two CM Briefings for May explores the two types of in-bound call centres. To quote: Call centres are often classified as either in-bound centres that receive calls (to provide customer service or support) or out-bound centres... From
Column Two on May 2, 2005 at 8:46 a.m..
Quotes for Teachers: Be Inspired!
"Housework is a breeze. Cooking is a pleasant diversion. Putting up a retaining wall is a lark. But teaching is like climbing a mountain." - Fawn Brodie "Teaching kids to count is fine, but teaching them what counts is best.... From
Teaching and Developing Online. on May 2, 2005 at 5:54 a.m..
Corporate Blogging Redux
In the meantime, the real story in the corporate blogging arena these days which I didn't anticipate back then, is bloggers outside a corporation who decide to create "corporate fan blogs," in other words, people who love your products so... From
Teaching and Developing Online. on May 2, 2005 at 4:46 a.m..
Weblogs in Higher Education
On not "getting" blogging. You hear lots of "so-and-so just doesn't get it" bouncing around the blogosphere when somebody slams blogging, but that knee-jerk response probably doesn't accomplish anything. It's tempting, for example, for a fan of blogging to rant... From
Teaching and Developing Online. on May 2, 2005 at 4:46 a.m..
Words of Wisdom
Don't you love the honest of children... When your dad is mad and asks you, "Do I look stupid?" don't answer! Michael, age 14 Never try to baptize a cat! Eileen, age 8 Stay away from prunes! Randy, age 9... From
Teaching and Developing Online. on May 2, 2005 at 4:46 a.m..
A teacher's prayer
Prayer : It's a must for all teacher's, to help them keep their sense of humor through the day.] Dear God, So far today I've done all right. I haven't gossiped, I haven't lost my temper, I haven't even criticized... From
Teaching and Developing Online. on May 2, 2005 at 4:46 a.m..
Publish or Perish :
Ever wonder why God never received a permanent job at a good university? The Reasons : 1. He had only one major publication and it had no references. 2. Some people doubt that he even wrote it himself. 3.... From
Teaching and Developing Online. on May 2, 2005 at 4:46 a.m..
When a party of one isn't alone
I've gotten used to traveling alone over the past few years, and have found it's something I quite enjoy most of the time. One thing I still find difficult though is eating alone in foreign restaurants, especially during prime dining hours, such as a Saturday night. And yet, that's the position I found myself in last night, wanting to enjoy a final Parisian meal of oysters. I headed to a spot close to my house called Au Chien Qui Fume, a restaurant that's bustling and fun -- not haute cuisine by any stretch of the imagination. The weather was beautiful and warm and I wante From
megnut on May 2, 2005 at 2:45 a.m..
Finished Half Life 2
I just finished it. It is the greatest video game in history. Ok, within its genre. Inventive, involving, endlessly cool. I liked it better than the original, but most reviewers didn't. As a guide to my tastes: I'm a big fan of both No One Lives Forever games, loved the original Doom but found Doom III just a tad tedious (load, shoot, repeat), loved every minute of Serious Sam, was surprisingly attached to Pain Killer, and have never made it all the way through a Myst game. There's a guide to Half Life 2's plot and universe here. [Technorati tags:... From
Joho the Blog on May 2, 2005 at 1:45 a.m..