Stephen Downes
 | Knowledge 2.0 : Toward a Future knowledge Society |
|---|---|
February 14 2007, 18h00 - 20h00 CET |
Stephen is a leading voice in the area of learning objects and metadata, as well as the emerging fields of weblogs in education and content syndication and is perhaps best known for his daily research newsletter, OLDaily. Through this newsletter he has become a key educational reference, a unique news source and an influential powerful advisor on critical issues relating to education/learning and new technologies.
Biography
Stephen Downes is a senior researcher at the Institute for Information Technology’s e-Learning Group of Canada’s National Research Council. He is renowned for his expertise on learning objects, metadata, weblogs in education and content syndication. His work also includes the development of educational content syndication systems such as Edu_RSS and DLORN and the design of a digital rights management system for learning. Downes is frequently asked to teach seminars and to give lectures on online learning all over the world. These lectures include the notable 2004 Buntine Oration in Perth, Australia. Downes is, however, probably best known for his daily research newsletter OLDaily (Online Learning Daily), which reaches thousands of readers around the world. Downes received his B.A. and M.A. from the University of Calgary and continued his education at the University of Alberta. After his graduation, Downes worked for several universities as a distance instructor and portal designer.
Abstract
His lecture for the Venus-seminars is about Knowledge 2.0 or connective knowledge: How is knowledge created in a new networked society? How valuable is this new kind of knowledge creation? Discussion can be raised e.g. regarding the reliability of entries in Wikipedia, a collection of articles created through a process of collective authoring, compared to those in the Encyclopedia Britannia, a collection of articles about similar topics written by a series of experts.
Background information can be found at: