Stephen's Web

OLDaily

by Stephen Downes
August 7, 2007

The King Is Dead - Long Live the King
Could some of the things we've been saying here be beginning to inform corporate e-learning? Mark Berthelemy writes, "For most (corporate) consumers of elearning, content means self-study modules, that sit in some sort of delivery system. In academic and formal education settings e-learning has a completely different connotation - involving collaboration, assessment, eportfolios etc - which is beginning to filter into the corporate space, but very slowly." Mark Berthelemy, Learning Conversations August 7, 2007 [Link] [Tags: E-Portfolios, Academia, Online Learning, Assessment] [Comment]

Trying Out Global Positioning Systems (GPS) for M-Learning
I've long wanted to be able to map routes and mix them with photos - as described in this post. I use the gmap-pedometer to plot my route, but can't add pictures to that. What I want to get one day (maybe I can convince NRC to pay for it) is this GPS-enabled system described by Leonard Low - which would allow me to embed GPS information into the photo itself. And while my camera is automatically creating metadata for me, I want it to record my name and website - and it would be nice to embed a short audio clip (which could be translated to text) by way of description. Leonard Low, Mobile Learning August 7, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Metadata, Audio] [Comment]

The Wii Remote API
I'm not ready to work with this yet - I would somehow need to convince NRC to give me a Wii to play with - but the possibilities are intriguing. And think about it - what would it be like to program a web page that four people could use at once? And how long before Wii-style controllers work with ordinary computers, not just Wii game systems? Via Link] [Tags: Gaming] [Comment]

Perl Is Dead. Long Live Perl.
I still do the bulk of my programming in Perl. Not PHPO or Python or Ruby or any of the other scripting languages that have emerged in the last few years. Part of the reason is that it takes a lot of work to become anything like expert in a programming language. But also, the other languages lack the facility Perl offers me. "I'm sure you have heard of and used that are either built entirely on Perl, or have significant portions written in Perl: Yahoo!, Amazon, TicketMaster, The United States Department of State, The BBC, Slashdot, and Shopzilla." And my site. All in Perl. chromatic, O'Reilly August 7, 2007 [Link] [Tags: United States, Yahoo!, Ruby] [Comment]

Blueprint, A CSS Framework
I have always liked grid-style CSS layouts (my own website is an example of that) and this framework takes a lot of the really picky details out of writing the stylesheets (my own site may look very simple, but the CSS took a long time). Kudos to Olav Bjorkoy for this. Olav Bjorkoy, Website August 7, 2007 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment]

Study: Food in McDonald's Wrapper Tastes Better to Kids
On the CTV newscast this morning the anchors kept trying to deflect the impact of this by citing 'the bright colours' used on the McDonald's products. What they don't want people to see is that advertising to children is harmful, not simply because it gets them to buy products that are bad for them, but because it distorts the way they perceive the world. I make a special attempt to shun and disparage brands that advertise to children, because I think that their marketing tactics are particularly distasteful. Educators, meanwhile, should be pondering how it is that McDonald's advertising can alter the taste of a carrot. Associated Press, CNN August 7, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Marketing, Video] [Comment]

 

This newsletter is sent only at the request of subscribers. If you would like to unsubscribe, Click here.

Know a friend who might enjoy this newsletter? Feel free to forward OLDaily to your colleagues. If you received this issue from a friend and would like a free subscription of your own, you can join our mailing list. Click here to subscribe.