Thanks to fellow Oracle blogger Jake Kuramoto for pointing to this ZDNet piece revealing (among other things) that JotSpot is about to become part of the Google Apps package. Long-time e-Literate readers know that I was lucky enough to be able to interview JotSpot’s co-founders in the early history of this blog, and that they […]
A Good Window Into Information Architecture Trends
Rashmi Sinha has an outstanding post analyzing the information-finding affordances of Google Base. For people who are interested in learning some of the basic concepts in modern information architecture (IA), she does a great job of illustrating key ideas. (You may want to fire up another browser window and play around with Google Base while […]
Progress Toward an Offline e-Learning Client?
One of the most beloved aspects of the SUNY Learning Network’s current Lotus Notes-based homegrown LMS is its offline capabilities. Faculty members can download the current course data–including student discussion posts, tests, etc. They can respond to posts, grade papers and tests, add announcements, and so on, all while offline, and automatically synchronize the next […]
More About Designing for the Long Tail
In my last entry, I wrote: We need a system that is optimized toward slotting in new pieces as they become available, not as an after-thought or an add-on, but as a fundamental characteristic of the system. That sounds cool and all in the abstract, but what does it mean? What is missing in today’s […]
Lean Clients, Plump Clients, and Chubby Clients for Learning Management Systems
As I mentioned in a previous post the SUNY Learning Network currently uses a home-grown learning management system built on top of Lotus Notes. And while there is a web interface to the system, many of the current users are quite attached to their fat client. This may sound quaintly outdated at the moment. However, […]