Windows Live Academic

The use of journal databases as a source of referenced content has always been one of the advantages of running a course from the internet. Students have access to a wide range of peer reviewed content from reputable sources. Finding this content has usually required logging in to a database provider via an institution that has set up accounts for it's students.The site allows the user to search academic papers, weblog feeds, the web , news, images etc. It also allows individual user customisation of the site via the use of macros. Windows Live Academic This looks really good and could change the way search is conducted.

Blackboard vs Moodle

This is an interesting study of the relative levels of satisfaction with blackboard and moodle from a student prespective. Blackboard vs Moodle

Web 2 e-learning and the bureaucratisation of the learning management system.

It might just be me but it seems that the innovations of the web 2 revolution have not really filtered into the e- learning realm. Sure there are no doubt many instances of web 2 apps being utilised within an LMS but there are no real examples of web 2 applied to the whole LMS. There are examples: nuvvo http://nuvvo.com/ for instance is promising,as is schooltool http://www.schooltool.org/and more recently chalksite http://www.chalksite.com/ but nothing as yet approaching the power of the much maligned LMS. What I think we are all waiting for is an LMS that has lots of features combined with the ease of use of many of the popular web 2 apps. I think we are waiting for something that gives the power back to the teacher to decide what content they consider appropriate for their students,and which can be updated on the fly with content updated as is needed. Maybe it is the bureaucratisation of the Learning Management System that is the real problem and not the technology itself. Asp or php of themselves are surely not the problem. The problem is probably the misuse of these technologies to serve purposes that have not been fully examined. Why for instance is there so much emphasis on control over and above that exercised by the teacher? These are bureaucratic concerns about the utilisation of new teaching methods even though it is at least ten years since they could have been considered new.

Postcodes , the 'me me more ' generation and the Internet.

A recent article from the BBC speculates that house buyers are starting to use the Internet to research possible purchase locations via sites on the Internet in ways that will inevitably lead to much more homogenous communities insulated from any demographic or social group considered unsatisfactory. The irony that the internet with it's potential to unite the world and this type of self serving, self validating behaviour cannot be more dramatic. To highlight this I suggest you take a quick look at inveneo and the work they are undertaking in Uganda.The original BBC video here.

Zotob, viruses, organised crime, extortion and $6 a million loss in car production

It seems that the nature of the threats we face from the Internet is changing and hacking has become the tool of malicious forces worldwide.Chris Horley recently interviewed by the ABC Australia speculated that the motivation of hackers is becoming far more malicious than in the past.Organised crime has picked up on the potential of spyware and viruses to extort money from online businesses.For more information see the ABC