Edu_RSS
RSS and Media: Can't we All Just Get Along?
Useful discussion of RSS extensions offered by Yahoo, Microsoft and Apple to support the distribution of multimedia content. Each is slightly different and the author proposes something like a common approach. Historically, when one standard is proposed to replace three divergent standards, the result is four divergent standards. What is demonstrated most of all, though, is what RSS does that other metadata formats don't seem to do: it adapts. (Note: if this link takes you to a blank page, click on the blog
home page - it seems to be displaying some forma From
OLDaily on July 1, 2005 at 10:45 p.m..
Tagging for fun and finding
Thomas Vander Wal has written an introductory article on tagging. To quote: So is tagging worth the effort? Yes, it adds another layer to get to the information and aggregate information. These tools and services around tagging, including Technorati Tags,... From
Column Two on July 1, 2005 at 9:47 p.m..
RSS and Media: Can't we All Just Get Along?
Useful discussion of RSS extensions offered by Yahoo, Microsoft and Apple to support the distribution of multimedia content. Each is slightly different and the author proposes something like a common approach. Historically, when one standard is proposed to replace three divergent standards, the result is four divergent standards. What is demonstrated most of all, though, is what RSS does that other metadata formats don't seem to do: it adapts. (Note: if this link takes you to a blank page, click on the blog
home page - it seems to be displaying some forma From
OLDaily on July 1, 2005 at 9:45 p.m..
Steve Johnson fan news...
The Washington Post has quite an amusing article about Steve. The author, Bob Thompson, went to Steve's apartment angry about the book and you can see Bob trying to dislike him. But, as all who have met Steve know, that just isn't possible.... From
Joho the Blog on July 1, 2005 at 8:49 p.m..
Announce list for papers
This is just a quick reminder that a good way of ensuring that you don't miss any of the articles that we publish each month, you can add yourself onto our announce list. (We already have over 1,700 subscribers and... From
Column Two on July 1, 2005 at 8:47 p.m..
Top 5 CMS selection pitfalls
Tony Byrne has written an article that outlines the top 5 CMS selection pitfalls. To quote: Buying major software applications can be stressful. The impact of your choice will reverberate across your company, and switching costs can become prohibitive. Yet,... From
Column Two on July 1, 2005 at 8:47 p.m..
Appcasting
If you envision learning objects as objects, not merely bits of content, then this should interest you. The syndication of multimedia content is going to get much more interesting than people realize. Right now, the focus is on audio and video. But as this item shows, applications will also be syndicated. Included is a short list of several existing appcasting feeds. Via
Microcontent Musings. By Fraser Speirs, June 29, 2005 [
OLDaily on July 1, 2005 at 8:45 p.m..
Amazing New Software Turns Any Computer into A TV Station
The author, referring to a
Chronicle article, introduces
ACTLab TV (aka Alluvium). I installed the demo viewer just the other day to see how it works and was suitably impressed. The secret to this software is that it integrates content authoring tools with shared downloading (a lot like BitTorrent). This puts the distribution of video content into the hands of individuals. So far, only a demo of the download tool is available, though release of the authoring software is expected any day now. By Ron From
OLDaily on July 1, 2005 at 8:45 p.m..
Google's War on Hierarchy, and the Death of Hierarchical Folders
Roger Casselman sends along this link to a good analysis by John Hiler, one of the original visionaries of personal publishing. "If you examine Google's products closely," writes Hiler, "you may notice a surprising pattern: Google is attempting to organize the world's information without folders." This is a correct analysis and a correct strategy. The use of folders - and, indeed, any hierarchal system - breaks down after a few million items. This is as true for search as it is for business organizations. By John Hiler, Microcontent News, May 10, 2005 [
OLDaily on July 1, 2005 at 8:45 p.m..
First Impression of Sakai 2.0: Better Than I Expected
Michael Feldstein's otherwise innocuous review of the latest release of Sakai, an open source learning management system (LMS), has become quite the attraction as several Sakai developers and other commentators have weighed into the discussion, responding to Feldstein's criticism of the discussion tools and the gender imbalance at the Sakai conference. Worth noting in passing is this link to
OLAT, another java-based open source LMS, this one being developed in Switzerland. By Michael Feldstein, e-Literate, June 21, 2005 [
OLDaily on July 1, 2005 at 8:45 p.m..
Why Is Open Source Important For Education?
Pretty much sums it up: "Free and Open Source Software is important because it can help NPO's and CBO's stop spending valuable resources, which could and should be directed elsewhere, on software." By Alec Couros, Couros Blog, June 29, 2005 [
Refer][
Research][
Reflect] From
OLDaily on July 1, 2005 at 8:45 p.m..
RSS and Media: Can't we All Just Get Along?
