mpasiewicz's blog

EFF recently blogged about the way they're using embedded video and steps that they've taken to protect the privacy of users visiting their pages. They've created a script that prevents embeded sources from automatically downloading when you visit a page. In effect, they've created a system that offers the ability to opt-in to view the embedded media, rather that force feeding content from third parties (and associated usage tracking) into the attention stream of their audience. This seems like an important step towards elevating thought and providing protective measures aimed at third party sources (whether that mean viral video, widgets, maps, images or mashups of various web services).

They've implemented these protection measures using a Drupal module and they'll be contributing this back to the community!

I just discovered a series of interesting blog entries from Danny Weitzner, W3C Technology and Society Policy Director and co-director of MIT CSAIL. These aren't especially new links, but I thought they might be worth relaying ...

Reciprocal Privacy for the Social Web - provides an introduction for a proposal "to establish a reasonable privacy balance in social networking environment" using FOAF. Also of interest is a link from Shahan Khatchadourian describing the use of FOAF and OpenID to establish trust/prevent spam. Apparently the solution could be available from Ryan Lee as a Drupal module? In some ways, this sounds similar to the Social Network Portability concept mentioned by Stephen Downes.

Wow, this is an interesting move. Above and beyond the potential for unintended side-effects, I wonder what kind of interesting ways they'll be able to leverage this in the classroom and beyond.

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2007/12/04/montclair-state-mandates-use-of-gps-enabled-phones/

I've been thinking a lot about comparisons these days and I've long hoped to write something interesting about the following concepts and technologies, but I've never carved out the time.

• OAI-PMH and RSS
• Semantic Web and Microformats
• Shibboleth and OpenID
• Cyberinfrastructure and Web 2.0

I've given up any aspirations of writing something meaningful before the start of 2008, but I thought some observations might be interesting to jot down and share with the community. I guess I'll start with Cyberinfrastructure and Web 2.0

I think the two share many similar properties. In each case, the terms were coined by influential players in the field, but the definitions seem to shrink or expand based on who you talk to. In both cases, the introduction of the terms have served as a catalyst of sorts that seemed to have sharpened interest and discussion in a range of activities. In both cases, the underlying technologies supporting the phenomena existed before the terms were coined.

NPR has a two part series about online education. The only thing that might be lost in the commentary is the motives behind the pursuit of online learning among schools that have begun offering it.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16638700

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16709807

An interesting supplement to these recordings might include an interview with Robert Mendenhall at this year's EDUCAUSE Annual Event.

Steve Brady, a professor at Penn State, chronicles some ideas about podcasting and offers some insights into student produced podcasts in his presentation recorded at the Supply Chain Management Educators' Conference. A PDF of his paper and supporting slides are also available.

The attached recording provides coverage of a 14 minute interview with BT Counterpane's Bruce Schneier. Listen in as he shares some insightful words about privacy along with interesting commentary about ethics, cybersecurity and blogging. Don't forget the video (or audio) of his session in Seattle too.

In this 16 minute recording, we'll hear from the President and CEO of Western Governors University, Robert Mendenhall. Listen in as he shares some thoughts on his particpation in a panel discussion about accesss, affordability and accountability in the information age and about online learning more broadly.

In this 12 minute recording, we'll hear from the Charlene Nunley, President Emertia of Montgomery College. Listen in as she provides some observations from her three decades of work with Montgomery and thoughts on her particpation in the panel discussion about accesss, affordability and accountability in the information age.

OCLC has issued a new report that sounds like a must read for those interested in navigating the waters of the social web and I look forward to delving into it. I, personally, have mixed feelings about what I've skimmed of the report. I'm particularly vexed about a call from OCLC to "relax the rules of privacy" ... I haven't read the report yet, but that's an interesting call to action. Personally, I'd love to see a call for a more research and experimentation into alternative approaches to the social web that might find a way to protect privacy and raise awareness of why it might be important.

In this nine minute recording, we'll hear from Pulitzer prize winning author and historian Doris Kearns Goodwin. Listen in as she shares some poignant thoughts on the leadership that may prove especially relevant to institutions ripe with diversity such as those we find in higher education. She'll also comment on the prospects of Lincoln and Eleanor Roosevelt as bloggers in the 21st century, digital preservation, and the shares some thoughts on baseball. As an avid Red Sox fan, I'm sure she's thrilled with the outcome of the recent World Series and her comments regarding the momentum of the Red Sox were spot on.

NPR's Andy Carvin recently joined Talk of the Nation to cover social networking and sites like Facebook and MySpace. During the recording, they covered a number of issues related to their use in education.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14993512

First Monday is starting up a new series of podcasts. The current recording features an interview with Ian Bogost about his new book, Persuasive Games. Next up is Siva Vaidhyanathan ... I was forwarded a preview of the very interesting recording, but they haven't linked it up yet.

http://www.firstmonday.org/podcasts/

Sick of social networks? Need a Luddite-style retreat? :)

Take a look at NOSO.

http://nosoproject.com

Funny, weird & crazy - I like it.

Back in February, I pondered the future of OpenID in higher education. Earlier this week, I commented on Theresa Rowe's blog entry about managing online identities and provided a pointer to the Appalachian FireFox add-in from MIT's SIMILE project. While it was top of mind, I did a quick scan to see if I could find any new and interesting uses of OpenID in higher education. I happened to run across an experimental provider from Case. So, after a little digging, Lev directed me to Jeremy and he was gracious enough to share a little background. Apparently, the effort evolved from curiousity in the spec and remains "experimental," but it is very, very interesting.

The morning keynotes hinted at the [d]evolving state of DRM. Hopefully Bill McCoy will touch on his interest in Social DRM at his session tomorrow. Michael Jensen, Peter Brantley, and Ale de Vries hosted an interesting session on DRM too. In my estimation, they mostly talked around the idea of DRM and the problems one can encounter when approaching the topic. I got a late question in regarding the music publishing model and the potential for using performance rights organizations to introduce an new form of renumeration for the book trade. I approached the same topic with Brewster Kahle in our interview from 2005.