November 6, 2006
OLDaily
[link: Hits] As the author notes, "It becomes increasingly frustrating to remain current on how to create, use and publish works in the digital environment in ways that respect copyright... The consequences for copyright infringement, whether intended or not, are out of proportion to the need for open access for learning and knowledge creation." Quite right. Good and comprehensive overview of copyright's impact on Canadian academic. Additional articles from the Spring, 2006, Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology are
also available online. (p.s. I got an email today, and now I see an editorial, boasting about
low acceptance rates. Why would anyone be proud of wasting so much academic content, especially given that the peer review system almost guarantees that some quality and innovative work is being thrown out?) [Tags:
Open Access,
Canada,
Copyright and Patent Issues,
Academics and Academia,
Quality] [
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[link: Hits] Scott Leslie wonders why "First Monday publishes
this article by the co-author of The Social Life of Information, Paul Duguid, that asks questions about the oft-asserted transferability of "laws of quality" from open source software projects to the peer production of 'knowledge' in sites like Wikipedia, and literally almost no one replies." Perhaps, he says, "everyone just read this already and went on with their business." Count me as one who read it and went about his business. Well - I thought I had linked to it, but I didn't.
Why? I found his example ridiculous. So Project Gutenberg is forced to use an older, less reliable source because of copyright restrictions. This is a criticism of open source? So little used and obscure open data is wrong. This somehow refutes the 'many eyeballs' theory? And his methodology is akin to finding some bugs in some minor open source software and comncluding that therefore commercial software is of better quality.
I guess I figured someone else would say these things (some days I get tired of being the messenger). Guess not, eh? (p.s. speaking of being the messenger - Scott, why is your site now launching really annoying popup ads?) (p.p.s check out Scott Leslie's talk,
The Future CMS.)
[Tags:
Wikipedia,
Information,
Copyright and Patent Issues,
Project Based Learning,
Open Source,
Content Management] [
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[link: 1 Hits] This nonsense has got to stop. I mean, really now. How do we fix this, short of completely disregarding the U.S. patent office altogether? Boris Mann says the patent is pretty specific to Flickr's implementation, but this doesn't look specific at all: "A method for determining an interestingness rank for at least one media object, the method comprising: accepting metadata concerning the at least one media object from at least one user; and ranking the at least one media object based at least in part on the number of users who have assigned metadata to the at least one media object." [Tags:
Copyright and Patent Issues,
Metadata] [
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[link: 3 Hits] I can't resist the opportunity to link to a post with this title. Tony Karrer writes, "I agree with Stephen that right now this stuff is early stage and it's a mess. I'm not planning on using that particular tool anytime soon. It's more of a toy than anything else. Oh, I am using something similar to create my personalized home page. And, none of that is the point." [Tags:
Personalization] [
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[link: Hits] I keep forgetting to mention this. "According to the press release, 'the acquisition supports the company's overall strategy to continually increase the quality and flexibility of learning solutions available to corporate, government, education, and small-to-medium size business customers from SkillSoft.'" Looks to me like a reaction to the Blackboard patent. "NETg customers will see more content, technology and resources available to them. SkillSoft customers will benefit from this availability of the LCMS, LearnFlow and complementary content titles." [Tags:
Blackboard,
Copyright and Patent Issues,
Thomson Corporation,
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[link: 1 Hits] It is pretty ridiculous to require a background check of an online information provider, and that's why this article suggests that the New York City education department's ban on e-tutors from India for failure to provide such background checks will fail in the face of market forces. "To try and stop this movement is a futile exercise.... American babus would be foolish to try and buck this trend by turning protectionist." [Tags:
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[link: 1 Hits] More conservatively worded than I would like, but I agree with this: "one could speculate that over time, the shift from print to electronic distribution of research results will shift the emphasis from refereeing to reviewing," Mr. Cappell said. In an electronic age of instantaneous delivery, he said, "there may be less an issue of control and more an issue of reception and reaction." Via
Peter Suber. [Tags:
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[link: 5 Hits] This is useful. Is there a similar page for the French speaking blogosphere? Other languages? [Tags:
Web Logs] [
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Copyright 2006 Stephen Downes
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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.
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This is what I aspire toward, this is what I work toward. - Stephen Downes