Stephen's Web

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by Stephen Downes
February 23, 2009

CCK08 Wrapup Recording

I was out shoveling snow and was a bit late for this - this (above) is what we faced this morning. But we still had a good conversation about what worked in our groundbreaking online course and what sort of things we want to do when we do it again. George Siemens and Stephen Downes, elearnspace, February 23, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Traditional and Online Courses, Flickr] [Comment]

The Top Educational iPhone Apps
Since I (sparingl) use a Blackberry (like Barack Obama), I don't pay much attention to iPhone apps. Still, some people will find this list interesting. Still, when considering that most iPhone apps are used just a few times, "how the heck do they know whether people are using these apps or not? Are they pinging the mother ship every time you use them?" Remember - the mobile phone is a controlled platform, unlike your computer - that's why they're being pushed so hard as everything from readers to cameras to, um, phones. You think you don't have rights on Facebook? Try exercising your rights on an iPhone. Just sayin.... Dan Colman, Open Culture, February 23, 2009 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment]

On Media
We had dablets of coverage from Northern Voice over the weekend (I expected a deluge, but that didn't really happen). The best comment came from Tim Bray: "n the one hand, it's like being in a warm bath; everyone here thinks it's normal to want to tell your story to the world, usually on more than one channel. On the other, everyone goes around talking about "Social Media"; the clock is totally ticking on the time when you can do that unironically. Having said that, our traditional media are looking pathetically clapped-out and we are sure as hell going to need something to fill the gaps. With pictures." Also, a livescribed Northern Voice presentation. Tim Bray, Ongoing, February 23, 2009 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment]

New Zealand Temporarily Backs Down From Controversial Copyright Law
I've had numerous reports today that the 'guilt upon accusation' law being contemplated in New Zealand has been placed on hold. Keep in mind that this might be the end of the law, or it might just be a delay to let the protests blow over. More here and here. Mike Masnick, TechDirt, February 23, 2009 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment]

Seb's Open Research
Seb Paquet is blogging again, at a new location with brand new weblog digs, and with any luck will be a fixture on the scene once again. One link connects to Hugh McGuire, who is wondering who Canada's top 10 digital thinkers are. There is, of course, no satisfactory answer to that question - but it reminds us, there is a lot of high quality digital thinkers in this country. Must be the water. Maybe instead of exclusivity, as in a 'top 10', we should look for completeness. Seb Paquet, Weblog, February 23, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Branding, Canada, Quality, Web Logs] [Comment]

How We Twitter
Bruce Spear writes, "You might be interested in the case study, or at least the start of one, that I've just written up on how I used Twitter in a business English class here in Berlin, Germany." I was interested; this is a chance to pek in on the exercise as it progresses. "What made our use of Twitter interesting and a success, I believe, was both the intense sociability associated with it and the fact that for most it did not come easily and so had to be shown by example and use governed by intelligibility and acceptance among peers. It was almost a parallel universe, because we certainly could not talk about it in class, but by the end of the term the answer to the question of 'what are you doing' was answered in your terms." Bruce Spear, Writerly Advice , February 23, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Twitter] [Comment]

ChinesePod: The Official ChinesePod Blog
Ken Carroll is back in action again, blogging on ChinesePod. He writes in an email, "I plan to share what I've learned about language learning on the network." he outlines some basic principles in his first post: show, don't tell; make it natural; go beyond semantic meaning; leverage pragmatics; use different types of context. Ken Carroll, Weblog, February 23, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Online Learning, Networks, Semantic Web, China, Web Logs] [Comment]

Publishing and the Ecology of European Research
PEER is now live. As Peter Suber summarizes, "PEER is a pioneering collaboration between publishers, repositories and the research community, which aims to investigate the effects of the large-scale deposit (so called Green Open Access) on user access, author visibility, journal viability and the broader European research environment." Various Authors, Website, February 23, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Books, Research, Learning Object Repositories, European Union] [Comment]

LOT 2: The Language of Thought Revisited
Jerry A. Fodor's Language of Thought was a groundbreaking work, one advancing the cognitivist position to what I consider its logical, absurd, end: that humans are born with all the necessities of language, not just grammar and syntax and Chomsky would argue, but vocabulary as well. Since then, Fodor has, in a series of important works (Representations, The Modularity of Mind, Psychosemantics) articulated the position that thought is composed of sentences in the brain. This volume attempts the same project as the original Language of Thought, but taking into account the arguments raised in the 30 years since its publication. The problem is, the arguments are often stronger than Fodor would like, and he resorts to sweeping them under the rug. "The specific methods whereby our thought reaches semantic accommodation with the world are subtle and varied and careful attention to factors that Fodor dismisses as pragmatic ephemera will likely make up a vital part of the story." Reviewed by Mark Wilson, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, February 23, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Semantic Web, Project Based Learning, Semantics] [Comment]

Pattern Generator
It took me a couple of minutes to figure out what this pattern generator was looking for, and it might take students a bit too. But once I figured it out I was quickly ready for more of a challenge (hint: don't overthink it). And if you're tire of this, there's a gazillion more resources that help teach mathematics and science. Via Pete MacKay's mailing list. Various Authors, Interactivate, February 23, 2009 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment]

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