Yahoo News reports an interesting case of two Jordanian individuals who had an online love affair for several months, and then finally met face-to-face to realize that they were already married. The recently separated couple had coincidentally met again in a chat room, but their identities were disguised through use of screen names. Even rekindled love didn’t save the couple. They filed for immediate divorce after the incident.

It’s certainly an interesting case which makes me think how well one can really know another person through online communication alone.

I’ve just come across a wonderful deconstructionist article titled “Copyright/Copyleft:Myths About Copyright” by Liang, Mazmdar & Suresh. It’s deconstructionist in the sense that it challenges and identifies various assumptions re: the concept of copyright. Through challenging the ahistorical account of copyright, the paper serves to:
– contextualize authorship and originality
– reveal copyright, information and the language of property
– view copyright as an incentive for creativity
– expose the language of piracy and theft in the discourse of copyright.

Additionally, there are several quotes that reflect the influence of the open source movement on current understandings and functionality of copyright.

For instance:
“The existence of alternatives to copyright — such as copyleft, the open source movement, the Fairshare and Street Performer protocols — belie the reality of copyright. Conceptually, these alternatives challenge the fundamentals upon which copyright rests. The emphasis is on the ability of users to modify and distribute works …”

“If the world of copyright constructs itself as the only model of incentive, reward, etc for creative labour, the symbolic power of the open source movement rests in the creation of alternative social imaginaries which turn every assumption of copyright upon itself.”

There are great thoughts here which I will likely incorporate into my current research on the open source movement. It’s certainly worth a read.

“Nicholas Negroponte, chairman and founder of MIT’s Media Labs, says he is developing a laptop PC that will go on sale for less than $100 (£53).” (via BBC)

To get the hardware into this low price-range, obviously major modifications and/or deletions must be made. The laptop would be stripped-down to a bare minimum, feature Linux as the operating system (no Windows licensing fees) and feature a yet-to-be-developed rear-projection technology for the screen.

The laptop is targetted at developing countries, but of course, has tremendous implications for schools, even considering this is meant to be more of a ‘electronic notebook’ than say a multimedia powerhouse.

I also do remember a while back hearing about the Simputer … similar concept, but more of a handheld it seems. I think this sounds even more ambitious.

I love my Powerbook, but more so, I love OS X and all of the great software that is available for my Mac.

And for those who are new to the Mac (welcome to many of my colleagues), here is a good list of applications available for OSX.

While there are a few of my favorites missing (e.g., OmniGroup Software, Delicious Library, Shrook), the list has many of my favorites (e.g., Adium X, Acquisition, iLife o5)

Here is an excellent writing resource from Dr. Peter Clark of Poynter Institute. Here is an extensive list of 50 detailed writing ‘tools’ that are invaluable to the writing process

I saw this website a couple of years ago, but recently came across it again. Flash Face (author unknown but on a Russian domain) is a neat Flash-based website that allows the user to construct a profile drawing using a selection of facial parts (eyes, noses, mouths, jaws, etc.). Kind of a fun to play, especially for those bent on becoming a police profile artist … yet have no actual artistic skill.

The CBC recently featured an excellent photo essay titled “Bring the Noise: The Evolution of Personal Audio“. It’s an interesting essay that tracks the beginning of the personal audio era with the introduction of the pocket transistor radio, up until the introduction of the 5th generation iPod.

While it doesn’t go into great depth (and excludes Sony’s minidisc), it certainly provides enough information to demonstrate that the iPod craze is really at the tailend of a personal audio cycle that began in the late 1970’s.

Well, I thought it was mine until now … but someone else has claimed the title to “the dullest blog in the world“.

Read gems such as:
“A light in one of the rooms of my house was on. I decided that I didn’t need the light on any longer. I pressed the light switch thereby turning off the light.”

Or …

“I was sitting down on one of the chairs in my house. My hand was resting on the arm of the chair. I started to drum my fingers on the arm, thereby making a barely audible sound.”

I really like this article from Inside Higher Ed (via Stephen Downes) that implicates the deficiencies of using course syllabi. Course syllabi can be seen as both a legal document as well as a pedagogical road map. However, in both cases, they are usually incomplete.

And to point to a couple of great quotes from the article:
“This is reason enough to be against syllabi; their presentation of a course as a fully reasoned, systematically organized thing is spurious. A course that is only its syllabus, day after day, is a course where spontaneity, improvisation, and risk have been banished. The loss is too great.”

“A map is not necessary for every destination. Some of the most memorable ones result from just getting lost.”

For those of you who teach in higher education, these are certainly points worth considering. And there is certainly something to be learned here regarding the development of online courses.