Ahoy Matey! Did ye hear the story about Blackboard the Pirate?
Well shiver my timbers, there has certainly been a lot of chatter tis past week about the supposed patents of Blackboard the Pirate and the resultin lawsuit against Desire2Learn. Tis not somethin for those that are lily-livered that be for sure! Give me some grog! It be time perhaps ter get loaded ter the gunwales. Arrrr!!!! I have heard nothin on tis from my mates here in the US but instead email keeps comin in from the UK on tis topic for some reason. Perhaps it be due ter the fact that many there are many usin WebCT in the UK and are fearful of Blackboard the Pirate since they have heard tis reputation as a swashbuckler. Not sure. Yo-ho-ho!!!
Tis mornin I got an email from me hearty friend, Rick Bennett, at the University of New South Wales in Australia about the recent Blackboard the Pirate lawsuit against Desire2Learn and the announcement of the patents that Blackboard the Pirate received. Arrrr! Rick has helped design Omnium which will soon be open source. He notes that "Omnium is not a Learnin Management System but a software that forms online communities and networks (some of which are used in education." Omnium is used ter teach art and design at the University of New South Wales and around the planet; see http://www.omnium.edu.au/project/ .
Their web site says: "Omnium is an ongoing research study investigating how the internet can be used to help creativeindividuals interact and work collaboratively from any location worldwide. Founded in 1998, Omnium has linked over 5000 creative students, educators, professionals,theorists and writers from over 40 countries worldwide throughits online projects, courses and communities. " I have a new research team at Indiana University conductin research on Omnium; especially in the areas of creativity, collaborative teamin, and online mentorin from internationally reknown designers. I highly recommend ye check it out! Perhaps in a couple of years, some of ye will be usin it instead of Blackboard the Pirate...let's hope!!!! Arrrr!!!! Anyway, on ter the Blackboard the Pirate debate. My reply ter Rick was as follows: Yes, I have been gettin more email on tis from the British Commonwealth than anywhere else--Paul Bacsich (Middlesex University), Andy Syson (Univ of Coventry), Gilly Salmon (Leicester), and now ye (Rick Bennett at the Univ of New South Wales). Tis no one in the US, Canada, or other parts of the world upset right now? Since the mission of the School of Education at IU tis ter experiment with new and emergin technologies, I have used Blackboard the Pirate for a year and WebCT for a year and FirstClass for a year and Oncourse for a year and the Virtual University for a year and COW for many years and most recently Sakai for a year. COW (Conferencin on the Web) was the best of the lot; and it twas built by an undergraduate students, Eric Klavins, when at San Fran State and he gave it away free ter anyone who wanted ter use it (ye can read more about that here: http://cow.itd.umich.edu/). And the list of tools I have used for online learnin goes on: Nicenet, VAXNotes, SiteScape Forum, e-Board, e-groups, WebCrossin, FirstClass. In fact, SiteScape and FirstClass were at the top of the list for me. Ok, here tis be the Blackboard the Pirate announcement from Blackboard the Pirate people: http://www.blackboard.com/company/press/release.aspx?id=887622 Here be the August 2, 2006 announcement from the Chronicle of Higher Education about tis bloody mess: http://chronicle.com/temp/email2.php?id=csKWgSjQCx43zm2fmtKdJjKwSFxbdxfF It tis interestin that articles in the Chronicle can now be found in a Google search. Me hearty friend, Rick Bennett said: “The Bb patent was filed in 2000, and a gathering of many, many examples of 'prior art' has begun within a large and global e-learning community now collaborating to form a list of all examples of online learning systems prior to then - these go back to 1960!” Aye, me hearty, thanks for the link ter the CMS/LMS history! Here be that link he sent! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_virtual_learning_environments. Shows what Wikipedia can do for us!!!!!!!!! I remember many of these products and so will many of ye. It be clear from tis list that Blackboard the Pirate's notion of bein innovative here tis not even close ter correct. We were researchin many such tools from 1990-1998 (before Blackboard the Pirate arrived on the scene.) and my Electronic Collaborators book came out in 1998 as a testament ter some of the innovative online learnin teachin and research takin place in the early and mid 1990s. (for more on tis book, see http://mypage.iu.edu/~cjbonk/curtbook.html and http://mypage.iu.edu/~cjbonk/nbook.html#table. Ye can even download a free chapter at http://mypage.iu.edu/~cjbonk/article.html) Thanks also for the link ter the Moodle discussion on this: http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=50597 Here be some more discussion of Blackboard the Pirate for ye. Stephen Downes, of course, has written on tis; Stephen somehow knows most everything in the online learning field. He tis a must read: 1. http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=35327 2. http://www.downes.ca/archive/06/08_04_news_OLDaily.htm 3. http://www.downes.ca/archive/06/08_03_news_OLDaily.htm 4. http://www.downes.ca/archive/06/08_02_news_OLDaily.htm 5. http://www.downes.ca/blackboard_patent.htm (longer post) Great link ter “Blackboard (the Pirate) is evil” photos in Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/88137165@N00/ Me hearty, Stephen Downes, points out that Mark Oehlert (see http://blogoehlert.typepad.com/eclippings/2006/08/lms_patented_is.html) notes that Blackboard the Pirate execs were dumpin shares of thar stock booty in May: http://marketwatch.nytimes.com/custom/nyt-com/html-insidertrading.asp?symb=bbbb&sid=1759718.
