November 29, 2005
Article
November 29, 2005
This article releases code and documents a working mIDm application. The attached file, new_login.cgi, can both accept mIDm logins and can act as an identity server for people wishing to use mIDm.
[
Comment]
OLDaily
Following the article posted earlier today (see above) this page provides access to information and downloads supporting the mIDm application, my version of an approach to distributed identity management on the web. This page is a permanent resource, not simply an article, and will be updated with additional resources as they come available. [Tags: None] [
Comment]
I got an email from the Chronicle this morning, remarkable in itself, advising of an article and forum "the readers of Stephen's Web might be interested in participating in." It's a good item in and of itself, exploring the use of biometrics at schools to manage access or even to get meals at the cafeteria. As you can expect, the usual issues about privacy arise, which is the basis of the online discussion to follow. The email notes that it is "free and open to the public," a sign, perhaps, that the Chronicle is becoming sensitive to the impact of its subscriber-only policy elsewhere on the site. [Tags:
Discussion Lists,
Schools,
Privacy Issues] [
Comment]
Blogscholar has been around since June but will still be new to most readers. Publisher Chris Brauer writes, "Blogscholar is a non-profit site operating as a resource for academics who blog to explore relevent issues, visit other academic blogs and create content. We recently assigned a new editor who will be monitering the web regularly for items of interest to academic bloggers." [Tags:
Web Logs,
Academics and Academia] [
Comment]
Good commentary. "Many academics view online teaching and learning with suspicion, and rightly so. Today’s learning technologies will revolutionize and affect colleges and universities as we know them. Faculty and administrators should be aware of the changes technology affords and question the implications deeply and critically." [Tags:
Paradigm Shift,
Academics and Academia,
Teaching Online] [
Comment]
Marc Canter links to this wiki page - YADIS stands for "Yet Another Decentralized Identity Interoperability System" and is an attempt to bring the various distributed identity projects, including mIDm, into alignment. I'm all for it, but they have to come up with a better way to reach decisions than 'whatever is agreed by whomever shows up at the san Francisco meeting' - some of us aren't made of money, and not all of us live in Silicon Valley. [Tags:
Silicon Valley,
Project Based Learning] [
Comment]
A combination identity server and social software application,
Jambo has attracted the interest of publications such as Wired and Women's Wear Daily (you have to wonder about the publicity mill sometimes) but hasn't, to my observation, gained any great traction. Even so, Craig Blaha comments, "The convenience of having all of your bookmarks and accounts in one place is seductive. Being able to tie these things into a social profile, that allows you to search wirelessly for like minded individuals in a certain geographic range is awesome - in the literal sense." Jambo is available for Windows and Apple, which does not bode well. [Tags:
Microsoft,
Wireless] [
Comment]
Not just Dave Winer, of course, but a growing number of writers. The advantage of using a URL is that they're freely and widely available, they can be unique, and they can be relatively permanent. The URL, in turn, points to other services used by the person, including identity services, and may provide information about the person, either directly, as a microformat, or indirectly, as in a FOAF. Where I differ with the proposal sketched here is that the URL in question needs to
be the identity server in question, because otherwise there's no reason to believe the author of the web page is the owner of the identity. [Tags: None] [
Comment]
The discussion around the blocking of blogs in schools, leading toward what may emerge as a statement or organization. In the mean time, some interesting links, including to this
big list of proxy bypasses, this response to
Flickr blockage, a link to
Guy Bensusan on censorship, a wiki page with
more links, a
moot court case on web blockages, and this great summary of a
research report questioning the need for internet censorship at all. On a related note, see also
this post on how Bess categorizes web pages. [Tags:
Web Logs,
Project Based Learning,
Schools,
Research,
Networks,
Ontologies] [
Comment]
Projects & Collaborations
Browse through the thousands of links in my knowledge base
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Browse through the thousands of links in my knowledge base
sorted according to topic category, author and
publication.
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Photos
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for downloading as desktop wallpaper.
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Stephen Downes
Copyright © 2004 Stephen Downes
National Research Council Canada
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I want and visualize and aspire toward a system of society and learning where each person is able to rise to his or her fullest potential without social or financial encumberance, where they may express themselves fully and without reservation through art, writing, athletics, invention, or even through their avocations or lifestyle.
Where they are able to form networks of meaningful and rewarding relationships with their peers,
with people who share the same interests or hobbies, the same political or religious affiliations - or different
interests or affiliations, as the case may be.
This to me is a society where knowledge and learning are public goods, freely created and shared,
not hoarded or withheld in order to extract wealth or influence.
This is what I aspire toward, this is what I work toward. - Stephen Downes