Useful discussion of RSS extensions offered by Yahoo, Microsoft and Apple to support the distribution of multimedia content. Each is slightly different and the author proposes something like a common approach. Historically, when one standard is proposed to replace three divergent standards, the result is four divergent standards. What is demonstrated most of all, though, is what RSS does that other metadata formats don't seem to do: it adapts. (Note: if this link takes you to a blank page, click on the blog
home page - it seems to be displaying some forma From
OLDaily on July 1, 2005 at 8:45 p.m..
Welcome to TagCloud.com
It was only a matter of time. Why go to all that effort to tag links manually when everything you need is already present in the link. This service automates the process, courtesy of Yahoo's content analysis web service. Except for the Yahoo bit (I use my own algorithm) this is exactly how I derive Edu_RSS
topics. Manual tagging? Who has the time? Via
Albert Delgado. By John Herren, June, 2005 [
OLDaily on July 1, 2005 at 8:45 p.m..
Australian Flexible Learning Framework
After my comments about e-learning in Australia a few days ago, Jacinta Gascoigne wrote in to say, "the Australian Flexible Learning Framework it is still alive and well albeit going through changes and changes. Some of these changes have created problems with what was our old community HYPHEN it has been replaced with the 2005
Framework's Networks Community Forum... A special forum,
Global E-learning Connect has been established on this site." You can also find From
OLDaily on July 1, 2005 at 8:45 p.m..
Are the Basics of Instructional Design Changing?
Following what I thought was an interesting turn of discussion on ITForum (
aggregated here) I wrote this item, first, to underscore the role of philosophy as informing educational theory, and second, to highlight the difference between online learning and 'traditional' distance education. I argue that the theory of distributed representation has a profound implication for pedagogy, as it suggests that learning (and teaching, such as it is) is not a process of communication, but rather, a process of immersion. Put loosely, i From
OLDaily on July 1, 2005 at 8:45 p.m..
Dan Bricklin on tools, media, and an astounding Rhapsody fact
Dan muses that the new media are actually tools, unlike the old media which were and are media. You could quibble with Dan that blogging software is to blogs and wiki software is to wikis as studios are to TV, i.e., that there are tools involved in all these cases. But then you'd be missing Dan's point, which is not a quibble but quite a big one. To me, Dan is presenting the analog to the argument that the Internet is primarily about voices and conversations. Of course, I would think that since it fits nicely with the "argument" I... From
Joho the Blog on July 1, 2005 at 6:48 p.m..
Lilly and Tim's NY adventure
Lilly Buchwitz, a friend and coworker from my days at Open Text, tells a story about a fine day walking through Manhattan with her boss Tim Bray, drinking some beer and maybe a bit too much single malt Scotch. And that's just the beginning. [Technorati tags: LillyBuchwitz TimBray Bosses]... From
Joho the Blog on July 1, 2005 at 6:48 p.m..
Scott Kirsner on CinemaTech
Scott's blog covers the effect of tech on cinema (and more). He's writing a book on this subject. His most recent post is a chat with the CEO of NetFlix after the Supreme triumph of the forces of cultural repression. (Ok, I may be skewing it a bit.) [Technorati tags: ScottKirsner movies]... From
Joho the Blog on July 1, 2005 at 6:48 p.m..
Lessons Learned
It's good to have
Anne back, isn't it? Her presence on our
panel yesterday was really great, and her
list of things she's learned from blogging has inspired me. Here are some of the things I've learned: Weblogs are disruptive. I think that's what I find most intruiging about this technology is the way in which it changes much of what it touches. Weblogs disrupt the From
weblogged News on July 1, 2005 at 6:47 p.m..
The Edtech Posse is on the way...maybe
We recorded a new podcast on Thursday, but due to some technical problems, we had to rely on trying to record the session on an iPod set up in front of the tiny little speakers on my PowerBook. And after... From
Rick's Café Canadien on July 1, 2005 at 5:51 p.m..
Happy Canada Day!
I hope everyone has a great Canada Day and long weekend. I'll be spending it working my way home from the Yorkshire region of England, so you may not see any more postings for a few days. I'll try, but... From
Rick's Café Canadien on July 1, 2005 at 5:51 p.m..
Untitled
Happy Canada Day! Happy U.S. Independence Day! See you all on Tuesday ... drive carefully, hear? Bill From
Bill Brandon: eLearning on July 1, 2005 at 5:45 p.m..
The knower's responsibility for what the knower constructs
...Throughout the two thousand five hundred years of Western epistemology, the accepted view has been a realist view. According to it, the human knower can attain some knowledge of a really existing world and can use this knowledge to modify it. People tended to think of the world as governed by a God who would not let it go under. Then faith shifted from God to science and the world that science was mapping was called "Nature" and believed to be ultimately understandable and controllable. Yet, it was also believed to be so immense that mankind could do no significant harm to it. From
Seblogging News on July 1, 2005 at 2:50 p.m..
