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Thursday, January 20, 2005 |
University of Arizona--DLearn Collection. This
information about the DLearn collection of shareable digital learning
materials developed at the University of Arizona first came to my
attention in Scott Leslie's EdTechPost. The repository is searchable
and browsable; it was developed and is maintained by the Center for
Computing and Information Technology. JH
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University of Arizona's DLearn - DSpace-based LOR. https://www.dlearn.arizona.edu/index.jsp
I have wondered out loud a few times whether anyone was attempting
an LOR on top of DSpace. I got some lukewarm responses but nothing very
concrete to back up DSpace's own claims that it could be used as one. Today I stumbled across this - I don't know for an absolute fact, but this sure looks like a DSpace-powered site, ostensibly serving 'learning objects' hedged as 'digital learning materials.'
Given my current predicament (some of you will know of which I
speak) I'm not really feeling like one to throw stones, glass houses
and all that, eh. But this performs kind of how one would expect it to
- straightforward support of single object binary blob uploads,
searching and browsing, collection support, workflow for submission and
fine and dandy archiving using MD5 checksums. And maybe in the end this
is all there needs to be, though it seems like we've seen enough of
that style of repository to convince that it has some shortcomings.
Certainly, nothing by way of authorization, DRM, handling of XML
content or content aggregation which seem to be where things are heading. So clearly not an endorsement, simply an example. - SWL [EdTechPost] [EduResources Weblog--Higher Education Resources Online]
9:51:00 PM  Google It!.
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Smithsonian Global Sound Collection to
Libraries Worldwide. You won't find this in your CD store, a
collection of more than 30,000 tracks containing
"animal sounds, beer-drinking at an African homestead,
calypso, classical violin instruction, drama, poetry,
sounds of the deep ocean, the office, the ionosphere, a
frog being eaten by a snake and great performances of
traditional music from virtually everywhere in the
world." It is the Smithsonian Global Sound and it is
being published online to be made available to libraries
throughout the world. This will probably be a subscription
service; it is using the same software as the Alexander
Street Classical
Music Library. Via Peter
Scott's Library Blog. By Press Release,
Alexander Street Press, January 14, 2005
[Refer][Research][Reflect] [OLDaily]
9:46:03 AM Google It!.
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Skypecasting in EFL. Skype,
as many of you know, is a free internet voice chat service
(aka an internet telephone - and for a fee, you can call a
regular telephone). With the recent advent of podcasting,
attention has turned to the idea of recording Skype
conversations. It can be done using Windows XP and $40
worth of software, as this article described (one day, I'm
sure, it will be possible to record calls with the push of
a button). Mac users, don't despair. You can follow these
instructions and Teach
Four Two. If you are wondering - yes, you can
Skype me or add me to your contact list. My Skype ID is
Downes. By Aaron Campbell, under the influence of epoche,
January 12, 2005
[Refer][Research][Reflect] [OLDaily]
9:44:55 AM Google It!.
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Picasa 2.0. Google is giving away for free a photo album
application called Picasa. "Picasa is software that
helps you instantly find, edit and share all the pictures
on your PC." It's such a good idea, and as Steve
Yelvington points
out, it "could promote broad use of
standards developed by the newspaper industry and have a
profound effect on the searchability of images on the
Web." By Various Authors, Google, January 19, 2005
[Refer][Research][Reflect] [OLDaily]
9:42:49 AM Google It!.
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Preventing Comment Spam. It's official. As I suggested yesterday, the
'nofollow' tag has been endorsed, not only by Google, but
also by Yahoo and MSN search, along with a host of blogging
software companies (listed in this article). The discussion
lists expressed in general scepticism about the possible
reduction in comment spam, but enthusiastic about the way a
new standard was created through this sort of community
consensus. By Various Authors, Google, January 19, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect] [OLDaily]
9:41:56 AM Google It!.
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Bless You, Google. Google has spoken:
Web links tagged with rel=nofollow shall not get PageRank. A grand
rejoicing has been heard across the land. Well, at least from my office.
From now on, when Google sees the attribute
(rel="nofollow") on hyperlinks, those links won't get any credit when
we rank websites in our search results. This isn't a negative vote for
the site where the comment was posted; it's just a way to make sure
that spammers get no benefit from abusing public areas like blog
comments, trackbacks, and referrer lists.
This means that blog owners can update their software/temnplates so
that any URL inserted into a comment field/Trackback ping will not be
followed or counted by Google's indexing spider. Do you hear that, spam
roaches, the incentive is Gone. Go away. Die. Then eat s**t, Or do it
in any order.
Over the next days, I will eb updating every MT blog I own with the new Nofollow plugin,
which works like a charm so far. then all comment fields on our MLX
site will do the same. The more blogs that rig this up, the better. The
more web forms that attach rel=nofollow to any link shoved inside, the
sooner spammers will implode in their own feces.
Woohoo! Woohoo! Yippie Yi Yo! [cogdogblog]
9:38:44 AM Google It!.
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© Copyright 2005 Bruce Landon.
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