By Stephen Downes
November 26, 2003
I Saw God and I Killed It
To do
the impossible. This is the objective a group of almost 200
gameplayers on Everquest set themselves a week ago, and
they succeeded. But the lesson is deeper: the first time
they tried, Sony (which runs Everquest) changed the rules
of the game. Writes the author to Sony, "They thought of
something you didn't, something legal by the rules of the
game you set forward, and you meddled. In the parlance of
the world you created: 'shame & ridicule'." So what's the
lesson here? I'm not sure exactly how to phrase it, but I
do know it's important. "The point is on that first magical
evening when warriors rode off to battle the supreme, you
meddled." Sometimes, I think, you just have to let things
be, give up control, and let the players kill God. By
Andrew Phelps, Corante, November 25, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Education and Training 2010
Via
(and in the words of) ETV: "A new website dedicated to the
implementation of 'Education and Training 2010', the
education and training contribution to the Lisbon strategy,
has been set up. 'Education and Training 2010' integrates
all actions in the fields of education and training at
European level, including vocational education and training
(the 'Copenhagen process'). As well, the 'Bologna process',
initiated in 1999, is crucial in the development of the
European Higher Education Area. Both contribute actively to
the achievement of the Lisbon objectives and are therefore
closely linked to the 'Education and Training 2010' work
programme." The site doesn't display properly in Galeon or
Firebird. Tsk. By Various Authors, November, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
CoP Theory Overview
Via Column
Two, here is a link to a visual representation of the
concept of communities of practice. Interesting, though I
don't think I would have gone with an oak tree as a
metaphor. By Christopher M. Johnson, November, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Trends for Distance Education: Getting the
Big Picture for the Coming
Decade
Distance-Educator.com carried this new
inclusion to ERIC, though it might have been more
appropriate to link to the
original version from 1991. As it stands, this is a
good paper that could have, with some judicious editing,
become a very good paper, but the addition of five
additional authors in the ERIC version seems if anything to
have weakened, rather than improved, the writing (and it is
certainly odd to see the now 6-person collective speaking
in the first person singular). The reference, in
particular, attributed almost at random: why would the
authors not cite anyone (David Noble comes to mind)
regarding controversial statements about the
commodification of education, yet credit the deep insight
that the web "gives information access to users who are
physically remote from resources" to Ryder (1995)? Odd. By
Brent Wilson, et.al., ERIC, November, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
The
Artistic Freedom Voucher: Internet Age Alternative to
Copyrights
David Wiley blogged this interesting
proposal, an artictic freedom voucher (AFV) which would
allow taxpayers to designate $100 to the artist of their
choice, on condition that the artist, in turn, be
ineligible for copyright protection for a significant
period of time. It's an interesting approach fraught with
difficulties (an artist, for example, who only earns a
couple of hundred dollars from the program would
nonetheless be forbidden from earning money commercially).
And, of course, non-artistic artists (for example, people
who write nonfiction or educational materials, such as
myself) would clamour for a share. The paper is, though, a
recognition that public support for the arts might be a
better way to go in the digital age than the current
commercial copyright regime, especially as increasingly
repressive tactics are required to preserve the industry's
state supported monopoly. By Dean Baker, Center for
Economic and Policy Research, November 5, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
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