Edu_RSS
Bad press, or the danger from blogs
I just ran across this August entry on
collegewebeditor.com, where U Colorado's former president Betsy Hoffman is said to have learned the hard way that some of an institution's bad news might come over the horizon on blogs: In her recent article, "Hoffman denounces blogs," Jennifer Brown from The Denver Post... From
Weblogs in Higher Education on September 19, 2005 at 7:50 p.m..
The copyright challenge in China - K.C. Swanson, CNET News
Signs of China embracing global market rules abound, from Beijing's decision to loosen its currency's peg to the dollar to the willingness of Chinese companies to pursue acquisitions abroad. But one thing never seems to change, and it's as obvious on str From
Techno-News Blog on September 19, 2005 at 6:49 p.m..
eNorway 2009 ,
The government of Norway has released a policy paper on internet access and services. Called eNorway 2009, the paper calls for access for all Norweigans and promotes open standards in the public sector. It's nice to see a document such as this directed toward the needs of the people rather than of content or software vendors. PDF, and worth opening even if only for the illustrations. Via school-discuss. [ From
OLDaily on September 19, 2005 at 6:45 p.m..
A System-Level Comparison of Cost-Efficiency and Return on Investment Related to Online Course Delivery , E-Jist
Report on a study conducted at 34 community colleges in Illinois on the cost and returns oon online learning. According to the author, "online programs at 83% of the community colleges participating in the study were not cost efficient and did not provide a positive return on investment." As he notes, "These findings are not consistent with the literature." Surprisingly, development costs were not found to be the major issue: "cost of instruction was found to be the most significant cost factor." Moreover, "larger enrollments would have created conditions in which technology-mediated delivery From
OLDaily on September 19, 2005 at 6:45 p.m..
Evaluating Learning Objects for Schools , E-Jist
Interesting essay on the evaluation of learning objects. After looking at three well-known schemes (LORI, MERLOT and CLOE) the authors draft a 12-point evaluation scheme, which they then try to implement to assess a total of 36 learning objects obtained from The Le@rning Federation. As the authors report, "Attempts to review learning objects are fraught with complexities not found in assessing other non-digital educational content." They use multiple media, employ different design methodologies, and are found at different granularities. Though the authors draw no definitive conclusions, they r From
OLDaily on September 19, 2005 at 6:45 p.m..
Mailing List Discussions Are Not Free Content For Your Blog , The Intuitive Life Business Blog
Dave Taylor discusses the ethics of quoting discussion board and mailing list posts. I employ a very simple criterion when deciding whether it's OK to quote someone from an online discussion: Can I link to the original of that discussion such that the reader can, without requiring a password-protected account, read that quote for him or her self? In other words - if it's already public, it's fair game for quotation. If, however, an effort has been made to keep it from being public, then permission ought to be sought. [ From
OLDaily on September 19, 2005 at 6:45 p.m..
When Blogging Isn't Enough... ,
There is no doubt that blogging is a great way to have students create online content. But there may be cases where, as the title suggests, blogging is not enough. What then? You're probably looking at some sort of online database (this is in a sense what programs like Drupal and Moodle do, though it's a very structured database). This article describes one such project, UM.SiteMaker based at the University of Michigan and offers suggestions to others who would go down the same path. PDF. [ From
OLDaily on September 19, 2005 at 6:45 p.m..
My Wife is Brilliant! , A Difference
The author's wife gets one line at the end of this short article, but as the title suggests, it's a good one. And, moreoever, one that shows that she understands what e-learning is all about. He does too now, I guess. [ From
OLDaily on September 19, 2005 at 6:45 p.m..
What Does It Mean To Be an Educated Person? ,
Is this list right? I mean, it sounds like part Rudyard Kipling and part Robert A. Heinlein. And while those authors resonate with me, I will nonetheless probably never be a musician or an althlete, my poetry is best kept private, and I will certainly never subscribe to the simple moral theory suggested by the author. And it seems to me that an educated person not only knows how to lead, but also how and when and why to follow as well. Perhaps there is something like a definition of an educated person that can be found - but I think it's more likely to be something defined more inwardly, From
OLDaily on September 19, 2005 at 6:45 p.m..
