The Auricle

David Wiley's online course Understanding Online Interaction is well worth a visit. Why? Several things stand out.

• First; it's a model of clarity.
• Second; the content is reusable because it's offered under a Creative Commons 'Attribution Share-Alike' license.
• Third; note the use of Plone the extensible open source content management system I highlighted in an earlier Auricle article Clark Kent solutions have superpowers - well sort of!

All is not sunshine however. There appears to be the odd dead link and links which take you to unexpected destinations. For example, in MMO2 'Video Games of the Oppressed' wants to offer me holidays in Tenerife for some reason and another link generates a 404 error.

The Rice University Webcasts are another excellent example of the power of syndication. I've added the RSS feed to Auricle's Learning Objects drop down menu (top of the home page). If you want to add the RSS feed to your own RSS aggregator or RSS capable web site the URL is http://www.rice.edu/webcast/webcasts.rss.

The BBC doesn't seem to want to make a lot of noise about it, but they appear to be running a very low profile podcasting trial at the moment. The BBC has been running their excellent 'listen again' streaming service for a while now but what's important about this trial is that the audio link is delivered via an RSS feed so that you get the information about the audio before playing it. The trial feed is for Melvyn Bragg's In Our Time series which explores the history of ideas. Each feed will be valid for seven days. This week's programme asks if 'Zoroastrianism - the religion of the Persian Empire was the first monotheism?'. Next week's theme is Higgs Boson.

If you want to try the feed I've included the BBC podcast in Auricle's 'syndicated learning objects' drop down menu (top of the home page). If you want to syndicate the feed for yourself the url is http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/inourtime/mp3/podcast.xml. Be aware, this is not an audio stream, it's an audio download so it may take a little time to transfer the whole file to your local system.

Syndication technologies, like RSS and Atom, can already add considerable value to a host site, to the point that it becomes a de facto rich and multi perspective learning environment. For an example of what I mean, see Alan Levine and Brian Lamb's recent Educause presentation Rip, Mix, Feed.

Add multimedia and associated metadata to a syndicated resource feed, however, and the potential has just gone up another notch.

What's kind of interesting here is that we, perhaps, have an emergent model in which various sites on the internet become almost like resource 'filling stations' for mobile multi-function devices.

What do I mean?

Well, visit www.ipodder.org who can offer you software that can, apparently, automatically update your iPod (or equivalent) with what interests you.

Now browse the following:
http://www.gizmondo.com/
http://www.ipodder.org/whatIsPodcasting
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/05/12/sony_psp/
http://www.archos.com/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,1197495,00.html

Now some of these devices will make it and some, udoubtedly, will go the way of all silicon. What's important, however, is that these devices such as the above don't need to be linked to a parent device or network, but yet can have their contents renewed when they do.

What about communication you cry?

Well look carefully at the specifications for some of these devices, e.g. WiFi, SMS, Bluetooth (as well as MP3, MP4) etc. Note that some can play games, communicate, make telephone calls, play audio and video, store data and don't need to, but are enhanced by, connection to the network.

This is a bit different from a model of e-learning which assumes students sit in front of computers, need to be constantly connected to a network and must access all they require from the institutional VLE. I think users may find this 'disconnected but connectable' model attractive as well.

Seems like we may have mobile personal learning environments on our hands.

So who's going to build the global network of e-learning filling stations?

But also …. Which device to buy? How interoperable are the devices? … don't worry it's an industry standard … my industry standard:) How can I track this? What do you mean if I want to use your device I must use your digital rights management system? … You're really going to charge me that much for the contract for network services?

There's an interesting update on the James Farmer situation over on his blog. James' institution seem a tad more flexible but I daresay there's a number of people wondering why the only way space for such innovation can be found is via the language of spin and obfuscation. The comments to James' article add further value to an already interesting nascent case study.

Auricle seems to have attracted the attention of a few spammers who seem to believe that readers want nothing better than to find the comments section of Auricle offering to consolidate their debts or sell really cheap DVDs of questionnable themes or parentage. I really don't want to force registration or turn-off comments but, as life gets more difficult for these sociopaths (or their minions) elsewhere, they seem to be migrating in the direction of blogs. We perhaps need a few exemplary prosecutions to get the message through.

Meanwhile, I'll just have to keep scrubbing this graffiti from Auricle.

The following extract from today's posting by James Farmer is self explanatory. “Last Tuesday I received a memorandum from a manager cc'd by am exec. director instructing me to cease supporting and promoting weblogging, wikis or any other technology not officially supported by the University. The basic reason given being that I have, anecdotally, not used the CMS (this isn't true, I always use it) and that 'commentary' on the issue of CMSs (quoted I think from this blog or another I set up for a course) is unacceptable. A set-up for disciplinary action should I not follow instructions.” There's a certain irony to this story in that I was gathering past examples of both dysfunctional and positive institutional responses to blogs and bloggers for a forthcoming conference presentation when this link was referred to me. Readers can decide which category best matches this institutional response.

Such stories are going to become more and more common as various vested 'e' interests, within, and outside of, HEI's, fight to maintain their positions and seek ways of neutralizing, what they perceive to be, deviance from centralised control. Such top-down behaviour and decisions have little to do with learning, but a lot to do with management and control. Welcome to the corporatization process!

It's all a bit counter-productive really. All that happens in this sort of situation is those who were happy to quietly innovate and test the waters are either crushed or radicalized; either result is just plain bad for everyone. HEIs need to be places for divergence, ideas, innovation and experimetation and it's a real pity that James Farmer's institution doesn't seem to have left some such space in its apparent drive to bring this dissident practitioner into line.

