e-Clippings Late January – Early February

"What is written without effort is in general read without
pleasure."
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784), British author, lexicographer. Quoted
in Anecdotes by William Seward, Johnsonian Miscellanies, vol. 2, ed.
George Birkbeck Hill (1897).

"Inscribe all human effort with one word,
Artistry's haunting curse, the Incomplete!"
Robert Browning (1812–1889), British poet. The Ring and the Book,
bk. 11, l. 1560 (1868-1869).
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Two things:

First, I am still insecure enough to wonder what it means that when
I fail to publish this little missive for a couple of weeks, the
subscriber base goes UP!?

Second, I feel the need to explain/apologize for the
lateness/absence of e-clippings. I have been doing this newsletter
for about 4 years now – 3 on Yahoo! and then a year prior just
through email. It's not that I'm tired of doing this but
I'm looking for a new format or way to expand/grow/change what
this
newsletter can be. I am actually talking to some folks about some
potentially very cool changes and will let you know as soon as
something gets set up. For now, I continue to appreciate and be
amazed that people read this newsletter and perhaps actually find it
useful and or engaging. Thanks to all of you and I promise to try to
get back on a more regular publishing schedule.

Thanks much,
Mark Oehlert, Editor

P.s. One more thing – I know that longtime readers are accustomed
to my rants/focus on things like P2P, file-sharing and copyright law
but I want to explain, since there seems to be a number of stories in
this issue on those topics, why I include them in a newsletter
dedicated to learning and technology. Simple – legal
infringements or failure to resolve issues in these arenas could
choke off the air supply to e-learning faster than VC funding drying
up. Click here for more details:
Predictions For 2003: E-learning's Leading Lights Look Ahead
http://www.elearnmag.org/
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Virtual conference on "Copyright and the Web" starts on 10 February
2003 This three-week, e-mail-based conference is open to all and
there is no cost. How to join the virtual conference on Copyright
and the Web:
To join the conference, send an e-mail message to
majordomo@... and put the following in the body of the
message: subscribe copyright [your e-mail address]
e.g., subscribe copyright xxxx@...)
You will receive a confirmation and further information by e-mail.
If you do not receive a confirmation within 24 hours, please contact
COL at info@....
http://www.col.org/programmes/conferences/copyright_virt_con.htm
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This email is provided for information purposes only. Mention or
discussion of a product, company or person does not represent any
official endorsement or criticism of the same. All authors and
organizations retain complete copyright.
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NEWS

**The European Comm.'s e-learning site
"The elearningeuropa.info portal gathers information on the use
of multimedia technologies and the Internet for education, training
and lifelong learning in Europe. The portal is open to all the
relevant actors and communities for sharing experiences,
disseminating projects and discussing ideas. The learningeuropa.info
portal was initiated by the European Commission. It is an integral
part of the eLearning Action Plan, which is managed by the
Multimedia Unit of the Directorate General Education and Culture."
http://www.elearningeuropa.info/

XML STANDARDS BODY STARTS CRIMINAL RECORD COMMITTEE
The Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information
Standards has formed a committee to create a framework for
government agencies to share criminal records.
http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/1_1/daily_news/19930-1.html

The one standard, LOM and the semantic web. : January 27, 2003
In a lengthy and characteristically thought provoking presentation,
Stephen Downes challenges both the need and the demand for just one
Learning Object Metadata (LOM) standard. That done, the very
existence of such beasts as learning objects is called into
question. We examine the argument.
http://www.cetis.ac.uk/content/20030127164729

SiX plugfest report: encouraging, but could do better February 06,
2003: Dutch educational standards working group SiX just published
the results of its plugfest. Over the day, various managed/virtual
learning environments were required to import, export and display a
standardised set of ADL SCORM 1.2, IMS Content packaging 1.3, IMS
QTI 1.2 and IMS Enterprise 1.1 data. Result: familiar problems and
remarkable differences between products.
http://www.cetis.ac.uk/content/20030206174927

