By Stephen Downes
February 26, 2004
Maurice Merleau-Ponty
After my
discussion of Tversky the other day, a reader wrote to
remind me of Maurice Merleau-Ponty's philosophy of
perception. Critcizing my paper on Relevant Similarity, the
reader wrote, "it is the primacy of our perceptions, which
are similar to each other (in terms of how and what we
generally perceive) that is the tool for our cognition."
Quite right, but to clarify, this is why a system of
formal reasoning is inadequate to explain cognition,
because if this is all we have, the senses are not
sufficient for the task that they actually accomplish.
There's a lot in Merleau-Ponty that I like, and especially
this: "Habit, and the production of schemes in regards to
the body's mobilisation, 'gives our life the form of
generality and prolongs our personal acts into stable
dispositions" (PP 146). This tendency of our body to seek
its own equilibrium and to form habits, is an infinitely
important component of Merleau-Ponty's body-subject..."
Read Merleau-Ponty and think McLuhan. I need to pull all
these thoughts together, because they are related: the
nature of similarity, the diffusion of information in a
network, causality, interpretation, context, learning,
blogging, the semantic social network and the
self-organizing web. By Jack Reynolds, Internet
Enclyclopedia of Philosophy, December, 2001
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Edinburgh
Now that Jay Cross has
completed his coverage of his trip to Scotland, it is well
worth summarizing in an item. One think I like about his
work is the number of photos and images - they add a lot.
So we are treated with one set, then then another, before we get to the
conference. Then coverage of the opening plenary which included one
scathing review and this observation: "How many in the
audience use PowerPoint at least once a month? (Most of
us.) How many learned it by attending a course? (1 person)
How many learned via eLearning? (2) How many learned
through trial and error and/or asking people for help? (45)
This is a typical finding." Moving on, we get some classic Jay as, on the fly, he prepares
and gives a talk that covers emergent learning, networks
and learning and visual learning - and though we express it
differently, it is clear that he and I are on the same
wavelength here. More pictures, and then a good summary of
a talk by Etienne Wegner, the father of the
community of practice. Jay grabs the key point (and in so
doing, the logic behind (what should become) learning
metadata): "The three aspects of social learning are the
Domain, the Practice, and the Community. What, how, and
who." Finally, Jay concludes with an amusing describtion of
the closing plenary, in which students berate
the assembled for chattering and not paying attention.
Nobody covers conferences better that Jay Cross. By Jay
Cross, Internet Time, February 20, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
CopperCore to Power Learning Design
implementations
CETIS writes great ledes,
leaving me with no alternative but to quote them: "The Open
University of the Netherlands (OUNL) has just released
CopperCore: an IMS Learning Design engine, the first of its
kind. Rather than provide a complete take-it-or-leave-it
Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), the open source package
is designed to be integrated into a range of existing
e-learning infrastructures." This clear writing in the same
article that used the phrase 'The Gubbins' as a section
head, as though we would understand. Heh. Oh, and somebody
asked me yesterday about a SCORM player; here's one at
ReLoad, found (again) by following a link in the CETIS
story. By Wilbert Kraan, CETIS, February 20, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Looking Into Practical & Productive Blogging,
K8
Somebody asked me the other day whether I had
respources on blogging specifically for K-12 instruction.
