As LIS plans to improve and expand wireless coverage to meet these demands, we are seeking help from the community.  If you are aware of a particular area where the wireless service seems consistently sub-optimal, please use this form (Login required) to report it to us.  (Note: if you experience problems with wireless access in multiple buildings, please see the LIS Wireless Troubleshooting page.)

This new form is not a substitute for the Help Desk; you should continue to report specific problems to them.  We may not personally respond to every problem reported via this form, but we will definitely use this information, in conjunction with other tools, to identify under-served areas of the campus as we plan improvements in our wireless services.

Google Reader R.I.P.! (although not until July 1, 2013). Lifehacker offers alternatives to organize and sort your RSS news feeds.

The first is from Wired: Beyond the Buzz, Where Are MOOCs Really Going? by Michael Horn and Clayton Christensen.  “We believe they are likely to evolve into a scale business, one that relies on the technology and data backbone of the medium to optimize and individualize learning opportunities for millions of students. This is very different than simply putting a video of a professor lecturing online.”

The second is The Trouble With Online College from the New York Times and takes perhaps a less optimistic view. “Courses delivered solely online may be fine for highly skilled, highly motivated people, but they are inappropriate for struggling students who make up a significant portion of college enrollment and who need close contact with instructors to succeed.”

The first is from Wired: Beyond the Buzz, Where Are MOOCs Really Going? by Michael Horn and Clayton Christensen.  “We believe they are likely to evolve into a scale business, one that relies on the technology and data backbone of the medium to optimize and individualize learning opportunities for millions of students. This is very different than simply putting a video of a professor lecturing online.”

The second is The Trouble With Online College from the New York Times and takes perhaps a less optimistic view. “Courses delivered solely online may be fine for highly skilled, highly motivated people, but they are inappropriate for struggling students who make up a significant portion of college enrollment and who need close contact with instructors to succeed.”

As a #PDFtribute to Aaron Swartz, O’Reilly Media is posting their Open Government book files for free for anyone to download, read and share.  The book asks the question, in a world where web services can make real-time data accessible to anyone, how can the government leverage this openness to improve its operations and increase citizen participation and awareness?  (via Slashdot.)

• Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/55947847
• YouTube: http://youtu.be/UbK0i4mhpWU

Since announcing a partnership with Coursera in July 2012, Duke has launched two Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and has eight more in development. Spanning humanities, social sciences and science topics, these courses have over 320,000 enrollments as of October 2012. Duke’s goals in experimenting with MOOCs are to drive teaching innovation in both campus-based and online courses, to extend Duke’s commitment to knowledge in service to society, and to expand Duke’s reach and reputation in a global environment.

Saved from Dumpster: Amazing map collection makes librarians tingle (from the LA Times)