Stephen's Web

OLDaily

by Stephen Downes
January 7, 2009

More 2008 Stats

I had a little database fun today and compiled these lists of the authors and and websites most frequently cited in OLDaily. If you consider the total number of posts written over the course of the year (1,974) the low number of citations of even the most cited resources speaks to the very flat - and hence, widely distributed - nature of the listings.

Authors

Stephen Downes (47)
George Siemens (31)
Michael Feldstein (27)
David Wiley (16)
Tony Hirst (15)
Graham Attwell (15)
Andy Powell (15)
Tony Karrer (14)
Alan Levine (14)
Vicki A. Davis (14)
Jane Hart (14)
Darren Draper (13)
Mark Oehlert (13)
Inge de Waard (12)
Jay Cross (12)
Jeffrey R. Young (12)
Clive Shepherd (12)
Brian Lamb (11)
Harold Jarche (11)
Terry Anderson (11)
Wayan Vota (11)
Jim Groom (11)
Brian Kelly (11)
Alec Couros (11)
Mike Masnick (11)
Clarence Fisher (10)

Websites

e-Literate (28)
Mashable (20)
One Laptop Per Child News (18)
eFoundations (18)
EDUCAUSE Connect (18)
elearnspace (17)
Flickr (17)
Chronicle of Higher Education (16)
Half an Hour (16)
Brandon Hall Research (15)
OUseful Info (15)
TechDirt (15)
Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (14)
iterating toward openness (13)
e-Clippings (13)
Pontydysgu (13)
CogDogBlog (13)
Inside Higher Ed (12)
eLearning Technology (12)
Clive on Learning (12)
Drape's Takes (12)
New York Times (11)
Campus Technology (11)
Jane's E-Learning Pick of the Day (11)
Cool Cat Teacher Blog (11)
Tuttle SVC (10)

Total posts counted: 1974

Contrasting Recent Oklahoma City and Winnipeg Morning Radio Coverage About Education
This post links to an almost two-hour segment from a radio station in Winnipeg discussing new learning techniques and technologies with the likes of Darren Kuropatwa, Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, Dean Shareski, and Wesley Fryer. "Our discussions focused on education, appropriate technology integration, blogging for an authentic audience, numeracy, literacy, and the education all our students need and deserve in the 21st century." Good stuff - and Fryer also enthuses about the quality of the preparation and coverage, comparing it with the media he experiences in Oklahoma. "What is it going to take to bring the work of our most innovative, hardworking Oklahoma educators into the public consciousness of our state?" Wesley Fryer, Moving at the Speed of Creativity, January 7, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Online Learning, Experience, Quality, Web Logs] [Comment]

Why Bloggers Blog
Childish, sexist, and not remotely true - and I wish someone would explain to me how Britannica Blog thinks it will succeed by infantilizing discourse. Do the authors believe no educated people read content on the web? Via Jphn Connell. Unattributed, Britannica Blog, January 7, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Blogger, Google] [Comment]

Best Education Blog
After my criticisms of the edublog awards, I would be remiss if I did not point to that farce called the 'Best Education Blog' vote in the weblog awards. The usual suspects are out there campaigning for votes. "Vote early, vote often" isn't just a recommendation - it's a strategy. Various Authors, Weblog Awards, January 7, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Web Logs] [Comment]

Oracle'S New Academic Enterprise White Paper
Oracle's Academic Enterprise Solutions has a new white paper out on the company's vision of the future of the academic enterprise. It will be a familiar message to many: "Based on common-sense principles of Service-Oriented Architecture and pervasive use of standards, the Academic Enterprise provides both a complete vision and a practical adoption path for colleges and universities to help their faculty and students succeed using the best support that technology has to offer." I'm sure some readers will raise eyebrows at the use of the expression "Source of Truth" to refer to student information system functions. The White paper describes Sakai as a reference implementation. Michael Feldstein, e-Literate, January 7, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Student Record Systems, Academia] [Comment]

New Models To Compensate Journalists And Writers
Rather more people may be looking for these new models, if the scenario outlined by Michael Hirschorn in the Atlantic - the demise of the New York Times this May - comes to pass. These 'end times' are not outlandish: "drastic measures will have to be taken over the next five months or the paper will default on some $400million in debt." So how will we get our news? This posts suggests a model where interested parties will fund the journalists - sports leagues, for example, will fund sports writers. Well, sure, that works in sports, where 'rah rah' journalism is to be expected. But what happens when politicians pay political writers, tech companies pay tech writers, and so on? Well - that's what's happening online now. Big question: is it working? Is it a viable model for news (and learning!) in the future? Probably not. It will pay the bills - but at the expense of accuracy and integrity. Mike Masnick, TechDirt, January 7, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Seneca] [Comment]

Project Euler
This is a neat project in which students are posed increasingly challenging math programming problems. For example (from the first page), "Find the largest palindrome made from the product of two 3-digit numbers." Anyone can solve the problems and "for many the experience is inductive chain learning... by solving one problem it will expose you to a new concept that allows you to undertake a previously inaccessible problem." Exploration on the internet is encouraged, as "there could be hidden treasures of mathematics to be discovered beneath the surface of many of these problems." Via Alfred Thompson. Various Authors, Website, January 7, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Experience, Accessibility, Project Based Learning] [Comment]

May I Borrow Your Watch?
Doug Johnson points to a four part series from Scott McLeod called "Beware of outside consultants" (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4). While the point is to highlight the risks and best practices related to the hiring of consultants, more deeply concerning is that these patently misleading authors and speakers would be hired at all (I am still reminded of Dan Hodgins and the ill-conceived crockus - he's still going strong). Even if you're not an expert, a little critical thinking would go a long way here. Doug Johnson, Blue Skunk Blog, January 7, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Patents, Copyrights, Patents] [Comment]

Lies, Damned Lies and Pedagogy
I'm inclined to agree with the tenor of this post. "It seems to me we get a constant barrage of social media self-promotion and manipulation through the media; learning how to add to it doesn't seem the most direct way to understand its impact." Quite so: myth busting, rather than myth making, is the better way to teach critical awareness. See also Anne-Marie Deitering. Barbara Fister, ACRLog, January 7, 2009 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment]

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