Since I don't focus on specific sectors, I didn't. But I've
kept an eye out, and here is the first hit: a weblog
devoted specifically to the use of blogs in K-8 schools. I
have no doubt there are others out there, so if people let
me know these resources exist, I'll post them over the next
few days (I did already recommend Weblogg-Ed as the best I know on the
subject). By Rick Barter, Conners Emerson School, February,
2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Selecting and Implementing an Open Source
Software Digital Repository (FEDORA)
The title
of this presentation (PowerPoint placed into PDF) is a bit
misleading; the talk is mostly about the Fedora digital
object repository system. Still, the content is first rate,
and for those immersed in learning objects, a peek such as
this into the wider world of digital objects in general
would be well worth while. Other papers from this seminar
"To Have and to Hold: Metadata and Institutional
Repositories" are also available online. By Corey Keith and
Jon Dunn, RLG Members' Forum, December 15, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
There's No Such Thing as Free
HBO
The lesson here isn't just another case of a
company suing its customers, nor is it the new judicial
system under which you are guilty if you could
illegally access a file. No, while these cases show that
the illogic of the music industry debate is spreading to
other industries, that's not the story. In fact, the lesson
is this: smart cards can be hacked. In fact, smart
cards are so easy to hack that the defendants in this
story, 22,000 in all (the number of people who
didn't settle with Direct TV), are from all walks of
life. "We've talked to people who are on welfare, in
trailer parks. We talked to one guy whose wife was sued
while she was in a coma in the hospital." And the thing is,
how are you going to tell? How does a consumer tell that a
smart card is legal? How does the producer tell the hack
isn't legitimate. "They get caught and they're going to
come up with fifteen different stories about how they were
conducting field research in smart-card technology or
trying to fix their garage-door opener," they say. Well
maybe. But conducting research or fixing your garage are
legal activities. If the everyday becomes suspicious
because the technology is the online equivalent of a free
flow lane, how do any of us escape scrutiny and apparantly
random prosecutions? My goodness, doesn't anyone over there
on the Other Side know where they're taking us? By Kara
Platoni, East Bay Express, February, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
E-Books and DRM
Would you pay
hardcover prices for a book that will be throws away after
one read? Of course not, and it is this that publishers do
not understand. This article is a good introduction to some
of the issues surrounding eBooks (though I would take issue
with some of the statements expressed by Adobe spokesperson
Shafath Syed). But the comments are the better part of the
article, so don't skip them. "The key issues are (1)
e-books aren't books and (2) most publishers simply don't
understand the technology. A book is both data and a
display medium that can last for centuries. Books are
inexpensive and easy to read, but bulky, hard to store and
hard to search. E-books are data. They are displayed on
expensive devices that have a useful life of two to four
years, with disk reformats/rebuilds perhaps yearly." By Ed
Foster, Ed Foster's GripeLog, February 19, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Bull Session With Professor
IPod
To revisit a theme from a few weeks ago:
"Bull noted that a lot of users reported they stored a few
"perennial favorites" on their iPod but generally were
constantly shuffling new music in and out, which may
explain why they're reluctant to pay for something they
don't 'keep.' WN: Yeah. Apple has always said the iTunes
music store was a loss leader, a way to sell more iPods.
Bull: Right. In terms of usage, Apple got it intuitively
right. People use (the iPod) as an alarm clock, and when
they listen to it at night, they like the fact it can turn
itself off. It's how people like to use music." Good look
at the sociology of iPods. By Leander Kahney, Wired news,
February 25, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Lies! Lies! and Suckers
Hm. John
C. Dvorak argues that "The Internet is not a bastion of
truth and freedom, it's a pit of horror and lies. It's
geared up to become a mechanism of tyranny and madness."
Nice example, though, as he argues that "trying to
determine the exact wording of the 'bumpy ride' quote said
by Bette Davis in the movie All About Eve is another
amusing Internet exercise... Go to Google and search for
'Betty Davis bumpy ride' or 'All About Eve quotes.'"
Spelling the actor's name correctly produces better
results, of course, but I have to ask, is this the fault of
the internet? I mean, would there be any doubt at all were
the script for the movie posted on the net for all to see?
When you are left with nothing but speculation, then of
course you increase the chances of error, but this error is
caused not by those who speculate, but by those who have
the knowledge and won't share it. Dvorak is right,
but he blames the wrong party. Oh, and while I'm at it, try
the same test using any other medium - television,
newspapers, radio - and let me know how your search goes.
Piffle, I say. By John C. Dvorak, P.C. Magazine, February
23, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Know a friend who might enjoy this
newsletter?
Feel free to forward OLDaily to your colleagues. If you
received this issue from a friend and would like a free
subscription of your own, you can join our mailing list
at
http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/website/subscribe.cgi
[
About This NewsLetter] [
OLDaily Archives]
[
Send me your comments]