The Discussion higlighted various aspects of education system in India. It also underline the compelling need of an alternative mode of education delivery. Present education system in India is quite perturbing. As compared to 1.80 million schools in China, India has only 1.20 million and against 900 universities in China and 3600 in USA, India has only 362 universities. Further about 26 million

by Ray at May 10, 2008 06:56 PM

Eight African countries, including Ghana, have been selected to form the African Copyright and Access to Knowledge network (ACA2K network) to investigate the relationship between copyright and education in Africa. The team will, between this year and 2010, gather research evidence and engage policy makers in efforts to ensure maximum use of copyright law flexibilities that have the potential to

by Ray at May 10, 2008 06:56 PM

Online gaming can help students develop many of the skills they'll be required to use upon leaving school, such as critical thinking, problem solving, and creativity, agreed educators who spoke during an April 16 webinar on gaming in education. Sharnell Jackson, the chief eLearning officer for Chicago Public Schools and the webinar's moderator, noted that gaming and simulations are highly

by Ray at May 10, 2008 06:56 PM

The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and Nicolet College in Rhinelander have formed a partnership that will make bachelor’s degrees more accessible to place-bound working adults living in Wisconsin’s northern counties. The two schools are piloting a new initiative that will offer UW-Green Bay courses at Nicolet College starting this fall. Classes in Rhinelander, combined with online courses and

by Ray at May 10, 2008 06:56 PM

This paper investigates factors affecting the perceived readiness for online collaborative learning (OCL) of a sample of 86 mathematics teachers from 12 secondary schools. Descriptive analysis, factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structure equation modeling were used to analyze the data. A moderately fit model was generated and able to inform that time constraint and insufficient

by Ray at May 10, 2008 06:56 PM

This paper draws on the literature of transformational leadership and learning organisation with a concern to foster innovative changes in classroom practices. Based on the understanding that effective use of ICT has to be construed in the pedagogical and organisational context, this study focuses on the impact of the relevant contextual factors on teaching and learning, and how these factors

by Ray at May 10, 2008 06:56 PM

The rapid growth in the use of learning technologies, particularly the use of the web based technologies and communications have offered educators with many more opportunities to investigate the most suitable learning environments for their students’ learning styles. The purpose of the present study was to examine the students’ learning styles and their views on blended learning. The study was

by Ray at May 10, 2008 06:56 PM

This paper aims to discuss the role and impact that information technology (IT) has on the future and existing style of learning and teaching. It highlights the importance of acquiring computer skills and being literate in IT. The focus is put on certain areas related to IT and education which include pedagogy and training to build IT literacy among both educators and learners. Particularly, it

by Ray at May 10, 2008 06:56 PM

Within an authentic assessment regime, a student is evaluated in terms of their ability to demonstrate application of a body of knowledge to a scenario situated in an actual, or a near replica of a real-world context. At Universitas 21 Global (U21Global), a completely online graduate school backed by 16 universities from around the world, the entire pedagogical model is founded on such an

by Ray at May 10, 2008 06:56 PM

Based on the hypothesis that inconclusive research results with regard to the impact of games and simulations are linked to the absence of clear concept definitions, research was undertaken to fill this methodological gap by identifying the essential attributes of games and simulations. This paper first introduces the context for our study. This is followed by a description of the analysis grid

by Ray at May 10, 2008 06:56 PM

Mobile learning and outsourcing e-mail operations are two of the hottest topics in campus IT today. Kevin Roberts knows a lot about both of them. He has moved his institution, Abilene Christian University, from a home-grown e-mail system to Google Apps for Education, and overseen experiments in group learning using various Google applications. He also has pushed for mobile computing, providing

by Ray at May 10, 2008 06:56 PM

Podcasting offers many benefits to students at school, Apple’s latest education-focused profile report explains. The report examines students at Hurstpierpoint College in Sussex. It looks at how podcasting has helped improve the way children engage with course content, both by allowing educational resources to be available 24/7, and also by offering new ways for students to interact.

by Ray at May 10, 2008 06:56 PM

The 23-campus California State University system with more than 400,000 students has determined that accessibility issues with the current versions of the Blackboard learning management system preclude their including Bb in the newest round of master enabling agreements. Meanwhile, master enabling agreements were awarded to Angel Learning and MoodleRooms.

by Ray at May 10, 2008 06:56 PM

The Internet has changed the way people communicate, do business and learn. It provides another avenue for people anywhere, at any time, to log on and learn a specified skill at their own convenience. A new partnership between Colorado Mountain College and Cengage Learning provides not only CMC students but people anywhere in the world the opportunity to take the no-credit online courses for

by Ray at May 10, 2008 06:56 PM

An online learning bachelor of accounting degree will be the first to be delivered entirely electronically in Australia, including interaction with tutors and access to full-text library resources. It's the first higher-education degree for Cengage Education, which offers 70 vocational correspondence courses. Fifty students have access to a portal built from open source and proprietary

by Ray at May 10, 2008 06:56 PM

Amid recent reports that America's high schools are in crisis, with drop-out rates as high as 48 percent in major cities, there is a Washington high school that's working to reverse the trend by drawing students back to school. More than 40 percent of students enrolled in Insight School of Washington weren't attending public school when they enrolled. Twenty percent of them weren't attending

by Ray at May 10, 2008 06:55 PM

It might not be a typical university, but that doesn't stop the Open from being at the forefront of academic life in this country. It's the UK's largest university, a world leader in distance online learning, achieves high standards in teaching and research, and has been rated top for student satisfaction in the national student survey for three years in the row.

by Ray at May 10, 2008 06:55 PM

Most of us know a college degree can make a big difference in our careers. But as adults, many people don't feel they have enough time to go back to school. Why not try earning your degree at home? Nurse Jami McCall already earned her RN degree, but decided she wanted to continue her education to become a Nurse Practitioner. She found the perfect program at USF in Tampa.... She enrolled in the

by Ray at May 10, 2008 06:55 PM

A wireless technology that Sprint Nextel plans to launch within a year makes high-speed and secure Internet access possible from almost anywhere. Called WiMax, it's the heart of a huge telecommunications industry effort to supplant Wi-Fi, the service that most users rely on for wireless Internet connections at broadband speeds.... WiMax's faster Internet access also would make long-distance

by Ray at May 10, 2008 06:55 PM

The Web 2.0 “buzz” starts with new technologies such as virtual worlds, cell phones and handheld devices that offer 24/7 web access, tagging, social networks, and blogs and brings together various web capabilities in unique combinations (known as “mashing”—such as maps that also include the latest real estate property assessments). But Web 2.0 is about much more than the technology—it's about a

by Ray at May 10, 2008 06:55 PM

Logging onto the computer at home is now the preferred method of education for thousands of British Columbian students who are abandoning bricks-and-mortar schools for Internet classrooms run by teachers kilometres away. The LearnNowBC program has almost tripled its online student body since it began less than three years ago, says Barry Anderson, executive director of the Virtual School Society

