By Stephen Downes
April 30, 2004
A Prescription for Business
Innovation
Pollard's essay (in three parts: Part One, Part Two, Part Three) are chock-full of good
insights, like this one: "With the advent of the
near-perfect consumer information these tools provide,
traditional marketing has no remaining role, and the
knowledge-driven transition of power from producer to
consumer is complete." But more to the point, his overall
conclusions regarding the nature and structure of
innovation and business are very similar to my own. For
example, I completely agree with this: "Hierarchy and
Autocracy are the Enemies of Innovation: There is a strong
creative tension between individuals and the communities
they elect to or are asked to be part of, caused by
divergent needs, drivers, and behaviours. Each individual
and each community needs its own space. Flat, small,
responsive, democratic organizations are inherently more
innovative." This essay is strongly recommended. Via
elearnspace. By Dave Pollard, How to Save the World, April
27, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
School Reaps Profits From Corporate Naming
Rights
More evidence of the increasing incursion
of commercial media into schools as we read of the
"ShopRite (Gym) of Brooklawn Center and the Flowers Library
and Media Center." I certainly agree that corporations
should support schools. Only I think they should do it the
same way the rest of us have to: through their taxes, and
without what amounts to free advertising. This is an issue
of fairness: if a corporation can spend its money to get
its message into schools, then why can't I? My taxes pay
for, at least, a locker. Why can't I name it the "No more
war" locker? Or the "Save the environment, boycott paper
goods" urinal? This isn't about money, it's about power,
and about making sure students hear one and only one
message in school - the one that ShopRite or Brooklawn
Center or Pepsi wants them to hear. And that's why it's
wrong. Via PEN Weekly NewsBlast. By AP, CNN, April 21, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Taking the Public Out of
Education
This article contains a reasonably
good assessment toward the spread of private schools - as
founded on what may be called 'marketplace democracy' in
which dollars, rather than votes, determine public policy.
But the public school is defended because "A democracy of
consumers focused on their private interests ceases to be a
democracy" because "To be civilized is to understand the
nature of commonality, to be learned is to grasp the rights
and responsibilities of liberty, to be educated is
comprehend the meaning of citizenship." This sounds fine,
and is more or less a conclusion I agree with, but the
reasoning in this article is unfortunately circular, and
hence will convince only those already convinced. By
Benjamin R. Barber, School Administrator, May, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Essay About Trends
Joi Ito: "It
may seem unintuitive to argue that packaged commercial
content can co-exist alongside consumer content while
concurrently stimulating content creation and sharing. In
order to understand how this can work, it is crucial to
understand how the current system of copyright is broken
and can be fixed." Right. Exactly right. "Today, technology
allows us to find, sample, edit and share very quickly. The
problem is that the current notion of copyright is not
capable of addressing the complexity and the speed of what
technology enables artists to create." By Joi Ito, Joi Ito
Web, April 24, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
The RSS Bubble
Another RSS bubble
article, this one looking at the business potential for the
format. "The conventional wisdom is a Bubble. The Bubble
isn't back—it never left. We are still surfing along on
this mass hallucination called the Internet. Virtual
reality? Give me a break. Mass customization? Dynamic
real-time always-on always-connected mall in the sky? Free
phone calls and video chats? Tablet PC? WiFi? What are you
smoking?" But still, "I've yet to see anyone move to RSS
and then abandon it. If that's a Bubble, bring it on. But
if hype turns out to be true, is it hype?" What Gillmor
misses, though, is that RSS could do everything it promises
and still be called a disappointment if nobody makes
a pile of money from it. That's the thing about bubbles:
the expectations shift, from technological to commercial.
And while RSS may deliver technologically, it may not
satisfy the venture capitalists. That's when the bubble
bursts. Via Robin Good. By Steve Gillmor, Steve Gillmor's
Blogosphere, April 18, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
The Online Presence
Spiral
Interesting article on the potential and
current limitations of audio visual communication over the
internet, based in practical experience. The author
identifies two major issues: voice quality and image lag.
Both of these are caused by lack of bandwidth and lack of
processing power, both of which will ease over time. The
author also talks about more interactive video cams - I
have seen systems like this, both in standard
videoconferencing suites, and also as an attachment to a
standard webcam (but for Windows only - bleah). The key
message, though, is this: "this user has learned that Wi-FI
Skyping from HotSpots is better than a Mobile phone when
available. Thus the paradigm that threatens the landline
system may have more impact on mobility than current
projections suggest." Something to think about. Via Robin
Good. By Stuart Henshall, Unbound Spiral, April 21, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Practicing the Liberty He
Preaches
It's at the end of the article, and you
have to be looking for it, but it's nice to see this little
bit of honesty from Lawrence Lessig as "he was gratified
that remixes of his book had popped up (free-culture.org/remixes), although it
took some getting used to. 'I confess when it first
happened, I had to take a deep breath and reconvince myself
of the principles here,' he said." This is well worth
noting. Open access takes getting used to. There is a
certain loss of control, and this (more than the money, I
think) is probably the greatest barrier. By Thomas D.
Sullivan, New York Times, April 29, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
New Report Reveals Open Access Could Reduce
Cost of Scientific Publishing by up to 30 Per
Cent
I personally think the savings are greater,
because as open publishing is adopted the model of academic
publishing changes as well, becomes more streamlined, but I
welcome this report that cites benefits of up to
30 percent beased on the models that exist today. By Press
Release, The Wellcome Trust, April 29, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
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