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Wednesday, October 06, 2004 |
Interview by iChat. My editor was pressuring me. I had stalled on my next technology article for the Fall 2004 issue of our publication, the mcli Forum.
I had waited too long to do interviews with some faculty (there are
some coo, things some folks are doing with teaching GPS... maybe in the
Spring...)
What would I do?
<>Then a flash of brilliance (or I thought, maybe it was the lights
flickering down the hall).... My flash was asking Brian if I could
conduct an interview via iChat. I could have done an email interview,
but this sounded more spontaneous. And fun.
I have to say it worked well. I got about 15 questions answered
thoughtfully by Brian in about an hour of time. I was able to save the
transcript from the session, and pretty much copy paste it into Word,
edit it down, and Voila! a draft, and a happy editor.
What worked well? I think a key factor was writing my questions in
advance and emailing them to Brian. He could be somewhat prepared.
During the interview, I could cut and paste the questions in, but also
skipped some, and created others on the fly.
This would be very easy to set up as a lesson assignment for
students. Doing an interview by email is very viable, but there is not
the back and forth real time exchange that happens in chat.
I'll be able to share the article and the full chat transcript after
we publish in November. It has a memorable catchy, metaphoric title.
Yes, I am teasing and with-holding, but I have to respect my editor's
wishes ;-)
I'd easily do this again in the future. I am sure I will once again get hit by a looming deadline. You can bet it on it.
[cogdogblog]
11:24:57 AM  Google It!.
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Vioxx: How Safe Is FDA Approval?.
The problems with Vioxx, taken off the market last week, raise
questions about the Food and Drug Administration's safety review
process. Observers say longer clinical trials should be required. [Wired News]
11:12:18 AM Google It!.
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Genome Model Applied to Software.
Open-source developers attempting to reverse-engineer the mysteries of
private networking software turn to genomics research. They're applying
algorithms developed by biologists to decipher the secrets of closed
networks. By Danny O'Brien. [Wired News]
11:09:57 AM Google It!.
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Next Big Thing: The Web as Your
Servant. I was interviewed on Hobart radio yesterday and
one thing we talked about was the idea of students being
tied to desks and computrs by online learning. This item
gets at my response to that, the idea that the current
situation is temporary, that very shortly now (if not
already) the internet will become much more mobile,
allowing us to free students from the classroom. "The
big change is going to be when the Internet follows you,
not you trying to follow the Internet," says Motorola
CEO Ed Zander. "It's just there. Your life is just
affected the way it's affected today by the lights in a
room." Via elearnspace.
By Kevin Maney, USA Today, October 1, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect] [OLDaily]
8:50:14 AM Google It!.
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Re-usable Learning Content Objects or
Re-usable Learning Experience Objects?. Where else would someone glibly cite Chomsky's
Syntactic Structures except in our field? Glib or not, it
is not surprising to see Chomsky used as the base of a
response, because much of what I write is in direct
response to Chomsky and his ilk (Zenon Pylyshyn, Jerry
Fodor, etc). Feldstein is responding to my question,
"where was it written that language must be composed
of building blocks strung together?" He finds the
source for this question in my paper Design
Standards and Re-usability (though I must say
Learning
Objects in a Wider Context frames the idea more
effectively). Even so, he effectively finds the source of
the tension: "I believe that the rules for re-using
experience patterns and the rules for re-using content are
respectively analogous to the rules of syntax and
semantics." I would say they are analagous in use, but
they are not isomorphic - there is nothing, say, in the
placement of an image on a web page, or the playing of an
audio clip with some video, that corresponds to the rules
outlines in Chomsky. That's not to say that the new rules
are not generative - but they're generative in the way that
a fractal or a network structure is generative, like a tree
or a river, not in the way a language-based grammar is
generative. Feldstein offers a good, insightful criticism,
well worth reading. By Michael Feldstein, E-Literate,
October 3, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect] [OLDaily]
8:45:33 AM Google It!.
