Congresswoman Asks Reddit Community to Help Write Tech Bill

Recent outrage over attempts at denying United States citizens basic privacy and freedom of speech rights on the Internet through "SOPA" have driven many people in positions of power to see the Internet for what it truly is: a hive mind of information and ideas. Reddit's response to SOPA inspired California Representative Zoe Lofgren to turn to them to aid in drafting a bill designed to help prevent bogus copyright takedown requests. Click the source link below for the full article.

Source: The Verge

Bringing Literature to Life: Middle Earth Comes to Minecraft

A very large team and massive community of volunteers has spent the last couple years researching the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit novels in depth and has taken to building the entirety of Middle Earth inside Mojang's incrediblty successful game, Minecraft.

Visitors will be able to explore the world and visit all areas name in the novels--from Rivendale to Rohan, and from Mordor to Fangorn. Jesse Cox speaks with a handful of the people in charge of the construction of the world and takes a look behind the scenes at some of the most recently constructed and reconstructed areas.

What places would you visit in Middle Earth?

Minecraft - In the Classroom

The convergence of the games and education industries is far from new, but the creators of a new mod for Minecraft are working closely with the game's creators to make custom tools for educators and students to use the popular game in a classroom setting. Click the source link to visit the developer's information page and to learn more.

Source: MinecraftEdu

The Internet: Both a Good and Bad Force on Our Cultures

An article on the Scratchpad wiki discusses at length the social, economic, and language and the apparent cultural homogenisation that is coming with it. Is cultural homogenisation a good thing for the world? How could this effect education?

Source: ScratchPad

University of Western Australia to Make Online Learning Open Source

The University of Western Australia is working with Standford's new technology Class2Go to provide open source online classrooms--content that will be accessible by all for free on the Internet. See the source link below for more information.

Source: The Verge

Measuring Students' Computer Skills?

Textbook company Labyrinth Learning has created an online program to monitor a students' computer proficiency in keyboard skills. The new program gives feedback, offers a variety of select response, and gives a real-world situation for testing.  Should a teacher test a students' computer proficiency?  Is it a crucial skill? Should text book companies be held responsible for creating these assessments?

Source: The Journal

The Atlantic: Wikipedia is Nearing Completion

Wikipedia, one of the greatest impacts to education since word processing and the Internet itself is "nearing completion" according to an article by Rebecca J. Rosen at The Atlantic. The article discusses why and how the world's most popular wiki has come to this state. If Wikipedia activity is dwindling, will this make for a less up-to-date, reliable resource for students and learners around the world? See the source for the full article.

Source: The Atlantic