Physical Paradox

The Mobius Strip


More of the paradox.

Stephen Hawking and Zero Gravity

Notice the apple too. Good thing it wasn't an iPod, otherwise that could perhaps raise some suspicion.

via David Pescovitz.

Take NOT the Road Less travelled

Some of you must have read this already.

But for those who haven't, just click on the relevant link.

Valedictory speech of Mikaela Irene Fudolig, a 16-year old Summa Cum Laude graduate from the University of the Philippines.

Via tintin.

This reminds me of an earlier post about desire lines and story-telling.

Student-created site helps learners master vocabulary

via eSchool News.

"Created by a high school student in the San Francisco Bay Area, Quizlet is a free, web-based tool designed to help students learn and practice vocabulary. (italics supplied)

What can I say: In teaching we learn.

Wiki-how of the day

How to Do the iPod Cord Cut Magic Trick

"Here's a cool trick you can do to a friend's iPod. You will interrupt someone listening to their iPod, then "cut" their ear bud cord. While they're busy yelling at you, you magically put it back together with a simple gesture. The secret to this trick is in what you are cutting. You will have a secret loop of cord in your hand, with which you will sneakily replace the other cord."

Warning: Cut the bum cord not the real one. More of the trick and other wikiHows here.

Is Anybody Listening?

John Connell wrote a broad coverage of how School 2.0 should look like from 21 miles above ground. He called the title a bit of an understatement: Re-Framing Education for the 21st Century. Yes, understated, yet IMHO overlooked by most people in the Academe.

Sorry if most of my posts are the "surf-by lip-shots" (apologies to John Husband) type. Remember these are random ruminations.

Is Politics 2.0 doable?

Ross Mayfield wrote an interesting account of his involvement in the recent Web 2.0 Expo. What completely caught my attention was the part that sounded like Politics 2.0. Very compelling argument. Just don't know how the idea could be adaptable worldwide considering the diverse nature and "dead weight" of Politics 1.0.

WOV in a Philippine-based site

Share. Inform. Connect.

Schoolpad.ph

Earth Day Jam

Happens in Manila (Actually Quezon City) at 7:30 pm on March 20. Read more details in the Inquirer.net article.

Now you may want to find out about your "ecological footprint" (Read: If everyone lived like you, how many planets would we need?) I took the "test" about a month ago and the results are here.

Have the tables turned?

Journalists look to bloggers for Va. Tech story. Welcome mainstream media.

Making/Watching Internet TV

... for mere mortals.

How-to Make Internet TV is described here.
How-to Watch Internet TV happens here.

Thanks to the folks at boingboing.net.

This is kick-rss!

A really simple FAQ on Really Simple Syndication for Teachers/Educators/Trainers from Mark Wagner. Via Al Leonidas.

Building Blocks of Social Software

This was cross-posted elsewhere. So this may look familiar to some of you. Via David P. James.

The model was designed by Gene Smith. I'd like to add though that one can get a compelling amplification on the central element ( Identity) through some of danah boyd's formalized reflections.

people@dls-c


Here's the state of play on the first(?) installation of elgg in Asia, uhm the Philippines.

people@______________. The way the internet should be.

Use Our Stuff, Build Your Stuff

That's what BBC Backstage offers to site visitors. Sounds like Prosumers to me.

Civility and Freedom

Tim O'Reilly has posted an invitation for co-creation of a Blogger Code of Conduct (It's about time, I guess). Thanks to Cory Doctorow for the links and the insights.

Meanwhile, the tug-o'war between control and anti-control freaks continues.

Suddenly I remember the statement "The Internet is a planned chaos." This isn't a binary proposition isn't it?

Edubuntu

"I am what I have become because of how we have all become" my version of Ubuntu = Humanity.

Just got 5 CDs of the Edubuntu Installer from the Isle of Man/Netherlands(?). Anyone who needs a copy, just holler out.

Thanks to Marilitze Coetzee and Mark Shuttleworth. I learned a lesson or two on sharing.

