Stephen's Web

OLDaily

by Stephen Downes
May 14, 2010

Access Flash websites on an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch (including Webkinz and Club Penguin)
Nice post from Wes Fryer showing how to play Flash on an iPod, iPhone or iPad using Cloud Browse. Basically, the idea is that a virtualized version of Firefox runs somewhere on the internet, and Cloud Browse accesses that virtualized version (so it's a pretty good proxy as well). I can't imagine Apple's going to let this one last for long, and would expect that Apple will find itself blocking all manner of interfaces to cloud applications. If nothing else, it points to a coming class between virtualization and control. Wesley Fryer, Moving at the Speed of Creativity, May 14, 2010 [Link] [Tags: Apple Inc.] [Comment] [Tweet]

Education should be more like World of Warcraft... I mean the iPad... No, Facebook. The quest for silver bullets through new popular media/technology
"Take the newest example of consumer media/technology and argue that education should be more like it." That, according to Clark Aldrich (tongue-in-cheek), is "the best way to establish some cred as an education visionary." It's an example of what I might call the "pilot fish effect" in online media. Basically, the idea is that small fish can leverage their position by mentioning, following, linking to or otherwise riding the coattails of a much bigger fish. That's why people will link to, say, Clay Shirky when he says something, even when someone else less famous said it first. Or they'll link to a TED Video even though other people have already said the same thing in less prominent fora. Clark Aldrich, On Simulations and Serious Games, May 14, 2010 [Link] [Tags: Video, New Media, Wikipedia, Linking and Deep Linking] [Comment] [Tweet]

CC Bait and Switch Update: e-Century responds
I don't want to say "this is exactly what I meant," but, this is exactly what I meant!. And it's why I use the NC clause in Creative Commons. e-century reports: "One of the major reasons for this change was because some companies are trying to archive the articles published by us for pure commercial purpose – they will 'lock up' all those articles on their websites and ask readers to pay to access them. This is obviously not right, and against our intention to keep all articles openly accessible to all readers, no matter where they are archived." So, don't tell me any more that this won't happen. It does. Stian Haklev, Random Stuff that Matters, May 14, 2010 [Link] [Tags: Books, Accessibility] [Comment] [Tweet]

Facebook Exodus Planned for May 31: Will You Quit?
A delete-your-Facebook campaign slated for May 31 is unfolding. I've toyed with quitting Facebook, but that's all. I use it mostly to repost tweets from Twitter, and since Twitter doesn't actually support conversation, to accept replies and talk about my tweets. I'm less concerned than others about Facebook's lack of privacy because I know that my privacy has been systematically and massively violated for years with government consent and compliance - read about Equifax, for example. (It's a bit like net neutrality, which I've been completely rethinking since learning about Akamai - it's not that it's not a good idea, it's that it's already been so hopelessly compromised that it might not be reparable). Jennifer Van Grove, Mashable, May 14, 2010 [Link] [Tags: Twitter, Privacy Issues, Online Learning, Books, Networks] [Comment] [Tweet]

PLEM: a Web 2.0 driven Long Tail aggregator and filter for e-learning
From "The paper "PLEM: a Web 2.0 driven Long Tail aggregator and filter for e-learning" has been published in the International Journal of Web Information Systems (IJWIS) by Emerald. A preprint of this paper can be downloaded here. The PLEM project homepage can be accessed here." Looks a bit like a PLE-ized version of Edu_RSS. Mohamed Amine Chatti, Ongoing research on Technology Enhanced Learning, May 14, 2010 [Link] [Tags: Information, Online Learning, Books, Web 2.0, Project Based Learning] [Comment] [Tweet]

Separating Fact from Fiction: My Fair Copyright Proposals
Michael Geist reposts his considered and well-reasoned copyright proposal, worth rereading in light of the Canadian government's apparent determination to do exactly the opposite of that. See also this campaign from Academicalism. Here's a pile of coverage. Heritage minister James Moore, meanwhile, is saying people should wait for the bill. Michael Geist, Weblog, May 14, 2010 [Link] [Tags: Twitter, Canada, Academia, Copyrights, Patents] [Comment] [Tweet]

Teacher sacked after attack on student posted on YouTube
Although charter schools and privatized education are all the rage in some circles, this is exactly why so many people are concerned about them. And people forget that we in Canada have a history with such schools, and that government and managers are still paying settlements for the abuses that took place in them. And this response is simply inadequate: "David Dunn, the executive director of the Texas Charter Schools Association, says simply requiring certification of all teachers would not prevent misbehavior." Maybe not. But the real question is, would it make it less likely? And to that, the answer is, yes, almost certainly. Via Brian Cormier. Associated Press, Sydney Morning Herald, May 14, 2010 [Link] [Tags: Schools, Video, Canada, YouTube] [Comment] [Tweet]

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