Stephen's Web

OLDaily

by Stephen Downes
May 21, 2009

Oporto

The downes.ca website is going through a rough patch at the moment, the result of an automated upgrade to Mod Perl that disagreed with my scripts. I have several hours of coding to clean up the problem (at least I know what it is now) so we'll limp along for a couple of days without login, archives and various minor services functioning. In the meantime, enjoy these beautiful photos from Oporto (and I will be uploading more photos from Portugal over the weekend, including something really unique). Here is the Slide Show version. Stephen Downes, Flickr, May 21, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Flickr] [Comment]

An Angsty Anonymous Edublogger's Lament
Funny. And so true. And if you're wondering how to avoid that fate, keep the stream of new ideas coming, how to maintain some sort of standing in the edublogosphere, there is no deep secret. Find an area that you're interested in, blog on it, daily, and then keep doing it for ten years, even when it seems out of fashion, even when it seems like your influence is waning and other people's stars are rising. Reflect your reading, your learning, your developing understanding of the field. Stay true to your own values, and don't relent when it looks like you've peaked. Graham Wegner, Open Educator, May 21, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Web Logs] [Comment]

Common Sense Revolts
The question is, "If tomorrow you had to stand in front of your Board of Education and respond to the question, 'why should we continue to use and pursue technology in our district,' what would you say?" Steve Dembo replies, "Common sense revolts at the idea" of not using technology. Yes, but why? Because you can do so much more, and do it so much more quickly, with technology. And this leads to (among other things) more and better learning. Steve Dembo, Teach 42, May 21, 2009 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment]

The Origins of BSOS - Bright Shiny Object Syndrome
Bud Hunt, in a podcast: "The reasons why you pick a blog as a tool have to do with what it is you're trying to do with the writing - the writing should be the really important thing in a blog, not the fact that you used a blog. I think with technology we allow ourselves to get excited that we've used a new tool even though maybe we didn't actually do anything with it, we just sort of picked it up and waved it around." Well, maybe. But the reason why people pick up a new technology and start waving it around is that it lets them do something they couldn't do before. So while blogging may not be about the technology, say, it is also not simply about the writing. It's about writing online to a world-wide audience. And that makes all the difference. So the technology is important - or, I should say, what the technology allows you to do is important. Especially when it's not just the same old thing. Rob Wall, Open Monologue, May 21, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Podcasting, Web Logs] [Comment]

Universal Internet Explorer 6 CSS
one problem faced by all web designers is Internet Explorer 6. Old, out-of-date, and never standards compliant, the browser was left unimproved for years while Microsoft enjoyed a near-monopoly. Designers today face the task of creating a design for the modern web - and then figuring out what to do with IE6, on which nothing works properly. Andy Clarke comes up with an elegant solution: a universal, basic, IE6-only style sheet. Andy Clarke, for a beautiful web, May 21, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Microsoft] [Comment]

Loopbacks On the Last Day
I quite enjoyed this post on the dreaded loopback error. It's not something I encounter, well, ever, because I don't run classroom networks (haven't for a long time). But it's not just the technical problem and its solution that makes the post fun, it's the use of the hardware as metaphor that gives it life. Vicki A. Davis, Cool Cat Teacher Blog, May 21, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Networks] [Comment]

Wikipedia Community Votes 75% in Favor of CC BY-SA
Contributors to Wikipedia have elected to employ a popular Creative Commons license in addition to the current GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL). The Wikimedia Foundation board must approve the change. Mike Linksvayer, Creative Commons, May 21, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Wikipedia] [Comment]

Apparently, Providing Derrida's Works For Free Harms The Diffusion Of His Thoughts
The sort of logic we are being asked to believe in this age of entirely distorted values: "Horacio Potel has posted, over the course of several years, without authorisation, and free of charge, full versions of several of Jacques Derrida's works, which is harmful to the diffusion of his (Derrida)'s thought." This case is from Argentina. Mike Masnick, TechDirt, May 21, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Traditional and Online Courses, Copyrights, Web Logs, Patents] [Comment]

This newsletter is sent only at the request of subscribers. If you would like to unsubscribe, Click here.

Know a friend who might enjoy this newsletter? Feel free to forward OLDaily to your colleagues. If you received this issue from a friend and would like a free subscription of your own, you can join our mailing list. Click here to subscribe.