Pentagon Reaches Deal on Wireless Web
By Ted Bridis, AP Technology Writer
Monday, February 3, 2003; 8:56 AM : WASHINGTON –– The Defense
Department and technology companies struck a compromise Friday to
prevent interference with military radars from a new generation of
wireless Internet devices.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17825-2003Feb3.html

IEEE to lift SCORM, IMS Content Packaging to standard status,
clarifies LOM future. February 03, 2003:
http://www.cetis.ac.uk/content/20030203181028

Digital Repositories Interoperability spec approved by IMS
January 30, 2003
http://www.cetis.ac.uk/content/20030130180223

Blackboard Acquires SA Cash
By Ellen McCarthy, Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 4, 2003; Page E05: Blackboard Inc., a privately
held Washington online education company, spent $4.5 million in cash
yesterday to buy a business that lets students use their
identification cards to make discounted purchases from merchants.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20911-2003Feb3.html

Embrace file-sharing, or die: A record executive and his son make a
formal case for freely downloading music. The gist: 50 million
Americans can't be wrong. Editor's note: John Snyder is president of
Artist House Records, a board member of the National Association of
Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), and a 32-time Grammy nominee.
On Thursday night, he submitted the following paper to NARAS.
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2003/02/01/file_trading_manifesto/i
ndex.html?x

Fathoming the Future of eLearning: By CHRIS MITCHELL : On January 6,
2003, Columbia University announced that it would be closing
Fathom.com, its for-profit distance learning unit, as part of the
reorganization of its digital media operations. Effective March 31
this year, the largest online learning venture will end.
http://cornelldailysun.com/articles/7269/

The Race to Kill Kazaa: The servers are in Denmark. The software is
in Estonia. The domain is registered Down Under, the corporation on
a tiny island in the South Pacific. The users - 60 million of them -
are everywhere around the world. The next Napster? Think bigger. And
pity the poor copyright cops trying to pull the plug.By Todd Woody
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.02/kazaa.html

**You GO Rep. Boucher!!! (and Doolittle, Bachus and Kennedy)
Lawmakers Urge Protection of Fair Use: Digital Media Consumers'
Rights Act Re-Introduced January 7, 2003: Initiating what is certain
to be a contentious debate during the 108th Congress, U.S.
Representatives Rick Boucher (D-VA), John Doolittle (R-CA), Spencer
Bachus (R-AL) and Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) introduced on Tuesday the
Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act with the announced goal of
protecting the Fair Use rights of the users of copyrighted material
and, thereby enabling the consumers of digital media to make use of
it in ways that enhance their personal convenience. The legislation
(H.R. 107) is identical to that which Boucher and Doolittle
introduced during the Fall of 2002
http://www.house.gov/boucher/docs/dmca108.htm

Find an Answer in E-Learning February 2003
Virtual learning is gaining popularity as a lower-cost alternative
for training. But Home Depot, Siemens and Ryder are among those
discovering more than cost savings. By Penny Lunt
http://www.imagingmagazine.com/cgi-bin/printable.cgi?
file=../db_area/a
rchs/2003/02/tfm0302f1_1.shtml

Report: E-Learning breaking down barriers in Africa
01/30/03: By Gail Repsher Emery: Staff Writer
http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/1_1/daily_news/19945-1.html

Online Ads for U. of Phoenix Irk Officials at Other Colleges
By ANDREA L. FOSTER: Officials at several colleges are still
smarting from online advertisements last week that they say
suggested that their institutions were affiliated with the
University of Phoenix Online.
http://chronicle.com/free/2003/02/2003020302t.htm

Record Industry Has No Plan to Seek Names of Students Trading
Copyrighted Songs: By ANDREA L. FOSTER : In a case that campus-
network administrators followed closely, the recording industry won
an important legal victory last week that will help record companies
ferret out music fans who illegally trade copyrighted material. But
an industry official says the victory doesn't mean companies will
start demanding the names of college students who pass song files
around -- at least not yet.
http://chronicle.com/free/2003/01/2003012901t.htm

