XEROX Parc researchers have created some interesting software for enabling web-based group work. They call it Sparrow Web for some reason…
Quentin’s written an excellent one-page guide to the Web for absolute beginners.
I know people who know Bill Clinton and they always surprised me by the way they clearly regarded him as a formidable individual. Some months ago, the BBC invited him to give the annual Dimbleby lecture. It was a stunning performance — part sermon, part analysis, part theatre. Although he had a script, large parts of the lecture seemed to be delivered without glancing at it. The contrast with the current, grammatically-challenged incumbent of the White House was, of course, unmistakeable. Those who missed it can now find the text here.
My column about the implications of Google (held over from last week) is in today’s Observer. Phew!
According to the New York Times, the creation of tools for spotting plagiarism has become a growth industry. As someone who has to mark online assignments, I’m astonished at how easy it is to spot plagiarism — at least in the form of unacknowledged copying from web pages. (A Google search for a phrase is usually enough to locate the real origin of a suspiciously elegant phrase.) Some academics are very po-faced about online plagiarism, treating it as a heinous crime almost on a par with sleeping with one’s pupils. But the whole point of the Web is that we have easy access to other people’s ideas, and sometimes I’d prefer my students to locate and make good use of intelligent stuff than trying to make up their own (mediocre) summaries. The problem is not copying per se, but unacknowledged use of other people’s material — so what we should be teaching them is (a) the search and discriminatory skills which enable them to find and evaluate suitable material, and (b) the importance of always being scrupulous in acknowledging the provenance of what they find and use.
Ah! Now I get it. The buttons for my various ‘categories’ have just appeared. Finally, I have one source for my different logs. :-)
Just installed categories, in an attempt to rationalise the crazy variety of things I post. Not sure exactly how it works yet. :-(
Just watched Kenneth Branagh as SS-Obergruppenführer Heydrich in Conspiracy, the dramatisation of the Wannsee conference which worked out the principles of Hitler’s ‘final solution’ of the Jews. An interesting and disturbing film, based on the fact that one of the participants, ironically named Martin Luther, an Under-Secretary of State at the German Foreign Office, failed to destroy his copy of the (sanitised) minutes.
FT review of interesting book on attempts to clone Silicon Valley.
Excerpt. “Another point stressed in the Stanford papers – and this is particularly relevant to Cambridge – is that clusters are more likely to flourish if they contain some large companies. An increase in the number of companies is not enough; some of them need to transform themselves into global operators that can act as role models, as trainers of technical and managerial staff and as a source of spin-offs.
This is the missing ingredient in Britain’s Silicon Fen. Despite the undoubted achievements of ARM Holdings and a few software businesses, there is no Cambridge company in the same league as Nokia or some of the larger Taiwanese firms. Is this because British entrepreneurs shy away from the challenge of managing big, inter-national companies, or are conditions for building such companies less favourable in the UK than in Finland or Taiwan?”
According to a report in New Scientist, sleep scientists at Oxford have discovered an alarming fact – counting sheep does not help you drop off after all. But there is consolation for insomniacs, as they also found that conjuring up a pleasant and relaxing scene will have you nodding off in no time.
Those finding hard to sleep often seek distraction and some distractions work better than others, a team at Oxford University has found. “Picturing an engaging scene takes up more brain space than the same dirty old sheep,” says Allison Harvey. “Plus it’s easier to stay with it because it’s more interesting,” she adds.