Thursday, June 30, 2005

Where Belief is Born. Good, though short, article summarizing work on the foundations of belief and memory. People, it seems to me, have this folk-psychological view of beliefs and memories as static, sentence-like, off-or-on. The examples offered here may shake those perceptions. By Alok Jha, The Guardian, June 30, 2005 [Refer][Research][Reflect] [OLDaily] 11:24:09 PM      Google It!.

I Have Been Told I Can't Talk to Students. Steve Sloan reports, "I have been told (by my boss) that I can't talk to students on my podcasts." Student Ryan Sholin, who appeared in one of Sloan's podcasts, writes, "I find it completely, 100% ridiculous that any bureaucratically-minded folks at this University would censor what their staff members write in their free time, or what they record, or share with the world." That's pretty much my feeling too. In another post, Sloan argues, "When you isolate any group, whether it be students, staff or faculty and try to prevent them from talking to each other you destroy the power of the conversation to help your organization." Sloan points to the Cluetrain Manifesto. He is right to do so. By Steve Sloan, Steve Sloan, SJSU Tech on a Mission, June 27, 2005 [Refer][Research][Reflect] [OLDaily] 11:21:49 PM      Google It!.

My Web 2.0. Yahoo! is beta-testing the closest thing to the semantic social network I've seen so far with My Web 2.0, which is a combination social networking and content sharing site. It also incluides tagging (which I think is what Yahoo! really wanted with Flickr). What I like is the RSS import, which I set to import my own content (though you could import any content). Google, which has the two things needed to make this work (Blogger and Orkut) can't be far behind. The crucial question: will they work together? By Various Authors, Yahoo!, June, 2005 [Refer][Research][Reflect] [OLDaily] 11:12:18 PM      Google It!.

Google Maps has a documented API. Good move. [Scripting News] 1:15:54 PM      Google It!.

Helping others pays off more than being helped. Most religions, from Anabaptism to Zoroastrianism, feature some version of Christianity's "Golden Rule": Do undo others, as you would have them do unto you. Aside from being a nice concept, how do we benefit from helping others? From an individual perspective, wouldn't we be better off if we just let others help us out, without [...] [Cognitive Daily] 1:03:25 PM      Google It!.

Virtual Collaboration Tools: Communication Without Boundaries - Kellye Whitney, Chief Learning Officer. Communication is one of the linchpins of modern learning organizations, and Web-based virtual collaboration tools have earned significant credibility as communication aids. Instant messaging (IM), chat, and Web and video conferencing help enable widesprea [Online Learning Update] 9:45:50 AM      Google It!.

Insanely Great Apps: Skype + Nicecast = (Heart) [Edubloggers Links Feed] 9:38:33 AM      Google It!.

TagCloud [Edubloggers Links Feed] 9:36:22 AM      Google It!.

WORDCOUNT / Tracking the Way We Use Language / [Edubloggers Links Feed] 86k words = shared common vocabulary? -- BL 9:35:15 AM      Google It!.

Playstation 3 to Sell For $399, Going Underground [Slashdot:] 9:28:37 AM      Google It!.

John Palfrey, executive director at Berkman Center (where I used to work), announces a new venture capital fund that focuses on investments in "tagging, RSS, OPML, search, social software, and related next-gen standards." According to Jim Moore, another former colleague of mine, they have raised $20 million from Ritchey Capital, and plan to raise another $80 million. [Scripting News] 9:10:38 AM      Google It!.