Study: Office surfers aren't slackers: By Lisa M. Bowman
Staff Writer, CNET News.com: February 4, 2003, 11:51 AM PT
Maybe companies shouldn't be so quick to pull the plug on personal
Web surfing at work. A new study finds that employees may waste time
surfing on the job, but they tend to make up for it by working from
home in their off hours.
http://news.com.com/2100-1017-983305.html

MSN deliberately breaks Opera's browser, claims company
By John Lettice: Posted: 06/02/2003 at 14:52 GMT
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/29219.html
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TRENDS SECTION

(NY Times' stories require free registration)
Win Friends, Influence People, or Just Aim and Fire
By CHARLES HEROLD: THE blond guy in the Hawaiian shirt says that if
I don't mention him in my review of The Sims Online he's going to
pile-drive me again. I wasn't too happy the first time he did it and
I don't take kindly to threats, so I turn the tables, telling him
he'll make my column if he dresses up like a clown and dances for
me. He grabs a funny hat from a hatrack and starts his soft-shoe.
All right, Seth Jones, I say, I'll mention you.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/06/technology/circuits/06game.html

A Nation of Voyeurs: How the Internet search engine Google is
changing what we can find out about one another - and raising
questions about whether we should: By Neil Swidey, Globe Staff,
2/2/2003
http://www.boston.com/globe/magazine/2003/0202/coverstory_entire.htm

We Have the Technology: Synthesis of a listserv discussion
..enabling faculty to create material on the web for all courses,
online, face-to-face, and blended, is a wise investment.
http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/view/v2n1/coverv2n1.htm

The Marshall Plan: For 40 years, the man Pentagon insiders call Yoda
has foreseen the future of war - from battlefield bots rolling off
radar-proof ships to GIs popping performance pills. And that was
before the war on terror. By Douglas McGray
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.02/marshall.html

Putting a Faculty Face on Distance Education Programs
William H. Riffee
http://www.syllabus.com/article.asp?id=7233

Designing for Learners, Designing for Users
By Dave Smulders
http://www.elearnmag.org/subpage/sub_page.cfm?
section=3&list_item=11&p
age=1

Web-Loving Students Can Be Prodded to Cite Peer-Reviewed Works in
Term Papers, Study Suggests: Thursday, February 6, 2003
By SCOTT CARLSON
http://chronicle.com/free/2003/02/2003020601t.htm

Content Management: Our Organized Future
George Siemens : January 23, 2003
Introduction: Content management holds the promise of better
organization, increased access to resources, greater organizational
effectiveness...for those who dare slog through the process of
setting up a content management system - a task often more onerous
than dealing with unorganized content.
http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/contentmanagement.htm

Genesis Of An Anthill: Wireless Technology And Self-Organizing
Systems By Espen Andersen: The future belongs to small, connected
devices that will wirelessly allow the user -- and the technology --
to self-organize, creating something smart out of many small and
simple nodes and connections.
http://www.acm.org/ubiquity/views/e_andersen_8.html

Game industry now courts women with new games: Chris Gaither
Boston Globe: Published Jan. 20, 2003 When looking after her three
boys and running a fledgling Web-hosting business got to be too much
last summer, Michelle Valentine slipped away into one of her other
worlds. After choosing one of the many personas she had created for
herself, Valentine, 32, threw invitation-only parties in a rented
villa, splattered friends in paintball matches, and sought hidden
treasures in scavenger hunts.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/789/3594381.html

Hating Hilary: By Matt Bai: Hilary Rosen paces the creaking oak
floor of the Oxford Union debate hall, eyeing the empty pews the way
a Roman gladiator might have surveyed the Colosseum. Rosen is the
chair of the Recording Industry Association of America, and in a few
hours she'll be standing here in a black formal gown, getting ripped
to pieces. Along with several other industry executives, she's
charged with defending the proposition: "This house believes that
the free-music mentality is a threat to the future of music."
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.02/hating.html

