Posted 8:46 PM by George Siemens
An Introduction to RSS for Educational Designers (.doc)
Quote: "RSS is the first working example of an XML data network. As such, and in this world of learning objects and metadata files, RSS is the first working example of what such a network will look like for educational designers. Just as news resources are indexed and distributed in the RSS network, so also educational resources can be indexed and distributed in a similar learning object network."
Comment: Nice article on RSS (Rich Site Summary)...timely as well - currently at RRC, we are trying to create a culture of bloggers...and use aggregators as a means of accelerating the reading process. RSS is already popular in the blogosphere and news sites. Stephen Downes extends the role of RSS from that of news aggregation to learning object network (which he contrasts with current LCMS models).

Posted 8:37 PM by George Siemens
Information Needs Analysis
Quote: "Each user has a different type of information need depending on what he's trying to find and why he's trying to find it. If we can determine the most common information needs a site's users have, we can select the few best architectural components to address those information needs."

Posted 8:34 PM by George Siemens
Future Shock: Mass Media, Editors to Vanish?
Quote: "December is a month filled with holidaze, year-end roundups -- and a time to gaze into the crystal ball. Not surprising, then, that we'd have a handful of articles in different media outlets about the future of journalism in the digital age. If there's a common thread to these stories, it's the idea that the Internet will bring more power to individuals, and lessen the power of big publishers, editors, and advertisers. While that sounds nice in an ideal, utopian, flowers-in-our-hair world, the reality is that Big Money will do its best to follow the Big Ideas if they catch on."
Comment: Quick read...looks at several trends in the field of journalism.