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" Public support for the huge Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) talks, which have been running for nearly three years now, has plummeted. A new study from the Bertelsmann Foundation, the largest private non-profit foundation in Germany, suggests that both the German and US publics are much more sceptical about its promised benefits than they were two years ago. ..."

"from the time-for-a-change dept Here on Techdirt we've written many times about the problematic nature of drug patents. They are harmful both directly, in terms of the price distortions they cause and seek to spread to new markets, and indirectly, through the lobbying that the pharma industry deploys to strengthen and extend them, notably in trade agreements such as TPP and TAFTA/TTIP. "

"from the time-for-a-change dept Here on Techdirt we've written many times about the problematic nature of drug patents. They are harmful both directly, in terms of the price distortions they cause and seek to spread to new markets, and indirectly, through the lobbying that the pharma industry deploys to strengthen and extend them, notably in trade agreements such as TPP and TAFTA/TTIP. "

Objective. Sociologists of technology propose that not only a technological artifact, as such, but also patterns of usage should be considered when studying the social implications of technologies. Accordingly, we explore how people's online activities are influenced by users' socioeconomic status and context of use. Methods. We analyze data from the Allensbacher Computer and Technology Analysis (ACTA) 2004 survey with uniquely detailed information about people's Internet uses and context of usage to explore this relationship. Results. Findings suggest that highstatus and low-status individuals cultivate different forms of ''Internet-in-practice.'' High-status users are much more likely to engage in so-called capital-enhancing activities online than are their less privileged counterparts. Conclusion. Results suggest differential payoffs from Internet use depending on a user's socioeconomic background. Digital inequalities might be mitigated by improving people's Internet equipment and digital experience, but they do not account for all the status differential in use.

ScienceDaily (Mar. 7, 2011) - Despite the fears of some, a new study suggests that use of the internet in general does not make people more likely to believe political rumors.

"Taking their cue from social media, educators at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a social networking application called Classroom Salon that engages students in online learning communities that effectively tap the collective intelligence of groups. Thousands of high school and university students used Classroom Salon (CLS), http://www.classroomsalon.org/, this past academic year to share their ideas about texts, news articles and other reading materials or their critiques of each others' writings. With the support of the Next Generation Learning Challenges initiative, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, CLS will be used in an innovative experiment at the University of Baltimore to see if it can help students who are in danger of failing introductory courses or otherwise dropping out of college. "Sites such as Facebook and Twitter have captured the attention of young people in a way that blogs and online discussion forums have not," said Ananda Gunawardena, associate teaching professor in the Computer Science Department, who developed CLS with David S. Kaufer, professor of English. "With Classroom Salon, we've tried to capture the sense of connectedness that makes social media sites so appealing, but within a framework that that allows groups to explore texts deeply. So it's not just social networking for the sake of socializing but enhancing the student experience as readers and writers.""

[This Site was originally created by the UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) as a place where members of the UNESCO OER Community can work together on questions, issues and documents. Over time we can build this site together. Useful pages * About the UNESCO OER Community o List of community members * About community discussions o Access to OER o UNESCO OER Toolkit o OER: Findings from an OECD study o Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) solutions for OER o Exploring the idea of a "DIY" OER development resource o Developing a research agenda for OER * Open Educational Resources useful links * Open Educational Resources glossary * Guide to using and contributing to this wiki * Guide to online translation tools]

"New research finds that, contrary to popular belief, restructuring software code to be more maintainable and efficient may not be worth the time and effort"

"New research finds that, contrary to popular belief, restructuring software code to be more maintainable and efficient may not be worth the time and effort"

"New research finds that, contrary to popular belief, restructuring software code to be more maintainable and efficient may not be worth the time and effort"

[... So armed with some information and just as much misinformation, I set out to study the options open to us Linux users. I mean, in my heart of hearts, I didn't think that virus and malware threats are near as prevalent on Linux as they are on Windows, but it turns out that several antivirus companies did not agree, to the point that they created antivirus programs for Linux too. ...]

"Author's name: Sarah Escandor-Tomas Philippines Free software is a human right. Freedom to run the software. Freedom to study and change the software. Freedom to redistribute. Freedom to redistribute with changes. The four freedoms that define free software have become essential human rights that must never be taken away from anyone except as a punishment for wrongdoing. Human rights depend on each other; if you lose one human right it becomes hard to defend the others. [...] With non-free software all your other human rights become hard to defend."

"Each year, I reflect on Opensource.com's top government stories of the year. I look for trends among our most popular stories. Stories about new tools and applications generally top the list, as well as, case studies detailing how governments are implementing those tools."

"Our modern society runs on software. But the tools we use to build software are buckling under increased demand."