Monday, January 17, 2005

Scott's Workblog. CETIS's Scott Wilson has launched a blog, a welcome addition to the online learning blog community and sure to be added to many reading lists. His first post, addressing the VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) of the future, aligns brilliantl with the picture I have been painting in these pages: "I think the VLE of the future is going to be less like an information portal, and more like an aggregator." He continues, "as well as coordinating with offerings from learning providers in the traditional sense, the VLE of the future will connect very strongly with informal activities that inform learning, integrating with applications like 43Things, LiveJournal, and del.icio.us." Great stuff; I look forward to many more posts. His RSS is here and he also includes a FOAF (pay attention to these; we'll be reading much more about them this year). By Scott Wilson, January 17, 2005 [Refer][Research][Reflect] [OLDaily] 10:57:51 PM      Google It!.

Patents, Open Standards and Open Source. There are some serious disputes over software patents and open standards, and Wilbert Kraan nails the point of contention exactly: "The anti versus pro software patent debate also has major consequences for the process of setting interoperability standards. Inclusion of someone's known patent in a standard immediately locks the open source competition out of that market, and often discriminates against smaller commercial software houses and newcomers." By Wilbert Kraan, CETIS, January 17, 2005 [Refer][Research][Reflect] [OLDaily] 10:56:26 PM      Google It!.

When Blogging Goes Bad: A Cautionary Tale About Blogs, Email Lists, Discussion, and Interaction(1) - Steven D. Krause, Karios. ....Clearly, the role of blogs in different writing classes varies considerably. However, a quick glance through these examples (especially Mueller's and Blackmon's) would suggest that many writing teachers seem to be using blog spaces as places to fa [Online Learning Update] 7:34:00 AM      Google It!.

Measuring Literacy in a World Gone Digital. The Educational Testing Service has developed a new test that it says can assess technology literacy. By By TOM ZELLER Jr.. [NYT > Education] 7:32:48 AM      Google It!.

Open-Source Biology Evolves. Can a rebel band of scientists pool patented innovation techniques and give them away through the internet? By David Cohn. [Wired News] 7:29:34 AM      Google It!.