Rather than exploring why the social media is so popular, and/or what can be done with and within these networks, the Ontario government has simply banned access to Facebook in all  government offices. Michael Geist who holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-Commerce Law at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law and is a very knowledgeable and cogent writer about the web, has this to say in the Toronto Star - http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/211078

His website is http://www.michaelgeist.ca/

I found, courtesy of Harold Jarche - http://www.jarche.com/?p=1141 - a 5 minute video that explains why blocking social sites is a short-sighted solution. - http://zdnet.com.com/1606-2_2-6177413.html

The web is the new watercooler, which can be used or abused depending on the person. Near the end of the video, on ZDNet, Satish Dharmaraj, CEO of Zimbra, points out that if someone is going to waste time at work, they will, with or without access to certain sites. The irony of forbidding what could be used for collaboration and innovation is the theme.

A couple of days ago Stephen Downes pointed to a really interesting article. Microsoft is going down the same road as Blackboard, claiming patents, and this might have even more impact on education than the Blackboard moves. Microsoft is going after open source, one of the most wonderful aspects of the Web, and a central part of its culture.

Through this article, I learned a lot about what Open Source is and the different understandings to it within the field itself. What I found truly entertaining educational, however, was the description of the business strategies behind Microsoft's patent claims. 

From CNN and Fortune -  http://tinyurl.com/ypuxkg 

Every so often, I stumble across a reference to an application I tried a while ago and let go of. Through Stephen Downes's OLDaily, I have linked again to Zoho Notebook, and it is a lot of fun! Check out the video embedded above.

I've been thinking and writing about the writing process, and here's how I visualize it - embedding a page from my Zoho account

- whoops, the embed feature won't work right now,

so here's the image URL - http://notebook.zoho.com/nb/public/vinall/page/8710000000003881 -

 and a screenshot