Vacation

I almost on my way to Sri Lanka. See you again in March....

Why interoperability is important

Interoperability: "Why Interoperability Matters to everyone involved"
I just came across this website by the Open group. It has some great content. Just read this piece on interoperability: it should matter to everyone. Not just the consumer (or buyer) of software and information, but also to the supplier!

Library 2.0

I just came across the weblog by David King, who writes:
"Has anyone seen this job ad? The job title is NextGen Librarian - wow. It could also be titled the "Library 2.0 Librarian," I think."
Just read it, and you will also see that the institution that posted this job, already responded publicly in the weblog by thanking for the free publicity. That's the way to go, Wayne State University!!!!
Anyone from the libraries here in the Netherlands even vaguely thinking of posting job ads like this?

On the internet as a gas filling station

I am regular reader of the weblog by Derek Morrison. Which is called Auricle: "For, at least the part of the world which is 'wired', we are fast reaching a point where we no longer need to visit physical spaces to acquire much of what we want or need. That, in turn, will change the nature of the physical spaces that are required and the roles/location of people who are required to support and service them. "
This last post I am quoting here is very interesting. It is not really on social software, but more on the way our wired world is changing. One more quote: "The internet as 'filling station' model is a world away from a total focus on the 'must be connected' Blackboard, WebCT et al view of e-learning". Please the entire post, highly recommended!

Underground learning: is it bad?

Through Niels Maes of Citowoz (thanks Niels!) I was reminded to pick up on George Siemens and his theory of connectivism. Siemens has started the Connectivism Blog. Just a quote to get you interested: "When educators fail to provide for the needs of learners (i.e. design learning in an LMS only), learners are able to 'go underground' to have their learning needs met."
What he means is that if Blackboard [fill in your own LMS or CMS here if you like] doesn't provide what the learners need, these learners will find their own solution to their problem. This is very very much recognizable! We should not wonder why they all use MSN, they have just gone underground. And we shouldn't be sorry per sé.

SurveyMonkey.com: Online survey software made easy!

SurveyMonkey.com : "SurveyMonkey is both a powerful solution and a tremendous value. Compare our prices to any of our competitors...you'll find that SurveyMonkey is tough to match!"
Ok, agree, this is not exactly social software, is it? But is, at least to me, a great example of where we are heading: software as a service for a monthly fee. And here, you can get a free basic subscription, where you are limited to a total of 10 questions and 100 responses per survey. For most needs, that seems to be enough.