Firefighter Site Collects Stories , Wired News
I actually suggested something like this when I spoke to the Canadian Association of Police Educators last June. I cited the experience of military personnel trading stories in online forums rather than relying on mission briefings. Now they have a template to work from. I also suggested that such a site would become wildly popular with the non-police public as well. Now we'll see if there's empirical support for my prediction. [ From
OLDaily on September 19, 2005 at 6:45 p.m..
It's A Whole New Web , Business Week
The commercial media is beginning to notice that there's something happening on the web. "A whole new Web is emerging from the wilds of cyberspace. It's no longer all about idly surfing and passively reading, listening, or watching. It's about doing: sharing, socializing, collaborating, and, most of all, creating." By the same token, though, Roland Tanglao From
OLDaily on September 19, 2005 at 6:45 p.m..
AU$695 for a Blogging, Wiki, and RSS Workshop!! ,
Leigh Blackall describes, and rightly roasts, this workshop. Looking at this, I've gotta figure I'm as qualified as this guy. And if I ran one with ten people once a month, I could pretty well forget about working the rest of the time. But I suspect the real skill here lies in finding people who will spend $695 a pop to pay for learning that is widely available for free on the internet. [ From
OLDaily on September 19, 2005 at 6:45 p.m..
Giveth and Taketh
Taketh: Verso Technologies has announced a "carrier-grade applications filter" designed to block Skype but capable of blocking P2P messaging, streaming media and IM, according to an article by Doug Mohney in TheInquirer.net. ISPs don't like Skype because it increases traffic and gets in the way of them "monetizing" VOIP. I.e., it's free and people like it, hence it must die. IP Media Monitor (free reg required) writes that Google is planning to build its own optical network: Internet giant Google is reviewing bids received from multiple technology vendors for the development of a nat From
Joho the Blog on September 19, 2005 at 1:49 p.m..
Mudanza de MovableType a WordPress
Mi buen amigo Antonio Cambronero está preparando el paso de eCuaderno de MovableType a WordPress y ha comenzado a publicar la crónica de la mudanza en: La mudanza de eCuaderno (Parte I: Preparación).... From
eCuaderno v.2.0 on September 19, 2005 at 12:52 p.m..
Untitled
TechCrunch reviews
Memeorandum. " If you are a busy executive and only have five minutes a day to see what the blogs are saying, this is THE PLACE to come to every day." [
TechCrunch] I've been using their feed for about two weeks now. It's great, but it takes some thinking to get the information you want. Covers only tech and political issues (are there any others?). From
Bill Brandon: eLearning on September 19, 2005 at 12:48 p.m..
Untitled
Ajax catching on at Microsoft, ClearNova. Just noting this because of all the attention Ajax is getting the last couple of weeks. Article quotes a Forrester researcher: "Ajax is just scripting. Although flexible and easy, it's difficult to maintain applications written with scripts because of a lack of structure... . 'It's not a silver bullet,' he noted. [
Computerworld News] From
Bill Brandon: eLearning on September 19, 2005 at 12:48 p.m..
Open Access Webliograpy
This excellent webliography was compiled by Adrian Ho and Charles Bailey for the References Services Review (2005, 33, no. 3). There are some significant omissions: the compilation does not include opencourseware sites such as
MIT nor learning object repositories such as
GEM. However, search engines devoted to academic searches such as
Scirus and
OAIster are included as is repository software su From
EduResources--Higher Education Resources Online on September 19, 2005 at 12:47 p.m..
The Perfect Balance
With so many options for blending different forms of learning to provide a tailored package, the author offers some advice on getting the balance right. From
eLearnopedia on September 19, 2005 at 11:49 a.m..
Yahoo vs. Google: Who's the Chinese government's very best buddy?
Rebecca Mackinnon has the goods on Yahoo. By going through proxies, she's discovered that Yahoo, unlike Google, actively censors results. For example, if you search for "Tiananmen massacre" (in Chinese) with either Yahoo or Google within China, you get no results. But if you do the same search by getting to the Chinese versions of the search engines but without using Chinese ISPs, you get results from Google but not from Yahoo. Conclusion: Chinese ISPs filter out results from Google, but Chinese Yahoo does the dirty work itself. So, if you're in China and manage to find a way past... From
Joho the Blog on September 19, 2005 at 10:48 a.m..
