I Link, I Like – Peter Kruse on Cloud Culture
Peter Kruse, Goethe Institut, February 4, 2011.

I picked up this reference while sitting in on a LAK11 course web seminar today. "The challenge is now to discover the democratic potential of the Internet. Campaign platforms such as Avaaz.org have certainly been pioneers, but ultimately it's about the individual taking personal responsibility in the networks." Peter Kruse videos. Peter Kruse on tranforming organizations into social brains.

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HOW TO: Design & Program a Facebook Landing Page for Your Business
Jonathan Goldford, Mashable, February 4, 2011.

I've been pulling back from Facebook a bit recently - I was not impressed by the way the site began auto-building profiles for me and adding information on the fly. Maybe it means I won't be able to promote myself effectively. I'll live with that. But if you can't, then this advice on how to build your company Facebook page will be useful.

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Webklipper
Various Authors, Website, February 4, 2011.

This is nice work. I think the name ‘klip' has been taken but the application called 'the Klipper' is worth a look. The highlighter works well but I have not been able to get shapes to work properly in Google Chrome 9 (on MS Vista). Bookmarks appears to work; haven't tried forwarding but I assume the linkages to Facebook and Twitter would work. When I signed in and created a new link (my home page, naturally) I was not able to click on the home page to get to the page with the klipper – it just cycled, waiting for server. When I went back to the main page, the link was there (as ‘untitled') and I was able to go to it. So while it's a really great idea it could could use some strengthening of the code. But the concept is very nice.

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Universities On The Brink
Louis E. Lataif, Forbes, February 4, 2011.

The education funding crisis is well and truly upon us. As Forbes reports, the ever-increasing cost of education is not sustainable. So what are institutions doing? Three basic responses:
- The first is to turn to the private sector, for long a favourite move in the US, and now spreading across the world.
- A second strategy... is to increase revenues by introducing and/or raising student fees, whether through a deferred loan system or pay as you go.
- A third strategy is to reduce costs... replace permanent faculty with part-time workers, or use short-term contracts.
None of these address the underlying issues of cost, however. The first two simply raise revenues elsewhere, a temporary solution. The third simply reduces services, also a temporary solution. Via Robert Cosgrave.

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African Virtual University
Various Authors, Website, February 4, 2011.

Bakary Diallo writes via email: "I am writing to inform you that the African Virtual University (AVU) has launched its OER interactive portal http://oer.avu.org/ . The portal named OER@AVU is available in 3 languages: English, French and Portuguese. The portal is expected to host some 219 commissioned AVU courses: mathematics, physics, biology, chemistry, teacher education professional courses, and ICT in education. More than 100 videos will be available as well. We are still uploading the resources. We are proud to see Africa contribute to global knowledge and would like to thank the African Development Bank who believed in AVU and who funded this initiative."

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