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Gmail Adds Atom Feeds. Considering how quickly I've taken to reading
DEOS and ITForum using my Bloglines
RSS aggregator, I would have to say that Google's creation
of Atom feeds (Atom is a variant of RSS) for GMail is sure
to be a winner. One more step in the evolution of email
into something else (note: the service is a bit off-and-on
right now as Google works on the code). By Steve Rubel,
Micro Persuasion, October 4, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect] [OLDaily]
8:43:26 AM Google It!.
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Making XP a Welcome Guest on Mac.
Microsoft's new Virtual PC emulator lets an Apple computer run Windows
XP amazingly well. It's a great product for those occasions when you
must sully your Mac with a Windows-only application. By Leander Kahney.
[Wired News]
8:28:35 AM .
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CMS and ePortfolio: At the Crossroads. http://www.campus-technology.com/news_article.asp?
id=10041&typeid=155
Well worth the read, this measured and non-reactionary piece by
Stephen Acker contemplates the need for institutions to engage and
integrate eportfolio systems with their existing course management
systems in order to facilitate both sides of the teaching and
learning equation. As much as I am at times attracted to
'loosely-coupled small tools' visions of some of my fellow edtech
bloggers, this strikes me as closer to what will actually emerge in
most institutions over the next few years. - SWL [EdTechPost]
8:26:35 AM Google It!.
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Best Education Web Sites. The
Center for Digital Education has just named the winners in its Best of
the Web Digital Education Achievement Awards Program. The 40 awards
span K-12 and Higher Education sites. I believe that it is significant
that an open course ware site (MIT) was included among the winners.
JH____
"In its
third year, the BOW evaluates Higher Education, K-12 state and K-12
local district Web sites on their innovation, Web-based delivery of
public services, efficiency, economy, and functionality for improved
student and faculty access. The inaugural DEAA grades state district
and school online applications and projects based on enhanced
interactions, transactions and/or services."
"The review
process this year was a difficult, but exciting project," said Marina
Leight, director of the Center. "It's clear that the Web ! world in
education has come of age and that it's no longer a question of static
versus functionality. The defining features are more subtle and have to
do with who the Web site is serving and how. Of primary importance in
the education sector is how is it serving the student?"
_______
Winners in the DEAA Integrated/Multi-Focus Application (intergovernmental) category are:
eLearnopedia, University of Wisconsin System
Indianapolis Regional Center Plan 2020, Ball State University, Indianapolis,
Work Ready Electronics, Maricopa Advanced Technology Education Center, Arizona
MySite eServices, South Orange County Community College District, California
Winners in the DEAA Integrated/Multi-Focus Application (education) category are:
Ask a Biologist, Arizona State University
Electronic Student Career Portfolios-CUNY, NYC College of Technology, N.Y.
Instructional Center-Plano ISD, Plano Independent School District, Texas
MIT Open Course Ware, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
Utopia-University of Texas at Austin
[EduResources Weblog--Higher Education Resources Online]
7:57:25 AM Google It!.
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Nose-steered Mouse Could Save Aching
Arms. I saw the prototypes
at the National Research Council offices in Ottawa a couple
of years ago, but this invention by NRC staff is finally
getting some public play. The nouse is a system that uses a
video camera to locate your nose and use it as a mouse
pointer. Want to switch it on? Blink twice. By Celeste
Biever, New Scientist, September 16, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect] [OLDaily]
7:50:38 AM Google It!.
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Amateur Revolution. What's interesting is not the fact that this is
the case - though it is of course startling to find that
"committed, networked amateurs working to professional
standards (called) Pro-Am workers, their networks and
movements, will help reshape society in the next two
decades." No, the really interesting question is why
this is the case. How can the amateurs outdo the
professionals? "Some professionals will find that
unsettling; they will seek to defend their monopolies. The
more enlightened will understand that the landscape is
changing. Knowledge is widely distributed, not controlled
in a few ivory towers. The most powerful organizations will
enable professionals and amateurs to combine distributed
know-how to solve complex problems." Via Teaching
and Developing Online. By Charles Leadbeater,
Fast Company, October, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect] [OLDaily]
7:47:11 AM Google It!.