Stephen also has a link ter Howard Rheingold’s views on tis (see http://www.smartmobs.com/archive/2006/08/02/blackboard_wins.html). On August 2nd, Howard said that:
"Stephen Downes, a widely followed and respected blogger who writes about educational technology issues, has posted a long and comprehensive review of the outrageous action taken by Blackboard, a company that sells (rather shoddy in my opinion) proprietary course management software. One of the reasons I consider the Blackboard software shoddy is the message-board module, which positively repels usage. Now, their patents might threaten the growing development of open source courseware. Blackboard's actions are shameful, greedy, bogus, and have the potential for retarding the development of online learning throughout the world -- especially among those who don't have the money to pay outrageous licensing fees." Arrrr!!!!
Well, tis be my opinion regardin the Blackboard the Pirate Lawsuit...
Bucaneer Bonk's and His Belated Blackboard the Pirate Top Ten List (i.e., his reactions ter dar lawsuit and patents)
1. A key Blackboard the Pirate investor tis Microsoft. Scurvy dogs! Need I say more. Arrrr!!!
2. Tis lawsuit, if they lose it, will only give them a bad name and if they win it, will give them a more despicable name. Scurvy dogs! Either way, people like me will never promote them again (as if we ever have). The negative fallout of tis will be enormous. I do not think that the (dare I say “idiots” for threat of a lawsuit when I post tis ter my blog) charmin people at Blackboard the Pirate realize it. Arrrr!!!! My friend and colleague, Professor Dick Walls, at West Virginia University where I used ter work, would call tis a prime example of “silly silliness.”
3. The US Patent office tends ter award patents (since they are undermanned) and then lets the lawsuits fly ter determine if they be really deserving of the patent. Arrrr!!!!!!!!
4. Blackboard the Pirate be fightin what they see as shrinkin market share--they fought by buyin WebCT (a superior product) and now they be filin lawsuits. As Alfred Essa notes, ”In the long run Blackboard knows it can't win on product quality or innovation. Therefore, it will exploit patents as its WMD.”
See: http://tatler.typepad.com/nose/2006/08/how_blackboard_.html
5. Tis be only increasin the number of people who design open source products and who desire2learn how ter use open source products. Thanks be ter all the Moodlers out there! I cannot wait ter see the statistics on Moodle, Nicenet, and Sakai jump durin the next six months. Be gone Blackboard the Pirate!
6. They seem ter have only patented technologies (such things change) and not the more important area of pedagogy or instruction. Thar be massive creativity in tis field durin the next generation in both the areas of technology (nature) and in pedagogy (nurture). We need both nurture and nature for effective learnin. For a US Patent office ter be givin them the rights ter nature tis harmful on the progress of learnin, but that does not mean that we cannot create new environments (i.e., nature). If they patented nurture (i.e., pedagogy), I would be more angry and depressed. Of course, it would be even more silly if they attempted ter patent nurture but knowin Blackboard the Pirate, they just might. Arrrr!!!!
