A response to Leigh Blackall: The New Colonialism in OER

In many respects, OER and the Creative Commons licenses help propel US centered ideas of copyright and intellectual property, indirectly inserting such ideas on the back of moral concepts such as sharing, freedom and openness, as though sharing, freedom and openness didn't exist before, and that the only way to protect such notions is with … Continue reading A response to Leigh Blackall: The New Colonialism in OER

Defining “Creepy Treehouse” #pcthe

In the field of educational technology a creepy treehouse is an institutionally controlled technology/tool that emulates or mimics pre-existing technologies or tools that may already be in use by the learners, or by learners’ peer groups. Though such systems may be seen as innovative or problem-solving to the institution, they may repulse some users who … Continue reading Defining “Creepy Treehouse” #pcthe

Josie Fraser (@josiefraser) on 3 ways to characterise online identity

There are three main ways we can characterise most peoples online internet and mobile activity and presence. Let me state up front that these distinctions are purposely blunt, but do act as effective and critical distinctions, especially when talking to people about how and why they can manage their online identities. via fraser.typepad.com Josie Fraser … Continue reading Josie Fraser (@josiefraser) on 3 ways to characterise online identity

Can a PeopleWeb be built on restricted vocabularies? @andypowe11

Andy Powell (@andypowe11) shared the text of Ramakrishnan & Tomkins (2007) "Toward a PeopleWeb". According to the authors, "Attentional metadata is increasingly sought after and is beginning to accumulate in significant volume, suggesting a paradigm shift - and simultaneously raising serious questions about user privacy." (63) A shift from what to what, I wonder? They … Continue reading Can a PeopleWeb be built on restricted vocabularies? @andypowe11

@eframework technical model: a key enabler of open education dialogue? #jiscssbr

e-framework.org The eFramework people have published their technical model here: http://www.e-framework.org/Resources/TechnicalModel/tabid/1008/Default.aspx The model depends on continuing feedback from the community. Their aim is to develop "... a common approach to the description of service-oriented design and analysis," and provide "... a neutral means to articulate the design of software services" in order "...to assist international … Continue reading @eframework technical model: a key enabler of open education dialogue? #jiscssbr

Thoughts on Internationalising the home student conference 19/06/09

I attended the opening plenary of the CICIN conference to hear John Raftery, ProVC for Student Experience and Douglas Bourne, head of the Development Education Centre at IoE, London. *John Raftery* opens the conference, quoting Sen asking us to resist the ideas that we have a single identity and that we "discover" our identity. He … Continue reading Thoughts on Internationalising the home student conference 19/06/09

@Downes calls attention to MIT Tops List of College Copyright Violators

If we represented truly the worst-case scenario, then copyright infringement can’t be a really big problem, because we don’t have that much via chronicle.com I think the lesson here is that fair use practice in education has to lead legislation, not be driven by it. MIT has led the OER movement. As a pioneer and … Continue reading @Downes calls attention to MIT Tops List of College Copyright Violators

Is the book dead? Well, yes and no: Booking the future | open Democracy News Analysis

Is the book dead? Can the Six Sisters of publishing rescue books? Will publishers find a new profit model? Can bookstores survive the internet? Can writers make a living? What about e-books? Is Kindle the beginning and end of the revolution? Will Google Books be literature's savior or executioner? Where does Scribd.com fit in? via … Continue reading Is the book dead? Well, yes and no: Booking the future | open Democracy News Analysis