Edu_Rss

Supernova 2005 Wrap-up (Ross Mayfield)
Two highlights of Supernova 2005 came on the last day: John Seely Brown's Keynote and the Attention Session. The panel following JSB dug deep into identity, authentication and permission structures that are a barrier to group forming. Nat Torkinton... From Corante: Social Software on June 25, 2005 at 10:49 p.m..

On the NBA and the new Collective Bargaining Agreement
I love the NBA. To me, basketball is a game of both intensity and finesse. In the last few years, basketball's worldwide popularity has grown tremendously, and today it's beginning to rival [soccer | football] in terms of broad global appeal. As I write this, I anxiously await the tipoff for the last game of the finals between the San Antonio Spurs and the Detroit Pistons, and I couldn't hope for a better series between more evenly matched opponents. Even as this most luminous of NBA functions reaches peak intensity, a deeper story has developed. On Tuesday, a 6-year Collecti From kuro5hin.org on June 25, 2005 at 10:45 p.m..

NECC Talking Points: flickr4schools
NECC Talking Points: flickr4schools... Over at eSchoolNew ETI, Tom Hoffman discusses the use of tools such as Flickr by teachers and schools, and suggests that school district IT departments need to start thinking of providing similar services. Tom goes on to make the point that... "Schools need to start taking seriously their responsibility to maintain a student's digital content from K through 12." At Lewis Elementary, we utilize Flickr to document student work and events that are shared on our web site. With my camera phone I capture images several times a week, and then post them via From Education/Technology - Tim Lauer on June 25, 2005 at 9:46 p.m..

Rick Mercer is blogging
Tereigh Ewert-Bauer told me about this, and I'm really looking forward to following along. Yes, Rick Mercer has a blog, and the address is http://rickmercer.blogspot.com/. I generally enjoy sarcastic, biting political commentary and humour, and IMHO Mercer is a master... From Rick's Café Canadien on June 25, 2005 at 7:46 p.m..

Has CC Lost the Plot?
I too was left scratching my head at the recent "birthday present" offered by Creative Commons: the right to download and play (but not share) a recording of 'Happy Birthday' sung (badly) by some CC luminaries at a cost (to donors) of 8.5 cents a download. Creative Comnmons is losing its way; how long before we see Creative Commons Corporate and advocacy of a closed, restrictive, commercial licensing regime? By Stuart Yeates, Open Source in Higher and Further Education, June 22, 2005 [OLDaily on June 25, 2005 at 4:45 p.m..

Avalanche
The creator of BitTorrent, Bram Cohen, responds to the Microsoft Avalanche proposal and on academic papers in general: "I think that paper is complete garbage. Unfortunately it's actually one of the better academic papers on BitTorrent, because it makes some attempt, however feeble, to do an apples to apples comparison. I'd comment on academic papers more, but generally they're so bad that evaluating them does little more than go over epistemological problems with their methodology, and is honestly a waste of time." The comments, after Technorati's self-serving and worthles From OLDaily on June 25, 2005 at 4:45 p.m..

Learner Managed Learning
George Siemens points to the website of the International Centre for Learner Managed Learning. None of the 'recently posted papers' really caught my interest. Norman Jackson's Exploring the Concept of Metalearning was OK, but Dave Pollard has been doing the same thing better for some time. I think the Centre ahs some catching up to do. Getting an RSS feed would be a start, so people can read and comment on their material as it comes out. And they should read the blog From OLDaily on June 25, 2005 at 4:45 p.m..

Why RSS and Folksonomies Are Becoming So Big
George Siemens writes, "It's unusual to encounter an article that knocks Google as out of synch with the nature of information online. The author of this post, however, does exactly that, stating that the web is changing too rapidly (Google's page rank system was created when blogs really didn't exist, and the web was mainly about static content)...and that by tracking the nature of the dialogue through tags and RSS, tools like technorati are effective and giving end users what they want, when they want it." Right. And let me be clear: my criticism of tagging is not a criticism From OLDaily on June 25, 2005 at 4:45 p.m..