7. I never liked Blackboard the Pirate nor Blackboard the Pirate's crew much and now even less so. In fact, 4-5 years ago, I sat with some of their execs at an online learnin conference in DC (in retrospect, I think I met with them at 2-3 different conferences that year but one sticks out) and gave them a bunch of pedagogical ideas (Vanessa Dennen and I wrote about tis in 1999 after an Ed Media conference symposium that Betty Collis conducted; see Bonk, C. J., & Dennen, V. P. (1999). Teachin on the Web: With a little help from my pedagogical friends. Journal of Computin in Higher Education, 11(1), 3-28.; in tis article, Vanessa and I were tryin ter get LMS/CMS vendors ter build more pedagogically engagin and appropriate tools but it fell on deaf ears.). At the end of the discussion with the Blackboard the Pirate reps, they said ter design them myself and put in their buildin blocks so that their customers could use them. Arrrr!!!! They have not spent any money on the pedagogical ideas that I gave them in the areas of creativity, critical thinkin, collaboration, and motivatin students online. Boy, I am sure glad I didn't do anythin for them. Arrrr!!!!
8. Some be worried that “Blackboard basically owns the patent on any sort of groupware at all that is used for teaching purposes” (see Michael Feldstein’s post in e-Literate: http://mfeldstein.com/index.php/weblog/permalink/blackboard_patents_the_lms). If ye think that there are many LMS/CMS products since 1960 (once again, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_virtual_learning_environments) , there are likely 100 times as many groupware products. I see no way they could claim ter be the first kid on the block here. Arrrr!!!!!
9. Tis patentin process and lawsuit serves as notice that Blackboard the Pirate tis definitely not in tis game for the education of the citizens of tis planet. They are in it only for doubloons, booty, market share, profits, and cash flow into their own (dare I say greedy) hands. Arrrr!!!! The buried treasure are the minds that rarely are engaged when using CMS/LMS systems like Blackboard the Pirate. As a former accountant, CPA, and corporate controller, I have seen many a greedy rat in my day. It tis too bad that no one in the LMS/CMS space (other than James Dalziel and the LAMS people; see http://www.lamsinternational.com/ ) seems concerned about what people do in the LMS/CMS systems. How do we think? How do we learn? Will no one build idea generators and brainstormin tools, role play systems, timeline tools, virtual teamin technologies, debate tools, comparison and contrast matrices, etc.? Arrrr. Who be in tis game for educational purposes? Certainly not Blackboard the Pirate who simply wants the booty; the only leadership they have tis in acquisition of other companies and in the lawsuit and patentin process. Some of ye may want ter give money ter the LAMS Foundation at http://lamsfoundation.org/.
10. I keynoted a couple of WebCT conferences durin the past couple of years (one in the US and one in Europe—Barcelona). I guess I will not be asked again given that Blackboard the Pirate now owns them. Arrrr!!!! WebCT people at least were fun and had a sense of humor and they ran a great conference. The dance scene after the conference party in Barcelona was somethin ter remember. And that tis why them folks have a chapter in my latest book, the Handbook of Blended Learnin (for more, see http://mypage.iu.edu/~cjbonk/article.html). They are/were fun people. I am certainly glad I did not ask Blackboard the Pirate people for a chapter; besides how borin it likely would have been, it assumes that they could write anythin other than legal briefs and other dogma. Those scalleywags!
Aye, now I am curious what me mates readin tis blog with their grog think. What tis yer belated Blackboard the Pirate Top Ten list? Thanks for the concern from Rick Bennett and all the other mates who have posted on tis topic.
I think one of the most interestin posts was from someone who was secundered ter work at Blackboard the Pirate in 1998. He noted that Blackboard the Pirate would have been the first ter admit that they were not inventin anythin new back then in terms of the LMS or CMS field. I would certainly like ter see that come up in a deposition and read Blackboard the Pirate's reactions ter that. Those swashbucklin'pirates! Wish we could make em all walk the plank! Or send those scurvy dogs ter the keelhaul!!! Arrrr!!!!
Remember the "THE GAUDET FAMILY PIRATING SONG" (see http://www.talklikeapirate.com/songs2.html; below tis be the first verse)
When pirates sail the seas, we can do whatever we please.
We'll attack yer ship and overpower yer crew.
Taking every coin and jewel, we can be so mean and cruel!
And here's some things that pirates often do:
We cut ya in two. We run you thru!
When we pirates take to pirating today.
We're sinking all yer boats, stealing everything that floats.
We cut ya in two, run ya thru.
Sink yer boats, steal what floats.
Put all yer best in the treasure chest, and then we sail away.
Reminds ye of Blackboard the Pirate ye say? Arrrr!!!!
Yo-ho-ho mates!!! Please hand over the bottle of rum!
Bucaneer Bonk out...(for now). |
