K12 Open Source

The effective use of technology to improve learning processes turns out to be a far greater "change problem" than most leaders and practitioners appreciate and one that is inconsistent with the rigid and powerful cultural aspects (i.e., assumptions, beliefs, and behaviors) of education. Among the key reasons for this limited success are (a) the all too common "cultural paralysis" in education, (b) the lack of adequate transformational leadership for providing the necessary "learning vision," "change sponsorship," and relevant "circumstances and rewards," and (c) few proactive professional faculty development programs that meaningfully prepare faculty change methods, "change creation," that provide approaches for long-term improvement.

Stated more succinctly as a "general theory of learning in the web era," to borrow a phrase from Jim Shimabukuro, computer technology (e.g., $10 computers) + access to the digital storehouse of human knowledge + social computing + cognitive tools + teaching and learning practices consistent with the learning sciences + leadership to catalyze change = transformation of education.

On February 3, after a tremendous amount of hype, India's $10 laptop was finally unveiled. In anticipation of the event, Jim Morrison, Innovate editor-in-chief, distributed an eblast to Innovate board members, which was followed up by Jim Shimabukuro's I-Blog post "India: $10 Notebooks for Students" on February 2. As we all know by now, the Sakshat "laptop" turned out to be a computing device, a far cry from a computer. In the aftermath, Shimabukuro put out a call for articles: What are the implications of the Sakshat or a similar cheap computer device for education?

BUG makes it fun and easy to build any gadget you can imagine. Build familiar things like digital cameras and GPS locators or create new devices like a LoCamMotion or a GeoPhotoShooter or an Accel-o-Mailer or ... the list is endless!

Wikipedia plagiarism by Forschungsstandort, the gremium on intellectual property of economiesuisse.

Sleuthing Wikipedia editors have found several cases of apparent plagiarism over the past two years by Tim Ryan, a reporter for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. It began with the discovery of an article last month containing language that closely matched a Wikipedia article, and more investigation found earlier articles that seemed to borrow from additional sources without attribution.

Project to support OLPCs for children in the Caribbean. Includes 30 screencast tutorials for Squeak etoys; free registration required.

An open source 'guitar hero' for the piano

The Fellowship of the Free Software Foundation Europe is proud to announce its latest initiative: pdfreaders.org, a site providing information about PDF with links to Free Software PDF readers for all major operating systems.

This initiative originated in the Fellowship of the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE). The coordinators of this initiative are Hannes Hauswedell and Jan-Hendrik Peters

The Portable Document Format (PDF) is a popular format to publish formatted text and documents. There are several different versions of it, some qualifying as an Open Standard, some certified by ISO and some encumbered by software patents. You might want to promote the versions that are Open Standards, because Open Standards guarantee interoperability, competition and choice

Dans un contexte de lutte contre la piraterie en ligne, Dailymotion, qui a conclu des accords avec différentes sociétés de gestion collective françaises pour rémunérer certains ayants droits semble vouloir solidifier son business model, pour éviter la multiplication des actions de « notice and take down » fondées sur la LCEN, et se conformer aux accords Olivennes, accord interprofessionnel base du projet de loi Hadopi, validé par le Sénat et prochainement discuté à l'Assemblée Nationale.

Dans cette affaire, un particulier avait assigné les producteurs d'un film parce qu'il n'avait pu faire une copie sur VHS du DVD qu'il avait acheté en raison d'un dispositif anti-copie. La Cour d'Appel de Paris, le 4 avril 2007, a rejeté sa prétention au motif que l'exception de copie privée prévue à l'article L122-5 du code de la propriété intellectuelle ne constitue pas un droit, mais bien une exception à l'interdiction de reproduire une œuvre protégée.

Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 78, p. 42r (www.e-codices.unifr.ch) Persistent URL: www.e-codices.ch/en/cb/0078/42r Manuscript title: Guido de Columnis, Historia destructionis Troiae Date of origin: XIVe s. (ca 1370?)

How can we navigate through the information landscape that is only beginning to come into view? The question is more urgent than ever following the recent settlement between Google and the authors and publishers who were suing it for alleged breach of copyright.

Alternate text is not meant to be used as a tool tip, or more specifically, to provide additional information about an image. The title attribute, on the other hand, is meant to provide additional information about an element. That information is displayed as a tooltip by most graphical browsers, though manufacturers are free to render title text in other ways. Thanks to Alexis Antonelli http://uxconsultant.com/ for the reference

Facsimile of the manuscript

Text description of the manuscript

Lots of info about copyright legislation, creative commons etc