OLDaily By Stephen Downes May 31, 2004 Saskatoon I am in Saskatoon for the the International Centre for Governance and Development's workshop, Building Distributed Communities of Practice for Enhanced Research-Policy Interface. This link is to my collection of photos of Saskatoon (yes, there are photos of Winnipeg and Embrun coming soon). By Stephen Downes, Stephen's Web, May 31, 2004 [Refer][Research][Reflect] The Evolving Concept of the Community of Practice PowerPoint slides from my presentation at the Building Distributed Communities of Practice conference in Saskatoon. Also, the Audacity audio recording software worked perfectly - you will need to download LAME to encode MP3s (just put it in a directory; no install required). So I was able to record my 37 minute presentation - the resulting MP3 file is 32 megabytes, so this one isn't for the faint of heart - but at least it exists and one day, somehow, I will get a (non-proprietary) streaming media server running to make listening to these things easier. By Stephen Downes, Stephen's Web, May 29, 2004 [Refer][Research][Reflect] Building Distributed Communities of Practice Notes from the International Centre for Governance and Development's workshop, Building Distributed Communities of Practice for Enhanced Research-Policy Interface 28-31 May, 2004, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. By Stephen Downes, Stephen's Web, May 31, 2004 [Refer][Research][Reflect] CanCore Update I have about an hour to go before the hockey game, and there is no good reason to exclude any of this from today's newsletter, so I am just going to forward Nom's email en masse. I'll read this stuff on the plane tomorrow; you can get a jump on me and read it tonight. Here it is: This being my last day at work (my contract was extended by 2 months), I thought I would update you on CanCore and my other activities. Feel free to include any of this info in OLDaily, should it seem relevant: 1. Version 2.0 of the CanCore guidelines is available in both English and French: "Three years in the making, and over 200 pages in length, the 2.0 version of the CanCore Guidelines for the implementation of Learning Object Metadata (LOM) is now available at no charge. Like the current version of the LOM itself, this release promises to remain stable for long-term implementation timelines." See the: a. Press release b. Lignes directrices CanCore 2.0 (PDF et MSWord) c. CanCore Guidelines 2.0 (PDF & MSWord) 2. Two short papers on learning objects and standards: a. Friesen, N. (2004 -forthcoming). Learning Objects and Standards: Pedagogical Neutrality and Engagement. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies. Joensuu, Finland. August 30, 2004. b. Friesen, N. (2004 -forthcoming). Asynchronous Collaborative Learning Forums: Opportunities for Interoperability. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies. Joensuu, Finland. August 30, 2004. 3. Three papers (in penultimate draft form) on a range of political- and technology-related topics: a. Friesen, N. & Anderson, T. (2004 -submitted). Interaction for Lifelong Learning & the Semantic Web. Special Edition of the British Journal of Educational Technology (on Lifelong Learning). Draft. b. Friesen, N. (2004 -submitted). Learning Objects, the Knowledge Age and the End of the World (as we know it). Special Edition of the International Society for Technology in Education. Version to be presented by Liam Rourke at CADE 2004. Draft. c. Friesen, N. (2004). "Catching sight of the permanent possibility of War: Visions of Totality. The Journal of Social Theory in Art Education (special issue on war and silence). That ends Norm's email. For my part, I can't believe Athabasca is letting this guy go -- one wonders what other priorities they had for the same amount of money. New hedges? A glossy brochure? Same goes for my own organization - if I had access to any money I would hire him in an instant. I don't know where Norm is headed, but it had better be somewhere good. By Norm Friesen, Cancore, May 31, 2004 [Refer][Research][Reflect] Da Vinci's Notebooks This genuinely is the beauty of the web - an RSS feed showing one page of Da Vinci's Notebooks per day - a project that will take a little more than four years to complete. This commentator writes, "The real question is this: if the information is so marginally useful, is it really a good thing that I'm now adding it to my life? But that, of course, is the beauty of the internet generally: more and more efficient ways to waste time." By Sam, 15 Seconds, May 31, 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]