by Ray at May 10, 2008 06:55 PM

UMassOnline, the online learning division of the University of Massachusetts, today announced a second consecutive fiscal year of record-breaking enrollment and revenue results. Matching last year's results, which were the best in three years, fiscal year 2008 at UMassOnline saw a 26.2% increase in enrollments, to 33,900 over 26,855 in fiscal year 2007, and a 31.9% increase in revenue to

by Ray at May 10, 2008 06:55 PM

Central Community College has scheduled orientations on its Web-based courses in Grand Island, Hastings, Kearney and Columbus. The one-hour orientations are designed for students, staff and other individuals who are either planning to take CCC courses on the Web during the 2008 summer session or are interested in doing so but are concerned about their ability to navigate through the courses. In

by Ray at May 10, 2008 06:55 PM

There is no shortage of associate degree programs online, but private four-year colleges don’t tend to run them. This fall, Tiffin University is trying a new model for an online two-year degree program. The institution, which was founded in 1888, is launching an associate of arts degree in general studies as part of what it calls Ivy Bridge College, an online-only program that targets

by Ray at May 10, 2008 06:55 PM

Max Benning of Scottsdale, Arizona, struggles in school, especially with the subjects chemistry, English and physics. "According to my mom, I don't really care about school," said the 11-year-old. And he admits that he wouldn't make it without tutoring. "I need it, and it is much more efficient than studying by myself." So, a few times a week, he discusses his homework with his tutor, Bindu.

by Ray at May 10, 2008 06:55 PM

Thanks to Adam Marshall of Oxford - the Sakai developer list recently started a discussion about an exit strategy for an organization which adopts Sakai. Not because Oxford is thinking about exiting Sakai before it even enters - but because...

by Charles Severance at May 10, 2008 01:19 PM

How do you find out rapidly which blogs are mentioning you or linking back to your recent article? If you are new to the world of online publishing you may still be trying to figure out how to search and be alerted when other sites out there are going to link or mention you or your web site. How do you track and monitor citations and link backs to you? Ego searching is the answer. Ego searching is all about setting up a small set of blog search engines to search both for your name as well as for your main domain URL. Here is my video on how to do it: Robin Good explains how to do Ego Searching to discover who is talking or linking back to your site / blog

Ego-Searching - What Is It? + How To Do It

Fill English Text Video Transcription

Hi guys, here is Robin Good for MasterNewMedia and I am going to explain to you today how you can do ego searching. Ego searching? Yeah. Ego searching is all about searching for yourself and finding out who is talking about you, or your website, or your content on other websites. Because, as soon as you start blogging and publishing your content online, sooner or later somebody, because they like you and sometimes because they want to duplicate your content, are going to pick up your name, the name of your website, or making actually a link back to your site which is the greatest thing that normally can happen to you. So how do you do it? Let's go check it out: you take your browser, and you go to www.technorati.com, OK? 1) Press enter, let's go. 2) And this is what you're going to see when you're there. 3) Then in the search box right here you're going to type your name in between quotes, just like this. 4) Then you will see here in the results that two hours ago on this blog there was a mention of Robin Good! And then on this other one there was another mention. And then another one here, that was one hour ago, and another one 19 hours ago, and so on. So that's the first way to find out who's talking, or mentioning, or siting, or linking back to your site. The other way to do it is actually to go and type the URL, the main one of your site, and that will also show you what is the total number of mentions, of links coming back to your site as well as, in chronological reverse order, the sites linking back to you: one hour ago this site linked back to MasterNewMedia, and then this other one, and then this other one we saw when we searched for Robin Good, and so on. Where else can you you do this? I advise you strongly you do this in Technorati, and you also do it in Bloglines where there is a special feature up here called "Search for citations". There you can do exactly the same stuff as we did just a second ago in Technorati, and get all the people mentioning Robin Good, all the links you have coming back, or you can use the URL. And you can also use Google Blog Search, this one here, and again utilize the same approach: type your name or type your URL there and see all the mentions that you're getting back to your site. That's all for Robin Good for MasterNewMedia. Talk to you soon, ciao!

by Robin Good at May 10, 2008 09:37 AM

RescueTime is a tool that tracks what a user does with her/his computer. I tried it for a while. It was depressing, so I stopped using it. They've now publicized some aggregate information on computing habits of early adopters. The results are not surprising - most people still spend the bulk of their time in Microsoft-based applications. Google is coming on strong, however, with their email service approaching Outlook in terms of usage time. Google Reader rated quite highly as well for early adopters, almost on par with time spent in Google search.

by gsiemens at May 09, 2008 10:33 PM

I'm always careful with the phrase 'scientifically proven' (because it never means what people think it means, and it's so often misused). And just so with these ten items. In the main, I don't disagree with them. In the details, I think each of the ten items is presented inaccurately. Indeed, if you analyze them, you'll see that they are internally inconsistent - if number 3 is true, for example, then number 8 is most certainly problematic, and probably false. So we end up with a view of learning which, while on the surface appears accurate, is in fact quite misleading and incorrect (at least, to my perspective). The thing is, what is known about learning is (a) small, uncertain, and fuzzy, and (b) not capable of being represented in a pithy ten-point list. Donald Clark, Plan B, May 9, 2008 [Tags: none] [Link] [Comment]

May 09, 2008 06:46 PM

Of course, PowerPoint is not inherently evil, it is just poorly used. For those who are interested in using PowerPoint well, this article has a lot of material that will be of interest. Zaid Ali Alsagoff, ZaidLearn, May 9, 2008 [Tags: none] [Link] [Comment]

May 09, 2008 06:37 PM

There's a lot of scepticism surrounding the whole idea of multiliteracies. Which I suppose is not really surprising - after all, it is seen as "TV studies" in some circles, and it's hard to imagine that it's a real academic discipline that will actually show anything of value in the long run. And it doesn't help when we are told - for the umpteenth time that "Written paper texts are generally consumed in a linear fashion, but digital text can be very non-linear." Which isn't even true (try being non-linear watching TV. Try being linear flipping through a newspaper). And how do you know anything is 'true' in this discipline - what separates an important insight from sheer nonsense (so far as I can tell, it's a connection to a star - like Guy Ritchie)? But... but... there are multiple modes of media, and multiple modes of communication, and probably, multiple modes of thinking and imagining. And - just as with language - the semantic context extends well beyond either the speaker or the speech. It's like any media production carries this 'cloud of meaning' with it. Graham Wegner, Teaching Generation Z, May 9, 2008 [Tags: Video, Semantic Web, Academia] [Link] [Comment]

May 09, 2008 06:23 PM

I've got a couple of online events happening at SCoPE (a Moodle install at SFU supporting education) right now. One is Shaping Our Future: Toward a Pan Canadian E-learning Research Agenda. In this one, Terry Anderson proposes that we need a national research agenda. In my response (also posted to my Half an Hour blog) I respond that such an agenda might not turn out the way we want it to. I'm also watching the discussion at Social Media - Benefits for Researchers, a forum established by Ignatia de Waard. If you want to keep up on what's happening at SCoPE (which I really recommend) then you'll want to subscribe to the monthly MicroScope newsletter by Sylvia Currie. One thing I really really like about SCoPE is that its seminar discussions are always open. There's a lot of interesting material on this website. Stephen Downes, Half an Hour, May 9, 2008 [Tags: Newsletters, Canada, Research, Web Logs] [Link] [Comment]

