My last week in Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City was markedly different from my week in Hanoi in ways I did not expect. A spirit of entrepreneurship and optimism about the future of education in Vietnam has been palpable. I met with several entrepreneurs in Ho Chi Minh City.

There is a lot of talk about education technology and open education resources having a big impact on learners in developing countries. This article offers a brief glimpse into education entrepreneurship in Vietnam. Vietnam Open Education Resources (VOER) has supposedly pushed Vietnam to have a more developed OER system than any other country other than the US. I would be curious to see how Thiem would measure this claim. Platforms built around OER have potential to lower costs of materials, but they rely heavily on an active base of creators and self-publishers. There may always be an incentive for creators of especially good content to offer it for a price. In addition, just as a movie benefits from the guidance of an experienced director, a textbook or etextbook or any other large-format education content benefits substantially from an experienced curator who could charge for his/her work. I don't see this going away any time soon.

Good article on how to look for the best information the internet has to offer and be a discerning consumer. Also good for availability of academic publishing as an important public good.

It's a good reminder to all of us to pay close attention to where we are getting our information. The main points are take advantage of academic publishing via Google Scholar, get 2nd opinions, check multiple sources, be aware of the potential motives of the writer and their affiliated organization, and follow links/sources and fact check. Additional suggestions that I would add to the author's blog post include taking a close look at the writer's credentials, asking yourself who the intended audience might be, looking out for emotion-rousing words, and doing a link search to find out if other people have sited the article. It's also good to ask whether the web is the best place to look for that particular type of information in the first place.

Underdeveloped website for public domain classical sheet music. I would love to see better sites with the inclusion of much more public domain music that is easy to explore and navigate. Would love any suggestions!

As we consider the opportunities and challenges around open knowledge on the web, I find it interesting to consider situation antithetical to such openness such as China. This blog highlights some of the words and phrases that have been blocked by the Chinese government on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, along with possible explanation for why they may have been blocked. The Chinese government employs over 2 million workers to monitor the internet in China. (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-24396957)