By Stephen Downes
February 18, 2003
Puzzling Out Google's Blogger Acquisition Why did Google buy Pyra, the company behind Blogger? This article is a good analysis: it's that weblogs are the ultimate search tool. "Weblog entries are often concise, pithy abstracts of other web content. In that sense, they function as an enhanced directory listing, of sorts. Currently, Google and all other search engines look at the text surrounding a link to infer content of the page the link points to. With weblogs this text is often much more 'focused' and can offer much more context about a page that's pointed to." By Chris Sherman, Search Day, February 18, 2002 [Refer][Research][Reflect]
DLESE-IMS Metadata More on uning opening open archiving to distribute learning objects. The days of the rights-bound bundled collections of learning content are over. "The Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE) uses OAI to share a specialized IMS-based metadata called DLESE-IMS." You can get general information about DLESE and conduct a search at http://www.dlese.org/ It's also worth noting that "The DLESE-IMS metadata framework has been frozen and is in the process of being upgraded to the ADN metadata framework. This is an overhaul to simplify structure and content and to move from XML DTDs to XML schemas." By Katy Ginger, Digital Library for Earth Systemn Education, January, 2003 [Refer][Research][Reflect]
Facility for Interoperability Testing This link responds to a request for information on where to test specifications-compliant learning technology. From the website: "The Facility for Interoperability Testing (FIT) aids developers in delivering interoperable content, platforms, tools and services which can be used together in implementing e-Learning solutions. Core to the FIT activity is the FITness Testing Directory, by which results of one-to-one tests conducted by developers are reported." By Various Authors, IMS Global Learning Consortium, December, 2002 [Refer][Research][Reflect]
Canadian Learning Object Repositories: Projects, Programs and Partners From the website: "This list, prepared by Barbara Shuh of the National Library of Canada, provides a quick reference guide to Canadian learning object repositories and the partners participating in this on-going activity. Background information is provided on the series of Canadian projects that have lead up to the latest project, eduSource. The projects and programs listed in this reference have the following aims: to develop methods of storage for e-learning resources appropriate of the needs of the Canadian educational community; to develop methods of discovery; to provide Internet access to the resources discovered and to gain experience in the structuring and organization of the metadata that facilitates such discovery and access." This is not a complete listing of everything in Canada, but it is a very good quick guide to some of the major initiatives. The Guide is also available in French. By Barbara Shuh, National Library of Canada, November, 2002 [Refer][Research][Reflect]
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