Students Called on SMS Cheating: Associated Press
01:52 PM Jan. 30, 2003 PT: ROCKVILLE, Maryland -- Six University of
Maryland students have admitted cheating on an accounting exam by
using their cell phones to receive text messages with the answers,
the school said Thursday. Another six students were implicated in
the case.
http://www.wired.com/news/school/0,1383,57484,00.html

Making Copyright Ambidextrous: An Expose of Copyleft
Maureen O'Sullivan: Teaching Assistant: University of Warwick
http://elj.warwick.ac.uk/jilt/02-3/osullivan.html

Group Calls for More Academic Research in Computer Security
By BROCK READ: Washington: To protect their own computer networks
and other systems, colleges should focus their cybersecurity
programs on subjects such as wireless security, advanced virus
protection, and Internet law, according to a report released
Thursday by a consortium of academic and nonprofit research
organizations.
http://chronicle.com/free/2003/01/2003013101t.htm

New Kids On the Blog:By Leslie Walker: Thursday, February 6, 2003;
Page E01: Businesses may not be creating much free content online
anymore, but people sure are. Personal publishing has flourished
online throughout the dot-com downturn, thanks to tools that make it
easy to rant online and to attract readers through automated linking
systems.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31944-2003Feb5.html
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EMERGING TECH SECTION

Technology Helps Mimic Real Situations For Training
Simmersion Software Adds a Human Element
By Sabrina Jones: Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 6, 2003; Page HO05
One recent morning, Dale E. Olsen impersonated a U.S. Customs
inspector inside an airport as he interviewed Maria Rodriguez, a
young Mexico City woman visiting Los Angeles. While watching for
signs of nervousness, he asked to see her passport and quizzed her
on details about her visit to the country. The questions were
designed to determine if Rodriguez had smuggled drugs or other
contraband into the country. But Rodriguez was actually an actor in
a computer simulation used to teach interviewing skills.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A32484-2003Feb5?
language=prin
ter

Cultivating Interoperability and Resource-Sharing
Philip Hunter with the editorial for Ariadne 34.
http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue34/editorial/

**Open Source LMS
Whiteboard Courseware System Project Home Page
Whiteboard is a fully-featured and -integrated courseware system,
targeted toward colleges and universities. It supports multiple
departments and courses (including cross-listed courses); simple
migration of courses to new semesters; grade storage, checking, and
calculation; assignment submission and testing, and submitted
assignment retrieval; documents; announcements; and discussion
boards. It is written in PHP with a MySQL back-end, and is fully
administrable through its web interface.
http://whiteboard.sourceforge.net/

Innovation as a Deep Capability: by Gary Hamel
Leader to Leader, No. 27 Winter 2003
http://www.pfdf.org/leaderbooks/l2l/winter2003/hamel.html

6 Institutions Will Help Fine-Tune a Popular New Archiving Program
By DAN CARNEVALE: Six major research universities announced this
week that they are working with the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology to fine-tune an MIT program for archiving scholarly works
called DSpace, which has become wildly popular in academe in just a
few months.
http://chronicle.com/free/2003/01/2003013001t.htm

DSpace: An Open Source Dynamic Digital Repository
D-Lib Magazine: January 2003
Volume 9 Number 1: ISSN 1082-9873
http://www.dlib.org/dlib/january03/smith/01smith.html

(NY Times' stories require free registration)
Pocket PC's for Smaller Pocketbooks: By DAVID POGUE
PROFESSIONAL technology reviewers have one thing in common with
lawyers, therapists and dermatologists: they are frequently
approached by advice-seekers at parties.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/06/technology/circuits/06stat.html
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SECURITY SECTION

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HUMOR AND MISC. SECTION

The Future Needs Us!: By Freeman J. Dyson
The New York Review of Books:February 13, 2003: Review
Prey: by Michael Crichton: HarperCollins, 367 pp., $26.95
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/16053
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