A great text on E-Learning 2.0

This paper is a must. It really puts online uses of education into the context. I disagree only in a little detail. Downes argues that online learning no one involves a medium, but instead a platform. I would say that in the Web 2.0 there are lots of what can be called platforms, but such are just a special kind of interactive media.

I have added this to the Literature list, which means it can be one of the ten.

Downes, S. (2005). E-learning 2.0. eLearning Magazine. http://www.elearnmag.org/subpage.cfm?article=29-1§ion=articles, accessed 13.09.2009.

Information and evolution

As a reflection to Mike's and Kamil's thoughts about evolution information, I guess the main hypothesis about evolution is that it chooses options that facilitate reproduction and survival of the species in some sense. If one assumes that evolutionary phases will be short, then one should also assume a really steep threshold of survival or not survival related to information access. In practice it might mean that if you don't have access to enough information in the web then you will have radically worse chances of getting married and reproduced. But it may not be quite as simple. It seems that it is often a more critical factor how to make sense and filter the huge masses of information available than just the quantity of information. And it is not quite clear how the amount of information would assist in reproduction or survival. Maybe more information means more money at least in some cases, which may translate to more shelter to the kids...?

Mauri Team's local observations from Flemingsberg. Alternative link (if the Google service is still down).

Read Manovich!

Manovich' Language of New Media is a classic, and it is on our list too, but I did not bring it to the classroom yet. He talks about New Media, which as a concept is quite close to Interactive Media. But he's not very interested in social aspects of media, but focuses on new forms of creativity.

There are many copies of this in the library: http://miks.kib.ki.se/search~S6*swe?/XManovich&SORT=D/XManovich&SORT=D&SUBKEY=Manovich/1%2C2%2C2%2CB/frameset&FF=XManovich&SORT=D&1%2C1%2Conce you get you card.

Excited of the new master course

I am sure it will be a rich community of ideas and experiences. Let's build a blogosphere to turbocharge the intellectual potential in such a multinational team we have.