Stephen's Web

OLDaily

by Stephen Downes
February 20, 2008

No More PDF Reader Hell? Hello iPaper - You Taking Note...?
If you take the concept of, say, Slideshares.net, and generalized it, and made it so it worked on your site, you would have iPaper. It's a great concept - though it has been a bit on and off since it started (sometimes the demo on Tony Hirst's site shows up in iPaper, sometimes in the original PDF, very confusing). There's also a nifty javascript function you can add you your web page - you'll have to change the API number, or it won't work. Anyhow, I'll be trying it out on the website, so we'll see how this works. Tony Hirst, OUseful Info February 20, 2008 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment]

A Guide for the Overwhelmed, Part 2 - It'S a River, Not a Reservoir
Rob Wall - writing from his relatively new robwall.ca domain - captures the dynamic nature of the new web with the metaphor in the title. "The number and diversity of applications are increasing far faster than I am able to learn about them, let alone mastering them. But that's not a problem. I can go to the river and get what I need." Rob Wall, Open Monologue February 20, 2008 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment]

Scared Not to Be Straight: Harassment of LGBT Teens Prompts Antibullying Initiatives
A serious issue that has implications as well for online learning. People should not be harassed or bullied because of their orientation, and I would hope that teachers would convey the values of respect and dignity for all people. Matthew S. Robinson, Edutopia February 20, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Online Learning, Bullying] [Comment]

FeedBurner All-Time Stats Restored
Yeah. It was all a 'mistake'. Um hm. Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins, Mashable February 20, 2008 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment]

Lotus Mashups To Be Free for Academics
As part of it's Academic Initiative (which provides software and a newsletter to registered academics - no RSS though, tsk. IBM is making its commercial web 2.0 software, Lotus Mashups, free for academics when it's released later this year. The software was announced in January and is no doubt based on IBM's internal social network trials. David Nagel, Campus Technology February 20, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Newsletters, Networks, RSS, Academia] [Comment]

Worthwhile Sites for Learning
This site illustrates why I think less 'development' of open educational resources (OERs) is needed, and why more encouragement for the people already doing it is warranted. Designed (in Pete macKay's qwords) "as a resource for Alberta parents who are actively involved in their children's education," it links to dozens and dozens of resources arranged according to subject area. Sandra Gluth, Website February 20, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Open Educational Resources] [Comment]

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