Wednesday, January 25, 2006

video Apple to offer speedy lecture podcasts - Jimmy Leach, the Guardian. The forthcoming QuickTime 2 Really Simple Syndication (RSS) technology, a development program to be launched in Europe in the spring, will allow the lecturer to record their own "performance" - their slides, notes and details of student assignments as the [Online Learning Update] -- this may well move student time-shifting past the cusp and open the virtual doors of the classroom making every classroom a channel on the old ipod -- This would be especially interesting when done with MIT open course ware -- BL 8:24:47 PM    comment

blogs in education College Study Abroad Program Blog Breaks Ground, Premieres Revolutionary New Education Tool. A popular college study abroad program blog is changing reality programming and educational recruiting by publishing weekly live audio updates from students studying abroad, all in the hopes of making students more excited about the prospect of studying a [Online Learning Update] 8:16:12 PM    comment

ePortfolio UGA Thick Description: Deep Commitment. Feedback sought! We'd like to post a thick description of an artifact to solicit any feedback and to help generate reflection on our project. The attached .pdf is a description of a UGA FYC student portfolio, which contains enough contextual material to acclimate the reader to our portfolio project. [National Coalition for Electronic Portfolio Research blogs] 3:54:08 PM    comment

video What aspects of facial movement convey emotion?. Disney’s purchase of Pixar makes it clear that computer-generated (CGI) animation appears to be the wave of the future in movies. But one difficulty with CGI animation is conveying realistic emotions. While film animators (whether they use computers or not) can use artistic license to achieve the desired effects, when “emotions” are generated exclusively by computer, it can be difficult to identify the key factors in conveying that emotion. We’ve discussed avatars, for example, as one way that computers can automate human interaction. Artificial intelligence — lifelike simulators of human responses — will also need to mimick emotions convincingly in order to interact effectively with real people. Harold Hill, Nikolaus Troje, and Alan Johnston have investigated two aspects of how CGI animations can effectively express emotion. To view the rest of this article, visit the new Cognitive Daily site at ScienceBlogs.com. [Cognitive Daily] 3:48:56 PM    comment

eCulture A Statistical Review of 1 Billion Web Pages. [Slashdot] 3:42:56 PM    comment

networks Web game provides breakthrough in predicting spread of epidemics. Using a popular internet game that traces the travels of dollar bills, scientists have unveiled statistical laws of human travel in the United States, and developed a mathematical description that can be used to model the spread of infectious disease in this country. This model is considered a breakthrough in the field. [Science Blog -] 3:29:41 PM    comment

gender One in Four College Students Cite Unwanted Sexual Contact in Survey. The online survey included a broad definition of harassment, its authors say, capture episodes that might otherwise have been shrugged off. By DIANA JEAN SCHEMO. [NYT > Education] 10:33:21 AM    comment

podcasting Students and Teachers, From K to 12, Hit the Podcasts. Podcasting is rapidly becoming a standard teaching tool. And students are not the only ones doing the learning. By JEFFREY SELINGO. [NYT > Education] 10:29:20 AM    comment

speech recognition IBM Strives For 'Superhuman' Speech Tech. [Slashdot] is this the Douglas Adam's fish? --BL 10:24:48 AM    comment

open source How To Choose An Open Source CMS. [Slashdot] 10:13:44 AM    comment

open content Studies examine withholding of scientific data among researchers, trainees. Open sharing of information is a basic principle of the scientific process, but it is well known that secrecy has become a fact of life in academic science. Several studies have described how researchers may withhold the results of their studies from other scientists or deny them access to data or materials. In two new reports, researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Institute for Health Policy examine a broader range of withholding behaviors among life scientists than previously reported and describe how data withholding is affecting researchers in several fields during their training years. [Science Blog -] 10:03:50 AM    comment

aging Use your brain, halve your risk of dementia. Research from UNSW provides the most convincing evidence to date that complex mental activity across people's lives significantly reduces the risk of dementia. The researchers found that such activity almost halves the incidence of dementia. [Science Blog -] 9:07:50 AM    comment