Stephen's Web ~ OLDaily

By Stephen Downes
November 4, 2002

Rising Stars in Virtual Education: A Peek into 2010 Long but visionary article following many of the same trends I have observed (and predicted) over the last few years. Though I have already grumbled to the author about the references to Microsoft (as a technology leader), I appreciate the overall flow of the article: from cheap computing to cheap communication to cheap content and, in 2010, cheap learning. I also agree with the author on the technology side: that Voice Internet Pads, or VIPs will be ubiquitous and the primary means of communication and access to learning resources in the future. By James Shimabukuro, The Technology Source, November, 2002 [Refer][Research][Reflect]

Preparing Teachers To Use Learning Objects Good article looking at the practical application of learning objects in the classroom. Looks at the reasons teachers would want to use learning objects and means of motivating teachers, including help in finding and developing them, help in determining lesson objectives, and a graduated approach for novices. By Tuiren A. Bratina, Darrin Hayes and Steven L. Blumsack, The Technology Source, November, 2002 [Refer][Research][Reflect]

Spotlight Site: Massachusetts Institute of Technology My own review of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology website and the Open Courseware Project. By Stephen Downes, The Technology Source, November, 2002 [Refer][Research][Reflect]

indecs From the website: "The indecs project developed an analysis of the requirements for metadata for e-commerce in Intellectual Property (IP) in the network environment... indecsrdd is a consortium based initiative for the creation of a rights data dictionary, supported by a group of major content owners and technology companies and managed by Rightscom." According to an email from Chad Kainz on the ltsc-drel mailing list, "The consortium submitted a major proposal to MPEG-21 in December 2001 in response to an international Call for Proposals. indecs rdd has now been adopted by MPEG-21 as the baseline technology for the new MPEG-21 rights data dictionary standard, scheduled for completion in March 2003." Most of the data on this site is from 1999 and 2000. By various Authors, Fall, 2000 [Refer][Research][Reflect]

EdNA Policies If you are creating an email newsletter then you will need a policy statement. This one, from EdNA Online, is one of the better ones I've seen, covering privacy, publishing guidelines, guidelines for contributors and terms and conditions. By Unknown, Education Network Commonwealth of Australia, September 16, 2002 [Refer][Research][Reflect]

Portals, Blogs, & RSS: Why They Are Your Future HTML Slide Show presentation connecting the dots between portals, blogs and RSS (Rich Site Summary, though some people call it (wrongly) Real Simple Syndication). The presentation looks at the blogging phenomenon from the point of view of librarians. By Jenny Levine, SLS Information Technology Services, September 9, 2002 [Refer][Research][Reflect]

Open Digital Libraries The website says, "Open Digital Libraries (ODLs) are systems built as networks of extended Open Archives. The basic philosophy adopts the notions of simplicity and reusability from the Open Archives Initiative, and adds extensibility and componentization into the mix. Protocols for inter-component communication with a single digital library are designed as extensions of the OAI Protocol for Metadata Harvesting, and then components that adhere to these protocols are composed to operate as the back-end of a DL." The site contains a number of good papers on the topic, some demonstrations and protocol specifications. Developers will appreciate the tools provided, including harvesters, schema based metadata editors, and more. By Various Authors, September, 2002 [Refer][Research][Reflect]

OCKHAM Another effort in the field of digital libraries, OCKHAM stands for Open Component Based Knowledge Hypermedia Applications Management. It is seeking a component based and minimalist approach to the creation of networks of digital libraries. There's not a lot here; you can see presentation summary from ECDL 2002, which is the most important item on the site, and a PowerPoint slide presentation from last May in the downloads area. By Various Authors, September, 2002 [Refer][Research][Reflect]

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