Friday, November 05, 2004

Learning Object Metadata (The Buntine Oration - Reflection 3). Albert Ip offers his third (or fourth) post in response to my learning Networks talk in Perth, looking this time at metadata. As with his previous posts, there is a great deal of resonance between his views and mine. It's insteresting - as you read through his article you'll see the utility of metadata shrink smaller and smaller, untill we're left with the professor's desktop: "Most academic are expert in their own discipline. They have a very good knowledge of the kind of resources they can and would use. They don't need resource discovery support. They need tools to help them use the resources they already own!" Discoverability is about consumption and use - but what we needed, have always needed, was something that helped with creation and discourse. By Albert Ip, Random Walk in E-Learning, November 4, 2004 [Refer][Research][Reflect] [OLDaily] 6:00:14 AM      Google It!.

Bloglines Step-by-Step. Some practical advice describing how to use Blogines, a popular web-based RSS aggregator. By Alex Halavais, A Thaumaturgical Compendium, November 5, 2004 [Refer][Research][Reflect] [OLDaily] 5:58:15 AM      Google It!.

One-Minute Site. The contents of this manifesto should need to be repeated, but a scan of the web shows that companies (and educational institutions, and governments) continue to fail to follow its sage advice. In a nutshell: remove the fancy animations, the corporate advertising, and the press release talk, and make your company's people the focus of your website. And you know - exactly the same advice applies to online learning. Administrators should pay special attention to page 17 - the website swindle. Via Jay Cross, who also links to an important item by George Lakoff cited here a few months ago on the concept of framing. By Oliva&Toscani 2002, Change This, November 2, 2004 [Refer][Research][Reflect] [OLDaily] 5:57:03 AM      Google It!.

Have You Called Your Car Lately?. The Viper G.P.S. Tracking System can be reached by the Internet or a cellphone. By By NICK KAYE. [NYT > Technology] 5:54:32 AM      Google It!.

Supercomputer breaks speed record. The US is poised to push Japan off the top of the supercomputing charts with an IBM prototype machine. [BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition] 5:52:04 AM      Google It!.

Students with disabilities gain an advocate - Lynda Hills, University of Victoria. Shohreh Hadian is hoping to help UVic operate with its eyes closed. By concentrating on visually impaired students, she researched how universities offer Web-based courses and identified important barriers to accessibility. "Online learning is attracti [Online Learning Update] 5:48:33 AM      Google It!.