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Page-addressable PDF. In yesterday's item I complained about the opaqueness of PDF files. As Mark Kunzmann
pointed out (in email), the situation is less dire than I suggested. He
illustrated by pointing me to page 100 of the government's energy
report here. I can point you to the page describing necessary URL syntax here.
This scheme is workable, for large documents like the 170-page energy
report, thanks to the same HTTP 1.1 byte-range technology that I've
been using for random access to MP3 audio.
... [Jon's Radio]
7:36:35 AM Google It!.
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Computer telephony: why wait?.
The other day I had one of those living-in-the-future moments. An
important phone call came in, but the colleague I needed to bring into
the call wasn't available, and the caller couldn't wait. So, with the
caller's permission, I recorded the call and forwarded it as an MP3
file to my colleague. When she later replayed the conversation, she got
crucial points -- both factual and emotional -- that I never could have
accurately reported.
VoIP fantasy come true? Not even close. The call came in on a
POTS line. I answered on a regular -- not even cordless -- telephone.
The integration between the voice and data networks was courtesy of JK
Audio's QuickTap.
...
There are dozens of ways in which personal
computers can add value to the PSTN. Caller ID screen pops, conference
call setup, call logging, voice archiving, and user-programmable IVR
(interactive voice response) are just some of the productivity aids
that we should all take for granted by now -- but that almost nobody
can.
The story of the Bellheads vs. the Netheads is a myth in the
primary sense of that word. It explains a real conflict between
worldviews in a way most people can easily understand, and that's
useful. But we can't believe it literally. If the mammals keep waiting
for the dinosaurs to die out, we'll keep missing chances to exploit
them. [Full story at InfoWorld.com]
When you click through to the column, you'll see that its title -- as
published online and in the print magazine -- uses the phrase "IP
telephony," not "computer telephony" as originally written. I can
understand why the change was made: the former term is more familiar
than the latter. And that's exactly my point. We tend to assume that
the integration of computers and telephones means both devices must use
TCP/IP. That's an enabler, but not a requirement. There's a ton of
useful integration you can do by bridging between TCP/IP and the PSTN. ... [Jon's Radio]
-- idea: simple recording of call service (as a link on the
conference/class call) that makes an mp3 copy and then distributes it
to the conference/class as a link. The virtue is that a playback
via winamp plus pacemaker the review time could be reduced by 50
percent and with an added value service it could be keyword indexed
with software (fasttrack?) -- BL
7:31:02 AM Google It!.
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Holy Meta Data! Flickr Strikes Again. Wow, a side benefit to the iPhoto to flickr plugin is that it grabs the metadata iPhoto stores for the images, as I noticed images such as the giant Fred Flinstone I had uploaded this was had been (correctly) identifies as having been taken with an Olympus 4040 digital camera.
This is good meta data- it is automatically
created (no tag typing, or 2 page form completions) and it is
transparently and appropriately used when the "object" (my image) moves
from one environment (my computer) to another (to flickr).
And then you click the link for the camera name, and you get all the freakin meta data! This is provided as part of EXIF (Exchangeable Image File) data file format that is nicely handled by iPhoto.
Does that make sense? Metadata ought to be completely in the
background. Transparent to the user. Is that the tack taken by
Learning Objects? Nooooooo - the metadata is out in front, like a big
ugly boulder dropped in your front yard.
Even more flickr eye openings- you cannot right-click save images;
they are presented as Flash objects (yes i know screen shots are
possible), butt that is n-e-a-t. And what about that link that says
"Flag this photo as 'may offend'"?? What happens when you click it? Do
the police come to your door? ;-)
I looooooovvvvvve flickr. I am in love, deep in love.
Go Flickr Go [cogdogblog]
7:20:58 AM Google It!.
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© Copyright 2004 Bruce Landon.
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