Feature Article
Connectivism and Connective Knowledge
Stephen Downes, January 7, 2011.

The underlying message of connectivism: it is a pedagogy based on the realization that knowledge is not something we can package neatly in a sentence and pass along as though it were a finished product. It is complicated, distributed, mixed with other concepts, looks differently to different people, is inexpressible, tacit, mutually understood but never articulated. Posted on Huffington Post.

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Connectivism and Connective Knowledge 2011
Stephen Downes and George Siemens, MOOC.ca, January 7, 2011.

George Siemens and I are once again offering 'Connectivism and Connective Knowledge'. This will be the third offering of what has become out flagship MOOC (massive open online course). Registrations are now open and things are ready to go in our brand new MOOC website.

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An executive summary of complexity theory
Ken Long, Kansas Reflections, January 7, 2011.

Good overview of complexity theory as it applies to the understanding of emergence and adaptive behaviour:

Components:
- The system contains a collection of many interacting objects.
- The behavior of agents/objects is affected by memory or feedback.
- Objects/agents can adapt their strategies based on memory or feedback.
- Exists in an open system, affected by the environment.

Behaviors:
- the system appears to be alive.
- Filled with emergent phenomenon that are surprising and can be extreme.
- Absence of an invisible hand or central controller.
- There is a mix of orderly and disorderly behavior.

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An executive summary of complexity theory
N. Johnson, Kansas Reflections, January 7, 2011.

Good overview of complexity theory as it applies to the understanding of emergence and adaptive behaviour:

Components:
- The system contains a collection of many interacting objects.
- The behavior of agents/objects is affected by memory or feedback.
- Objects/agents can adapt their strategies based on memory or feedback.
- Exists in an open system, affected by the environment.

Behaviors:
- the system appears to be alive.
- Filled with emergent phenomenon that are surprising and can be extreme.
- Absence of an invisible hand or central controller.
- There is a mix of orderly and disorderly behavior.

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Google Adds Email Authentication to Fight Spam
David Needle, eSecurity Planet, January 7, 2011.

Email authentication is a system whereby a signature in an email header matches a certificate in the domain name system (DNS), thus certifying the message's origin. "

There are three major steps required to add the DKIM signature to outgoing mail:
- Generate the domain key for your domain
- Add the public domain key to the DNS records for your domain, so that recipients can retrieve it for decrypting the DKIM header
- Turn on authentication to begin adding the DKIM header to outgoing mail messages."
More here, from Google blogs.

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Responsible disclosure and academic freedo
Ross Anderson, Cambridge University, January 7, 2011.

It's nice to see an academic actually take a stand against a take-down demand. Ross Anderson responds to a bank services company, "you seem to think that we might censor a student's thesis, which is lawful and already in the public domain, simply because a powerful interest finds it inconvenient. This shows a deep misconception of what universities are and how we work." We need more of this. Via Michael Geist.

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The Web Is a Customer Service Medium
Paul Ford, Ftrain.com, January 7, 2011.

It's a good observation, and could be put any number of ways. I like this formulation: ""Why wasn't I consulted," which I abbreviate as WWIC, is the fundamental question of the web. It is the rule from which other rules are derived. Humans have a fundamental need to be consulted, engaged, to exercise their knowledge (and thus power), and no other medium that came before has been able to tap into that as effectively." Via Nat Torkington.

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Salesforce.com Acquires Dimdim
Press Release, Salesforce.com, January 6, 2011.

After acquiring cloud application service Heroku a couple of days ago, Salesforce.com has stunned the open source community by acquiring DimDim and immediately announcing that all free accounts will be terminated. It was rather surprising, I must say, to get some legalese in my email saying, effectively, "get out." More here. Even if you paid, your account will be terminated when the subscription period runs out, and there are no refunds. Brutal.

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