May 09, 2008 06:02 PM

This is a positive development. The e-Learning Standards Advisory Council of Canada has published a request for public input on a web page. Specifically, "it would be appreciated if eLSACC members and members from the eLearning Community who may be maintaining or developing competency frameworks within government would forward information regarding their work in this area to Simone Laughton. Simone Laughton will prepare the Canadian submission and forward it to the WG3 Convener by May 15th, 2008." The page has more information on the nature and scope of the Canadian position being taken on competencies at the international meetings. See also the eLSACC main page. Simone Laughton, eLSCC, May 9, 2008 [Tags: Information, Books, Canada] [Link] [Comment]

May 09, 2008 04:48 PM

Well this is a pretty damning statement: "The default design of commercial course management systems limits instructional creativity and pedagogical approaches, particularly for novice users." But who would say it isn't true? More articles from the current EDUCAUSE Quarterly. Lisa M. Lane, EDUCAUSE Quarterly, May 9, 2008 [Tags: EDUCAUSE] [Link] [Comment]

May 09, 2008 04:30 PM

The reviewer - David L. Hull - sketches a position that is quite similar to my own with respect to scientific pluralism. "The editors of this anthology ask whether or not consistency requires scientific pluralists to be pluralists in dealing with such philosophical concepts as theory, explanation, cause and probability. They answer, 'We think it does' ... Dickson remarks that a "multiplicity of dynamics is not necessarily a bad thing" (p. 57). Not necessarily a bad thing? It is not a bad thing at all. In fact, it is good... Waters remarks that scientists must be 'tolerant of diversity' (p. 210). Tolerant? Diversity deserves more than 'tolerance.'" Reviewed by David L. Hull, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, May 9, 2008 [Tags: none] [Link] [Comment]

May 09, 2008 04:21 PM

The summer 2008 EDUCAUSE Quarterly spotlights the complete findings of the 2008 EDUCAUSE Current IT Issues Survey as well as feature articles on open source software in education, a first assessment of a learning studio, and student use of clickers in library presentations. 

by cluckett at May 09, 2008 04:00 PM

My interest in scientific method is abiding and deep, and so works like this are of inherent interest to me. This is the sort of work that any theorist ought to read before actually conducting research, and yet which so few seem to (educational theorists especially, from whom names like Lakatos, Feyerabend and van Fraassen elicit only blank stares). Not to be snarky, but if I hear one more defense of multiple choice surveys as "research" in education... Reviewed by Paul Dicken, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, May 9, 2008 [Tags: Research] [Link] [Comment]

May 09, 2008 03:31 PM

Traditional content publishers, those who have yet to embrace and understand fully the logic of the web, have been utilizing their legal arms and small army of lawyers to fight, discourage and destroy anything that appeared as a slightly moving object in their trajectory toward total control of their distribution channels. But is this working for them, or against them?

Photo credit: Bouzou Jean-Louis

John Blossom, analyst and writer on media content strategies, takes his stand on these sensitive issues and explains, in quite simple words, why traditional content publishers need to stop utilizing copyright laws and the legal system to defend their territory.

"Providing value in context is the true value of publishing, a concept that is conflicting more and more with the mass manufacturing model that drives the production of much of today's copyrighted content."

The value and reasoning of copyright are being defeated by a new marketplace and distribution ecosystem which is built on premises and interactions that are radically opposite to those on which copyright took its roots.

Today, content finds its value most easily when it can freely move along its natural, spontaneous, self-emerging distribution channels. And so, although difficult to predict, it is only "once content has been distributed" that "it finds its value most easily." It is context that today determines content value, leading naturally toward a possible new style of automated content licensing, which could leverage a number of existing licensing models to pay back authors and content creators for their work.

Here is his view:

The Future of Copyright is Here

by John Blossom

...Corporate librarians bemoan publishers doing little to address many key issues regarding their business models, especially how they related to copyright.

The publishing industry has enormous vested interests in managing copyright through traditional legal and business channels, preferring the intricacies of case-by-case deal-making to the risk of distributing content to the wrong people under the wrong terms.

This emphasis on legal departments as key elements of publishers' fundamental revenue models and opportunistic lawsuits that argue for copyright enforcement on increasingly arbitrary grounds has created an utterly balkanized landscape of kludgey deals and half-considered rulings in dozens of courts that in essence has dismantled much of the value of the once common and simple concept of copyright.

The New Panorama

In the meantime the online economy has prospered, not by corrupting copyright but by creating value out of content in legitimate derivative works and in new sources of original authorship which in sum dwarfs the output of traditional publishing outlets.

Many new services are facilitating the ability of people to apply copyright effectively online in a far more automated fashion for specific items of content.

Value in Context

Providing value in context is the true value of publishing, a concept that is conflicting more and more with the mass manufacturing model that drives the production of much of today's copyrighted content.

Much of the value of online content for a given audience where infinite supply reigns is fleeting, highly contextual and oriented more towards executing business deals or building relationships.

The fundamental concept of copyright - that creating a temporary monopoly for a publisher based on the premise that control of distribution will sustain publishers - is becoming far more limited in its effectiveness to deliver value.

The question is not whether someone should have a right to license their content for use under copyright but rather how they should license it. This is why I have suggested for several years that publishers focus on the concept of context rights rather than copyright.

In other words, once content has been distributed, it finds its value most easily. The fleeting moments and contexts in which it becomes valuable are difficult to predict in advance in an online environment and the relationships that will result in those moments harder yet to predict.

The Cure for the Copyright Industry

What the copyright industry needs to adapt to is a different view of what technology will help rights holders to make the most of content that benefits most from unfettered distribution. I believe that this will lead towards is a new style of licensing that is more fully automated and which uses a variety of predefined models to compensate content creators for their works.

The rewards may be smaller overall in many instances in terms of money exchanged, but offering more exploitable brand value over time as people discover not only the value of a particular work but the value of a relationship with the creator of the work.

Originally written by John Blossom for Shore and first published on May 1st 2008 as "OnCopyright 2008: The Future of Copyright is Here"

by John Blossom at May 09, 2008 10:03 AM

The article is mostly about blogs, and mostly about law blogs with a conservative-libertarian bent. Worth a look as a snapshot of the trend, though. Andy Guess, Inside Higher Ed, May 9, 2008 [Tags: Web Logs] [Link] [Comment]

May 09, 2008 09:18 AM

The next issue of eLearning Papers, a series by the elearningeuropa.info-portal, focuses on Open Educational Resources (OER). The eLearning Papers looks for articles on OER and their use in education at all levels, taking into account the aspects of global development and Web 2.0.

