Stephen's Web

OLDaily

OLDaily is currently being produced by Barry Dahl (BD), Harold Jarche (HJ), and Gary Woodill (GW).

by Stephen Downes
July 16, 2008

Forecasting the Future: Prediction Markets and MMOGs
Someone recently wrote that "the best way to predict the future is to wait for it to happen". Mark Oehlert writes about another approach, the use of "prediction markets". He reviews Web of Fate, a visual semantic analysis engine, and Superstruct, a massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) that tries to chronicle the year 2019. An "idea futures" approach might be interesting for buyers of learning technologies. Which ones do you think are going to last, and which ones will not be around in 5 years? -GW Mark Oehlert, e-Clippings, July 16, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Semantic Web, Gaming] [Comment]

Games Create 'Passion Communities' For Learning
This is an article on Professor James Gee's presentation at the 4th Games, Learning, and Society Conference in Madison, Wisconsin. His talk was entitled "Beyond Games&the Future of Learning" and this is a good summary and discussion. I like the term "passion communities", which says it all about why games matter. -GW Michael Abbott, Gamasutra, July 16, 2008 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment]

Twitter Buys Summize - Should Educators Care?
Sylvia Martinez covers the recent acquisition of Summize by Twitter and ponders how dependent educators are on free software. "So you have to ask yourself, is "buzz" plus "free" driving educational practice and planning? Are you building a future on this premise? Are educators walking into a trap set out to attract any and all users, just so venture capitalists can make a return on investment?" I would never use a free application that is not open source if it was essential to my organization. With open source you can take the code and host it somewhere else. Consider that free really means "free for now". -HJ Sylvia Martinez, Generation YES Blog, July 16, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Twitter, Open Source] [Comment]

Five Ways to Make a Point
Dave Pollard discusses rhetoric and refers to the book, The Back of a Napkin. He gives five ways to improve presentations, pertinent for anyone trying to explain something: 1. Present new information, clearly and articulately. 2. Ask provocative questions. 3. Tell memorable stories. 4. Use visualizations to convey meaning. 5. Employ powerful rhetoric -- be clear, logical, clever, funny, well-paced, original, truthful, concise, provocative, and passionate. -HJ Dave Pollard, How to save the world, July 16, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Visualization] [Comment]

Educational Technology and Related Educational Conferences for June 2008 - December 2008
The updated version of Clayton Wright's useful summation of conferences has been posted to my website. Clayton Wright, Stephen's Web, July 16, 2008 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment]

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