David Delgado :: Blog

http://www.marcus-povey.co.uk/2008/07/31/import-and-export-in-elgg-10

Perhaps one of the most useful and unique features about Elgg 1.0 is its ability to import and export data. Initially this is accomplished via OpenDD, but we have added hooks which make it very easy to add other formats.

I'm going to talk a little bit about how this works. ...

http://www.cetis.ac.uk/members/scott/blogview?entry=2008031414

I've waxed on about fabbers and the like for some time on this blog and elsewhere, so I was suitably impressed by this presentation on open source hardware by Limor Fried and Phillip Torrone. It sets out the various aspects that make up the "source" of an object, from bill of materials to circuit design, and the standards for exchanging them.

Of course this is at the rather more technical end of the fabject continuum. At the other there is the amazing Ponoko site, which enables users to create their designs from regular EPS files, pick the materials, and then have them laser-cut to order. Designers can choose to sell the cut and/or assembled product, or to sell or give away the design as EPS files.

Currently the custom fabjects are a little pricey compared to their mass-produced compatriots, and the processes limited in terms of materials and processes. But add in cheaper 3D printing and other fabbing technologies, and simple programmable wireless platforms like SPOT and Bug, and we'll soon be churning out spimes on demand.

http://www.cetis.ac.uk/members/scott/blogview?entry=2008031410

Its interesting how we've gone beyond the backend aspects of OpenID and the focus is now on honing the user experience. Clickpass aims to streamline the login process by prefilling the user's OpenID URL within a single login button.

Its a nice idea and seems to work pretty well, but I think that CardSpace is probably a better bet in the medium term. Clickpass gets over the "remember the URL" problem, but doesn't have anything to say on the anti-Phishing issue, whereas CardSpace could in principle tackle both at the same time. Still, in the short term this could be a really good way to increase adoption.

A more pragmatic solution was presented by David Recordon of SixApart in a speech at EduServ last year, which is to ask users not for their OpenID URL, but for things like their AOL Screen name and other easily-remembered identifiers which can be used by a service to easily construct the OpenID URL based on the patterns that providers like AOL use to create OpenIDs.

Finally, there is also the option to have this kind of functionality built into the browser itself - put your OpenID URL into the browser preferences, and have it populate the login button rather than have Clickpass as an intermediary.

Via OLDAily

http://www.cetis.ac.uk/members/scott/blogview?entry=2008031410

Drop.io is a service that lets you create your own dropboxes for people to send you files. They can use email, a web widget, or even their phone to pop stuff into your dropbox. An RSS feed lets you know when you have new stuff. Why is this interesting? Well, when you start to move away from using a monolithic LMS, one of the first features you miss, and which doesn't have an obvious replacement, is a way of handling assignment submissions.

Drop.io lets you create any number of drop boxes, so it would be fairly simple to create them for particular lecturers, departments, or even specific essays. You can put the "drop it here" widget on the teacher's blog, the department website, or wherever you like. However, right now it is missing one major function, which is enabling "write only" functionality. Currently if you know the drop URL (or guess it correctly), you can get everything anyone else has dropped, which is an argument for using the supplied hashcodes as Drop names rather than using guessable names.

Darren Draper is keen to see educational uses of this, and so am I!

If you fancy sending me a file, here's my drop:

Via OLDaily

http://userweb.port.ac.uk/~duke-wie/blog/2008/08/280-slides/

I’ve just had a wee play with 280 Slides. I’m impressed. It let me search online for images & videos that could be embedded, and then let me upload it to slideshare. In terms of Presentations, it’s not got too many choices, just a few backgrounds & a few layouts - but given that most Powerpoint options never get used, it’s got more than enough choice.

The layout got a bit messed up on export to Slideshare & the video no longer plays, but it did let me download it to Powerpoint (the video’s been converted to an image at some point).

Downloading direct to Powerpoint from 280 Slides still had the video as an image, but the layout was as I’d left it. It downloads (or can be emailed) as pptx, rather than ppt, which could be difficult if the recipient hasn’t got Office 2007.

It is still in beta, but I think that it’s got potential.

Here’s the original, if you’re interested.

http://moodle.org

Error reading RSS data

http://www.cetis.ac.uk/members/scott/blogview?entry=2008070401

I'm not sure what I'd use this for, but its certainly cool and very cybernetic. Pachube is a service for tagging objects that share data from their sensors.

Services like Pachube could be useful for some kinds of very high-level business intelligence, particularly analyses that cross organisational or national boundaries.

At the moment, however, it does have the feel of a webcams site with graphs and XML, but as more objects, places and devices get wired (or wireless) then something like Pachube becomes an inevitable evolution.

