Stephen's Web

OLDaily

by Stephen Downes
November 27, 2009

Canada's TV tax / Save local TV squabble explained
I love this summary and video (which, btw, is accurate): "Both groups receive enormous subsidies to promote Canadian television (broadcasters get a 'local programming fee' and cable/sat operators get a state-backed monopoly that keeps foreigners out). Both want more money, and both want the other guy to collect the fee, so they other guy looks like a jerk. A pox on both their houses." Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing, November 27, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Video, Canada] [Comment]

Ulrike Reinhard Interview: The Web And The Post-Everything Economy
Stowe Boyd shares the video of his interview with Ulrike Reinhard (she also interviewed me a few weeks ago in Toronto). "It runs an hour, and touches on the web from a variety of angles. I touch on 'The Post-Everything Economy', 'What Is The Web Good For', and some thoughts on the web in business." Stowe Boyd, /Message, November 27, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Video] [Comment]

Social Networking: Rethinking Productivity
Nice paper looking at the benefits and negatives of social networking. An interesting negative is 'social resistance to change': "Active social networking opens you up to being heavily influenced by others. In a way it subjects you to a new form of social conditioning. Once your network knows you a certain way, it may resist some of your attempts to grow and change." Steve Pavlina, Personal Development for Smart People, November 27, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Networks] [Comment]

A Reminder
OK, now, just a thought. This item concerns a report of a virus that wipes out data on 'jailbroken' Apple iPhones (that is, iPhones that have been unlocked to allow applications from outside Apple's App Store to be installed). Now, let me ask, of all the people in the world, who would have the most incentive to create a virus that attacks iPhones that have broken the bond with the App Store? And who would be uniquely qualified to write a virus that targets just those iPhones? I don't want to make any accusations, but I do want to observe that corporations have a long history of using viruses and malware to get their way. Doug Peterson, doug – off the record, November 27, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Apple Inc.] [Comment]

Terms of Use
Doug Peterson asks, "What are the implications of these terms and from other websites for those in education?" Well, let me answer. Here are the terms of use for OLDaily: by reading this website, you agree to reduce your carbon emissions by one half by 2020, you agree to support developing nation debt relief, you agree to make your intellectual and creative content freely available online, and you agree to do one good deed every day. What, you don't like those terms? You're not going to abide by them, even though by reading this far you have agreed to them? OK then. I rest my case. Companies make up these terms of use pretty much arbitrarily - and for all practical purposes, they can be ignored and are ignored (eventually, the law will reconcile it with this fact). For those of you who always abide by terms of use: just be glad I didn't demand half your salary. Doug Peterson, doug – off the record, November 27, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Patents, Thomson Corporation] [Comment]

On connectivism
Leigh Blackall: "There has been a long and [barren] relationship between education and popular culture for over a century now. Education has been absent from reality for as long as I've been a part of it and today is no different - even when Social Media has direct associations to the rhetoric of educational practice... The challenge I think, is to educationally consider the culture being recorded in these mediascapes, in such a way so as to ask let alone answer more than the obvious questions." Leigh Blackall, Weblog, November 27, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Connectivism] [Comment]

GoogleAppsEd5

Interesting presentation of Google Apps as e-portfolio from electronicportfolios.org. Via Tex2All. Helen Barrett, electronicportfolios.org, November 27, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Google, E-Portfolios] [Comment]

Picasso's Guernica in 3D
What interests me here is that in order to present this 3D version of the painting, it is necessary to use video and movement. Guernica is, o course, as powerful as ever. John Connell, Weblog, November 27, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Video] [Comment]

Video recording: Learning 2020
Video recording o George Siemens's talk in Oslo. George Siemens, elearnspace, November 27, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Connectivism, Video] [Comment]

Student-led learning at Calgary school draws interest from Down Under
I meant to run this in October when it came out, but it slipped under the radar. Oh well - better late than never, because I still think it's worth highlighting. "The ability to let students decide how to approach their subjects encourages them to take ownership of their learning, said Danis. 'The more choice you give kids, the deeper the learning is,' he said." You know, people say I'm just an idealist for promoting student-directed learning, but I've been pointing to successful examples for years, and I've come to think that the impractical idealists are those who cling to the old and outmoded models of instruction in the faith that, unlike last year, it will work this year. Sarah McGinnis, Calgary Hedrald, November 27, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Schools, Online Learning] [Comment]

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