Technology

information & communication technology

New Year, New Tools

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This year I got a digital camera (finally) for Christmas. It was a gift from my wife, but I had a fair bit of input (about 100%). The Olympus Stylus Verve 5.0 megapixel camera is very compact, weatherproof and looks cool. It takes great photos and I’ve picked up an extra battery as reviews say that it eats them.

For my first transfer of photos to my computer I used Adobe Photo Album which had come with my Palm. I found it cumbersome, and when I wanted to do anything extra I found out that I needed to upgrade to a paid version. I therefore installed the Olympus master program that came with the camera. It took forever to download the updates from the web and when I started using it I discovered that it was a crippled version of the pro version which I could purchase from Olympus.

I therefore uninstalled both of these programs and downloaded The Gimp. It is a free and open source image editing suite that does much more than I need but there is no nag-wear and I know that it has everything that I’ll ever need in terms of functionality. I should have done this first, but the process reinforced how many good open source products are out there. If you install The Gimp for Windows, make sure that you install the GTK+2 Runtime environment first. I’m playing around with a Flickr account too, to start sharing some photos.

I’ve also tried some new tools for this website. In the External Links on the left you’ll see an OpenSource4Learning link which takes you to a Squidoo lens. Squidoo is an experiment in focused content, based on the premise that everyone is an expert on something. I’d appreciate any feedback. My intent is to see if one of the subjects of this blog requires its own special place. Is it any easier to find stuff this way?

I also built a swicki, which is a specialised search engine. I had it installed on the navigation bar but it slowed the loading of my pages so it’s off for now. You may see it re-appear as I test it some more.
Now it’s back to real work for the month of January ;-)

Mapstats blogging resource

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I’ve been using MapStats, which is a function of Blogflux, as an additional statistics tool on this website for a while. What I like about Mapstats is that you get the real number of actual visitors to your website. It eliminates spammers & bots and also anyone reading from an aggregator. As for the latter, I at least have an indicator of regular subscribers from Bloglines.
Mapstats also shows where each visitor comes from, what browser was used and what search query was presented to a search engine. Since it’s in beta, the system has had a few hiccups but it is quite promising and gives some interesting detail that I don’t get with my ISP-provided search package. For instance, since October:

  • 91% of visitors using a search engine use Google (no surprise)
  • 47% of visitors use Internet Explorer while 42% use Firefox (not exactly reflective of what the popular press is saying about Firefox’s 10% of market share, but I’m sure that I have a lot of "early adopters" visiting this site)
  • 45% of visitors are from Canada, 26% from the USA,  4% from the UK, 2% from India and 7% unknown
  • +99.99% have Flash enabled (looks like Adobe-Macromedia has won the game)
  • Top search queries include "lms comparison", "benefits of blogging" and "training vs education"
  • The most popular blog post since October has been the one on the Blackboard WebCT merger

I’d recommend Mapstats for any blogger (only bloggers can use this free tool) as it provides just another level of feedback that may keep you motivated on those long cold winter days.

Mancomm provides GPL Calendar to Elgg

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Mancomm Performance Inc of Montreal (with whom I’m associated), have recently developed a calendar function for the elgg learning landscape system. The calendar plug-in allows multiple users to post events to a common calendar and in typical Elgg fashion restrict access by group, community or public/private. In the spirit of the open source community, Mancomm paid for the development of this software but has released it under the GPL. From the elgg developer blog:

We developed the ‘calendar’ unit for some of our customers, so that they can share their events with their Elgg friends, as well and in the same manner as they share existing blog posts and so on. We are now sharing (GPL) our calendaring unit with the larger Elgg community, as one good turn deserves another. :-)”

Yes, it is possible to be a small company, use open source software, give back to the community and still be profitable.

Ontario Ministry of Education Seeks Multimedia Authoring Software

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Just came across this RFQ looking for software in an educational setting (Ref # 115781 and Sol # OSS-072822). Here’s the requirement:

 The Ministry seeks products that will run on Windows (98- XP) and/or Macintosh (9.2 – OSX) or commonly available browsers. Consequently, the Ministry seeks to obtain the following:
(i) Multimedia Authoring Software Grades 5 – 12 in English and French for Windows and Macintosh computers for publicly funded Educational Institutions in Ontario.
(ii) The Respondent’s product should provide a rich environment for students to create linked multimedia products that can easily be opened and navigated by other students and parents. It should allow for the easy creation of a variety of navigational tools, buttons, hyperlinks, animations, and embedded graphics, movies and text objects. Easy placing, sizing, and moving of all objects is essential.
(iii) The Respondent should provide 5 CD-ROMs in English and/or French for use on Windows (98 – XP) and/or Macintosh (9.2 – OSX) to be considered.