Perhaps someone will find some interesting way of using some of these sensors in one of the many mashup competitions making the rounds currently.

http://www.cetis.ac.uk/members/scott/blogview?entry=2008060512

I've been talking about oAuth a lot to colleagues recently; I'd had it vaguely on my radar for a while, but a conversation with David Recordon from SixApart at EduServ last year convinced me to take a more serious interest in the specification. oAuth is essentially a user-centric authorization mechanism for enabling services to talk to each other.

Currently some services enable interoperability by getting the user to delegate authority to the service to interact with another, essentially by enabling it to impersonate the user. For example, you give Flickr your LiveJournal account details so it can cross-post your photos.

With oAuth, the same functionality is enabled without the security, trust and privacy compromises: the user talks to both services and explicitly grants permission for the services to talk, but without revealing any account details.

There are a great many service-to-service contracts that could benefit from this user-centric approach: employers and universities, for example. Or between employers and applicant's portfolio services.

But is oAuth actually being adopted? Well, the evidence suggests it is, with Google announcing adoption, and discussing integration with its OpenSocial and Google Gadgets technology. For Google this replaces its proprietary AuthSub mechanism with one that can be shared across providers.

For eLearning, the oAuth spec is an important building block in developing distributed as well as federated elearning architecture. With oAuth, users can choose to connect together services that have no existing relationships using a common authorization method.

Even better, oAuth is completely agnostic with regard to identity and authentication protocols and models - it doesn't need single sign-on or any kind of shared identity or authentication model between service providers.

The bottom line - if you are developing an application that needs to talk to an external service API on behalf of the user, then you may need to start looking into oAuth.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Tarina/~3/377395208/

Stephen Downes and George Siemens are giving a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) on Connectivism & Connective Knowledge between September and November 2008. Exploring emerging topics in knowledge, learning and technology, It’s going to be held online and will utilize latest Web 2.0 technologies and distributed approaches. What is more important, is that if someone is going to pull this off, it’s George and Stephen, both the most visionary and knowledgeable teachers I’ve ever had online.

If you are interested in this stuff – perhaps think of yourself as an expert, an enthusiastic pro-amateur or a newbie – this is the course you want to take this year, if you are going to participate in any. The course already has at least 1200 registered participants from all over the world and it’s free. If you want to get credits, you can enroll at the University of Manitoba, but this is not a requirement for participation.

I will be joining, hope you will too.

The conference blog
The conference wiki (and enrolling)

• Week 1: (September 7-13) What is Connectivism?
• Week 2: (September 14-20) Rethinking epistemology: Connective knowledge
• Week 3: (September 21-27) Properties of Networks
• Week 4: (September 28-October 4) History of networked learning
• Week 5: (October 5-11) Connectives and Collectives: Distinctions between networks and groups
• Week 6: (October 12-18) Complexity, Chaos and Research
• Week 7: (October 18-25) Instructional design and connectivism
• Week 8: (October 26-November 1) Power, control, validity, and authority in distributed environments
• Week 9: (November 2-8) What becomes of the teacher? New roles for educators
• Week 10: (November 9-15) Openness: social change and future directions
• Week 11: (November 16-22) Systemic change: How do institutions respond?
• Week 12: (November 23-29) The Future of Connectivism

 

http://www.pontydysgu.org/2008/08/dont-throw-the-baby-out-with-th

Sort of like that saying. I don’t have much time ot post here - am constantly traveling - but will make a few quick commnets from the road (as an aside - countries like Estonia put other countries to shame when it comes to intrenet access - free fast wireless access is available almost everywhere).

Maybe it is juts the people i am talking too, buut there seems to be growing appreciation of the importance of informal learning and learning acquired in the workplace. At the same time I am slightly concerned that this appreciation for workplace and informal learning is being counterposed to formal training and qualifications. In this respect I think people are mixing up the schooling system and formal learning. Yes - I completely agree that our formal schooling system is out of date, frequently ineffective and promotes formal accreditation at the expense of learning. Putting it simply there are better ways to learn - and the money spent of formal schooling could be much more effectively deployed elsewhere.

But this is not to say there is no place for formal training and learning and for qualifications. Qualifications can play an important regulatory role - both for quality and in terms of preventing employer exploitation. Moreover such qualifications can prove aspirational - especially for young people. Yes - there are many issues around curriculum (I will return to this issue in a further post). Formal learning and training can provide a structure for learning. And formal learning and qualifications are not in opposition to informal learning - the two can go together.

I think there are problems in a fast changing economy as employment and work tasks and roles are fast changing. There is no guarantee that training for one particular occupation will guarantee employment in ten years time. Yet, all the empirical surveys we have carried out show that those who have undergone a formal training programme - regardless of subject - are more likely to participate in on-going learning in the future. Thus, even though the link between qualifications and employment may be weakening (especially in liberal market economies such as the UK) there remains a macro economic benefit to the provision of formal learning opportunities.