Weblogs and stealth advertising
Weblogs being used for stealth advertising. Another entry in the Really Bad Idea category. Some serious ethical issues are involved here, especially for webloggers who don't reveal that they are
being paid for product placement mentions. From The Boston Globe: "With a growing number of businesses using blogs to help promote their products, sometimes in ways that are not very transparent, it is increasingly difficult to discern who or what is behind a blog From
Bill Brandon: eLearning on July 1, 2005 at 2:49 p.m..
Advertisers and podcasting
Advertisers and podcasting. Entrepreneurs who want to use podcasts as a means of raising awareness and interest might pay attention to what the advertisers, and to which approaches work and which ones bomb. In general, I would guess that giving content away might work best for most entrepreneurs, but the advertisers are going to set the pace for "production values." From MarketingVOX --
From Cars to Cat Food - Advertisers Giving Podcasts a Try. Car and pet-food marketers are kicking the podcast tires an From
Bill Brandon: eLearning on July 1, 2005 at 1:48 p.m..
Stormreportmap.com
StormReportMap.Com - An Interactive Look at the Latest Storm Reports: Yesterday leaving from Philadelphia my flight was delayed on the runway for over an hour because of storms between Philadelphia and Chicago. Thanks to stormreportmap.com I can visually see why they were holding us up. The site uses data from the Storm Prediction Center and hooks it into Google Maps to provide an interactive map of storm activity across the United States. (Via Jon Udell's del.icio.us affinity feed)... From
Education/Technology - Tim Lauer on July 1, 2005 at 12:50 p.m..
I finally understand podcasting
When the first podcasts started, I was
on sabbatical on Nantucket and not paying much attention to what was happening online. Towards the end of last year, when I began to re-engage with the web, I tried to grok the whole podcast thing but just couldn't. As much as I love to express myself on this site, I couldn't picture myself making audio posts available for download. And as much as I enjoy reading many other sites, I couldn't imagine listening to people talk about breakfast or parking their cars. I&ap From
megnut on July 1, 2005 at 12:45 p.m..
Podiobooks - Serialized audio books in podcast form
Podiobooks - Serialized audio books in podcast form"Authors receive one half of all the proceeds from the donations from listeners. The other half goes to the maintenance and upkeep of podiobooks.com." Kind of like the Radio Reader for your iPod... (Via Jon Udell's del.icio.us affinity feed)... From
Education/Technology - Tim Lauer on July 1, 2005 at 11:50 a.m..
Seminar on the "Network Enabled Organisation"
On July 14th and 15th I'm organising a small seminar on the Networked Enabled Organisation at Templeton College in Oxford. Numbers are limited to 20, but there are a few spaces left, so do let me know if you'd like... From
Monkeymagic on July 1, 2005 at 10:46 a.m..
Five intranet reviews, five different results
Our KM Column article this month is a case study that looks at the results of five intranet reviews. To quote: Over the past few years, we have conducted a number of intranet reviews across a wide range of organisations,... From
Column Two on July 1, 2005 at 5:45 a.m..
What to include in intranet search results
The first of my CM Briefings for July looks at what to include in intranet search results. To quote: While there is much that can be done to improve the effectiveness of intranet search, a good starting point is to... From
Column Two on July 1, 2005 at 5:45 a.m..
Intranets: losing the language of enforcement
My second CM Briefing for July encourages intranet teams to lose the language of enforcement when dealing with authors. To quote: All too often, centralised intranet teams find themselves battling with decentralised authors to enforce consistency and quality standards. Not... From
Column Two on July 1, 2005 at 5:45 a.m..
HOW-TO: Be A Great Programmer And Win At Life
Bram Cohen (yes) on what makes great programmers: "What truly separates the great programmers from the journeyman programmers is architecture. What's puzzling is that architecture appears to be one of the simplest parts of the whole process, requiring in most cases little more than some pencil and paper calculations and a willingness to change." A little later: "My advice about technically unjustifiable architectural decisions is to not do them. If you find yourself doing them, you probably need to get laid or see a shrink or have a beer." [ link ] Would programmers become better programm From
kuro5hin.org on July 1, 2005 at 2:45 a.m..
Grand Canyon and blogging
As far as I can tell, based on my recent, fairly detailed study of the issue, there is no connection between the Grand Canyon and blogging. I base my judgment not only on walks along the South Rim, bus rides to the more distant scenic overlooks, and careful attention paid during ranger talks, but also on the experience of walking into the canyon and descending about 1300 feet in elevation with my family on the zig-zag paths that hug the canyon walls. There's just no connection. And... From
Weblogs in Higher Education on July 1, 2005 at 1:52 a.m..
Flu Wiki (Ross Mayfield)
During the SARS epidemic I noted that a Wikipedia page was the best source of information for an evolving event. Now three bloggers have launched a new experiment in collaborative problem solving in public health, The Flu Wiki. They... From
Corante: Social Software on July 1, 2005 at 12:45 a.m..