The Auricle

If you are still wondering if a wiki has anything to offer then you've got to listen to, or read, this one. It's eight minutes of your life well spent. The 8 July 2005 edition of On the Media contained an interview with Clay Shirky about the role played by Wikipedia in responding to the […]

It's more normal today to hear up-beat tales of the growing impact of open-source software and systems upon institutions. But over on the JISCMail VLE archive there's one emerging case study arising from the Cautionary Tale thread about an institution which has moved in the opposite direction. The story has some pretty interesting facets buried […]

Unless you are a lover of comedy then what follows may not seem significant, but it is. From tomorrow (19 July 2005) the BBC provides pre-broadcast access, via broadband, to its second series of the comedy The Mighty Boosh. Put this move together with its podcast pilot and its Creative Archive initiative (whenever the latter […]

First, read Loosen the Shackles (Guardian Online 7 July 2005). Second, let's reflect on any lessons for the average HEI oriented web site. So what's the relevance to HEIs and associated bodies? Like most corporate sites the average HEI oriented Web site can easily become the victim of its marketing and communication professionals' view of […]

Earlier in the year whilst researching an article about podcasting I came across the Naked Scientists group hidden away in BBC UK regional transmissions. Shortly afterwards I heard that a funding crisis looked like it was going to put the Naked Scientists out of business. I have news on this front. My original post of […]

I've been on the receiving end of the unpleasant consequences of what happens when you use a device with a Digital Rights Management (DRM) system. Never again! Auricle readers will know that I believe ultra-portable devices are becoming increasingly important vehicles for the distribution and consumption of learning resources. I like to get first hand […]

Imagine this! You sit back glowing with satisfaction because yesterday that über exemplar of collaborative endeavour, Wikipedia, properly attributes your contribution to the welfare and development of the human race. But what's this? You look in today to recharge your self-worth batteries and you've been erased! Like a Joe Stalin photocall you're gone … gone […]

Skype may be a great example of the power of Voice over IP (VoIP) but what use is it in an educational setting? Indeed, the inevitable first response of the institutional IT department may be to ban its use because of its perceived bandwidth and time consuming potential. But anyone who has used it in […]

Today I interviewed Dublin City University's Morag Munro who gives an honest and very informative account of the motivations and processes involved in migrating from proprietary VLE systems to the open source Moodle system. The DCU interview also was our first use of a new (to us) and, IMHO, pretty efficient technique for recording Skype […]

I do like the US' National Public Radio 'On the Media' programme. There's invariably something interesting and last week's (3 June 2005) episode was no exception. First we got to hear about the bad guys (although it's sometimes difficult to work out who they are) and then we got to hear about the good guys, […]