Stephen's Web

OLDaily

by Stephen Downes
January 8, 2008

AHAH: Asynchronous HTML and HTTP
The latest Web 2.0 jargon has come out - it is 'AHAH', or "Asynchronous HTML and HTTP". It's a lot like AJAX. Essentially, "AHAH is a very simple technique for dynamically updating web pages using JavaScript. It involves using XMLHTTPRequest to retrieve (X)HTML fragments which are then inserted directly into the web page, whence they can be styled using CSS." Here are some AHAH experiments. Various Authors, Website January 8, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Web 2.0, XML, Metadata] [Comment]

Yahoo!, Flickr, OpenID and Identity Projection
It looks like Yahoo! and Flickr are preparing to support OpenID. "OpenID is good for more than just authentication. The OpenID protocol allows a user to assert ownership of a URL. This can be used for SSO-style authentication, but it can also be used to prove ownership of a specific account to some other service, a concept I've been calling identity projection." Simon Willison, Weblog January 8, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Yahoo!, Project Based Learning, Flickr] [Comment]

366video
Interesting idea here - like the 2007/365 photo projects, Dave Cormier is trying this year to produce a live segment of video every day for 2008. As he explains on Ed Tech Talk, it's about getting the workflow down to about two minutes and also to avoid second-guessinbg himself - if it's live, there's no point editing it, you may as well just upload it. Dave Cormier, Weblog January 8, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Video, Project Based Learning] [Comment]

The Harvard Trickle-Down Effect
Last week I mentioned criticisms that Harvard and others spend much less of their endowment than other tax exempt non-profits, such as foundations. This week we are now witnessing the political spin intended to defelect attention away from that criticism as several prominent people speak out against Harvard's 'high rate of spending'. As if. More here. Doug Lederman, Inside Higher Ed January 8, 2008 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment]

Second Life and Education
Here's a new educational blog for you, the Second Life and Education blog. Pretty much as the name implies. Looks useful and practical, for example, one of the posts up today described how to stop Second Life from crashing on the MacBook. Sarah Robbins, Second Life and Education January 8, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Second Life, Web Logs] [Comment]

Social Objects in Education
Quoting Hugh MacLeod, Martin Weller writes, "A social object is something (it can be real or virtual) that facilitate conversation, and thus social interaction (Hugh MacLeod gives a good overview of them). Hugh argues that social networks are built around social objects, not vice versa." I don't agree, not even in the case of Flickr. I continue to assert that these so-called "social objects" - images, videos, and the like - constitute a vocabulary that is used by members of a network. The network is not built 'around' these objects (nor are these objects built 'around' the network). Martin Weller, The Ed Techie January 8, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Networks, Video, Interaction, Flickr] [Comment]

Was Give One Get One an One Laptop Per Child Success?
The shiort answer appears to be "yes." According to the release, "In total, the campaign raised $35 million and more than 100,000 XO laptops are already in the process of being distributed to children in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Haiti, Mongolia and Rwanda" (this is a very odd (and politically loaded) list of recipient countries). But the adults that signed up for the computers created unexpected demands on the system. "OLPC was not prepared for the wave of support calls and requests that came in when those used to Windows or Mac were confronted with the need to hack Linux at the command line." Wayan Vota, One Laptop Per Child News January 8, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Adult Learning, Portable Computers, Microsoft] [Comment]

Technophobe Teachers Wasting Millions?
Teachers are not using technology and, according to Becta Chair Andrew Pinder, the money being pent on it is not being well spent. 80 per cent of them are failing to make full use of it, according to experts." Is this the teachers' faul? Or is it, as Seb Schmoller suggests, because "the real problem is the way that technology for my work' is often so different from 'technology for my life'." Seb Schmoller, Fortnightly Mailing January 8, 2008 [Link] [Tags: none] [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.