The contributions should focus on one or more of the following themes:

* Lessons learned and best practices of OER projects, tools and initiatives
* New findings, facts and figures of OER development and usage
* Discussion and position papers on how the OER movement can be supported
* Pedagogical innovations and OER, does OER make any difference?
* Transferability and usability of OER
* OER as a way to create and support sustainable development
* Business models around OER

The deadline for article submission is 30 June 2008.

Read more here: http://www.elearningpapers.eu/index.php?page=fix&id=10

[Comments]

May 08, 2008 05:30 PM

As I said to my audience, I prepared for my talk Tuesday by reading Heidegger and walking around Montreal taking photographs. I also met with Seb Paquet and Daniel Lemire. I did this because I had a pretty good idea already of what the content of my talk would be, it being based on my writings on authentication and identification and on resource profiles. So I could allow myself a more liberal sort of preparation.

The result was three separate entities. One was the set of slides and the talk I actually produced, which was pretty basic. The second was a set of notes that captured some of my thinking. And the third was, of course, my set of photographs from Montreal. The theme of all three, from three different directions, is identity (you see this especially in the photos, which probably express what I was trying to say more clearly than the text).

I will have more to say on this.
Stephen Downes, Flickr, May 8, 2008 [Tags: Wikipedia, Flickr] [Link] [Comment]

May 08, 2008 05:24 PM

The funniest thing about the recent critics of all things web, wiki and amateur is that these pundits suppose that we are not willing or not able to see the mistakes and errors - deliberate or otherwise - that permeate our authority-driven information sphere. Because I am picky and critical and analytical when I read, I see these errors all the time, every day, which is why it is for me with a continual sense of astonishment that I see people defer to opinions that are 'well informed' or 'published' or 'authoritative'. Will web scholars of the future 'know truth when they see it?" "The answer, from any web literate scholar, is if you make it easy for me to check it, maybe I will know it when I see it. The web does that in spades, which allows us, ironically, to repair the errors that the Washington Post generates." Mike Caulfield, Weblog, May 8, 2008 [Tags: Books] [Link] [Comment]

May 08, 2008 05:10 PM

As usual Jane Hart describes it without wasting words: "Interactive website tools for education, business and fun. Add whiteboard, chat, games, message boards, VOIP and web conferencing to your site by simply copying a few lines of HTML code." Groupboard. When I tried it, the software advised me that there is a big in OSX Java that causes Groupboard to run very slowly. Yeah, yet another quality Java experience. Jane Hart, Jane's E-Learning Pick of the Day, May 8, 2008 [Tags: Chatrooms, Conferencing, Experience, Quality] [Link] [Comment]

May 08, 2008 05:03 PM

OK, this is good science. SIMILE stands for Semantic Interoperability of Metadata and Information in unLike Environments and is a set of small, agile tools that help people do semantic-web like tasks without the heartache of parsing XML or making service requests. As you watch the display widget show you one after another, you get the idea that there's a new web happening here. Which reminds me, I really need to write a summary report on Javascript frameworks, because these are game-changing applications. Via Catherine Howell. Various Authors, MIT, May 8, 2008 [Tags: Information, Semantic Web, XML, Metadata] [Link] [Comment]

May 08, 2008 04:57 PM

I think I have been confused with Stephen Hawking. But despite this crisis of identity, I think that this mash-up of one of Brian's Mashups is worth the two minutes it takes to watch it. It's one of those multimedia pieces that encapsulates a single (complex) thought or idea. One of the new words in our new vocabulary. Here's the is you have trouble with the embedded video on the web page, as I did. Alan Levine, CogDogBlog, May 8, 2008 [Tags: Video, YouTube] [Link] [Comment]

May 08, 2008 04:34 PM

This is a very good post that captures the idea of how the concept of the e-portfolio is in the process of evolving from something a school manages to something that an individual manages (aka the transition to the PLE, a subcurrent I caught at the e-portfolios conference too). Groom has just posted Part 2 and promises Part 3 some time tomorrow. Jim Groom, WPMU Ed, May 8, 2008 [Tags: Schools, E-Portfolios] [Link] [Comment]

May 08, 2008 04:27 PM

MediaWiki is server-based wiki software, designed for use on large-scale websites. It is used by a number of high-profile websites including Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons. Pete Cooper takes a look at the MediaWiki project giving particular consideration to its sustainability model.

by Elena Blanco-Vazquez at May 08, 2008 04:00 PM

Writing blog posts that get the maximum attention, is not an easy task. Sometimes it gets even to be counterintuitive, as, more often than not, I have realized that posts I wouldn't have bet a dime on, got incredible exposure, visibility, links and traffic against all of my own presupposed expectations. How is that then, that what you value most sometimes is appreciated least and what you consider easy or low-level stuff gets raving fans around the Web faster than lightning? Various authors mashed up by Robin Good - see credits at the end of the article Good question indeed. Attention grabbing articles are very difficult to pull off, as the amount of other sources and the continuous increase of news content makes it all the more difficult to not only stand out from the crowd, but even to be barely seen. If I had to name three things that can stop people in their tracks when browsing or searching for new content, these would be my three key items:

Key Elements To Grab Online Readers Attention

1) Title

You can't escape this one. This is the visual and cognitive handle to information, so you HAVE to see a title, before you can make a more definitive choice about whether to fully engage with it or not. Titles can be done in a million different ways and there are some very different schools of thought around which is the best way to approach this. I take it a little philosophically and prefer to look at the actual numbers and only after at what I feel is most appropriate from an information publishing / gathering viewpoint. And my numbers seem to say quite clearly that unless you spell out clearly, the topic of what your article is about, you can be as ironic and clever as you want but very few readers will be attracted to read right into your content when your title will be in competition with other titles next to it.

2) First Paragraph

How you start an article is the second most important factor, in my opinion, that influences readers in deciding whether to click for more or to jump to the next one. First paragraphs are also very important because they frequently appear in newsletters, search engine results, and below titles inside RSS readers and aggregators. Therefore your potential readers do get a glimpse of what you have written about that can significantly clarify your focus, goals and whatever other important things you may reveal in your blog post. This is one of the reasons why the first sentence in that paragraph and your specific wording inside it can really make a strong impact on your potential reader's final decision. The more you hit something dear to them or something specific that they want to know more about, you have got their attention. The more you tell them clearly and immediately the value (or lack of it) of a certain story, the more opportunities for the reader to find a matching feeling or interest.

3) Visual Clues

If your article is associated with an image, icon or any other visual clue that conveys more to the reader than the first text paragraph can, your content stands much higher probabilities of being read. Problem is, not every visual clue works toward obtaining this goal. Yes, utilizing images, visuals and videos significantly increases the probability of your reader spending more time on your content, but this is particularly true especially when the visual element create a strong cognitive, identification match in the mind of the reader. This is why, is not extremely important to place images for the sake of making your content more "visual". Actually poorly selected and prepared images can easily discredit or diminish the perceived value and credibility of just any content. But this is just my point of view. Here also the viewpoint of guest contributor Sharon Housley, who looks more in depth at the same issue. To make my contribution both more enjoyable for me and more interesting for you as well, I first wrote my three points and only then looked at the ones Sharon had herself selected. Then I went onto adding a small, short comment on each one of her suggestions, as my strategy and tactics are sometimes radically opposite to the more traditional ones, she kindly recommends.

