December 7, 2006
OLDaily
[link: 2 Hits] From a purely economic point of view, university is becoming a less and less attractive investment, according to this article. "Universities are increasingly like casinos selling hope with no mention of the underlying economic realities... The expensive traditional 4 year liberal arts education approach is now failing the majority from an economic perspective." [Tags: ] [
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[link: Hits] I remember back several years ago when
Aaron Swartz, along with some other people, made RSS what it is today. He was 13 years old or something at the time and spoke as eloquently in software as anyone I've read. He is a few years older now and beginning to explore the world, giving us here his impressions of Los Angeles (with a drive-by glimpse of Cory Doctorow and Danah Boyd while he's at it). Best line: "I [Swartz] should become an academic, she [Boyd] says. Shake up the system just like her. But why join the system in the first place?, I say." I've always liked Swartz. The world need more people like him, the real deal, not a poseur.
[Tags:
Academics and Academia] [
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[link: Hits] Fascinating. "46% of the online population in Asia have a blog (compared to just 8% of US web users)." [Tags:
Web Logs] [
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[link: Hits] Good discussion about context in the context of learning object metadata (this topic is finally getting some airtime) including a useful list of types of context about half way through. Interesting not: the author writes, "There seemed to be an acceptance that contexts may be intended / projected / designed for." My take would be that while it is true that you can design for context, it is much less true that you can do so successfully. [Tags:
Learning Objects,
Project Based Learning,
Metadata] [
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[link: Hits] Is traffic the metric for weblog success? I am not willing to believe it is - for otherwise, I should be aiming for BoingBoing or Instapundit style numbers, which means doing what they do. But I am not interested in doing what they do - I find their interests a bit lightweight for my tastes (and let me be clear - this strictly about tastes, not some sort of pretension). If I had to measure, I would want to track something like 'impact' - ah, but that is a much harder thing to track. You don't get it without readership, to be sure. But what you really want - can I coin a term? - is thinkership. [Tags:
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[link: Hits] Interesting discussion of democracy in the workplace. I am unconvinced that democracy inevitable leads to aristocracy, as suggested here. "Democratization is part of a natural cycle of governance... Democracies become bureaucracies. Protecting the rights of the citizens then calls for layers of management, mountains of paperwork, countless committees and oodles of budget overruns. The staggering costs, inefficiencies and stagnation provokes a privatization phase. An aristocracy takes control, consolidates power, imposes standards, and adds short-sighted incentives." Privatization isn't "provoked" in a democracy. It is pushed and prodded by an impatient aristocracy waiting to take power, an aristocracy that should be resisted, not coddled. [Tags:
Online Learning] [
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[link: Hits] 'I have no doubt that we will be successful in harnessing the sun's energy.... If sunbeams were weapons of war, we would have had solar energy centuries ago.' - Sir George Porter, quoted in The Observer, August 26, 1973 (via Quotations about the Environment, quotegarden.com). Thus begins this compendium of useful resources on global warming. [Tags: ] [
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Copyright 2006 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