Message from Earth to institution; weblogs, wikis etc - you need to support them. Don't know that much about them? Then why not bring this individual on board. You need his enthusiasm and experience - but hey! it's easier to send a memo and apply pressure to stop this divergent activity isn't it?

Auricle readers may wish to revisit my ALT-C 2004 paper E-Learning Frameworks and Tools: Is it too late? - The Director's Cut.

In yesterday's OLDaily (28 October 2004) Stephen Downes suggests that the October edition of the Morgan Stanley report An Update from the Digital World would be of interest to those from the business world. I disagree. As Stephen highlights the report is well researched but, because there are some signficiant implications attached to the nascent business models discussed, I believe we all have something to gain from reading the Morgan Stanley report. The Morgan Stanley Updates from the Digital World have been around since 2002 and their purpose is to:

“… discuss major events and inflection points related to the Internet that we thought were underappreciated.” (page 2)

The October 2004 edition of the report focuses on the 'underappreciated' blogs and syndication (in this case RSS).

The reports views web content syndication as of increasing importance; evidenced by increasing acceptance by users and publishers. The momentum, the report contends, comes from: increasing use of RSS for distribution; the escalation of user-generated content (including blogging); and the entry of major aggregators like Yahoo! prepared to make easy the creation of personalised news/information Web pages based on syndicated feeds of interest to the user, e.g. My Yahoo!

Note that emphasis on 'make easy'.

“In our experience, if there is value in something that is also easy/friendly to use, people will use it.” (page 7)

“We believe that the simplicity of RSS is reminiscent of the simple user experience popularized by Google Search.” (page 9)

“By intergrating blogs with search, and by making it easy for end-users to find and add blogs, Yahoo! is playing a key role in driving blog readership and RSS usage among end-users.” (page 10)

Other examples of 'make easy' technologies included in the report are, Web browsers, and the Apple iPod. Interestingly, later on in the report, we find a further reference to the Apple iPod but this time having a multimedia content 'refill' via a RSS based 'Podcast' (page 14). Auricle readers should at this point note how RSS is becoming more than a text delivery vehicle. Another example of RSS for multimedia delivery is Stephen Downes' Ed Radio . N.B. I've added the RSS feed from Ed Radio to Auricle's Syndicated LOs menu.

After reading this report you are definitely left with the impression that the author's believe that blogs and content syndication are big … really big. Here's some samples:

“Web-based user-generated content is at the heart of some of the most relevant and fastest-growing applications we have seen on the Web … For users is has created the opportunities for expression, community, and insight.” (page 4)

“In many ways, blogs are the quintessential fomr of user-generated content.” (page 4)

“Blogs are important because they sharply lower the barriers to entry of producing a professional looking and frequently updated Web site.” (page 5)

“The numbers of blogs has been doubling every six months, according to Technorati … and reports over 4.5 million blogs as of 10/04 … Despite all the noise and random content in blogs, many bloggers become the source for breaking news, fresh ideas, and expert commentary … We believe that some of the best commentary comes from the thought leaders in a given subject matter.” (page 7)

“And if there are hundreds of thousands of thought leaders and motivated, interested parties on the Internet with ability to publish news or insights into any number of local or global issues, then it is safe to say that these blogs often become both the first source of news, a vital proving ground for authors and a source of potential community for other interested parties.” (page 8)

“The medium is nothing without the message, and for the Internet, the popularizing of syndicated content further enhances the medium as a democratized content platform.” (page 12)

All great stuff, so what's the issues?

Imagine this. You are a recognized 'thought leader' in your specialist area. You generate and syndicate 'content' via your blog and perhaps other dissemination vehicles. One business model views your syndicated 'thought leader' content as valuable, that is the full content. Not just the link and description, but the full content. Your syndicated content could for instance be hosted in Yahoo!

“In our model, Yahoo! potentially serves as an 'agnostic' Assoicated Press, collecting freelance pieces from the Web, and distributes a portion of the revenue generated by advertising in each one its syndicated papers, meaning each of those personal syndicated feeds that users set up.” (page 15)

As well as money the other carrot is increased readership due to, say, the Yahoo! brand and user-friendly tools which makes revisiting an author's content easy.

What seems to be being argued for here is something called 'open syndication' (page 15) and to be fair to the Morgan Stanley authors they have addressed copyright and IPR issues in their report (page 15) with some acknowledgement of the potential contribution to be made via, say, Creative Commons. However, they also say:

“While RSS is an open medium, publishers who wanted to close off part of their content via copyright law could slow what should be a technical process akin to Google News aggregation … this could result in a system that favors links rather than a more useful reading system.” (page 15)

On the one hand here we are advocating openess and sharing via syndication and along comes a potential business model that says “thank you very much that's really powerful, we want to use your syndications, increase your readership and eyeballs to our site, and give you some monetary reward as well.”

You only need a few 'thought leaders' to go along with this before it becomes the norm. But is it any different from the Amazon associate initiative? Will it compromise the freedom of the 'free' press? Will it turn everyone into a potential hack for Mammon? Will it normalize syndication thus accelarating the take-up and design of distributed systems. Discuss!

Stephen Downes, of course, has been a leading advocate of syndication and distributed systems for years but now we find the business world is starting to wake up to the potential. The question here is that for good or ill? I don't know but it would be good to hear the views of others.

Here's a complement to yesterday's long Auricle article Digital Dust. The UK's Guardian Online article Creative Comfort (28 October 2004) provides a useful summary of the various Creative Commons licenses which have been localised for UK use and which will be released on 1 November.

Interoperability in Action - A video presentation has been produced by the JISC Exchange for Learning Programme (x4L). The 25 minute Quicktime video is divided into chapters. The web site is self explanatory.