Losing Your Job For Promoting Open Source???
Some discussion about the plight of Leigh Blackwell, who lost his job, he reports, because of his "opinions expressed in this blog, in that wiki, and in day to day communications with staff, contradicted the directions of the unit I was working within." James Farmer chides, "Pretty awful reflection on that unit, wherever it is, wouldn't you say?" By James Farmer, incorporated subversion, June 23, 2005 [OLDaily on June 25, 2005 at 4:45 p.m..

Wheaties? Not so Much...
Talk about missing the point. Someone in this group blog notes the recent report noting the strong correlation between eating breakfast and doing well academically. But Slate's Amanda Schaffer responds by saying you shouldn't wake children up to eat breakfast because they suffer from shortages of sleep. Well maybe, but to make the point she must ignore the results of the study, which say there is a benefit. More to t From OLDaily on June 25, 2005 at 4:45 p.m..

Interview with Etienne Wenger on Communities of Practice
It crashed my computer when I tried to watch and listen to it, but it might not crash yours, and even though I can't access the content, this interview with Etienne Wenger sounds too good to just let pass by. By Mark Berthelemy, Mark Berthelemy's Connections, June 14, 2005 [Refer][Research][OLDaily on June 25, 2005 at 4:45 p.m..

Findings from NSF Study
Description of an NSF study (but with no link, which is really annoying) on informal learning in the workplace. Some surprise results: while informal learning is found to have a positive impact, not surprisingly, "Formal learning methods demonstrated a statistically significant negative correlation with job competence." Great find - but next time, link to the study so we can all see it and know that the report is accurate. By Ted Cocheu, Rapid eLearning News, June 21, 2005 [Refer][OLDaily on June 25, 2005 at 4:45 p.m..

Weblog Communities - AMTEC 2005 presentation
Nice presentation by Rob Rall at AMTEC 2005 about how weblogs form learning communities. Even if you don't have time for the podcast, do take a look at the slides, which with useful animation show clearly how you can build a community even though you are not depending on a portal or community site - this is what I mean when i talk about a 'distributed community'. Also from AMOLDaily on June 25, 2005 at 4:45 p.m..

The Blogs We Need in Australia
I have noticed a slowdown of news from Australia, caused partly by a greater centralization and partly by recent changes in projects like the Flexible Learning Framework (does it even publish RSS feeds any more?). Leigh Blackall agitates for more Australian e-learning blogs, and offers some suggestions for topics. By Leigh Blackall, Teach and Learn Online, June 25, 2005 [Refer][OLDaily on June 25, 2005 at 4:45 p.m..

Should You Finish?
An item that hits close to home for me, questioning whether it is in the best interests of some students to finish their PhD. "To consider leaving graduate school without your Ph.D. in hand does not inherently make you a failure. In fact, it could be the best decision you've made in a long while." For me that was pretty much the case; it was a choice between either spending a year writing something that would be read by three people, or teaching and working, making some money, and making my way. I don't regret my choice. From time to time I wish I had the degree, because not having o From OLDaily on June 25, 2005 at 4:45 p.m..

Microsoft and RSS
The big news today is Microsoft's announcement that it will embrace RSS and its release, under a Creative Commons license, of an extension to the protocol to allow for ordered lists. There has been some scepticism in the blogosphere, justified scepticism based on the way Microsoft has trashed standards in the past. But in its bare essence this announcement is a welcome one and one that follows well-established protocols for joining the community. Many people, myself included, have extended RSS and shared our extensions. And so long as it's all kept open and non-proprietary, there&apo From OLDaily on June 25, 2005 at 4:45 p.m..

Trend: Podcasting in Academic and Corporate Learning
Good survey article on podcasting in education, including an introduction, commentary on the Duke experiment, and links to related resources. By Eva Kaplan-Leiserson, Learning Circuits, June 25, 2005 [Refer][Research][Reflect] From OLDaily on June 25, 2005 at 4:45 p.m..

Edmonton
So anyhow, today's special issue of OLDaily / OLWeekly is a catch-up issue. There has been so much of note happening in the field recently, too much to cover in the regular issues and too good to let pass by. So here is a good Sunday afternoon's reading for you, beginning with this set of photos from my visit to Edmonton a couple of weeks ago. By Stephen Downes, Stephen's Web, June, 2005 [Refer][OLDaily on June 25, 2005 at 4:45 p.m..