Blog Posts That Get Attention

by Sharon Housley

a) Draw Attention

Use titles to attract the reader's attention to the blog post. The title should mimic newspaper headlines and generate interest in the blog post. The title can be controversial, but not to the extent of being misleading. Use action words in the title. Bloggers will often come up with a handful of potential titles for blog posts, and then settle on the title that is best suited to a particular blog post. Robin Good comment: In my view, on the web, Titles should almost NEVER mimic newspaper headlines. This is a recipe for little success and no long term sustainability. The Web works on a different set of principles and the very reasons that make catchy newspaper titles effective in the physical world (space scarcity) can't be so easily applied to the web reality.

b) Deliver

Having a catchy title, but following it with content that fails to deliver, will not endear you to your readers. The blog content must deliver what is promised in the blog title, or readers will unsubscribe and stop reading. When deciding on a blog title, do not stray too far from the content, as the two are intricately related -- the title will attract the reader's attention, but the content must then live up to expectations... or the blogger's reputation will suffer. Robin Good comment: Couldn't agree more on this one.

c) Accurate

Nothing stains a blogger's reputation like inaccurate information, so be sure that your blog posts contain accurate information. Intentionally posting inaccurate or false information will significantly damage a blogger's reputation. But if an error unintentionally or inadvertently occurs in a blog post, be sure to quickly post a retraction or correction, along with an explanation and an apology in order to salvage your good reputation. Robin Good comment: Yes, this is the way to go.

d) Relevant & Timely

Blog posts should always be relevant and timely. Hearing about something long after it has occurred will not captivate readers. Blog about information that is occurring in the here and now. If you are going to write something that is no longer timely, be sure to add some sort of twist, or include new or updated information to make it relevant. Robin Good comment: Relevant is NOT the same as timely. Relevant is relative to the reader's interest at any given time while "timely" is generally connected to events, news and product information that is highly time-sensitive (product launches, events, breaking news, and so on). My experience and data say that you can have posts and articles that have nothing to do with the mainstream news and are not connected to any specific individual event but which grab and hold attention for your readers more than the more sensationalist of your breaking news. So, my advice is more toward advising publishers to provide highly interesting and valuable content to their readers rather than focusing on trying to break the news better than the others do. (This article is a living example of this and if you look at Sharon's original published article, it doesn't even carry a date.)

e) On Topic

All blogs should have a general theme that connects all the posts on the blog. Readers will expect posts that are related, so stay true to the blog's theme and topic. Robin Good comment: Couldn't agree more. The way to go.

f) Use Keywords

Use keywords liberally in blog posts. Search engines will attempt to categorize the content of a blog post and discern its general topic. By including related keywords or keyword phrases, search engines will have an easier time classifying the blog's contents. Additionally, a blog that uses keywords will have a better chance of ranking well for those keywords or keyword phrases in organic search listings. Robin Good comment: I think that if you are not copying, scraping or copying and pasting content from other sites, consistency of terminology will come by itself and with it search engines ability to more easily classify and give relevance to your content. I am not too comfortable with advising people in using keywords, because I have seen over and over than when you tell them so, they go overboard, they stop writing valuable content and become SEO-obsessed content patchers who have nothing to do with professional web publishers like the ones I want to be talking to now. What you want to do is rather to write on a clear, well framed topic, while writing in the more legible and understandable way. Avoiding content that is too informal, implicit expressions or subjects gives you an easy way to communicate more effectively while naturally defining the topic of your writing.

g) Evaluate Web Logs

Review web logs to determine what blog posts have been popular with readers. Then figure out how to provide similar or related content that might also be of interest to those readers. Robin Good comment: Yes! Treasure trove.

h) Original

Blog posts should always contain original and unique content. If you are simply re-posting information from others, include editorial content or a different spin to the information. Readers do not want to constantly rehash the same information -- they are interested in reading new material. Robin Good comment: Hmmm... opportunity. How you combine, bring together, illustrate and connect the information you have available can make a huge difference in how people perceive it. So, while I agree with advising web publishers in avoiding a content strategy based on just re-posting other people's content, I have long realized that one of the most valuable things a web publisher can do is actually to edit, bring together and extend in valuable ways the work done by others.

j) Chunky Content

Break content into smaller, readable chunks. Most website visitors will just scan paragraphs for information, and very few will take the time to read all the words contained in a post. Use bulleted lists, or break web copy into paragraphs with bolded sub-topics that appear before the paragraphs. Robin Good comment: Right on. These are important points and the more you learn about them and the logic behind it, the better you can control the effects they can produce.

And You?

What else would you add to the above items, as critical components that could significantly improve the possibility of an article to effectively grab the readers attention?

Photo credit: Draw Attention - cre8tive88 Deliver - jamesgroup Accurate - devon Relevant & Timely - nruboc On Topic - scops Use Keywords - fstutzman Evaluate Web Logs - robynmac Original - mipan Chunky Content - scol22

Originally written by Robin Good - MasterNewMedia and Sharon Housley for rss-specifications and first published as "Blog Posts that Attract Attention". Edited, formatted and extended with personal comments by Robin Good.

by Robin Good at May 08, 2008 12:08 PM

Identity is challenging in a distributed environment. When dealing with educators, I often mention that if they are not involved in networked conversation, their voice essentially doesn't exist (which raises the prospect that learners will receive information from less than ideal sources). Well, in reality, if you're not online, it's not only that you don't exist. Instead, the challenge arises that others may form your identity for you. For example, in a neighboring city of Brandon, Manitoba, a teenager has been charged with impersonating a teacher for creating a Facebook account using the teachers name and identity. While I see the parallel with impersonating a person in a physical space (and therefore the basis of the arrest), these types of things are almost impossible to control. The onus of confirming identity - much like email spam - should rest on the people interacting with the Facebook profile. I have become cynical over the last few years about people offering me huge sums of money if I will only provide my personal banking information. In a similar sense, when I encounter an individual online, I need to question/be wary. As astonishing as it may appear, not everything we encounter online is completely accurate.

by gsiemens at May 07, 2008 10:45 PM

This should be basic and fundamental information, and in my view, projects without this sort of informational support are just being anti-social. If this is all new to you, this is a good place to start. Related and relevant: Judy Breck on how RSS injects edu with accuracy, freshness, and cool stuff. Marshall Kirkpatrick, Weblog, May 7, 2008 [Tags: RSS, Project Based Learning] [Link] [Comment]

May 07, 2008 05:13 PM

I saw a presentation today on 'Operator', a Fiefox extension that associates applications (such as calendaring services) with microformats (such as the 'hEvent' format). More info here on the blog. Operator was developed by Michael Kaply at IBM, and is a featured project of Mozilla Labs. Michael Kaply, Mozilla, May 7, 2008 [Tags: Project Based Learning, Microformats, Web Logs] [Link] [Comment]

