Outage Outrage

So Pakistan is being blamed for the short outage of YouTube yesterday (BBC News online). It's not the first time that the video sharing site has been blocked either. China has had a bash, and so has Iran.

The correspondent writes: "BBC News has learned that the nearly two-hour long blackout was almost certainly connected to Pakistan Telecom and internet service provider PCCW. The country ordered ISPs to block the video-sharing website because of content deemed offensive to Islam ... to block Pakistan's citizens from accessing YouTube it is believed Pakistan Telecom hijacked the web server address of the popular video site. Those details were then passed on to the country's internet service providers so that anyone in Pakistan attempting to go to YouTube was instead re-directed to a different address. "

So it's all about religious sensibility again is it? Just where is the 'fun' in fundamentalism I ask you? Those decent folk at Google (YouTube's owners) are absolutely livid of course, because they don't see why one country's actions in blocking YouTube video content should be able to cause their servers to shut down, on an almost global basis for nearly two hours. How can one censor decide what the entire world is going to watch...? I'm sure they are asking. And Google are right. We must all be free to decide. That is what democracy is all about.

With my last ounce of strength, I will fight to defend the right of millions of users to have as much access as they want to mediocre, jerky content, poor quality grainy footage and endlessly inane comments.

Feeling the pinch

Seems as if Apple enjoys making other rival companies feel the pinch. Or at least, it hopes to stop competitors pinching the 'pinch'. It's all about gesturing, see... ummm... Look, I'm not describing this very well, am I? I'll let someone else do the talking instead. In a recent article in Wired, Bryan Gardiner writes:

Is pinching proprietary? We may find out in the coming months as many companies, inspired by the success of Apple's iPhone, release their own multitouch-enabled laptops, smartphones and tablets. In doing so, these companies -- including RIM, Nokia and Synaptics -- may run afoul of multitouch patent applications recently filed by Apple.

"If Apple's patents are granted, the company could absolutely stop others from using similar technology," says Raj Abhyanker, a patent lawyer who used to write patent applications for Apple. "They'd also be in an especially good position to stop others from including certain features. Apple could stop [their use] not only on mobile devices but also desktops."

So is this a cynical move by Apple to try to gain the upper hand on the upper hand they have already gained? Is this just posturing about gesturing? Y'see it's generally agreed that multi-gesture touch screens will be features of most handhelds in the next few years, so this could turn out to be a real roadblock. The Wired article continues....

If Apple's patent applications are successful, other manufacturers may have no choice but to implement multitouch gestures of their own. The upshot: You might pinch to zoom on your phone, swirl your finger around to zoom on your notebook, and triple-tap to zoom on the web-browsing remote control in your home theater.

That's an outcome many in the industry would like to avoid. Synaptics, a company that by most estimates supplies 65 to 70 percent of the notebook industry with its touchpad technology, is working on its own set of universal touch gestures that it hopes will become a standard. These gestures include scrolling by making a circular motion, moving pictures or documents with a flip of the finger, and zooming in or out by making, yes, a pinching gesture.

But whatever happended to competition and free enterprise? Although I love the iPhone, I think Apple might be acting a little too precious on this one. Did IBM try to patent the index finger click gesture? Did MicroSoft patent the 'frowning when the screen freezes' gesture? Even the name 'Apple' is not that original after all. Just ask Lennon and McCartney (or Adam and Eve for that matter).

Well, I have one or two gestures just for the guys at Apple , and they aren't patented...

A chair on its last legs

Yep. It's conference season again.

I have spent most of the day (and all of yesterday and the weekend) reviewing papers for a variety of conferences, and it's beginning to take it's toll. I will probably wake up in the middle of the night tonight, and reach out into space, to try to click the send button on my umpteenth e-mail. I'm fed up telling someone that their paper has been rejected, and I'm sorry and all that, but there it is. Or that it has been accepted, but can they ammend it so that it has Harvard referencing, double line spacing and finer detail about the research method that was used .... oh ..... and there's a punctuation mark missing. Each conference has its own particular online submission and reviewing systems are set up differently, and each password and username pairing is different and has to be remembered. My head is swimming. To be honest, I'm knackered.

I'm taking time out to write this blog post so I don't go completely stir crazy - it's a brief moment of respite. The conferences in question are the Plymouth e-Learning Conference 'Digital Learning: Repurposing Education' (for which I am the chair - one with only two legs, and these are my last by the way), the Joint Open and Working IFIP conference 'ICT and Learning for the Net Generation' (for which I am an editor) and the AICT Conference on Advanced Telecommunications (for which I am merely a skivvy).

<<Phew>>.

Once I have put these to bed, another lot will come along. Next I will be looking forward to reviewing a shed load of papers for ALT-C 2008: 'Rethinking the Digital Divide' when the doors shut on submissions later this month. And then there's ICICTE 2008 with it's deadlines also fast approaching.....

I probably won't sign up for any more conference committees for a while. Is there a tall building around here anywhere....?

Scaling new heights

I'm very pleased to have been invited to speak at this year's 4th EduMedia Conference: "Self-organised learning in the interactive Web" - A change in learning culture? which will be held 2-3 June at the University of Salzburg, Austria. I have also been roped into serving on the scientific committee for a special track entitled: Technology Support for Self-Organised Learners, which is being organised by Marco Kalz. Marco and I spent some time working together last year in Austria and Holland, and he works at the Netherlands Open University, in Maastricht, my old stomping ground.

I'm looking forward to meeting up again with Marco and his colleagues, and also to hearing some interesting and stimulating papers from the presenters that are lined up. The theme of cultural changes mirrors some of the work colleagues and I are doing in preparation for the new book 'Connected Minds, Emerging Cultures', which will be published in the U.S. in the Autumn. I shan't be indulging in any mountaineering in the Alps while I'm out there, but I do hope that learning about emerging technologies will help us to scale new heights.

