Stephen's Web

OLDaily

by Stephen Downes
May 8, 2007

About the Open Publication License
I am in London and jetlagged, so we'll keep this brief. This first item from David Wiley brings us up to date on the Open Publication Licnse - which is exactly where we were last time, when support for it was dropped and Creative Commons recommended instead. Why this link then? Well I think the post has historical value. We need to be reminded, I think, that the world of open content (or free content, depending on your politics) didn't begin with Creative Commons. Not that I'm criticizing Creative Commons; far from it. But CC should be understood as the reification of an idea, not the genesis of one. David Wiley, iterating toward openness May 8, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Open Content] [Comment]

Ex.Plode.Us
The new version of Explode is live. I don't know what that means yet; I just got a short note. But the features page mentions search, collections, and nudges. Also, 'find a similar user' (I probably won't have much use for that ;) ). Dave Tosh, Ben Werdmuller, et.al., Website May 8, 2007 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment]

The Learning Compact Redefined: A Call to Action
According to this ASCD report, the "one‐size‐fits‐all education has marginalized the uniqueness of our children and eroded their capacity to learn..." and that if educators focused on the whole child, not just the part that passes tests, "we would create learning conditions that enable all children to develop all of their gifts and realize their fullest potential." Via ASCD SmartBrief, a newsletter I follow regularly. ASCD's Commission on the Whole Child, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development May 8, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Online Learning, Newsletters, Assessment] [Comment]

Russian Court Finds Village School Principal Guilty of Using Pirated Microsoft Software
A Russian principal is found guilty of using unofficial Microsoft software and is fined $195. He makes $360 a month. Microsoft says it had nothing to do with prosecuting impoverished Russian educators, but the Russian government would not be enforcing compliance were it not for the lobbying of companies like Microsoft. We know that if the company didn't want people like Alexander Ponosov to be prosecuted, they wouldn'y be. Associated Press, SiliconValley.com May 8, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Microsoft, Schools] [Comment]

Digital Gifts: Participation and Gift Exchange in LiveJournal Communities
This article looks at the giving of gifts in a social blogging network, LiveJournal. Ask a LiveJournal member why they give a gift and the answer, according to the author, is some variation on "I wanted to." But gift giving is arguably never so simple - and while the author avoids depicting th activity as ultimately self-serving, she does give it the function of "maintaining social bonds, constructing virtual identities, and ensuring continued presence of participants." This may be the result of gift giving, but not necessarily the cause. Sometimes, a gift is just a gift. Erika Pearson, First Monday May 8, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Web Logs, Networks] [Comment]

 

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