May 07, 2008 04:54 PM

Alan Levine describes: "I just took a quick spin through MSNBC's Spectra which is sort of like, no not really, like a visual news/feed reader. You pick news "channels" (chosen by MSNBC not you) they are color coded (by MSNBC not you), and the headlines spin by you in a cyclical spiral." Captures what I find wrong about Microsoft software. Anyhow. I think I have better channels. Alan Levine, CogDogBlog, May 7, 2008 [Tags: RSS, Research, Microsoft] [Link] [Comment]

May 07, 2008 03:32 PM

SURF has launched a website to inform people about copyright in scholarly communication. "If an author transfers all of his rights exclusively to a publisher, this restricts the options for reusing the research results, for either teaching or research purposes. Doing so may also involve additional costs. Being more aware about copyright and using alternative licence models helps to optimise access to the publicly financed results of scientific and scholarly research and to reuse those results." Various Authors, SURF, May 7, 2008 [Tags: Academic Publications, Books, Research, Copyrights, Patents] [Link] [Comment]

May 07, 2008 02:19 PM

Various references today to the The United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business, (UN/CEFACT) and in particular the Core Component Technical Specification (CCTS). The web presence for this organization is a mess, and the CCTS - which defines basic data types - appears to be extant only as a PDF. One wonders how much communication there is between this body and UNESCO. Various Authors, UN/CEFACT, May 7, 2008 [Tags: UNESCO] [Link] [Comment]

May 07, 2008 02:12 PM

AdSense for Search is now powered by Google Custom Search. Yesterday, Google officially announced the availability of AdSense for Search for use in combination with the powerful Google Custom Search service, something not possible until now and potentially very welcome to both small and large professional web publishers looking for further ways to optimize their content monetization opportunities while helping their readers find more easily the information they are looking for. With AdSense for Search now powered by Google Custom Search, professional web publishers have some truly advanced and very cool customization options to best monetize their search results pages through AdSense contextual ads. Among some of the most powerful new customization options are a) keyword tuning, b) creating vertical search solutions, and c) customizing fully the placement of ads on your site Google search results pages. The new Custom Search platform has significantly improved its indexing capabilities while fully integrating the power of AdSense for Search. AdSense web publishers like you can now create unlimited Custom Search Engines (CSEs) and take advantage of the most popular customization features already available within their AdSense accounts. If you are not yet familiar with it, you should know that Google Custom Search is built on top of the very main Google index, though now it maintains its own index for enhanced coverage of sites included in CSEs. This improved indexing approach only affects search results within your custom-created search engine, not your own site rank and indexing level on Google.com. Here more details: Introduction to AdSense and Google Custom Search

Overview - AdSense for Search Integration With Custom Search

• Create a custom, personalized search engine in no time at all
• Customize the appearance of search results and ads
• Tune results and ads to your site's content and audience
• Get more comprehensive site search results with improved indexing
• Earn revenue while helping your users find what they’re looking for

Key Features

• Site Search

  If you've worked hard to attract users to your site, so it's understandable that you'd be concerned about those users leaving through web search. Now you can choose to provide just site search so users can find all the information they're looking for on your site, and you can host the search results on your own pages so that they can find that information without leaving your site.




• Improved Indexing of your Pages

  Google has recently improved its indexing technology so that you can provide a more enhanced Site Search experience to your users. AdSense for search will now index even more pages of your site so that your users will see more results from your site in your AdSense for search results.




• Vertical Search

  You can also allow your users to search across multiple sites - this could be a network of sites that you own or other related sites that you think your users might find useful. If you write book reviews on your blog, for example, you can use vertical search to specify a list of online bookstores for users to search through. Other examples of vertical searches include computer forums, travel blogs, political sites you endorse, etc.




• Tuning Search Results and Ads with Keywords

  Search terms can have different meanings in different contexts, so you can now configure your search engine with relevant keywords. Let's say you manage a site about yoga - you can enter keywords such as 'yoga,' 'exercise,' and 'meditation' so that when a user searches for 'mat,' the search results and ads will be more related to yoga mats and less to commercial floor mats. (You can see an example of this in the video below). In research experiments run so far it has been found that this tuning has led to an increase in earnings for web publishers.




• Choosing Ad Position

  Do you want your AdSense ads to appear at the top and bottom of your search results? Or along the right sidebar as well, just like on Google.com? Now you can make the call on where ads are placed. (Placing ads at the top and right monetizes the best for publishers.)




• Quick and Easy Changes and Modifications To Your Setup

  Just as you use Google ad management feature to quickly change the settings for your ad and referral units, you'll be able to do the same for your search engine within your AdSense account. Your settings will be saved in your account, so you won't need to generate new search code for each change.

Key Benefits

• Help Your Users Find What They’re Looking For

  Visitors come to your site searching for something specific. Whether that is information, a certain product, entertainment, or just a way to spend time, AdSense for search allows you to enable them to do just that. By offering you new customization options, like what to let your users search and specifying relevant search keywords to Google, AdSense for Search leverages your expert knowledge to show Google search results and targeted ads that are particularly relevant to visitors in the context of your site. As with all AdSense products, Google gives you control over the look and feel of the search results and ads to match your site’s look and feel.




• Utilize the power of the Google Custom Search Platform

  By integrating AdSense for Search with Google’s Custom Search platform, you, as a web publisher have more control over what your search engine searches across. For example, if you’re concerned about users leaving your site, you can allow them to search just your site. If your site is dedicated to a particular topic, you can create a vertical search engine so that your users can search across related sites of your choosing. From individual pages to the entire Web, it’s completely up to you to decide what your users will be searching across.




• Provide the Most Relevant Ads to Your Readers

  Provide keywords related to your site’s content, to help fine-tune ads and search results so that they’re even more relevant to your users.




• Seamless Integration with Your Site Design

  Here are some of the look and feel customization features you get with AdSense for search:
  • Customize the color scheme of your ads and search results
  • Choose where you want to place your ads
  • Opt to host the search results on your own site within your site’s template
  • Select from a variety of search box appearances

Getting Started

Get started with these new Google Search features by taking these specific steps: 1) Go to your Google AdSense account 2) Click on your Setup tab 3) Select 'AdSense for Search' as your product 4) Once you've set up your search box, you may wish to explore more advanced features such as site exclusion, labels, and collaboration. To learn more, visit google.com/adsense/afs or the AdSense Help Center.