Off the top of my head I can think of OpenOffice and Gimp as FREE and OPEN SOURCE software that does not require a ($)license. Can anyone name and link to some others?
I’m sure I could find some better ways to spend tax dollars for education – let me count the ways …

Genuine Open-Standard Format for Office Documents Already Available

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From OpenOffice.org:

25 November 2005
OpenOffice.org believes that the demand for a genuine open-standard  format for office documents is overwhelming. Users of office software  are coming to realise that their real investment lies not in the  software itself, but in the spreadsheets, databases, and  wordprocessing documents which they have created:  their own  intellectual property. The only way to guarantee access to this  investment long term is for the data to be stored in a vendor- neutral, open-standard format.
Microsoft’s announcement on Monday, 21 Nov., that it recognises the  market pressure for open-standard data formats is a welcome  development.  But why opt for a new standard? OpenDocument, which  OpenOffice.org uses, is approved by OASIS – the standards body for  XML data formats in business; OASIS is sponsored by all the leading  names in IT, including Microsoft. In addition, OpenDocument was  submitted to the International Standards Organisation (ISO) on 30  September 2005 for ratification.
OpenDocument is a genuine vendor-neutral, open-standard  specification, free from intellectual property encumbrances, so that  all developers are free to work with it, including open-source  developers.
Vendors and developers do not need to continue with the current  limiting industry standard, as the OpenDocument standard is available  now. Utilising an open-standard, such as OpenDocument, driven and  supported by many vendors, is of huge benefit to organisations and  their customers. Interoperability between different applications and  potential new ventures formed among vendors supporting OpenDocument  will stimulate innovation.
Following an open process, the OASIS OpenDocument Technical Committee  has a long term commitment to extend, improve, and maintain the  standard as technology changes. Membership is open to anyone and  users of OpenDocument may view the OpenDocument proceedings and  participate in an increasing number of forums.
OpenOffice.org and other open-source projects are well placed to lead  and contribute to the innovation of new e-business applications  utilising the OpenDocument file format specification.

Is metadata dead?

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Here’s a question for any experts on learning object repositories, metadata, cataloguing, etc. Given the latest conversations around tagging, folksonomies and Google’s various search tools; is it still necessary to create a definite metadata structure for large web databases? Would it be better to focus on search? Can personal tagging address everyone’s needs? Should you address both? What would you do if you had to build a learning portal tomorrow? Yes, I’m asking for free advice ;-)

Update: Stephen Downes has this Summary of the Metadata Enigma, with the final comment being that the benefits of metadata have not been clearly established.

Atlantic Canada ICT Industry Needs New Models

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Stephen Downes links to a PowerPoint file (works in OpenOffice.org too) produced by the NRC, entitled ICT Industry Overview, on the state of the industry in Atlantic Canada.
There are some good snippets of information, but the slideshow medium is not meant for a lot of knowledge transfer. For instance, on open source:

Business cases have to be wrestled with, but OSS generally is impacting the way people are thinking about IP and making money – new business models required.

That’s pretty obvious to anyone who has read anything on open source, but worth repeating, and nice to hear this from our "National" Research Council. However, I feel that much of this presentation is looking in the rear view mirror. Supposedly, VC’s want to fund a "Craigslist on steroids" . Have they heard about Google and its services & tools?
In an IT Conversation about a year ago, I believe it was Jonathan Schwartz of Sun who said that the enterprise software development business model as we know it is broken. The latest software successes are not traditional enterprise applications. They’re community platforms, like Vancouver-based Flickr, which spurned VC money and was finally purchased directly by Yahoo!. The investment model is already changing, and perhaps VC’s are not the best source of advice. Enough of them avoided Skype because they couldn’t figure out the business model.
This presentation highlights the need for innovative models, experienced management (lacking in Atlantic Canada) and an understanding of market needs. I would add that Atlantic Canadian entrepreneurs should get a real deep understanding of open source and Web 2.0 if they want to stay in the ICT Industry.

Free Basecamp Account for Educators

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Via Anol Bhattacharya is this post from the 37Signals blog announcing a free Basecamp basic subscription for educators. Basecamp is a hosted project management tool, but nowhere near as complicated as MS Project. I haven’t used it for a while but my friends at Tantramar Interactive swear by it to manage their web design projects. This basic subscription is regularly $24 per month and lets you host up to 15 projects. The company also provides Writeboard, a free hosted wiki with an easy interface.
Here’s a post from EdBlogger Praxis on how a school used Basecamp for its school improvement plan.

The $100 Laptop

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The idea behind MIT’s $100 laptop initiative is to have one laptop per child, individually owned and cared for. The lime green laptop, which sports a handcrank and a swivel screen debuted in Tunis this week. The official word is that these laptops will be produced in huge quantities (5-10 million) with governments or donors purchasing them in bulk for distribution to students. Jon Husband forwards an additional twist on this initiative that is a bit more grassroots:

"How about offering a commercial version that costs twice as much? Do it in a different semi-florescent color and those who would buy them would be buying one for kid some where."  … Well .. why not ? I’d buy one at $200 if I knew some child or woman in an underdeveloped part of the world were going to receive a laptop they could use.

Given that most of the students in most of our schools do not have their own laptop, I think that a higher-priced version for students in more wealthy countries would not be a bad idea (my previous comments on laptops in schools – One Reason for Laptops & The Laptop Furor).
Like Jon, I would gladly pay about $(CA)300 to purchase one for my children and another for someone else. If this happens, would there be any pressure on governments to not allow a commercial version of this laptop in order to appease the oligopolies?