Tag: Open

Bookmarked how Spotify may have just quietly changed podcasts forever (TechScape / Guardian)

Regardless of whether Spotify succeeds or fails in its efforts, the push feels like the beginning of the end for one of the last sections of the internet to exist independently of the major technology platforms. Just as the rise of social media usurped blogging, the success of YouTube centralised video creation, and, yes, the creation of Spotify itself upended the MP3-based era of online music fandom, podcasts in their current form feel on the edge of an existential change. It’s hard to see how Spotify’s efforts can be successfully fought except through others, like the BBC, retrenching to their own walled gardens, and while a world with twenty podcasting apps is probably better than a world with just one, it would be the end of an era.

Regardless of whether Spotify succeeds or fails in its efforts, the push feels like the beginning of the end for one of the last sections of the internet to exist independently of the major technology platforms. Just as the rise of social media usurped blogging, the success of YouTube centralised video creation, and, yes, the creation of Spotify itself upended the MP3-based era of online music fandom, podcasts in their current form feel on the edge of an existential change. It’s hard to see how Spotify’s efforts can be successfully fought except through others, like the BBC, retrenching to their own walled gardens, and while a world with twenty podcasting apps is probably better than a world with just one, it would be the end of an era.

Alex Hern discusses Spotify’s acquisition of Chartable and Podsights. He explains their significance in being able to target ads within podcasts on Spotify. This is a part of Spotify’s goal to become the YouTube for podcasts.

What the company is bringing to the table for advertisers is obvious enough. When you listen to a podcast on Spotify, you’re not just downloading an MP3 from a server and playing it on a generic app of your choice – you’re streaming straight from Spotify’s servers, with your listening linked directly to your account and all the commensurate profiling that brings with it. Spotify can sell ads on behalf of podcasters, target those ads in a far more granular way than most podcasting apps, and easily roll out technical features – “tap here to buy”, for instance – as advertisers see fit.

The catch with this is that users do not have to listen to many podcasts on Spotify. Personally, I listen through an app, AntennaPod. However, this is the reason that Spotify is also purchasing and producing podcasts to play exclusive on their platform, such as the Who is Danial Johns?. It is also for this reason that BBC is changing the way it distributes its podcasts, having a focus on the BBC Sounds app. With all this in mind, it spells the end to another open format/platform on the web.

I guess this is still better than what has happened with the music industry:

Unlike a record label, publisher, or most anyone else in the music industry, Spotify devotes none of its profits to the development of new recordings.

Bookmarked Online Learning Resources for people moving online in a hurry. by dave dave (davecormier.com)

Before our Friday online teaching class I tweeted out a request for suggestions for the ONE THING that people would send someone if they were moving online for the first time.
If you were going to send someone ONE document/video about teaching online, what would it be? Looking for ‘further reading’ …

Dave CormierDave Cormier collates a range of go to resourcesrange of go to resources for teaching online.
Replied to Publish button pangs (daily-ink.davidtruss.com)

Let the pangs come. I want to be hesitant before hitting publish. I want to feel the pressure to do well, to not make careless mistakes, and to look things over one more time. These pangs are a badge of honour that I wear as a blogger.

This touches on Clive Thompson’s argument for the power of public:

Many people have told me that they feel the dynamic kick in with even a tiny handful of viewers. I’d argue that the cognitive shift in going from an audience of zero (talking to yourself) to an audience of 10 (a few friends or random strangers checking out your online post) is so big that it’s actually huger than going from 10 people to a million.

Liked Why The Open Data Movement Has Not Delivered As Expected | API Evangelist (API Evangelist)

Open doesn’t mean democracy, it mostly means for business. This is the genius of the Internet evolution, is that it gets us all working in the service of opening things up for the “community”. Democratizing everything. Then once everything is on the table, companies grab what they want, and show very little interest in giving anything back to the movement. I know I have fallen for several waves of this ver the last decade.

Liked https://quickthoughts.jgregorymcverry.com/2019/05/18/dear-educators-using-wix-please-stop-and by Greg McVerryGreg McVerry (quickthoughts.jgregorymcverry.com)

Dear educators using @wix please stop and read the Terms of Service. Did you know you can not export and use your data anywhere else but wix? This isn’t how the web should work. Plenty of easy UI that still rely on a commitment to portability

Liked Intro to OER: A Wider Spectrum by Tom Woodward (bionicteaching.com)

I’ve done a number of introduction to OER conversations over the last few years. I did another recently. Here is my revised attempt at getting at a very broad overview and maybe going a bit farther afield than is typically the case. This particular presentation emphasized OER as addition and that you could use all sorts of pieces as augmentation rather than replacement.

Bookmarked Open Web Stories – for DMLL @ Coventry (Reflecting Allowed)

On the open web, we implicitly consent to more than I think we mean to.

Maha Bali reflects on her open education story. This involves responding to three questions:

  • What does the open web mean to you?
  • Why should we care about the open web?
  • Who are you?

She talks about the challenges of doing a PhD remotely, participation in MOOCs such as Rhizo14 and the creation of Virtually Connecting. She also shares some of the limits to open education, especially in regards to those who are vulnerable.

Replied to Freshly Brewed Thoughts: March 30, 2018 (mailchi.mp)

I’m supporting Thought Shrapnel on Patreon and I have to say, I’m inspired by Doug’s use of the platform. I updated my own Patreon page a bit and have started sharing things just for patrons.

I find this move to Patreon interesting. I have unpacked it elsewhere. I am wondering about the impact that this has on the open web? Am I allowed to share something that is for a privileged audience?
Bookmarked Scripting News: Tuesday, January 23, 2018 (Scripting News)

Five years. Between 1994 and 1999, there was a brief period when the web was truly open. There was no one who could veto you. No one who, if they took offense to what you said or did, could knock you off the net. There were people who tried. That made it dramatic. But there was blue sky everywhere. Now the web is divided into silos controlled by big companies. A little bit of light shows through between the cracks. I keep hoping that one crack will open into a new world that’s open where we can play where we have users to serve, and competitors to compete with. I go from slightly optimistic to get-a-clue-Dave-it-ain’t-happening.

Winer remembers when the web was without silos who could control what we see or do. He wonders about finding cracks in today’s web to support such expression and experience once again. This reminds me of Chris Aldrich’s desire for a better web:

I’m not looking for just a “hipster-web”, but a new and demonstrably better web.

I wonder what part something like Micro.blogs could play with all this.

Open as in Apertures 

Alan Levine reflects on the recent discussions of open at OER17 and by Jim Groom. In response he adds a metaphor of his own, aperture, to represent the nuances associated with open and online identity.

Maybe we ought to think about openness as an aperture that is not just fixed at one size, but continually adjusts, as Kate suggests, with appreciation opportunities and risks. There is no single “open” setting applied to pedagogy or people. It’s variable and shifting all the time, like the student in the video suggests, based on context.Source