Google Custom Search - Business Edition

The Google Custom Search Business Edition is great for public websites that have a lot of web-based content that needs to be easily searchable and to companies wanting to leverage the maximum potential for content monetization available through the Google Custom Search Engine. The Business Edition, allows you to: a) Turn off ads. Custom Search Business Edition turns off Google Adwords advertisements in search results that regularly appear in the free version of the Custom Search Engine. b) Customize your search results through an XML feed If you wish to significantly change the look and feel of your search engine, you can build your own user interface and integrate an XML feed of search results. c) Put your own logo on the search results pages d) Access enterprise-grade support Here, a simple video demonstration of the Custom Search Business Edition: also to watch: Custom Search Business Edition video (25 mins) Custom Search Business Edition is available in a number of plans:

• Search less than 5,000 web pages: $100 per year
• Search less than 50,000 web pages: $500 per year
• Search less than 100,000 web pages: $850 per year
• Search less than 300,000 web pages: $2250 per year

More Information on Google AdSense For Search

• Google Custom Search Help Center
• Custom Search expands to Adsense for Search
• Google AdSense for Search now powered by Custom Search
• AdSense and your CSE
• Labels, Refinements and Keywords
• Volunteering and Collaborating with Google Custom Search Engine
Recommended:
• Full Tutorial by DoshDosh on How to Set Up Your Own Google Custom Search by DoshDosh
• Google Custom Search with Adsense for Blogger or WordPress Blogs by Amit Agarwal

by Robin Good at May 07, 2008 10:00 AM

The Spring 2008 ALT* Newsletter has plenty of meat in it, including:

• a piece by Southampton University's Wendy Hall and Keiran O'Hara (from which a version of the above diagram is taken) discussing Web Science, and reporting in the Web Science Research Initiative;
• Dick Moore of Ufi's In-source, out-source, open-source, right-source - running a service not a system, about the heavyweight infrastructure underpinning learndirect’s learner management system (LMS), learndirect’s service characteristics, and the importance of what Dick calls ‘right sourcing’ in Ufi's technology choices;
• a piece by John Falchi, Chief Program Strategist with IMS, about student textbook use and pricing, and the role of the IMS "Common Cartridge" specification in enabling text book content to be (more cheaply) distributed digitally to students.

* I work for ALT half-time.

by sschmoller at May 06, 2008 07:30 PM

A few weeks back - my venerable home computer (Athlon 1400) finally just gave up - it won't even boot to the BIOS. I figured after years of slipping in new parts and tiny upgrades - it was finally time...

by Charles Severance at May 06, 2008 03:41 PM

Social media marketing can be toughest thing to grasp if you are not heavily active and exposed to the many new social media communities blossoming out there. It's a wild world of fascinating new stuff and I do understand that for most it may look more of a waste of precious, rare time than a really significant advancement in your ability to extract some value from this possible new activity. But, as you probably know, things are often not quite like the way they look. There is generally much more under the hood of anything than what you can grasp at a first, superficial glance. The same applies to social media marketing. What hits the view is a lot of superficial, shallow, burst-like noise and a lack of focus or interest for any specific direction. I know. I also sense that the feeling you get is one that makes you feel that to reproduce any of what you see others do in these social environments, you would have to waste a lot of of your scarce and precious time. But to be honest, things are not so bad as they appear. What makes them appear so shallow at first, is the amount of serendipitous, superficial chit chat that a large majority of social media users engage in. But by looking a bit beyond that, you will discover that there are many different gradients of how people, engage and share their interests in a social media environment. Isn't it true that also in real, physical social life many of our conversations at the water cooler or at the street corner bar are focused on very shallow, low friction but high-affinity exchanges? Online social media allows you to extend gradually your social relationships no matter what your interest or business focus. Social media makes this possible by allowing you to easily help others resolve a problem, by sharing great stuff you have found on the web or by sharing your own problems and needs hoping that someone has been in the same situation and can help you now, just in time. By extending virtually your water cooler and street corner bar social network to many more people, who are within a mouse click away 24/7 you truly augment your ability to exchange, reflect, be inspired or to get help within a much shorter time turnaround than you have ever experienced in physical life. This is why social media can be both so apparently useless and time consuming, and why instead, if you invest some little time on it, by sharing good things with others, just like you do at the water cooler or street corner bar, it can turn around to be one of your most powerful life resources for just about anything you may be in need of. Here, in this short video interview with Bill Vick, I share some of my own little learned lessons on the front of social media marketing by recounting how useful these have been when I have been in search of other talent. Video of Robin Good interview via Skype by Bill Vick of Xtremerecruiting - Robin was in Rome, Italy and Bill was in Dallas, Texas. This interview has a few audio/video hiccups but nothing so serious to prevent you from understanding the key things being said.


Full English Text Transcript Bill Vick:Robin, I wonder if you take a second and kind of give us a 20 thousand-foot view of you and all the many many things that you're doing online into social media.
Robin Good: I'm based here in sunny Rome, Italy. I'm a young entrepreneur, who has decided to move away from traditional communication consulting for large international organizations and I've chosen to test gradually how much I could become independent by sharing actually my own findings, my own discoveries that I need to do because nowadays, with the phase of change we have you keep learning everyday new things. Unless you do it, somebody else you can be sure is going to do it in your place. So to do that I have to test, experiment, find new ways to be competitive and I've found out that by sharing these information with others I not only can get more credibility, trust and more consulting jobs, but eventually people refer to me as somebody that they can learn from something useful. It's up to me then if I want just to publish free articles online which I've been doing now for several years and monetize them through contextual advertising, or if I want like you Bill have done have done create e-books, traditional print books, DVDs, podcast, videos or other form of content monetization which may include also learning courses, interactive environments, and other forms of professional training, which are developing now online, to monetize this knowledge which I'm available to give out both on a free level as well on a paid one.

Bill Vick: Well I don't think too many people have the view, and the scope, and the breadth of understanding of social media as you do. You're a prolific writer, you write articles on a regular basis that details this technology and how it's working... How do you see these changes in technology impacting small businesses, particularly how might they impact recruiting firms or any small business?
Robin Good: Well on a first level, these new technologies impact small businesses which have human resources that are open minded enough to test and experiment with them because they can ultimate and simplify a great deal of tedious, repetitive, time-consuming work that we're all being submitted to for a long time. So if you look at it in the face, there's a lot of gain just in the efficiency of how things can be run...

Mentality Change Required - To Collaborate Effectively Online

This has to go together with some change of mentality also in how the small business's approach this. So you can be a traditional small business and adopt new technologies, you can be a small business that is very innovative as long as you reflect in your way of operating the new paradigm of new media technologies which is all about sharing, transparency, and make it very clear among team-members what is happening. The more we hide, conceal, keep for ourselves, to keep greater value, doesn't work very well in this new paradigm, just like, you know, apparently, traditional content, music, video is working less and less in the traditional paid formats. So the holding up, that attitude, doesn't work too well. For a small business one of the most important things to do is to team up with distributed collaborators. You can't afford anymore to have people there all the time and pay a fixed amount of money. So your team flexibly opens up and restricts depending on the amount of work and projects you do. And so teaming up with them properly is very essential. Emails is not up to speed to do everything, so you need some collaboration tools to talk to people in real time like we're doing, but also to record, report and organize this stuff. So there, there is a great deal of even very simple free tools and small businesses should have and one or two young minded people dedicated to in exploring, gradually adopting into the framework of the company. That I think is the main thing.

