A Domain of One's Own in a Post-Ownership Society 7 min read Maha Bali has written a blog post asking why we talk about “a domain of one’s own” and “reclaim your domain” since people never really own their domains. They merely rent them, she points out. My understanding of ownership is that something belongs to me. That I have already acquired it or been gifted it. It’s a fair point. The “domain of one’s own” isn’t owned; it’s leased, Maha contends. Increasingly, we work for free for major Internet technology companies, on their platforms. Shared in public, none of this is public in terms of ownership, let’s be clear; this is almost entirely private infrastructure. Nonetheless I don’t think that the Domain of One’s Own initiative is mislabeled, as Maha implies in her post. I want to dig a little deeper into both the etymology of the phrase “domain of one’s own,” the meaning of the words “own” and “ownership,” and the legalities and practicalities of the latter in particular in a digital world. To own is to possess. What do you own?
Developing digital literacies Overview Many learners enter further and higher education lacking the skills needed to apply digital technologies to education. As 90% of new jobs will require excellent digital skills, improving digital literacy is an essential component of developing employable graduates. Courses that embed core digital skills, as well as subject specific use of technology, enable students to gain the skills and confidence they need to use digital technology not only to support their learning but also in the workplace. We’re working with colleges and universities to embed core digital skills into the curriculum. By digital literacy we mean those capabilities which fit an individual for living, learning and working in a digital society: for example, the skills to use digital tools to undertake academic research, writing and critical thinking; as part of personal development planning; and as a way of showcasing achievements. Developing Digital Literacies programme
Working openly on the web: a manifesto Three years ago, Jon Udell wrote Seven ways to think like the web. It’s a popular post amongst people who straddle the worlds of education and technology – but hasn’t got the reputation it deserves outside of those circles. That could be because, although a well-structured post, Jon includes some language that’s not used in everyday discourse. It’s perhaps also because he applies it to a specific project he was working on at the time. I’d like to take Jon’s seven points, originally created with a group of people at a conference in 2010, condense them, and try and make them as simple to understand as possible. Services change their privacy settings, close down, and are taken over by megacorps. Also, nobody cares as much about your data as you do. Just as by using a microphone offline we can address a larger group of people than we would be able to with our unamplified voice, so we can address audiences of different scopes in our digital communications. Comments? Kudos
Study of how UK FE and HE institutions are supporting effective learners in a digital age (SLiDA) Download the final report1 The final report has recommendations for further and higher education on how to develop effective institution-wide strategies and practices which better support effective learners in a digital age. Download the case studies2 See a report of the methodology3 used to create the case studies and the appendices4 Overview This project has been examining how UK further and higher education institutions are supporting learners for a digital age. The case studies demonstrate a range of ways of creating and enabling opportunities that promote the development of effective learning in a digital age. The ultimate aim is to promote strategies which support learners to develop the access, skills, strategies and attributes they need to learn effectively with technology. Aims and objectives Project methodology In order to engage with institutions in a collaborative process of creating a case study, we will work with institutions over a period of time. Project Staff Project Manager
Seven ways to think like the web | Jon Udell Update: For a simpler formulation of the ideas in this essay, see Doug Belshaw’s Working openly on the web: a manifesto. Back in 2000, the patterns, principles, and best practices for building web information systems were mostly anecdotal and folkloric. Roy Fielding’s dissertation on the web’s deep architecture provided a formal definition that we’ve been digesting ever since. Given the web’s hybrid nature, how to can we teach people to make best use of this distributed hypermedia system? Back in October, at the Traction Software users’ conference, I led a discussion on the theme of observable work in which we brainstormed a list of some principles that people apply when they work well together online. 1. In the elmcity context, that means regarding your own website, blog, or online calendar as the authoritative source. Why? To a large and growing extent, your public identity is what the web knows about your ideas, activities, and relationships. Related 2. 3. 4. 5. Too busy to blog? 6.
Grant 4/11 - Call for projects in developing digital literacies JISC invites institutions to submit funding proposals for projects to support the development and implementation of institutional approaches to digital literacies across the entire workforce and including students. Total funding of up to £1,000,000 is available for 10 to 12 two year projects funded at up to £100,000 each. The deadline for proposals is 12 noon UK time on Wednesday, 8 June 2011. It is envisaged that bidders will be notified of the outcome of the evaluation process in the week commencing 4 July 2011. The successful projects will be expected to start work mid July 2011. Briefing event A briefing event was held online via Elluminate at 10 am on the 12th May 2011. Recording of briefing session1 – please note there were technical difficulties at the start of this session so please start the recording approximately 10 minutes into the session Powerpoint presentation2 (pdf) Eligibility
Computers are replacing foreign language teachers in US high schools — Quartz Rosetta Stone reluctantly took teaching gigs in Maine’s classrooms this year. “We never want to replace someone’s job,” says Franklin Moomaw, the company’s regional director of education in the state. Rosetta Stone’s recommendation was for the program to supplement teacher lessons—it’s used this way in 4,000 schools in the US. The thing is, humans didn’t want the work. People aren’t applying to teach languages, Jay Ketner, world languages specialist for the Maine Department of Education, told the Bangor Daily News. Indeed, a report released in September by the Learning Policy Institute muses that a crisis is looming in American teaching generally, with student demand far outpacing the supply of teachers. Jessica Ward, a high school principal in Somerset County, Maine, told ABC News that she got a single application for an open French language teacher role at Madison Area Memorial High School this year. The timing of this shortage couldn’t be worse.
arcadia@cambridge Projects | Cambridge University Library Emma Coonan and Jane Secker Information literacy is widely recognised as a key part of lifelong independent learning. It has been defined as "... knowing when and why you need information, where to find it, and how to evaluate, use and communicate it in an ethical manner." (CILIP, 2004) Meanwhile UNESCO take a broader view that goes beyond learning, stating that: Information literacy empowers people in all walks of life to seek, evaluate, use and create information effectively to achieve their personal, social, occupational and educational goals. It is a basic human right in a digital world and promotes social inclusion in all nations. Information literacy can be defined as a set of skills, attributes and behaviour that underpins student learning in the digital age. SCONUL's Seven Pillars of Information Literacy model, widely accepted in higher education, sets out the skills and attributes that an information literate person should have. References
Metadata Definition Home : Technical Terms : Metadata Definition Metadata describes other data. It provides information about a certain item's content. For example, an image may include metadata that describes how large the picture is, the color depth, the image resolution, when the image was created, and other data. Web pages often include metadata in the form of meta tags. TechTerms - The Tech Terms Computer Dictionary This page contains a technical definiton of Metadata. All definitions on the TechTerms website are written to be technically accurate but also easy to understand.