Petrol, passports and papaya

I'm not happy. I noticed this morning that my petrol gauge was low, so on my way into the office I visited our drive-in garage. The forecourt notice announced that the garage was 'closed due to a technical fault'.

OK. I decided to drive-out of the drive-in and drive back in to fill up later. When the 'technical fault' was resolved. During lunch break I walked into town to grab some passport application forms at our walk-in post-office. All eight (yes 8) shelves labelled 'Passport Application Forms' were empty. Would you believe it? Not a single form. Just a paperclip.

The final straw fluttered silently down onto my shoulder tonight. I was at my local supermarket (name withheld to protect the guASDAilty). I searched high and low. My favourite tinned papaya fruit was not on the shelves! 'Don't do them no more' muttered a spotty youth behind the information desk through a mouthful of bubble gum. He was probably suffering from a technical fault.

What is going on? Nothing I need is available. To cap it all, even my internet connection curled up its toes for a couple of hours earlier this evening, so this blog post has been delayed due to my computer taking leave of its line. No. Normal service will not be resumed as soon as possible. The wheels are coming off - and it's all because everything is becoming far too complicated I think. When I was born my father never had cause to complain to his Internet Service Provider. When I was at school in the 60s living in Gibraltar, we never had interrupted satellite transmissions due to torrential rain. And I only ever once suffered a spam attack when I was in college (and that was in the canteen). Things were so simple then, and they are so complicated now.

I've had enough. I'm off to bed - if it's still available....

Vision on

Good to see that all three main presentations (Jon Dron, Emma Place and myself) at the recent HEA e-Learning symposium are now available online as VODcasts, complete with accompanying PowerPoint slides and abstracts. You can view them by clicking on this link. You may spot my little joke about Southampton Football Club, its managers, and the subsequent audience response.... Sorry..... I just couldn't resist it.

Generally all the presentations (which were webcasted live) come across very well, with clear audio and reasonable vision, and are a nice little legacy of the event. Well done to all concerned, and thanks again Southampton University for a memorable and well organised event.

Magnificent seven?

It was good to read the Josie Fraser interview today featured on the blog Information World Review. With the strapline "Information professionals guiding you to the best bits of the blogosphere", it's one not to miss for all those who want to know the latest on the practice and art of blogging. Josie is well known for her work in learning technology, and has also run the influential EduBlog Awards for the last three years. It's an annual bash that celebrates best blogs, most influential blog posting, coolest educational wiki, etc, you get the drift....

Best of all, I have been mentioned in dispatches..... Josie lists my blog as one of her top seven favourites, and I find myself in the elevated company of Graham Attwell, Helen Keegan, Steven Warburton, Scott Wilson, Frances Bell and Brian Kelly. Wow - are we the magnificent seven already? If so, I'll be the one who gets shot dead whilst being distracted by a small and demanding child.

Seriously, I'm deeply honoured to be included in such distinguished company. Keep up the good work Josie, and when this year's Edublog Awards come around, I hope there's a new category for the blog containing the most dots ...............

Animated students

I'm working in Cornwall all day today. I'm with a group of teaching assistants from primary schools who are in an ICT session. Some of the work they are doing on animation using Digital Blue cameras is very impressive, not least due to their great creativity and enthusiasm. Almost all of the group have opted for the Aardman Film style classic plasticine figures, and all have managed to work some kind of educational message into their little sequence of 'stop start' footage. Although there are no Wallaces or Grommits, there are plenty of multicoloured butterflies, mice, frogs, and even a Cornish pastie! Ultimately, they will be uploading their finished products onto YouTube for all to enjoy.

It has been well worth the 90 minute drive down from Plymouth today to witness - and the Cornwall College campus looks very beautiful today in the sunshine. It's really nice to work with such.... well, animated students.

A JISCy Business

There are a number of conferences I plan to attend this year, so I can find out what the latest is on e-learning and how it is being embedded in education. If you bump into me, do say hello ..... I haven't bitten anyone in over a year now. I have also been invited to speak at several conferences, and will do my best to report back from as many events as I can over the year, right here in this blog.

One particularly interesting fast approaching event is hosted by the JISC South West Regional Support Centre in Bristol, on April 8th, four days after the Plymouth e-Learning Conference. Entitled Innovation through partnership, the one day event will showcase several recently funded projects. Mobile learning will feature, as will videoconferencing. Shibboleth will rear it's head, and digital repositories will put in an appearance. My two (yes two) papers will feature our CETT funded projects on blogging for mentors and wikis for delivery of the minimum core delivery. You'll be hearing so much about these two studies from this blog over the year that you will probably sell up house and move somewhere where the internet isn't... Mars is a possible option.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to attending, and hearing some interesting, kind of JISCy stuff. See you there maybe...?

Bored to tiers

A lot of the rhetoric surrounding the more popular social networking sites such as FaceBook, MySpace and Bebo seems to be related to the more negative factors such as identity theft, threats to children, breahes in privacy of personal data and copyright theft. Now FaceBook and the others have a new threat to contend with. A recent new item in The Register (an interesting little online journal with the tag line 'biting the hand that feed IT') suggests that large sections of the previously avid social networking population are feeling a little bored about poking each other, throwing sheep and sharing their favourite movies, iPod downloads or party tricks. Apparently they are leaving in .... well, droves. Makes you wonder where they are actually going to get their online kicks.

So I guess now we all have to wait to see what the next killer social web application will be. Whatever it is will probably assail our senses and grab our attention, subscriptions and precious spare time all over again, as we all queue up in our neat little rows to join up in case we might be missing something. Where will it all end?

Probably in tiers.