Social Media Recruiting Tips

Coming to the recruiting side, I think it depends where you look at this issue from. That is if you are somebody [...] trying to recruit new people, I don't know how much social media today, probably you know more than me about this, can really help you find somebody. For me it's very difficult: I am a small business online, and I find it extremely hard to find talented people, but that maybe because I am very demanding, and I am trying to find very special people. It is true though that the people I find generally do not come from traditional venues, that is the typical list, or recruitment agency, or that type of situation, but rather from contacts that hear from me that I have a specific need and this takes place right inside what you are calling today social media. Now that's a concept that it's very hard for small business to grasp because it's too [..] and it ranges across many different tools, at least in the eyes of street people. So in my case, to be practical, through my blog, through my site, and through Twitter, a simple social tool, which allows me to publish short messages of what I'm interested in or doing, and I use it mostly to broadcast what I find interesting around me, new tools, new news, reports that are interesting that I just can write about, I just Twitter it, and I have a community of friends that follows that... and I receive also interesting things from them. Inside Twitter I can say "I'm looking for a new designer, or I'm looking for this or that" and from time to time people say "Hey, I've got this friend, you want to talk to him? He's just completed a project or something like this". Even on Skype: we're talking right now on Skype. Skype is a social media tool, there's is a mood-message tone that you can set that is next to your name icon and says whatever you want, and you can use it there as well to search for things... and I have to say I've used it myself quite a few times, to search for people. People I wanted to hire and I could not find anywhere else. Now I have six hundred contacts in my Skype: somebody looking at me is going to see that thing and say "Oh, just what I was looking for" or "I was always thinking to call Robin but I never had the time, or don't feel good about talking to him", so that's another way to do it. And one tip before I end to make this even more valuable: if you use Skype and you're a professional, you can buy for these few extra dollars this possibility to have voice mail, a Skype number and so on... I suggest you do that, if not only for this one social media tip, that is: when you have put some credit in your Skype, you can configure it so that if you are off-line, Skype will forward any call that comes in to your mobile or to your home number (whatever number you choose). Now there is a very special subtle thing about this: it's not the coolness of being forwarded a call that I am referring to. The coolness is that when you have set that feature on Skype up, your icon in Skype will always look green, even when you're off-line! So you're always very visible to people and if you're trying to get attention, to get a message across, that helps. I didn't do it on purpose, I learned it because people were messaging me all the time when I was off, and I was saying "what's wrong with these people, don't they see that I'm gray?". But I wasn't gray! I looked then at my Skype icon from another computer and realized it all in a flash. If you pay a little extra money for Skype, you do get more visibility. And that's why Skype can act too as an effective social marketing tool, if you will. Over to you!

Bill Vick: It's a great tip, and Robin I want to thank you so much for the wisdom, and the ideas, and the views on this whole process.

by Bill Vick at May 06, 2008 10:48 AM

The next Google London Open Source Jam will take place at the London Google Engineering Office, Belgrave House, 76 Buckingham Palace Road, London, SW1W 9TQ on Thursday 15 May 2008. This jam's theme is Developer Productivity and if you fancy meeting like-minded developers to code with then the open source jams are the place for you!

by Elena Blanco-Vazquez at May 06, 2008 09:21 AM

The latest news from the OLPC world are no news. So, the OLPC is now more or less officially and primary a laptop project - not an education project. Why I am not surprised?

I think publicly traded technology companies suddenly making add-value for the children of the developing world instead of their shareholders would have been not only news, it would have been a revolution. Don???t you think?

I like when things are simple, fair and transparent. I do not have anything against business, companies or making money. Business is simple. You design a product or service people want and can afford. Many companies are good in this.

Let???s think for a moment about OLPC???s XO as a product.

I think the main problem of the XO is that it is a PC, a personal computer with very limited connectivity. I think people do not want PCs. The time of PCs is simply over. The ecosystem of hardware and software providers needs PCs much more than the people. The same simple problem is the main problem with all the low-cost ultraportables, now offered for education. They are potentially great for the software business ecosystem but not necessary so good for the education and learning ecosystem. They are PCs!

Still, what it comes to the PC / software industry, I think OLPC???s XO made some brave moves to the right direction. With its??? Sugar interface (Linux GUI) users are not using programs or software but performing activities, such as chatting with someone, browsing web with someone etc. This approach fits well to education and learning world, where people are not interested in to ???run software??? (or to be run by a software). In education people are interested in to do things. Actually, I think this is not only an issue of computing for education and learning. I think the whole computer usage is moving from the “doing things with software” to the direction of simply “doing things”.

This kind activity centered computing is not exactly new idea, either. All ready the Xerox Star (1981) was based on the idea. In the Xerox Start there were objects you were working with. Clicking an object would simply open it in an appropriate application without user even knowing what software she is using. As a user you were never launching any software. Also mobile phones have always been activity centered: to make a phone call or to send a message you make a phone call or send a message. You do not start an application to do these operations. Apple computers??? OS have always been balancing between the activity and application paradigms. With the iPhone???s OS they have obviously moved some degree more to the direction of activities, however, no with the SDK they took another step back to the software ecosystem. I wonder was it because of the pressure from the Apple software developers.

So, what would then be a better approach to design a device for school and educational use, if the PC / software model is not the right one? My answer is a web browser with all possible input and output methods, with ultimate network connectivity. Inside the web browser you can run all the application and content you need in education. With all possible input and output methods I mean microphone, video/still image camera, keyboard, drawing pad, touch screen, handwriting recognition, and voice recognition with text to speech and voice to text. The ultimate connectivity means that the device is able to operate in all the available wireless networks from Bluetooth to GSM to EDGE to 3G to WiFi. Actually the connectivity is the key. I think in OLPC???s XO ??? as in all the low cost school laptops ??? the poor connectivity (WiFi) is the main problem. People need to be connected - always.

So, here we have the hardware and software specification.

For the user the only visible ???software??? should be simply the web browser. Everything else should run in a background without user paying any attention of the applications that are actually working behind the scene. To explain this I made a mock-up of the UI.

Right, it is simply a web browser with some things you can do with the device. The options fit in a one line under the broswer window. An important feature is an universal search in the end of the row. That is the only way to call your “stuff” from the device. No file management, no folders, no files.

At the moment the devices that are closes to this kind of functionality are the iPhone and the Nokia N810 ??? also called Internet tablet. The advantage of the iPhone is that it comes with the WiFi and GSM/EDGE (at some point 3G). Nokia Internet tablets do not have any mobile network connection except over Blutooth and separate mobile phone. This makes using the device simply too clumsy and complicate for school and educational use. Students need to get online always, wherever they are, seamlessly.

Now you are probably asking how pupils, parents or schools will pay for the mobile carriers the costs of data traffic in mobile networks? A good thing in the case of schools is that in most countries schools are primary ran by the governments who also controlling the frequencies where the mobile carriers are operating their networks. The governments could simply provide the license for those operators who are making the best deal of flat rate for educational / school use of their mobile networks. I think the governments have all the aces in their hand. The challenge is that in a very few country the ministries responsible for telecommunication (frequencies) and ministries running schools hardly talk together - not to mention structural corruption taking place even in the most democratic nations of the world, in a form of lobbying politicians and government officials.

Still we may dream.

[Comments]

May 06, 2008 07:01 AM