OLDaily

By Stephen Downes
June 29, 2005

Research in Distance and Adult Learning Link
We're about to have a whopping thunderstorm, so I'd better cut this short and send it while I can. I'll catch up tomorrow. Anyhow, I ran into this site today which, although it has been publishing since 2002, has lurked below my radar. This should be a lesson - get right of the frames and add some sort of subscription (preferably RSS), or you'll be essentially invisible, even to dedicated searchers. By Unknown, Centre for Research in Distance and Adult Learning, June, 2005 [Refer][Research][Reflect]

Research Councils Back Free Online Access
Something for my own agency and funding agencies in Canada, where I've been agitating for a similar policy. "Research Councils UK (RCUK), the umbrella body for the eight research councils, are proposing that researchers must archive their papers arising from the work they fund in openly available repositories." The Publishers' Association, naturally, objects. Tough. The taxpayers have paid for the research; it takes some nerve to charge them again (much less at prices no average citizen could afford). By Donald MacLeod, The Guardian, June 29, 2005 [Refer][Research][Reflect]

Report on the Meeting of Experts on Digital Preservation: Metadata Specifications
Interesting report (if you like this sort of thing) on a collection of metadata experts from major American libraries discussing digital archives preservation. The report contains a useful list of the different metadata formats adopted by various institutes (Dublin Core and Machine-Readable Cataloging (MARC) were the most popular). The consensus seemed to be that the metadata should be attached to the digital object and a METS-like wrapper used to allow for a variety of schemas. Not sure why they didn't support a separate metadata repository, which would be a lot easier for searchers (this wasn't really covered in the summary). Interesting list of the 11 high-level elements that were suggested as required elements for any resource. Via CIOB news, June 29, 2005 via Government of Canada. By Unattributed, U.S. Government Printing Office, June 14, 2004, revised June 2, 2005 [Refer][Research][Reflect]

TV Stations Must Embrace Personal Media Tools
Quoted, which gives you the idea: "Web researcher Gordon Borrell says, 'The deer now have guns,' and he's right. With a PC, a $100 web camera, a $200 piece of real-time TV production software that includes a teleprompter, free blog software, FTP access to a server, a small digital camera, editing software, and an imagination, anybody can be a TV station, a newspaper or a multimedia news operation. In order to do so, however, the person running the enterprise needs to know how to do everything... The 'quality' argument pales in comparison with a creative mind at the helm of a control panel like this." Via elearnspace. By Terry Heaton, Morph, May 30, 2005 [Refer][Research][Reflect]

Social Bookmarking Tool Comparison
OK, this is not - despite the title - a comparison of social bookmarking tools. It is a description of the concept of social bookmarking, a list of social bookmarking tools, and a set of benchmarks for comparison. The actual comparisons are planned for the future. Still worth reading. Via elearnspace. By webb, ConsultantCommons, June 6, 2005 [Refer][Research][Reflect]

The Big Fish
Not really about online learning, but if you want to add to your knowledge of internet lore, this longish history of the magazine website, suck.com, is worth a read. Started with (secret) backing from Wired, Suck emerged in the halcyon days that also saw the births of Slate and Salon. It never really appealed to me, for the same reasons that Mad Magazine never really appealed to me. By its inglorious end it had what can only be called a niche following. By Matt Sharkey, Keepgoing.org, June, 2005 [Refer][Research][Reflect]

TILT - Teachers Improving Learning with Technology
Danny Maas has launched a an educational technology vidcast entitled TILT - Teachers Improving Learning with Technology. He writes, "Similar to a podcast, this is an online video broadcast that features elements of educational technology which can help improve student learning... the goal is to have others such as yourselves share your great ideas, favorite educational websites, best practices, tutorials, advice - anything that can enrich the learning process across all subject areas." The first episode is a 13 Mb Windows Media Video (.wmv) file, which while pretty good compression is still mostly for the bandwidth-rich. By Danny Maas, June 27, 2005 [Refer][Research][Reflect]

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