Broadcast Builder.

Very interesting. Lets you put multimedia into your RSS feed (weblog) so that people can subscribe and get video, audio, as well as the usual text and still images. The enterprise license is under US$100 if you download the application rather than order it on CD. Lots of uses spring to mind for the home-based entrepreneur and for e-Learning. -- BB

Broadcast Builder allows you to create RSS (Really Simple Syndication) channels & Weblogs (Blogs) quickly and easily. You can build a channel from scratch or import an existing one from either your own local computer or from a remote resource, and then edit that channel. Broadcast Builder will parse, export, and save the channel for you. [Via Joe Rotello]

10:13:40 PM    

More on learning object repositories.

As he notes, this is the same list as posted yesterday, but with some additional features. OK, correcting my misunderstanding. Per Scott: "... the list that is the same as the one I posted yesterday is their one of repositories that support RSS - the complete list of repositories that can be found in ADL's database is at http://projects.aadlcolab.org/repository-directory/repository_listing.asp and is actually fairly extensive, looks to be about 40 distinct repositories, of which they list 4 as suppporting RSS. ... Cheers, Scott Leslie" Sorry about any confusion that my note created - the fault is mine, not Scott's. What's encouraging about this is the number of repositories and the RSS support. -- BB

Academic ADL Co-Lab's Database of Repositories.

http://projects.aadlcolab.org/repository-directory/

New from the Academic ADL Co-Lab is this searchable database of existing learning object repositories. Most of these are not software you could download to run your 'own' repository but instead existing institutional or subject-based repositories in which you *might* be able to participate (which raises the entirely sticky issue of 'how many repositories do we actually need?' but that's for another post!)

In particular pay attention to the 'Advanced Search' feature - it seems to confirm the same set of repositories that support RSS as I have previously discovered, but also lets you do some neat things like find out which repository projects support the OAI Harvesting Protocol, or which ones support Global Unique Identifiers (GUIDs). - SWL

10:20:58 AM    

Richard E. Clark on the Media and Methods debate.

This is an entire chapter from Clark's latest book. The link below goes to a 12-page pdf file. This could be useful if you have to make a point in a discussion about media. -- BB

Clark: What's next in the Media and Methods debate. Quote: "The debate about the learning benefits of media has extended over eighty years. While the arguments have evolved, the debate is still very much alive. ... In addition, the recently renewed enthusiasm for distance education has led yet another group of technology advocates to seek media comparison evidence. Thus, the goal of this final chapter is to bring the argument up to date as this book goes to press."

Comment: My contribution (written a while ago).
[Serious Instructional Technology]

10:18:15 AM    

Another RSS solution for spam.

"MailbyRSS accepts both text and rich content email, requires no new computer hardware or software, and is invoked by simply emailing content to a secure MailbyRSS account."

If you have been sending out newsletters or other customer communications by email, but are worried now that most of the time they aren't getting through, this might be something to take a look at. It's a free service, and you don't have to know anything about RSS to use it. A better explanation than the one linked to below, and the sign-up, are located on the MailbyRSS Overview page.-- BB

MailbyRSS - free service creates RSS feeds via e-mail. Very cool must try this out!

[SOURCE: Archipelago]

QUOTE

MailbyRSS - free service creates RSS feeds via e-mail: A free service is being launched today for authoring RSS feeds by e-mail. We designed the service to help organizations divert to RSS the permission-based e-mails they are sending (or were before CAN-SPAM took effect) to subscribers, such as newsletters.

UNQUOTE

10:05:04 AM    

What's a wiki?

I've said it before on this weblog, and will probably say it again: I am not a fan of wikis. They can be a nightmare to maintain (the black hole in your day), they can confuse the daylights out of learners, and they can become so complicated that finding the content you need is impossible. Plus they are all text. But ... some people like them, and although I thought they were dead seven years ago, they keep coming back, perhaps to your neighborhood. So here is a good explanation of wikis by someone who is their friend. Good luck and don't say I didn't warn you. -- BB

Wikis: Hypertext on Steroids. Well. It's been a long time, been a long time, been a lonely lonely lonely lonely lonely time. I've just completed a rough draft of my latest article for UBC's e-Strategy Newsletter. This month, I try to communicate the concept... [Object Learning]

9:50:09 AM