Stephen's Web

OLDaily

by Stephen Downes
July 23, 2008

Beyond Essays: Web 2.1 and the World of the Multimedia Collage
Summary of a talk given by Jason Ohler at the Desire2Learn Fusion 2008 conference. "The core of stories: stories need a problem and a solution, and tension in the resolution of that. There has to be a transformation - a change, a growth. If you don't have a transformation, you have an average WWII movie (bad people, shoot them). Inquiry, discovery, learning. It's that simple." Stephen Downes, Half an Hour, July 23, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Desire2Learn] [Comment]

BlogHer Social Change and Nonprofits Meetup
A bunch of new bloggers to read, from Beth Kanter's experiences at BlogHer. Also from Beth kanter (can you tll I'm catching up?) - a responsible social media evangelist knows what not to do. And also, a trio of slide shows on how to create great presentations. Great stuff. Beth Kanter, Beth's Blog, July 23, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Experience, Web Logs] [Comment]

WeAreMedia Module 4: The Art of Storytelling
The whole storytelling thing comes and goes in waves. Me, I notice that when the speaker at the front of the room tells a story, I stop typing notes. Why? Because the flow of information has slowed to just about zero. So I have mixed feelings about it. I think there's a sense - as Ohler said today - that the purpose of storytelling is to hypnotize people. But that said, the process of telling good stories is capturing more attention these days - witness this module from the WeAreMedia guide for non-profits. Beth Kanter, Beth's Blog, July 23, 2008 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment]

BitTorrent: An Educational Autopsy of the Hydra
If you are reading about BitTorrent and wondering just what it does and what the fuss is about, this post from Jim Groom will answer your questions and fill you in on the controversy. Plus some things you may not have even thoyght of before. Such as: "Practically any Internet user can be framed for copyright infringement today. By profiling copyright enforcement in the popular BitTorrent file sharing system, we were able to generate hundreds of real DMCA take down notices for computers at the University of Washington that never downloaded nor shared any content whatsoever." Um, hmm. The whole system kind of takes the human element out of criminal convictions. Jim Groom, bavatuesdays, July 23, 2008 [Link] [Tags: File Sharing, Patents, Copyrights, Patents] [Comment]

Get Involved with Transcoder
From my email: community input is being sought for the following project: 'CETIS and Knowledge Integration are working together, with community input, to develop a content transcoder service prototype. What is being proposed is a web service which will convert content into a variety of standard packaging formats (e.g. IMS CP & CC and SCORM). The project also plans to look at the most frequently used proprietary formats such as those used by WebCT, Blackboard and Moodle and at significant UK application profiles such as NLN." In particular, "which dialects we actually address is critically dependent on getting realistic sample data so, if you handle content based on IMS Content Packaging, we'd really like you to get involved send us examples." Various Authors, JISC CETIS, July 23, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Great Britain, IMS Project, Web Services, SCORM, Project Based Learning, Blackboard Inc.] [Comment]

NRC Publications Archive: Extending the Reach and Increasing the Impact of NRC Research
NRC has formally announced NPArC, the mandated open archiving of researchers' published materials. Press Release, National Research Council, July 23, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Books, Research] [Comment]

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