OLDaily

Welcome to Online Learning Daily, your best source for news and commentary about learning technology, new media, and related topics.

Towards a Framework for Openness in Foundation Models
Adrien Basdevant, et al., Mozilla Foundation, Columbia Convening on Openness in Artificial Intelligence, 2024/05/21

---

Here's the summary: "This paper (27 page PDF) presents a framework for grappling with openness across the AI stack. The paper surveys existing approaches to defining openness in AI models and systems, and then proposes a descriptive framework to understand how each component of the foundation model stack contributes to openness." I appreciated the comprehensive approach to 'openness in AI' found in the document; unlike (say) OSI, it doesn't endorce one 'received view' of openness, but rather looks at the many different ways AI can be open or not open.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post][Share]

Methods for dreaming about and reimagining digital education
Kathrin Otrel-Cass, Eamon Costello, Niels Erik Ruan Lyngdorf, Iris Mendel, International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 2024/05/21

---

This is a good article and I think people will like it, though I am less comforted. The authors argue they want to go beyond a technology-led approach to pedagogical reform to improve access and social justice in education because of the failure of technology alone to accomplish any of these things. I can certainly understand their frustration; academia has been remarkably impervious to any change that might redress historical inequities in education. The authors offer as an alternative "a virtual makerspace and a guided fantasy story that were applied in a project concerned with rewilding higher education pedagogy." I laud their intentions but I'm not seeing how this is going to create the change they are looking for. You can't reform the existing system by changing the dressing on the walls. But hey, maybe I'm wrong, and maybe you can convince academia to care.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post][Share]

The 'quantum internet' (and why Washington should care)
Christine Mui, Politico, 2024/05/21

---

People haven't really been talking about  'quantum ed tech' yeat and probably won't in the near future, but from what I've seem quantum computer technology, quantum algorithms are really weird, and as this article suggests, there will be a quantum internet some time in the future. The argument here is that while government has been funding basic research, it needs to fund industry in order to develop practical applications. Personally I think that's a bad idea - it's too early for that, and the companies will just take the money without producing any tangible result. And when the technology does reach the stage of practical application, companies will jump in with their own money, as we've see with AI. Let's first get the technology right, and maybe even think ahead of time about how it will be managed.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post][Share]

New Windows AI feature records everything you've done on your PC
Benj Edwards, Ars Technica, 2024/05/21

---

I guess I shouldn't be surprised by the alarm this feature is raising: "At a Build conference event on Monday, Microsoft revealed a new AI-powered feature called "Recall" for Copilot PCs that will allow Windows 11 users to search and retrieve their past activities on their PC. To make it work, Recall records everything users do on their PC, including activities in apps, communications in live meetings, and websites visited for research." This is the trade-off, though. To provide these great services, the AI will have to have access to your personal information. It can't just make stuff up! You can and should be able to turn it off. But then you have to do without the service. But that just cedes the advantage to people like me who will turn it on and have access to these far-reaching capacities. Privacy! Hah! I grew up in a small town, I know how to live without privacy.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post][Share]

dokieli
Sarven Capadisli, 2024/05/21

---

This is a project from a long-time member of Tim Berners-Lee's SoLiD project, Sarven Capadisli. "dokieli is a clientside editor for decentralised article publishing, annotations, and social interactions." It has all the strengths and weaknesses of the SoLiD project itself: it looks great, has some really neat features, but the user interface isn't very friendly, the documentation is unhelpful, it has been years in development without deployment, and it can't actually be used by people for practical purposes. But do have a look - the web page is also a content editor, and there are some nifty features.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post][Share]

We publish six to eight or so short posts every weekday linking to the best, most interesting and most important pieces of content in the field. Read more about what we cover. We also list papers and articles by Stephen Downes and his presentations from around the world.

There are many ways to read OLDaily; pick whatever works best for you:

• Read in your web browser on this web page, updated weekdays
• Receive a daily or weekly email newsletter by subscribing here
• Subscribe to the RSS feed using your favourite feed reader
• Follow @OLDaily@mastodon.social on Mastodon or elsewhere in the fediverse
• Follow @OLDaily on Twitter
• Integrate the open API using the JSON feed