ClappingTree’s Web 2.0

Noteworthy news over the past week or so:

• FIREFOX 3 will go beyond HTML rendering to provide Information Broking services based on microformats (which add semantics to markup). For example, “the contact information you see on a Web site will be associated with your favorite contacts application, events will be associated with your favorite calendar application, locations will be associated with your favorite mapping application, phone numbers will be associated with your favorite VOIP application, etc.” (see ReadWriteWeb entry and InformationWeek article; thanks to Elearningpost)
• GOOGLE READER now tracks Personal Attention Metadata. “Now I can see what’s on the top of my radar… I am subscribed to 483 feeds. Over the last 30 days I’ve read 24,891 items and have shared 1,657 items.” (see MicroPersuasion entry; thanks to Eric Rice and Robert Scoble)
• OQO’s latest handheld PC, MODEL 02, arrives — looking really cool and sporting a 1.5GHz VIA processor, 60GB drive, 1GB DDR2 RAM, 5″ 800×480 display (interpolated up to 1200×720), pen-based input, Bluetooth 2.0, 802.11a/b/g WiFi, integrated EV-DO, and an HDMI-out port. (see Engadget entry; thanks to Robert Scoble’s link blog on Google Reader)
• SANDISK launches 32GB solid state drive (SSD), and indicates that within a year from launch, they should drop in price by some 60%. “So we’re talking 32GB SSDs for what, $250 by Q2 of 2007?” (see Engadget entry)
• UCLA announced plans in December to adopt Moodle as their institution-wide learning and collaboration environment (see EdTechPost entry; thanks to Stephen Downes’ OLDaily).

Hello, World. A very happy new year to you!

Today, I’m publishing online two wiki research proposals which I’d written for a Masters in Instructional Design program at the National Institute of Education, Singapore:

• “The UTAUT and Electronic Brainstorming in a Wiki”: This proposal was written in April 2005 for “Implications of Social Psychology Theories & Research for Educators”, a module taught by Dr Angeline Khoo and Dr Lim Kam Ming. Could have worked on this as a project if not for the circumstances (long story). So, imagine my surprise upon finding a very similar project (Global Warming Student Speakout) on the Google for Educators site last October! Not sure though what the specific research questions were.
• “Mediating PBL in a Wiki environment” (1): This proposal was written in April 2005 for “MID809: Designing, Conducting, and Reporting Investigations”, a module taught by Dr Chee Kit Looi and Dr Myint Swe Khine. A revised experiment was conducted in November among two classes in a polytechnic. The results were mixed. However, due to more pressing concerns at work, the writeup for the results of this project has been placed on the backburner till now.

Looking forward to your comments, suggestions, queries, etc.