Stephen's Web

OLDaily

by Stephen Downes
February 20, 2010

OLDaily Saturday Edition
A special Saturday edition, to catch up a bit, to prepare for missing Monday's edition, because I'll be in Fredericton all day.

Google Goggles to Translate Text in Photos
Eyeglasses (or goggles) that would translate printed text? That's the kind of future I want to see! Jennifer van Grove, Mashable, February 20, 2010 [Link] [Tags: Google] [Comment] [Tweet]

Newspaper group call to block BBC iPhone apps
More evidence that business will do everything it can to prevent competition from free content. "The BBC Trust has been urged to block the corporation's plans to launch phone apps for its news and sport content. The Newspaper Publishers Association (NPA) said that the corporation would 'damage the nascent market for apps.'" Maybe so, but why do these publishers feel they have some sort of innate right to profit from an artificial monopoly on apps. More on BBC Apps. Unattributed, BBC News, February 20, 2010 [Link] [Tags: Books, BBC] [Comment] [Tweet]

5 Websites To Play Music Matching Your Mood
Another sign of personalization, as music services play music that matches your mood. This article surveys five of them. "Music can be entertaining, bring back memories, trigger strong feelings, distract, and comfort. Music creates moods because it betrays your brain and you can use this little trick in your favor. Apply music for your mood, in order to promote or change it." Tina Sieber, MakeUseOf, February 20, 2010 [Link] [Tags: Personalization] [Comment] [Tweet]

Scholarly Communications must be Scalable
This post argues that academic writing must scale to be sustainable, but that it won't. "Traditional scholarship is scarcity knowledge -- its authority is based on lots of knowledge NOT being published, lots of copies NOT being made, lots of audiences NOT being addressed, or money NOT being made." I'm not sure I completely agree, because on the other side, when the objective is to scale, the first thing to go is depth, because depth typically appeals only to a niche. On the other hand, I agree that access to academic literature should be widespread. "The improvement and utility of knowledge correlates directly with how broadly, quickly, and interactively it circulates." So long as commercial considerations do not interfere by watering down academic writing, wide distribution is better, not worse. Gideon Burton, Academic Evolution, February 20, 2010 [Link] [Tags: Academic Publications, Books, Academia] [Comment] [Tweet]

How to create a live online learning event
Good article from the new Alt News Online describing how to host an online event. This doesn't deal with the technical aspects (like setting up Elluminate or mounting a live feed) but rather the steps a presenter should take to create an effective synchronous experience. It's a bit lightweight, but would serve well as an introductory article. Via Seb Schmoller. Phil Green, Association for Learning Technology, February 20, 2010 [Link] [Tags: Newsletters, Online Learning, Experience] [Comment] [Tweet]

Google Wave in Education
"Education is increasingly described and assessed through interaction rather than through documents." So write the authors in this article from the current issue of ALT News Online. And so I agree, but for reasons that become evident, I don't thing Wave is the vehicle to address that. "using Wave is rather a painful experience (with its own parody website easiertounderstandthanwave.com), which is perhaps only to be expected from a product at the preview stage. Not accessible or compliant with disability legislation, subdividing screen real estate into many small panes, and often very slow to respond..." Alan Cann, Jo Badge, Dick Moore and Cameron Neylon, Association for Learning Technology, February 20, 2010 [Link] [Tags: Newsletters, Google, Experience, Accessibility, Interaction] [Comment] [Tweet]

Training Magazine, RIP
Another print media icon bites the dust (they're still taking subscriptions, though - heh). Training Magazine is shutting down. I hope that somebody harvests their article archive before it becomes dust in the history of the internet. More from Karl Kapp, Anne Derryberry, Janet Clarey. Jay Cross, Internet Time, February 20, 2010 [Link] [Tags: Online Learning, Subscription Services, Google] [Comment] [Tweet]

10 Technology Ideas Your Library Can Implement Next Week
The nice thing about this list for libraries is that many of the ideas don't require new technology. It's as much a list around adapting to the new technological ethos - embrace social media, help people self-organize, personalize, etc. - rather than the new technology itself. Some of the ideas: "Feed your library's blog posts into Twitter", "Put together a Guitar Hero tournament", "Hold a themed unconference". Via Doug Peterson. Ellyssa Kroski, American Libraries, February 20, 2010 [Link] [Tags: Twitter, Personalization, Thomson Corporation, Web Logs] [Comment] [Tweet]

Managing Complex Change

Darren Kuropatwa writes, "I first saw it in a presentation on SlideShare by Silvia Tolisano, Shifting to 21st Century Learning, and tracked it back Andrew Churches outstanding wiki." It might take a few seconds to recognize how it's structured, so take a moment to study it. Darren Kuropatwa, A Difference, February 20, 2010 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment] [Tweet]

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.