Saint John
If you were vacationing in New Brunswick today you would probably be lounging at the beach as we enjoy 35 degree (celsius) temperatures. Or maybe you'd be touring old Saint John, an industrial city with an industrial edge, but with enough history that with restoration and attention to detail it could be as well regarded as Old Quebec. This set of photos from my visit there this week gives you the flavour. By Stephen Downes, Stephen's Web, June, 2005 [OLDaily on June 25, 2005 at 4:45 p.m..

New in BlogBridge
BlogBridge, a free open source aggregator client for Windows, put together by my pal Pito Salas, has announced two cool features. [Disclosure: I'm an unpaid advisor to the company, but I had nothing to do with these features.] First, BlogBridge is recruiting subject matter experts who want to put together sets of feeds on a topic. For example, Amanda Watlington is aggregating feeds on search engine optimization. Second, BlogBridge now lets you create "smartfeeds," feeds made of other feeds based on rules you specify. E.g., you could ask to see all the feeds you currently subscribe to that From Joho the Blog on June 25, 2005 at 2:46 p.m..

Technorati Live8
While I'm talking about companies I am an official advisor to, Technorati is serving as "blog central" for the Live8 Concert. Live8 wants your voice, not your money: The idea is that lots of our voices maybe can influence the G8 to put an end to poverty. The goal is to get a million posts supporting this idea. I don't actually believe that even ten million would make any difference to the leaders of the G8, but what can it hurt? Dave Sifry, Mr. Technorati, talks about this in my video interview of him at Supernova, which you can see... From Joho the Blog on June 25, 2005 at 2:46 p.m..

Looking for Parent/Child Bloggers
I posted this earlier, but I got a follow up from the Wall Street Journal reporter that he's still looking for some family blogging stories to include in an article he's writing. See the earlier post for details and, if you have some experiences to share, either come back here and leave a comment or click the e-mail link above right and I'll send along your interest. (And btw, if "Mary" who commented on the original post is still out there, please get in touch.) From weblogged News on June 25, 2005 at 2:45 p.m..

Immersed in the Future: Randy Pausch on the Future of Education - Ubiquity
"Enrollments are down 23 percent in the computer science discipline. And at the top echelon, people aren't too bothered by it, because we will be the last to be impacted, right? But this is a huge, huge problem. And it's a huge problem for the country." - From Techno-News Blog on June 25, 2005 at 8:49 a.m..

Wikis, Weblogs and RSS: What Does the New Internet Mean for Business? - Knowledge @ Wharton, UPenn
The Internet may be entering a new phase that will decentralize control inside companies, enable employees to collaborate more easily, and drive efficiency. But corporations that want to use the web strategically to build corporate value will not just nee From Techno-News Blog on June 25, 2005 at 8:49 a.m..

Longhorn Serious about RSS - Susan Kuchinskas, Internet News
Longhorn, Microsoft's next-generation operating system, will embrace Real Simple Syndication , with functionality deeply embedded in the platform. "We believe RSS is the key to how people will use the Internet moving forward," said Windows Group product From Techno-News Blog on June 25, 2005 at 8:49 a.m..

Conduct a Personal Inventory
Getting on the fast track to higher ed credentials begins with an inventory of your previous education, skills and experience.... From Adult/Continuing Education on June 25, 2005 at 7:47 a.m..

Who Reviews the Reviewers?
I always wondered why it seemed like every product that Infoworld's Test Center reviewed was rated either "Very Good" or "Excellent." Well, that's because 73% of the products were, with practically every other product reviewed falling into the "Good" category. What's the point of such a rating system if everything is rated the same? From kuro5hin.org on June 25, 2005 at 6:45 a.m..

Bloomberg Urges Pataki to Veto Bill to Arbitrate School Disputes
The Bloomberg administration is pressing Gov. George E. Pataki to veto a bill that would make it easier to use arbitrators to resolve contract disputes involving New York City's public school teachers. From New York Times: Education on June 25, 2005 at 2:45 a.m..

Philadelphia Mandates Black History for Graduation
Philadelphia will be the first major city to require African-American history for high school graduation. From New York Times: Education on June 25, 2005 at 2:45 a.m..