Torrenting your RSS
Gary Lerphaut of Prodigem, a marketplace for Torrents (which I blogged about here), has put together the Prodigem Enclosure Puller ( which he blogs about here), an example of Prodigem's new API. Give it a feed — say, the del.icio.us feed of popular videos — and it will create torrents of every enclosure it finds. As Gary points out, in this example the world (= del.icio.us users) chooses its favorite videos and PEP automatically makes them available as torrents. Again as Gary puts it, it's Web 2.0 at work, stitching together new apps out of old. [Tags: prodigem delicious From
Joho the Blog on September 19, 2005 at 9:49 a.m..
Firefighter Site Collects Stories
Here's an example of a
narrative database in action. Just imagine the wealth of knowledge one can mine with this. Wonderful stuff. This is KM 2.0. It's a scene that plays out in firehouses every day: Firefighters return from a blaze or rescue call and talk about a close call that could have injured or killed someone. The International Association of Fire Chiefs wants firefighters nationwide to learn from such stories through the National Fire Fighter Near-Miss Reporting System. The nati From
elearningpost on September 19, 2005 at 9:46 a.m..
Company Wants Settlers on Mars
First, they'll build a replica of a Mars settlement on Earth. But then, a new company wants to populate Mars with humans within 20 years, and they hope for an IPO within five years. From
Wired News on September 19, 2005 at 6:45 a.m..
Firefighter Site Collects Stories
A new database aims to give firefighters access to tales of close calls from others in their line of work. The idea is to tip colleagues to potentially dangerous situations by aggregating reports of near misses. From
Wired News on September 19, 2005 at 6:45 a.m..
Google Takes On Copyright Laws
The search giant's project to scan millions of books in order to make their text searchable is on hold at the moment. Fans of the effort say it'll help readers find obscure titles; critics worry it will hurt the book industry. From
Wired News on September 19, 2005 at 6:45 a.m..
New Orleans' Health-System Crisis
Some hospitals are likely damaged beyond repair by Katrina; others in the Crescent City may carry on before conditions are safe. The health-care facilities citywide are shattered, according to a hospital accreditation official. From
Wired News on September 19, 2005 at 6:45 a.m..
E-Tailers Get Apple Nastygrams
Apple demands that several online retailers remove the word 'iPod' from their names and URLs. The retailers cry foul, but Apple may be trying to protect consumers. By Jonny Evans. From
Wired News on September 19, 2005 at 6:45 a.m..
Cash in on Your Social Network
Traditional job hunting is all about who you know. A new recruitment service uses the internet social-networking phenomenon to capitalize on friends of friends. By Joanna Glasner. From
Wired News on September 19, 2005 at 6:45 a.m..
How Vile is Katrina's Toxic Goo?
Scientists are hopeful the Crescent City won't become a toxic waste dump. But germs and chemicals in the leftover muck may stick around for a while. By Randy Dotinga. From
Wired News on September 19, 2005 at 6:45 a.m..
My IPod for a Random Playlist
For years, he took comically extreme measures to correct flaws he heard in playlist randomizers. But turns out, expectations are the problem, not the algorithms. Commentary by Dan Goodin. From
Wired News on September 19, 2005 at 6:45 a.m..
CNN Hacks New TV Technology
On The Situation Room, Wolf Blitzer and his crew push the boundaries of television news by integrating internet technology and viewpoints. By Xeni Jardin. From
Wired News on September 19, 2005 at 6:45 a.m..
Finding voice
I had a wonderful moment at a social event yesterday -- a colleague had just gotten her green card and she was happily showing it around. She was truly revved up about the card. It's very fancy, with holographic images on front and back, including a tiny hologram of the holder herself -- smaller than the face on a dime, I'd say. On the back there's a nice bold-faced reminder that the thing can be taken away at any time -- sort of chilling in our day and age, we both thought. The... From
Weblogs in Higher Education on September 19, 2005 at 12:46 a.m..