This from HigherEd.com:

Blackboard, the dominant player in course management software, has the ability to inspire devotion and, for the more fervid open-source adherents, not a little contempt. So today’s announcement may cause a stir among those more apt to liken Blackboard to the devil than a gentle giant: The company is partnering with Syracuse University to develop a way to integrate Blackboard with Sakai, one of the primary open-source alternatives.

The whole story

InsideHigherEd.com reports that the music industry is engaging in something akin to preemptive strikes. The article Mysterious Multiplication of Copyright Complaints takes a look at the speculative reasons behind increase in complaints lodged with a variety of colleges and universities, both big and small, despite no evidence of an increase in illegally shared files.

The new complaints seem to be resulting in an increased reluctance to pursue alleged violations. For instance,

Indiana officials are now discussing whether they should continue to respond to complaints from the recording industry with the same aggressiveness. It’s not that university leaders have suddenly decided that illegal behavior isn’t wrong; instead, they are beginning to question the legitimacy of the notices the Recording Industry Association of America sends accusing network users of illegally sharing music.

One commenter in the discussion noted that the investigative arm of the RIAA is now referred to as a "contractor" rather than investigator.

Inside Higher Ed is reporting today on the 300% Error made by the MPAA when they claimed in 2005 that college students are responsible for nearly 45% of illegal movie downloads, which they revised downward to 15% recently. The big question, who is the other 85%? Wonder what the RIAA thinks of this?

Can it be true? Only this video knows for sure.


Bill Gates Last Day CES Clip

A story from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer indicates more resistance, maybe even growing resistance, to the RIAA strategy of going after students through the institution they attend. Here's the lead:

The University of Washington is evaluating reports that 16 students illegally downloaded music on campus computers, and officials say they won't pass along letters from the Recording Industry Association of America asking for thousands of dollars until they can identify the students at fault.

This from the Humanist Listserv (humanist@Princeton.EDU):

I'm pleased to announce a new ListServ for librarians called 'DRUPAL4LIB'.

As the name implies, 'DRUPAL4LIB' is for those interested in Drupal, a popular open-source CMS, as it relates to libraries and librarians.

The idea is to have a forum to exchange ideas and advice, share experiences, and maybe even collaborate on a couple of projects that highlight the use of Drupal in a library context.

The Wall Street Journal today, November 24, has a great report on the way in which One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) is faltering, in large part due to the efforts, official and backchannel, of Microsoft and Intel. Intel has launched it's own cheap laptop, called Classmate, fostering direct competition, even after the signing of a nondisparagment agreement. MS, as you might expect, has badmouthed OLPC from the top, Bill Gates, all according to the WSJ.

The NY Times reported yesterday that the less student's read, the less well they do on reading tests. That's a shocker, that one is. In our digital world, does this divide matter as much as the so-called digital divide? Does the alpha-numeric (for lack of a better name) literacy divide matter in a digital world? I tend to think so. I'm also starting to think that the more we focus on digital text production when students lack the ability to read or produce a traditional text, an essay, that we do them a disservice.

InsideHigherEd.com has an interesting article culled from a presentation on incorporating wikipedia into classroom assignments. Rather than disparaging the source, despite shortcomings real and imagined, it sounds like an intriguing task.

Martha Groom, a professor at the [University of Washington's] Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences program, [did] last fall by requiring term papers to be submitted to the popular, user-edited online encyclopedia.

The “Utah OpenCourseWare Alliance” Web site launches today (9/28/2007) with materials from 105 courses at seven Utah colleges – and with taxpayer monies funding the enterprise. “It’s a way,” [David Wiley, director of Utah State’s Center for Open and Sustainable Learning] says, “”to get some direct value back to people who fund higher education."

You can read more at Inside Higher Education: "Open Courseware goes Statewide." It will be interesting to see if this is part of a trend, or simply something of an aberration.