More praises for Mark here. And more of the open source OS and apps for education.

Value proposition for social learning space

Teachers: tool for teaching/learning creatively and collaboratively

Students: platform for life-long learning via e-portfolios, which can work as a searchable CV, and for social networking (Think: explode.elgg.org)

School Administrators: mechanism for managing knowledge and collaborating with other institutions

Parents: vehicle to "monitor" their children's progress and perhaps co-learn with them since it provides insights into the students' learning process

At the bottom of these is the powerful argument that learning is a social construct.

BTW this is also good for a larger economy that is underpinned by Culture and Arts/Tourism via Knowledge Management and Folk Knowledge.

How do you blend Elgg, Drupal and Moodle?

... and perhaps get to find the sweet spot in e-learning (or c-learning).

FunnyMonkey.com offers some ideas.

Spring cleaning

To some this could perhaps mean a yard sale. To others getting rid of dust bunnies, yet to others it's about hunting eggs.

To me, they all mean coming out fresh.

Happy Easter!

WOV sighting of the day

Maps.google.com

• Mark (your favorite places on your map)
• Draw (lines and shapes to highlight paths and areas)
• Add (your own text, photos, and videos)
• Publish (your map to the web)
• Share (your map with friends and family)

via Juan Carlos Perez.

Quo vadis wayfaring.com? Of course they also offered their own WOV.

• Create (personalized maps)
• Share (them with your friends)
• Explore (maps created by others)
• Connect and collaborate

Crossing the Web 2.0 Chasm: Hail the Enthusiasts and Visionaries

Jennifer Noxon puts together what seems like a powerful summary of tips for promoting Web 2.0 in the enterprise.

But more than the technical part of doing it, it seems like at the heart of such efforts is the role of a catalyst and a champion, which (from my reading of the Starfish and the Spider) should be played by two separate personalities. This of course implies a lot of issues related to change management in the enterprise. In other words it may be difficult but not impossible.

Just give them a little more time.

Collaborative Internationalization

aka localization, depending on your perspective.

I have recently picked up (where I left off : 6% done) co-translating elgg into Filipino with a certain Boyet (You see, with Web 2.0, you can even be involved in co-creation without directly connecting (Think: 2D2C). Perhaps it's called Anti-social Web. Or shades of Malinowski's phatic communion?

The Starfish and the Spider

Here's a quick book review.

Ori Brafman and Rod A. Beckstrom wrote an insightful book that resonates with everything that centralized old school outlook cannot and will not tolerate. Nevertheless, the 7 principles of decentralization the authors discuss from "when attacked, a decentralized organization tends to become even more open and decentralized" to "put people into an open system and they'll automatically want to contribute" seem good reasons for Pierre Omidyar, founder and chairman of eBay to label this tome "a compelling and important book".

So I ask, is the world really ready to move away from Hierarchy and get closer to Wirearchy?

Two things from Boingboing.net:

1. Retro Geek book (ca. 1980s)


Description: Binary Dreams floppy disk (5.25 inches) drive bound in a book "with the printed text of a short essay on the topic, the same text on the floppy in the disk drive."

I wonder how a DVD drive version for the 21st century would look like.


2. Notional type of RSS reader

Sorry no foto, obviously.

Matt Webb talked about a tool that aggregates all the suggestions from your services (Amazon, Flickr, Blogger) and according to Cory Doctorow "stream[s] them into a special reader, so that they're all in one place, and you can keep track of your decisions, make them in one go, and not have to run all over the Web."

Perhaps tubes.yahoo.com can help.

Thanks to Cory Doctorow for both items.

Discover > Remix > Share

Gilmour David's article: Remixing as learning: are schools ready for Dapper and Pipes? talks about mash-ups and how the "use of social software supports the way young people like to learn." This reminds me of Bloom's Taxonomy 2.0.

Sweet! Fits nicely into 2D2C. Discover > Disclose > Connect > Co-create

I could perhaps use Gliffy to demonstrate this.

Edit: Here is the link.